Funnel Magazine Volume 2: Quarter 2 by Funnel Magazine™

FUNNEL MAGAZINE TRAFFIC & LEAD GEN

6 FUNNEL FEATURES

LEADERSHIP AND THE CROWD WENT WILD

THE INTERVIEW

106 METRICS

184

170

26 STRATEGY & TACTICS

LEADERSHIP

183 SOCIAL MEDIA

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IN EVERY EDITION

LETTER

6 WAYS YOUR LEAD MAGNETS CAN GET MORE CONVERSIONS

TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG?”

FROM THE EDITOR

FRANK KERN

THE AUTHOR OF YOUR OWN LIFE STORY

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HIDDEN LEAD GENERATION CHANNEL YOUR FUNNEL IS MISSING

METRICS TO MILLION DOLLAR FUNNELS

10X THE POWER OF CLICKFUNNELS

REMEDY THE FACEBOOK CHANGES OF 2018

96 124

FOCUS ON WHAT YOU ARE GOOD AT INTERVIEW: STEVE OLSHER

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THE ONLY BOUNDARY THAT EXISTS IN LIFE... INTERVIEW: GRANT CADONE

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NURTURE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES INTERVIEW: JAY ABRAHAM

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR OF

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Dear Funnel Genius, In this edition we feature Frank Kern, a master marketer. The first time I heard Frank’s name was at my first personal development seminar. The topic was Neuro Linguistic Programing (NLP) of which Frank is a expert. Our speaker was at an event with his arms crossed and his foot resting on the wall behind him. Frank comes up to him and leans against the wall and puts his foot up, crossing his arms. Needless to say the speaker was impressed with how Frank match and mirrored him. Since that time, Frank’s name has come up dozens of times as I’ve gone on this journey in the marketing industry. Whether it’s his direct response skills, his presence on Facebook, or sales letters, he is one of THE go to guys in the industry. And believe it or not Frank helped save Funnel Magazine... Hawk and I were in Mexico for a friend’s wedding. We were on our last dime and didn’t know how we were going to continue with the magazine. A lot of internal business challenges had come up and we weren’t sure what was next. By happy coincidence, a good friend happened to also be in Mexico at the time. And a stone’s throw away from where we were staying. As a fellow marketer with years of experience in the industry, she understood better than most what we were going through. She offered to introduce us to Frank Kern… and well, to make a long story short you now hold this month’s edition of Funnel Magazine. So remember when you are on the ropes, the end may not be the end. And Frank is here to help you too… Happy Funnel Hacking, Kate Mikado Editor-in-Chief

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TRAFFIC & LEAD GEN

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6 Ways Your Lead Magnets Can Get More Conversions ARTICLE BY Dave Farrow

Do you offer a free ebook, checklist, or cheat sheet on What does that mean for your lead magnet? You your website? How effective is it at converting website should try to create a lead magnet that’s easy to use and can be used right away. visitors into leads? If you’re like most people, the answer is “sort of effective.” Offering a lead magnet is a great first step to improving conversions, and you likely saw a lift in conversions when you put your lead magnet into place.

If you offer a 96 page ebook, you might actually be scaring prospects away. It depends on your audience, but a lot of people just don’t have the time to read 100 pages that may or may not solve their problem.

But is it performing as well as it could? Here are six factors—some common-sense, some rarely discussed—that can make your lead magnets more effective: 1. Instantly Usable Your lead magnet should be instantly usable. When a website visitor comes to your website, they are looking for the answer to a problem or question. They don’t want that answer to come next week—they want it now.

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This is intimidating. You want your lead magnets to be easy.

If you’re currently using an ebook or long-form guide as a lead magnet, consider testing a switch to a checklist or cheat sheet. These formats can be used right away, which makes them a compelling offer. 2. Targeted at a specific problem

Make your offer as easy to find as possible. You can use a variety of pop-up types to draw attention to your offer. You can put a clearly visible bar at the top of the screen. You can have buttons and calls to action weaved into the body of your post.

Whatever your chosen method, increasing the A lead magnet is more effective if it promises to solve prominence of your lead magnet will increase your a specific problem. The more specific the problem, the conversion rate. better. 5. Compelling copy It’s a rule of marketing that it’s easier to get people to remember one idea than 10 ideas. Similarly, the reason It seems obvious, but too many sites forget to make it’s a best practice to put a single call to action on a their lead magnet copy, well, good. page is that it makes it easier to get conversions. “Subscribe to our newsletter” isn’t compelling copy. If you run, say, a fitness website, offering an ebook on “Get our free ebook” isn’t compelling copy either. Lead how to live a healthy life is probably less compelling magnets have become such a popular tactic that than saying “use this book to lose 8 pounds a month.” you need to make a real, specific promise if you want people to opt in. Note that in some cases, you don’t even need to change the actual lead magnet. If your ebook on living How can you cut to the heart of the problem your lead a healthy lifestyle helps people lose weight, all you need magnet solves? Take a look at some examples. to do is tell people that in your opt-in copy. • Would you want to “sign up for a free course on 3. Relevant to what people are reading email copywriting” or “learn how to write emails that get sales?” If you’re just starting out, it’s probably good enough to • Would you want to “get a free ebook on diet have a single lead magnet that you offer everywhere and exercise” or “find out how to get the body on your site. you want—without having fitness take over your life?” But as you get a bit more advanced, you’ll want to start customizing your lead magnets to individual pieces of • Would you want to “get an online business checklist” or “see every step you need to take to content. build an online business?” This tactic, called the “content upgrade,” can generate a massive increase in conversions. You get the idea. Making your opt-in copy, sometimes If you have a blog post about dieting, offer a cheat sheet lead magnet for healthy recipes at the end. If your article is about how to find a workers compensation attorney, offer a list of local attorneys as a free download.

called “microcopy,” more compelling can help you increase your conversions—even if you don’t generate any additional website traffic.

6. Instant Follow-up Offering lead magnets specific to each page makes What happens immediately after someone downloads your offers hyper-relevant. You know your readers are your lead magnet? interested in that topic, so offering them a download Of course, you need to deliver the lead magnet. And about it is likely to be effective. you need to do it quickly—you don’t want to leave 4. Prominent on the page someone sitting at their desk refreshing their inbox. If your opt-in form is hard to find, it doesn’t matter what But after that, you have a massive opportunity to get your lead magnet is. No one is going to subscribe. value out of your lead magnet. Engagement rates are If you never say hello, how can you expect to start a always higher immediately after someone subscribes. conversation?

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A marketing automation platform like ActiveCampaign How clearly do you answer a website visitor’s questions? can help you build a welcome series or nurture How strong is your follow up? sequence—or even separate sequences for each of your Tweaking and testing your lead magnets, using these lead magnets. six factors, can help you get more conversions and turn If you aren’t sending an automated follow-up sequence, more visitors into customers. you’re missing an opportunity to help a warm lead get hotter. Conclusion: Good Lead Magnets Get Conversions If your lead magnets aren’t converting as well as they should be, there may be steps you can take to fix the problem. How quickly does your offer solve a specific problem?

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Social Media vs Search Engine Optimization for Driving a Higher ROI ARTICLE BY Amee Gray

There are two discussions that are recurring in the SEO community: SEO implementation (building links and optimal title tags) and the evolving role of SEO in the digital marketing landscape as social media has begun dominating the matrix and moved successfully into advertising. The latter frequently begs the question, “Is SEO dead?” Fear not optimizers! A study by Search Engine Watch reports that the #1 position on Google gets 33% of search traffic. 33%! And because that same 33% is actively searching for that product or service, they are highly likely to convert. So, the value of SEO is still quite obvious. Search Queries deliver “ready to buy” consumers actively seeking out products or services. I have had many clients ask me,“Should I put my efforts into Social Media instead of SEO?” The answer is not that simple and it varies depending upon the nature of each business, the determined goals and of course, the target audience. Also, I think it’s important to clarify emphatically that Social Media is not

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actually an alternative option to SEO. However, SEO benefits greatly from social media when the two work in concert to deliver aggressive search results. Although Google does not directly use Facebook metrics to calculate search rankings, a high volume of social media engagement can have a positive influence on your search indexation and discovery efforts. Solid content efforts with conscious keyword strategy encourages links and shares, which contributes to higher traffic and reliability. The function of SEO is to improve the visibility of a website in search engines using algorithmic methods to improve search results. SEO is valuable in driving new traffic to websites. Particularly “ready to buy traffic”. As search engines have become the new “yellow pages” of the business community and online retail and remote services are rapidly beginning to dominate commerce, search results can help create the success of any business. Consider audience behavior, when a person is searching for a service or product they are vaguely familiar with, what is the first thing they do? “Google it”! A consumer may then begin calling the first few business that appear in their search return, usually finding the

service they need within the first page of search results. The joke goes, “Where do you hide a dead body? On page 2 of Google.” The benefit to being those top listed businesses is measurably outstanding. Conversely however, if a person has had some introduction to a brand, product or service they might try to engage through social media channels first, but generally they must know the name to find it directly, so it is less likely consumers will chance upon a new item and be “ready to buy”. But consider this; a high volume of traffic to your website where you have “sticky” content, meaning information that engages an audience such that they linger and spend 2 minutes or more on that page, is the top driver of positive SERP (Search Engine Reliability and performance) results. If you have great teaser content on your social media targeted at an interested audience and directing them back to a blog page on your website, then you have harnessed the power of psycho-social behaviors widely available on social media. If your business relies less on the purchase of an item via e-commerce and more of a thought leadership influence, than social media is a great vehicle for you to do just that. I have seen that in the medical industry in particular, doctors and specialists have established credibility and found more connected audiences and subsequently patients by sharing their medical philosophy, principal and practice in the social and blog space. Patients looking for a particular procedure or alternative can go beyond standard healthcare referral pages and get a glimpse directly into a physician’s body of knowledge and skill set simply by seeking out their social pages and blogs. Remember, there was a time when a person might see multiple doctors before finally finding one that delivers a type of service or has a specific specialty training not common or widely available at every facility. When a well-crafted Social Media campaign creates an engaged following with return users who share, like and follow, those social media pages also show up in a search. We’ve all googled a keyword and had the first page flood with the website and 3 or 4 social media pages of one specific company. When that happens, a searcher naturally feels that the specific company dominating the top of search engines also dominates the market. And, generally they do, as one can make a clear case for companies who create a high visibility generate a more massive audience.

social media exposure impacts brand awareness and growth, and as advertising on social media becomes more targeted and economical, it is a much more viable sales generator but relying on social media engagement as a vehicle for direct revenue has been the hubris of many entrepreneurs. We live in a world where the average consumer has a short attention span and has become accustomed to immediate gratification. Consumer culture has become increasingly skeptical, savvy and demanding. Brand equity, integrity and loyalty have never been more important and that is not always best managed in the social media landscape alone. In light of recent scrutiny, Facebook in particular has lost quite a bit of audience trust as people feel more and more vulnerable to the use of their personal information for the purposes of persuasive and coercive political propaganda and product advertising. “Look-alike” audiences, for example have become a dynamic strategy in every marketers toolbox, greatly dialing in our targeting efforts and allowing us to deliver messaging to highly interested audiences. While some may welcome advertising that matches their interests and needs, others feel the use of their social activity to determine their potential for conversion to be invasive and a bit scary. In this time of social media insecurity, many content marketers wishing to keep a consistently developing footprint return to what some consider a much slower generator, blogging. But nothing has kept the Blog alive as well as social media. Social media is the number one way to deliver and push blog content to audiences. In the midst of Facebook’s political scrutiny, social media managers find one great spark of hope at keeping their day jobs: the new transparency of permissions and controls that the social media audience has always had access to, at least with Facebook anyway, but have now had a more thorough exposure to throughout Zuckerberg’s testimonials. Although media buyers are left holding their breath, I think ultimately audiences armed with new advice for filtering the advertising they are fed actually delivers advertisers an even higher potential of conversions on ad-spend.

I believe any business would be served well by a consistent SEO campaign supported by social media. I also believe it is entirely possible that some businesses can benefit greatly by focusing their budget and efforts on only one channel. Initially, when a business is structuring a marketing budget with only initial investment funds and they haven’t Many small businesses believe that Social Media is generated consistent revenues the new way to get massive free exposure, and that they can rely on social media alone to build and grow a following that will directly impacts sales. Certainly QUARTER 2

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yet, they often have no choice. In this case, it is best to choose the channel that has the fastest and most direct exposure to the target audience. As I’ve illustrated here, products that answer to a highly searched query tend to do well with an aggressive SEO campaign that gets them to page one, however, that takes several months to accomplish and can be expensive to perform. Also, it is important to note that the most successful Search profiles often have accompanying Press campaigns or social media. So instead I offer this question: if your business will rely on searchability would social media or public relations be your greatest SEO companion and roadmap to success? As the competition for audience attention naturally increases, strategies need to be more

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dynamic and cast a wider net to adapt. It’s time once again to roll up our sleeves and innovate and expand our approaches. What’s your strategy? (Photo by: Vanessa Gonzalez)

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5 Killer Ideas For Creating An Effective Lead Magnet. ARTICLE BY Phillip Gillins

1. Cheat Sheets – Cheat sheets are the gold standard in regards to popular lead magnets. Who doesn’t love a high value cheat sheet that gives major (actionable) value in a short easily consumable pdf? I’ve even noticed today that people are now becoming even more interested in extended PDF’s, but they have to have major value on every page. Literally gold nuggets have to be scattered all over it. A cheat sheet must address a major problem for the target audience you’re after and it must give solid solutions. 2. Webinars – Seemingly everyone today are creating webinars and being their own keynote speaker. Why is everyone doing it? Because it is actually effective. An average webinar today has about 28 participants, 2 presenters, and about a 65 minute run time. A majority of the time webinars are ran in order to quickly and accurately educate existing and potential customers. If you haven’t tried implementing a webinar into your funnel you’re missing out on a grand opportunity.

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3. Reports and Guides – Now these types of lead magnet have to come with a killer title. Because just the word (report) screams boring! Now if you said something like “Download Our Most Sought After 2018 Marketing Report That Generated $12.5 Million in Revenue” many of us would be all over it and downloading it. A report has to be through and compiled with heavy gold nuggets. Another example is for example a company in Florida that sell tickets to fun and entertaining events in Florida. They would probably create a downloadable

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Guide for 2018)! If I was looking to travel to Florida and 5. Survey and Quiz – With this type of lead magnet was targeted with this ad I would probably download you have to be very strategic. I personally don’t it. act upon these unless they are well targeted and entertaining. You really have to capture the emotion of 4. Free Trial – Now let’s just get this out into the air. your prospects to get them to opt in to these. But once Who doesn’t like free stuff? With that in mind who they do you can get some very valuable data. Many wouldn’t want to try something for free that they marketers use these types of opt-ins for market research actually need? This is the power of offering a free trial and also for filtering out tire-kickers. as a lead magnet (mainly for SAAS). If people never heard of you and have no clue who you are, chances I hope these 5 ideas have your thoughts turning and are a majority won’t take action on your $47/month your brain pumping. But don’t just sit back on this software. Hence the power of offering a risk free-trial. information take action and put together an effective It allows someone to get their hands dirty with your lead magnet. In all honesty one of the keys to scaling product and still have no risk. an online business is having a few solid vessels for lead generation. So let’s take action and expand.

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“To Blog or Not To Blog?” ARTICLE BY Julia Antufjew

“To blog or not to blog?” was never a question. My several years to 1) build trust among readers, 2) to get mentor told me “blog now!” and I had no other choice. seasoned status on blogging platform for rankings to Starting my own blog was quite a scary exercise. kick in, 3) to build up your readers community and most importantly 4) to find your true voice and place. No “What if somebody reads it?” – I remember asking. My wonder that few are willing to do the work. mentor could not stop laughing for several minutes. “I hope somebody reads it, yes! This is the purpose of a That’s if we think that definition of a blog is: marketing blog!” strategy with objective to create brand awareness and generate sales. Today I want to share with you the core function of a blog, a function which is completely ignored when Let me ask you this question: How long does it take considering blogging as a marketing strategy. This core to find your own true voice and place in the market? function makes the very question about whether or not Because no matter whether we have a blog or not – to blog quite obsolete and statements like “Blogging is finding our true voice and place is a must, unless we dead!”- empty in it’s naïveté. want to live someone else’s life and achieve someone else’s goals. Blogging is commonly seen as a labor intensive and low ROI marketing strategy. The labor intensive part and It is a naïve assumption that a list of 100 possible niches the low ROI part are the “low hanging fruit” metrics you’ve downloaded yesterday will help you to decide used by colleagues to proclaim blogging as today what niche you are in, who you are, what is your dying, if not already dead. It is a fact that uniqueness, and what is your genius. In my experience, classic blog monetization develops it takes four to six years to distill your absolute genius rather slowly. It takes a blog from the mainstream fashion noise, somebody else’s

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The same way my friend can trace his progress through his paintings, a blog makes sure we do not forget our beginnings, our struggles, and successes. A blog helps us recognize our behavior patterns. Without our own little history book we spend ages cultivating and walking our own private vicious circles, making the same mistakes over and over again and calling systematic lack of success “delayed gratification”. Your blog holds you accountable towards people to whom your transformation really matters: your audience.

goals and your own intricate mess of fears. That’s if you log it. If you do not journal about what you do, your progress, your values – the time of finding your genius may never come. Why? Because our daily pressure and noise are enormous. And we are really conditioned to forget everything we have not written down systematically.

And it gets even better. At the end of the second year of blogging about finding your true voice – you’ll find out full of excitement that most of your marketing content is written. What does it mean? It means that two years down the road very naturally and sincerely you have written enough great and unique content to fill the most sincere and truly powerful Indoctrination Series, Engagement Series, and Seinfeld Series. On top of that you may have enough content to design a game environment around your value ladder, build an online course and launch a podcast. Blogging appears to be one of the most powerful and authentic content generation strategies.

This brings us to the mostly ignored core function of a blog being an instrument to distill your absolute genius from the mainstream fashion noise, somebody else’s While you are out there working: launching and selling your own fashion product, drop-shipping products, goals and your own intricate mess of fears. building and selling a course, or running any other Every marketer, every fashion designer, every revenue generating activity – your blog circles the orbit artist starts with copying someone else. Some do it as a true mothership of your personal brand, the one consciously, others unconsciously. It takes some time and only online real estate where you and your audience for every professional to develop his or her own unique are always welcome, where you and your audience can voice, style and to understand his or her true genius. get to know you on a very personal level, where your personal path is being written. Years ago a very good friend of mine started his art studies to become a painter. He is well known by now, My personal mission and ways to accomplish it, every but back then we were just students. I was fond of his single piece of content, our value ladder, our game creations and have bought one of his early paintings: environment, and even all physical products we have five figures walking the Earth on uber-thin arms nested developed so far – found their origin in my blog. in giant hands. I loved this painting and still do. To blog or not to blog? To blog! Two years from now My friend’s art teacher was furious. “Stop copying you will be happy that you’ve written your first blog others! Listen deep within! Develop your own style!” You post tomorrow as opposed to never. don’t need to be a Master of Arts to spot resemblance between the thin arms on my friend’s painting and slender elephant legs on “The Temptation of Saint Anthony” by Salvador Dali. It took my friend several years to find his own voice. Between now and then he created hundreds if not thousands of pictures. He’s been honing his craft all these years, experimenting with different techniques until one day his own style emerged, clean, clear, unique…

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Facebook Ads Winning Pieces ARTICLE BY Charly Wigstrom

Facebook Ads are growing in popularity. In fact, revenue has grown by 47% year over year according to an article titled: Ad Revenue Growth Continues To Propel Facebook by Forbes.com. It’s becoming increasingly important to learn and leverage the platform to grow our businesses and generate qualified leads.

In this article, we’ll explore the 5 Key Components for Having a Winning Facebook Ad Campaign Strategy. The 5 Facebook Ads Winning Pieces are the: Research, Lead Magnet, Ad, Funnel and the Sale. They all

We already know that it’s a solid strategy for getting our message in front of new people. It’s becoming harder to reach our audience organically. Mark Zuckerberg said it himself that he is getting back to the “true essence of Facebook.” He’s decreasing the exposure of content from brands, businesses and media and promoting content from family, friends and groups. This means businesses better have a contingency plan which is their paid traffic. Luckily, Facebook is one of the most economical ways work together to turn low cost leads into sales for your to advertise your business and with targeting business. features that are second to none. Research

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This is where a lot of business owners are challenged. The secret sauce for Facebook ads is definitely in their targeting however, due to its many options, overwhelm can set in and this can halt your forward progress. Where to start?

One suggestion is to evoke emotion. Pets and babies have a way of doing this as well as facial expressions. Whatever you decide, make sure the image triggers some sort of emotional reaction. You can also achieve this within your ad text by addressing your target audience’s biggest pain point. You’ll get more people engaging with your ad if you can prove that you have a solution for their biggest challenge. Lastly, ensure that your headline is clear, to the point and offers perceived value. This part is a bit more obvious, however, we see people missing the mark when it comes to having a clear headline.

You’ll want to begin with Fact-based targeting. These are your high-profile competitors. Then for the second targeting criteria, you want to focus on finding Algorithm based parameters such as the Interests people have, for example, the software and systems that they use to do their business. Lastly, your third-tier criteria will typically be your demographic information 1. SPECIFIC SOLUTION such as your audience’s job titles. 2. SPECIFIC PROSPECT 3. PREFRAME SHIFT Lead Magnet 4. PROMISE Your Lead Magnet is the second component. It needs 5. PERCEIVED VALUE to offer an ultra specific solution. Here are 2 examples: 6. #1 THING 7. AHA MOMENT • How to build an additional 2 hours back into 8. IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION your day and increase business productivity by 9. 5 MIN RULE lunchtime! • 7 Proven Steps to Creating, Running, and Profiting from Facebook Ads Even if You Don’t Funnel Have A Custom Audience There are many different options for sales funnels to choose from. We particularly like the Client Acquisition 1. SPECIFIC SOLUTION Funnel that incorporates a video CTA on the Thank You 2. SPECIFIC PROSPECT page and a clear path for the prospect to go deeper 3. PREFRAME SHIFT into your business. 4. PROMISE Sale 5. PERCEIVED VALUE 6. #1 THING Once your leads convert into a client or customer, 7. AHA MOMENT you will have accomplished the ultimate goal for your 8. IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION Facebook ad campaign. It’s important to track your 9. 5 MIN RULE sales to know which marketing channels are the most effective for future campaigns. You’ll always want to Your Lead Magnet needs to avoid general statements. be making adjustments to your campaign and testing From research, you should know how your ideal client variations of things like your Headline, Image or Copy. feels, what keeps them up at night and what they’ve tried in the past that hasn’t worked. Lead magnets Utilize each of these 5 key components to craft a should also include real value and perceived value. winning Facebook ad campaign. It needs to deliver immediate gratification as well as provide an AHA moment for the user. Try to give the user a sense of accomplishment. Ad Your Ad is the star of show. Let’s make it a good one. Luckily, we have a few tips to make sure our ad copy, headline and visuals are on point. Let’s start with the image. You want to think about how you’re going to get your potential audience to stop mindlessly scrolling down their newsfeed and pay attention to your Ad. QUARTER 2

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The Hidden Lead Generation Channel I Bet Your Funnel Is Missing ARTICLE BY Rose Guthrie

Most often than not, when you think about filling your am a Digital Marketer directly and indirectly promoting funnel with leads, your first point of call is Facebook my services on Pinterest. Ads, potentially followed by Google Adwords and then Over 5% of all referral traffic to websites comes from ‘maybe’ SEO (depending on the expert you listen to). Pinterest. This is huge considering there are thousands Whilst all these platforms are great depending on your of referral traffic sources available. business, one thing they all have in common is rising 93% of active pinners said they use Pinterest to plan for prices and high competition. Yes, these platforms are purchases and 87% said they’ve purchased something super popular but they are not the only way to gain because of Pinterest. Imagine your selling potential if qualified leads who are ready to buy from you. your messaging and branding was done right? THE SECRET METHOD REVEALED Stats taken from: OnmicoreAgency.com The method I have been using to get leads at dirt No matter how much you love Facebook Ads, we know cheap or even zero costs is Pinterest. Yes, this hidden the first intent for Facebook users is not to purchase but tool has been the driving force of 50% of my paid client to stay social. You could even go as far as saying that work in 2017. Here’s the thing that many people do not promoting your business is the same as pitching your know about Pinterest: business in front of a crowd of people waiting for the 87% of of Pinterest users have purchased a product opportunity to buy. (or service) because of Pinterest. If you’re HOW DO BUSINESSES TAKE ADVANTAGE OF wondering if clients would purchase PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS? from your business, remember, I There a couple of steps your business needs to take before promoting your awesome products and services. VOLUME 2

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You need to ensure that you sign up for a Pinterest • Blog Posts for Business account. You can do this by registering at • Landing Pages business.pinterest.com • Sales Pages (however, driving traffic to a sale is harder than driving traffic for a lead) The reason you want to do this is to ensure that you • Links directly to ecommerce stores with buyable get access to analytics which will tell you how well your pins (read more on buyable pins below). business is performing on Pinterest. You will be able to monitor the type of interests your pins are attracting, the content that is delivering the most traffic to your If you’re an ecommerce owner, you have the added website and the overall performance of pins from your bonus of being able to create something called ‘buyable website. pins’. If your store is on Shopify, you have the added benefit of being able to create pins that allow users No business owner likes to spend time on a platform to purchase your products directly from the platform. that is not delivering the ROI they require, so having This reduces a step in the buying process and has the access to this information is essential. potential of improving purchase rates. Think of Pinterest as a showcase. Allow yourself to IF PINTEREST IS BEST FOR LEAD display your best content and leave a stamp on your GENERATION, HOW DO I RETARGET PEOPLE ideal clients mind. Make yourself memorable. If 97% WHO ARE READY TO BUY SO THAT THEY of users use Pinterest to plan a purchase, you want to CAN ENTER MY FUNNEL? ensure that your brand is the name they remember when they are ready to purchase. This is where things get interesting. With a Pinterest for business account, you have the ability to use a Pinterest Tag which works in a similar way to the Facebook Pixel. This allows you to add a tracking code to your website so that you can see who has viewed what on your website. Whilst using Pinterest organically can produce great results on its own, you can also take advantage of Pinterest promoted pins and retarget people who have visited your website with a pin enticing them to purchase.

WHAT TYPE OF CONTENT DOES WELL ON PINTEREST?

Not only that, but assuming you have a Facebook Pixel installed, you can use Pinterest to generate leads at a lower cost and retarget on Facebook to make the purchase. Cool, huh? I told you so!

So now you know about this hidden traffic generating method, when are you going to implement it so that I will be real with you, Pinterest is great for lead you can fill your funnel faster? generation so your main goal is to write amazing content that will make the reader click through to your website. Once they are on your website, you have to make sure you fill them with gold. Make it easy for them to want to provide you with something in return for the information you have just shared. There are no hard rules about what you can and can not promote (as long as it’s legal). The types of content that is recommended are:

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Article by Depesh Mandalia

The Zero Spend, $55K Course Launch!

PHASE 1: START WITH A GROUP Not quite, because of two massive challenges: comparative mindset and imposter syndrome. Both are roadblocks to progress because they fill you with all sorts of doubts about whether you’re good enough for others to want to follow you and whether what you have is better than what’s already out there. I first read Dotcom Secrets and Expert Secrets early 2017 and joined the ClickFunnels community thereafter. For someone that has been in the online industry for around 15 years, whilst a lot of what Russell wrote wasn’t a surprise, the absolute clarity was.

Back in the summer of 2017, shortly after starting my agency, I found myself struggling to repeatedly train up new members of my team on how to implement the growth strategies I was using on client accounts. So, the natural thing was to explore courses on the marketplace to complement my own coaching within the agency. But it proved fruitless as they weren’t quite what I wanted. I figured I could kill two birds with one stone: create a course for my agency and for the public in one. Pretty simple to get going right?

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But for someone lacking time, I decided instead of following and implementing what is clearly laid out, to hire a funnel expert. After a few months, I identified Akbar Sheikh as the person I wanted to work with to develop and build my funnel; someone that had built funnels and created wealth for others with grounded principles I believed in - what followed was, however, far more than funnel building. For weeks I faltered and stuttered, working through a Perfect Webinar pitch, but all the time not confident in what I was doing and whether in an industry full of experts there was room for one more. The mindset roadblock was a tough one to overcome and one I’m not even sure I would have overcome, except for Akbar forcing me to test whether I really did have something worth sharing. I posted a case study in a few groups

of helping scale a company from 6-figures to $26.5M in revenue in 18 months through Facebook ads and well, the rest is history. Following a huge response, I had my validation. So much so that I couldn’t keep up with the requests for support which led me into another breakthrough in building a following and support - I created a Facebook group to field the questions from people eager to learn. Since launch late 2017, the group has grown to around 2K followers and whilst not a comparatively huge number, what’s amazing is our rate for people to join is around 40% with high engagement - I wanted to build a group for people who were actively advertising on Facebook and therefore a group I could both directly help, and also prime to take a step up into my course.

lead capture and start the email indoctrination early! PHASE 2: ALPHA The first part of developing the course, once I’d overcome the mindblocks, was to invite a small group of

Without the help of an experienced mentor - someone that’s been there and done that and seen the challenges people have faced before, it will likely take longer if you’re not able to overcome the mental challenges. Defeating yourself is such a big step forward and I’m better for working with someone that has trodden that path I wished to take. Taking on a trusted mentor regardless of niche or product will pay back in more than just numbers. With the group in motion I began attracting the right people that would help me in better understanding the pain points my market had and how to overcome them. Whilst the group started small, I ensured I linked to it from my Page and from my personal profile, all the while adding value into lots of other groups. People around 12 people to participate in an alpha discussion would check back on my profile and gravitate towards on how best to develop the course. What were the key areas I could focus on? How could I ensure there was the group. enough, but not overwhelmingly so. In return, I jumped The biggest challenge with groups is engagement and on live call calls and shared. I had this completely wrong early on - I didn’t want questions in the group, just pure knowledge. However, Around the start of 2017 I asked people in my Facebook since I was the only one sharing, and sharing lots of circle already running Facebook ads, most of whom I’d big numbers and successes, it made people feel inferior never met before but formed relationships with online, and scared to share (yep, exact words) - so I took the to join - they simply had to provide feedback on early ideas and videos for the course. In response, I’d be in restraints off and let people post what they wanted. a private Facebook group to answer any questions on Conversations started, engagement kicked in and not Facebook ads or their business. Since my hourly rate only did the group become more active, this triggered isn’t insignificant and my experience quite the opposite, Facebook’s search algorithm to start showing my page this was a good deal. It’s something I’d recommend: in the search results. I ask people how they heard about trading time for valuable feedback early on. us and I still receive people looking for Dan Henry’s Facebook group that land in my group - I have It worked extremely well; one video I posted of about absolutely no idea how and why, but it’s all good. I 19 minutes in length explaining how to analyse and absolutely recommend asking why they want to join action bad performance was shot down. It and how they heard of your group to help you better was too long, too technical and whilst understand them and serve them. You’re permitted to a minority of people valued the ask 3 questions and the third should ideally ask for an email address in return for a free PDF - great way to QUARTER 2

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expert level breakdown, the majority felt it was too This phase brought in $16K. inaccessible. PHASE 4: GAMMA It was these kind of insights that went on to make a big I call this the Gamma phase because whilst the Beta play on the structure and delivery - it rang clear that the had finished and I had a full blown course developed videos themselves had to be as short as possible and alongside the Beta students and my internal agency to remain on point as much as possible, unbundling team, I now wanted to give the course a dry test run them into separate videos if there were too many core with a new batch of students entering fresh before principles to take away. pushing cold traffic. Whilst the feedback was going on, I was building out In addition, I invested part of the previous income in the course in Google Slides and testing small videos hiring in a course development expert Lindsay Padilla internally within my agency and with the Alpha group. to further refine the course to focus on student success. I wanted to give the Alpha group way more value than Past courses I’ve purchased have felt a little isolated, I received to ensure they were also interested in joining without support from the person selling it or didn’t feel the Beta. like it was structured well. To ensure the course could No revenue was generated at this stage. be at its best Lindsay and her team ran a thorough audit of the course, sifting through every video and PHASE 3: BETA download, plus analysing the sentiment in the group to The beta phase was a 6-week programme where I understand how successful the course was at achieving invited those that had contributed to the Alpha phase student results. We were making tweaks as the learnings to join for free, in return for a testimonial and as a thank came in and measuring impact. you for their support in the Alpha. I also pushed the On the cold traffic front, whilst I’d developed a Perfect Beta out to a small number of people on my email list, Webinar, it was put on the back burner due to the which by the way, I collected leads from my Facebook focus on finishing the course material. The Gamma Group and profile with the promise of an early beta phase was unplanned - the idea was to not promote launch discount which I duly delivered. the course until the Webinar script was complete and I took advice from a number of people on whether a funnel built to traffic a cold audience into. However, to charge for the Beta phase which, for all intents those attending Funnel Hacking Live 2018 will get and purposes, was a half built course and a work in where I’m coming from - part way through the 4-day progress to develop with students. The overwhelming event I went all in and developed a landing page, response was YES! I upped the stakes, however, for the email sequence and literally launched my funnel the Beta group by offering them TWICE weekly Live Q&A day I landed back from Orlando into London to my list calls where I would be on hand to answer anything of about 400 people. I took the lead from Lady Boss Facebook ads or business development related. I and decided to switch up my VSL into a straight ‘SL’ created a new Facebook group for these students which or sales letter as I didn’t have time to finish the Perfect would eventually become the main private Mastermind Webinar script and record. group for students. It wasn’t the most polished and I have a tonne of things This went down extremely well with good overall to improve but what was important was that the page attendance to the live calls and engagement in the converted ok, at around 3% - honestly for a warm list group. It was clear who was consuming the training and I would have expected 5-6%, but since I had very little asking questions, and again who were the better target experience with ClickFunnels and hacked this together customers too - for me it was solopreneurs, freelancers in Disneyworld and the flight home, I was happy with it. and agency owners. For those on the free version of For reference, the cart page converted at 20%. Again, the Beta, they were offered to either walk away with no slightly lower than I’d expect (25%) for a warm list but obligation or to convert into the 50% off deal - of which not complaining based on how poor my designs and around 70% did which was great - partly to receive content were. ongoing access to the full course and updates, I ran another 50% ‘pre launch’ offer - this time without and partly because the private Facebook the perks the Beta team enjoyed twice weekly access to group to support students had been me as the course was now pretty much complete. This so useful group of students were receiving the full course and access to the private Facebook group. VOLUME 2

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This phase brought in $39K.

at this stage. I fell short by about 10 but overall I was happy with the outcome.

It was always about how many people I could bring in, not the monetary value. I had a target of 50 people Had I decided to not promote the course further, I’d have waited until my cold funnel was developed and left $39K on the table. It’s something worth considering when you have a product and a list, to create new offers and opportunities to provide value. Something I’ve learned throughout this journey is to over-deliver on insane amounts of value to build trust and authority, and to continue delivering this after purchase. I also ran Facebook ads and it’s worth noting how well they performed, too. As I preach to students about the importance and power of Facebook retargeting ads, I practice. The money with digital ads is made on the retargeting campaign and the goal of lead gen at the top of the funnel is to break even or profit. In my case, I had generated free leads through my Group and so the retargeting campaigns were pure profit, capturing sales emails didn’t. From an ad spend of £30 I generated £5K with a 16,524% return on ad spend. The key here is to keep your product/brand front of mind, so I pushed for high ad impressions as you can see in the frequency column below. As I rotated the ads and kept them highly relevant and mildly entertaining, the CTR (click through rate) and CPC (cost per click) remained good which helped to bring in a good overall response. PHASE 5: HIDDEN FUNNEL

Part way through the Beta stage I was offered the opportunity to lead a Masterclass on testing and scaling with Facebook ads. The hosts gave me the full recording and whilst I’d previously and naively shared it in my Facebook groups, a mistake I made when I made my first million in revenue through Affiliate Marketing came to the front of my mind: I lost that business because I didn’t create a list. I decided instead to create a new section in my training portal,

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where I’d give people FREE access so they can view the full Masterclass once they’d created an account on my training portal. Once logged in, they can only see the WELCOME module, with 3 links below. I created a new page including the full course structure and information on every single topic, below which I included a link to the Masterclass. This has literally doubled my list size in a space of about a week, after promoting it in my Facebook Group and anywhere else I can organically place it. It also starts a secret indoctrination journey, because the hour long Masterclass is a deep insight into profiting and scaling with Facebook ads, without giving away everything which they need to buy the full course for.

potential of being a smaller, secondary route into the course alongside the Perfect Webinar route. If you want to try this in ClickFunnels, I’ve added the course ‘products’ to the restricted access setting for the main course modules, but not added restrictions to the WELCOME module. I’ve then shared the ‘secret link’ from my funnel so that anyone can create an account, but only paid members can see the full course material. NEXT STEPS

With a lot more testimonials that have come in, a few tweaks to the training and a Perfect Webinar on route, I’ll be pushing cold traffic into both the Hidden Funnel and Perfect Webinar, plus testing a free PDF funnel in This funnel has only just been setup, with no email order to test which of the 3 gives me the lowest CPL sequence or Facebook ads retargeting but has the (cost per lead) and highest return. I look forward to sharing those results with you in a few months time.

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Article by Jason Akatiff

Metrics to Million Dollar Funnels.

“Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail”

In this article, we’ll talk about how we can synthesize the process of marketing down to a formulaic step by Benjamin Franklin step approach that will get you predictable results like you’ve never seen before.

Doesn’t it feel great when you find success?

This way we can see continued success time and time again.

Do you ever get frustrated by not being able to repeat it predictably? The only way I’ve been able to create over $500,000,000 in online sales and stay successful over Did you know you can have the best marketing skills like a 13-year period is by following predictable models that copywriting, designing, conversion rate optimization we’ve built over time. and still not predictably find consistent success on a large scale? I see a lot of people talking about doing things like taking massive action, learning copywriting, learning to As a speaker and owner of A4D.com a CPA network, build lists, etc. That’s all great, but all those things come I talk with 1,000’s of marketers & entrepreneurs all from building a strong marketing funnel where you can the time. Some have been doing it for years but still spend $1 and make $2. aren’t achieving their goals. They seem stuck on a hamster wheel doing the same thing over and over and Do you want to know the magic formula for making expecting a different result. this happen? You might be saying “but Jason, marketing is way too I bet you do… and there isn’t one. unpredictable… there’s no way you predictably get No matter what some douchey guru sells you as their results in a chaotic space like marketing.” flavor of the week, there’s some really simple basics It may feel like there’s so many unpredictable things strategies that never change. Learn these and you’ll in marketing that it would just not be possible consistently produce results. I’ve watched 30-50 trends to get to some level of predictability… but over the years of how some guru is telling people they’re this is not the case. going to get rich.

Our strong process starts with this very simple step… VOLUME 2

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That step is setting a goal for the funnel you’re building. Choosing your funnel steps. Then reverse engineering a model of how you’re going Let’s talk about picking a Layout, Flow or steps first. to make it happen. Typically, the best way to start this is just grab something To start, let’s go through an example of something most that’s already working in the marketplace. There’s a lot of places you can find these, for example: courses, of us do every day. forums but my favorite is looking into the real world Do you know how to drive a car? Good, I thought so. and doing what Russell Brunson calls Funnel Hacking. Stop and imagine yourself as the best driver in the Find someone that is buying a lot of advertising to their world. You know how to stop, go, turn, drift, etc, etc. funnel. How do you know someone is buying a lot of But you don’t know where you’re going… advertising to their funnel you ask? Easy; monitor some How useful are those skills if you don’t know where websites your consumer you’re going? would be reading daily. Then start to monitor the ads Would you jump in your car without having a clear that are running on those sites. If you see an ad running destination? We typically think of a clear destination for a long time there’s a strong chance this funnel is before ever thinking about getting in our car. Our car is working. just a tool to get us there. One thing to note as you go through this process is

to make sure you’re using “incognito mode” in your browser so you’re not getting any retargeting ads. When we think about using the car, the first thing we Retargeting ads, for those that don’t know, are ad do is pick a “specific” destination. Then we start to work networks that drop a cookie on your browser and target through the most efficient route to get to our specific you specifically again and again because you showed destination. interest in their product. In planning this route, we might consider things like If you’re a Clickfunnels user, you can just go to the road construction, traffic patterns and the speed limits Clickfunnels marketplace and most of the major of the roads we’re going to take. marketing flows are already out there. A funnel is the same thing.

With this in mind, we’re going to call this process of Once we’ve chosen our funnel steps, we’re going to planning our drive “the Framework”. want to build a financial model. And our Framework for building our funnel and Here’s the Magical Step most people miss. planning its success is going to have 2 parts. We have to build a simple financial model so we have 1. Layout or steps targets we’re trying to hit. 2. Financial model Set very achievable targets. I like to think of our model as a crossword puzzle. We What do I mean by this? Here’s a simple example. want to layout the box where things go. Then all the other skills you acquire, like copywriting and analytics, If we have a 2-step funnel will help you improve your odds of success. Sales Page -> Checkout Page->Thank You Page We’ll need to build a formula we think will be successful. Then once we build that formula we have clear targets to hit. We’re not going to just put it up and test. We’re going to have targets and make sure our financial model works “first”. To keep it simple, we’ll say we’re buying traffic from Facebook. Based on past experience, we know Facebook clicks cost on average, at scale, roughly $0.75. Now, I know there are

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people out there that are going to tell you you can get funnel work. But we definitely don’t want to go live with clicks for cheap… But we don’t care about that stuff. the funnel as it sits. Our goal is predictability. Some ideas of things we could do. So, we need to build our plan on things we can get • Make more profit per sale predictably and sustainably. • Increase the checkout conversion rate If we know we can get lots of clicks consistently and • Increase the sales page click thru rate sustainably at $0.75 cents, we’ll start there. • Add 1 click upsells to increase value In order for us to break even we’d need to earn $0.75 Now keep in mind we want to make sure we stick with for every click we send to our funnel. Does that make numbers that have a high probability of success. Don’t sense? say you’re going to get a 20% cart rate as there’s a low Funnel profit per click >= $0.75, >= means greater probability that’s going to happen. than or equal to Your forecasting gets more accurate over time. We said we were using a simple funnel with a sales The great part about working off a framework is that page that sends consumers to a checkout. With this, you can easily measure improvement and know where there are 3 things we need to look at. to put your effort. 1. Sales page click thru rate (CTR) I see people that don’t use planning and frameworks 2. Checkout conversion rate who typically keep starting over and building another 3. Average profit per checkout funnel vs. iterate through improvement. You want to create predictability in your marketing otherwise it’s all Knowing this, let’s go through an example. going to seem like a mystery as time goes on. If our sales page CTR is 30%, our checkout conversion As I’m sure you can imagine, once you’ve built 5-10 rate is 5% and our average profit per checkout is $20. funnels, run test traffic to them and get data, your Is this going to be profitable for us? predictability gets better and better. Let’s work through it. If 200 visitors come to our site. For this reason, we tend to stick to similar markets/ That means we’ll have 60 people land on our checkout personas (so we know click prices) and similar funnels page based on our 30% CTR. (so we know predictable steps). Now we have 60 people on our checkout page and 5% To get started, I highly suggest you go to some of your of those convert to sales. Which gives us roughly 3 sales older funnels and build models around them. for each 200 people that come to our site. In order to exercise this planning muscle, go to some of We know each sale is worth $20 profit for us. Therefore, your older funnels (winning and losing funnels) break we make $20 x 3 sales = $60 for each 200 clicks that them down and reverse plan them. go to our website. • What was the destination? This means we’re making $0.30 per click that comes • What was the click price? to our website… • What was the goal for each step? Then start to ask yourself at each step what could you Should we run this campaign? improve to make that funnel a winner? Remember our equation from above? If this is all a bit confusing for you. I’ll be putting the Is $0.30 >= $0.75? Sure isn’t, so that means we’d lose spreadsheet up on my blog at http://JasonAkatiff.com $.45 cents for every click we’d send to this funnel. Do so feel free to stop by and grab the spreadsheet and you want to lose that amount for every click you get? start a little planning. Didn’t think so. Now that we have a basic model, we can start to tweak things. There are multiple levers we can pull in order to make this

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Article by Jeff Hunter

The Best Social Media Funnel

Imagine if you were able to get thousands of Qualified Leads to your funnel every single week for FREE, without any software, monthly subscriptions or skills? I’m talking about leads who you already know would benefit from your product or service, not just random people that you “think” would be interested, or some look-alike audience. That’s exactly what is happening on Linkedin, practically the Wild West of the ONLY professional social platform. Ever since Microsoft purchased the platform for 26.2 Billion dollars, they have been adding new functionality to make it more appealing, and attract “professional” people to Linkedin.

Your own “Profile Page” is now one of the sexiest funnels out there, and completely free. Hold on tight, because I’m going to show you how to turn your profile into a lead generation funnel following these stupid simple 6 steps from top-to-bottom! 6 Steps to Optimizing Your Linkedin Profile: Step 1: The “HERO” Cover Photo & Profile Picture It’s pretty sad how much people waste the biggest and first-viewed part of their profile funnel, the cover photo. Make sure it conveys expertise, authority, and likability. Work in your company logo or brand colors along with it, higher-resolution the better. For me, I’m using a “Look Mom, I’m on TV” photo - you don’t need to have one, but if you do, it establishes instant authority. If you don’t have one, use the likability shot, to make people feel like you’re approachable. Make sure you have the answer to their problems in your cover-photo. Your “Profile Picture” should be your headshot. Make sure it’s bright, and clear, and people can recognize you easily from the photo, so don’t use one that doesn’t look like your everyday appearance. Ensure that it’s smiling, and appealing, remember - people need to feel a warm feeling when they look at it! Step 2: Secure Your Profile Link:

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You can edit your profile link (URL) to match your name. If you have a standard name (like I do) then use your middle. For example, I use: https://linkedin.com/ in/JeffJHunter - notice I use the “J” in my middle name

since there are hundreds of Jeff Hunters? (Seriously) Make sure to click the “Link” button on the media This is important, it’s claiming your stake, it’s owning sections of each, and drop them there! your own domain, and getting your own real estate on (Hint: You can change the words on the link, so adjust Linkedin. to fit your copy) Step 3: Your Headline Step 5: The BEST Social Proof on ANY Platform Ok, let’s not forget the #1 thing in marketing people care Could you imagine if on your personal Facebook about… themselves. So what do you offer them, why profile people could leave you reviews? Yeah, that’s should people use you or your product? What problem pretty much what “Recommendations” are on Linkedin. do you solve for them? Here’s your time to shine, the What’s the best way to get recommendations you say? “Headline”. The simple formula that works over and Simple, by giving them, and as an added bonus it’s over is “I do X for Y that results in Z” - example: “I Help an INCREDIBLE way to get traffic to your OWN Entrepreneurs Automate Their Sales Prospecting with Linkedin profile, because your headline will stand out Virtual Teams” Now there’s plenty of ways to say this when they read recommendations you leave on other using the same formula. I also like to throw in some Linkedin Profiles. personality, something provocative as a conversation starter, and of course emojis. (HINT: you can just copy (EXAMPLE: Here’s a couple left by my students, who and paste from Facebook, and they work on Linkedin) have obviously already taken my advice and getting Here’s my current status: Automate Your Sales & Business with Virtual Teams The King of Outsourcing Featured on CBS & Inc. Speaker The breakdown of this is simple, you can see that I help businesses automate their sales with virtual teams. I use my provocative title of the King of Outsourcing, and if you’ve been featured on any publications, or have done some speaking, go ahead, put it on there for some instant credibility. Oh yeah, and some incredible results on Linkedin!) emojis to go along with it! Step 6: Get Them OFF Linkedin Step 4: Calls-To-Action EVERYWHERE The best advice I can give anyone about converting There are three main areas you can put a Call-to- leads from Linkedin is simple, get them off of Linkedin. Action on your profile: Get them to your calendar, invite them to your Facebook or Linkedin Group, or maybe even ask them for a cup of coffee if they’re local! The faster you get someone to talk to you, the faster you get results. If you want to download my more in-depth step-bystep guide download it here: http://JeffJHunter.com/

1. Below your headline is a “Summary” in which you can add “Media” in the form of a link. Put your lead magnet, your calendar, or your website. That’s the top of the funnel offer! 2. In your “Articles” - you can hyperlink the content to your website, or anything else. You can also embed videos there to get people familiar with your message. 3. Your “Experience” which is where you list your positions - we’ll get into more of that in the next section.

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Article by Seth Greene

Does Funnel Design Matter?

ClickFunnels has made it so easy, even a caveman can This is below the fold: build a marketing funnel. Just because you CAN make a funnel, doesn’t mean it will actually work and get you into the two comma club overnight. It’s not just having the funnel that matters. You need the right funnel, with the right copy, and the right traffic, with the right DESIGN. Let me show you what I mean: This is the “funnel” one of our clients came to us with: This is above the fold on the home page:

This is the next scroll down:

And so on.

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That was the problem.

We drove literally thousands of clicks for them, of the right target market, but they weren’t getting sales. We had them install a heat map on their website so we could quantify the problem. They were getting hundreds of abandoned carts! That means people wanted to buy, but weren’t finishing the transaction. See if you can spot why:

Here’s the cart:

There’s a giant pop up that takes you AWAY from the cart! It isn’t even an upsell! It has nothing to do with the hearing amplification product! Here’s the analogy I used with them: You own a retail clothing store. A customer walks up the register with a $400 sweater. He hands the clerk his credit card. Before the clerk can swipe it, you run over, grab it out of the clerks hand, tell the customer, “Don’t but that yet! Come over here and get some coupons for groceries!” and then you drag them away from the register. We built them a new funnel, and a new cart, and now we are getting sales every day! See if you can spot the differences:

Want a free critique of how you can redesign your funnel for better results? Go to www.MarketDominationLLC.com

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Should You Consider Selling A Physical Version of Your Digital Only Product? Article by August Grebinski

Based on what my clients are telling me, the answer is an overwhelming yes! Believe it or not, many people don’t want to read a book on their computer or phone, especially when your demographic is above the age of 40.

black ink on the inside pages and a color cover is less then $4.00 for a quantity as low as 250. The one great thing about print is that as your volumes increase your price decreases, so the price can drop significantly with larger quantities.

A PEW survey conducted in 2016 shows that only 6% of So I’m printing a book, now how do I get it to my Americans are digital only book readers. (http://www. customers? You would set up your shopping cart with pewinternet.org/2016/09/01/book-reading-2016/) an API (Application Programming Interface) from your print/fulfillment partner. This allows you to maintain A couple of things to consider: perceived value is higher the customer experience through your site. You collect for a physical product and you also create a higher level the money online like you currently do for your digital of credibility with a physical book or DVD. In addition, only products. The only difference is that the customer’s physical products have a significantly lower return rate. order information goes to the print/fulfillment partner. Of the over 1.5 million orders we shipped last year, less The physical product is then shipped to your client. than 1.7% of the orders were returned. Tracking information is sent to your customer, this way Believe it or not, we ship hundreds of thousands of the customer can check on their order and not tie up DVDs for our clients as well each year. Not everyone is your customer service team. “tech savvy” and understands what it takes to hook their A physical book is also a killer strategy for acquiring computer up to their TV, and that’s even if they have free customers. Give the customers the book for free the proper technology in place. Watching an exercise and they cover shipping and handling with digital video on a 60” screen is a bit more exhilarating than OTOs on the back end. So sell not just the physical but watching on a 12” laptop or tablet or worse yet, a 4” cell the digital too! phone screen. Ok, that’s great, but isn’t it expensive to print a book? It’s probably a lot less than you think. The cost would depend on the amount of color you have in the book and the quantity ordered. For instance, a 200 page 6”x 9” book with

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3 Steps To Quickly Make Money Online Using ClickFunnels Article by Blake Nubar

Unless you’re living under a rock, then I’m sure you’ve seen the rise in popularity from ClickFunnels over the past year. This software is an absolute beast when it comes to granting anyone the ability to build an online presence in no time flat. With that being said, I want to show you the power behind this incredibly powerful tool and how you can use it to make money online in a short amount of time. So, to jump right in, here are 3 easy steps to making money online using ClickFunnels: Step 1 – Pick Your Product

enter. Voilà, you are shown the best-selling products this marketplace is offering! One of the coolest things about selling someone else’s product is that they set you up for success as best as possible by offering you the tools needed to make sales. What do I mean by this? Well, they don’t just give you access to their product to sell, they also equip you with Facebook ads, headlines, emails, images, etc… that actually work to convert prospects into paying customers. Basically, they get you to third base and it’s your job to punch it home.

Once you have your product picked, it’s time to build a Not sure what to sell online? No problem! There are landing page thousands of businesses that already exist with products Step 2 – Build Your Landing Page and services already built out, waiting for people like you and me to come along the way and help sell them. Now, most of the time when you choose a product off ClickBank, the leg work has been done for you with the When I first started out, I had ZERO clue as to what sales funnel, so what you will want to focus on is the I could sell or how I could even build what it was I page that comes before you send people to learn more wanted to sell. Luckily, I didn’t really need to worry too about the product itself. This page can come in many much about that because there is already an enormous different forms but here are a few great ones to start marketplace called ClickBank that is full of thousands with: of products waiting to be sold. What I needed to focus on was trends and trajectory, aka, what are the hottest • Squeeze Pages selling products right now and how long did I think they • Lead Magnet Pages would be “hot” for? • Pre-Sell Pages • Pre-Frame Bridges So, I did some research to see what was selling online right now. Here’s a secret…To see the most I like to use a squeeze page here unless the product I’m popular products selling on ClickBank, promoting has items I can give away for free. In that visit their website marketplace, case, I’ll use one of them as a lead magnet in exchange place your cursor inside the for their name and email. search bar, and click A squeeze page is a very simple page with one goal in VOLUME 2 mind – get somebody to give you their email address. FUNNEL MAGAZINE

The way to do this is to use curiosity in your headline so when someone lands on the page, they surrender their info and receive the answer on the next page (being the product sales letter you send them to). So, if you are selling a weight loss supplement, your headline could read something like: “The #1 Mistake Every Dieter Is Making”

Joint Ventures If you have a budget to work with then this is a great option to use. If you don’t, then you will want to try organically with traffic you don’t control. Effective strategies here will be utilizing things like: Facebook Groups

Then once they opt-in, they will land in the sales funnel • SEO • Blogging for that product, hopefully making a purchase. • YouTubing Keep this page really simple. Avoid any links that take • Podcasting them off the page or any unnecessary distractions. Remember, the goal is to get their email so keeping These are great outlets to get the word out on the them focused on the curiosity is key. product you are selling and how it can help others achieve a desired result. This is the step where ClickFunnels comes into place. ClickFunnels lets people like you and me build any type Using our weight loss supplement as an example, of funnel with absolutely no coding experience. Plus, it’s to get some awareness, join some groups geared super easy and fun to use! This is the software you will around fitness and look to help out others who are need to build out your first squeeze page. experiencing a problem your product solves. If you see someone posting, looking for advice, be the person Side note: One really cool thing about ClickFunnels to help him/her out by offering free value, eventually is they have an awesome marketplace full of already informing them of the product you’re selling. This is a built funnels, designed by the top designers in the great approach to build relationships with individuals community. So, if you want to have something up who are searching for solutions you have. and running in a matter of minutes, you can visit the marketplace and just purchase any type of funnel you Bringing it all together, remember you first need to want! How cool is that? pick your product. Make sure it’s something you believe in and have used yourself. You want to stand behind Excellent, so now you have your product, and your the things you sell so choose something you have landing page all set up. All that’s left is to get some confidence in. Second, build your landing page using eyeballs to your page. ClickFunnels. It is the most robust page builder on the internet to date. It will get you where you need to be Step 3 – Drive Traffic to start generating sales. And third, drive traffic. If you The final step is to get visitors to your page. If you can afford to put money into paid ads then go for have ever read DotComSecrets you know that Russell it, but if you are looking for a leaner approach there Brunson did a great job of explaining the different are many alternative solutions to gain awareness. By types of traffic, But let me reiterate… following these three steps and putting in some work you will be well on your way to making money online There are 3 types: using ClickFunnels. 1. Traffic you control 2. Traffic you don’t control 3. Traffic you own Assuming you are starting from scratch, we are only going to focus on the first two. Traffic you control is just as it sounds. It is any kind of traffic you have the ability to tell what to do. This includes things like: • Email Ads • Banner Ads • PPC Ads Social Media Ads (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc…)

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How to 10X the Power of ClickFunnels Article By Janis Pettit

If you’re an expert, consultant or service provider here is a way to power up your ClickFunnels results. I’ve used ClickFunnels for a while, but my team and I kept searching for a way to create a more powerful lead generation and conversion system that was comprehensive. For most experts and service based entrepreneurs, lead generation and conversion are the biggest challenges they face. I’ve seen many people build a nice funnel but then not be clear on how to make it work for them. We used to build funnels inside our website but once we discovered ClickFunnels we found it so much easier to use, and it had so many wonderful features that we stuck with it.

out some pages and then try to get some traffic. We’ve done a lot of trial and error, and below you will find what we’ve found to be a winner of a system if you want to generate high-paying clients month after month. It links 4 Powerful Marketing Methods into an integrated system that delivers powerful results. 1. Social Media (specifically LinkedIn and Facebook) 2. An Automated Webinar Funnel That Grabs Attention and Converts 3. Email Drip Campaigns and Video Email

4. Discovery Phone Calls So in my recently released book, The Client Multiplier Method: How to Build a Highly Profitable Consulting PREPARE: Identify your target market and build Business….That Makes an Impact, I reveal the method your avatar that is working for us and our clients to bring in high paying clients month after month. Many consultants and coaches (or any business) build a funnel before they’ve done the preparation work necessary to make it successful. This is the KEY to making it fill your business with leads and new clients. See I made the same mistake! And I’ve been at this a long time. It’s easy to get excited about a new product or service, build

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Who is your best, most qualified client? What industry are they in? What is their position or title? What is their age range or gender? Where are they located? What is their education level? Now make up a person that has those characteristics and write your funnel pages as if you were having a conversation with that person. So for example, I work with brilliant experts who are over 40, and who want to turn their expertise into a bold business that makes an impact. I work primarily with women, but with enlightened men as well. They are college educated and motivated. They are often solopreneurs or small companies with under 20 employees. Connect on LinkedIn and Facebook

to opt-in to our funnel, and to schedule a discovery call. These emails get a 40% to 65% open rate! If there is someone we really want to meet because we think they’re a great lead we even send them a personal video email using a Google Chrome video email extension. Start to grab attention and get a response with your emails. The Funnel Our funnel consists of: • A book download opt-in page • A thank you page where they’re invited to opt-in to attend an interactive Master Class. • If they opt-in for that, the next page asks them to identify where they are in their business. • That takes them to a page inviting them to a strategy call. Once they opt-in, they are also put into a follow up email sequence using Infusionsoft.

This funnel consistently brings in several high 4-figure clients each month. Some turn into 5-figure clients. And We get all of our clients from LinkedIn and Facebook. that’s just ONE funnel. On LinkedIn do an advanced search for the people you identified as your target market, for example “HR The key to making The Client Multiplier Method work Consultants anywhere in the US”. LinkedIn allows you is in communicating in a language that will specifically to directly connect with anyone who is a 2nd level grab the attention of your target market. This means connection. Send them a personal note asking them everything from your connection messages in LinkedIn, to connect. We have specific automation tools and to your funnel page content, to your emails and videos. templates we use to get the maximum number of new connections. Follow up with a “thanks for connecting” message that asks a key question that will get a response so you can start a conversation. We also use Facebook groups and ads to send people into the same funnel with the same results. Migrate to an Email Campaign and Video Email Next we extract these new connections to Nimble.com - a social CRM and cold emailing platform, and we put them into a short email campaign designed to get them QUARTER 2

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The Rise of Bitcoin & Blockchain Technology Article by Jonathan Foltz

This story begins with a pseudonym that is taking the When paying with credit cards, we have about six touch world by storm... points and sometimes the full transaction takes about 6-7 days for the money to go from one end to another! Satoshi Nakamoto. Not to mention the fees applied for use of this service This is the name behind Bitcoin, an increasingly that can range from 2-5%. These same credit cards and popular cryptocurrency that has gained the attention bank accounts can also be restricted on the whim of of countries and financial institutions from all around any central authority - none of which apply to Bitcoin. the globe. Does this really feel like the modern age 21st century we The decentralized digital currency was first released were promised? back in 2009 as an open-source software that anyone Not to worry, something far greater lies ahead of what could download, use, and improve upon as they see fit. currently meets the eye. The real identity behind Satoshi Nakamoto is still This disruptive technology is called Blockchain. Some unknown. Is the creator a single person or a group of people are going as far as calling this the next paradigm people? Is it a government, financial entity, evil genius, shift on our planet, the internet’s upgrade, or even Web or someone else entirely? Perhaps Satoshi Nakamoto 3.0. represents a movement to take mankind off the current controlled fiat currency system we have all been Harvard Business Review describes blockchain as, “an accustomed to being controlled by. open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and Regardless of who or what Satoshi Nakamoto truly is, permanent way.” one thing we do know is that Bitcoin is disrupting the way today’s financial systems operate and do business. I would describe it as a system that enables an This is evidenced by the frequent downtalking of exchange of actual information and value from one Bitcoin by the same financial institutions that are trying entity to another with decentralized verification from to replicate it, still unable (or more likely, unwilling) to the community. achieve the same uncensorable magic that makes it so This new system allows for commerce and value to be unique. exchanged between parties without the need of an I mean c’mon now… Who wouldn’t want to be able to intermediary. trade without the endless amounts of entities and Just like the internet and email allows us to send a intermediaries that are in between all sales message instantly without having to relay messages taking a share of their own, making us through phone calls, notes, or letters (yes, we used to wait longer, and tracking our every pass letters and notes around at one point!), blockchain action? is going to let us transact like never before. It will allow us to make peer-to-peer transactions, buy services, shop VOLUME 2

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online, and even perform real estate deals, without While utilizing the blockchain, how are cryptocurhaving these controlling and intrusive intermediaries rencies a game changer for commerce? such as banks, credit card companies, lawyers, and so Imagine a borderless transaction model without the much more. need of all these intermediaries like Authorize.net, Could you imagine the speed, lack of fees, ease of use, Paypal, Stripe and many others that have high fees and trustworthiness? and do not allow “anyone” to transact directly with each other. “How is it trustworthy?” you may ask. For example, imagine a genius child prodigy in Blockchain is a new type of trust protocol that works Nigeria that has access to the internet and its wealth of something like a distributed database. When you knowledge, information, and possibilities. record a transaction on a blockchain, it stores it in a way that makes it difficult for one party or even a He learns about e-commerce, internet marketing, conspiracy of parties to alter. What’s more, if you run affiliate marketing, social media agencies, and the a contract on a blockchain, it will execute exactly as wide array of opportunities that just about anyone can written. A ledger of transactions holds all information get themselves into these days. He has the knowledge, in the blockchain, and it cannot be changed or erased, he now has the tools, but how in the hell is he supposed making blockchain even safer than dealing with these to get a payment processor to take him in? intermediaries that theoretically could change files to their advantage - a real world problem we have today. In the not so distant future, it will not matter where he is from, how old he is, if nearby or foreign banks will Two separate parties with a blockchain smart contract allow him to open a payment gateway to transact with do not even have to trust each other, they need only the rest of the world or not. He will be able to do this trust that their contract will execute exactly according without permission and in a fraction of the time. to plan. Not only will he be able to transact at great speeds but This is all now possible and new possibilities are he will be able to have money directly transferred to blossoming, only accelerating, creating a new model and from his crypto wallet instantly, so he can always that will reshape the world as we see it today. have funds on hand to buy his family clothes or food at a nearby store. So, how could I be so sure that blockchain will be… revolutionary? We are actually coming to a point where this young boy will even be able to raise capital to fund his new There is one thing that stands above it all and this is efforts through something called an ICO. that the smartest minds on the planet are working on blockchain and its future. Not just working on it, but According to Investopedia, an ICO or initial coin going ALL IN on it! offering is an unregulated means by which funds are raised for a new cryptocurrency venture. An ICO is “Ask me where the future is and I will lead you there used by startups to bypass the rigorous and regulated through those that have always lead the way” - Phoebus capital-raising process required by venture capitalists Castor or banks. In an ICO campaign, a percentage of the cryptocurrency is sold to early backers of the project in exchange for legal tender or other cryptocurrencies, but usually for Bitcoin. ICO’s may accelerate ventures in a way that our world has never seen before. Age, background, ethnicity, and geographic location need not apply and will no longer hold back innovative and creative ideas from being funded.

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ICO’s (Initial Coin Offerings) are similar but yet distinctly different from IPO’s (Initial Public Offerings).

a token buyer. (In this new ICO market, we are seeing more sellers right after coins are public which gives cryptocurrencies and tokens great “An initial public offering (IPO) is the first time that the volatility.) stock of a private company is offered to the public. IPOs • Almost anyone can participate in token sales are often issued by smaller, younger companies seeking (for any countries that have yet to put absolute capital to expand, but they can also be done by large or strict regulations in place against ICO’s.) privately owned companies looking to become publicly traded. In an IPO, the issuer obtains the assistance of an underwriting firm, which helps determine what The similarities: type of security to issue, the best offering price, the • They are both methods of capitalizing projects amount of shares to be issued and the time to bring it • This is the first time participation in these to market.”, - Investopedia projects are being “offered” to the public - ICO’s Right now we are looking at a craze of ICO’s popping through coins and IPO’s through fiat currency. up with new evolving and emerging technologies to run • This is a way for companies/startups to raise on the blockchain, some with no other purpose but to capital to take their business, technologies, raise money. Which is why the Securities and Exchange ideas, and innovations to the next level. Commission (SEC) is issuing words of caution to investors and start-ups looking at these “alternative With how fast things are moving right now, by the time coins”. (Some people are also calling the coins tokens, you have read this article there may have already been cryptos, or coinage) changes made within the USA and worldwide policies with regards to crypto, tokens, and ICO’s. Some differences between ICO’s & IPO’s comes to mind: We have already seen several major countries make decisions on what to do with crypto (for now, ha ha). IPO’s: South Korea financial regulators announced in mid • A lot of IPO’s are operated by businesses that December 2017 that “Cryptocurrencies will not have have usually grown to a high enough level that further regulation passed what was announced the they are in need of high stakes capital to take week prior” but warns investors and the public against the business to a much bigger arena. the dangers. They are currently working on drafting • Investment in companies that plan on operating up the framework on how to properly collect taxes an IPO is usually only available to institutional on cryptocurrency trading transactions as stated by or high income investors. (Could you imagine Cointelegraph.com having the chance to participate in investing in Facebook or other amazing startups in their (Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/south-koreainfant stages?) fss-cryptocurrency-not-actual-currency-should-not-be• Although an investor for an IPO can get a regulated) return on their investment once the company Japan has first mover’s advantage with actually goes public, they are usually in it for the longer legalizing Bitcoin. In September, they officially game. recognized eleven cryptocurrency operators. (Source: ICO’s: • Many ICO’s are operated by fresh new companies or older ones accessing a new arena of business, usually done on the blockchain or with some sort of decentralization. • Investors or token contributors can sell tokens they purchased during their initial investment almost immediately upon the coins coming to market, as long as they can find

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https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/22/bitcoin-china- Trust me, it’s never too late to learn but sooner is better singapore-japan-issue-cryptocurrency-warnings.html) than later because we are evolving fast! While China, wanting full control, banned bitcoin Start off by learning about Bitcoin, progress into trading and ICO’s in mid September. broader cryptocurrencies, and then slowly integrate into blockchain technology - a brand new world will Many reports and rumors said that despite the ban, start to open up. the country’s trading volume has actually increased by 250%. (Source: http://www.scmp.com/tech/ Take everything with a grain of salt and watch out for innovation/article/2125282/chinas-bitcoin-crackdown- the non-balanced teachers, teachings, and reports. raises-cryptocurrency-demand-they-move-peer) The best mind is the one that can see both sides of the A lot of this back-end trading is being done through spectrum. localbitcoins.com, the darknet, virtual private networks The advantages and disadvantages always live (VPNs), and other ways people have found around the simultaneously and one does not exist without the government ban. other. A good balance between the two brings not only This was another great example of what was promised greater observation but more balanced recognition by many about Bitcoin, that cryptocurrencies and the and decision making. blockchain cannot be stopped by any one person, Observe closely my friends, as exponential growth in group or even government entities (for now). this space will have massive change on technology as So, what can we do to participate in this “blockchain we know it. revolution”? First and foremost, become educated. Nothing is worse than a great mind led astray by false idols or squandered by social media. With how new this space is and with the large quantities of money being thrown into it, you will have vast quantities of keyboard warriors and get rich quick soldiers running around.

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How to Create the Perfect Lead Magnet Article by Kate McKnight

What if you had an email list chock full of thousands of your ideal audience is desperate for stumps many high-quality prospects? marketers and business owners. What if you could generate double the leads you are So, if you’re eager to craft a lead magnet that your right now - at half the cost? ideal prospects can’t resist, keep reading. In this article, we’ll cover the 5 pillars of the perfect lead magnet so And how about never having to lie awake worrying you can create your own by the end of today. about where your next paying client or customer is coming from ever again? What Is a Lead Magnet? Good news is, you don’t have to imagine it because it’s Before we dive into the strategies behind building your all 100% possible with the perfect lead magnet in play! lead magnet, it’s critical to know what one is and why you need it in your business. A lead magnet is something of value - educational, useful, and/or entertaining - offered for free in exchange for a prospect’s email address. This could be a checklist, a cheat sheet, a free training video, anything your ideal client or customer would find relevant and valuable. But right now, the format is secondary to the quality of content someone experiences when they opt in for your lead magnet. Here’s why you want to create the perfect one: You can create your lead magnet ONCE and use it While the idea of the “lead magnet” is nothing new over and over and over again to magnetically attract (even Albert Einstein was using his version of it back your ideal clients and customers like clockwork. in 1902 to snag private tutoring clients), the Your lead magnet is the gateway to your brand. process of actually creating something It’s your first real chance to blow away someone who might end up working with you with the incredible value, knowledge, and expertise you bring to market. VOLUME 2

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When done right, your lead magnet will allow you to You’re using this tool to build a list of people who could attract your IDEAL audience and separate your dream be your dream clients, so don’t miss this chance to clients from the chaff. WOW them with value from the beginning. That’s because your lead magnet targets a certain type of person based on the content you create. For example, if you’re a Facebook ads specialist looking to attract high-end clients who want you to run their campaigns, a checklist on how to set up business manager vs. a checklist on advanced targeting with Audience Insights will attract 2 very different types of people.

Your prospect should finish consuming your lead magnet and think…

By creating the kind of gated content your dream client or customer wants from the very start, you’ll be able to attract those types of people into the top of your funnel with ease. From there, you can move them down the funnel into your paid products, programs, and services.

Does your lead magnet speak to the relevant needs and desires of your ideal prospect?

“Holy crap! I can’t believe she’s giving this away for FREE! If the free stuff is this good, I wonder what the paid stuff is like!” Pillar #2: It’s Desirable

People don’t buy products, services, features, or even benefits. They buy transformation.

Your lead magnet opens the door to long-term Quick example: People buying weight loss products aren’t really buying them to lose an extra 20 pounds. (profitable) relationships. That’s just a nice side effect. Your lead magnet also gives you the ability to build an email list of prospective buyers whom you can follow What people are really buying is the feeling of up with for free anytime you want. The relationship confidence they’ll have when they hit the beach this you build via email will move people further down your summer without feeling the need to hide under baggy funnel, ultimately turning subscribers into loyal, raving t-shirts and cover ups. In other words, they’re buying the transformation from the state they’re in now fans who buy whatever you’re selling. (uncomfortable in their own skin) to the state they truly (The money’s in the list and the fortune is in the follow desire (confident, secure, and happy). up and all that jazz). By speaking to the desired transformation of your ideal Plus, the more effective and irresistible your lead clients and customers, you can create an irresistible magnet is, the more optins you’ll get, which means lead magnet. more leads at a lower price. And we could all use a little So, how do you tap into your dream clients’ deepest more money in our pocket, amiright? desires? Answer these questions: Enough about the what and the why. Let’s dive into HOW you can create the perfect lead magnet your • What has them up at 3am feeling frustrated, worried, or anxious? dream clients and customers will be begging for! • What’s the most urgent, pressing crisis your The 5 Pillars of the Perfect Lead Magnet: ideal client is facing right now that you can help solve right away? Pillar #1: It’s Valuable • What would you tell your ideal client if they Would someone gladly pay money for what you’re called you up about this situation right now? about to give away for free? (Share high-level steps - “what” you would do, but not “how” you would do it.) Remember, your lead magnet is the first step in getting • What do they complain about the most when someone into your funnel. It’s where you get a chance with friends or family? (not enough money? to make a stellar first impression with your brand. This Feeling out of shape? Hating their job? Not means your lead magnet should have a high perceived living their true purpose or passion?) value and a high actual value. • What does your ideal client want more than anything? This doesn’t mean you have to spend hundreds of dollars on flashy graphics and branding (although • What pain are they trying to avoid? good design can’t hurt). This does mean that you should be totally confident in the quality of content and results your lead magnet delivers. QUARTER 2

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Use the answers to these questions to outline 3-5 highlevel steps your ideal client can take immediately to get one step closer to their desired state of transformation. These steps will form the meaty content of your lead magnet while delivering a “quick win” that motivates your prospect to take your next offer! Here’s a great example from marketer Julie Stoian, who helps her ideal audience of service-based business owners overcome their frustrations with closing leads and sending proposals with 3 steps, or secrets:

See how simple and specific this lead magnet is? It’s not the ultimate guide to sales calls for everyone who is unfortunate enough to have to do sales calls… It’s for one specific person (an agency owner). It addresses a specific problem/question (what to say on the sales call to create powerful positioning). And it speaks to a desired end result (being positioned as the BEST instead of competing on price). Remember: You can’t solve all of your ideal prospect’s problems in one fell swoop. At least not yet. Instead, give your ideal prospects a tiny taste of what you can do for them by zeroing in on one big idea, one big promise, or one specific question they already have. The perfect lead magnet works like free samples at the food court. Once someone gets a taste of what you can offer, they’ll be coming back to you for more and more. Pillar #4: It’s Easy to Consume Pillar #3: It’s Specific

Can someone easily digest the content of your lead magnet in 5-10 minutes? Or does it feel like work?

Ideally, a lead magnet can be experienced within 5 Are you laser focused on one specific promise for one minutes. Too much longer and there’s a good chance specific person? no one will actually read or use what you’ve created Our brains can only process so much information at - which means you’ve wasted your time and your once. Your prospects don’t want to know everything prospects aren’t getting any value from you. that’s inside your head - they just want to be presented Consumability also means your lead magnet should with a single, useful idea, promise, or answer that could leave the prospect instantly feeling better, simply make their life/business/health/relationships better because they consumed it. right now. It’s easy to leave someone more frustrated and stressed Plus, the more specific you are with your lead magnet, out than before if you overwhelm with a lead magnet the easier it is to speak directly to your ideal client. that is either too long and difficult to digest or provides Here’s an example from my Facebook too few details. You can avoid this by using more digestible formats like video, one or 2-page pdfs, and newsfeed this morning: quality design.

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If you’re in a field where it makes sense, one of the best formats to use for easy consumption are templates. By giving someone a “fill-in-the-blank” template they can simply swipe and deploy for fast results, your lead magnet is automatically more attractive because it feels easy - not overwhelming. Take this example from Grace Lever, for instance:

pull out their credit card and pay you, then you need to ensure your lead magnet is congruent with any ascension offers you make in your follow-up emails. You can easily do this by starting with your core offer. What’s the main, flagship product, program, or service you offer? Next, think of how you can break that down into baby steps or splinter off smaller pieces that will naturally lead someone to take you up on that offer in the future once the know, like, and trust factor has been established. Bonus Tip:

Add a low-dollar ascension offer at the end of your lead magnet AND to your thank you page if that offer will help your prospects get results more easily or more quickly. This second, low-dollar offer (or “tripwire”) shifts the relationship with your prospect and increases their commitment level, taking them further into your funnel. Pillar #5: It’s Sequential Just make sure what you’re asking for makes sense after Does your lead magnet pre-frame people to work with what they’ve just opted in for! you? Ready to Build Your Business on Autopilot? Don’t waste time creating a gorgeous, 10-page pdf full of valuable tips… IF it doesn’t seamlessly and subtly With the right lead magnet and funnel in place, you lead prospects to take the next step along your value can start generating leads and sales on autopilot. Instead of feast or famine, you’ll enjoy a predictable ladder. stream of steady leads that you can qualify and build a You must always keep the customer journey and your relationship with for free, creating an audience of loyal, value ladder in the back of your mind when creating paying clients and customers. any offer, especially the very first entry point offer. Figuring out what your ideal audience wants might seem daunting at first, but creating the perfect lead magnet doesn’t have to be hard. Just check these 5 pillars off your list to craft a winner: • • • • •

The lead magnet is just the first step in your relationship. If you want to continue building that relationship, providing value, and ultimately getting someone to

Make it valuable. Make it desirable. Make it specific. Make it easy to consume. Make it sequential.

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3 Tips on how you can use ClickFunnels effectively starting today. Article by John Chandler

If you are on the lookout for a landing page builder, you have probably come across a few. Some to mention are LeadPages, Unbounce and ClickFunnels. If you think ClickFunnels is just another landing page builder, you are wrong! ClickFunnels is far from that.

clients. ClickFunnels has a very active and supportive community. By posting in their Facebook group and asking to see others examples, there is no doubt you will get a good number of responses within a few hours! Here is a link to join the official ClickFunnels Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ ClickFunnels allows you to build your entire funnel, from ClickFunnels one interface. One tool. One price. B. Searching Google for funnels built in ClickFunnels – But in the digital marketing communities, I see a lot of Another way I find inspiration for landing pages, is by people asking how ClickFunnels can help them build a using Google site search coupled with a keyword to find winning funnel. other pages in my niche built on ClickFunnels! Here’s In this article, I will explain 3 ways you should be using how: ClickFunnels to help you create a winner. Simply go to Google.com and in the search bar type site:clickfunnels.com and add your keyword after it, to 1. Look at examples which were built on find pages built in ClickFunnels, matching the keyword ClickFunnels before building your own. you entered. Here is an example: I see a lot of business owners design their own landing pages and the biggest problem I see with them is they are simply not optimized for conversions. There are two ways you can find examples of landing pages built in ClickFunnels. A. By becoming a member and asking others in the ClickFunnels Facebook Group – This is by far one of the best ways to see what others are doing with their businesses. It also opens you up to seeing how a lot of marketing professionals and agencies are building funnels for their

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2. Make sure you are split-testing everything where possible!

first. This is known as giving instant, up front value to your audience at no cost to them. For them to obtain this information, you would generally ask them to optThis is an important one. Whenever a client comes to in with their email address in exchange for the valuable us and explains that they have been building their own information. funnel, we almost always notice that they have not used the split-test function and if they have, they haven’t After completing this step, you can then deliver content been using it correctly. focused emails to your audience. These can be blog posts, case-studies etc. This is a great way of engaging The idea of split-testing is to optimize your page and with your audience and building their trust. It helps see what does and/or doesn’t work. A split-test is a v2 of them grow their intent to purchase with you. your page and you can determine the % of traffic you would like to send to it. In general, a 50% / 50% split Just by adding that step, you are already making your is best for measuring the statistics to find the winning funnel bigger and not only that, you are making it variant. better. The reason the above works in many scenarios is because you cannot expect cold visitors coming to your When we see people split-testing, they normally landing page to spend money with you if they have change a few elements on v2 of the page and run never heard of your product before. with it. Please DO NOT do this. If you make too many changes v2 could be the champion, but you changed By using ClickFunnels, you can build a multi-step funnel various elements which means you would never know starting with what we call a “Lead Magnet” – this is a what really made the difference. piece of valuable, relevant content which is offered to your audience in exchange for their email address. Instead, just change one element on the page. It could be the headline text or the color of a button on the ClickFunnels also offers an autoresponder and email page, but just change one. After this, you need to allow marketing platform called Actionetics. Using this tool, a good number of visitors to visit v2 before deciding if you will be able to easily follow up with your leads and it is a winner. deliver content driven emails to them including blog posts, case studies and more. Once you have had a healthy number of visitors pass through both variations of your page, you will then be Once you have built a good relationship and able to measure and decide which is the champion. engagement with your audience, you will then be able ClickFunnels provides a very easy way to setup a split- to start offering them your product as they will be more test and an easy way to see the stats and winning aware of your brand and business. variant. These are 3 simple ways you can make ClickFunnels 3. Make sure you have a funnel and not just a sales work for your business. If you have not tried ClickFunnels page. before, you should sign up for their 14-day free trial. On top of this, to get the most of the 14-day free trial, make This one is common. We see this a lot. We see people sure to check out our free video training on building posting in communities asking why their funnel isn’t your first funnel with ClickFunnels to help you get going working and most of the time it is because all they have fast and make ClickFunnels work for you! is a sales page and a thank you page. The problem with this is that they are running a cold traffic ad to these pages and the audience does not know their business or brand. When we start building a funnel for a client whose brand is not well known by their audience, we build a funnel to help establish a relationship with their audience first. This is done by using content driven and relevant information that is given or distributed to the audience

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Stop Blending In and Start Standing Apart Article by Kri Gentile

THE WORLD IS YOUR STAGE

No one’s watching you. Yet.

What will you say?

Unfortunately, the whole world isn’t eagerly waiting to see what you’ll say or do. They’re too busy doing their Imagine you’re getting ready for a big event. We’re own thing. talking the-whole-world-is-watching big. You need to splash water in their face, grab them by the And at this event, you’ll be on stage, presenting a topic shoulders and say, “LOOK AT ME!” you know best. Gone are the days when you could piece together a What will you say? quick logo, slap it on a basic webpage and call it a day. Will you be funny, or stick to serious? That, my friends, is what we call “internet wallpaper.” What will you wear? In order to stand out, gain brand recognition, and leave a lasting impression, you need a signature brand Smart? Casual? Smart casual? presence that embodies your values, personality, and How will you keep people from unlocking their phones style. and drifting off? You could try your luck with an “affordable” freelancing These are all questions you’d need to ask yourself. And website, and piece together your creative $5 at a time. know the answers to. Or you could hire that friend who’s currently studying The reality is, presenting your business online is no graphic design. different. The internet is your stage and your online The thing is, you don’t get a second chance at makpresence is how you present yourself to the world. ing a first impression. No pressure…

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Take the time (and make the investment) to give your brand the attention it deserves. Make it attractive to those who will take the time to look at it. You can’t afford not to. Here are 7 Simple Steps to Create an Online Presence that Will Attract Perfect Customers, Allow you to Breakfree From Competition and Make your Brand Stand Apart

1. Feed their Needs Remember, you’re human. And so are your customers.

If two companies sell essentially the same thing, what makes them different?

Their “Attractive Character.” All relationships have one thing in common - an emotional connection. Here’s an example using two different shoe companies. When you’re selling yourself or your business to the • Company A’s purpose is to provide women with world, you have to find others who relate to your beliefs, business casual footwear, values, vision and mission on a deeper level. while Company B’s purpose is to provide women with high fashion stilettos. Nobody responds to generic sales pitches. We all want • Company A’s perspective is to solve the pain to feel like we’re understood and we’re speaking to a women feel from walking in heels, human. while Company B’s perspective is to design the most photogenic, beautiful shoes. The most effective way to connect with others is on an • Company A’s principles are based around emotional level. looking good, but feeling better, Understand your ideal customers inside and out, and while Company B’s principles are based around give them what they need. designer, avant-garde fashion and art. The more you do, the better you’ll be able to connect with them, and the more quality customers you’ll attract. Customers will buy into the culture around your brand. They’ll associate with your products, and may even Once you understand your customers’ hopes, fears and become more like the personality you create. dreams, you’ll need to help them break their old beliefs, Almost every major brand has an “Attractive Character.” and show them a better way. Yours. • Progressive Insurance has “Flow” who depicts a lifestyle that is easy, vibrant and smart. The second way to stand apart online is to make • Geico has the gecko who can thrive in any yourself genuinely relatable. environment, as long as he has good company - he depicts a lifestyle that is full of savings and You want to determine what the marketing world calls, simplicity. your “Attractive Character.” • Starbucks has their elite, exclusive, classic, iconic This is your brand persona that your audience will find attributes. attractive and want to follow. • Dunkin Donuts has its neighborhood, friendly, welcoming attributes. This is where you embed personality into your brand assets. Your brand needs a personality to which your audience There are 3 Personality Pillars that need to be can relate. determined for you to develop a powerful, attractive character in a way that relates to your ideal customers. If you’re stuck wondering how to create yours, ask yourself, how do I want my brand to be remembered? You must be aware of your 3 Personality Pillars: Write down each characteristic and start building your • Brand Purpose attractive character. • Brand Perspective 3. Create an Intentional Visual Brand Identity • Brand Principles At Kriativ Co., our FAVORITE way to stand apart Your brand personality should intentionally become a online is through brand identity. part of everything that your business produces - your logo, website, social media, online presence, digital One of the first steps to success begins with your logo, color scheme, font selections and imagery. advertising and everything the customer encounters. 2. Reflect Your Personality

It’s how people will remember you and identify with Most people underestimate what it takes to do this well. But there’s a reason your brand. professional designers know The best “Attractive Characters” create a sense of culture that buyers want to associate with. QUARTER 2 FUNNELMAGAZINE.COM

how to craft polished, professional looking brands; they Your logo and brand identity can shape the perceived are creatively skilled and went through years of training value of an object, based on brand recognition alone, and learning. within seconds. Once you know your target audience, and your “Attractive Character,” I’d suggest leaving it up to a professional designer to build a unique brand identity that represents your business with pride, honor and a well-defined purpose. Craft an Iconic Logo

Here are some things to consider when crafting your brand identity. Consider Your Color Scheme Colors have deep emotional connections associated with them that move people in different ways. Get it right, and they can work powerfully for you. Get it wrong, and you’re asking people to move along. Here’s a quick break-down displaying the psychology and mental triggers associated with each color. Red: energetic, sexy, bold, pause, stop, immediacy, attention, Associated brands: Coca Cola, ESPN, Red Bull, Target, GNC, Ferrari Orange: action, youthful, promise

enthusiastic,

creative,

friendly,

A logo is one of the most powerful brand assets you Associated brands: Nickelodeon, Harley-Davidson, could have. Blogger A good logo for a strong brand will immediately spark Yellow: innovative, youthful, sunny, inventive, optimism, a train of thoughts in the viewers mind. designer Just think of a white swoosh. An apple with a bite out. Or a giant yellow M. You don’t need me to tell you Associated brands: Best Buy, DHL, McDonalds, Livestrong which brands they belong to. A logo is often a company’s first impression, one that Green: growth, organic, instructional, fresh, natural, can impact a customer’s brand perception, purchase sensible, cool, environmental decisions and overall attitude toward a product. Associated brands: BP, Fresh & Easy, Starbucks, A great example that illustrates the power of a logo is Recycle, NextDayFlyers when a study showed a group of people two pictures of Blue: professional, medical, tranquil, trustworthy, the same diamond earrings. authority, sea, air, sky, masculine The only difference was that one group was shown the Associated brands: Syfy, Facebook, Intel, NFL image with a Walmart logo in the corner, and the other Purple: spiritual, wise, evocative, royalty, sophistication, group was shown the image with a Tiffany’s logo. magical The participants were all asked to name an estimate Associated brands: Yahoo!, Hallmark, Cadbury, Crown price for the earrings. Royal Those who were shown the Walmart earrings estimated Black + White: simple, pure, clean, credible, respectable, their value to be around $25. luxury, sophistication, power Those who were shown the Tiffany’s earrings estimated Associated brands: Nike, Sony, Chanel their value to be around $5,000. Pink: fun, flirty, thoughtful, kind, young, feminine, Are you surprised? gentle, kind

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Brown: rural, historical, steady, traditional

Associated brands: UPS, Hershey, M&M’s, Cracker for body copy or anything else. They can represent Barrel, Ugg unique handwritten fonts, have dingbats, or be custom designed to visually represent your attractive character. Since your brand identity is your visual way to craft a message that speaks to your target audience, choose Some logos even become recognizable because of colors that convey the emotional connections you seek. their custom fonts, such as Coca-Cola. Fonts Say More Than Just Words

At Kriativ Co., we used a designer font for our logo only, then used san serif fonts everywhere else to keep things modern and sophisticated - like the clients we want to attract. Also take into consideration your font formatting. Title Case will feel relatable, and most conversational. UPPER CASE will feel elite, mature and serious. lower case will feel down-to-earth, playful and youthful.

When choosing your fonts and formatting, think about not just what you’re saying but how you’re saying it. Fonts are the body language of your brand. Take your audience into consideration and give them a They determine how your message is received by the font that will relate to their personality and style. viewer. Avoid gimmicky fonts and perhaps tweak an existing font for something custom. Websites like FontSquirrel. But with hundreds to choose from, how do you pick? com or DaFont.com will give you access to thousands There are 3 typefaces to choose from. Each have of downloadable free fonts. attributes associated with them that can be used to Imaginative Imagery represent your brand accordingly. Serif Typeface: A serif is the extra little stroke, those little When it comes to displaying the best imagery for your brand, I highly recommend staying away from stock curves at the end of letters. photography. They represent a more traditional, classic style. There are many reasons for this, but to name a few: Serif fonts are more readable - particularly in print. You’ll typically see them used in newspapers or books People can spot stock photos instantly. It tells your viewers that you didn’t care enough to make it real. If for this reason. you don’t care enough about your quality, why should Some serif fonts include Times New Roman, Georgia, they? and Baskerville and have been utilized well by many popular brands, such as Google, Sony, Volvo, Stock lacks personality. You can spend hours scrolling through stock sites and still never find what you actually Wikipedia. need. You may need a specific setting, color, type of Sans Serif Typeface: “Sans” literally means “without” in person - and with stock photography, you get what’s latin, so a sans-serif font does not include any extra available. stroke at the ends of letters. People may have seen them before. You run the They’re considered a more modern, sleek and risk of others using the same photography. This will contemporary choice. immediately cause viewers to lose trust in your brand as you appear to be generic and nothing special. Some serif fonts include Arial, Helvetica, and Tahoma and have been utilized well by many popular brands, Stock lacks consistency. It’s really hard to find multiple such as Nars, Target, Crate & Barrel, American images on stock sites that all look like they’ve been Apparel and JCPenney. captured by the same photographer. For this reason, it’s hard to successfully pair images and, if you do, it Designer Typefaces: These look won’t make your visuals look cohesive. This will look great as headlines, but unprofessional. should not be VOLUME 2 u s e d Capture photos that capture the spirit of your brand. FUNNEL MAGAZINE

If you want to honor your brand and make it stand apart, you’ve got to put in the effort with your imagery. Hire a professional photographer to come in and give your brand a photoshoot. Capture behind the scenes images of you and your employees working, your office space, customers and products/services. These will show an authentic and relatable vision for use across your social platforms. A well considered set of images will communicate more for your brand than anything you could ever try to say. Inspiration Hacking Researching other visual brands can be helpful, but you need to be careful not to take the inspiration too literally. Your visuals needs to be unique and portray YOUR business. Any creative work must be original and map directly back to your unique “Attractive Character” and brand identity. It should never be copied or stolen from someone else, as this will hurt your overall trust and credibility. At Kriativ Co., before we get started with building any brand identity, we searched for inspiration. Pinterest is usually our go-to place for this. We also love Behance Funnels however, are stripped down to one single and LogoPond. purpose. Sometimes, borrowing concepts that you see within other appealing logos can be used to sketch out your They are designed to lead viewers down a series of pages towards your ultimate goal. It could be capturing own unique design. their email to build your database, a sales page where In essence: logo + fonts + colors + imagery + inspiration they could purchase your product and check out = A Killer Brand Identity. immediately, or a registration page where they can sign up to attend your event. 4. Design Beautiful, High-Converting Websites A beautiful website is great, but its not very effective if it Because of this, funnels are currently the best way to convert traffic for businesses. doesn’t deliver the leads and sales you’re after. At Kriativ Co., we tend to opt for the online sales funnel Get the Basics Right website design. Regardless of the website structure, there are basic This concept actually dates back to the late 1800s and design principles that need to be considered in order to truly make your website stand apart. was developed by the creator of the AIDA model. AIDA is an acronym for Attention, Interest, Desire, Capture leads before they disappear. and Action. Keep those words in mind, they’ll come in If you don’t capture your viewers’ contact information handy below. right away, they may be lost forever. Add a lead capture pop-up form to build your email Purposefully Simple Structure list to stop this from happening. The problem with traditional websites is that they are overwhelming. QUARTER 2

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Clutter Free is the Way to Be

help make your brand stand apart.

The more simple, cohesive and clutter-free your pages Tip 1 - Speak it Out Loud are, the more effective they will be. Sections of websites Simply record yourself, and transcribe what you said typically only require a headline, subheadline, call to and how you said it. Use punctuation and formatting action/button and possible imagery. to illustrate your tone and voice. If you keep this a consistent theme, your viewers will Tip 2 - Keep it Digestible be able to easily digest your information into bite-size portions. There’s a handy tool called thehemingwayapp.com which tells the user the reading level of his/her writing. Add white space wherever possible. White space allows It also helps to remove unnecessary words and catches viewers to breathe and absorb information. Without it, grammatical errors. the reader doesn’t know what to read first. When this happens, it’s easier just to leave the website altogether. You want to strive to get the lowest reading level - the goal is equivalent to that of grade 2. This would mean that every person, at every reading level, could easily understand and comprehend your writing. Overall, strive to keep your sentences short and digestible. If you can say something in 5 words, why use 10? Make it easy for people to know what you’re selling. Communicating With Visuals Often, the best way to communicate your message is through imagery. A person’s brain is hardwired to recognize and make sense of visual information more efficiently, which is useful considering 93% of all information we process is When you look at your content, you must be able to visual. answer this question: “what am I trying to communicate?” If possible, substitute text for imagery, graphics and Establish a hierarchy of importance. What is first videos. priority? Secondary priority? Third priority? 6. You’re the hero. Now save the day. Then arrange your content accordingly. With so much junk on the market, finding a powerful Use size, placement and color to communicate which product or service can be hard to come by. information is the most important and which is the Your product needs to be authentic and full of hope. least. You should be able to gauge this with a simple Build Trust glance of a page. When viewers glance through your platforms, are they You need to be able to deliver exactly what you promise, in order to build trust with current and future clients. able to easily digest what you’re communicating? 5. Communicate so That Your Brand is Hard to Ignore and Impossible to Forget

Your goal should be to communicate your brand’s If your product doesn’t do what you promise it will, you’ll purpose, perspective and principles within the first few be in trouble. It’s important to deliver quality, value and real help in order for your product to stand apart. seconds of looking at your site. Social Proof Goes A Big Way Communicating Through Writing If you are one of the many people that One of the best ways to inform your audience about struggle with writing, here are 2 tips to your products or services, is to use real testimonials and endorsements.

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Videos and photographs of real customers hit an emotional level and work 100% more successfully than written praise alone.

emotional level and work 100% more successfully than For that reason, it’s more important than ever to written praise alone. be active on the big social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. Give a Little to Get a Little The way to stand apart visually on Social Media is by hitting these 5 points: 1. Profile Photo: Your personal profile photo should display a professional photograph of your face. It should be captured specifically for this space. It shouldn’t be your favorite picture from the summer holiday. This photo needs to be professionally captured and only focus on you. A ¾ portrait works best. The image should be front lit, meaning that your face is bright and clear. It also needs Humans are hardwired to respond to gestures of to crop into square format naturally - to ensure that kindness with something in return. Psychologists call nothing gets cropped out it the Law of Reciprocity. But you may as well call it For a profile that is strictly business oriented, you should human nature. use a photo of your logo or product. As a matter of fact, people may even reciprocate with It’s imperative to use the same profile photo across all a gesture far more generous than the original. of your social media platforms. This will help build easy For this reason, it’s imperative to give first, in order to recognition across the board. receive.

2. Cover Photo:

As we said earlier, capturing leads is one of the most Must show that you and your product or service are important things you can do. interesting. Display something that describes your To achieve this, it’s worth asking what can you offer in personality or career in a fun way. exchange for their leads.

For example: if you want your audience to know that Here are some excellent lead magnet ideas for online you are a public speaker - show yourself on stage with a huge crowd. If you want your audience to know that entrepreneurs: you’re a baker, show a creative image of your cake • 14 - 28 Day Mini Course designs. • E-book or Guide 3. Intro Section or Bio: • Check List • Cheatsheet Keep it short and make sure your bio is always complete. • Video Training Businesses often neglect to utilize this space to stand apart. The more creative the better. Include a brief unique fact about you and your work If you can’t think of what to create for your lead magnet, - something that can’t be replicated by someone else. ask your audience what they need. Often times the For example: “I help brands with creative + marketing. answer will be right under your nose. My work’s been featured across billboards in Times 7. Build a Tribe and Be Social Square.” Your social media platforms are an extension of your This isn’t something that every marketer can say. The business - and most importantly, it’s where your goal is to mention what you do, and how you stand customers hang out. apart from the crowd.

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4. Curate Your Content Discriminatively:

If you do things just like the next person, what will make you stand apart?

Be very selective about what you choose to publish. You don’t want to give mixed messages. In order to honor ourselves and our brand, we must go above and beyond. We must do things that nobody Only publish content that is pertinent to your business else is doing. and its personality pillars. This will make it easy for your viewers to understand and connect with you. We must be creative. Use attributes from your brand identity consistently - By going the extra mile with your brand presence, and like your brand colors, fonts and image style. Each of by giving everything you do special treatment and your creative assets (website, social pages, emailers) respect - you show honor. need to look cohesive. When you honor your brand identity, websites, social 5. Stay Engaged, Always Be Present: media, advertising and overall business - you’ll attract ideal clients and become the most obvious and best When friends and followers comment, like, share or choice in your industry. interact with you - be sure to engage and interact back. Everyone loves a real, authentic, human connection. If you can make your audience realize that they are important to you, and are your first priority - they will feel super special and talk about you to all their friends. Genuine engagement will make you stand apart online - it’s a given.

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3 Ways to Reap Maximum Profit on Your Thank You Page Article by Kate McKnight

ClickFunnels has made it easier than ever to build So, if you like the idea of turning leads into profits just marketing funnels that generate leads and sales on by tweaking your thank you page, then keep reading! autopilot. (You’ll thank me later :) This drag-and-drop page builder was created for those of us who want to spend our time impacting the world and enjoying the ultimate freedom lifestyle… not getting knee-deep in complex tech and time-consuming web design. So… how can you take a simple thank you page template from the ClickFunnels Marketplace… and transform it into a profit maximizer? As you’re about to find out, it’s super easy, yet hardly anyone is really taking advantage of this huge opportunity to immediately convert more leads into customers on the thank you pages of their optin funnels. That’s why I want to show you 3 simple ways to reap maximum profit immediately after someone opts in for 3 Simple Ways to Turn Your Thank You Page into a your lead magnet. Profit Maximizer… When you implement any single one of these 3 1: Offer a Paid Strategy Session strategies, you’ll not only be able to break even on your Who This Is For: Coaches, consultants, and experts, lead gen ad spend… including digital agency owners, whose ideal sales ...but you’ll also shift the relationship with your new leads conversation takes place over the phone. from only slightly interested email subscribers to serious buyers who are already committed When It Works: You should offer the strategy session on to your brand and more likely to buy your thank you page if your new lead is searching for clarity around the thing they just opted in for AND if from you again in the future. the best/fastest way to get clarity is on the phone with a live person. VOLUME 2

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For example, if your lead magnet is a 7-point Facebook ads audit, your ideal prospect is struggling with their own Facebook ad campaigns and probably feeling extremely frustrated. It would make sense to go ahead and offer a paid strategy session where you can help them get the personalized, expert insight they need to gain clarity around what’s not working once they’ve already made a micro-commitment by taking your freebie.

If you opt for the VSL, this is a great way to build know, like, and trust with your new subscriber. All you have to do is insert a video of you explaining the big promise of your offer, how it ties into the freebie they just opted in for, the benefits, and why they need to act NOW to get it.

2: Offer a Tripwire Info Product

3: Offer a $1 Trial

Add a headline above, such as “Your [Name of the Lead Magnet] Will Arrive in Your Inbox in the Next 5-10 Minutes… in the Meantime, Watch This Important The drawback of offering strategy sessions (even if Video…” they’re paid) is their lack of scalability since you’re still Then add a call to action button below the video. using your time talking on the phone with prospects. If you are looking for something more passive or if you Realistically, your fully optimized thank you page could just hate talking on the phone, check out number two... be up and running in a few short hours. Who This Is For: Anyone with an info product to sell. Who This Is For: SaaS companies or anyone with a This could be a mini-class, a segment of a larger online subscription-based product. course, an ebook, etc. When It Works: Just like with offers #1 and #2, the $1 trial When It Works: The “tripwire” info product offer works offer works best when you have a subscription model best when it’s the next logical step someone needs to that can continue to serve your prospect - whether by achieve the desired result relevant to the lead magnet delivering better, faster, or easier results - after they’ve taken you up on your lead magnet offer. they’ve just requested. It should also be at a price point that is a total no-brainer so that it would seem silly to pass up this chance to get what they want faster or more easily just by spending a few bucks (think flash sales).

In other words, it’s that next step that allows someone to “test out” your ultimate solution before they shell out the big bucks.

Here’s a great example from DigitalMarketer that To implement this on your thank you page, you can add shows how they combine the tripwire info product offer text blocks and turn it into a long-form sales page (like with the $1 trial on their thank you page: my husband and I did for our business in the example below), or you can format your thank you page as a video sales letter.

In this example, the lead magnet is a 5-point paid ad audit. On the thank you page, you can get a subsequent “21-Day Launch Plan” that will give you a fully functional and profitable funnel for just $27… OR you can get that for FREE buy activating your dollar trial. What they’re really selling on the thank you page is the $1 trial for their membership program. The prospect can spend $1 to get complete access to EVERYTHING in the vault to help them grow their business smarter, faster, and more effectively. QUARTER 2

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This smart offer is a no-brainer for prospects, and it step in your funnel to becoming a long-term customer gives the seller an easy, low-risk entry point for their core and raving fan. offer that normally costs $49/month. If done correctly and with a genuine desire to SERVE Could Your Thank You Page Be the Key to your prospects, you’re leaving bread crumbs that will Unlocking New Profits? lead them right back to where you want them. Ready to put these tips to the test and optimize your Not to mention… ClickFunnels makes it easy to customize thank you page? your thank you page so you can test out whichever offer you want. Start with your prospect. You can’t do any of this until you know who your ideal client or customer is and what So, take a deep dive into the mind of your ideal prospect they want. and start architecting your thank you page offer now! Then, brainstorm the next logical step in the sequence after someone opts in for your freebie and before they purchase your core, flagship offer. Not only will this 2-step process enable you to seamlessly convert more leads into buyers, but it will also change the relationship with your prospect, opening up the opportunity for a larger sales conversation. Remember, this isn’t just about earning a few bucks off a thank you page, it’s about getting someone to commit to you with their credit card and take the next

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I Have a List! Where is the Money? Article by Julia Antufjew

I’ve decided to write this article from the perspective of “Wait!” You think. What is this event about? an email marketing newbie, addressing my own major Silly little story. Isn’t it? Yet it happened to most of us at Aha! experience in the field: Building a list is easy. certain point in our e-com career. Why? Because of the Monetizing the list is the real name of the game. “Money is in the list” misunderstanding. I would love to share the steps we have taken to move If you take a sharp look at the e-com services landscape from the initial communicational stupor to the well built – you will find an endless red ocean of lead generating “Invisible Sales Machine”. And here it goes… and list building services telling you exactly this one “Today is the day!” You think while looking into the thing: “The money is in the list”. mirror. “Is my beard not too short? I shouldn’t have Yet once the list is there – you may figure out that one trimmed it before the event. This is not a good omen… little detail is still missing: the money. The red-ocean-listJeez. What am I thinking about? Focus. Today is the builders have no idea how to monetize a list. The cutest day. I’ve spent so much time and money to make it of them truly believe that sending out one single offer to happen.” a new list will make you rich. The rudest of them will tell Your phone is ringing. It’s time to leave. You get into you, that you smell of cabbage, that’s why your offer your car and drive to the Marriott Marquis San Diego does not convert. Marina where you have rented the whole floor for your On the contrary, the blue-ocean-list-builders know Grand Event. How Exciting! “I should have taken a that building a list without a strategic communication room in the hotel,” you think, “it would spare me the plan is like organizing an event without any idea what stress of the morning traffic”. this event is really about. I don’t have a beard, like the Upon arrival, you are taking the elevator and going guy in my story, but at a certain point in time – I too directly backstage. “I hope people like my intro music,” found myself in the front of my list having no idea how you think. The music goes on. Your heart is pounding. to talk to it or what to talk to it about. In fact, I had You are flying out to the stage. 5000 pairs of eyes multiple lists gathered in various campaigns, and it was looking at you full of anticipation! really difficult for me to figure out how to talk to my subscribers as a whole.

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On the top of that, I was terrified that people may start unsubscribing once I start mailing them. It sounds silly, and is nevertheless one of the most common fears

holding a new e-marketer back from mailing. To sum up, these were the five major questions for me to deal with: 1. How to consolidate all my lists gathered in various campaigns in one flow of communication? 2. How to make sure my subscribers want to remain subscribed for a long period of time? 3. How to make sure my subscribers remain engaged for a long period of time? 4. How to structure my communication? 5. How to automate my communication?

We‘ve invited all our subscribers into the giveaway and started promoting our giveaway as a lead magnet. Currently everyone on our list enters through the main giveaway gateway. The giveaway fulfills the role of a grand purpose, a high customer value long lasting incentive. The giveaway became the communication umbrella consolidating all our subscribers on the top level. Communication: content and structure.

Finally I did know what to talk to my subscribers about! Even if I could not figure out any other topic – I could talk about the giveaway. Isn’t that great? One day you have no idea what to write to your list about, About the grand purpose and the long lasting natu- another day you have a giveaway on the go, talking ral engagement about your giveaway, introducing your cutting edge legwear product and building a relationship with your The first three questions are actually addressing subscribers. three parts of one major topic: long lasting natural engagement. In order to consolidate all lists and keep With the giveaway communication on the go – I finally people engaged in a natural way over a longer period relaxed a bit and went for the best read on the topic of time, we need a grand purpose: a long lasting of email communication: “Invisible Selling Machine” by incentive going beyond one single download of any Ryan Deiss. Brilliant! lead magnet. Instead of telling you all about communication content We’ve found such a purpose in an unexpected place: and structure, I invite you to read the book. Ryan has namely in a viral giveaway setting. While a common put it out there in the most clean, comprehensive and giveaway would last 7 to 14 days, we have decided to understandable way. test a never-ending one. Once entered and as long as subscribers remain in the giveaway – every month they Next to the top level giveaway communication (the common cause uniting all our subscribers), we have have a new chance to win the grand prize. implemented various series introduced by Ryan Deiss Our high value core fashion product (a cutting edge in the “Invisible Selling Machine”. These series segment wearable workout supplement) fulfills the role of a our giveaway members into interest and engagement lead magnet. The long lasting giveaway with monthly based groups, enabling us to customize our further drawings engages participants for a prolonged period communication. of time. The sharing incentive, built into the body of the giveaway, allows participants to share the giveaway Communication Automation: with friends, bringing in more visitors and therefore Once we knew what to talk to our subscribers about, it more giveaway entries. was time for communication automation. Communication automation is one of the top inventions of our time. It takes away the greatest obstacle in marketing communication – YOU! Automated communication feels like … like flying actually (I love flying). We are a ClickFunnels gang member. Our email communication is automated by Actionetics. Our funnels are built in ClickFunnels. Our giveaways are running in UpViral. Should you find yourself in the same position: Having a list, while QUARTER 2

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having no clue, how to provide value to your list - you Tools: may consider the following 8 steps: Funnels: ClickFunnels • Start a 12 month viral giveaway in UpViral; with Autoresponder: Actionetics your core product as a monthly grand prize. Giveaway Soft: UpViral • Invite your current list into the giveaway. Blog: Wordpress • Promote your giveaway as a lead magnet. Thought influencers: • Set up your giveaway communication by broadcasting in Actionetics and bringing your Russell Brunson, Ryan Deiss, Wilco de Kreij subscribers to your blog page for monthly winner’s announcements. • Read Ryan Deiss “Invisible Selling Machine”. • Write out email series as introduced by Ryan. • Automate your email series in Actionetics. • Run, test, analyze and tweak. Thank you for reading and have a great day! Any questions – PM me on FB or comment below.

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Funnel Hacking Live- ClickFunnels Updates & Takeaways Article by Kim Doyal

It had been a few years since I had attended Funnel Hacking Live. I went to the first event in 2015 in Las Vegas, where there were a total of 600 people. This one was a tad larger with a total attendance of 3000 people and a much bigger venue. Overall, the event was amazing. It was fantastic to connect with people in person, network, and just get out from behind the computer for few days.

it an email SMTP tool like SendGrid. So technically Actionetics wasn’t an actual email service provider. Well, it is now. If you’re using Actionetics, or were thinking about using it as your sole email service provider, it’s just gotten a whole lot easier to set up and use. They now have builtin integration with SendGrid so you don’t have to worry about setting anything up yourself. You can import your existing lists into Actionetics and do everything you need from one platform. Personally I’m going to stick with ConvertKit for a while as the updates and system are rolled out. I’ll need to keep ConvertKit for my SaaS and quite frankly, I really like the UI and ease of use.

I’ve done a full recap of the event in a podcast episode and posted on my site, which you can read here, so wanted to go deeper into the new features from ClickFunnels and where the platform seems to be heading. The features updates are more or less what I’m remembering since nothing official has been published and they haven’t sent out the slides for the If you’re on the plan for ClickFunnels without Actionetics attendees yet. you will have to upgrade your account to the $297 account, which I almost did at the event. Between The features were announced during the “State of the my ClickFunnels account and ConvertKit I’m already Union” address from Russell, Todd, and a new partner, paying $200, but it wasn’t the email functionality that Ryan Montgomery. I have to admit, this is probably one got me excited. of my favorite sessions anytime I go to an event that is held by a tool/app I use (it’s fun to have something to Actionetics also has its own built-in Messenger Chatbot look forward to). for Facebook. I had a feeling the new features were going to be focused on Actionetics and I wasn’t wrong. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Actionetics, this is the email app within ClickFunnels. Prior to this announcement, you could use Actionetics as your ESP (email service provider), but you had to connect VOLUME 2

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They rolled out what they’re calling Actionetics MD. The MD stands for multi-dimensional marketing. Multi-Dimensional marketing takes communicating with people to a whole new level. They introduced what they’re calling the “opt-in bump”, which allows someone to be added to a Messenger Chatbot sequence by ticking a box right underneath the opt-in form (much like you would check a box for terms of service or an upsell).

• Android and Apple Pay • Countdown timer for quantity selling (ex: we only have 100 spots available, this will show in real time as the number decreases) • A new ClickFunnels App I’m sure I’m missing a handful of new features, but as you can see, there is a huge emphasis on the followup and communication with new subscribers. The options built within Actionetics MD are pretty powerful. Once your new subscriber selects the opt-in bump you I haven’t upgraded yet but see this happening in the can let your chatbot sequence take over from there (this next couple of months. works in conjunction with the new option to opt-in with I’m sure there were a lot of people that were in awe of Facebook, as opposed to someone just opting in with the new feature rollouts (I was one of them), but the their name and email address. If they use Facebook, it’s key thing to remember with features is it’s important more than likely a good email address). to make sure you’re going to use them and have an And yes, you can build your chatbot sequence right understanding of how they work. inside Actionetics. This excited me for the simple reason If you’re not currently do a good job of following up that I’ve got two ManyChat accounts for different with a simple email sequence it doesn’t make much brands and although they’re only $10 each, I’m getting sense to jump into a huge suite of options that will only closer to the same price point as the full Actionetics MD overwhelm you. One of the many things Russell said to product (and obviously as the list size grows for both people was to ‘keep it simple’. He showed the primary email subscribers and Chatbot subscribers grows you’ll opt-in funnel he uses and it works over and over again. be paying more). Get the basics working first, then when you have that The Multi-Dimensional Marketing is all part of the new converting, upgrade. concept of the ‘Follow Up Funnel’ (I’m guessing we’ll see Overall, I’m really glad I went to Funnel Hacking Live templates in ClickFunnels for this at some point as well). this year. It will absolutely be something I attend each This was all introduced as the Multi Dimensional Follow year, but probably for different reasons as my business Up Funnel (say that 10 times fast). continues to grow. This year it was primarily about The Follow Up Funnel has more options than just connecting in person with friends I only knew online, Messenger though. You can also opt-in to a ClickFunnels catching up with people I hadn’t seen in a few years, page with Facebook. Here’s a list of the new features and establishing new friendships. and announcements they made during the State of the If you’re on the fence about going next year, don’t Union sessions: overthink it. It’s absolutely worth going. Just go with zero expectations. Not because the CF team didn’t • Facebook optin deliver (they absolutely did), but because you remove • Optin bump with Facebook Messenger the pressure from yourself. • Desktop push notifications (these can be triggered from a sequence) Hope to see you next year at FHL2019 • With the integration of SendGrid, there is a higher deliverability rate • Push emails based on subscriber’s time zone (example: everyone gets the email at 8:00 AM on Day 2, as opposed to 8 AM in one time zone) • Clickbot optins: you can send a messenger that says “hey! Want my free thing?” If they click yes, it pre-populates the email address they use for Facebook and they simply have to click it • Funnel Messenger: Send messages out to specific pages with reminders or alerts • Top of the hour webinars QUARTER 2

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A Lesson In Selling Yourself From ClickFunnels Article by Patrick Grabbs

Have you ever wondered why all of a sudden everyone is talking about “funnels”? Why did all of a sudden in the past couple of years is everyone suddenly talking about them? It’s the hottest buzz word on the block right now, and every business without one is sorely missing out. And yet… If you try to go to any business and sell them one, they will look at you like you’re crazy. I know this because I sell over five funnels a week. The key to selling them (and making tons of money doing it) is by NOT calling them funnels.

he’s presenting you with his truth, his message, and that’s what we will continually pay for. Think about it: Do you honestly NEED Russell’s platform, funnel swag, blueprints, etc? Absolutely not, and yet you will continue to purchase HIM so long as he’s helping YOU find what it is YOU are missing. So long as he continues to provide you with his message. If you message, they will come.

“Influence is getting someone to ask what you’re selling, and have them believe it was their idea.” -Marshall The fact is, the word is mostly popular in a world Russell Sylver Brunson created. To further this point, let’s take a look at the history of Welcome to Russell World funnels. Before they were called funnels, they were called I don’t try to sell funnels to people who know who “squeeze pages”, “landing pages”, etc. I’ve duplicated Russell is, simply because I understand a simple fact: everything in ClickFunnels with various pieces of other Russell IS the product. The happy-go-lucky wrestler technology and made the same if not more money. guy that drops more “uhhs and uhms” in his videos than I once built a six figure business with a “funnel” I made a freshman in speech class. We all want to know how using a $40 a month Weebly subscription. Leadpages, he took complicated pieces of technology and turned Samcart, Kajabi be damned. Katrina Ruth makes them into MILLIONS of dollars on REPEAT. Why the millions of dollars every year using sales letters written hell wouldn’t we want to know that. He’s just like you… on a simple Wordpress blog. Her thousands of students hell, he’s just like me. follow the same model and receive similar results, while That’s something you can connect with, something you never spending a second worrying about “competition”. can resonate with; but what you really connect Speaking of which, why don’t people like Kat, Dan with is the fact that you can FEEL that he’s Henry, Ryan Stewman, Gallant Dill, and Russell worry really being himself. Flaws and all, about competition or people stealing their ideas? Because they are selling themselves and their lifestyle. As Ryan likes to say, “I got that shit you can’t hack.” VOLUME 2

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They get on the camera, blogs or podcasts and bare their souls to the world. The more they do this, the more the universe responds by sending them clients that want to buy whatever it is they are selling. They create communities for people to be a part of, and physics dictates that an object will expand to fill the space around it; so long as you create the space. Now, you could keep doing what everyone else is doing; I see it every day. There’s no shortage of people selling what everyone else is selling. However, what the world really needs is you, the real you, and lots of it. Not your niche. Not your e-commerce. Not your ads course. People will pay for you, all you have to do is give us the content and something to buy and with enough time, that will happen no matter the price point. Once you learn how to be unapologetically you, you’ll never have to worry about competition, running out of money, or what to sell.

lives, and then providing that to them. Every product is a reflection of this very simple concept, ClickFunnels being the most obvious and profitable example. So, are you ready to start flipping the whole world on its head and putting your personality on the shelves? If so, get ready for some major pushback. The universe will test you when you do this, because you are doing what few people will do. The minute you start mass producing a raw, uncut version of yourself and how you really feel, instead of a watered down Disney account of events that happen in your day to day, you will see many people currently in your circle begin to change. So, I’m giving you fair warning up front that this will not be easy, but it will totally be worth it in the long run, and by far the best possible way you could ever create your life and business.

How do you know what to sell? It’s pretty simple, you just take a page out of the ClickFunnels playbook: Various times throughout the month, Russell will just ASK. That’s right; whether in the ClickFunnels public Facebook group, mailing list, or funnel page, he is continually asking and surveying what his audience needs to further their business and their

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My Own Ethical Shortcuts Article by Charly Wigstrom

My Own Ethical Shortcuts to Get High Paying Clients on demand (Pipeline Blueprint Model) This article is for you if.. • You are a consultant, Business Owner, Marketer offering free consultations (formally or informally). • Your marketing funnel requires you to be on the phone with the client walking them through the buying process. • You want to attract better leads and create higher quality conversations...even faster. • You want your free consultations to feel like time well spent for you AND your prospective client. • You want the step-by-step blueprint that allowed me to sell even more expensive consulting offerings later

Objective of my Campaign Objective #1 Get clients. Specifically, I wanted to get “product launch” clients. Objective #2 Use free consultations as the main sales tool. For what I wanted to charge I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to charge that simply by sending people emails. Objective #3 I wanted to talk to qualified prospects. If I was going to spend such focused time on the phone converting (and working with) clients, I wanted it to be worth my time. I was not willing to trade my time all my life. Objective #4 Keep the funnel simple. Any good funnel involves a series of steps with each step “converting” the prospect to the next. I drew a quick map for myself so I knew what the funnel would look like. In its simplest form it is: AD--> Landing Page --> Consultation --> Sale Building your Own Client Feeder System When YOU know the Specific high value results you deliver, and the specific Type of person who NEEDS those results, you can create and deliver the solution they want to pay you for...

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Finally all ends up on a simple but very powerful CTA (Call to Action) where I was basically saying to my potential clients. “let’s chat” and giving them the access to my next step: the Client Acquisition Funnel (CAF). This is where basically I was collecting some information and having the appointment with them to close the deal on the phone, zoom or skype call.

• • • • •

of the month was significantly less) Traffic: 717 unique visitors (number of unique people who saw the Webinar) Leads: 86 (12% of the vistors registered on the CAF, therefore becoming a lead.) Consultations: 34 (40% of the leads actually scheduled a consultation) Clients: 4 (11% of the free consultations became clients) Sales: $20,000 My Hands on services are $5000 Each

Wait, no fireworks? No dancing dolphins? No money falling from the sky Where are all of the BIG sales Alzay? Let’s break it all down. Here is what I learned and how you can be better than me. 9 Lessons Learned and Improvements 1. 2. 3. Client Acquisition Funnel 4. Follow Up Sequence 5. It’s really important to move quickly here. Having someone register for a conversation is one thing. Getting someone to commit to a date and time is another. I wanted a personal touch in this process (it being my first). So, I asked my VA to own the follow-up process. Here is the exact process I followed: Gave my VA very clear instructions. This is where she really made me look good. My VA and I discussed how follow-up should work and she was off to the races! Her role in this process was to a) be a human touchpoint b) schedule their free consultation. The process worked like this:

Make your money back. “Free consultation frustration” is REAL. This kind of campaign creates time constraints I needed more productized services. Use content to be ruthlessly clear during the funnel. 6. Too many of my prospects didn’t have existing marketing budgets. 7. I really DO want to help people, but I must do it differently. 8. I found a conflict between my price and my value. 9. I was trying to get $10,000 level results from clients who were only prepared for $2,500 level results. Final thoughts...drum roll please...

• Could I have charged more? Sure. • Call first and leave a voicemail message if • Could I have closed more clients? Maybe. necessary • Could I have made more money from this • Send an email to follow-up voicemail campaign? Looking back, I think so. • Handle the appointment when they call back or • Follow-up with a 2nd email and then handle the appointment • Follow-up with a 3rd email including a quick link for the appointment Results Here is what happened in the end as a result of my campaign: • Total cost of advertising: $2,500 • Time period: 30 days (The majority of the traffic came in the first two days, the remainder

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10 Skill Sets That Will Make You $10,000 In 2018 ARTICLE BY Tucker Ferwerda

If you’re a new entrepreneur looking for ways to make some money this year, this list of ideas will help you get started. With 2018 still fresh in people’s minds and New Year’s resolutions starting to make their way into action, it’s important to plan what you want to accomplish this year. I’ve included a list of skill sets you can implement this year to make $10,000.

Then study how to write persuasive emails that will lead to someone making a purchase. 3. Copywriting

77 percent of people read about a product before making a purchase. Copywriting involves writing blogs, landing pages, sales pages, emails, and anything else that you can think of that convinces and persuades a The fastest way to do so is by applying each skill set reader to make a purchase. Acquire copywriting skills for others after getting results for yourself. You can by reading successful sales pages. charge anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 per client depending on the value you give and the results you 4. Building sales funnels bring in. Global online sales are projected to reach 4.06 trillion 1. Facebook advertising U.S dollars by 2020. A sales funnel is a series of pages that help generate as much money as possible online This social media platform boasts the most active users with the least amount of resistance. Master the art of per month with over two billion. It has some of the best sales funnels by looking at every sales funnel you come targeting options around and it’s very easy to show across and write down all of the key components they your product or service to the exact person looking for have. Then reach out to businesses and teach them how it. Digest the content of Facebook ads experts because sales funnels will benefit their company. the platform is always changing. 5. Social media management 2. Email marketing Social media is about the conversation. It’s about Email connects 85 percent of the world. Most people staying in front of your audience at all times with the right use an email address which is one of the main content that fits their needs and interests. According to forms of communication in today’s age. Start eMarketer, six out of ten business owners still weren’t by learning how to set up an email seeing an ROI from social media activities from a poll service provider, autoresponders in 2015. Business owners are great at running their and sending newsletters. business, but they don’t know how social media works. Most social media platforms are based off algorithms VOLUME 2

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that function in different ways so make sure you know 9. Instagram marketing the difference between each platform. Instagram marketing can be done by selling your 6. Google AdWords own products, selling affiliate products or managing Instagram accounts. Whatever the case may be, With this skill set, you are marketing and creating ads Instagram marketing is extremely hot right now seeing on Google. This has been around for quite some time that 65 percent of top-performing Instagram posts and is still very effective. There are many business featured products. owners who don’t use Google Adwords regularly. Set up a sales page properly to pass Google’s advertising 10. Consulting policies, find out how to target people, and send your There are many businesses who need help growing, ads or ads of your clients across the web. managing teams and inspiring employees. Pick a niche 7. YouTube marketing that you’re knowledgeable about and contact business owners and CEOs to get on a discovery call with you. YouTube is the runner-up to Facebook with 1.5 billion Then what you’ll want to do is show them what they active users per month. If you choose to market on need in their business, and ask them to join another call YouTube, you are creating videos that speak to your which will be the presentation. This is where you will ask future customers and clients. Optimize the videos so for their business. they can be found easily. Make sure to have search terms in your video’s description so people can find Now that we’ve covered many skill sets that can easily it and know what your video is about. Then, promote make you $10,000, pick the one that resonates with your business from your videos. you the most and focus on it until you make it happen. 8. Influencer marketing 74 percent of people base their buying decisions on social media networks. Reach out to social media influencers who have a large following and ask them to promote your business. They’ll give you their fee, and you’ll get to show your products to their audience. Offer a special code with an expiration date for the product and watch the sales fly in.

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How Hiring the Right Team for Your Digital Agency Can Set You Free ARTICLE BY Chris Martinez

Every year, thousands of people leave the United States and Canada to live life like a king or queen in Mexico. Over the years, I’ve met dozens of expats who now call Tijuana, Rosarito Beach, Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas, or even Mazatlan home. While the slower pace of life and the great weather are definitely attractive, the underlying motivation to living in Mexico is the cost of living.

• Cell Phone Bill: $20/mo • Electricity, Gas, and Water for a 600 Square Foot Apartment $80/mo • Internet $60/mo • Cable TV $15/mo • Car Insurance $15/mo • Rent $100-$350/month

One of the biggest benefits in the Mexican system is that the employer pays their health insurance costs (which are nominal due to government subsidies) so they don’t have any monthly insurance fees. Then there is a cultural tradition in Mexico where people don’t move out of their home until they get married, which we as employers can use to our advantage because younger employees don’t have a rent payment. With Cost of Living no rent/mortgage, a younger employee has almost Tijuana is typically about 20-30% more expensive than no expenses so they will accept a typically lower salary the rest of Mexico, but it’s still a fraction of what we than an older employee with a family. spend in the United States. However, even though the people in Tijuana make less money, their expenses are much, much less than what we pay, too. As you’ll see in this article, an American can live comfortably in Mexico for 1/5th of what it would take in the US or Canada. However, you’ll also see why paying a Mexican team a respectable salary that doesn’t break YOUR bank is also great for both you and the Mexican employee.

Here is a list of expenses that people in Tijuana have to pay (in US dollars)

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However, I’ve even been able to hire people with a designer up and running in a couple of weeks or less. family for $650/mo so don’t rule someone out just The next person you’ll want to hire on your team is a because they are seasoned and have a family. web developer. We hire mainly front-end developers Labor Costs, Taxes, Fees, and Payroll and a developer like this in the United States can run between $60,000-$80,000 US Dollars per year plus In our business, labor is typically our biggest expense. benefits. This same developer can be hired in Mexico Yes, you can do all the work yourself but if you really for between $580-$930 US Dollars per month!!! Talk want to scale and reach your full potential, you’re going about a cost savings! to need to hire people. Hopefully, you’ve already got a few people on your staff that can help you and keep Now here’s the catch, though. When we negotiate you sane. a salary in the US with an employee, the employee knows that is what they will make BEFORE taxes. In It’s no surprise that labor rates in Mexico are cheaper, Mexico, when you negotiate a salary with an employee but you probably don’t know how much cheaper you you are negotiating with them NET or AFTER taxes. can find quality talent. Now, there are also some Furthermore, they don’t ask for their annual salary or things you need to know before you bring in that first even their monthly salary. They negotiate it WEEKLY. hire and we’ll discuss them in this section. Here’s an example and let’s just use really easy math. When hiring Mexican employees you need to know how to negotiate salaries. A web designer in the US Let’s say you want to pay someone $52,000 pesos a can cost you about $45,000-$60,000 per year year. You wouldn’t speak to a candidate and offer them depending on their skill level. In Mexico, you can find $52,000 a year. You would offer them $1000 pesos web designers for between $10,000 pesos to $13,000 a WEEK. Now, here’s the other kicker: You also pesos per month. That equates to about $580-$780 need to calculate the taxes you’ll be paying on per month US. Typically, you’ll have to hire a graphic top of that into your own payroll budget. designer who knows a little about web design. It’s very Because when you tell them $1000 easy to train these people so don’t worry if during the pesos a week, the candidate interview process the candidate downplays his/her abilities to do web design. You can have a talented QUARTER 2

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One HUGE benefit to hiring people in Tijuana, Mexico is that many people there speak English AND they understand American culture. In fact, many of them grew up watching American television because they were so close to San Diego and the US border and could get our tv programs. A lot of the cultural references and jargon that we use, they understand because they’ve almost been raised on both sides of the border. It goes beyond television and movies though. With the right training, your team in Mexico can be just as productive and deliver just as good a product as any American team you employ. You can have your staff in Tijuana be customer-facing and they can be an extension of you so you have the freedom to focus on the things you enjoy and that make you money. They will sound like you, they will act like you (assuming that you act like a good person to begin with), and they will expects to have $2000 pesos in their pocket every carry out your instructions and get it right the first time. other week. IF you don’t adhere to this you will have From my experiences, your team in Tijuana can be some very, very unhappy employees. some of the most-hardworking, appreciative, and Like I mentioned, employees negotiate their salary weekly and NET. They literally have no idea how much you are paying for their benefits. As the business owner you need to know how much you’re going to be paying for that, though. Medical and retirement will run about 5%. Then a flat tax of $580 pesos is also assessed. Then, if you pay a payroll company to do everything, tack on another 10%. THEN on top of all that, you’ll need to pay 16% for the IVA tax which is sales tax on pretty much everything in Mexico. When all is said and done, you’re looking at about 31% more in taxes and fees per employee. Just make sure to add that to your payroll budget. When you look at it, it’s still much more cost effective to hire someone in Tijuana than anywhere in the US and a very good alternative to outsourcing to other countries. Culture and Language Communication is a top three component to running a successful digital agency. If you can’t communicate with your clients effectively and if you can’t systematically transfer those conversations to your team then you’ll have major problems and your operation will be very inefficient. However, your team also needs to be able to understand the information you’re giving to them and although this seems obvious, it’s a constant battle for anyone who has ever outsourced to the Philippines, India, Pakistan, or a number of other countries.

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dedicated staff you will find in any country on earth. In Tijuana, you can get the loyalty of the Philippines, the technical ability of India, the customer service of the United States, and the best labor rates anywhere in North or South America. Now the ONLY hurdle you’ll have to overcome when hiring employees is building trust with them right after they are hired. Mexican employees are accustomed to being screwed over by their bosses. It’s a cultural thing that drives me insane. In fact, the Mexicans have a saying that you “end up going to work for someone and having to pay them for the pleasure of working there”. Between being lied to, not being paid, and being mistreated by management, Mexican employees are jaded and so you’ll have to show them that you’re different. You need to show them very quickly that you see your new team as a valued part of your business and you will not only keep your word to them, but you will trust them and treat them like adults. As soon as your new staff sees that you are the real deal and that you will treat them right, always pay them on time, and will provide a great work environment, then you’ll have the best employees money can buy.

Identifying Ideal Influencers ARTICLE BY Adam Andrews

Hi, my name is Adam Andrews. I’m a social media expert and marketer. In today’s article, I write about how to identify good influencers to use for influencer marketing in your business. Whatever business you may be running or looking for influencer advice for, this article will cover it. This strategy can be used in all different types of industries and works the same across every industry.

Where do they hangout online? What forums do they post in? What magazines/blogs do they read? What do they watch on YouTube? What is important to them? Etc.

When I am finished with that, I go through the list of things I have written down and who I think my ideal influencer is and create a profile for who they are. So, for example, if I’m looking for a male fitness influencer, IDENTIFYING AND BUILDING INFLUENCERS I will draw a stick figure in the middle of the page and PROFILES describe in my mind and on paper who this influencer I am looking for is. Using reference from the notes I took Finding My Ideal Influencer previously and creating a profile describing exactly So the way I go about identifying GOOD influencers who he is, what he does on a day to day basis, who his to work with is actually a simple process. I emphasize friends are, etc. GOOD because nowadays there are so many fake/ Finding My Secondary Influencers saturated influencers. Using these influencers will produce you little to no results and hurt your brand. Once I have this profile created, I create a separate Here is the process I go through to identify good profile for another influencer that I would consider influencers to potentially form a partnership with. bringing onboard to my operation. So, the 1st profile I create is for my 100% Ideal Influencer. This is an The first thing I do to begin my research is taking out influencer who, if you found them, you would definitely a notebook in a quiet room without distractions and work with them. The 2nd profile is for an influencer who thinking of whom my ideal influencer to work with is the 2nd option if you can’t find your Ideal Influencer. would be. It’s like the process I use to find my perfect client profile but less intense. These are just some of the I create 2 profiles because often times it’s hard to find things I ask myself about my perfect influencer. a bunch of your ideal influencers. When I’m doing my What qualities do they hold? Who they influencer marketing research, I often only find around associate themselves with? What 5-10 Ideal Influencers. It’s important to have the 2nd hobbies they may have? profile created so that when you can no longer find your Ideal Influencers you have a backup influencer profile to refer to and start your search again for these VOLUME 2 secondary influencers. FUNNEL MAGAZINE

Okay, so you have your 2 profiles built and have an idea of who you’re looking for and an idea of where they’ll be hanging out online. Next, we’ll talk about starting the search...

terms like #malefitnessinfluencers #malefitnessmodel #malefitnessathlete or #shopifydropshipping #shopifystoreexpert #shopifyexpert #shopifycoach etc. The smaller and more specific you get with your hashtag research, the better the results. I spend the most STARTING THE SEARCH time doing hashtag research because it’s typically the most effective in locating influencers. Now, how do you Keyword Searches Via Facebook identify a worthwhile influencer account on Instagram? Groups - I will start my search on Facebook through That’s where things get interesting. Engagement… groups and the use of keywords for the niche they are in. If I’m looking for someone who is a Shopify Drop Engagement Analysis - I will spend time analyzing the Shipping Expert, for example, I would start searching influencer’s engagement rates via comments as well as on Facebook via groups. Any good influencer will have likes. I weigh comment engagement a lot higher than a Facebook group where they share their knowledge likes because so does Instagram’s algorithm. To start and help their community grow. I start my searches analyzing the engagement of an account, I start with here depending on the niche. After identifying some the top 15 posts. I take the top 15 posts, add up all the influencers through the searching of groups, I will start likes and divide by 15. That will give you their average likes per post. Some people use the last 12 but I prefer my search again through pages. the last 15. All about preference here. Once I have their Pages - After identifying influencers groups, I will start average likes per photo or LPP for short, I analyze searching on Facebook through pages where they are their comments per photo. Same process as the LPP building their personal brand on Facebook other than process. Top 15 photos added up and divided by 15 will their group (if they have one.) Utilizing the influencers give you the average CPP. After getting those figures, names I found through the Groups search, I start with I analyze the percentage of engagement they receive them. Searching for their personal pages to identify from their audience. To get this number, I take their further if they fit into my Ideal Influencer profile. After total following(TF) and divide into the average LPP verifying my influencers from the groups, I move onto resulting in the percentage of engagement. Repeat the the keyword search again for people I couldn’t find in same for percentage of engagement for comments. any groups. Again, with the example of Shopify Drop CPP divided by TF. Shipping Expert, I will type that into pages and search not only for related pages, but personal profiles made After doing all of that analysis, I check to see whether into a page so they can grow past the 5,000 friend they’re engaging back with their audience in the comments. To do this, I just go into the comments of limit that Facebook has for personal profiles. their top 15 posts and see if they’re responding to their Location - After searching through groups and pages, audiences comments. If they are, great, if not that puts if I am not satisfied with the number of influencers I’ve them lower on my list of outreach. found, I will use the location based search feature. Especially if I’m looking for influencers within a certain Location - Same process I use for the Facebook area. If I am searching for an influencer in a certain location based searching except for on Instagram location, I will obviously use the location based search it’s “Places”. You can search in places or even places feature and search within there to find influencers that hashtags. For example, if I was searching in San Diego, CA I might search the hashtag #sandiego and check fit my profiles. out what influencers are on that hashtag as well as the Keyword Searches Via Instagram location. Hashtags - After identifying several influencers via Influencers Friends Facebook groups/pages, I move to other social networks. My first go to network after Facebook is Instagram Tagged Photos - After identifying a few (10-20) because of the searchability features through hashtags influencers, I will start searching within their friend’s which make it easy to enter a niche and immediately list and looking through their posts to see if I can find influencers. Searching within specific niches via identify someone they have a lot of respect for, use of hashtags is extremely easy and self explanatory. or work with. If they are working with them Type your niche keywords like you did on Facebook. or recommending their audience/ The longer the hashtag, the higher chance of spammy, community to follow them non-related posts you’ll find. So, instead of searching for #malefitness or #shopify I would try searching QUARTER 2

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or check out what they are doing within the niche, they are probably a good influencer to look at. An extremely easy way to do this is to go into their tagged posts and look around. This can be done on Facebook and Instagram easily. Now, the main thing you have to look for when doing this is that the posts aren’t paid or sponsored by the smaller influencer. A good micro influencer knows how to grow and is utilizing paid promotions/sponsorships with larger influencers in the same niche because they know it’s a good way to grow. If it’s a collaboration then that’s totally fine but just be aware of paid promos/sponsorships.

list starting with 10/10 then 9/10 until I’m done and film a selfie style video explaining why I’m reaching out to them specifically. What I’m looking to do FOR THEM (major key to get responses) and why I chose them to reach out to. I will explain to them that I choose my partnerships extremely carefully and only want amazing people to be apart of what I am doing. I go through the values that I see in them as well as what I think the partnership between each other could mean. (i.e., money, free promotions, free merchandise, free knowledge, etc. Whatever your partnership entails) Then I close the video by saying “thank you for listening to what I have to say and I hope to hear back from you Verifying Influencers Friends - Look for genuine posts soon as I am excited to start an amazing relationship recommending one influencer’s audience to check out with them.” another. Not those that seem paid for. For example, if the influencer you’re looking at has 310,000 followers I will send this video to their email first and track and they’re recommending you to go check out whether they respond to that or not. The email tracking someone that has 5,000 followers it is most likely a paid software I use is YesWare. If they do not respond to promotion. This is not the truth in all situations but look that, I will hit them with a short follow up email asking if carefully and try to find this same smaller influencer on they received my video and what they thought about it. the larger influencer’s social media consistently. There is Then, if I still have no response, I will reach out to them a strong identifying factor that they are indeed friends across all of their social media platforms to hopefully or business colleague. If it seems like a genuine post get in contact with them on one. If the video is short recommending a friend or business colleague, then I enough for direct messages, I will send it via their social suggest checking out what that smaller influencer has media messaging. going on and seeing if it matches to your influencer *WARNING* profiles you have built. This is a much more time-consuming process than just Starting Outreach reaching out to a massive amount of general influencers Spreadsheet - This is what goes onto my Google Docs within your niche. This strategy works and should be Spreadsheet when I’m doing influencer marketing used to find valuable influencers to increase your brand outreach. reputation while creating value in the marketplace for both you, the influencer and both your audiences. • Influencers @names If you are planning on using this strategy, I highly • Links to social media. FB, IG, SC, YT, LI (All recommend clearing your schedule for a full 8 hours that are relevant) to complete this entire process. After you’ve done that • Business Only Emails or any emails found while and start getting responses from influencers, it’s just a researching. communication game then. Communicate the details • Follower Count. For each social media channel of what you’re offering them effectively, how long you and total following. see the partnership lasting, etc. • -nfluencer Profile Rating 1-10. 1 being least likely to do a partnership with and 10 being most From there, it’s up to you to create an amazing, longlikely your ideal influencer. lasting relationship with that influencer. I hope you learned something new today and if not I hope you Selfie Video - After identifying around 50 influencers, strive to learn something new today and every day. I will begin outreach. That’s just the number I typically go with before starting outreach because it takes a while to go through a full list of 50 influencers. The outreach strategy I use is very “GaryVee” style. I start with my 10/10 rated influencers and go down from there. One by one, I will go down the

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9 Ways to Remedy the Facebook Changes of 2018 Article by Shyla Collier

How will these changes affect us? Personal pages will most likely start posting more content about their business. Since the changes have been in place, I have already noticed this happening. I believe this will have an adverse effect on the personal pages, as many will start using them more often for business posts. This is against the rules of Facebook, but they are not always enforced, for one reason or another. The leniency will most likely change in the future when Facebook sees it as a problem. When scrolling through the news feed I now see people that I have not connected with in years, which is enjoyable in my opinion. Did you notice Facebook’s latest changes at the beginning of the New Year? Facebook made one of the most significant changes since it was created. Many people are unaware of this change which is bad news for those of us who are business owners. This update will omit news and business posts from the main news feed. Now the only posts that can be seen from the main news feed are from personal pages, groups and paid ads. Facebook now has two separate news feeds, the main one and a new pages feed. The new pages feed is where all business page posts will show up. In order to see business posts, you must click on pages feed. It is a bit hidden and hard to find, especially when on the Facebook Application.

The posts that shine through now on the personal news feed are the paid ads. If the entire reason for the change was to have less promotion in the newsfeed, it seems ironic that paid ads appear after every five personal posts and on the side bars, as well. Some may say it is yet another ploy for Facebook to cash in on more money. You may wonder how this will affect your business pages. We are assuming that post reach and engagement will be down significantly, as many Facebook users may not be aware that there is a separate feed or it may be too complicated for them to find it. When users look at the new pages feed, they will see posts from pages that they have not seen in a very long time and may be more apt to unlike the pages. Unknowingly, I have done this a few times since the changes occurred. Now that users see the businesses all in one place, it is much easier to unlike pages. They realize that they no longer have an interest in the page or do not recall why they previously liked it. This change results in business owners having to buy ads more than ever before.

After much criticism of the newsfeed spreading misinformation and too many business-related posts, Mark Zuckerberg, co-owner of Facebook is trying to “encourage meaningful social interactions with family and friends over passive consumption.” He is hoping this change will cut down the amount of time that users spend on Facebook to devote more time with their family. He projects that in return, business pages will get less engagement. The main goal is to put family On the flip side, there is a positive note. For those that and friends ahead of business, even though it know how to find the new pages feed and have liked may affect the company’s bottom line. your page, they will see your posts more often and may be more apt to engage with your page than they did before. This change could be good for organically narrowing down the page likes that you currently have. VOLUME 2

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Those that stay, will interact with your posts more often 5. Build strong relationships with other business when seeing them. owners and potential clients on both your business and personal page 6. Post engaging content once a day on your business page, add variety that makes your audience want to come back for more and causes them to engage 7. Converse with your fans, be sure to answer all comments and messages and thank those that share 8. There is always the option of paid ads, although, if you are not proficient it will be a big waste of time and money 9. Hire a qualified Social Media Expert to help you with your marketing efforts Here are some ways to work around the new changes Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t worry, this is not the end of promoting your that business owners are frowning upon. business on Facebook. Be intentional. Get a head start this New Year. Remedies for the Facebook Changes of 2018 1. Inform others about the new pages feed, especially your clients 2. Utilize Facebook Live, this is the most favored post by Facebook itself 3. Be active in Facebook groups, this must be done strategically 4. Post to personal page, be sure to use the 80/20% rule, at least 80% should be personal

5 Tips To Improve Your Social Media Etiquette Article by Michelle Ciantar

How improving your online etiquette can help maintain your reputation

beliefs, value systems and political views where one comment can be taken the wrong way and easily offend someone or a whole group of people. Focus on content that is going to entertain, educate or assist your audience in a way that will not damage your reputation. Always remember, you are what you share. 2. Good manners equals good reputation Manners don’t cost you anything. To say the way we communicate in the real world and the connections we make online are using two different communication styles is contradictory. The fact is they are the same. If someone shared something of value to you in person, you would most likely thank them. Same applies in the online space. If someone shares your content, answers a question or provides you with feedback you were asking for, always thank them for it. Say please whenever you are asking anything from anyone.

It may go without saying that you should behave online as you would in person, but sometimes we see the two differently and therefore we act differently. A lot of what we share online stays online and will always manage to get seen by someone else (thank goodness It seems so obvious to use your manners when this for the delete button). happens in person but for some reason, people forget to Here are five tips on social media etiquette that will do it online. Always remember, people do business with help you to communicate in a more effective manner. and refer business to people they know, like and trust. Speaking for myself here but I look for authenticity, 1. Manage the content you post transparency, honesty and well-mannered interactions when I am networking online. Everything you post online from links you share to pictures and video is a direct reflection on you. Posting 3. Keeping in touch with your connections careless remarks and images without thinking can When receiving or accepting new connection requests cause damage to your reputation. on social media, don’t automatically assume they want When posting third-party content, always make sure to be added to your group, like your page or buy your you don’t copy it onto your page or blog as your own product or service. Instead, sending a personalised or you will find yourself in copyright breach. You should message to say ‘hi’ or commenting on something you always mention what the article is about and link back like on their profile is a great way to build rapport with to the original source to ensure the attribution goes to someone you are not familiar with. the original author. Even just the small things such as giving them a ‘like’ Always be mindful of issues being discussed on their post or commenting on a similar interest you that could be seen as negative or may have in common to start a short conversation is offensive. We live in a global a way to build on your new connection. No matter society with many differing how great you are at social networking, it’s all about building relationships using good old fashioned social VOLUME 2 skills. Anything is better than zero.

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4. Always ask permission

part we play when we interact and behave with others online.

It is polite to ask permission before adding someone to a group. It is inconsiderate if you do not ask first Being a good digital citizen means having a courteous and you may find people will disconnect from you and and respectful attitude and behaviour online. Being possibly unfriend. demanding on your posts, threatening people if they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do as you request, badmouthing a person, brand If you are watching someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s live video or participating or business for the sake of ruining their image are all in a group call and you want to give the person unacceptable. constructive feedback on their presenting skills, ask them if you have permission to do so in a private message. Philosopher Joseph Hall wisely said, A reputation, once broken, may possibly be repaired, but the world will Always ask before tagging a friend in photos from the always keep its eyes on the spot where the crack was. party you went to the other night as they may not want it to be shared on their timeline. If you want to do a If you enjoyed this article and want to share it on social re-post of someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s photo on Instagram you need to media, you have my permission to do so ;) have permission beforehand. 5. Be a good digital citizen As digital citizens in the online world, we not only participate in social media as a way of connecting with others through self expression but are also receivers of such expressions that come in the form of trolling, bullying, conflict, misunderstanding and opposing views. Just as we do in the real world, the internet has given us access to digital citizenship in an online society to people of all ages, gender and cultural beliefs who have access to it. We need to take responsibility in the

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Tips for Using Social Media Sites To Promote Your Business Article by Terri Levine

that when you use social media correctly your business will expand and grow. Mine sure has and so have the thousands of people I have shared this information with who put what I am sharing in this article into practice. Before I show you the simple formula for your social media success, right this moment change your mindset away from using social media as advertising and instead of directly promoting your services and products begin to think about how you can help your target audience. Let me share the clear distinction in the types of posting I am referring to. As an example, I was looking at two different posts today. One person was selling a program and their posts were pushy and not of high value other than being ads. Each post talked about their program and had a link to sign up and invest in their program. The other person was sharing credible and useful information that would help a potential customer. If I were going to engage with one of them, I would clearly choose the person who was posting high quality interesting content and I already resonated more with them as an expert vs. the person who was placing a lot of ad content on social media. In fact, I messaged the person with the useful information and invited them to be on my radio show!

Every business today needs to use social media to promote their business. Many people are not using social media to their advantage, however. Why? They are in sales mode or pitch mode and not creating value with their social media posts. Go to Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter and you will see post after post that is clearly just a marketing message. These are getting lost in the noise of social media and in my experience, they turn I am now going to give you my secret formula for prospects off and not on. social media. When you shift your mindset into education and transformation with your social media posts and you then shift your social media posts and move them away from selling to actually contributing information, engaging in conversation and sharing information, you will create a following of people who want to hear from you and who will take an organic interest in your products and services without you selling them a thing. I have been able to sell millions of dollars of consulting and coaching services, without paying for ads, and without sales type posts. I can tell you

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Let’s go through the steps to create successful social Want some feedback on your social media posts? media posts. Notice the results you get. Are you getting a lot of comments and shares? If so, you are doing something 1. Create a list of the kinds of information your ideal right. If you are using “clickbait” posts like, just say “Amen” target audience would find interesting and of value or type “yes” kind of posts, you are doing something 2. Look at Quora and Yahoo! Answers to see what wrong. Real people engaging in conversation is what types of information your target audience is inquiring creates leads on social media. about 3. Create social media posts that give value to the kinds of prospects you want to help 4. Every time you post ask yourself, “Is the post I am creating going to help the kinds of people that would benefit from my services/products?”

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To Post or Not to Post, that is the Question… Article by Stephanie Blake

We’ve all felt it...the pang of frustration because, well, the digital landscape of the Facebook Business Page has changed forever. Most of us knew it was coming but it doesn’t make it feel any better.

I don’t mean, STOP posting. I just mean, don’t expend resources and stress yourself out about it. It’s not worth the time and effort. But if you’re running Facebook ads or plan to, you might need to up your posting game. There are theories that if you are running ads on Facebook then it would actually HELP your overall ad performance to create quality content/posts and then run PPE (Page Post Engagement) campaigns to that content so that it generates lots of engagement.

In the early days, you could post on your Facebook Business page and potentially reach around 50-60% of your page’s fan base (those who had liked your page). Now, for the average business owner on Facebook, when you post on your Business page, you’ll be lucky to reach 2-8% without spending any money on ads. In a recent podcast on Perpetual Traffic, Ralph Burns talked about some pretty incredible revelations he had BUT WHY? after his trip to Facebook. He mentioned “Estimated Facebook’s goal has always been the same and will Action Rate” as a metric that FB uses to determine continue to stay the same: connect people to the content many things about your ad account status. that they WANT to see in the newsfeed. Ultimately, One of the things that goes into the estimated action what keeps people on Facebook are posts from family, rate is “page history.” What is page history? It’s how friends and news outlets. engaged the page is, is there a history of a lot of negative As Facebook users, we’re experiencing content overload. comments? How much does your page contribute to There’s more content than there is newsfeed real the best overall user experience of Facebook? estate. So Facebook had to reduce the percentage of Ralph said that he thinks a healthy, active page plays into business page posts in personal newsfeeds in order to your overall estimated action rate which can contribute continue to show more of that preferred content. to the success or failure of your ad campaigns. As an Also, Facebook is smart. These changes are about agency owner, when I review all of our accounts, I can getting more businesses spending money on ads on see a correlation between ad performance and clients the platform. It’s truly morphed into a pay-to-play with healthy active pages. They go LIVE, they’ve been running ads to posts, they respond to comments...they environment as we all expected it eventually would. stay engaged with their audience on Facebook. So, here we are. The problem is, I also have clients who will slave away, WHAT DO WE DO? stress themselves and their staff out, trying to create Is it worth the time and effort to make quality posts on engaging posts, go LIVE daily, and bring value to Facebook but they see little to no return unless they our Facebook Business Pages anymore? choose to let us put some ad spend behind their efforts. Eeeek...I say this knowing it’s a polarizing opinion but… So, where do you find yourself? As it stands, unless you have some amazing engagement already happening on your page, my Does it make sense to pay-to-play right now for you? official opinion is...probably not. UNLESS If so, create some great content and allocate a small budget, $50-$100 a month, to page post engagement you’re paying to play! ads to a targeted audience (please don’t just press “Boost Post”).

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Another option is to get the support of a Facebook Ads rockstar. This can propell all of your Facebook effort exponentially. If that’s not in your budget, google Dennis Yu’s 3x3 video grid strategy. It’s a fantastic place to start. No budget but you want to invest the time? Then invest your time into LIVE value-based videos - they get you the most bang for your time investment. Take the content you make and share it into interest-based FB groups (make sure they allow sharing first) and get family and friends involved.

best plan of action for where you are, with the resources you have and take massive action. Perpetual Traffic Podcast Referenced: Episode 144: Why This is Still the Best Time to Be a Facebook Marketer (Plus… Insights from Facebook’s NYC Office)

Bottom line is, if you don’t have engagement on your Facebook page, don’t stress yourself out about it businesses can barely reach their audience without paying to play anyway. Decide what’s going to be the

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5 Actionable Tips For Building A Brand On Facebook Using Your Personal Profile Article by Juliette Stapleton

One thing you need to successfully monetize your business using social media is someone to talk about it to. I mean a lot of people, thousands and thousands. Building an audience is not something one can put on autopilot, and definitely not at the very start. It is a long and somewhat painful journey that requires being consistent, creating really valuable content and building relationships.

special offers posts. I hope you are not doing THAT. Are you? Stop it immediately and keep on reading.

People do not like to be SOLD to. They also do not like dealing with brands. People LOVE dealing with people, or buying because they are excited, and because they CHOOSE to. This means the second most important objective our Social Media marketing has is CREATING RELATIONSHIPS (first being creating I have spoken to a lot of successful influencers who have revenue, it is still business we are talking about). built their businesses using social media marketing. Here is what you can do straight away to turn your Many of them admitted it felt very slow at the start and Facebook Personal Profile into a Client Attraction some of them told me they were ready to give up, just Machine: when that tipping point happened and things started working out for them. This point had a direct correlation 1) Profile Image: with how many people were following them and how Use the best shot of your lovely face up close that you many were on their email list at that particular time. can find as your profile image. Make sure your eyes On the flip side, I talk to so many solopreneurs who are can be seen clearly with a lot of catchlight in them dreaming about a magic wand or some sort of cookie (those are the little white dots we get when the light cutter strategy that will make it happen for them. reflects in our eyes, the bigger the catchlight - the more While in reality, I see them still hiding behind sharing likeable you come across). Smile â&#x20AC;&#x201C; look friendly, light up mediocre articles and motivational quotes (from other the day. People judge each other on first impressions people, not even their own). And then they complain and this is your chance to impress your potential clients about how hard things are and keep looking for that at first glance. magic solution. The profile image is a powerful tool and is not to be So is there one? underestimated! YES! Intrigued? Keep reading! It all starts with SHOWING UP! Fearlessly. As you are. Shining your light. It is not just about content types and engagement. In fact, it is all about showing the authentic you, and it starts with your personal profile. Using your personal profile for commercial use is strictly prohibited and can get your account closed down. This largely refers to accounts created under company names, befriending anyone and everyone, and posting an enormous amount of low value product pictures or

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2) Cover Image & Featured Images: Forget your children, pets, motorbikes or any other irrelevant fluff. This is where you can really show what you do. Learn about your brand archetype, use the imagery and words that best represent you and create a stunning image with a clear call to action. Why not promote your Facebook Group here? It needs to be very clear, as the clients that get attracted to your profile image need to be directed somewhere, think of your post everything with a view to connect to them even profile as an entry level into your sales funnel! more. This makes your message very powerful. Featured images section is an excellent place to Talk about your business as a choice, talk about your advertise your next webinar, masterclass, or simply life as an entrepreneur. The Good. The Bad. The Ugly. reinforce what you are about. You can choose to use Ironically, people on social media love the ugly! Do not one square image or make a collage of three. There are use this trick too often, but a good rant can generate 5 placements available, but it will look too busy, so if pretty significant engagement. you use three images, one rectangular and two square ones - the final result can look very smart. Post your favourite foods and your pets and things around you that inspire, but always tie in something 3) Intro & Bio more than just everyday context. It can be a mindset Make sure your snappy e-pitch is entered in the Intro shift or connect it to an entrepreneurial trait. You can section that will show up directly under your profile. talk about your why, things that make you passionate, Take second guessing out of the process, make sure happy or sad. anyone who visits your profile (even a 7 year old) gets Just being yourself is the secret to a successful Personal an idea of what you do in your business. Brand. People work with people. So show up and show Your Bio section must include ONLY the following: them who you are - you only need to appeal to the your Facebook business page (you can set this up as a ones who you would LOVE to work with. Workplace in the About section) and, if relevant, your And be consistent. marital status (this can reduce the amount of unwanted PMs from those who mix Facebook up with Tinder). You Consistency is indeed the hard part, but this is where the may show your location if you wish. MAGIC truly happens. Commit to taking daily action, whether it produces an instant result or not. This is why Your education, previous jobs and projects are only we need to have a bigger WHY. To keep us going every creating distraction and noise. Keep them off your day. Enjoy the process. One day you will wake up and personal profile and do not treat it as your resume. realise all of this hard work has started to pay off. Leave that strategy for LinkedIn. You have reached that tipping point. 4) Long Bio & Nickname The point that transforms your business into something If you go into the About section in your profile, check out bigger, faster, better. the Details About You tab. Here you can add a longer description talking about how your clients benefit from working with you. Underneath that section, check out a smaller one called Other Names. You can add your title there as a Nickname, just make sure you select the option to display it under your name. (Mine is Visibility Strategist and it is visible to anyone previewing my profile - what an awesome instant clarity tool!) 5) Posts This is the most difficult piece of the puzzle for many people. What to post. Well this is where the MAGIC happens. Post content that inspires and creates relationships. Hone into your favourite type of client to work with and

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The Auth o

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opportu

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// Kate Mikado

decide w

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Own Lif e Story

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This is exactly a cycle of reality wherein people who aim to be successful misinterpret those success stories as a pattern of easy going pathways and calm rivers, without realizing that these stories are real life.

The Author of Your Own Life Story Interview by Kate Mikado

Success stories had never failed in illuminating many people’s torch of fighting spirit. Admitted or not, everybody admires listening to these picture-perfect kind of tales. We all love how they ignite some spark into our hearts, and provoke us to push beyond our limits again. And, to envision ourselves in the same exact direction where these triumphant people are precisely moving on is very much encouraging. In fact, it sometimes shifts our mood from ‘I’m scared to do it. What if I fail? I hate failures.’ feeling to the mentality of ‘I want to try it. I don’t care how many times I fail as long as I do my best. I can do it! If they can do it, so am I! I will do it!’. It’s as if there would be no obstacle that can hinder us from reaching the mountain top.

who made his boring history catalog into a journal of success! For those who are new to the name, Frank Kern, is one of the most influential and fulfilled personalities who has flourished in the glamorous world of business.

And, in real life, not all stories end Aside from his signature blonde with a happy ever after. surfer-style look way back 2012, he is It’s not like reading a book and also widely known for his astonishing skipping some chapters, and going entrepreneurial capabilities and forward to the happy and exciting business appeal, and for his unique ones you would only like to read. chosen industry: the online business. Instead, it’s more of reading the Yes, he is an internet marketer. Also, conflicts and why did the character he is a business consultant, referred arrived at such climax. to as one of the best business gurus, See, the truth is, we make our own life and a motivational speaker. story, and to only rely on motivation from other people will really never help us move forward. Yes, they can inspire us but in the long run, there would be nobody else who can push us every minute of every single day except ourselves. People who wonder why others are moving fast while they move slow in climbing the mountain top or the hill of victory is that they, literally, are moving slow towards what actions they can to change and improve their own stories.

But, before all the smiles, the bright spotlights, the applause, praises, and standing ovations, Frank Kern never imagined that he would gain such attention today, after years and years of hard work. On his interview with Hawk Mikado, the publisher of Funnel Magazine, he was asked when everything started, “The entire world has acknowledged you as a widely-known entrepreneur, a direct response marketer, and a very splendid centrepiece of the industry of internet marketing for more than 20 years. When did you realized that you craved people’s attention in this kind of industry, specifically online marketing?”

Reality check: the path to success is to take massive action, because ideas, and an optimistic point of view is never enough. But with the combination of perseverance, focus and determination, nothing is Frank Responded, “Well, it began when I had myself a door-to-door However, whenever a strong wind impossible to achieve! is almost putting out the fire of the According to Anthony Robbins, ‘If selling type of job for a credit card torch, some people’s inspiration will you talk about it, it’s a dream. If you processing system in Macon, GA. fade away in a snap. This is when imagine it, it’s a possibility. If you And, I could honestly evaluate myself doubt, blame, and regret come schedule it, it’s real.’ So, it’s always as the lowest-scoring member of the team in terms of social interaction. in. As a result, we tend to question up to you. I didn’t like much of being slapped our abilities, asking, “How did All these beautiful thoughts had with rejection almost every single those triumphant people climb the mountain top that fast while I am been instilled in the mind of Frank day. Those two things, out of many Kern, a prominent American factors, mainly pushed me to find moving so slow?!”. entrepreneur, the man whose salary another way to sell to people without We just go back again to the success is almost $1.4M,and the estimated receiving personal stories we used to listen to. net worth of $28M, and the man

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rejection and without being seen as a kind of introvert person. And so, I came up with a brilliant idea: why not sit behind a computer and hide all day long, while selling millions of stuff to people and receive millions of approvals. Since then, I’ve been interested in selling stuff online.”. When he concluded that selling stuff on the internet is a much better way to benefit, he began innovating ideas and improvising products that might bait potential buyers. He studied every scheme online, he investigated what people need, what people want and desire, and everything he might find profitable. He even listened to Anthony Robbins tapes in order to gain more knowledge and wisdom, and read a lot of business books in order to enhance his latent qualities. He performed many online researches. One example was the huge demand of parrot owners to teach their parrots to speak. Frank risked his funds when he hired a writer from Elance for $650 to encode the book ‘Teach your parrot

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to talk.’. Fortunately, this book squeezed him an income stream of approximately $3000 every month.

In the same interview, Hawk raised another question, “A lot of people are also aspiring to be like yourself, a very good businessman. How do you actually make a productive and He was amazed with the results and fruitful business?” it was the ‘boom’ he was waiting for to turn the tables around. He Mr. Kern replied, “For me, to focus never stopped learning and trying on what’s working and to discard things out. Plus, he craved for more what’s actually not, would make accomplishments. He did the same things profitable in an easier way. thing: invest his money, time, and But of course, they will never know effort to a thing that might not what’s working until they search and possibly work in a positive way. probe things out. Look, a lot of things that can be seen online easily grab He focused on another type of people’s attention, since there are pet and was able to develop a also a lot of magnificent concepts course for more than 600 various out there that may also work for breeds of dogs. He studied again them. However, it sometimes regarding with fun facts about dogs covers the fact that these concepts and perceived that these animals might also not work for them, and can actually respond to positive basically, waste everything they had reinforcement. invested. So, I suggest to check out Then, he used the similar book for only one of 9 million things that all breeds but on different websites. best suits the criteria of the most His technique may appear to be an potential thing to sell, and the unsophisticated technique to sell, aspect that must be enhanced. In but mind you, it gathered him the simpler words, people who want to amount of $1,000,000 in the year make money online must guarantee themselves that they are spending 2005 and 2006. and risking on the right track, or if Additionally, some of the products not, they can easily get back on the which Frank Kern created, like right track. Anyway, in connection Mass Control, Mass Conversion, to what my colleagues and I did List Control, Screw Google System, and are continually doing, in order etc. boosted his esteem in the to be very good businessmen in the marketplace. One more thing online industry, was to sort things that made him successful was the out first. Afterwards, we stopped StomperNet launch that made him doing a million things and just earn a total of $18.3M in just a day. deeply focused on what has already After all the hardships, the failures, worked. By the way, these are the and the realizations, he began exact same things we teach our to spread his knowledge and customers in the continuity program. wisdom to other aspiring business On the other hand, I advise people people who wanted to be big-time to be brave enough to explore entrepreneurs. He began teaching and gamble. The Business world is people about the procedures in naturally filled with trial and error stuff. Have no fear. So that once making money online. they find the most profitable thing No wonder his name has been to sell and the strategy for it, it’ll be spilled all over the social media easier to focus and strive.” sites, on commercials, and several Hawk noted, “Awesome! I see magazine articles. how much important courage and

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determination is when it comes to used car sales lot, and used that as business, and how much it can help a chance to get back on the right a businessman to work on profitable track again. stuff. It’s a big part of the progress.” Frank believes that if you set your Speaking of failures, of course Frank comfortability boundaries into a Kern had also encountered many short-term period only, you will not unfortunate events in his life. He get used to uncomfortable things was devastated, to the point where and you have to face the truth that he almost lost everything he had wherever you go, in the real world, when a flood destroyed his property uncomfortable things will stick to you in Macon, GA. no matter what. Therefore, if you want to achieve your goals, do not And, guess what? The calamity be afraid to encounter the possibility transformed him from a wealthy of discomfort, such as pressure, man into a homeless one. He had failure, stress, disappointments, no choice but to move into a singleetc. or else, it’ll be harder to move wide trailer Milledgeville, GA, with forward. plywood floors, a table made of peach crate, and a mattress on the He said, “The best thing about floor to rest at nights. Also, he was Failures, Stress, Disappointments not able to afford heat or hot water and Mistakes is that it helps people for his mini trailer home because he to slowly overcome fear, and could not afford the gas bill. just give the best shot they can. Also, these things may form more Yet, soon enough, he had the luck advanced ideas, and teaches us to of being hired as a service crew on a grow in different aspects. Trust me, I Greek fast food restaurant which, at know it. I’ve been there.”. least, gave him an income of $4.25 per hour. Frank shared his experience about making a big mistake in his career, He lived a slum life for a while, until way back August 2008, which he he worked for one of his cousins in a also considered as a blessing in

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disguise. He said, “I remembered having trouble with authority long time ago, when the Federal Trade Commission sued me in 2003. I was actually one of the board members of ERA. Our mission was to coach and educate marketers. I remembered working on a certain project. We were looking forward to how can we design a device, like a black box, that provides the right information to our customers, with how the marketers can cope with their business and stuff like that. Everything was in a pretty state and we were so focused on it. The only conflict was that I had no idea about the existence of a Federal Trade Commission, and I was so clueless about their advertising regulations. They sued me. It cost me a lot. I probably would not cross that line again. But, ironically, I could say that aside from my wife and my 3 adorable children, being sued was one of the best things that ever happened to me because it served as an eye opener.”. Hawk noted, “, Awesome! But, let’s talk about Kartra. We recently

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discovered that you switched to Kartra now. What was its significance to your business life? Can you please share a brief story about it? ”.

their burden. We also studied and observed the things about our app that can serve as a complication to the customers. I was affected by the truth that the ‘texting stuff or filling the information was a little too much Frank said, “Yeah, sure. Well, of a hassle for some of them. discovering the potential of this Kartra thing is one of my examples Luckily, we upgraded the app to of me exploring many things then the point of automatically filling in focusing on one thing in particular, on the blanks on the copy for the and just adding on top of what’s customers. Unexpectedly, the notion working. Basically, I was still became more alluring to people, researching things I could add to and we are looking forward to my list of profit-potential products. improving it until it’s at the very best And, I first just noticed my dear quality. Overall, I just want to share friends, Andy Jenkins and Hector the one thing I had learned from Youngway, on how they actually this process. You know, selling stuff spent billions of dollars in building is easy. It’s just a matter of offering Kartra. So, I understood that there people things that would make are many people who are willing them happy and then, endorse and to spend a lot of money for such sell them things that would make a hobby. And so I convinced them them happier.“. to collaborate with me on bringing Hawk remarked, “Right. But, you up Kartra in the market, and they must have done a lot of strenuous miraculously agreed. Then we were activities and a lot of stressful able to establish a company with methodologies to create such a Kartra wherein the customers can successful business, and to last long not only take on another automated enough. Is this your key on building a platform, but also where they can $10 million plus company? I wonder effortlessly press some controls, and how many people you had recruited everything will be created for them, in order to work and accomplish this such as the page templates and with you.”. email automations. It turned out pretty awesome, although I needed Frank responded, “Well, I believe to hire an in-house person, paid that the real secret to success is when about $30,000 a month, to fully- you move out of the comfort zone operate the application for me.”. and work like hell. But in contrary, we don’t do extremely extraneous Hawk said, “Yeah, I also got the things. We just work very, very hard opportunity to play with it. And, I all along together. I have just about loved the design of clicking buttons five full time employees with me. and it just completed everything. We fix one core product which is the What I only had to do was to start continuity program, at the moment, filling in all the blanks. Fantastic!” and have one core strategy that Frank mentioned, “Yes it was. And clicks. That’s it. For me, recruiting a now, the good news is that we’re lot of people is totally irrelevant”. working more into enhancing the Hawk declared, ”Amazing! It makes app. In fact, I conducted surveys sense to me. By the way, I want to about people’s struggles and their know more about your continuity visions of where they wanted to program. Why did you build the be, and anything that has to do program and who was it intended with our company as big help to for? Tell me about it.”. VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

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Frank replied, “Primarily, we decided to sell the program because we found it very profitable. It was one opportunity for us, the company and I, to increase the number of our customers, and to select the targeted offers. We built the program for people who are already at the middle of working out their business. I hosted video conferences every other Wednesday, and had live seminars twice a week, in addition to sending newsletters in the mail, campaigns, templates, etc. What we did was to provide them some useful information that is concise and straight to the point, regarding investigating details of their businesses, focusing on some particular aspects that needs the most appropriate strategy. Everything was all about simplified growth. Furthermore, we also created the Private Client Group in which we guide the entrepreneurs to examine what’s going around their businesses, and to see if there are conflicts that we can resolve. Thus, to see and try thousands of plausible things and techniques that can fix the business itself.”. Frank Kern believes that we are the author of our own life story. Each one of us is given a pen and a piece of paper, or opportunities to decide what kind of tale we want to tell the world. We can do anything or be anyone. We can also let other people’s story of success touch our lives. We can invite some people for writing more ideas. But, we can never call on anyone to write the whole plot of our own life story. Only a person can help himself, and he can only help himself if he would start putting words into actions. Nothing is impossible. It is you and your persistence that will make you a successful person. Now, it’s up you ‘what kind kind of story you want to tell the world’. Hawk: Hey, everybody! This is

Hawk Mikado, publisher of Funnel Magazine and I’m here with Frank Kern, out of his studio. Thank you very much for inviting me today.

interaction. They were like, “Dude, this is literally, you can’t get worse than this.” So, I was not very good at door-to-door sales. I started looking into how can I sit behind a computer Frank: Thanks for having me, thanks and hide and not have to actually for coming, thank you for having me face personal rejection every single in my studio. day and that was it. Hawk: So, you’ve been an Hawk: So, your introvert allowed entrepreneur, you’ve been a direct you to excel as an internet marketer, response marketer, you’ve been just that’s really cool. one of the brilliant cornerstones of the internet marketing industry for Frank: It well, it didn’t make me excel, over 20-plus years. it made me at least get interested in it, you know? Yeah, pig-headed Frank: A long time, yeah. perseverance, I think made me Hawk: So, how did you get started moderately good at it. in this? Hawk: It says here that you are Frank: Abject failure. I was a door- making 2018 your most profitable to-door salesman. I am a level nine year ever. How are you doing that? million introvert, I actually took Frank: More of what’s working and an evaluation brain scan thing less of what’s not. So, it’s really, at a clinic and I scored the lowest really easy online especially to get you can possibly score on social

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super distracted by stuff. I’m on the same list all you guys are on, you know, and everyone’s email copy is so good that you’re like, “Dude, I’ve got to try this thing,” you know? And so then, you go down the rabbit hole with the new thing and some of them work, and some don’t. And what we decided to do as a company was to focus on a singular thing, we’ve actually had that singular focus since 2016 which is our membership. That cause last year to be our most profitable year ever and creating all that, we set everything out to be relatively selfmanaging. Now, the continuity just works, you know all the funnels just work. Who knew with this whole funnel idea, you know kind of works pretty good. We added more on top of what was working. Our most insightful thing that we experienced as a company was to stop doing a million things and to just look at

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what has worked really, really well, building more into that. So in fact, and then just do that with very I’m on the list this week of like things Frank has to do, is to build tutorials intense laser focus. for a book funnel. So someone could Hawk: So, you recently switched come in and just press the button, over to Kartra. and how the book funnel pages are built, and all the invite sequences Frank: Yeah. and webinar stuff are built, then Hawk: Can you share a little bit that’ll just continue to get more more about the experience with robust. I’ve done these surveys a that? lot. I first did a survey of this nature, Frank: Obviously, I’m very biased I think in 2006, asking people because I own equity in Kartra. So, what their biggest challenge was I got very fortunate and the guys, and getting to where they wanted they started Kartra. Andy Jenkins to be. I was overwhelmed and it and Hector Youngway are friends became specifically narrowed down of mine, and they spent about four to overwhelmed with the text stuff, million dollars or so, building Kartra, you know because the text stuff is and then at the last minute I came a pain, no matter what platform in and I said, “Hey, I’ll tell you how you’re using, it’s always a hassle. to really take this to market, if you’ll So we figured, “Hey, you know if give me a piece of your company.” we can make it work, someone can And they agreed, miraculously. press a button.” It’s good to get rid So, therefore, my review of Kartra of that problem and then the added is very, very biased. But it’s been ability of filling in the blanks on the extremely easy to integrate with copy, I mean you really can but of them because what we did as a course, you have to have some skill company with Kartra was to make with your copy, but to take away it not just another automation a lot of that learning curve, really platform. We wanted to make it a made it more appealing for people situation where you can come in, and so it worked pretty good. press create campaign button and Hawk: You’ve built a $10 millionit just builds the page templates, plus company and have a staff of builds all the email automation, and just five full-time employees, how do everything for you. So prior to doing you make that work for you? that, I was an Infusionsoft user and they’re a great company, I found it Frank: This company is not at 10. This personally, maybe because I’m not company in combination with other so bright, to be very, very difficult companies, I have pieces of, but to use. I had to have an in-house this company you’re referring to... person that was around $30,000 last year I think we did seven point a month just to run that application something, seven and a half, give or for me. So with Kartra, I don’t have take and we don’t do a lot, I don’t mean that we don’t do a lot of work to do that, it has been awesome. but we don’t do a lot of extraneous Hawk: I’ve had an opportunity to activity, we have one core product play around with it, as an Affiliate which is this continuity program, Marketer as well. I love how you we have one core process that sells can literally just click in and it fills that, of all things a funnel and then, out everything, and you just fill in we just built two other programs the blanks. So, if that’s your idea, that are all here, physically. So, it is awesome. unnecessary to have a lot of people. Frank: It was, yeah. And we’re VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

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Hawk: So, can you tell me a little bit more about your continuity program? How you developed it and why you decided to go with that? Frank: Yeah! Well, certainly I did it because it’s very profitable. But the difference between the one that we created and most that you would see is number one the price, it’s probably around ten times more than the average continuity programs, as we have $400 a month. The target market is different, this is typically for people who are already doing things, it’s not a beginner, it’s not unfriendly for beginners but a beginner would find it to be a bit much, you know, and it’s personal interaction. So, we shoot live workshops for members every week, twice a week in fact, and then I do live video conferences for them every other Wednesday, in addition to sending them a newsletter in the mail, and campaigns predone, templates, and all that kind of stuff. And the reason we built it was because of two things: Number one, I tested it years ago and it worked and so again, going back to the thing that’s why these years were so profitable and last year as we just keep doing what’s working, you know. But Number two, it was the gap in the market. I think that courses can get you very, very far but eventually, you’re going to need somebody to talk to, you know and so, we provide that somebody. So literally, I just finished a video conference with members where I’m looking at them, they’re in the studio over there where I can see them on the screen, I could see their computer screens, you can see their campaigns, and answer their questions personally and that’s not really readily available in the marketplace. Hawk: So, how do you see it progressing? Because we’ve been

coming out, I would say “coming out of the information age” and moving towards more mastery or actually being able to implement. How do you see that progressing in your business and in the businesses of the members that you have? Frank: I think that we will enter the insight age. So I think, to speak to implementing, I think there will be a continuing demand for professional services which is the “they do it for me” thing. I think information went from being very, very valuable that maybe ten years ago to now being, it’s still valuable within context but it can also be the source of overwhelm and stress for people, I mean it’s literally you’re bombarded with every day. So, what people need now and what they want now is more insight which is “Please just tell me, like the one thing or two things and don’t give me seven thousand videos to watch, just give me like the one thing, so I can go do it.” And so, I think there will be a large evolution towards that but I don’t think that the concept of selling information will go away, ever. I just think that more opportunity will open up within more insightful, more concise training for people.

client group which you involve ten entrepreneurs that come in. They spend $30,000 one-time payment, no payment plans and you bring them in three times a year. How does that impact their business? How does that help you grow your business?

Hawk: Awesome! How do you guys Frank: Well, it impacts them all drive traffic to your program? horribly, and they just hate it. That Frank: Ads, primarily Facebook. was a great question because it We have a little bit of Google, we really makes it where I can say good test it. But we are committing the things about the program. Yeah, marketing sin of using primarily one well I don’t offer it anymore because platform and we don’t do the, tried we sold it out. So we, I started out I to build the page up or whatever, I said, “I’m going to have 13 groups,” don’t even know how many fans I and we’re going to do it, that’s why have if you would call them that on we have this big echoey studio here Facebook, I don’t care, you know? because of the vast majority of the I mean, it’s nice to have them and space is actually utilized by them, everything, I mean it that way, when they come. And then it pares but we buy traffic. So, I’m not an down to six groups and I was like, affiliate guy, it’s all media. I want to “I think, four is plenty,” because this be able to control the media coming is a lot of work, you know? So, it’s these two-day meetings with just to me and turn that into a profit. groups of ten. So, it’s a lot of twoHawk: So, you created this private day meetings, and the core thing

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that they get in that, aside from just being able to call me or whatever, so these are very high achievers, it’s not a beginner’s group or anything like that nor is it a mastermind. So, private client literally means private client. it’s like I mean, look at your stuff, let me see the ads, let me see the numbers, let’s get in here, and you know, tweak things and make them better or fix them where needed. Aside from the benefit of that which is they get 19 years of experience, we’re not having to do the 19 years of work is, it’s clarity, it’s a lot of focus on clarity. So, every single one of these people come in and they’re like, “Okay, I want to grow and I have nine million things I want to do,” which is normal and so our job is, “Okay, great. You have nine million things you want to do. Let’s look at all of them, let’s look at the ones that have produced the most revenue and then, how about we focus on those? Then let’s build a very simple process around that.”

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So, everything we do as a company, whether it’s from our own company or that we try to get for our members in continuity or our private clients, it’s simplified growth. I’m very sold on the “80/20 principle” and the idea of “less is more” when it comes to growing a company. Hawk: Awesome. So that’s sold out. Do you guys do a Mastermind at all? Frank: We don’t do a Mastermind now. We have another program called Flagship which is for people who are at six figures all the way up to seven and that’s newer, and we’re in our second group now. But I personally don’t enjoy Masterminds in the traditional sense of the word, where day one, we’re all going to sit around, we’re going to say what’s working and then we’re going to try to make it better. Then on day two, we’re going to all talk about what needs fixing, we’re going to try to make it better. For me, I find that disorganized and I personally don’t get value from it, so we don’t do that in our program. That program, that’s for one-day meetings a quarter in a straight curriculum based. So, it’s very instructional where it’s here’s a tool, here’s a thinking process to use, here’s how to gain clarity and focus. The idea is you leave with like a thing to do, not 9 million things, not a bunch of new ideas, but a very clear vision of here’s what I want to get done, here’s exactly the plan to get it done, and then between those meetings, we talk to clients every week on focus calls to help them stay on track. Hawk: Awesome, and between that, and you also have a podcast called the “Your Next Million.” Frank: Yeah. Hawk: Can you share with me a little bit about what you talk about and what you do on the podcast? VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

Frank: Yeah, I noticed there was a lot of material online within the internet marketing space for people who are getting started but there is not a lot of material for people who were already up and running, and want to do better. So I figured I would fill that gap because that’s my perfect client anyway. I’m terrible with new people, I just, I don’t have the, I’m not nice enough, really. My dude, I told you what to do yesterday, hurry up, so it doesn’t go over well with them. I don’t think they enjoy the process. So, I recognize that gap in the marketplace. So, your next million is designed specifically to take the person who’s at six, seven, eight figures, whatever, they’ve got 9 million plates spinning and with every episode, give them a usable concept and worksheet that they can use to get to where they’re going. So again, this is the whole focus of it, it’s very simplified growth.

we could just go like that. And now, we’re doing our job, so I would much rather just go like that, then like hit me and you have 15 other people and break our bags and try to move this stagnant 20-ton boulder. So, that’s why I choose the clients that are already doing things and plus I can do a better job with them, you know? It’s hard to get results for somebody with zero momentum. At least it is for me, it’s not my strong suit. I’m very, very good at being able to say, “Oh, you’re doing that. Well, let’s add this to it, or let’s tweak this,” or whatever. So, there was a function of evolution in terms of the results for that, personal brand or preference.

Hawk: Awesome. So, you’ve been incredible with email copy, that’s been something that I’ve seen email headlines, just one of the things that consistently captured my attention. Can you share with me some of Hawk: That’s awesome. So, I am the tips and tricks that you have for the same way when we work with somebody who’s looking to up their private clients, I don’t work with game with email? newbies. Frank: Don’t try, yeah. So, I don’t mean don’t try to up your game Frank: Yeah. with it but when you’re writing Hawk: And when somebody new email, you really need to write wants to come, it’s like, “Okay,” it’s something like you’re writing to a three times the investment because friend. So, every media has context you need to go do all these other like the blog typically delivers news, things. So, how did you figure that? or instructions, or opinion. An email How did you, in your business and contextually is usually going to be in over the last 19 years figure out if received from one friend to another or who your ideal target audiences? and is usually going to be very short, Frank: It was personal preference. very conversational. So, if you want I just prefer to work with them. to do better at email, if you want to I mean, if you imagine in the write good email making, you want business you and I, we’re trying to to just be a lot more colloquial in it get an entrepreneur a result. If you and have a lot shorter copy, and metaphorically look at that as we’re don’t make it seem salesy. So, all trying to take a 20-ton rock and my stuff, I literally write to my list like move it. If that rock is not moving, I’ve known them forever and they’re we’re not going to be able to do it, friends of mine because most of you know? I mean, maybe through them have been on my list forever. I some Herculean force, we can do it consider them to be friends of mine but if that rock is moving a little bit because they’ve helped me build and we just have to move it faster, everything I have. So, I just assume

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that familiarity, you know, and it works well and there’s very little, gosh I’m really killing any chance I ever have of selling an email copywriting course but nor would I ever want to, there’s very little strategy to it. It’s just like, here’s the thing, I want them to go click this, check it out, you know? The function of the email is primarily to get a click and how would I write it if I was writing it to my friend Andy Jenkins or something, “Hey man, check this out, it’s pretty cool. See you later.” That’s it. So, in the course of email copy, I don’t think my email copy is particularly good, I just think that if you compare it to other marketing based email copy, the other copy is pretty bad because it screams “I’m trying to sell you something,” and when I’m trying to sell someone something, I just tell them, “I’m trying to sell you something, right now. Here’s why you should buy,” which is exactly what you would say to your friend. Hawk: Yeah. Frank: Some works pretty good.

other person in the world? We have found personally that longer form has had greater longevity and they convert better. If we do a lot of preselling in the ad copy and even if initially a short copy ad will perform better, it won’t last, it just gets burnt out for whatever reason. Hawk: Yeah, short ads definitely have a shorter life. Frank: Yeah. Hawk: So, what are some of the free optin gifts that you give through your ads? Frank: I just started doing opt-ins like a month ago. So, from May of 2016 until a month ago, there was none at all. It was “buy this book at $5.60, it’s pretty good”, and then that self-liquidated and it led into my Continuity Program and that’s how we built it. Once the Continuity Program had hit the financial goal that we built it to hit, then we started deviating our focus from that into creating Flagship and Private Client Group. Our campaign for Flagship right now is because I found dealing with webinar software to be a pain in the ass, it’s just an on-demand class which is a fancy way of saying video. So, it’s an automated webinar but it’s not just opt-in and here’s the video and so it’s presented as an ondemand class.

Hawk: That’s awesome, I love that. One of the things we interviewed Ryan Levesque about I was just curious if you’ve seen anything with this, he mentioned, “Instead of writing, putting a sales letter together, putting the same thing you’d write in an email using that as Hawk: There’s a lot of controversy an ad on Facebook.” Have you guys around automated that looks real, ever tried anything like that? using something like every webinar. Frank: Like long form Facebook Frank: Yeah. copy? Hawk: Automated that doesn’t look Hawk: Yeah, basically using the real, it tells you it’s automated or just Facebook copy. doing the on-demand, what have you found in testing that works best? Frank: Long form, ads are long form, yeah. So, and you know, you Frank: I haven’t tested. I haven’t never know if this is a universally really paid attention to the testing applicable principle. What are the of one versus the other. We have dangers of listening to people like done automated that looks real, us? Is it, if it works for us it doesn’t however, it was largely real because necessarily mean it’ll work for every a real human was there moderating

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the chat and actually answering people. And we ran it for about three months and it worked. I did not test that against not doing things, I really wanted to do it in there, it was a seven-hour class. So, I wanted to have a guy in there answering questions, engaging people, and trying to do a good job, and all that stuff. I think that if you deliberately deceive your audience into thinking they’re getting one thing and they’re not, then that’s a pretty bad foot to start with. So, and I doubt we’d be successfully fooling anybody, if you’re like, “Ok, here’s a real webinar,” and it’s like everybody knows if it says WebinarJam on it or EverWebinar, or ClickFunnel, or whatever. It’s not a stupid real webinar, so why bother? You know what I mean? Hawk: If it’s playing in the next 5, 10, 15 minutes, or even the next hour, not probably a real webinar. Frank: Yeah. I think an on-demand class is pretty good, though. It’s like, it’s clearly not live because it’s on-demand. So, if you go watch the Stones on-demand, it’s not like, “Oh dude, we’re on-demand! Okay Keith, tune-up. Bill let’s get the keys ready. Charlie you good? Okay, go.” That won’t happen. Hawk: We’ve worked a lot of corporate clients and in corporate, you do not do an automated webinar, it’s either on-demand or it’s live. So, it’s really interesting that you’ve taken that into the small business world. Frank: Well it was literally that distinction between using the word “webinar” and “on-demand training” that’s a couple of weeks old. It wasn’t even that the webinar software is a pain because I segment the data based on gross revenue. So, I’ll give one offer if someone’s under a certain growth revenue that’s, “Okay, you should join our

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If someone is over a gross revenue, I’ll put them on a training that’s at the end, I’d said, “You know, you should consider joining Flagship.” And I couldn’t figure out how to make them auto-register for the automated webinar based on the tags that were applied, I know this is techy boring stuff but this is funnel magazine. So, probably the readers are familiar with this kind of thing, I couldn’t figure out how to make the tech work, so I was like, “Screw it, man I’m just going to do it as an on-demand class and hopefully it won’t hurt conversions and it had absolutely no difference whatsoever,” like no one cared, they’re like, “Huh? Okay, cool.” I know if it’s a webinar, it’s going to be a video anyway. So, a video on a page, it’s no difference. Hawk: So, have you used products that use the PLF or multi-video series type launch funnel so far? Frank: Yeah. I’ve even automated this, it works pretty good. It’s been years ago, so I think I’ll give you some data. Actually around this, we spent around $300 grand and this is maybe 2015. So, 2015 or 2016 VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

a while back, we spent $300,000 running traffic to automated webinars and automated the launch funnel where people were opting in for a mission specific video like “here’s how to do a thing” and then a blind ad where people would opt in for a report called the “Future of Internet Marketing.” I think I was like, “Here’s some benefits in this report,” but it wasn’t necessarily like here’s how to do a thing, there’s no objective behind it. Every single person who opted in, regardless of where they opted in, went through our entire behavioral dynamic system. So, they saw every offer we had overtime when we ran this thing forever, spent a lot of money on it. And then at the end of that task, we looked and said, “Okay, which opt-in source had the greatest amount of revenue per registrants?” And the greatest amount of revenue per registrants was webinars which are really surprising because they’re more committed. Especially if you’re choosing a time and showing up, and filling out the extra fields, and all that. But it was interesting which the reason I bring that up is because to address launches, I think they’re

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amazing, especially if you do them internally to your own list and don’t involve affiliates, I really like them. I think they’re amazing with affiliates involved as well. Although I think you can have a diminishing of goodwill towards the end of it because you got nine million people using scarcity tactics with your name in front of it. So it’s like, the money’s nice but then they have the repercussions of that problem here. I would not accept something I would prefer to endure but it’s an automated system that worked pretty good. Hawk: I know you mentioned earlier that you don’t really have affiliates who promote you. What was the decision behind that and has that impacted your business? Frank: It has been amazing for the business. The decision behind it was I don’t want to share the money. I would rather buy a customer for less than I would have to pay an affiliate and source matters. So, I don’t want some random person going and promoting my stuff and sending me customers, and I’m not sure what promises they’re making when they’re sending the customers.

It might be a biz op type customer or beginner customer, or whatever and therefore that person might go, “This is awful. I don’t like this guy’s stuff. He’s talking about strategy and thinking tools, and all I want to know is what color buy button should I use on my page.” So, for those reasons, oh and there’s liability which people don’t realize. There’s a tremendous amount of liability when you have affiliates. So, if you’re my affiliate, you say “You’re going to make a million dollars in ten seconds if you buy Frank’s stuff.” I’m liable for that and I don’t want to be liable for that. And it was financially motivated, I can acquire a customer for less than the commission I would pay to an affiliate, and paid media is not going to ask me to do a reciprocal mailing for them. “Cygnus, I don’t think anyone’s signing up on my list. Connor, I hope Frank promotes the latest product launch to me. I’m hoping he’s going to send me cut and paste emails just like the other 19 people were sending me this week about the exact same product. If only he’ll do it.” I don’t think that’s happening. So, I’d much rather not have to be in that situation with the people that are completely responsible for the financial wellbeing of my family. Hawk: Awesome. So, breakeven is the number one thing you’re just hiding that cost less to acquire customers and affiliates. How does somebody from your perspective, get to a breakeven point in their funnel? Frank: Depends on the funnel. The only way I know to answer the question is to give you numbers. Our book funnel that we ran forever... It was, and this is funny, it is funny to speak on this topic about how much marketers model each other without any thought, whatsoever. Our book funnel was my consulting book. I don’t run it that much anymore

because I’m just mainly promoting Flagship or Continuity things, relatively full. I can get customers if I want them from the list or whatever, and that started as a free plus shipping book funnel, classic, and I like to maintain goodwill with the marketplace, than ever possible. I was like, “Alright, most people are charging, like $8 shipping,” but then, you see the comments under the app, people are like, “Hey, doesn’t cost $8 to ship a book. You’re ripping us off.” So, like “Well, that’s kind of a good point.” I went to USPS gov, and I looked at the bulk media rate shipping cost for like, anywhere in the United States Continental is five dollars and sixty cents, I said, “Okay, I’m going to charge five dollars and sixty cents shipping,” and it was costing us around 13 bucks or whatever to fulfill one of these books. So, I said, “Well gosh, you don’t wonder what would happen if I didn’t ship the book and told him it was a download.” I said, “Change the app from free book reveals to new book reveals.” and I said, “This is an instant download, left the price the same because it was working and had no effect on conversion at all.” So, and this I know, I’m not directly answering the question but I will. But what’s funny is now, if you go and you look at a lot of book funnels, they’re charging five dollars and sixty cents without realising that I have no idea whether or not that’s actually a good price. I literally chose it because that’s how much it cost to ship a book in the continental United States by the US mail. I wanted to be truthful in the advertising. Here the numbers on that over, like all this time, right? We would get, if we spent a hundred grand on media for the book funnel, the book funnel consisted of a book, an order bump, an upsell, a down sell, and in a second upsell. That little chunk of the book funnel would get us about a twelve percent return

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on cash collected, over that thirty day period, which is not a lot. One, or twelve, or a hundred thousand dollars, but it of course crushes Wall Street, but it’s not a lot, and to get to that point, our primary focus was two things: Number one, lower the cost to acquire the book buyer through better copy, which we never tested any other copy. It was always through, “Okay, let’s see.” You know, what happens when we scale and what if we add an order bump and like, logical things like that. What we would see over time was that, after about day sixty, that 12% ROI would end up being around 40% because some of the upsells were on payment plans. That was pretty good and the whole purpose of it was just to acquire a customer at a self-funding profit. Then they could all join our Continuity Program which would be a series of offers, you know, for Continuity and that worked. Hawk: So, what are that back-end offers? What’s the bump in the upsell, downsell? Frank: So, for the book funnel, I want to really make it clear that all of these prices are really extracted. There’s no class, so for all I know, they’re the worst prices ever. You change it by a dollar, it converted, it just worked, and I was like, “Screw it.” I’m really not a big split tester, quite frankly the tech was never there to be accurate. Split testing, in my opinion, until Carter came along, and now, I’m just like, “I don’t want to bother.” Because I’m used to not bothering, whether it was so long that I’ve got to get it right the first time, a lot of times. Our order bump was 37 bucks and that was, they didn’t know they were getting it, was about two hours of seminar footage that went along with the book. The first one click upsell was another seminar presentation called “Reframe” and the sales angle on

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it, and this is a good sales angle for one click upsell, is that it solved a problem that fulfilling on the book’s promise created, which sounds weird, so I’ll explain. If someone followed all the directions in the book, they weren’t getting a lot of leads, and so now your problem is, if you’re a consultant, how do you pitch a free consult to someone repeatedly, without being annoying, alright? There’s like, you know, you don’t want to keep that, “You want a free consult? How about now? Now?” The training taught them 13 different angles of approach on how to do that. So, that was the first one click upsell, $297 no idea if this is a good price. Totally, just like, “$297?” and never split tested it against any other price. “Rohan, it was horrible.” We converted around 2.5% for that, give or take, over time. Like one day, you know book funnels are, like, “Well, we’re 5% converting, we’re going to be rich,” the next day, it’s nothing like, everything’s terrible, the tech is broken. If they said no to that, there would be, “Ok, do you want to do it for three payments of $97?” “Yeah, and that was pretty much the VS selling” like, “Ok,” looks like nothing particularly good. And the final one was a Video Black Box which was an instructional angle. Both those points are important because while the conversion rates might not have been as high as what other marketers could get, both of those pitches, whether it was the pitch for Reframe or the pitch for Video Black Box, actually helped the person who watch the video. So, regardless of whether or not they bought, they came away learning something, you know. In the case of Reframe, I actually taught them one of the angles and scripted it out for them in the videos like, “Here’s an angle you can take. Here’s the scripting for it. If you want the other 12, you can buy it.” In the VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

Video Black Box, one, I taught them the framework for a video which is patterning interrupt deliver concept or pattern interrupt deliver content, and then ask for results, I gave them examples. And the reason I tell you all of that is because, very rarely do I do well on the front end. I’m not that great, I’m not a particularly good copywriter, I don’t make very hard-hitting VSL. I’m very, very aware of compliance matters with, the long-ago sued by the Federal Trade Commission in 2003, and I’m a board member of the ERA, so our job is to educate marketers on compliance. Therefore, I’m not like a hard-hitting copy guy. The reason our stuff works is because of the relationship built and then, communication over time, yeah.

“Yeah, all this stupid crap, you’re doing, you can’t do that anymore, ever again, and you’re an idiot.” They didn’t say it, you know, I mean, they’re very polite. Actually, if you ever get sued by the government, I hope that anyone who ever goes through it, at least has a similar experience to me, where they’re friendly and while they were freezing the assets and taking the money, it wasn’t, like you know, men and women, and what do you call them, windbreakers with, you know, billy clubs, smashing our stuff. They were like, “Hey, here’s some papers, give us your money.” Yeah and I said, “Okay, sorry. Didn’t know you existed. Really, feeling stupid, right about now.” “Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, get out of here. Don’t do Hawk: That must be interesting it, again.” getting sued. So, that did not explode the Frank: It was. It was entirely my fault. business, at all. But the result of I had no idea there was a Federal that was, maybe I should learn Trade Commission and nor did I how to do this the right way. Then, know that there were advertising I actually ended up selling dog regulations. I was just literally training materials. I was so afraid to clueless. I was 30 years old, this is do anything with marketing. I was 2003. And probably the best thing, like, “I can never sell anything with it unpleasant and very expensive, marketing, again. It’s going to make it was arguably the best thing that them angry.” You know? So, I’m ever happened to me, outside of going to sell dog training material marrying my wife, Natalia and because that’s very innocuous. Then, having our children, and obvious it’s who knows if it’s impossible to get things like that, you know. So, I sued, but it’s less likely than if you’re wouldn’t want to do it again, but I selling success information. certainly wouldn’t take it back for Aside from that, it was always anything, it was an eye-opener. things of like, necessity, you know? Hawk: I shared with you a little I mean, I created Mass Control bit before the interview, we had a which was a thing that really put pretty traumatic experience that me on the map, years ago, and I led to the creation. What are some did it because I had a tax bill, like, pivotal moments, other than being I was very content being completely sued that have actually skyrocketed behind the scenes, doing the dog your business because you had to stuff. The dog business was doing ok because I’m making a million take a different approach? dollars a year. But at the time, well, Frank: Well, getting sued was a this is amazing. You know? Like, big one. Although that inaction I literally talked to nobody, ever. I conquered the business, that killed hit refresh all day, and I surf, and the business because they’re like, I’m getting a million bucks a year. It

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wasn’t all net or anything, we’re still, I’ll take it, you know? I had a tax bill because apparently taxes are not optional, so I was like, “Well, I’ll do this Mass Control product, and teach people how I did all this stuff,” and then, watch it, and then, that worked. So, I said, “Okay, I’m going to keep doing more of this.” And another thing that helped was getting a tremendous amount, well, it felt like a tremendous amount of haters. Back during all the product launch era, where the internet community got very tired of being on the same email lists, coming all the time, like clockwork, “Hey, you know, you better buy this thing right now.” And that made me think, “Okay, well, if the marketplace I’m serving, doesn’t like this, then I should probably find a better way.” Which is what caused me to think, “What if I just advertise?” Well, here’s this novel idea. Yeah. Again, back to what we started with, you focus on what works and then do more of that. I built the dog business from cold media, like nobody knew me. I did it under a survey, well, not a survey, what do you call? A pen name! You know? I started with nothing, and started running ads to this funnel, and it worked. It was like, “Wait a minute, what if I just did that, and never did any of this affiliate stuff, again.” And it was huge, very, very successful. Hawk: That’s awesome. You mentioned you’re a part of an EFT group or something like that. Frank: ERA. Hawk: ERA, thank you. Can you share a bit more about what, how the ERA helps entrepreneurs? Frank: Yeah. The ERA stands for Electronic Retailing Association, and man, this is an unbelievable organization. Talk about masterminds and stuff, you know?

And like, people like, with my mastermind, we got everyone’s seven figures. If you’re in the ERA and you’re seven figures, you go to one of those meetings, you’re like, “Yeah, I’m just a seven figures.” Like, I’ll speak to them and the guy will answer or ask a question, it’s like, “Yeah, I’m spending about fifty million dollars a year on media,” and I’m wondering, how I can get a better return? Like, “Oh my god, dude, that’s your spend?” You know? “What are you making?” He’s like, “I know about 250 million dollars.” That’s the kind of people who are in that, a very, very big player in direct response. And the purpose of the ERA is to be a collaborative bridge between the direct response world and the regulatory world. Our job is to try to educate marketing folks about, “Hey, you know, there’s these things called rules, and we’re supposed to follow them.” And then, work with the regulators to say, nobody understands that law because it’s written by lawyers and stuff. How can we make it where people actually understand what this is, and you know, tell us what you see, that’s going on, that you don’t

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like, so we can say, “Hey, don’t be doing this. They don’t like it.” So, our job is kind of to raise educational awareness around stuff that’ll get you in trouble. And as a result of that, you end up with a bunch of really, really accomplished direct response people, all in one singular community, sharing ideas, which is cool. And man, they make us internet people look like, just children, the same like, I thought, I was something, until I went to the first ERA meeting, I’m like, “Well, I’ve got a lot to work. I got pretty good at, like, one thing, over the past 19 years,” and these people are like, 20 times bigger than me, you know? So, it’s cool. Hawk: So, what’s the website, so somebody can get involved? Frank: It’s retailing.org. Yeah, and I would recommend everybody join, it doesn’t cost a lot of money. It’s not expensive, and if you want them to, they’ll check your stuff, and check to see if you’re compliant, and if you’re not, they’ll tell you. And if you ever get a letter from the ERA and it says, “You need to change your marketing.” I would strongly suggest responding to the letter and changing the marketing, because

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top of the pile at the Federal Trade about me or to me on Facebook. Commission. Hawk: So, in the last month have Hawk: What’s something that used you seen an increase or a decline in your ad production? to work, that no longer works? Frank: I really don’t know if there’s anything that used to work, that doesn’t work. You know, and I’ll tell you the reason why is because we drive traffic into a funnel and then follow up with them. So, I’m not very good at staying on top of the latest tricks and hacks and all that kind of stuff. I would probably assume things like Adsense Farms or whatever that kind of hacky stuff might have been really great a long time ago but isn’t now. But the Direct-Response Association, I think was it called Direct Marketing Association, DMA I think it was started a hundred years ago and it’s the same. Yeah, look it up it’s crazy, it had a different name I think, but I did the research on it. So, our profession is over a hundred years like direct responses around seventeen hundreds and I can’t remember the dude’s name. There’s like the whole coupon, direct mail stuff that’s all the way back then and it’s the same stuff, I mean there’s nothing really different, so we have different sources of media, it’s cheaper now. You know it used to be extremely difficult. We got to run a radio ad and hope that works, and then the dude has to pick up the phone and call or something. And now, we run a Facebook ad and you get results in minutes, whether they’re good or bad. But in terms of true direct response principles, they’ve never stopped working, I doubt they ever will. Hawk: Have you seen anything with the camera Jen Lucas scandal? Frank: No, I didn’t. I never watch those nor do I actually get on Facebook. I’m all over it with ads, but I don’t have it on my phone, I have no idea what people are saying VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

Frank: No, but here’s one thing we did learn in the last month which is, I don’t know what this means, maybe it’s a one-off, all right? So, to be clear, I’m not slandering Facebook, they’re amazing, thank you for giving us a good advertising platform, and thanks for letting us like profit off of the thing you built. We tested very extensively well, I don’t know maybe $30 grand or so, where the tests going to audiences that had income demographic targeting on there. When someone registers for one of our on-demand trainings, there’s a drop-down box that says, “What’s your gross sales?” You know under $100K, over $100K and they’re like four or five options, or whatever. And we ran this test to audiences that liked marketing stuff like the obvious ones, you know? People who like me, Ryan, you know the low-hanging fruit. Anyway, we put that income overlay, and the income overlay will show it to people with net worth of over $500K, a net worth of over a million, a net worth of over two million. They were like, this is going to give us a lot of people with successful businesses which is who we target and we looked, and measured the ratio of people who said I’m under $100 K, versus over a million, or whatever. And there was no difference within any statistical relevance between the amount of over $100K people that came from the very expensive highly segmented targeted traffic of this income data versus the same audiences that did not have the highly targeted income data. So, one of these things where people all freaked out about like, Facebook’s got my data and they’re using it’s like, “I don’t know, got it or not.” Because we tried to use the

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income stuff which they provide. Only show this to people with this much money and it had zero effect at all, except where it costs more. Hawk: Yeah, a lot more. Frank: About double, yeah. Hawk: If you’re only paying double, I want to know what all they are doing. Frank: I got a good Facebook guy. Hawk: Yeah because when we did it, I think it was about five times as much. Frank: It’s ridiculous! Absolutely no difference. So I’m like, “Dude, what? Come on! We’re believing that this is good data and maybe it is, maybe we did it wrong.” Again, Mr. Zuckerberg, please don’t throw lightning bolts at us and blow up the studio here. Hawk: One of the things we’ve done, we’ll acquire a list, specifically for the purposes of adding it to a Facebook audience. Have you guys tried that for other graphics purposes? Frank: We’ll take book buyers and upload them where we used to, we don’t really do it anymore, and create look-alikes from it and all that kind of stuff. Hawk: This wouldn’t be a look-alike, this is going to a data. Frank: You mean by the list? Hawk: By the list. Frank: Yeah. Hawk: For cold traffic. Frank: No, did it work? Hawk: Yeah. Actually, makes it a lot less expensive. Frank: That’s pretty good! Hawk: That’s about 30%... Frank: So, what size of list history did

you buy? Hawk: Usually, they are from a couple hundred thousand to a couple million and from there, we take that... Frank: On a localized type of campaign or something? Hawk: No, just it’s specific, like let’s say you wanted to sell Kartra, you’d go buy a list of Infusionsoft. Frank: Oh, yes. Hawk: Right? And you could then target people who haven’t known or who have previously had a known Infusionsoft account. You could then sell specifically... Frank: That’s smart! Hawk: Then, you know there’s a cost to acquire the list, so we know we’re going to produce from that ongoing and then from there, just targeting those people, there’s literally no demographics in basements... Frank: --- office like, “Are they buying my list? Those bastards,” for the record you’re probably not buying Infusionsoft customers with that direct for sale. Hawk: Correct, yeah. It’s not Infusionsoft, other people who know, right? Frank: Yeah, yeah. Broker, useless broker. Hawk: They have so I was just curious if you’ve ever done that? Frank: We haven’t but I probably never would even though it’s less money because the audiences are so small, we try to just target a lot bigger audience to scale. I’ll pay more for them if I can just get more of them. My belief is look, I’d rather make 10% of a million versus you know, I don’t know, 30% of fifty thousand or whatever. Actually, I bet that the math doesn’t equal

that. I was almost like what if 10% of millions less, but math is not an exact science, you know because I’d rather just get the speed up but that’s a smart thing. That’s why we don’t do it, it’s this deliberate what is like, “Yeah,” I was like, “Okay, let’s just get a bunch of them in.”

same webinar and the ones under 100k.So, if you like a trial of our Continuity, you can take one, very low. You know if you want it, try it. It’s not our target, so I don’t want to go referral, I don’t want to send him a million affiliate emails to them. We just make a little offer and some take it, some don’t but it’s not our Hawk: Yeah, because I sign a list main concern. of you know, hundreds of millions expensive. We buy this list... Hawk: Yeah, very cool. Frank: Yeah I’ll buy it. We just had a guy, a client today who he’s got a three million person list, he’s geographically limited. So, he’s kind of like that’s all he can do and he can’t spend his budget anymore because the list is really not that big, you know? I think the algorithm is what, 19% of the list size is actually going to be on the platform at any given moment and all this kind of stuff. So, we try to work with bigger audiences just for that reason. But we do, you know, I was paying on the book funnel. We got up to about 30 something dollars a book buyer. That’s what it cost, settled at $5.60 a book. And for a qualified, on-demand class register right now, about 24 bucks.

Frank: Yeah. Hawk: What, by the way, your book, I know somebody who’s bought it multiple times. Frank: You know the fourth time is the best, I think. Hawk: Fourth time is the best? Frank: Yeah, that’s when you’re really like, “I’m going to read it now.” Hawk: I just, I thought it was funny, they get it shipped and it was, this was before you changed. They got it shipped every single time. Frank: It’s a little handy.

Hawk: I know. We’re pretty much wrapping up here. If you had one thing that you could share and if Hawk: For a webinar, on-demand they took nothing else away from webinar? the rest of this interview, they were Frank: For a qualified one. Yeah, to do one thing today with their which is over 100k because they business or in their life, what would that be? give us their... Frank: Alright, one thing here. I Hawk: Yeah. don’t know if it would be a do, it Frank: We ask because I’ll see a would be more thinking. So, who different offer, why offer someone watches this, where are they on the something they shouldn’t buy, you entrepreneurial journey? Are they know? So, we don’t offer them starting? our Flagship Program unless they Hawk: We have a lot of agency qualify for it. owners who watch this and experts Hawk: So the same book offer of in funnel marketing, different kinds the training and different offer on of marketing, ads, everything and the back-end? then we have people who are learning and trying to figure out, most of them are trying to figure out Frank: Yeah, it’s literally the exact who they should hire.

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Frank: Really? Hawk: Yeah. Frank: That’s great! Hawk: Personally, I don’t like selling information. I like selling implementation and the only time we give away like we have programs up to the wazoo, we give away and you know all of our competitors... Frank: Take this program, so you can realize what a pain in the ass this is, I hire, it’s exactly. Hawk: We actually have a program, we don’t offer the service anymore but we give the program away for free and we say, “This is literally everything you need to know about this. At the end of this program, you can either give this to somebody on your team to do it or you can hire us to do it.” And when we have it live, I think about 90% of the people who went through like actually completed it, came back to us and said, “Hey, we don’t want to do this ourselves, can you either train our team to do that, like come in and do like a VIP day with our team or just do it for us.” Frank: Yeah! Hawk: And people are like, “Why would you give away all this content for free?” Frank: You’re using the old demonstrate, you can help them by actually helping them trick, how nefarious and underhanded Sir, you evil marketer. That’s great! I like that methodology. Alright, so the one thing for both of those guys would be a shift in thinking because it’s never tactical. I mean Dude, it’s right copy and put it in front of people, and if it doesn’t work, repeat the process until it does. Clearly that’s not, you know I mean it doesn’t matter, see I don’t sell courses anymore, so I don’t have to try to Church it up, you know? It’s like this, try again. So, I VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

would recommend a shift in thinking which is understand that we’re really in the business of multiplying capital and if you look at the richest people in the world, they are typically investors. You’ve got, of course, some entrepreneurial stories like Steve jobs, although he’s no longer with us but traditionally these are entrepreneurs who then parlayed that money via investments and business is absolutely no different. And if you look at historically, exciting investments that make the cover of magazines and has historically brilliant people, they’ll get maybe 20% a year return on their money. We’re in advertising, it’s not unusual to get double your money in like seven days where these guys are taking a year. So, if the mindset shifts from viewing advertising and marketing as an expense to be avoided which is where a lot of affiliates come in and say, “Well, if I can just get other people to promote my stuff.” To instead thinking of it as an opportunity to multiply capital which is literally all we’re doing, it doesn’t matter what you’re selling, we’re multiplying capital by leveraging assets. You know period, our assets, our funnels, and/or expertise, and the capital, we multiply capital expended in advertising. If you start thinking about business that way, the brain will start looking for how can I continue to leverage even more of this capital and multiply it more, and as a result, you’ll make a whole lot more money. Hawk: So, when you run an ad, you create a product, or launch anything, or do anything, do you have a time frame that you say, “If it doesn’t work by X point, I’m not breaking even or more, by X point that I need to either kill it or revamp it? Frank: No, but again we had one singular funnel until January. So, the timeframe that I gave us for

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scaling Flagship to coat media, we’ve literally just started coating media in the same recently, was that four months? You know 120 days. Yeah, that’s four months and it was a $120,000 budget to do it. That’s probably unpalatable to a lot of people. They’d be like, “Dude, you’re out of your mind!” That’s a, well yeah, I am, but we use an actual process and the thing is, we get the clients, it’s a decisionmaking process. You look at and I know it’s not a direct answer to the question but it’s the right answer to the question which is well, what’s my main goal for the business period? What’s the purpose of the goal, a long term vision of it? What’s the thing that I’m considering and then what’s the success criteria look like for this? And then, what are the long-term benefits of this? You know if it actually works out and then you look at what are the things that can go wrong, and then you just weigh those against each other. So, that’s the process I go through. I don’t actually say, “Okay, there’s 90 days at breakeven or I’m done.” Because that’s more short-sighted than the way we look like, I’m never retiring, I’m not going to sell this business, I’m not going to stop you know, I’ll be 80 years old if I live long enough. I’ll be like, “Well, you should try a better headline.” You know the exact same thing people that say, “We were hundreds of years now, I’ll just say it with the old man voice.” So, we look at it a lot longer term than that. Hawk: Awesome, thank you so much. You’ve been awesome. Again, this is Hawk Mikado, Publisher of Funnel Magazine and we have had the blessing of being here in Frank’s studio and getting his brilliance, wisdom and insights.

Focus O n

What Yo u

Are Goo d

// Kate Mikado

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Steve Olsher Interview by Kate Mikado

An old saying goes, “The true definition of success is not the prize of your labor or even the hard work that you paid off to reach there, but the certainty of what you are doing is what you are intended to do”. Every individual exists with a latent quality but the only problem is that not everyone knows what, specifically, they are meant to do in life or to what type of industry they belong to. As a result, the assurance of ‘where to stop and to start’ tends to get lost along the journey, and so, a lot of time and effort is wasted. Others may have stable jobs. Yet, they don’t feel contented about it, or they feel that something is really lacking. Many people are confused and pressured about looking for that main pathway they should go to since there are numerous of possible tracks they can try. Some are stuck, some went adrift, and some just gave up. If you’re one of these folks, you better get a copy of the book named “What is Your What? The One Amazing Thing You Were Born To Do: The Business Technology Book of the Year 2013, written by one of the New York Times’ chart-topping authors, and one of the most affluent American entrepreneurs, Mr. Steve Olsher.

He believes that it is very much essential to uncover your real self and discover your major purpose despite the fact that it is a difficult mission. One of the reasons why he wrote the book is that he wanted people to know the clarity of the matter. So that, if some people aimed to pursue that one thing they were born for, creating the foundation that would help them transform into a whole better person and searching for the right platform would be less arduous. He reasoned that to arrive at that point will not only produce a positive effect on the person’s life but it will also affect those people surrounding that person. He assumed that we all have that one core talent which we naturally excel at. To add, there are actually 30 or more various gifts each person has. He claimed, “The truth is that everyone of us has something that serves as a resource to nourish ourselves and pay the bills, for example.” He said he’s not going to motivate people to just ‘do what their heart’s desire is and everything will be alright’. No! He recently mentioned in his interview on the radio program called: “The Great Work Podcast” that loving what you do or doing what you love or even gaining much

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income will not directly take you to “What is Your What” framework and to progression itself. He also stated that we must not listen to those people telling us about these wrong beliefs because instantly chasing your passion without having the financial wherewithal to carry you only leads to your situation becoming dramatically worse. This is absolutely what we don’t want to happen. It’s just about employing the knowledge and abilities into actions. It helps us determine the kinds of people whom we are most comfortable and suitable to work with and work for, and then everything follows without a doubt. Because Steve Olsher had already found that one amazing thing he was born for, he chose to cultivate inspiration in the hearts of the other aspirants. According to one of his interviews, he said he had always wanted to share his experiences in his books because he wanted to share the relevant tips, tools, strategies, and shortcuts he had put effort to discover over the years. One factor that helped him is the inspiration he got from his stepfather, from a long time ago. He told his unforgettable story about the old man being very sick, lying on his deathbed. While he was holding

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his stepfather’s cold hands, a silent connection happened between them. It was like a hallucination appeared into his mind, “I could hear someone speaking graveside: Here lies Steve Olsher; the man who spent his whole life to do nothing but earning money.” It had affected him badly because until then, he had been thinking that something remarkable was waiting for him in the near future but he just couldn’t figure out what the thing was. It was as if someone was telling him at that very moment that he was on the wrong path. He added, “I was in the phase called YaNo (pronounced YAY-NO).”. He said he had the option of going in one of the two circumstances: either to go away from fulfilling the connectivity of who he inherently was, or to follow the track wherein he could allow himself to give pride to his inherent blueprint and make an exceptional difference in the universe, not only in the lives of the people involved in his lifetime but also to the coming generations.

little boy who lived a humble life in Evanston, Illinois. We all love to hear life stories mostly about fantastic fairy tale kind of novels but this time, it is more of a tough and fun ‘rags-to-riches’ adventure. He lived in a broken home starting at the age of 7 while his mother brought him and his other two siblings up in an inadequate environment. He began working at the early age of 10, performing almost every menial job in the neighborhood, such as shoveling snow, raking leaves, and mowing lawns. As long as it would make him money, he was always Steve Olsher had been in the world present to do the work! of business for almost 25 years. He had celebrated countless instances Then, high school came along, of winning momentum and endured and prospective girlfriend hunting limitless defeats in his life until he started. He enjoyed asking ladies became one of the world’s most out, although he considered himself favorite ‘talks of the town’, and grew a rookie in terms of it. He said that into the chairman and founder of out of 10 gals, he would only get liquor.com. He originated ‘Bold about 4 approvals in total. It was a Development’, too. It is one of good score though, for a short young Chicago’s largest boutique real man with a frizzy mullet haircut and estate development companies. a gold hoop earring, who aimed to He is also the founder of ‘Media be a player. Summit”; a station where you Although he continued working, he In his website, steveolsher.com, he could visit if you want to be heard still managed to keep up with his recited that several people had on podcasts or to meet friends studies; He pumped gas, organized and other podcasters. He became bookshelves, fixed cars, sold the host of ‘Podcast Reinvention speakers out of the back of a van, Radio’, the creator and one of the and so forth. He was so determined! hosts of the show ‘The Keeper of the Keys’, and an international In the midst of his first year in keynote speaker on several media college, he was able to experience outlets. He also became one of the the task of a DJ. It offered him the most recognizable writers across chance to mix music in the clubs the globe with an example of his throughout Illinois and meet up with precious works,“ Internet Profits: The some of the most well-known DJs World’s Leading Experts Reveal in the late 1980s and early 1990s. How to Profit Online” and “Journey For instance, Bad Boy Bill and Julian To You”. Jumpin’ Perez. When he was 20 years old, he decided to open his Steve’s development and progress own party place on the main drag had probably been recognized in Carbondale, Illinois, just a few in nearly all types of magazine blocks away from the campus of broadcasts, television and radio Southern Illinois University. It was newscasts, and in social media called ‘The Funky Pickle’, a nonwebsites but before his marvelous alcohol nightclub exclusively built in transformation as a triumphant the middle of Carbondale’s alcoholgentleman, he was just an ordinary VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

been calling him an ‘inventive, enthusiastic, pleasing, and invigorating presenter’. His response would be that every one of us was bestowed with an innate design which we should regard. So that, we can make an extreme and unique difference in our own lives and in the lives of other people, too. There is no secret behind it. People will start to like getting along with you if they start to see you being inspired to touch their lives, and not just to collaborate with them to gain some money.

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suffused nightlife. What a great idea, right?! Admittingly, that first impression on the local population to the opening of the discotheque was an extremely massive mistake. What the crowd didn’t know was that he had a plan. Considering that the local youngsters had very little options for amusement and pleasure in their area, he implemented a great business routine. At 8-11:30 in the evening, young Steve, and his colleagues provided fun for those who were under the age of 18, and noted 11:30, as a temporary closing time. From midnight up to 5 or 6 in the morning, they served customers aged 18 and over.

totally a blank paper. He actually had no choice but to gamble and run that way for nine years; from the year 1991 to 2000. He said he began as a catalog company which was launched on CompuServe’s electronic mall. Then, after two consecutive years of working it so hard and not thinking too much of possible competitions and hindrances, he was able to build a fully functional commerce site. It was well known as ‘Liqour.com’ in the year 1998. Wow, what an incredible motivational story! The awesome narration of how did Steve found liquor.com, and mainly how determined he was to improve does actually contribute a lot of lessons Furthermore, the city authorities to every businessman and woman, and ordinance facilitators required both in the micro and macro-scale alcohol-supplying bars to close the domain. nightspot at 1:30 in the morning, but the non-alcohol supplying ones Finally, he was able to compose were allowed to stay open all night himself! Good news is, he found the long. That was why he was confident love of his life, Lena, and got married even though he wasn’t able to get in 1997. They were then blessed with a liquor license. Because of his 3 beautiful children. In reality, they brilliant schedule arrangement, he are his greatest achievements. He became very popular in just a short mentioned that he turned out to be period of time. Fortunately, many much more inspired and motivated, clientele stopped by to patronize his because of love. He stated that nightclub. Years after the nightclub Love teaches him to be kind, accomplishments, he realized that patient and selfless, every single it might be the perfect time to day, and to work harder. In fact, his introduce his first wine and spirit motto in life is “Let Love Rule”. Since store on CompuServe Electronic then, his perspective in the aspect Mall in the year 1993. LiqourbyWire. of decision-making became wider com was one of the internet’s first and clearer. This aspect helped him ever fully-functional eCommerce in dealing with his business firms, website in 1995. He had never especially at hard times. If there’s foreseen that it would add to his one more thing that inspired him, lists of achievements. In his interview it would be ‘Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’. He with Andrew Warner, founder of was able to work with one of the Mixergy, he stated that he was only legitimate grandmasters and a in his early 20’s that time, and as legend of this sport, Carlos Gracie Jr, an inexperienced, innocent, and and trained under the late Carlson ignorant young bachelor, he had Gracie Sr. According to Steve, it was no idea about the business plan he such a great honor to meet both of should apply during that frightening them, especially because he got to time. He admitted he wasted a lot exercise with Mr. Gracie Jr. who won of money and his decisions were 10 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu championships rushed. In simpler words, he was and is a member of the family that

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is known for practicing Brazilian JiuJitsu. Just for people who are not familiar with Jiu-Jitsu, it is a groundfighting technique in which the goal is to make your opponent relinquish first. Basically, It is a combination of chokes, exaggerated limb manipulation, and other critical grappling strategies. As a consequence, broken arms, legs, ankles, elbows, and several injuries in the body can occur. The state of being choked to the point of unconsciousness and having limbs twisted in directions anybody would never expect led him to a better understanding of humility and respect in the most excruciating methods. This type of martial art, for Mr. Olsher, is not only a simple physical drill but also a portal to personal recreation, and it continues playing a big role in his life. His answer to the question, ‘What do you think are the reasons why some folks want to renew themselves?’, in his interview posted on the website, tinybuddha.com is that people usually explore self-renovation as a way of a recuperation from life problems. It could be divorce, dissatisfaction with their lives or even regrets. Also, they can come up with a resolution that they should throw away their garbage and start moving on because something great might be waiting ahead of them. He said that it’s just about the change of a person’s point of view throughout the timeline. Lately, he had been preaching beautiful and useful words to a lot of businessmen and women, and to the people who wish to be one of them on how to earn money through the use of new media, and how to create professional relationships in a great way. Since to find out “what do companies, regardless of the range, need to concentrate on how to attract more clients and how to make sufficient money” is very

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crucial in building and maintaining a corporation, his focus for the moment is to help and assist enterprises, and the employees that are involved. With the connection to funds and the economic status that should be prioritized by a businessman, he was also asked if he believes that any entrepreneur can reinvent himself from right where he stands or that if he needs to generate a sense of financial permanence before he can accomplish a better career. He explained that people who wanted to have solid careers should be prepared and be open to transitions. It involves the openmindedness of the person to his or her present situation, to where that person could possibly head to, and to what are the necessary steps that person should take, in order to get to the top. He drew out a more specific comparison; he imagined transitions as similar to cake mixtures. He stated that 100% of the profit comes from the things that you refuse to do and the 0% is of the things that you do. When you, as the baker, take that

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first procedure, the recipe mixture begins to alter; the 99.99 portion of what you refused to do and the other .01 portion of what you do. Now, if the income comes from the thing that you would love to do, the tendency is that you’ll only realize when you make the full-on variations. For others, it’s when they already completed the 50% of their normal income rate; perhaps, 60, 70, or 80%. Meanwhile, others won’t be able to completely adjust to the transition process unless they’re down to 100% of their normal income being acquired from what it is they are obliged to do. Everyone really needs financial firmness and most importantly, patience. Overall, as time passes by, he was slowly moving up in the complicated world of business. It is so astonishing to think that at a young age, he had been easily exposed to the stressful cycle of the business domain. In one of his interviews, he stated that way back when he was still a little busy bee roaming in the sidewalks and the driveways in their region in Illinois, and even at home, or the simple chores that he has done, everything from his childhood had helped him to be exposed to businessrelated stuff. The courageous man had transitioned from one form of business to another. He had gone from the music industry to real estate to pioneering online stores. In simpler words, “He had seen and tried it all, even though there were times where he wasn’t sure of what he was doing!” There were moments where he felt like he was lost, and that it seemed he didn’t have any sufficient strength left to strive and face the obstacles. He has gone through a lot of stuff, including marriage failure, financial ruin, and depression. He remembered how he innovated multiple plausible ways and concepts and convinced a lot of

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people to collaborate with him, and how he utilized his creativity and communication capabilities, skills and endeavors, all at the same time, in order to fulfill all his objectives. He was positive that he would win the trade game, although it wasn’t that easy. He just persisted, trying and trying and trying again and again and again. He didn’t mind whether he stumbled down a million times or a zillion! All he did was to keep rising every time he’d fall apart. He would not be as happy and successful as he is at the present time, and thousands of miserable aspiring businessmen and women wouldn’t have been as encouraged and prosperous as they have become, if he let the trials beat him. Steve Olsher is an entrepreneur, lover, guide, teacher, and a man who conquered and overcome the world of business! Funnel Magazine sat down with Steve to discuss podcasts and focusing on what you are really good at. Hawk: Hello everybody! This is Hawk Mikado, the Funnel Genius, and publisher of Funnel Magazine. I have a really good friend of mine, Steve Olsher. He is a genius when it comes to getting people on podcasts, and making money with it. Let’s face it, you can get on a podcast, but if you don’t know how to make money with it, you’re not going to be able to grow your business. So super blessed to have him here, and he’s going to share some really, really incredible things. Like the thousand dollar funnel, and he’ll tell you a little bit more about that, and the new media content. So welcome Steve! Steve: Hey man, thanks for having me. Hawk: Absolutely, I know we met quite a while back at an event, and you told that joke which was a great intro to a video, and so I’m

sure they’ll have to go to one of your events to actually experience it. It’s definitely not a PG joke, but then you’re also talking about what “your what” was a while back. So how did you get started, and how did you end up kind of getting to where you are today? Steve: Well, yeah kind of tough to top the joke man. It’s a Gilbert Godfried thing, you guys got to look that one up. That’s a scary good one, but let’s go way back, and just simply say that I’ve been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. I mean from the time I was old enough to pick up a rake, and try to move some leaves around, or grab a shovel, and shovel snow. You know, the sidewalks, and the driveways there. I mean, I’ve just always been wired to try to make a buck, or two, and had jobs from when was really, really young. I mean, even faked my own birth certificate. So I could get a job when I was fifteen, so it would show that I was 16, you know. I was

that kind of guy, but man you know from DJ’s, club’s, to opening up my own nightclub. To catalogs and dotcoms, and real estate, and you name it. I think I’ve done it all over the years, including selling speakers out of the back of a van. So I’ve definitely done quite a bit, most of the folks who do know my general story, know that I’ve been online for over 25 years. When we launched on CompuServe electronic mall in 1993. I’ve been doing a lot of stuff online for a long time, and it gives me the opportunity to connect with a lot of amazing people, and I think we first connected at one of the events that I did back in 2012, 13, 15. In those years it was called “Internet Prophets Live” which is based off of the book that I put out called, “Internet Profits” and I think you actually sponsored one of those events at one point as well. So you know, it’s good I got to know you back then.

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Hawk: Okay, yeah! You also focused on the “What is your what?” and a little bit more after that. Can you just share a little key insight on that as well? You know, because that’s a really powerful component. Steve: Yeah, so “What is your what? Discover the one amazing thing you were born to do.” is the name of the book you’re referring to. That book ended up on the New York Times list in 2013, and basically I wrote that book out of well, necessity, I think is probably the best way to put it. Because in authorland they say you write the book that you most need, and for me that struggle was how am I naturally wired to excel, and why am I here? Those have been questions I’ve had for a good deal of my adult life, and so you know, I tried the Myers-Briggs test, and What Color is Your Parachute, and Strengthfinders, and so on. You know, most of them just left me with more questions, than answers, and so I said, “You know, there’s got to

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be a better way here to do this; to really help people, including myself get honed in on what puts fire in our souls, and give us something that we can actually hit the ground running with. So that we can do something that not only fulfills us, but also can be fulfilling from a career perspective, and that’s when I started putting together the “What is your what?” framework, and teaching that to people through a program I used to teach live called the Reinvention Workshop. And basically what it boils down to is having a clear, very clear understanding of the core gift that you’ve been given, and so this is in your DNA. It’s really that which has chosen you as opposed to that what you have chosen. Understanding what that core gift is, and that could be teaching or healing, or enrolling or protecting or entertaining, or you know communicating something of that nature, but we all have that core gift and then the question becomes how are we going to share that gift. And so the second piece of the “What is your what?” framework involves understanding the vehicle you will use to share that gift. So you have the gift, and you have the vehicle, and then what I realized over time, and working with a lot of folks on this process is having the gift in the vehicle is all well and good but if you’re not clear on the people that you’re most compelled to serve, it doesn’t really work. So the third piece of the framework are the people: The people you are most compelled to serve. The combination of the gift, the vehicle, and the people make up the “What is your what?” framework. Tens of thousands of people, actually over a hundred thousand people, now have gone through that process.

your own podcast, Reinvention Radio which is an awesome show, I was on one of the first ones. You got some really incredible speakers on there, and we actually have the Reinvention Radio segment in the magazine as well.

have had to overcome in order to be doing the work that they’re currently doing.

Hawk: I’m guessing part of this, you started to realize how to monetize podcasts which is part of what the thousand dollar funnel is? So can Steve: Yeah, which I thank you for you share a little bit more about that. the realization, and then how you Hawk: Absolutely, and so you found created that program? your genius, and also your people Steve: Yeah, so there’s two, and found theirs. So you share a little needless to say, I’m a hug fan. I’m bit more about how podcasts help a huge proponent of the medium, you, not only find the right way to and I think the medium is really communicate but also to find the poised to continue to grow quite right people. immensely, really. Because when Steve: Yeah, so you know, it’s you look at what’s going on in the interesting. We started Reinvention world of technology, right now, in Radio back in 2009, so I’ve been terms of everything shifting towards doing it off and on for the last several pull media where people get what years. And then mostly on since they want, when they want it, and 2015, and what we found is that on their preferred device. That there are just so many people with whole shift away from push media, such incredible stories! Some names where basically there’s a room you know: Gary, or Tim, or Seth, full of people who decide what’s and many others. It’s just so inspiring going to be sent out to the world, to hear how people you may never and whether you like it, or not, it’s have heard of talk about the most there. I mean you can change the incredible things. They started out channel, but you have no say in at point A in their life, and they’ve what it is that appears on that gone through the various trials and particular broadcast channel. And tribulations to get to whatever point so this shift to pull media is for real, on the path that is where they’re and of course as audio becomes at now. I mean, it could be point more commonplace, and it goes M, or Z, or who knows where? into the dashboards of the car, But the point only being that you through Google car player, Apple know they’ve done whatever they carplay, or AI. And you know of needed to do, to transition from course autonomous vehicles, and oftentimes what is something that being able to do what you need to is diametrically opposed to what it do. As you’re going from point A is that they’re currently doing. They to point B, I think you’re gonna see had to go through all that in order that the growth of audio is going to to get to where they are now, and be pretty astronomical over the next so we love sharing the stories of 10 years. Especially since you can those who are really dismantling multitask with audio, when you can’t the status quo, if you will, and are really do that with the written word, doing things that are very unique in or with video. But I will say this: I’m their respective space. Sharing the a huge fan of looking at it from the Hawk: That’s awesome, and journeys of how they got to to where perspective of being on both sides podcasts are actually a really great they are now, and oftentimes it’s of the mic. Obviously, we have way to do it. You’ve been running incredible to hear about what folks our own shows as we’ve discussed Reinvention Radio, and I’ve hosted VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

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over 500-600 shows something like that at this point, and we’re actually adding another show here in the near future, that’s only gonna feature people, business people who are currently running businesses that are operating at more than a 10 million dollar annual clip. So I’m going even further into the space with the addition of that show which is business specific. Whereas Reinvention Radio is a little more personal development, and goes down that path. But I’m also a huge proponent on sitting on the other side of the microphone as a guest, and over the last three years, I’ve been I’m gonna guess on, geez over 500 shows, and some big shows I’ve been a guest on, and a lot of small shows, and a lot of shows in between. What I have found is that there really is no more effective marketing tool available than appearing as a guest on shows. As a matter of fact, with the exception of just a very small handful of Facebook ads, I do no other marketing. I mean, everything I do is billed through having my own show, or appearing as a guest in other people’s shows. And so what I have found is that you absolutely can monetize those appearances if you know what to do, and of course you can monetize your own show in a pretty powerful way. Again having done this now since 2009, I’ve had a lot of time to go through the trial and error, and what I’ve concluded is this: if you just have a very simple funnel, pretty much every time you appear on a show, you can count on about a thousand dollars coming in if you set up well. I have appropriately named this the “Thousand Dollar Funnel” and this is something I use whether I’m a guest on a show, or I’m hosting my own. It’s a very, very simple three-step funnel that anyone can set up, and I’m happy to share that with you.

Hawk: That can be awesome! So somebody gets on a podcast, they share their content insights, it was in their genius. And then from there, they send somebody to the funnel. What’s the call-to-action, and then what are the steps that the person will go through? Steve: Yeah. So there’s a couple of steps. Before the steps obviously, you’ve got to get booked on the shows, right? So you’ve got to know who the right people are, what shows

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you want to be on, what shows really focus on your niche, and select the right shows to be on. I mean, I think that’s one of the things that kind of gets looked past. But when you end up on the right show, it’s almost as if the host has kind of brought to you the most ideal audience possible, right? Because oftentimes what you’ll see is the people who tuned in to a show that you’re going to appear on, these are folks who have spent a lot of time cultivating their loyal, borderline fanatic, audience,

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and when they hand you the microphone, when the host hands you the microphone, obviously it comes with that huge stamp of credibility. That huge stamp of authority, they’ve done their research, they’ve said, “Hey, this is someone you guys need to hear from.” So once that happens, and people have downloaded the show, you have to think about it like this: if somebody is downloading a show, and they’re listening to it, they’re already raising their hand saying, “I’m interested in that subject, I’m interested in this show” right? So it’s almost like the equivalent of a 100 percent open rate if you use email, or 100 percent click-through rate. If you use email, it’s again a hundred percent of the people who are listening to the show are raising their hand to say, “I want it!”. So it’s very, very different from push media, and assuming you find the right shows to be on, and assuming you’ve got the right hook that gets you booked, and people are like, “Oh, yeah we’ve got to have you on the show” then of course, when you’re on the show, you have to be an engaging guest, right? You have to understand how to to entertain, how to intrigue, how to challenge, how to teach, how to inform, and so on. And that’s all part of being an engaging guest, and once you have that down, it’s then a matter of how to enroll them into your ecosystem. Because the reality is you can have a nice conversation with someone, and I don’t know if you noticed, or not Hawk, but the average podcast interview is 62 minutes. So you get a lot of time to really share your expertise. This is great, but the last thing you want is for there to be this awesome conversation, and then it’s like, “Okay, thanks for coming, and stopping by.” and then that’s where it all ends. I mean, you’ve got to enroll them into your world, or the operative word we like to use is, VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

“bounce”. You’ve got to bounce them into your ecosystem; you’ve got to move them from that platform where they’re simply being a passive listener to bouncing them into your ecosystem where they can become an active prospect. There you have the ability to open up a dialogue with them, and oftentimes that means getting them into your world through the offer of something that continues the conversation: a freebie. Whatever it is that furthers the dialogue that costs you nothing to deliver, and really adds meaningful value to the conversation. You’ve already had that with someone you know, those are the three core elements of a good fundamental lead magnet. A good freebie, and that’s gonna be step one there. The thousand dollar funnel is having a really good offer in terms of a freebie that meets those criteria, and of course it’s automated. So you can just be a hands-off, and it’s delivered automatically. The reality in this case, as we’ve been talking about is “What is your what?” and some things around podcasts. The natural thing a lot of folks are thinking is, “Hey, maybe I should go out, and grab that book “What is your what?”, and figure out what my what is, and what my gift is, and the vehicle I’ll use to share that gift, and the people that I’m most compelled to serve”. And so at the end of an interview what I’ll do especially if it’s personal development related, I’ll invite them to go to whatisyourwhat. com. Where they can grab a FREE digital copy of that book. They’re already thinking in their mind, “I want to get the book”, so when I turn around, and say, “Hey, you can go there, you can get the whole book for free. Not just a chapter, or two, but you can actually grab a whole copy of the New York Times bestselling book, “What is your what?”. You know that, whatisyourwhat. com well, a lot of people take me

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up on that because it’s easy, it’s easy to say yes. It’s easy to say you know, “Hey, I’m willing to pay the price”, pay the price of providing my name, and email address to get the whole book because that’s worth it. It doesn’t cost me anything other than my name and email. That’s a fair exchange, alright, and that’s something you have to make sure is part of this exchange so everybody wins. You get their name and email, and they get something where they go, “Yeah, that was an easy yes” right? In this case, they go to whatisyourwhat.com, they get a free copy of the entire book, so basically step one is you create that free resource. Now I mean, Hawk you know this as well as anybody, there’s a million different free resources, right? I mean, it could be an mp3 file, it could be a video, it could be a report, it could be an e-book, it could be, hell you could give somebody a funnel, right? I mean, if you use ClickFunnels, you could give them a funnel, right? I mean, who knows, there’s a million different things you could give them, but it has to be a good, solid free resource people want. Step two after they opt-in for that, and I will say this is on average, when I appear on a show, about two hundred and fifty people typically opt in for whatever that freebie is. If I’m talking about internet marketing, then it’s something internet marketing related. If I’m talking about new media, then it’s something new media related. If it’s personal help, you know, personal development, self help, then it would typically be “What is your what?” related. Depending on the show I’m on, about two hundred and fifty people would typically opt in and provide their name and email address to get that offering. And step two of the funnel is, I then turn around and offer them a different version of the exact same resource. So in this case, when they opt-in to

whatisyourwhat.com, they get a free ebook of “What is your what?”. Now, not everybody loves ebooks. I mean, you can look at them on your phone, on your tablet, and computer, etc. but some people actually prefer to have a physical copy in their hands. So what we do is we literally turn around, and just say, “Hey, I’m glad you really you have an interest in the book! Would you be interested in having a free hardcover copy of the book?”, and we do the free plus shipping model, right? Here’s an opportunity, a onetime only opportunity, to grab a free hardcover copy of “What is your what?”! So again we turn around, and we offer them a different version of the same resource, and in this case, it’s a hardcover copy of “What is your what?”, and they don’t have to buy it but they do have to pay $7.99 for shipping, and handling. It’s a break-even proposition for us. We might make a few cents here, and there, but it’s really a break-even proposition and it’s worth every dime. Because Hawk, as I’m sure you know, it’s kind of like the bar graph of going from zero to 100. If you can get someone to spend dollar one with you, it’s like going from zero to 98 on the bar graph. I mean, getting somebody to spend additional money with you on other products, programs, and services, that is so much easier once they have spent dollar one with you. The hardest thing is getting that first dollar, and it’s a huge shift. Where they just they automatically move from being just this passive prospect to now being an active customer, and once they pull out their credit card information, or pay on PayPal, or whatever it is. That’s a pretty powerful move, and so about 25 percent of those who opt in for the free ebook, end up taking us up on the offer to buy the hardcover copy. So it’s seven dollars and 99 cents and it equates to about $400 in

income, and of those people, we then turn around and offer a third version of the exact same resource. In this case it’s the Reinvention Workshop online course. It’s me teaching the “What is your what?” framework to a roomful of people. We captured it on video, and broke it down into modules, and added some written materials, and so on, and by the time all is said, and done, it’s a pretty decent program that takes people through the process. They watch me help people individually to figure out what their what is. We give them a one-time offer of $49 to pick up that course, and about 20% of the people who buy the hardcover copy end up getting the Reinvention Workshop online course, and that works out to about $600 in immediate income. So about $400 from the book, about $600 from the Reinvention Workshop online course, and it’s like clockwork: pretty much every time I appear on a show, it’s about a thousand dollars in immediate income. That’s why I call it “The thousand dollar funnel” and of course that doesn’t include any sales down the road, or anything else. That’s just in immediate income. Hawk: That is a really powerful funnel which I’ve been through your funnel. So I actually have gone through the “What is your what?”, and incredible book by the way. Steve: Thank you. Hawk: So definitely, if you guys are watching this, or reading this. Go to whatisyourwhat.com and go through the process. Just so you can see the funnel, and it’s a really powerful book as well, and there are so many opportunities with that. I had one just like that and we added consulting into the backend. I have a consulting funnel, and there’s so many ways to monetize the back end of that. So, a really powerful

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funnel, and extremely simple. One question I did have though. You said about 250 people registered? How do you determine the size of the audience in order to ensure that you’ve got about 250 new opt ins? There are a lot of podcasts out there, and a lot of shows out there that don’t even have 1050 listeners! How do you make sure you’re on those shows that can actually produce something like that? Steve: Yeah. And needless to say. I mean, our show, other shows and I mean all shows, start out with zero downloads. All shows start out with zero listeners, and so 250 is the average. Some shows that I’m on, if we get 10 people to opt-in, that’s a lot. And other shows I’ve been on, I mean, we’ve had over 1500 people opt-in just from one show. So needless to say, it runs the gamut, and there’s no hard, fast, or easy way to figure out how many people actually listen. As a matter of fact, just because a show ranks, well, let’s just say in iTunes, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it has a massive number of downloads. There are ways to game the system, and people do game the system all the time, and so you have to kind of take it with a grain of salt. One of the ways I would say you look for shows that have larger listening audiences now is to look for the ratings. Because you’re not gonna be able to see the number of subscribers, but you can look for the ratings, and the reviews, and any show that has under a hundred ratings, or reviews probably doesn’t have a decent sized listenership. And again decent size is a relative term. I have a private coaching client, who created a show that’s all about, well, “herpes”, and her show is called, “Life with Herpes”, and you know, the beautiful young girl, unfortunately, she contracted this disease back in college. No one

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was really talking about this subject, and she does speaks somewhere, and shared how she contracted this, and the outpouring of love was just over the top. And we were talking about that, I was like, “You got to do a show about this. I think you would absolutely crush it!”, and so you know, reality is, are there a lot of people who tuned into her show? No, but it’s a good amount of people, and again when a 100 percent of the people who are listening to the show are raising their hand to say, “Hey, I want that! I’m interested in that!”. What that probably means is either (a) they have it, (b) they know someone who does, or (c) they’re in the industry. Maybe the medical field, or someone who works with that particular disease, or virus. I guess it’s a virus. So even though there aren’t a lot of listeners, if you do something related to that industry, you’re gonna find that, even if there’s just a hundred people who listen to it, I mean you could have 50 people be interested in what it is that you do, and 50 people who are very much candidates for your products programs, or services that are related to that particular topic. VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

So I would caution folks against only focusing on the larger shows. Number one, the odds of getting booked on a larger show is not very good. I mean, let’s be honest, Joe Rogan is not gonna put you on a show unless you already are a Joe Rogan type person, and that’s just a reality. But there are thousands of shows that absolutely you would be perfect to be on, and thousands of shows that are absolutely looking for guests just like you. And so that’s one of the things we teach quite a bit, is how to find those shows. Because those honestly are the better shows to be on anyway, because they want you there. It’s funny because in podcast land, the reality is you show up, you share your brilliance, and they do everything else. I mean, they create the show. They produce this show, they create this show, they upload the show. They do everything including marketing. I mean they drive people to the show, and so they’re doing all of these things on your behalf as a guest, to literally make you famous! So okay, all you gotta do is show up, and it’s a pretty sweet deal!

about the coaching, you get this program, and I know you put on the New Media Summit to help people get on shows, and give interviews with different types of your media. What are some of the different types of new media? Other than contacts, obviously podcast applied?

Steve: Yes, so two things there. So let’s just talk about the New Media Summit, then I’ll define “new media”. The New Media Summit is a unique event we created where we bring in 40 of the world’s top podcasters, and we give a fairly small crowd, 150 people the opportunity to spend three full days with them, learn how to leverage, and monetize the power of new media. The main hook of the event is that they get to pitch the podcasters, on who they are, on what they do, and literally get booked on the spot. So everyone who comes to the New Media Summit gets booked on shows. At our last event, I think the top woman there in terms of getting booked on shows, got booked on 33 shows. So everybody who comes to the event gets booked on shows, and in the New Media Summit, it’s a lot of fun. Hawk: Absolutely! So you talked It’s a little bit of a misnomer, because

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we focus on podcasting. Whereas, I would define “new media” as audio, both live and recorded. Live audio could be something like a WS radio, or a blog talk radio, or a Z cast, or something of that nature. And of course recorded audio would be like podcast, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, etc. Video would be the second new media channel, and of course you have live video. Just like you said, Facebook live, YouTube live, etc. Periscope, and so on, and then of course you have recorded video: Vimeo, Wistia, YouTube, etc. The third, new media channel would be blogging, and of course you can have written blogs, or video blogs. The fourth new media channel would be social media, and of course you know the usual suspects in social media land. And then the fifth new media channel, or platform if you will, would be mobile. Like apps, and so on. In this case, the New Media Summit focuses on podcasting, and that would fall under the category of audio.

sheet? And do have a really good hook, or two that creates intrigue, or as my friend Sam Horn calls it: “passes the eyebrow test?” It gets them to raise their eyebrows and go, “Mmmm, that’s pretty interesting! Tell me more.” You do want to have a really good hook when you meet someone, and give yourself the best opportunity of getting booked. The don’t is really don’t pitch someone before you have a decent relationship with them. You know, I cannot tell you how easy it is to burn bridges in the podcasting world. That podcasting community is very, very tight, you know. And if you burn one bridge, the odds are pretty good you’re going to burn a whole lot more, and I don’t want that to happen to you. So don’t pitch someone until you actually have a meaningful relationship with them. Which basically just boils down to adding value for them in a meaningful way first. Before you even come close to putting forth, and asking. And most people ask long before they’ve added enough Hawk: Okay, awesome! So this can value to the other side of the all work, and you can use the same equation. process when you teach in your program, and you get something, Hawk: That’s very true! What are get on the podcast, or on your blog. some of the ways that you have Can you share what’s one of the key seen work really well to go first? things somebody needs to watch Steve: Yeah, I wrote a book about out for? Like the “do’s” and “don’ts”. this. An e-book called, “The 17 Proven Like one do, and one don’t in order Ways to Develop Real Relationships to make sure they get booked on the with Influencers”, and I’ll just share new media profile. a couple of my favorites. Number Steve: Yeah, so the do is, do have one would be, this is super simple, is a media one sheet. Do you have just participate in their social media something that encapsulates who postings. From the standpoint of you are, and what you do, and liking those postings, sharing those how you would add value for an postings, commenting on those audience, and what the topics you posts. You know you’d be amazed cover. And of course, if you have at how many influencers actually testimonials, and in the description, read the activity especially on blogs. a moniker and photo, all these And on social media, it’s a little things should be included in a harder because there are so many good media one sheet. And then comments people make, and most of course, your contact information. of the comments are stupid. So a So do you have a good media one lot of folks don’t take the time to

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go through all of those comments. To find one that actually makes sense, and adds value in any sort of real way, look for blogs. Blogs are a great place to comment. You’d be surprised at how few blog posts actually get comments, and it’s a great place to catch somebody’s attention. Because the name, and the photo accompanies your comment. It’s a great way to get noticed by the influencer, so interact on social media, or on their blog. That’s a super simple way, and I would say that my next favorite, is if you can afford to do something where you join a year-long mastermind program, or something of that nature that they lead. Of course, being able to spend a year with that influencer is a great way to be able to develop a meaningful relationship with that person. If you can’t afford to do something of that nature, or hire them for a for a VIP day, or you know something like that enroll in one of their programs. The the key there is to participate in the video training sessions most of the influencers lead that go hand in hand with the training. So for instance when we do Profiting from Podcasts, and we release that program, we’ll actually do eight weekly live training sessions via video, and it amazes me how many people buy the programs, and then don’t show up for those training calls. I get to know my customers really, really well. And it’s the same thing for other influencers as well! It’s just a great way to get face time with them, and again you’d be amazed at how few people actually show up to those training calls, and it’s a great way to get face time. Hawk: Yeah, I think there’s a statistic. I don’t know the exact stats, but somewhere around 50% of people ever actually create their login, but only about 10% of people go through the first module of a training, and

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less than 20% of people actually any sort of real results from it. And so complete the entire thing. Which is the Profiting from Podcasts training insane! was really born out of that whole desire to help people, not only to get Steve: Yeah. booked on shows but also to teach Hawk: And I’ve seen that done on them exactly what to do, so that a $10,000 program. Somebody when they do get booked on shows spends $10,000 on a program, they can really fully optimize that and you know the numbers are a opportunity. Then of course when we little bit higher to do the investment combine that with the New Media level so if you can get face time with Summit, and we do include a ticket those influencers, take it! Because to the New Media Summit when that’s where they want to spend people enroll in the Profiting from the time helping. So very, very true, Podcast course. It’s just kind of a novery powerful! You mentioned the brainer, right. I mean we’re not only Profiting from Podcasts. So can you teaching you what to do, but we’re share a little bit more about how actually giving you the opportunity you came to be, and how I came to get booked on these shows. And to be and how you’re decided to then of course if you want to have your own show, we show you how to develop that? do that too, so we have a separate Steve: Yeah, so Profiting from training component of Profiting Podcasts is a program we developed from Podcasts now that teaches over the last couple of years, and people how to create their own we’re refining, and tweaking it of show as well. I’m a huge proponent course. On the daily really, and of them, I think you should not only we’re releasing it again in the next get on two shows on a consistent couple of months. You know, we basis as a guest but I really do think get pitched all the time for people having your own show is something to come on to Reinvention Radio. I that’s super important for folks to mean we receive probably a couple consider. Especially at this juncture of hundred pitches every single in time, so it was really just born month, and so what I realized is that Hawk out of that need, if you will, there’s a huge opportunity here for in the marketplace of how do I people to get booked on shows! And connect with these influencers, how that there’s a demand for people to do I get booked on their shows, and get booked on shows, but so many what do I do once I get booked people were making silly mistakes in on those shows, and then how do terms of how they were approaching I actually meet these people. So us. About how to get booked on it really just was meant to address those shows, and then so many that kind of whole vertical, and give other people who actually have people everything they need in one come on to our show, and come on fell swoop. To really crush it in the to other shows. Have said to me you podcasting landscape. know, “Yeah, I go on other shows and then nothing happens”, and it Hawk: Awesome! You have you kills me. It’s just such an awesome mentioned something before the “17 opportunity to be able to bring Ways to Connect with Influencers”. people into your ecosystem, and Steve: Yeah. also to monetize that investment of time, and energy. It kills me that Hawk: Is that part of the three steps people are just spending their time to lead them into the Profiting with doing that, and they’re not getting Podcasts? VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

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Steve: It’s not necessarily tied to that. I mean, I’m happy to share a direct URL people can go to to get that ebook, but I’ll leave that to you if you want me to share that directly. If you just want to share that, and in the notes. However, you want to do it? Hawk: Yeah, I want to if you want to share that, that’d be cool! Steve: Okay, yeah! So as we keep it pretty simple, right. So it’s just 17, the number one, seven. Proven ways dot com. (17provenways.com) So let me just double check that, but I believe it’s 17provenways.com. Actually I have it in front of you, get if you got it there, just will check that. I apologize, you know, never remember it’s exactly that, or not. But I believe it’s 17provenways.com. Is that it? Hawk: Yeah, that’s the one! Steve: Okay, sweet! Hawk: No, this is not it. It is a funnel, but it’s not. (Laughs) Steve: Oh my, but it’s not my, scratch that! Hold on, I’ll find it. Let’s scratch that, I’ll find it for you! Hawk: Alright, that’s how to feel younger, and,... Steve: Yeah, never can I remember my own domains. Hawk: Okay, I have over a hundred, so it’s the same with me. Awesome so, Steve: (laughs) Yeah it’s definitely not that bad. Hawk: Yeah it’s funny (laughs) and there’s got an old flash player is hilarious. Steve: Actually if you want to have a little fun, go to that domain. Hawk: This is an old-school funnel by the way, for anything built in HTML. Not even, you know this is

like old old school. Today for just, and they’ve got a dynamic thing, and change. This is awesome! Steve: That’s great! I look there to see what it was. I’ll find it here in a second, but this is what happens. I’ve live recording 17 ways report, that’s what it is! Hawk: 17 ways reports, there we go! Yep, that’s definitely it. Steve: 17waysreport.com as the one, okay good.

saying we wouldn’t, we could, but at this point I’m just of the oldschool mindset that the more you ask for the less likely people are to complete that form. And so a phone number, especially if you make it mandatory, you can make it optional of course, but if you make it mandatory, it’s gonna really kick down your opt-in rates. I will say this is so for ads for example, one of the things we give wastes value. Again if I’m doing an interview around, let me just make sure I get the domain right on this one, new media, and we’re talking about getting onto shows like, we’re doing now. If you go to myultimatedirectory.com, we created something called, “The Ultimate Directory of Powerful Podcasters” big-time bloggers, and social media stars. This basically gives you everything you need including the email address of 240 people who can literally make you famous with a click of a mouse. The top podcasters, top bloggers, top social media stars, and again you go to “myultimatedirectory.com”. You’ll see that we don’t ask for the phone number there, and that page converts over 80%. Very few people I know convert consistently over 80%. Our pages almost always convert at, or around 80 percent, even to cold traffic, and so this is one of the reasons why I think, Hawk, is just because we asked for less, and a phone number is one of those things Hawk: So I got a technical question that will impact your opt-in rate. It on this right here, and if you don’t will affect your convert, it will affect ask for a phone number, and I’m your conversion rate. curious as to why? Hawk: Yeah, absolutely. It is Steve: You know, I’ll be honest with definitely, I was just curious. But you, I have not yet really taken full yeah, very cool! So I have that list advantage of everything that SMS of, I think is 241 influencers, and has to offer. You know, you do what that is probably one of the coolest you’re good at, and I think you gifts I have ever downloaded. So should stay honed in, and focused absolutely something to grab. in on what it is that you’re good at. And SMS is not one of those areas that we’ve really dug into. I’m not

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Steve: By the way, in our new updated version that we’re going to be doing in conjunction with the Profiting from Podcast launch, we’re really upping the game on this, because now we’re going to 670. So I mean, it’s a massive document, and we’re focusing solely on podcasters. It’s The Ultimate Directory of Powerful Podcasters, and and we’re going to 670 on that, and and that’s gonna crush. Hawk: That is awesome! Sign me up, whenever they come out. Steve: For sure! Hawk: So awesome, and is there anything you want to share with the listeners, and kind of as a last, last component of something that they should either implement in their business, or in their life that has completely changed yours, and that you feel made a powerful impact? Steve: Yeah and I mean, look, I know when I stepped you through the thousand dollar funnel. It may have sounded like a lot, you know give him a resource, and give him a different version of the same resource, and give him third version of the same resource. But just understand that you don’t have to go crazy like that, right? I mean and honestly if you started on a Saturday morning by Sunday night you could have a really good funnel in place of a few high-value VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

resources people would absolutely covet, and would absolutely be thrilled to have, and be thrilled to pay for. So just don’t be intimidated by what it is that I’m doing, or Hawk is doing, or you know other people featured in the magazine are doing. Just do what is right for you, but more importantly just get started with something, and you can add the other steps of the funnel down the line. But just focus on that first piece, focus on what can I create that would further the conversation, if I am being interviewed on show. What can I create that would further that conversation? What answers a lot of unanswered questions that is perceived to have a really good value, and cost you nothing to deliver. That can be delivered in an automated fashion, and create it. I mean turn off the you know, the Hulu’s, turn off the Netflix you know, for a weekend. He can just sit down on Saturday morning, and by Sunday night, you could literally create something that people would absolutely want. And use Fiverr, and use Upwork, and use the different resources there to find talent, to create these things for you without spending a lot of money if you don’t have a lot of money to spend. But believe me, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to create something that people absolutely want! Don’t let that deter you from getting into the game, and you know if you ever want to brainstorm on what it is that you can create, if you enroll in one of my products programs, or services, you can join me for open office hours for life, and we do that once a month, and so you know I’m happy to help you if I can!

the the program for joining Profiting from Podcasts? Steve: Yeah, yeah Profiting from Podcasts launches once a year. So I’d say the best thing to do is just go to, steveolsher.com, and that’ll always keep you up-to-date on what’s going on, and of course we’ve got access to all the freebies there, the directory, the “17 Proven Ways” ebook, “What is your What?” I mean, it’s all there at steveolsher. com. So that’s probably best Hawk. Hawk: Okay, perfect! Awesome, and I definitely appreciate you sharing your wisdom, insights, and for just really creating some value in the world. I know that podcasting and all the host of new media versions and media platforms are just taking the world by storm. So it’s something really important for you guys, if you haven’t started podcasting, or haven’t started getting on blogs, or getting on different platforms, that is an incredible way to showcase your expertise, and to monetize your expertise without having to do a lot of the marketing. For instance, all the people who write for funnel magazine, while they do some, you know, they share their articles, and everything. We drive, pay the traffic to their articles, and the more engagement their articles get, and the more traffic we drive to them. So you know, it’s a great way to kind of a showcase what Steve was talking about and is a great way to get yourself and your name out there into the world, by sharing that expertise! Awesome, thank you so much Steve, and appreciate you for being on!

Steve: Yeah man, really appreciate Hawk: That’s really powerful, you having me. Thank you! and absolutely it doesn’t have overcomplicate things. So really powerful insight there. In the sense of what you shared, how they can get in contact with you? Can you repeat

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Interview by Kate Mikado

The Interview A triumphant man has once declared, ‘The only boundary that exists in life is the limitation a person fixed for himself. And, for as long as ‘hard work’ is present, nothing is impossible to be accomplished.’. Grant Cardone, a widely known entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker, believes that to be a successful person is to be a person who transform plans into high levels of actions, and a somebody who is willing to invest his time and energy, and all his efforts into something that might not yet create good results today but, can absolutely produce unlimited success tomorrow. “Do you want to have a happy and fulfilled kind of life?”, “Do you want to have a stable job, wherein you can also live for your passion?”, “Do you wish to marry someday and have a beautiful and healthy family?”, “How about to travel around the world, make a billion bucks, and have a fancy vacation anytime?” Well, if you do, you have to ask these questions to yourself first; “Do you work your best in order to make all these things happen?”,

“Do you persistently do whatever it been known, worldwide, for his splendid reputation in sales, and takes to reach your dreams?”, for formulating an effective selling “Do you not quit and give up easily scheme technique in the 21st century no matter how difficult it gets called Information Assisted Selling. sometimes?”. Through his inventive idea, several You should think about it thoroughly companies in USA had been because your answers will only assisted on better handling various depend upon you, and your future products that are directly purchased will only depend upon your answers. by the customers, with its suggested See, every individual lives with price ranges, both tangible and enormous goals and ambitions intangible sales. in life but the problem is that not This made him popular for being the everyone is determined to strive, risk ‘Entrepreneur of the 21st century’. and commit 100% to make those Fortunately, he was not only able ambitions come alive. to help several corporations such as Yes, it is an undeniable fact that Sprint, Aflac, and Toyota, increase attaining life goals and tracking their sales, and many business success can be a very tough journey, aspirants to better understand but that’s exactly the point, nothing Cardone’s sales approaches and worthwhile is ever easy, right? philosophies, but also he was able Besides, a life adventure is, normally, to help fundraising for the non-profit incomplete without obstacles organizations, like churches, and and struggles, including those participated in different charities, as experiences that nobody would ever well. want. He had also expanded other Ask his opinion and he’d rather numerous types of sales programs, scream to your face, “You need and built many sales organizations to be tough and you need to that had benefited, and still approach every circumstance with benefiting hundreds and thousands a ‘whatever-it-takes’ mentality or of sales folks across the globe. else you will end up regretting that His advancement in sales, including you should have get the life you ever sales management, selling systems, wanted if you only had performed sales and business production, at your best!”. sales performance, sales books In his interview on the greatness and sales projects encompass the podcast, he confronted that he fundamental essence of selling. would rather hurt your feelings than While he is approximately earning to instruct you some make-believe millions of dollars in retail stores, he statements which will only lead you had been focusing into marketing to being an average person who and real estate businesses. works less, and probably, achieves In fact, he is the founder of Cardone less! Enterprises, Cardone Real Estate Let me introduce you one of the Holdings, and Cardone Group. most esteemed personality in the He also shares his knowledge to world of business. industry leaders, managers, CEOs Grant Cardone, the host of Cardone and businessmen on sales, money Zone and the television series finance, business strategies and named Turnaround King, who has business expansion worldwide.

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No wonder if a lot of people love to admire Grant Cardone. He had accomplished so much in his life. But,behind his convincing character, powerful personality, charisma, and his prowess, no one could ever tell that Grant has been keeping a little tragic story from his miserable past. Let me take you back to the year 1968, when he was only a ten-year old boy who lost a father figure at an early age, by the time his dad died of a random heart attack. He admitted that it was one of the most arduous battles of his life. It was not really easy getting over with the pain, especially because his father had a very big influence in his life. Where do you think he got his passion in doing real estate business? It is, obviously, from his father, Curtis Louis Cardone. Since the age of 15, his father started guiding him with the ins and outs of real estate.

family, and having some outdoor His mother casted him out of their activities afterwards. own house when he began being a burden to the society, and to As time passed by, he had developed everybody else. an interest into buying buildings. Later on, he lost his job, and Moreover, people often felt bad for destroyed his first marriage, which him because they thought it was lasted for only 12 months. He lost too early for his father to die; He his friends, too. He got depressed, must have mentored his son those bitter and resentful. life lessons young Grant needed to learn about. Everything got even worse by the time his older brother died when What people didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know was that he was only 20 years old. It was his father had already taught him another hit to his family and most helpful things in just few years. significantly, to his life. For his opinion, people should However,at the age of 22, he instead feel bad for him not only started making a little way to try to because he lost a father, and a change his life. mentor, but also, most importantly, he lost an example whom he could In 1981, he graduated in college , look up to, a motivator, and an with an accounting degree. inspiration. He decided to grow and earn Since his father passed away, money intended for his future plans he became angry at everything, and investments. including his own life. After his graduation, he pursued Every single thing just turned out to automobile sales, instead of be meaningless. accounting.

And so, he grew up out of control Throughout his childhood, Grant and troubled. and his father, had been into this When he was in high school, he kind of field. had encountered serious problems He remembered visiting different with authority figures due to drug property locations with his whole dependence, and alcohol addiction.

But at the age of 25, he went financially and emotionally bankrupt. His life went downhill, and he lost his direction once more. He got into bigger troubles. He got beaten up and he nearly lost his life. Also, his drug problems had advanced to the point where he really needed to go to a rehabilitation treatment facility. Grant completed his treatment within 30 days and was finally cured, but unfortunately, a bad news arrived. One of his counselors told him that he was diagnosed with an addictive personality disorder. He was advised to give up all his aspirations for obtaining massive success.

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He was also told to just mainly put He also had transferred his offices his concentration on not using drugs to different sites like from California and to full recovery or else, he will to Miami Beach. surely go back for another therapy. He shifted from one place to After Grant got out of the facility, he another, within about 12 years, recollected himself and reflected on for the sake of fulfilling his career the counselor’s suggestions. growth. He realized that he had wasted plenty amount of time in his life, and he would never waste any of it again. So, he didn’t listen to the advice and instead, he spent his life on trying to chase success. Even then he knew he had potential and even then he knew he had to hustle twice as much. He have done everything he could, and whatever it had cost him, just to help himself climb at the top of the mountain. He even moved to Chicago from Louisiana in order to work on a sales-training company. One time, he lived in Houston, Texas, and then next to La Jolla, California.

Grant aforementioned that there are 3 major roles in his life which made continually changed in a positive way, “The most important role for me as of now is being a father. The second is being a husband, and third, being a businessman.”.

He added, “I never forget to utilize After many years of hard labor and a strategy, great work ethic, and my perseverance, he had finally healed time wisely in every role that I play, and transformed into a better most essentially, at being a 10X version of himself. dad.”. If you would ever compare the On the other side, he writes down person he was before to the person articles and books in his spare time. he is now, you will also believe in miracles, like he does. His writing skills had, in fact, made him one of New York Times’ Today, he has been helping millions bestselling author, with his 4 of people who are in the same exact awesome books: Sell and Be Sold, dark pathways where he got stuck The Closer’s Survival Guide, If you’re for more than 20 years. Not First, You’re Last, and the 10X And now, at the age of 60, he is Rules. already an established, responsible, Grant uses writing as a medium in encouraged, and enthusiastic man helping people to go deeper in the who’s enjoying his beautiful and world of business, to appreciate the happy life with his wife, Elena Lyons, lectures it gives and its significance and their 3 adorable children. to a person’s everyday life situation.

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For instance, in his book 10X Rules, he was able to convince people to not be scared in setting targets that are 10X greater than what a person thinks he can achieve, and to take 10X greater steps and procedures on how to achieve these goals. He explained that, “The worst thing an entrepreneur would do is not to set goals that are high enough to make himself crave for more hardships and more rewards. And, that taking actions that are even 10X harder is the only way to develop and nurture a person’s potential.”. Furthermore, through his book, he was able to share the concept of overcommitting; his one true key on how to live a 10X life, wherein you strive 10X and you win 10X, and the one true key that made him become successful in his career. He mentioned that overcommitting may be misinterpreted by many people as a negative thing at first, because they may think that it is way better to play safe, but it’s actually not. Overcommitting is a great way to teach you how to persuade and control over your life. It means directly biting on a chance before learning the offers, and massively acting towards it, figuring out the unexpected stuff later, and to accomplish what you signed up for. He assures that paralysis of analysis comes in whenever people waste too much time, trying to overthink about every detail of the expected outcomes. He said, “I started overcommitting once to enlarge my production across the board, and I eventually got used to the routine over time, although it was hard for me to give my 100% commitment to something I wasn’t sure if it will work or not.”.

Grant Cardone added that he hadn’t mind much about the failures while working at his best, or even thinking about the possibility of not making it to the top or the possibility of losing everything he had invested into. His attitude was one of the things that ever mattered to him.

am rather hard on myself because I think good things just don’t pop out of the box; I have to work for the good outcomes. I need to push it, man! So, I have to work very very hard because I think I just don’t get on the front page of a magazine that easy. It may only seem that I Moreover, he had realized that am confident and brave-looking all when it comes to all crucial things through the way, but I am not very in life like money, motivation, positive like you think.”. creativity, health, energy, ideas and He also expressed, “However, I’ve love, to put 100% in everything, as got with me my supporter, my many times as you possibly can is a wife, who has been always present, must, because even if failure comes rain or shine, just to help me push at multiple times, you can still keep myself to grind 10X harder. She putting 100% in anything over and always believes in my capacity over again, and it would be much whatever happens, which eventually easier to stand up the next time you motivates me to work harder. She fall! always makes me believe that I He remarked, “Since I have set the have and I need to push it forward mentality of putting my 100% in although sometimes, it’s just easier everything that I do, I stayed ready to be a negative-minded fella. And, all the time. It’s as if I can battle with I don’t know what’s with her but she any obstacle that is to come my can turn everything instantly okay. Elena’s got the magic. She’s got way.”. that one thing that makes every One example of this is when he problem I faced seem to appear overcommitted himself by dropping naturally bearable.”. the prices up to 99% in his online stores, although he was aware that People may also wonder why did Grant Cardone chose to commit his this price drop was totally absurd. 100% to sales and business. Aside But just because he wanted his from his father’s influence, what are business tools to be available to his the other reasons that convinced customers from different regions him to engage in this kind of world, around the world, regardless of their knowing that it is a complex one? financial capacity, he courageously Ironically, Grant Cardone had put the price at stake. already got used to enjoying He said, “Although my colleagues problems, discouragements and and I encountered really big disappointments in his life, instead challenges and new problems at of complaining about it. that time, we were still delighted because we knew that obstacles are He got used to intricate things, and the indication that we are striving love to have toilsome experiences. and starving of achievements, and He said, “It may be funny or stupid it was a good thing.”. for other people to think that putting On his interview on a podcast, he yourself, somehow, at danger or at was complimented for being a very risk is a ridiculous idea. But for me, positive and determined person but man, it means nothing if it’s not he contradicted, “Thank you but I am tough. No pain, no gain, right?”. not actually a very positive person. I

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He also mentioned, “At 17, when I had my first sales-related job in a clothing store, I didn’t like that much. Honestly, I hated almost everything about my job but don’t get me wrong, I was good at it. I just hated talking to strangers every single day, and offering whatever I could do for them. And most especially , I hated being rejected by some of my customers after I had offered my service and everything. I hated being uncomfortable and speechless, most of the time, man! However, as time goes by, I learned that I don’t need to like sales itself. I don’t need to be comfortable with it. What’s most important is that sales and business strengthens my survival. It’s just a matter of doing even the things I felt so much awkward about. You know, I learned to love sales because it teaches me to keep on going, instead of quitting. I learned not to make excuses, but rather, to take actions that would even beat the ordinary.”.

you want to achieve is a commission. And, you won’t just simply receive that commission, unless you go out of the 4 corners of your comfort zone and sell your skills to the world.

Earth may be limited, but what you can do is boundless.

The road may be dangerous, but there’s no such thing as dangerous when it comes to a person who is He said, “Reality check, no one always ready believe, fight, and is going to knock on your door achieve! and offer to make your dreams Grant Cardone believes that there’s come true. It is you who will take only two things you can do in your responsibility of yourself. Remember, life, it’s either you become obsessed life is not a fairytale where you can with success or become contented make and remake some chapters with achieving less. and episodes any moment you want to. It’s neither like taking a magic Which one do you prefer? pill wherein one day, when you wake up, everything bad suddenly You should think about it thoroughly disappeared, and everything in your because your answer will only life just turned into good stuff. I’m depend upon you, and your not going to be the person who will future will only depend upon your tell you that everything will be okay answer. because obviously, nothing is okay Hawk: Hello and welcome if you will not step right up on the everybody! This is Hawk Mikado, stage and create your own magic the Funnel Genius, publisher of show, and attract the audience, and Funnel Magazine. We have Grant gain all the blessings yourself.”. Cardone today, who is an absolute If you want to achieve something in genius when it comes to sales and your life, you have to act right now connecting your business. I’ve read a Grant Cardone concluded that life because you only got one lifetime number of his books and have gone is just like sales, in which everything in your hands! You’re time here on through a bunch of his trainings, all sorts of things, love his live streams

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on Facebook. So, make sure you’re following him on Facebook and watching the live stream. We are definitely blessed to have you here today then, thank you for being on. Grant: Hey, thank you so much for having me! I love what you guys are doing at Funnel Magazine. Hawk: Thank you! So, you got my first experience with you. I was gifted the Millionaire Booklet which is right on your table there. This booklet is probably, by far, one of the best little tools that you can use to change your mindset, change how you look at life, and figure out how to grow your business and then just up level yourself. My wife and I were about to go to bed and she’s like, “Oh, let’s have a, you know, let’s go relax and read a book.” So, we chose the Millionaire Booklet. We did not go to sleep. After reading that, we started strategizing and coming up with all sorts of really creative and great ideas, ways to simplify lot of things we’re doing. What inspired you to create this? What was that first inspiration? I know, you show a little bit… Grant: Yeah! This is my seventh book that I’ve written. Most of my books are this big, you know, 300 page books. This is a 44 page little booklet, you guys probably read it in 20 minutes and the goal, Hawk was first, so you and your wife could sit down and read it and spend more time talking about it, than reading it. And so, we were successful with that. This book took me two hours to write. I was inspired by a charity event where I watched a gentleman, this charity was trying to raise two million dollars in one night. One person donated a million dollars at the end of the event to hit their target. I noticed there were a couple hundred people in the room and it’s that, at that moment, when the gentleman stood up and said, “I’ll donate the VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

million dollars,” everybody in the room, wanted to be that guy. So, I went home that night and I’m like, “Man, making money is so important, creating funds, creating enough wealth is so important because not just, so people can buy a fancy car or a bigger house, so they can actually give more and inspire more.” So, I wrote this book, How To Become A Millionaire, even super rich. Any of your viewers that watch this or read the article, if they want to grab this book, free, they can, go to millionairebooklet.com. We’ve given out, I don’t know, a couple hundred thousand copies of this book, our goal, is to give out a million. It’s been translated into 38 languages, the book was written in two hours, published in under 30 days, translated in under 60. So, it’s got a lot of momentum and it really goes to challenge, most of all, what we’ve been taught about money. Where does it come from? How do you get it? How do you multiply it? Should you save? It really challenges the whole concept of saving and particularly investing in 401k’s and retirement accounts. It really challenges that old thinking about money. Hawk: Absolutely! You grew up from a lot of Whiteside. You grew up looking at new ways to grow your business, to making money, to just simplify things though… Grant: Yeah! Hawk: What was one of the key moments you found that was really important to mindset and timelines, to be able to get, to where you are today?

was going to run out. What I learned from that at 10, 11, 12, 13 years old watching my mother was two things: One, you need more money coming in, otherwise you’re going to be concerned about the money going out. And number two, the second thing I learned was I wanted to help my mom and I couldn’t. I didn’t know what to do. So, since I was a little boy, I’ve always been interested in how do I create money. So basically, my first interest was just helping my mother, only to find out later, I needed to help myself, and I needed help my family. When I started having a family, I needed to be a good example. I needed to help my church. Nobody knows how to make money. People know how to get a job, people know how to keep a job, people know how to complain about their job, but very few people know how to say, “I’m at 60 grand, or 80 grand, or a hundred, how do I get that and how do I go to more? Again, not more so I can have more for myself, but so I can help more people.” And so, that really has been the inspiration in my life, to put the focus on the main thing and start challenging some of what we’ve been taught. For example, my mom was saving money. The reason my mom saved money was because she didn’t know how to produce money, which made me really aware as a young man. Your time and energy should be spent on producing more, not saving more. Because the basic math, if you do algebra, I could actually produce more, I have almost no limits on how much I can produce and I have limits on how much I can save, right? You can only save what you make but you can always get the top line to grow. You can only get the bottom line to get smaller.

Grant: Well, the biggest influence on me and my life around money has been watching my mother. When my dad died, my mother was terrified, Hawk: That is actually powerful, because she didn’t know how to really insightful! What’s the specific produce income. She was worried talktract that you have all around constantly that the money she had

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the money? I know lots of people Hawk: And what’s one of the first have negative talktracts. What’s the investments would you recommend, thing you say about making money? somebody who’s gotten their business maybe to a 100K, if they’re Grant: Well, my basic mindset capping themselves out. How would around money is number one, you recommend that they either there’s no shortage of it. This is diversify or get above that mark? something I had to undo in my life, because I was brought up around Grant: Okay! This is a great question shortages and scarcity, very humble and it becomes a bit complicated, beginnings. Again, because my I mean, you and I could write 50 mom didn’t know how to multiply, articles on this topic by itself. We she was clipping coupons. See, when could do 50 segments of video, just you don’t know how to make more on this, delivered to your clientele. of something, then you’re gonna try So, number one, I would not to figure out how to manage the diversify. We’re not recommending little bit you have. Management diversification for anyone. If you is not an entrepreneurial activity, study very wealthy people, the way I management is not an expansion have... Take Warren Buffett. Warren activity. Saving is not a production Buffett’s first investments were not activity, saving is a discipline of in diversification. He made big, big contraction. Okay? Expanding, bets. Big, giant, huge, his big moves, producing, Mark Cuban’s gonna Google, look at companies like produce more money. He’s, as Google, they’re big. you know, on Shark Tank, Mark He has made huge investments, Cuban’s not gonna ask how much in one thing, not multiple things. your expenses were, he’s gonna ask Warren Buffett didn’t start buying what were your sales. A company, a other companies until he became household, an individual, a brand, is rich. He couldn’t buy any more valued based on what they produce, of one company, Coca-Cola. not on what they spend. So, we were He bought a bigger position, he brought up, most of us are brought couldn’t with Coca-Cola and then, up to save. If you were brought he’s like, “Okay, I gotta go look for up in poor or humble beginnings, something else,” because he had you’re brought up with the defense more money. So, the first thing I mentality. Don’t play with money, would tell people is this, get a job, save your money, protect your get great at the job, don’t hate on money, give your money to the your job, try to get the people that 401k people, send your money off you work for rich. Connect to the Wall Street. All that, by the way, has revenue of that job, get great at it, proven not to work for the middleproduce more revenue at that job so class. Buy a house, all these are you’re increasing the income at that defensive postures. Nobody ever one job. said, buying a house was a good investment. Buying a house, they Number two thing is have money said, was a place to save money left over so you can start making for those who weren’t disciplined investment income, not earned enough to save money. So, again, income. There’s this concept that in the Millionaire Booklet, we’re earned income is highly taxed and basically challenging whether you investment income is not taxed. It’s want to produce more money or very, very difficult to get wealthy on whether you want to try to save the this income, on the earned income. little bit you have. That being said, you still want to

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earn income, you need an income, it’s just very difficult to create financial freedom on earned income because when you stop earning, it stops coming. The investment income, on the other hand, should come in, even if you’re not working. And so, to simplify that, you’ve got earned income of 80 grand, you need to increase that so there’s something left over, so it can go into investment income. Don’t diversify, I know what you’re going into and lastly, don’t get rich quick, get rich for sure. That means, invest only in things where you don’t lose money, no speculation here. Hawk: Now, that’s big, especially in the marketing world. There’s always lots of ways that people present. Here’s one tool and one strategy. How guys go about making sure that every time you guys produce something, you win? Maybe it’s just my perception but everything I see you guys do turns to gold. So, we’d love to know and other leaders want to know how you guys do that. Grant: Well, let me just say, first of all, nobody should be invested, I believe that people should not invest money in anything outside themselves, until they have a $100k sitting around. Now, this is a policy I’ve used in my own life, until I can prove that I can earn enough, save enough, and disciplined enough to protect it. To have a $100k sitting around, I don’t invest in a second thing. The only thing I invest in, in the beginning, is me. Me and the thing I’m doing all day. I’m back to earned income, I’m a business owner, I’m an entrepreneur. A business owner is basically someone with a job, okay? I have a job. I work for a guy named Grant Cardone. My job is to produce for this guy, Grant Cardone, to the value that, to the degree that I can increase the value of what I do for Grant Cardone, I should start seeing the benefits of

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more money. If I can do that over long periods of time, I will see some money sitting in an account over here. If I own the business, I want to use that money, number one, not on new investments but making me and my company better. So, whether I’m promoting the Millionaire Booklet, or a new program, or the 10x Growth Conference, I’m gonna invest that money in that project, or that department, or that division. I’m gonna keep reinvesting in that until I hit my targets. I’ll give you a contrarian concept. I don’t use ROI measurements here, okay? I don’t look for a return on investment of my ad budget, all I look for is, did I hit my target or not? So, what we do here is we push two targets period. If it costs me $100 to get $100 and my target was $100 I’ll spend 105, because I want to achieve targets. The achievement of targets is worth more than money. If I can achieve my target, look at Amazon, or Netflix, or Google, they don’t always look at their net profits. They’re looking at achievement of targets, because the achievement of targets makes the company, the entrepreneur or the household expand. And when you’re expanding, you have success and when you have success, people are gonna give you money, okay? So, back to what you said about me: “It looks like everything you touch, turns to gold.” You’ve never seen my financial statement, you don’t know what my net profits are, you don’t know if I’m making money, but what you see is, “Dude, the guy did it!” He said he was gonna do X and he did that, right? So, these are new disciplines. I spent five years getting an accounting degree. They didn’t teach me any of this. With an accounting or business degree, they’re teaching you the principles of business. They’re not teaching you cash flow, expansion, the value of omnipresence, cookies, SEO, social media, all those things are so new, VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

that they’re not even covered in college. I mean, look, if you made an investment on college based on a return on investment, nobody would invest in college. Takes too long, there is no income, and the return is terrible. Hawk: And it’s true! I know you just had 10X Con, 10X Growth Con recently here and had some incredible speakers, Russell and some other really incredible, Ezra, Anik Singal, all these guys. What were some of the key things that you learned, what will be taught and what can people expect coming up in the next one, coming next year? Grant: Yeah! So, 10x Growth Conference was an idea I had a couple years ago. I’m seeing people do these conferences, big conferences, and I’m like, “I think I can do that conference better!” Right? With the first one we did, there’s 2,200 people there. It took 77 days to market it. We don’t give any free seats away, everybody pays. Quality audience. I didn’t pay any speakers, I don’t pay any of the speaker’s money, but I promised to give these speakers, some of the best speakers in the world, by the way, some of the guys that are getting the highest fees of anybody in the world, came to my event, at their cost, and I promised them one thing, I’ll give you the best audience in the world. The first one was 2,200 people, the second was over 9,000 people in a stadium, another, almost as many, maybe a few more online so, almost 18,000 people watching this event. So, I promised the speakers the best audience. For instance, Russell Brunson did 3.2 million dollars in sales in one hour and 15 minutes, this has never been done before. So, you asked me, what did I learn? Put quality people in a room and great things will happen. Quit giving stuff away, everybody’s trying to give these seats away. Do something

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quality, okay? We did three days of how to do something, not rahrah and jaja. We’re not trying to get people excited. I want to put people in a room that are already motivated and want to know how to do something. We live in a how-to world now, okay? Whoever does the most, wins the most. And the reason people, I believe this, the reason people don’t do more is because they’re confused. Confusion leads to not doing, okay? I’m confused so, I don’t do anything. That’s why people are not lazy, people don’t do because they’re confused with too much data. So, the other thing about the speakers, the speakers that we put on that roster, they were all people that are agreed with the 10x concept. To not grow a little bit at a time, but to have punches, spikes, right? I want to have big moves, exponential moves. So, that’s what we learned. I’d like, really, really, work on getting the right audience in the room, not any audience. And number two, over deliver to that audience. Hawk: That’s really important and I’m looking at the lineup here and some of these speakers are just incredible, and you guys already have tickets for sale for the one coming up next year as well, from what I’m seeing here. Grant: Let’s goes back to success, right? People are attracted to success. We underestimate in our society, our culture, we do not talk about success enough. Success is a beacon, right? Failure is, failure is that lighthouse, “Oh, don’t go there because there’s rocks over there,” but success should be the thing pulling people along, and the only way to pull people along is successful people need to come out. Everybody’s coming out, Anderson Cooper’s come out like three or four times. Successful people, come out, okay? If you buy a big car, you buy

a plane, you’re having success, tell people. We should not just wait for the big companies on Wall Street to report their earnings. There’s so much bad news, so many failures, bankruptcies, wars, problems, gossip, criticism. People need to put a light on the success and so, one of the things my wife and I have committed to in our lives is we’re gonna keep showing what we’re doing that works in hopes, that we can give people permission to do more successful things in their lives. Hawk: So, one of the things you just shared really triggered something for me: you want people who are there to implement, to work on things. Grant: Yeah! Hawk: And I’ve been seeing this over and over and over and progressively becoming more prevalent especially in events that we’re in, is focusing on mastery, and focusing on hiring, delegating. How do you see that really progressing in 2018 for you to make sure that business is a part of succeeding. Grant: We’re about to go into massive acceleration of disruption in the marketplace. Everything that takes too long, doesn’t deliver a great experience is going to vanish. I was at Bloomingdale’s this weekend with my kids. I went to a movie with my kids, we saw Peter Rabbit, it was me and the two girls. After Peter Rabbit, I went into Bloomingdale’s and said, “Guys, if we can find something on sale, something that fits you, something you love, I’ll buy it for you. We didn’t find anything for the kids but as I’m walking through, I see a pair of ray-bans and I’m like, “Those would be good for Papa,” they weren’t on sale. I ended up buying a pair for me and a pair for my wife. I bought a pair of Chanel sunglasses for my wife, they were $360 and a pair of Ray-Bans for $206. I know

what I spend on stuff. The lady puts it in the box, first of all, they were doing nothing at the sunglass place at the Bloomingdale’s until I went up there. She sells $600 for their stuff in about six minutes, she stuffs the two boxes into a bag, she doesn’t wipe the sunglasses off, she leaves the tags on them, she doesn’t thank me and I’m like, “Bloomingdale’s will cease to exist.” I mean, I left there, I go put my sunglasses on and still got the tag on them, it’s got her smudges, fingers smudged all over it, I’m like, “I didn’t need these.” I’m thinking about returning them on Monday morning. All I’m remembering right now is the negative experience. So, why do I tell you that? The ATMs have replaced Shelley that used to be the bank teller. Shelly lost her job. Shelley used to get paid $18 or $15 an hour or $12 an hour. She bitched about everything. I got to sit in this little thing and talk to people. You lost your job because you made people wait, you didn’t know their name, you didn’t treat him right, there was no positive experience. So, a robot came in and replaced you. We’re going to see more and more of this, they’re finding out that drones can plant trees at 30 times the pace a human being can. Humans take too long, they’re inefficient. Robots are going to start disrupting the marketplace. We’re gonna see massive, massive amounts of disruption of those jobs and positions that are average, that take too long where people are not grateful. What people aren’t looking for is how to make it better. So, this is going to provide both opportunity and it’s gonna provide tremendous pain, so you better make a commitment to mastery, right now, or you will spend a life in slavery.

you’re gonna see over the next six to ten years is a little spike in wages. You’re gonna see wages flatten out again and then, you’re gonna see unemployment start to rise when these companies figure out, “I can replace people.” The more they push on minimum wage, the more minimum wage is pushed on with two or three million people. The more these, the the Burger King’s, the McDonald’s, the Macy’s, the Bloomingdale’s are gonna be, “I’m just gonna go online,” okay? Look at taxicab drivers, they’ve been replaced. Why they took too long, didn’t know where they were going, ungrateful, had bad attitudes, cars weren’t cleaned, didn’t speak the language of whoever was picking them up, that’s not a thing against English, or immigrants, or whatever. If I went to Bogota, you don’t want an English driver in Bogota, you need a Spanish driver there, for that to work, right? So, Uber comes in and replaces the mechanism. Uber will get replaced as well. Everything that’s not valuable, that’s not great will be replaced. Money wants to move to greatness, not to averageness. So, people need to become obsessed with becoming exceptional, to mastery, and people should become obsessed with wealth, and I don’t just mean money, I mean, wealth. The exchange in abundance, both ways, back and forth.

Hawk: Let’s talk about this wealth concept because, like most people, when they hear wealth, they think money, it’s just all about money. You know, people have money, they’re wealthy and there’s a difference, well, I guess, the biggest question, what’s the difference that you see between the rich, between being Hawk: It gives me chills. rich, and being wealthy? Because Grant: We have the lowest there’s definitely two different unemployment in 40 years and realms. wages have barely moved. So, what

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Grant: Massive amount. It’s a great question and it’s a massive amount of difference. There’s poverty, I don’t have enough. Then, there’s just enough money, that’s the middle class. Complete illusion because you have just enough until, you don’t. Then, there’s the rich people, that’s the guy whose got a couple BMWs, his kids go to great schools, he’s better off than everybody else in his neighborhood, and then, there’s the wealthy. The wealthy aren’t talking about money, okay? The wealthy are talking about time, health, options, expansion, going to Mars, they’re dreamers man, they’re not worried about money anymore, okay? Notice, poverty is worried about food, middle-class is worried about losing everything, the rich, I just want to keep things going the way they are. These people get crushed too, by the way. The rich all get crushed, it’s only the wealthy. Since 1929, if you go back, study the only class of people that have improved on this planet and you will see, it is the top like three, or four, or five percent of the population. They save and invest 40 percent of their income. Most of their income is not earned, it is passive. They have the lowest tax basis in the world and their deal is this, who are we spending time with? Quality of life. How do we give more money to charity? What other charities can I work with? How can we really make a difference? That’s what the wealthy people are doing. Oh, by the way, the big secret of the wealthy, is they want other wealthy people to hang around with. So, the wealthy are freedom seekers, not money seekers. They’re not trying to buy another watch, they have so much money, there’s so much money, it’s like, “Okay, what can we do to help?” And that’s the position everybody should be in whether you’re Michael Milken or not. If you get enough money, you’re gonna want to help, otherwise, you’re VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

going to go to jail because you’re a the problems. Money is printed, it criminal. is made by machines, there is no Hawk: You shared that the wealthy shortage, it is literally made like toilet invest 40% of their money back into paper, or our sticky pads. See, the themselves, into their business, their wealthy, the wealthy are like, “Hey, growth, so that they can then give I’m gonna go get one of these.” So, more. How does somebody get to a I can go meet other people around place where they can can do that? the world, how fast can I get there? How do they get their business to a The wealthy are not worried about money, they’re worried about time. place where they can do that? So, I know a lot of people find this Grant: 64 percent of all businesses in message hard to hear. Most people America breakeven or lose money, that run into me probably don’t like okay? Almost three-quarters of me at first, because I’m sharing a all businesses in America have no message I probably don’t do it well, employees. The commitment to number one, but number two, I’m small is massive because the illusion sharing a message that is not talked of the middle class has been so about, at all. Mark Cuban doesn’t embedded into the psyche of the talk about getting rich; Warren American people. It’s unbelievable. I Buffett doesn’t talk about creating was brought up to believe if you get wealth. You know, Warren Buffett in the middle class you’re safe. My says, “People who get rich aren’t any dad died when I was ten. He was 52 happier than people that are poor.” years old and the whole middle-class Then I’ve been poor and I’ve been dream, the whole dream, everything rich and I’ve been wealthy, okay? he worked for was shattered in a I’m gonna tell you, I’m happier week, the income stopped. When wealthy. I got to tell you, I’m happier the income stopped, the insecurity flying on my plane than I am Delta went up. When income goes down, Airlines. Doesn’t mean I’m happy insecurity goes up. When insecurity but I’m happier, and I’ve got one goes up, you’re a long way from less thing, actually, I’ve got 200 less freedom, okay? When the wealth people to be unhappy with and I’m formula goes up, unearned income, not unhappy with the food because I’m getting money, not because of my if I am unhappy with the food, it’s time but because of my investments. not Delta’s food now, it’s the food I When that money goes up, up put on my plane. So, you guys got security goes, insecurity goes down. to pick people, need to pick. What I become more secure, everything is part of ridiculous do you want to be gonna be alright at least financially. involved in, on this planet. Do you Let’s face it, everybody’s gonna want to be involved and be part have problems. Don’t let money be of ridiculous where you can’t make one of them, this is what the wealthy your car payment? I did that. I do. We’re gonna have a lot of couldn’t make my house payment, problems, maybe your kids become my rental payment was 175 dollars drug addicts and you got to send a month, and I couldn’t make it, them off to treatment center, okay? that’s ridiculous, okay? Or do you Maybe you end up with a health want to be on the other end, where problem, right? Maybe you and you’re getting a ridiculous amount your wife have problems staying of money every month, right? in love, everybody’s gonna end up Where it costs $17,000 to take off. with a bunch of problems, whether, What side of ridiculous do you want it’s a flat tire or a flat marriage, to be involved in? Do you want no but money shouldn’t be one of employees? Kind of ridiculous,

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when there’s a billion people on planet earth or do you want 300 employees, or 3,000, or 30,000, so you’ve got to change the way you think. Most of us just have the wrong data. Consider that three out of four small businesses in America have no employees. Somebody convinced them that less is better. So, you end up being a prisoner of your own business, you hold the keys and the jail basically stays small. Those are the companies that all failed in 2008 and 2009. Hawk: Let’s talk about that for a second because I think that is astounding and surprising that so many businesses, so many small businesses have zero employees. We’ve got 27-28 now, and we’re looking to get a second office, so we can grow ours. How would you recommend to somebody who’s going from zero to getting that first and then, second and then, you know, 300-2001 employee going. Grant: You keep all your attention on the top line, not the bottom line. Too many people are measuring the bottom line, not the top line. You’re playing defense, not offense. If you want to grow your business, play offense. Put points on the board. You can’t put points on the board, not hiring people. You have to build a team. You can’t win by yourself, it’s impossible. There is no great small company in the last 2,000 years. There’s not one great company that was small. So, if you know the name of a company, pick any company, anywhere in the world, over any period of time, if you and I both know their name, they were big. Hawk: What about the difference between hiring an employee or hiring a contractor? Do you consider that? Grant: I’ve done both and I still have both, okay? So, if you want to build a culture like Apple, and

Google, hire. I know, outsourcing is popular, you hear a lot of people talking about outsourcing. All the guys that talk about outsourcing are little players. Google doesn’t talk about outsourcing, they’re proud of their employee count. Apple, they’re proud of their employees. The US military, they do outsource, some of it is contract, but a very, very small percentage. It’s our uniform, dude, our badge, our time, our terms, our money, do what we say. You want to build a culture? You want to change the world? You need an army, and so, I would just tell people man, you need to measure the top line, not the bottom line. Your Mommy and Daddy taught you not to spend money, not to invest money, not to take risk with money, cuz your Mommy and Daddy were trying to get in the middle class. They were trying to get into something that their target was not this, it was that. They were trying to get out of the poverty band, into the middle band. They were happy if they could get a house, a car, and an education, as though, “Oh my god! Oh! I have a house, I have a car. We all got it!” Everybody got the house, they got the car, and they got to college education. It didn’t work. It doesn’t mean it failed, it means, people stopped trying to get more than what they got, right? I’m not condemning college, but the results have not been great for a lot of people. 1.3 trillion dollars debt, and the wages didn’t go up, they stayed flat. The only thing that makes sense of college and income is people that didn’t go to high school and the job, they have, and by the way, some of that’s being disrupted right now, I know three billionaires that dropped out of college.

Hawk: Earlier, you were talking about the massive disruption of companies going from hiring minimum wage and even above minimum wage employees, and replacing them with the machines and with automation. And how it creates opportunity for them to build businesses but also creates the opportunity for business owners who want to hire new employees, who want to hire new people to bring on their team, and train them, and teach them. How would you once this massive displacement starts happening, how would you capitalize on that opportunity?

Grant: Well, it depends on what the space is, right? Like, look you’re not gonna get rid of great people. Great people, we’ll always find a stream to swim in. Because it’s probably the most scarce resource on the planet. You know, when you talk about things that are precious, we think about art, diamonds, maybe gold, I guess. He’ll make the Bitcoin conversation, things that are precious, they’re limited. We almost never talk about great people. People would spend more money on a watch than they will themselves. A guy will go spend $300 for dinner, $300 on a bottle of wine for his anniversary and then that’s been $600 on himself, in his business. The most precious commodities on the planet are exceptional people and we’re all rough diamonds, by the way. I’ve been a rough diamond in my whole life. I’ve been a diamond in the rough, but it’s got to get polished. Somebody’s got to look at it, somebody’s got to pay attention to it, somebody’s got to see the potential in it, somebody’s got to say, “Hey! Let’s get this off!” Somebody’s gotta put some pressure on it, right? Hawk: Most the people I know who Somebody’s got to clean it, wash it, are running successful businesses, and never be satisfied with it, right? dropped out of college. So, the thing that draws me to people is those people that are Grant: Yeah!

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never satisfied. At the top of the food chain, those people are typically never satisfied, they’re like, always searching for more. When they’re in the discovery of their potential is when something big happens. So many of us spin in, so much time on Netflix, and Instagram, and Facebook, we’ve become spectators in the information age that we’re in today. So much information coming in, to the point to where it’s too much data, too much inflow, and not enough outflow. So, I would just tell people like, every time I get one piece of information, I do one thing, at least one thing, okay? I don’t take in 10 pieces of data and then do something. So, I’m looking for I’m looking for high levels of doing this, I’m not looking for high IQ, I don’t care about your grades, I really don’t care about your resume, I want to see lots of activity, because the more activity, the better chance I have a win in the game. Hawk: So you’re just saying that you don’t care about the education, don’t care about the resume. How do you guys put somebody in who says they’re great and you want to test them when they’re becoming a first-time hire. Grant: So, let’s say it’s a graphics person like we hire for every position here. We have, I don’t know, 85 employees, I’ve got another 100 to 150 employees in my real estate company, you know, we probably need 150 people working here. So, I hire losers all the time, I’ll just tell you right now. I hire people who come in here, “I can do everything!” “Okay, good dude! Fly! Let me see you fly right now!” You know, when you tell me you can do everything, you’ll do anything, I’ll do whatever it takes, I know for sure, you’re not the guy. So, if I’m hiring a graphics person like, the biggest mistake that we make around here is we spend 40 minutes interviewing somebody, showing VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

them around, telling them what we’re about, asking them about what they did, all you have to do is say, “Hey! There’s a freaking project, do it!” That should be our interview right there, “Project, cut that video right there!” “Where do I find this?” None of my business where you find anything. You said, ‘You could do anything!’ “Can you find the program? Do you know how to open it? There’s the computer, do it!” “What do you want it to look like?” “I don’t want to tell you what it looks like, you do it!” Then, you’ll separate immediately. You got people who can’t think for themselves, have never been given an opportunity to think for themselves, don’t know how to finish something in a timely fashion, speed by the way, is the currency. Speed is the new currency. I’d rather pay you more and get it done faster, okay? The guy does one project rather than get me two or three. Imagine a graphics guy comes in here, “Hey man, give me a cover for the millionaire booklet.” “What do you want it to look like?” “You figure it out bro! You’re the one that can do anything.” Okay? What he should do is, he should give me three or four versions in about three minutes. “Here it is Mr. Cardone, it only took me three minutes. There’s four versions for you, do you like any them? I can tweet from here.” That’s what I want. I want snap and pop. Speed, speed is confidence. If you can’t find anything, it’s because you don’t know where it’s at and if you don’t know where it’s at, it’s because you don’t know what you’re doing and that’s what we have a lot of today. So, to sum that up: you’re gonna have to hire a lot of people to find that guy and it’s not on a resume, it’s in doing things. Hawk: I love that you guys hire the same way we do. I’ve never interviewed a single person. It’s here’s the work, you do it, come back to me

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in an hour. If you can get it done by then and I like it, you’re hired. Grant: Yeah, I wouldn’t even give them an hour. I’d give them like, “I can get it done in 15 minutes!” “Good! 15 minutes, you got 15 minutes.” “I can’t get it done in 15 minutes.” Because now, what that’s going to do is just, put the guy under pressure now, and you get to meet him finally for the first time. “I can’t get it done in 15 minutes.” So, you’ve said that three times right now, you sound like the American Airlines. A person at the gate, when I’m like, “I’m late for my flight, I’m late for my flight!” She’s like, “You’ll never make it, you’ll never make it!” Hawk: Awesome! And so, you shared some really incredible insights, everything from creating wealth, keeping your wealth, maximizing wealth, hiring, making sure that you’re putting yourself in the right place, in business and in life. Obviously, get the Millionaire Booklet and we’ll put our link in there, you get a copy of that, you have a FREE copy of that, just cover shipping and handling. It’s $4.97 for shipping and handling, if I recall correctly. Anyway, we’ll make sure that’s in there. It’s incredible book, also get the audiobook, so you can listen to it in your car. Do you have any last insights, any last words that you want to share with the audience? Grant: Yeah! You know, the other thing is when you build your business out, don’t think about e-commerce only, or social only, or traditional only. In my company, we have three pieces, okay? One third of our business, we’re doing a bootcamp, right now. It’s a $15,000 ticket. A sales bootcamp, three days, it will have been delivered by the time people see this, but it’s $15,000 a seat. There’s another seat, I think for $9,000, another one for $6,000. We sell a lot of that over the internet,

believe it or not. We sell a lot of it. People click, ‘Boom! I reserved my seat!’ but the big number of seats are not going to be sold, $15k are not going to be sold online. It’s not gonna happen, man. A third of our business is done traditionally over the phone, another third we go visit people, and the other third is ecommerce. So, we don’t rely on just ClickFunnels, I used to use ClickFunnels a lot, we don’t rely on just the Internet. We don’t rely on Shopify. I don’t rely on Facebook or YouTube, I don’t rely on anyone or anything. I talked about this in the Millionaire Booklet, never rely on one source of solutions for anything. It doesn’t mean you need two or three doctors to do surgery on you, you know, but it does mean you need more than one source for your solutions, particularly in business. So, people, the entrepreneur, the business owner, the guy at the top of the food chain running that business, that person is the one that needs to change the most and learn the most, not the people below him. In my company, I need to learn the most, not my people. I need to know what I don’t know. So, 10 percent of my time is spent on selfdevelopment. What am I learning? What conferences am I going to? Who am I hooking up with? Who do I need to be around that inspires me? So, whether that’s reading or a conference, the top needs to be involved in their own education. So they can start building all these. I’m 60 years old, right? I should not know what I know about social media. I came late in the cycle, right? Or too early in the cycle, right? I should not know what I know about Instagram and Facebook. I should not, I’m not the demographic for that model but I embraced it because so many of the people around me did not, I knew that was an opportunity.

them too. It says, “Call this number!” Which I always think, ‘That’s a great little implementation!’ How have you leverage social media and how do you leverage Instagram, these days? Grant: Yeah! We have five million people following us on Facebook. My Facebook page is Grant Cardone Fan. We go live, every day. The way I built that was going live every day, every single day. Saturdays and Sundays, I go live. Sometimes, I go live three times in a day. Social media has been a tremendous, phenomenal tool for me. YouTube, we had 1 million views on my YouTube channel last week. The number one source of our traffic is YouTube. Instagram, I have 616,000 people follow me, I use it three or four times a day. We do storylines, we advertise, we promote, we market, we educate. Snapchat, I don’t know what my engagement is on Snapchat but it’s massive, 14, 15 year old users. So, I know some people that think I’m their uncle and they don’t have another uncle, you know. I know kids in different parts of the world that I’ve never even been to. So social media allows me to be around the globe. When I wake up in the morning, I get up at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, I can be posting in the UK. it’s a big, new world, it’s interesting, it’s phenomenal. Social media is like a blessing, costs nothing, almost no regulation. I can use it as much as I want.

salespeople. The goal there is to literally lay out a plan that would 10x the income of the company or the individual. So, the entire 3 days is spent on the concept of 10x, the top line. So, if I 10x the top line of the company, everything else is gonna probably go up with it but there’s gonna be more net at the end of the day. Look, businesses fail because they don’t make enough money and they don’t sell enough of their products or services, period. Businesses fail because they don’t sell in volumes high enough, at margins big enough, wide enough. So, we focus in this three days just on what would you need to do to take your business from X to 10x, from $1.2 million to $12 million. Hawk: Awesome, love it! I really appreciate you and everything you’ve shared today. I wanted to ask one more question, if the audience got one thing out of today and one thing only, and this doesn’t have to necessarily do with business, it can be be life, anything. What would you recommend they do today? Grant: You’ve been seduced, you are under a spell, you have been hypnotized, to think that whatever you have is enough, and you won’t know that you won’t know that. That’s not true until it’s not enough. Colleges were built for banks, houses were built for banks, Kiyo’s and set programs were built for Wall Street and banks, the middle class was built for the banks, you’ve been tricked.

Hawk: Love it! Thank you so much, really appreciate you. Guys! That was an incredible interview. We had Grant Cardone, sharing his brilliance and genius with. Make sure you stay tuned for more and if you’re not already subscribed to Grant: The Bootcamp, it’s a three- Funnel Magazine’s VIP program, day event for executives, sales go to funnelmagazine.com/VIP. Hawk: You do Facebook lives all managers, CEOs, vice presidents, See you! the time, and I love how you title anybody running a team of Hawk: Love it and for our VIP members, you mentioned the Sales Bootcamp, can you share a little bit about that? We’ll make sure this is posted in the VIP area in a couple days here.

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// Kate Mikado

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ESSES.

Without any exaggeration, many business owners reveal that the picture-perfect image of business is mostly painted with hard times and defeats. If you were to ask these business owners about the challenges of running a business, you may receive massive replies to your question.

Jay Abraham Interview by Kate Mikado

People nowadays are deciding to venture into the business world, since business ownership is considered as one of the best possible stepping stones towards success. It is also a much preferable career since it is one of the easiest ways to earn and double money. Business is actually a fun thing to do. You get to choose the perfect design or location for your business, plan future goals, select and test the products you want to sell, and collaborate with some of the most widely known business experts. Besides, there is really nothing better than a job where you can set your schedule according to your most convenient working times, be your own boss, meet big personalities and build strong professional relationships, travel to beautiful places all around the world, live your passion, fulfill people’s dreams, and gain people’s trust.

Let’s face it, to handle a business transition from building it from scratch to flourishing as a continuous operation gets much harder as time goes by: bigger earnings equals bigger obstacles. Almost every entrepreneur experiences the typical ups and downs, since running a business does not focus on one particular aspect.

everyone can last long in the that kind of working environment. More hours of sleep is more hours of figuring out how would you be able to maintain a growing business for the long haul. You will have to sacrifice your energy, time, and health to stay alive and kicking. So, say goodbye to dozens of your goodnight sleeps, relaxing weekends, amazing vacations, party nights, family events, and even your delicious snacks because you have to make the goals happen in real life. And when life gets tougher, it is just easier to give up. Anyone can work without doing favors for others and work without asking somebody to do favors for you. You are your own boss but unfortunately, you also are your own personnel. There are moments in which you will absolutely need the help of others. However, you have no choice but to take responsibility in order to handle everything.

Normally, you’ll not only have to focus on simple selling techniques but also, and most importantly, you have to deal with marketing, customer service, quality and innovation, sales and pricecomparison activities, and many Yes, you can definitely hire employees who are potentially more. good (and motivated) enough to Therefore, working hours is expected understand and contribute to your to increase up and over 40 hours a business: smart, dedicated, hard week and you might want to add working kind stress to your list, too. This might be bad news to many because not But, we can only hope that picking the right people is as easy as picking

Indeed, the business world is filled with much excitement and precious rewards. However, the other side of the coin claims that it is also a universe of bone-crushing and life-threatening catastrophes.

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up shells on the seashore, especially nowadays, everything is expensive and most of us would rather choose to be our own boss than to work for other people. Plus, to trust people to become a part of your business is, honestly, one of the most difficult chapters you have to face because if anything goes wrong, the blame is all on you. These are only some of the things an aspiring entrepreneur will have to worry about when running a successful business, aside from the fact that not everyone is very good at money management. And, when it comes to pretty much everything about both sides of business world, there is an ideal man whom you can always consult. The name is Jay Abraham, the CEO and founder of Abraham Group, Inc. in Los Angeles California, the world’s most renowned business strategist and marketing master, who is also known for being the $9.4 billion man. I proudly present to you the internationally respected

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businessman, who has been telling incredible stories on the front page of almost every published journal there is.

For almost 25 years, he has been appreciated for cultivating neglected opportunities, hidden assets that are both tangible and intangible, underachieved areas In fact, he has been featured in of business that nobody else numerous segments of various recognized before. It was definitely magazines such as USA Today, a lot of hard work. Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, OTC Stock Journal, On his podcast interview with Adam National Underwriter, and has Siddiq, he was asked about the been displayed twice in the Leaders secrets of becoming a Jay Abraham, and Success Section of Investors “What does it really take to become Business Daily for his uncanny you and to achieve things like you ability to increase business income, did?” wealth, and regenerate strategic He responded, “Well, there are vision to a struggling enterprise, and really no such things as ‘secrets’ in most notably, for producing over 6 making your own business legacy. billion dollars in additional sales There are no hidden mysteries and revenue. whatsoever. But, I believe that if a There are actually over 10,000 businessman aims for success, he companies, and more than 400 must study the borderlines of the industries that have witnessed his field he is about to enter, employ even the most outrageous tactics fascinating skills. there ever was, and consider any He is also an in-demand motivational failures or disappointments as a speaker that has sold out plenty part of running a business.” of business conferences across the globe (in China, Singapore, He added, “I remember having a Beijing, Shenzhen, Kuala Lumpur, couple types of jobs within several London,Bali, Sydney, Melbourne, industries when I was still a young etc.) with pricing that ranges man. One of the things I noticed between $5,000-$25,000 a seat. was the difference between the settings in every occupation and Aside from leaving an extraordinary industry. And I have learned that mark in the world of business, Jay people from a certain industry are Abraham is also one of the best very clueless about what’s going on selling New York Times authors on the other side, although it was with his books: Get Everything you a very crucial thing to discover. For Can Out of All Everything You’ve me, it is very important that you go Got, The Sticking Point Solution, from one industry to another and The MasterMind, and Your Secret research the business complications Wealth. they encountered, their opinions A lot of marketing experts, about it, and what approach they business consultants and widely- utilized in order solve them. The acknowledged entrepreneurial icons reason for this is that you may also have recognized Jay Abraham’s face the similar circumstance. At opinion about how to make their least you will have some examples own business successful, since he has to look at wherever or whenever it already mentored approximately happens in your business journey. 15,000 individuals with his I personally suggest people should astonishing ideas and optimistic start with a wide-range research technique first before totally mentality.

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launching their business. This tactic will widen the knowledge of the person and will strengthen him or her as a businessperson. I began with this strategy. I studied, listened, gained knowledge, made mistakes, and repeated the process again and again.”.

On the other hand, in his interview with Hawk Mikado, another question was raised, “You have been known for working with all kinds of people, all through the years, and it is absolutely normal to meet people who do not easily agree with you, right? How was it working with millennials by the way? Was it a Jay Abraham became more headache?” obsessively thirsty about understanding the whole concept He responded, “Well, millennials, of running a business. He spent for me, are not that good in creative many years and effort, filling communication and collaboration his brain with deeper meanings with other people, which is why not of entrepreneurship. He started all of them are fully entitled to create collecting people’s point of views success for themselves and for other through conducting seminars and people. Also, I have observed that lectures. He worked with many millennials tend to have the attitude different folks, and shared his of being contented with only one or learnings with other people while two particular abilities. For example, getting them to share their learnings if a millennial is good at drawing, with him. He also taught people that will be it, and no more. Frankly, how to be obsessively thirsty just like the business world is more responsive him. to the willingness to do extra work. It’s about being captivated with the He mentioned, “When I had finally idea of doing more, in order to gain come to the conclusion that my more. knowledge was effective enough to interact, help and work with many But, the good news is, millenials are kinds of people, only then I realized trainable people. that I already was a very capable For me, as a person who belongs to businessman.”

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Generation Y, it is normal to have a more difficult time getting used to doing extra things, since many of them were raised in a period where anything can be instant and more convenient . But, don’t get me wrong, I still see them as leaders of the future. I still believe that they can acquire success, the best kind of jobs, and wealth, not just because some of them are simply pampered by their parents, but also because I know, deep inside, they can achieve more than the standardized quality of life.” Hawk responded, “Wow! Those words are very much uplifting. But can you share more about how would you invite them to work in the business world with you? Jay said, “Sure. But, honestly, I was not only specifically referring to millennial peers, but also to every person who aspires success yet has similar attitude. Anyway, to answer your question, the best way I see to encourage them to work as entrepreneurs is basically to engage them in the business world. I have to slowly pull

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on the whole business thing. The primary thing I do is to sort things out with them about vital things in themselves that are essential to be positively transformed. It’ll be much easier for me to interact if I can possibly build a communication bridge wherein they could open up about their strengths and weaknesses, and wherein I could open up about how entrepreneurship can nurture and enhance those elements. And also, this is for me to easily mentor them when the right time comes, on how to fundamentally initiate, expand, lead, participate, to respect, and to contribute to the business society. Let me put value creation as one concrete example. Let’s imagine that I am at the point of introducing my products or services to my feasible audiences, including the millennials. In order for my product to be sold out, normally I need to convince people to buy, right? Now, for me to be an effective seller,

I need to figure out not only the benefits and advantages of what I am trying to sell or even how much security, improvements, enrichments and amusement my products offer my customers. But also I need to convince them that they badly need to buy my product and to experience the end results it provides. I need to open a gateway for them to fully understand that my product will give them the results they have always wanted in their lives, yet they had never seen. It’s going to be a pretty arduous process, since millennials are very much meticulous in choosing a certain product. They will eventually see almost everything and they can find alternatives that are 70% better than yours.” Hawk: Hello everybody! This is Hawk Mikado, the Funnel Genius, publisher of Funnel Magazine, and I’m here with Jay Abram. I’m super blessed to have him. He is one of the most brilliant, not just marketers in the world, but one of the most brilliant businessmen in the world. He worked with over a thousand industries, not just companies, but a thousand industries in all sorts of different areas with their marketing and their business growth. He can tell you a lot more. He’s literally had more experience than just about anybody in the world, and that’s one of the reasons. I saw him speaking at the City Gala Summit, and I just saw brilliance there. I went up to him, and I asked him if he could join us and bless us with his wisdom. So, thank you so much Jay for showing up. Jay:Great to be invited, thank you very much. Hawk: Welcome! So, you’ve been working a lot with millenials, working a lot with growing businesses, and helping people take their vision, their genius out to the world. You share a little bit about the focus of

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the Millennial Generation and how to get more out of them when you’re working with them. Jay:Yeah, I think the way to get more out of anyone is you put more into them. So, you start by isolating what you know is not a hundred percent attributable but is uniquely and predictably attributable to a Millennial. A Millennial historically is not as good a communicator in real time, a Millennial has not been as oriented toward collaboration and creative communication with other people. So, they’re not as focused on what I call a critical aspect, in how other people need to be acknowledged, or included, or made to feel part of whatever it is. I don’t think they are as focused on trying to grasp what it’s like to be in the shoes, the life, the whole world of whomever they’re working with, but they have the capacity and ought to be massively trained. I don’t think it depends on what they are, you have two different sides to the question. One is how do you hire? How do you motivate? How do you maximize, manage, and multiply the qualitative performance, the passion, the purpose, the possibilities a Millennial can add to your business? Separately, how do you sell to a millennial? Third, what is it that you need to do to transform a Millennial into a wonder for you, and what’s the process? How do you teach them to grow, develop, lead, collaborate, empathically respect, and contribute to everyone else, and when you figure all that out, you can own the world. Because the Millennials are going to be the leaders of tomorrow; the Millennials are going to be the wealth accumulators because they’re going to inherit the money from the best jobs, they’re going to be the entrepreneurs, and they’re going to inherit the wealth from the parents, i.e., the Jay Abraham’s

and people like me, so, they’re representing incredible multifaceted opportunity, dilemma, conundrum. It’s very interesting, I don’t know that I’ve given you one answer but I’ve given you a perspective of issues. Hawk: Love it! So, one of the things that I hear all the time is that Millennials are broke, you can’t sell to Millennials which obviously is not true, but how do you make sure that you’re communicating with them correctly, and how would you approach? One, providing that value, and then, second, creating a situation where they’re willing to spend the money that they tell you they don’t have, but they really do. Jay:Sure! Well, let’s take both, and break them apart. So, value creation, everyone thinks that it’s natural and obvious. Value creation really is a part of a combination of education, contrast, denomination, differentiation, contrast, comparability, imputing, emotionality, and intangible value into something that’s pretty staid. So, if you start with a product or service that you are selling, and you know that some Millennials, and some non-millennials buy it, and they don’t seem to want it. The first thing you have to do is figure out how to denominator all, not just the reasons why but the benefits, advantages, protections, enhancements, enrichments, entertainments that that product or service provides when deployed in their life, that’s number one. Number two, you’ve got to be able to take an assumption that they want those end results because what you sell in life is not a product or service, you sell the result, the benefit, the advantage, and that they want that but they have never seen their desire for that, expressed as clearly. Now, in order to, this is going to be a little bit of an ATT moment, in order to

express clearly what they want, you’ve got to be able to understand how they denominate value, and that’s something most people marketing to Millennials, or trying to hire and manage Millennials don’t do. The way to do it is very simple. It’s a process I created which I call the Amazon.com School of Marketing. And what it means is, you go to a couple of sources, you start with Amazon.com, and you take categories that relate to what you are selling, and you go to the number one best-selling book. The number two, you’re always the 25 best-selling books in the category, and ones that are related or parallel type universes, you study very carefully the title, the subtitle, the chapter titles. Because most books sell on the promise, and the promise is designed to resonate with what the market segment wants but is never verbalized, then you go to the review section, and usually, I think on Amazon now, the reviews are 0 to 5, it used to be, I think 0 to 10. A zero is crap, and it’s terrible, and they hate it, and a 5, they’re exhilarated. If you understand the human condition, the subconscious when you are passionate, and not just happy passionate, angry passionate. The subconscious takes over, and overrides the conscious. So you don’t think about what you’re gonna say, it just comes out very beautifully articulated, edited, and dimensionalized. If you look at reviews of people who are angry because they were disappointed or exhilarated, they are so beautifully articulated because they’re coming from the depths of somebody’s mind. In marketing, and it’s a neurolinguistic concept, there’s something called Mirror and Matching. It’s not covert or surreptitious, it predicates on the fact that most people don’t really know why they want something, why they don’t want something, what it is about

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something they want, what they want it to do, what they don’t want it to do. But if you can collect language patterns that extensively and precisely tell you what they do want, what they don’t want from a product or a service, now you have another advantage because you can write copy, you can express on a video, you can do a sales, a video sales letter, a audio communication that resonates exactly with their desire and their undesired product, performance, attributes. Next, you have to look at all the scenarios that a product could relate to for somebody else and you’ve got to be able to denominate why your product, or your company’s product, or your category of product will perform a superior outcome, and you’ve got to prove it in a way that is not hyperbolic. What I find with young meaningful adults, Millennials, and the like, I guess, Generation, mmm, X? Y? What’s after Millennial? Hawk: So, Gen Z is the younger than Millennial, Gen X is just older than Millennial. Jay:Okay. So, X is before Millennial and then Z. All right, so, they’re bright but they’re not good critical thinkers, and one of the reason is that they’ve been given the privilege of doing so many convenient things and their thinking process is not engaged in much other than if they’re doing programming or things like that. So, you’ve got to connect the dots for them, you’ve got to show them the reason why. The reason why is a very, very powerful driving force in compelling communication. You’ve gotta show them why something does, what it does, why something can impact their life. Now, that gets a little more interesting, that complex but interesting. Value, Hawk, is in the eyes of the beholder. Very trite statement, but you’ve got to understand what value means

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to these different people and you’ve got to see what universal value looks like and means. You’ve got to do some experimentation, some analysis, some interaction because what you think is value, they may not think is value at all. You’ve got to figure out what is the number one universal criteria they boast about and all of them think is value? What’s the number two, what’s the number three, what’s the number four, and why? And it may not have anything to do with what you believe in, the creation and the rendering of the product value is. And then, when you’re playing your offering to them, you’ve got to say “here’s why we think it’s important to you,” and you list in a descending order of universal resonance, these different value elements. Now, another thing you do is assumption. You want to assume once you create the why, that the different ways it impacts their life, or their body, or their relationship, or their wealth, or their joy, or their relationships romantically, that they want it. They just have never realized, A: it is truly available, B: it is available at the source, C: the source delivers results, D: those results will have an enhanced addition to the quality of their life. Then, the quality of life has to be defined because it’s too abstract, next, you take them on a journey and then, you do different things.

doing nothing different, then, you show them the changes, and the advantages, and the impact, and the enrichment that will be achieved if they avail themselves of it. Now, in some situations you need to compare against other alternatives because you know the Millennials are checking everything out and unfortunately, many of them are not deciding or judging on superior quality performance outcome, they’re judging on superficiality like price, so, you’ve got to be able to preemptively divide and conquer. Divide and conquer, Hawk, looks something like this: So, let’s say you were selling a beverage drink for them and let’s say that it’s an energy drink that’s got all kinds of organic elements, and it has certain performance attributes, and a number of non-issues that are our problems. Well, first thing you want to do is identify the attributes and you want to say, we know from time to time, you need to and want to boost your energy. It might be for focusing, it might be for going out for a hot date, it might be for doing something adventurous with your friends, it might be because you’ve got to study, it could be any of a number of things. We both know that there are an infinite number of alternative sources that you can go to for the energy. You can go to all the big-name, drinks, you can go to a supplement store and buy whatever, you can do this, you can do that, and most all of those are useful for what they do, and what they do is give you a quick boost which will amp your brain temporarily and then, you come down and you know it if you’ve done it, and if you’ve never done it, go ahead, try it, you’ll see it.

You use what’s called “Future Facing” but you can use a derivative of it that Tony Robbins called a “Dickens Pattern”, from Dickens book, a Christmas Carol. You show them, because they don’t realize what life is like right now, why devoid of this product or service to some degree, they’re under realizing, under performing, under achieving, Now, we are not putting down any under happy, whatever! You show of these other competitors, they’ve them what their life will continue to been around for what people use look like in terms of going forward, them for and they’re fine. But we VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

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operate and we built this product for a whole different reason. We’re playing a whole different game, we incorporated, so, when you take an 8 ounce can, you are bathing your brain, your cellular structure with nourishing natural energy that the nucleus, the firing processes, love, it feeds them, it expands them, it fuels them, it sustains them. These are energy pods that produce the highest form of qualitative and, just winging this, and natural energy that generates the highest research dominated base of output, of clarity focus, of creativity, of stamina that does not have to be supplemented with anything else. You have the maximum attention, the maximum creativity, the maximum focus, the maximum natural nonaberrated conduct, you’ve got total engagement, your brain is operating at peak performance, your heart is operating at a very appropriate level, you stay in the moment, you make great contribution, your work product, not only is good, it’s exceptional. Your social work pride, meaning, if you try to dazzle somebody, the opposite sex, it’s killer, and it’s designed at the end of the usage period to gently and quietly leave your body without a big downer, and allow you to sleep. Now, if you don’t want higher performance, clear mind, longerlasting capacity to function brilliantly, authentically, geniusly, charismatically, and you don’t want to not have to take more than the minimum, and you don’t want a product that is purposely designed to not just stimulate the nerves but nourish and quench a healthy thirst that your system has for, you know, higher performance. If you don’t want something that’s going to bring the very best out of you in all applications, and not bring out the worst when it’s time to leave your system, and if you don’t want

something that is absolutely nonaddictive and is not going to make you a basket case, you should probably go to the big names. Something like that.

that you have this great ability to be a leader to them because those who can take them on this kind of a three-dimensional cat-scan journey into a probing and penetrating and not just exploratory but discovery Hawk: Awesome! sense of what they really want and don’t want from something will own Jay:Does that help? their mind share for a long period Hawk: Yeah! It’s a powerful, very of time. As long as, the product or powerful example. service delivers on the promise. Jay:I’m just winging it, but that’s how Hawk: Absolutely, and I know a you do it. big part of that is really creating Hawk: Yeah! Sharing the value and one thing I’ve heard a couple times, in what you just said and also a little bit of the underlying tone of it was less on the benefits and more on the impact, and the values, and the why behind it, not so much the features and benefits when you’re selling to a Millennial or when you’re hiring a Millennial, engaging them, which I think, is absolutely true.

a powerful brand. Can you share a little bit about the importance of making your brand fit with your audience, especially, with the Millennial audience?

Jay:Yeah, I think your brand has to stand for something very, very clearly distinctive that represents not just a outcome they want but an association with a culture that they want. So, it’s one thing to sell, say, Jay:It’s true and I think, it’s important a pen. On the other hand, if these

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pens are the result of people who travel all over the world and they go to Bali and they get surfers to design them, and they go to Iceland and they get the Icelandic girls to sign them and everyone has got the signature inside of a Millennial who basically has a PhD and something but decided, this was a lot more fun. This was going to be the best, the ultimate cheap writing instrument or something they can believe in that has a really cool advocacy, and the advocacy does not, in my opinion, have to be even as logical as it is meaningful to the beliefs of the organization behind them, that they can buy into. I think people want to be connected. And one of the problems everyone says is that this is a connected world. I think it’s an unconnected world because people are communicating in little short phrases with social media, they’re not having long conversations. Many Millennials do not return phone calls or acknowledge communications.

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Well, I think, more and more, they get their connectivity through association with organizations that have cultures, that they want to be part of or that they admire and by acquiring their products or services, they feel like they are now part of that culture. It’s like the people that don’t ride motorcycles that buy Harley jackets, and t-shirts and sweatshirts, they want to be part of what that stands for. I don’t know what it stands for, but to them it stands for freedom, courage, exploration, you know, take no prisoners, whatever it is. Hawk: Absolutely, true. I’m a Millennial and I remember growing up in school. It was, you know, if you didn’t have the right kind of shoes, you were not accepted into certain circles. It came down to brand which is less about brand loyalty, which I know is a big thing, and more about what you just shared, the vision and the message that the belief of the product, what it stands for, it’s really powerful. Moving into tough funnels, how would somebody really connect and engage, not just on the physical level but on an emotional level with their audience, especially with Millennials through phones? How would you see that happening? Jay:Well, okay. Let’s start by saying that I’m very masterful at understanding the human condition and let’s just claim that I’m not purporting to be the world’s greatest internet marketing technologist, okay? Hawk: Awesome! Jay:Okay. So, I’m gonna start by saying that you have got to be relevant. Everybody wants to be the choice of transaction, they want to be able to bring somebody in, get them to buy. I think the first thing is you don’t want even the exclusivity first, you want the inclusivity. You want people to want to include VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

you in their life, whether they’re ready to buy or not and they can’t include you if you don’t express very quickly and clearly attributes, values, understanding, viewpoints that either they agree with or they’ve never thought of and they really like, does that make sense? Hawk: Yeah, that makes sense. Jay:And I believe a lot of people run an ad and they drive this person to a landing page. It doesn’t matter where they’re running it and the first thing they ask you to do on the landing page is opt-in. Have you noticed that? Hawk: In most cases? Yup! Jay:Okay, and I’m not arguing that they do it. I’m arguing that I’m a critical thinker and I’m illogical, a human being, and I don’t really want to give you my information if I don’t know what it is that you’re gonna give me back. You’re offering me a free report and it could be crap, it could be superficial, self-aggrandizing, sales of rhetoric. I believe that the key to everything is respecting the intelligence and building trust, and there’s a lot of documents on trust. I did a wonderful interview with Stephen M.R. Covey, son of Stephen R. Covey, father of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. He’s done more work to prove that people who command absolute trust have approximately a 300 percent advantage and all elements of their business profit: conversion, loyalty, accelerating sales cycle. But I think you have to know how to build trust and you build trust in ways that everyone else doesn’t. For example, I believe that any time I’m going to exchange with you some product service information as a currency of exchange for the beginning of a relationship, I need to respect your intelligence. I need to tell you what I’m going to give you, tell you in advance what it entails,

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tell you what it should be able to explain to you, to either do or at least get validation about. And tell you how you’ll be able to use it, with or without availing yourself of me. Tell you why I do it, so that you will have a comforting sense of greater certainty about my ability to benefit you through whatever it is I’m offering, guide you on what to do with it and then finally, not just give it that way but attached to it, what I would call a reciprocal agreement, not a contract and also I don’t like free, that’s gonna sound funny. Everybody goes free, free, free, free. I think, free is so marginalized, it’s discounted by half the people. We prefer saying we want to buy you a _____________, you can fill in the blank. A short course primer, an instructional, a self diagnostic assessment, something that we would normally charge our private clients a$1000 for. Why would we want to invest $1,000 in you up front? First, because we believe you’re worth it. Second, we believe that somebody has to make the first investment in the relationship. Third, if you avail yourself of our offer, we will expect in exchange, in return, after you have availed yourself of the blank, and put it to work, and reflected on it, and tried it out, or compared it to your “whatever.” I’m giving you a lot of ways to do it, you will see meaningful and arguably profound results, improvement, outcomes and when that happens, it will validate all we represent and the more we can offer you some of our more expansive and advanced commercial for-profit items. We would expect that you come back and clearly and sincerely examine and evaluate some of those products. We would also expect, in exchange that you enter our email process, we’d like you to stay on it, unless of course, we abuse our right to be in your life.

How would we abuse that? Sending you crap, sending you other people’s stuff, wasting your time, making any communication we send not valuable, a lot of things. But that notwithstanding, you came to us because you obviously want X, and X is not necessarily a product or service Hawk, it’s the result, it’s the outcome. We believe that we can deliver that to you, in your life faster, better, more whatever, but it won’t be evident unless we take the first step and invest in you and you take the second step and use our investment and put it to work. If you agree to do just that, it’s our pleasure to buy you this $1000 rapid result introductory course on whatever, or whatever you’re selling. Or let you wear our watch for 60 days before will consider your payment binding and permanent on your part, and we’ll give you a list of expectations you should have. If you don’t get at least three compliments a day, if you don’t get both sexes telling you it really is handsome or beautiful, if you don’t have a feeling of really looking better than you have with either no watch or the other watch you use, if you don’t really get more

compliments with our $200 watch, then you might with a $20,000 Rolex, and of course if it doesn’t tell pristine time to the tenth of a second, we wouldn’t expect you to keep it. I’m just giving you some examples, does this make sense? Hawk: Yeah, absolutely! I love your script or your “I’m gonna buy you a copy of funnel magazine” or “I’m gonna buy you an hour of my time” that’s really powerful. Jay:It’s powerful and it establishes two things: Value and expectation. And it also elevates the whatever, the premium, or the incentive to a much more elevated strata of distinction against all the other crap that people are seeing.

so you’re looking at an inanimate object. I would do, hold on one second, let us buy you a 112 highlevel methods for multiplying your current online business, by a minimum of 30% in the next four months in order to win trust or something like that. And then, you’d say, Funnel Magazine interviews the top people. We gain their trust, we don’t discuss, we explore with them the things no one else talks about. We are very proud that we are able to uncover, discover, and identify higher performing, more little-known techniques and methods that propel the function of a sales funnel, meaning attract more, migrate more, convert more, upsell more. We want you to have that benefit, you don’t know how valuable we can be, we do. So, it’s to our advantage to initiate the first stage relationship, we want to buy you the next issue but not only that, we have had an entire department of our staff painstakingly mine the last year of issues and identify our focus to extract not a dozen, or 2 dozen, or 4 dozen, but over 9 dozen, specific and little-known funnel multiplying distinctions that no one else we’ve seen, and we are considered one of the experts, has shared along with an example of how it’s best used.

We want to buy you that, whatever you want to call it, along with that and the only consideration we ask in return, two things you’ll agree are very reasonable. Number one: Hawk: That’s really powerful! So, if we’re gonna give you a 110, little-known high performance how do you drive the traffic? enhancers to your funnel, you must Jay:Okay, give me a hypothetical promise that you will review them product or something. comprehensively, within the first Hawk: We’ll use Funnel Magazine. few days, you will identify the most easily translatable to your current Jay:Okay, alright. funnel operation, and you will test Hawk: We give away the first at least five of these elements in the next two weeks. And if they do as we edition. promised, boost your response, Jay:No, but you’re giving away,

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your conversion, shortening the sales timeline, adding to the average sale, all the above. You will, after reading and being blown away by the absolutely, non self-serving content of our magazine, sign up for a year or a multiple number of years. Something like that. Hawk: Awesome! Now, we have something to create. Jay:Does that help? Hawk: That’s awesome, yeah! And a really powerful, really powerful way of putting it. So, you’ve crafted this upfront value, created the trust, built the relationship and also identified, just to break down what you did there, how to engage them to take the next step. So, it’s like, if I do this for you, you promise to do this in return which I think is really powerful and something that’s missed in a lot VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

of cases.

who have read this, tell us that those are no-brainers and almost Jay:Let me explore it a little bit instantly boost 3 to 5 elements of more. Now, you want to incorporate performance. You do things like with your funnel, a duality of that. communication. The typical funnel is just a bunch of rhetoric, Hawk: Yep, sending them the little trying to get them to go from tips. curiosity to interest, from interest Jay:Yeah, and then, if you want to to strengthened interest, and then, keep them, you got a tether around either participation in something them, and now, think about this: that’s going to close them. With this you’re in a world where 75% of the additional path of parallel universe, people that sign up for a webinar, you want to be able to follow up or an online anything, don’t show on that, you want to say, “Okay, up. You’re in a world where the half now, you’ve had the magazine and of the people that do show up, a you’ve had the special high level quarter don’t stay. You’re in a world briefing for three days. Have you where probably, I don’t know the gone through it? If you haven’t, we stats exactly, but three-quarters strongly recommend as a stimulator of the people that download to put your mind on fire. Go to page something, never open it. You’re in 4, concept 6, and then, go to page a world where the quarter of the 12, concept 4, or whatever, and people that open it, I can promise, then look at those, because people three-quarters of them never read

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it to its fullness. Now, if you are competing in that world and you wish to compete the same way, everyone else does, what do you really think your odds are of superior outcome? Hawk: Odds are gonna be pretty small. Jay:They are! So, you have to look at it from a different vantage point that is both more strategic, more assumptive, more proactive, more controlling, more in tune with the known predisposition of the audience. More what’s called concretizing the intangibles, more showing them why they’re there, because a lot of them don’t really know and we used to say in one of our books, when somebody goes to a hardware store to buy a drill, they don’t want to drill, they want a hole, or they don’t want a hole, they might want just to a fix something to a structure. You got to be able to go to that more ultimate goal. They used to say about Wayne Gretzky and for the ones that don’t know who he is, he was probably one of the most famous hockey superstars ever, that he would never go to where ‘the puck was hit.’ He would go to where he knew it was going to end up and I think that’s a good metaphor for all your readers, that by thinking differently, you have command and control of the market from vantage points none of your competitors do.

them to do but they’re not doing Jay: No, joint ventures are better because they’re just getting emails. that. Jay:Well, let me give you a couple of very mundane philosophies that can be morphed and adapted and adopted. I’m older than you and I’ve got children older than you, who are Millennials. So, let me give you some historic ideas, okay? Over time, the guiding model of selling direct response and direct response is anything that is sold by a response, was one of four or a combination of four things: 1) You sell it on the merits of the performance of the product, 2) you sell it on the merits of the authority and legendary expertise or performance of the personality, 3) you sell it on the quantified and denominated impact the product is going to make money making, saving, getting twelve dates, getting married, getting fourteen raises, you know, whatever it is, and then, 4) you sell it on the merit of the bonus. The bonus is so valuable that, and you tell them, we’re giving you this because we want to over reward you for giving us a chance to do this. That’s one portfolio of ideas, another idea I’ve done a lot is this: You go to people who have email lists and you have them create a special-edition that goes out once a month, twice a month, that is yours, that you create for them, and that is designed to methodically teach people about whatever it is you do. Number three, you use relational capital. You go to people, you ask what does my market buy before, during, after, instead of what I sell. Then, you ask who provides those products, services, and then you go to them and you align and work out some kind of a collaboration, much deeper, than a, what is it, what do they call it now, it’s very superficial, when you just get someone to email for you, what’s the word?

Hawk: One of the the biggest things that I see, you talked a little bit about this, is nobody opens it and a big reason for that is we get so much email. So, more and more so, especially with Millennials and myself, email is a thing of the past. How are you engaging them in other ways, other than email to actually get them to open, to get them to pick up the phone, to get them to login, to do all the things that all the marketing is enticing Hawk: A joint venture?

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Hawk: Yeah, I think so too. Jay:Its value used to do very detailed, and very strategic, sophisticated, multifaceted joint ventures. Hawk: Yeah, there’s different levels of joint venturers, obviously. Jay:That most people don’t use it... Hawk: Solo, a solo email. Jay:Yeah, well, let me take a look. If you have an organization, an influencer that is not competitive and you can convince him, her, they, it, if it’s a company, that you have value, you know to get a solo email, you can get a place on their website. I’ve got four or five organizations that I’m the regular blogger for them, one is the accounting field, one is some financial services, one is in independent living, this is for me but I would tell you things I used to do. I used to fund live events. If they knew the concentration of people in regional geographies, and could get an icon to speak along with myself, they sponsored it, I’d give all the money for the event to them. I would get the stature, I would basically engage specialists to create articles or acquire books and give them electronically or physically to people on behalf of myself and the other organization. I would introduce brilliant people that normally they had nothing to sell and normally would only be available for a seventy, eighty thousand dollar fee at a conference. I would look at the total holistically of the market I was trying to address, either for myself or for any of my clients, and I’d say, “Well, what else do they want?” and I would look at him holistically. For example, if you’re talking about a Millennial and you’re selling your magazine, and it’s a Millennial

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Marketer. What else do they want? They want to be a personality, they want a better brand, they want to find ways to reach markets more virginal, different distribution. They want to have their product branded in a way that it stands out on whatever the positioning is, high price prestige, low price, whatever they want to be able to not only attract more; they want to convert more; they want to get larger units of sale. They want to get product service additions; they want to get people coming back again and if they have nothing else to sell, find ancillary ways to monetize them after that. They want to figure out how to use their products or services externally, either as combinations and packages for people, bonuses for people, front ends, back ends for people, and most people want that, they even know they want it but they don’t know how to get it. So, any contribution towards that, that is not exactly in the line of Funnel Magazine but gives them more knowledge, more ability, more performance, more conversion, more outcome, and that outcome can either be intellectually validated just by you explaining it, and giving them the reasons why, that’s where reasons come in. That’s powerful, does that make sense? Hawk: Absolutely! I was reading Blue Ocean Strategy, and he was talking about creating. If you had a movie theater and a majority of the people who come are parents, then either partnering or having a daycare in your movie theater is the perfect synergy, and this is just a brick and mortar example. Jay:Yeah! Think about it, it’s perfect! The one thing, Millennials don’t really try to put themselves in the place of all the different markets they’re serving, and all the things going on in those lives, and what those markets value. I’ll tell you a VOLUME 2 * FUNNEL MAGAZINE

story that has to do with human beings and in the human farming condition, not necessarily Millennials but the Millennials too, and it’s slightly politically incorrect but it’s not nasty or vulgar. So, when I was your age, I used to do outrageous quantities of expensive seminars around the world, and we’d have a thousand people in a room for three days, and they would pay many, many, many, thousands of dollars and after I had their trust by day 2, at the end of the day, before the last segment, I would come in purposely ten minutes late and I would apologize, and I would explain that the reason I was ten minutes late was that, “I was shocked and beguiled in the hallway by what must be the most stunning woman I had ever seen in my life and that I was just captivated by her.” I’d say that and then I’d go on with my content and then about a half hour later, I go back and say, “You know what, I told you about that woman,” and of course everyone would remember it, I’d say, “I’m curious, I’m gonna randomly go around the room and ask you within decorum, what came to mind when I said, The most stunning woman.” It’s very interesting to some people, mostly, men. It was a picture that was too dominated by very dramatic anatomical features. Okay? To certain people, again, mostly men, it might have had an ethnicity factor or a hair color factor. To women, however, was more dominated on the quality of attire and presentation, right? Now, if I had thought that everybody’s idea of a stunning woman was a six foot tall, perky, long-legged, no hips, redheaded, freckled woman with a very distinctive chin, I would have eliminated 98% of the definitions and values that the audience represented. So, I think you have got to understand what their values are, if they are multiple, you’ve got

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to be able in your communication to address the spectrum of them, without just listing them as bullets because that’s not showing you understand them. For example, if you had done that experiment and you were trying to sell beauty to men, or women, or sensuality not sexuality, you might say, “Let’s just talk about what stunning women look like.” Very interesting. To some of you, I’ll bet they are young, blah, blah, blah, to some of you, I bet that they are dominated by different kinds of anatomy, to some of you, it’s haircolor, to some of you it’s their dialect, some of you, it’s how stunning they dress or frankly, how sleazy. So, with that stated, whatever your definition of a stunning woman is, we want to help you attract more, go out more, marry one, widow, partner, whatever, but you have to start by showing me, you get the different realities. Does that make sense? Hawk: Absolutely! I think, one of the biggest things is, and I see this all the time, after working with hundreds of people and analyzing all this stuff on, not near as much as you. We see people targeting or saying, I’m going to using your example, I’m gonna help you find a woman that fits XY and Z which eliminates ninety to ninety five percent of the population that don’t care about that, those specific things and I think, that really it’s important for people to understand you need to be more broad, you need to give them an idea, let them share that with you, and the... Jay:I’m interrupting respectfully... Hawk: Yep. Jay:Taking your hypothetical example, I would obviously use the negative to my advantage and preempt. I am not even suggesting

that what I might think is stunning, or appealing, or compatible is what you do. That’s why we work with so many people and we spend so much time clearly and deeply grasping, comprehending what your definition is, what you are looking at because if we send to you what everyone thinks is fabulous, you may be appalled, maybe you want somebody who’s shy, or quiet, or you want somebody who’s wildly party-oriented, because you’re not.

certain times, in certain outcomes, we can’t promise you’re gonna find the dream woman of your life and get married and have quintuplets. We can promise that we will do this for you in certain timelines and we can tell you that it’s only doable if you promise to do your part, but as long as performance on both of our parts occurs, in those times, we even stand behind you and won’t even want to keep your fee, unless we’ve accomplished these goals.

First thing is figuring out what your definition is of these values and these points, so that we can focus on your optimal value and you show that you understand them. You don’t just list them and we know you want to get engaged in a dialogue where you are actually subliminally, ethically, leading by showing them. You understand how they feel, you understand what they’re struggling with, striving for, aspiring to, you understand the multiple nuances and very frankly because of all the work you’ve done and the successes you’ve achieved. You are very, very skilled and capable of using that understanding to produce the successful outcome they want, in ways that you believe

It’s gonna be different for each one of you finding Ms. Right, or Miss Date, or Miss Companion, or Miss America, whatever it is you want. It’s gonna differ but we’ll give you commitment and a progression that must occur, as long as you also prove you’ve done your part, or we won’t even expect to keep your fee because we will not have added the value you’re looking for. I’m taking this, it’s what I do for a living but it makes sense, doesn’t it? Hawk: Absolutely! You’ve shared about five or six different businesses. How did you get so good at creatively solving problems, for so many different types of businesses, and the challenges?

Jay: Well, it started out quite nobody else they could turn to, in accidentally. I was initially a job any comparable product, service, or tranche. Got married the first any alternative could do, and you time at 18, had 2 kids by 20, no are willing to prove that three ways. education, the needs of somebody First, by sharing with them a book. 40 years old, nobody cared. The You will buy them that which gives only people who gave me jobs you your strategy and shows you were entrepreneurs, who didn’t why it works and how to look at the give me fees or salaries they gave whole goal differently, and they can me shares of performance. When validate it, they can try it. Number you only eat when you earn, you two, by putting them through a find out what works, what doesn’t, very, very wonderful self-realization, what works best, and then, and this of self-reality check assessment. So, is where it gets really cool, you start you and we can get clear on what seeing what performs better. As you you’re really looking for, what you’re transcend to different industries, looking for or not, and finally, we you see that most industries do the have certain performance elements same thing the same way and they that we guarantee. We will do in a follow the herd, and it’s pretty status

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quo. When you’re able to borrow success approaches from lots of other industries and apply them to industries that have never even been exposed to them, it explodes their successes and over a period of, almost 35 or so years of doing this, I became, I would probably say, exceptionally to outrageously good at identifying the inner workings of what drives industries. I’ve looked at 50,000 different strategies, tens of thousands of marketing approaches. I’ve interacted and engineered breakthroughs that are documented for thousands of companies that are well-known, and I’ve had to deal with how to come up with outrageously preemptive, value-added, competitive advantages, distribution sources, that were different. I’ve had to reinvent models. All this really is a byproduct of having to untangle Gordian Knots that couldn’t be solved by anybody else and the more complex, the more I’d have to use my critical thinking. The more I did that, the more I was able to figure it out and the more I was able to figure it out, the more I was able to add to a universal template, if you will, of issues I looked at. In the process, I also became an enormous advocate, champion, admirer, and respecter of the marketplace and trying very deeply to understand their realities, their hopes, their dreams, their frustrations, what it’s like to be them, why they might want or not want a product, or a category of a product, or its alternative. Over the years, all congealed into a knowledge base that is exceptionally rich, the problem with somebody like myself is the opportunity. I can go very deep with you and I’m proud of it, but it’s empirical based, it’s experiential based, it’s very situation specific based, consequently. I cannot teach it to other people, so I have to work with small numbers of very, very dynamic companies,

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we do it because we look for larger companies we can contribute to and we find, that if we contribute to smaller ones, unheedingly, it always comes back. There are four fulllength books there, there are courses there, there are interviews with people like Tony Robbins there, there Hawk: I was just gonna get to that, are segments I do with Daymond actually. Are there, in terms of new John, who I mentor. projects, or products, or books, or events, that you’re doing, how can Q&A with Tony, we have links to the audience, learn from you, stay our podcasts called the Ultimate in touch with you, that’s really going Entrepreneur, and I don’t know, to support them in scaling and really there’s a couple, maybe a hundred shows we’ve done, there’s self getting better connected. diagnostic assessments, there’s all Jay:That’s a great question, thank kinds of fun things that I would you. We took a position a few recommend because without being years ago, that the majority of arrogant, most of the things we entrepreneurs online, offline, buy, complimentary for people, couldn’t or wouldn’t afford my more exceed the quality of the expensive expensive work. My stuff is much programs most people sell and I more strategic and global, and would recommend that before you’d a lot of people sadly tend to look even come to me for any kind of a for tactical solutions to solve their compensated thing, that’s it. sustaining problems. And it’s only a band-aid but we realized that a Hawk: That is awesome. I just went to lot of people couldn’t afford me, grab the link, so we can send that off wouldn’t afford me, I couldn’t afford to, out of with the show notes. to work with them on performance Jay:That’s very gracious, thank you. because they didn’t have enough infrastructure, or momentum, or Hawk: That is, ah, I’m just looking at size, and it was a quandary. this. This is gracious, there’s so much, so much here., We dissolved, we decided to solve it by being the greatest benefactor Jay:Well, what happens is this. I’m in the entrepreneurial world. So, if older than you and your readers, you go to abraham.com/50, we and I have a desire to make all the have 800 hours and pages of full discoveries, all the knowledge, all programs and explanation on how the breakthroughs, that I’ve been to build brands that create value, able to create, that have timeless, how to be preemptive, how to be Universal application to any form preeminent, how to collaborate with of marketing, available to the world, other people, we have interviews, beyond my being on this Earth. So, we have hundreds of questions we’re very serious about contribution answered, we have a whole because we believe we can help collection of courses we give away, people be more far more value we have hundreds of thematic oriented creators of meaning to the articles I’ve written on the worldview, markets they serve, they can make how to understand other people’s people’s lives better, their lives will be reality, and it doesn’t ask for an enriched because of the contribution opt-in, you don’t have to go on the and it’s a wonderful process that most website. None of it sells anything, people don’t really understand. So, if charge a lot and work on meaningful activities that have very big payoffs or it doesn’t work. Now, I respect you immensely, and I hope this is great but I have to leave soon. So, is there any last questions you wish to ask me?

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you can help get the word out, we’re very grateful but we don’t ask for an opt-in and we won’t. So, we sell a few things that are expensive, if people do opt-in but basically, we’re contributors, we’re benefactors, we’re philanthropic entrepreneurial investors in people’s future. Hawk: Well, I really appreciate you sharing this with everybody, and thank you so much for jumping on, sharing your wisdom and insights. I know you have lots more to share, and so, thank you for everything you’ve given as well. Jay:You’re very welcome. Now, if you want, Hawk, if you get me the interview and I thought it was pretty good, did you? Hawk: I think, this has been an incredible. You’ve shared some really incredible insights. Jay:We have a tendency to take the good interviews and we’ll put it on our website too and refer to people that we are impressed with, so, you get a double bang. If you get it to me, I do mailings with Millennial type stuff, about once a month and I’m getting ready to do one. So, if it’s a good session and you got it pretty good on video, I don’t think I made any comments that I would be embarrassed by. Send it to me and we can put on our website and I will reference you. We do that with people that I’m impressed with. I hope this helps. Hawk: Thank you! Awesome. Jay:It was a pleasure. Hawk: Absolute pleasure, have a blessed day! Jay:Thank you, you too. Hawk: Thank you. Jay:Bye.

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Metrics

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Avoid The Dangers of High Customer Churn Through Triggered Email Marketing Campaigns

ARTICLE BY Claudia Pilgrim

I was recently on Overstock’s website looking for a living According to Epsilon, triggered emails have a clickroom couch. Being a prior customer, they already have through rate 115% higher than traditional emails. in their system what prior purchases I’ve made and If your business is still facing a customer churn rate what items I’ve looked at. In the case of the living room of 8% or more, then trigger-based email marketing couch, I wasn’t completely sold so I left it in my shopping campaigns may be just what your business needs in cart. The next day, Overstock sent me a follow up email order to see a reduced churn and higher stick rate to with a last day discount warning. increase your overall monthly recurring revenue (MRR). There are many types of triggered email marketing campaigns but for our purposes I’m going to cover the following three types of triggered email campaigns: 1. 1. Activity Based Trigger 2. 2. Behavior Based Trigger 3. 3. Event Based Trigger Activity Based Trigger Simply stated an activity-based trigger is any interaction your customer or potential customer has with your brand that will allow you to send an email in response. In November 2017, Statista reported cart abandonment as 50% less likely to be read compared to post purchase but most likely to make it to your customer’s inbox.

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The above email image is only a portion of what the entire email looked like. More scrolling within the email and I see more crammed in images with x% off which can be a bit overwhelming, not to mention irrelevant to what I was actually looking for. What Overstock could’ve done with the email was incorporate additional personalization in the body

text with more pictures based on past purchases and they will follow up with you via email. browsing activity. Let’s say you start to look up flights to book for an Something like this: upcoming trip but before you could hit checkout you were interrupted by an important phone call (or maybe We saw you were looking at our blue tufted couch to hungry kids). (fingers-crossed) become a part of your latest room décor. We’re flattered. Here’s the inside scoop: we try Spirit Airlines has a follow up email to help remind you our best to make recommendations that complement to continue where you left off including your destination your style. Based on your latest selections we have a and date of your upcoming trip. They also offer few of these popular picks to complement the blue additional deals in case you no longer wanted to book tufted couch (so you don’t miss out, this is the last day your original flight. to get up to 45% off). “Did you forget something…” This gets the message across about the sale and also lends to a little personalization to start to build likability and encourage the sale without shoving all types of other sales within the same email. This also segues into the next trigger. Behavior Based Trigger A behavioral based trigger comes from the actions your customers do or don’t take when interacting with your business online. Based on their interactions with your business, your behavior based marketing campaign can send them an individually customized message. So in the example of Overstock and the blue couch I was looking at, they could’ve easily tied in my past search history and used it to send me a behavior based Event Based Trigger email message: Oh My Gorgeous! We found the perfect pairing for the Welcome or an order confirmation are examples of blue tufted couch you were looking at, checkout these event based trigger emails. In this case, Ellevest (a gorgeous throw pillows, some are even up to 45% off. financial services company) presents an early access welcome email which provides a clear call-to-action 77.3 percent of online retail orders were abandoned above the fold. instead of purchased in 2017 (Statista).

Here’s another example with Spirit Airlines. Love them, don’t like them or somewhere in between

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The Financial Services industry has the highest Email based triggers, when implemented with a triggered email open rate at 98.1% (Statista). personalized message, can reduce your overall customer churn. Whether you decide to use activity, Below the fold of the email, Ellevest conveys behavior or event based triggers, the strategy needs transparency in what you can expect from them as well to be about the message which enhances and as an open door to reach out for any questions. builds the overall experience for your customer.

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FUNNELHUSTLERSUMMIT.COM

7 Factors That Can Help You Grow Your Website’s Performance and Conversion

ARTICLE BY David Kraus

It’s often the small details in life that define success over failure—and it’s the same when running your own website. Statistics and website metrics are not the most glamorous subjects, but you should never underestimate Traffic is fundamentally important for any successful their importance. website, and it’s incredibly easy to track using Google Tracking even the most basic of numbers on your Analytics. website will give you an advantage over someone who doesn’t do tracking. You can use data to confirm what Your website’s traffic figures are a good indication if works on your website and what doesn’t. This will help your website is growing, stagnating, or declining. It’s also identify room for improvement and spot any abnormal useful for tracking the efficacy of certain promotional results. That’s why all the top websites allocate resources activities. For example, if you experience a huge traffic spike after publishing a guest post on a top blog, this to tracking key site metrics. is an indicator that you should be doing more of the I want to help you get started with performance same. However, if you’re witnessing a steady, long-term tracking by reviewing seven of the most important traffic decline, this tells you that what you’re doing isn’t website metrics. Head over to Google Analytics, add working—you need to try new things, fast. . .otherwise the code to your website, and you can start tracking your website will fail. some of these important metrics, today. Traffic figures will only reveal so much, but if you’re 1. Website traffic looking for a quick snapshot of the overall health of a The top level metric most webmasters obsess over is website, Google analytics is a good place to start. traffic; the total number of visits to a website. 2. Traffic sources

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In addition to your traffic numbers, you should also know where your traffic is coming from. This information is also available using a tool like Google Analytics.

Bounce rates do differ based on the type of website— blogs will differ from landing pages which will differ from eCommerce stores. You also have to apply some logic to the situation. However, if you make changes that are continually improving your bounce rate, you are heading in the right direction.

Google Analytics breaks down your traffic sources into A poor bounce rate tells you one important thing about four broad categories: a website: visitors are leaving, quickly. • Organic Search: traffic coming via the search It doesn’t tell you why they are leaving. However, engines common reasons for a high bounce rate include: slow • Referral: traffic from another website load times, broken websites, bad first impression (poor • Direct: traffic typing your domain into the website aesthetics), and badly targeted keywords. browser • Social: traffic from social media With these reasons in mind, you can improve bounce

rate by making sure your website looks great, works Each source of traffic will tell you a few important properly, and your content is high quality. snippets of information about your website. It’s also worth pointing out that if Google Analytics Even if SEO is less prevalent than it used to be, the is installed incorrectly, you may see abnormally low organic search traffic will give you an idea of how well bounce rates. your website ranks in the search engines. With around 40,000 searches per second on Google alone, the 4. Top pages search engines will always be an important source of In the Behavior section of Google Analytics, you’ll be traffic, and this metric will tell you how effective your able to see your best performing pages in terms of SEO strategy is. traffic volume—Analytics displays the number of page Referral traffic shows how many visitors come from views, and how those pageviews look as a percentage other websites—either because you wrote a guest post, of total page views across the entire website. or because another website linked to your content. If Knowing what pages receive the most traffic is you’re regularly linked to by other websites, not only important because it gives you real-world data showing will this help you rank better in the search engines, what your audience responds to. If you experiment with but (ironically) it will reduce your dependence on the different types of content, this is where you can begin search engines, too. Besides, lots of links pointing your to analyze what’s working, and produce more of the way shows you are doing good work, and is a great material your readers like. testimonial of your content. However, traffic numbers are not the only way to Direct traffic is the number of people typing your determine your “top” pages. website into their browser—for example, torquemag. io. A good percentage of direct traffic visits is a good You could also look at the number of social shares per indicator of a loyal following. After all, it is your regular page as an indicator of a strong article. This information visitors who are more likely to go straight to your site. isn’t available in Google Analytics, but plenty of social media tools and WordPress plugins will provide this Social traffic will tell you how many visitors come from information, including Social Metrics Pro. the social networks. The more shareable your content is, and the more engaging your social media posts are, When you know which content your audience likes best, the more social traffic you will receive. the next step is straightforward: produce more of it! 3. Bounce rate

5. Conversion rate

Your website’s bounce rate is another important metric. Conversion rate is another crude top-level metric, but it’s arguably the most important metric of all as it The bounce rate metric, displayed as a percentage, tells can have a significant impact on your site’s you how many visitors leave your website immediately profitability—if you can increase your after arriving—Google defines these as “single-page conversion rate from 1% to 2%, sessions.” The lower your bounce rate, the more visitors your profits double. there are sticking around to enjoy your website, and (hopefully) converting. QUARTER 2

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Total conversion numbers are important, but it’s the Social traffic is the least effective, so while receiving free conversion rate that tells you how well you encourage traffic from social media is always nice, this website your traffic to perform a desired action. would be crazy to chase it too hard. Your conversion rate is easy to calculate: Unique Visitors You can also see that referral traffic converts 250% / Conversions better than search engine traffic. This is an indicator that the strategy for generating referral traffic is good You can also track how your conversion rate changes (you’re being linked to from the right places) but your over time using Google Analytics. search engine strategy is less effective (you’re targeting Now, what qualifies as a conversion will vary from site to the wrong keywords). site, and you could also have many different conversion 7. Customer’s lifetime value “goals” on one site. For example, an eCommerce store might have three conversion goals: The final metric in today’s list is the customer’s lifetime value. This metric is a little more difficult to calculate, • A sale (most important!) but is fundamentally important when making forecasts • A subscriber to an email list and setting marketing budgets. • A social share (least important, but still valuable) Most websites will have an idea of their average transaction size. This is useful to know, but ignores the The higher the conversion rate, the better your website fact that when a customer becomes part of your sales is doing. A low conversion rate indicates that you are funnel, they are more likely to buy again. The lifetime attracting the wrong traffic, your call to action is weak, value metric addresses this by factoring the customer’s and/or your sales copy is ineffective. future purchases into the equation. Because your conversion rate can have such a significant impact on profits, you should be continually optimizing your website for conversions—even minor tweaks can have a substantial impact on your bottom line.

Take a membership website, for example. (Admittedly, the nature of a membership website means they are more likely to be aware of their customer’s lifetime value.) If membership costs $100 per month, and the average customer remains a member for 6 months, 6. Conversion by traffic source then each customer is worth, on average, $600 to that It’s undeniable that not all traffic sources are created business. equally. This can be seen clearly by looking at the This is well worth knowing, as it will help this website to conversion rate by traffic source metric. allocate their resources more effectively—if they use paid Conversion rate by traffic source is calculated using advertising, they could afford to spend more to attract the same four traffic source categories: organic search, customers based on the $600 lifetime value rather than the $100 transaction value. This higher lifetime referral, direct, and social. value means they can spend more on advertising and Let’s look at a hypothetical example website with the promotion, will attract more customers, and will allow following performance metrics: their business to grow more quickly—what’s not to like! • Organic search traffic: 4% conversion rate If you can continually improve any of the metrics • Referral traffic: 10% conversion rate included in today’s list, you are making real, • Direct traffic: 12% conversion rate noticeable improvements to your website. This will put • Social traffic: 1% conversion rate you in the best possible position going forward. So what do these numbers tell us? For a start, direct traffic is the most valuable traffic source for this website. Direct traffic is usually driven by loyal visitors, so with this in mind, this website should take steps to encourage loyalty and repeat visits.

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Introduction to Metrics

Since the beginning of time, Humans have had the need to keep track of everything they interact with, from how many sheep in my heard (back in ancient times the more sheep, goats you had signified great wealth), how many slaves do I have under my rule that can build me a couple of pyramids, at what angle the sun is in relation to the earth to be able to track time, to the millions of dollars in revenue in sales did a Fortune 500 company produced this quarter, and how much manpower do they employ to the man hours they work weekly.

If you think about it, metrics are everywhere, Yes! Everywhere. Every time you look at your watch, or when you glance at the speedometer of your car to make sure you don’t exceed the number of miles per hour VOLUME 2

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ARTICLE BY Raul Puentes

posted on that sign you totally ignored just now and the police cruiser appears in your rearview mirror so you can start pressing the brake because you were not going eight or ten miles over the limit but rather 20!. The point is that as humans, we have the need to track everything. Your bank account app tracks the money you earn and spent by overviewing this information that goes through that specific account, even as I write this article I have a little tracker that tells me how many words I am typing. So know that I got you attention and your mind is mildly blown because you really never thought about the importance of measuring and keeping track lets focus a bit more in the business and technological side of metrics. The dictionary has several definitions to describe the word Metrics, this based on what type of metrics you are focusing on, I find that fascinating because it tells me that this subject is so incredibly broad that the word that describes it has several variables in its own definition. However we are going to go with the simplest one published on the Webster Dictionary which describes metrics as “Denoting the science of measuring as applied to a specific field of study, a method of measuring something, or the results obtained from this”. The word finds its origin in the Greek word metron, or metrikos which translates to meters, which was one of the first units invented to measure distance. In business,

the definition can be expressed as a quantifiable task. Technology helps reduce human error and make measure that is used to track and assess the status of a metrics more and more accurate also making the data specific business process. gathering and delivery much quicker. In my many years crunching metrics for banks I have personally seen It is imperative to denote that these business metrics the evolution of these methods. If you still think Excel are targeted to reach specific audiences surrounding a is totally awesome and enough to perform in today’s business, for example investors, customers, employees environment? Guess again. There are thousands of including executives that want to track the performance technological companies out there with incredible of their workforce. Every area of the business has a platforms that can withhold incredible quantities of specific performance metric that should be tracked, data, create the appropriate graphs and charting for for example sales managers track monthly sales, they the visual enjoyment of their targets. These companies can also measure the performance of their team as a also have the ability to personalize their services to their department in general or by individual salesmen. client needs making metrics even more interactive, accurate and user friendly than ever before when you had to count your sheep or your crops manually.

So why are business metrics so important? Let’s go back to the simple example of the speedometer. Imagine if you were cruising down the freeway and suddenly your speedometer stopped working? How could you know how fast you are going, if you are going at the correct speed in order not to get a speeding ticket? You may say “ Well I will try to keep up with other drivers, but do you really trust other drivers? What if they are speeding as well, they just don’t care? Well the same thing happens with business metrics and this is also the part where technology plays a crucial part. Let’s say that Bob is a Sales manager at a retail company. He is in charge of his store sales and has to submit a monthly report to the regional manager who in turn has to gather all the store sales in the region to submit to corporate headquarters and the numbers just keep climbing all the way to CEO levels. Bob’s job is crucial at submitting accurate data on his numbers, if he submits less or more than what the branch actually made, guess what? Yes this will affect the regional numbers which will affect the national results, and so on and so on. The company may end up submitting a final number that is not real and this can affect the revenue, performance and credibility of this company (just for starters). This is where technology is playing a crucial part, let’s face it a supercomputer with the ability of process and calculate millions of numbers is going to beat your brain at performing the same

So it is safe to say that the basic information in this article is a good introduction to the incredibly wide world of metrics and how it can apply to virtually anything. Next time you look at your bank statement, your investment portfolio or even your car speedometer you will remember how crucial it is not only to be able to measure and track this information but also the importance of this data to be accurate. The next time you look at your bank statement to realize you had less money than you thought and discover these numbers are actually true after you review your activity summary reminding you of that weekend shopping spree, or actually identifying a transaction you didn’t do and allowing you to report this to the fraud department, you will realize how truly crucial carrying business metrics or metrics in general are in our lives. In future publications we will get into specific markets and subjects of business metrics.

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Leadership: And the Crowd Went Wild

Leadership — And the Crowd Went Wild Article by Jim Eagerton

$3,000,000 of Product was sold from Stage in 3 Hours Using a Well Crafted Sales Funnel I had the opportunity to attend one of the most intense sales conferences ever produced. It was Grant Cardone’s 10X Growth Conference at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. For three days brand name speakers presented to more than 9,500 people — up from 1,500 the previous year in Florida — who watched and listened to every word. What we witnessed were some of the most persuasive sales techniques and funnels used on an audience. The VIPs who sat right in front of the stage popped $15K to be seated, so there was money in the room. Based on the 10X growth of the conference Grant did in one year, to 10X again might require the Los Angeles Coliseum. If anyone is unfamiliar with Grant’s methods, they are hard-driving and very effective at boosting his bottom line. His chants of “Who’s Got My Money, Sell or be Sold and Be Obsessed or Be Average” rocked the crowd as the high-powered techno show propelled ahead. He boasted there is a reason his personal jet-aircraft was conspicuously parked at the end of the runway across the street at the airport, that’s because his sales techniques are successful and he wants to put them to work for you.

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Each speaker was required to sell from stage using their sales funnel to bring in new business. Personal coaches,

financial gurus, marketing and social media geniuses all crossed the stage with their messages. One had nothing to sell except his rocking violin performance he’d done previously with Electric Light Orchestra and Celine Dion. In all, everyone attempted to sell something and some were more successful than others. Our FUNNEL magazine Cover Boy Led the Way

By far and away the most successful presenter was none other than FUNNEL Magazine’s premier issue cover boy, Russell Brunson. He led off the proceedings on Saturday, the second day, with a 90-minute talk on his astonishingly successful ClickFunnels product.

told us to copy what really successful people are doing with a few adjustments. From stage, he walked us through how he built a funnel for Tony Robbins who was bringing out his new book, Master the Money Game. Originally when Tony contacted him to build a funnel, Russell told him he needed a day onsite to shoot the videos and get the material. Tony said no. So Russell said OK I need half a day. Tony said no. Tony said: “I’ll give you an hour” and Russell agreed. He literally built the funnel in front of the audience by grabbing a video, pulling down prepared content and text and within minutes it was ready to go. No programmers or techies needed to make it all happen. He showed the audience via slides and narration step by step how he built the site. Tony’s website also included a very subtle upsell. On the website was the ability to buy the book but it also included access to a moderately priced video course of Tony’s content and of course, the wildly expensive and exclusive personal coaching that Tony offers. As Russell said, it went on to make Tony millions of dollars

He started with the backstory of his wrestling days and how he has grown his company. It started with his observing the behavior of people who were driven to the And Wait... There’s More! back of the room to buy things after being convinced from the presenter that what he was selling was what they needed to get ahead. He studied those masters of the craft who excelled at driving sales so effectively. He

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From there he revealed some of his secrets like whoever convinced beyond doubt, the crowds formed at his can spend the most money to acquire a customer wins booth with purchase orders in hand. and that the best sales person on the planet is you. And was it Successful? Some subtle coaching that you too can build funnels. From our perch (as seen in the picture) up in the skyRussell explained how his people used a step by step box level, we could see hundreds of people lined up to approach to plan the offer they were going to make hand in their forms. Why, because it included a freeat GrowthCon. To the thousands in the audience, year of ClickFunnels and all the other benefits Russell employees handed out orange tote bags during his had repeatedly pitched in his offer. From above, we presentation with all the materials needed to go from started running some numbers for fun. At $3K per raising awareness to the close. Inside were materials transaction and estimated 1K buyers, we were guessing used to document what you were getting and also “If around $3M for the end-of-day number. And the next day from stage Grant announced over $3,000,000 of product had been sold in 3 hours. It was so effective a funnel that Russell came on stage Sunday and extended the offer for a second day for those who were still undecided. The leadership lesson is that selling is a process. The more refined and articulated the message you have, the better the success. You need to lead your potential clients along from awareness to determining interest to overcoming objections and making the close. Plus, a you buy today” the incredible discount on acting fast. well-built funnel is the open door to business success. From what I am told from my ClickFunnel associates, it was indeed a bargain of around 75% off the list prices or “a value of” discount. In the bag was a 3-part form that was ready to be filled out with your name and credit card information. In the back of the room were “order takers” ready to handle your purchase request. As soon as Russell finished,

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The Secret To Leadership Mastery Article by Meryem Arpaci

I’ve spent over 15 years in leadership working for some of the most renowned brands on earth making the people at the very top very rich. Over time I realised I could also make a difference by helping entrepreneurs and businesses succeed. This became my passion. So that’s what brings us here!

Firstly a little more on why this formula can work when applying these 7 steps: It was 3:37pm, I was sitting in a conference room, held the Hunter Valley in Australia. That day ten awards for outstanding performance across the southern hemisphere were about to be revealed.

I’m going to share my formula with you that took my I was awarded three out of those ten awards. I’ll be own leadership mastery to the top 1% for a Forbes top honest with you… I was a little dumbstruck. I froze in 50 listed performer in a $25.9 US trillion industry. Why? my chair wondering how did I get here and what just happened? Because I believe that entrepreneurs are essentially good people who want to make a difference in the I realised that my formula had paid off and I had world, for their own families, communities and charities. figured out something quite special. I also know from experience that this formula works. They are the very same steps I applied that won three awards in; Customer Experience, Sales and Team, and Top 1% Leadership mastery. That means happy paying customers, proven results, abundance in sales, highly engaged, productive and happy teams and establishing a leadership voice that is capable of achieving these.

I am sharing this with you not to gloat, in fact I haven’t shared this story till now. I am sharing this because I want you to know your real worth and potential. You can achieve a very profitable business as an entrepreneur or business owner and change people’s lives at the same time.

I was that child that stood in the playground with no friends. I was far too shy and scared to make any. I That’s why I’m sharing it with you now, so you can make remember waiting outside the classroom door over a difference to change lives; your own, your family’s, lunch periods awaiting for the school bell to ring so I communities and those less fortunate. could just go back inside. I later influenced thousands of people through my leadership and connection with them. Some of these were wonderful relationships that I still share to this day.

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I was not an academic during my early school years. I never really had confidence or success at school until

To date, we’ve helped thousands of clients with a purpose to change lives. So here is where I introduce you to my formula that works! THE SECRET TO LEADERSHIP MASTERY - This formula consists of 7 principles: 1. MOVE FROM SCARCITY LEADERSHIP MODE TO LEGACY MODE Scarcity leadership mode is like driving a great car with a hole in your gas tank! I had a teacher who saw the potential in me. She saw You’ll never experience the full calibre of the success what I couldn’t at the time. you can bring to yourself and others if you’re in scarcity It was at that moment that the coach inside me was leadership mode. born. I wanted to change people’s lives just as she Here’s how to identify if you are STUCK in scarcity changed mine. leadership mode: A true leader sees the potential in you. All anyone needs • You’re giving some value but it’s not your best is someone to believe in them. They need someone to upfront. say “I see you.” I believe in you and that you can do this! • You’re stuck in a TAKE mindset rather than GIVE. A mentor can see everything you can’t see yet because • You’re worrying about how much money you they were once in your shoes. They know the steps to make over focusing on how much value you take to get to where they are today. create. They teach you the steps to grow into your success. They • You may be using forceful sales techniques inspire you to have laser sharp focus and push through to try to close deals rather than building every set back. That paint the picture of that trophy relationships. waiting for you with your name on it. • You have inconsistent flow of income - it feels like a rollercoaster at times! My formula will reveal to you the very steps that can • Your content is honestly boring and does not help you build a brand that can change people’s lives inspire action! whilst giving you an income and meaningful purpose. • You’re too busy watching others and comparing It can becomes one that is a powerhouse in influencing yourself. people in change their lives, increasing their results eg. • You don’t have a mastermind group of like income, and making their dreams come true all whilst minded people. your own are fulfilled. • You’re putting others’ successes down to feel better about your own struggles. That’s the catch right there, as they win, you win ;) • You’re struggling to envision a better life for That’s where leadership mastery comes into play. yourself and loved ones. • You see not hope and feel like giving up. An entrepreneur who masters their leadership skills can create a legacy that lives well beyond themselves.

If you want to step out of scarcity leadership mode and MOVE to leadership mastery, then apply this formula You see, a leader’s success is entirely based upon the with consistency over and over again without fail! success of their clients and team. In my own leadership brand I teach my teams that our clients are our family. 2. THE LEADERS THAT MAKE YOU RISE They are on our team too. It takes both mindset and actions to get the If you are an entrepreneur who works solo then keep results you are after. A great leader in mind that your clients are your team. Their success is teaches you how to do this with your success. This secret formula is very relevant to you your own clients and your own team. and I’m going to show you how. QUARTER 2

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That’s where the MAGIC HAPPENS!

In fact, if you hesitated and didn’t help that child you would be considered quite selfish.

I am sharing this with you because I believe that if a shy, and not so academic child can grow into a leader The power you have right now to make a difference to who mastered in the top 1%, then you can do this! your clients’ lives is already within you. It is very powerful. You CAN achieve exactly what you set your mind to for You just have to have that conviction and unshakeable your business! belief that the VALUE YOU GIVE will make a difference to their lives. If you want to master leading people to results then you need to immerse yourself in their teachings and their In fact, if you know how to achieve the results they desire influence. Some people refer to this as being a coach and you hold that back from them… then that can also or mentor. There is a difference to wearing both these be considered as selfish. hats. The greatest way to have unshakeable belief and A coach is an experienced individual who develops confidence in your services/products is to connect it to a specific skills with a step by step approach to achieving WHY that is greater than yourself. a desired result. That action alone takes the focus off yourself and you A mentor is a highly experienced expert who can can move past yourself. MOULD you to become a success based on your own individual business and personal development needs. A For example how many times have you had these mentor has a deep interest and cares about your long thoughts? term development and success. • How bad will I look on a FB Live, or on a webinar video? Surround yourself with innovative and groundbreaking • Will anyone even watch it? leaders; the ones that make you question and push • What copy could I possibly write to bring value through your current mindset. on my funnel or social platforms? These are the leaders that inspire your entrepreneurial • Who would want to follow my content anyhow? growth. They help you take the right steps to apply • (Insert your insecure thoughts here). the mindset and actions to reach your goals in your business. The list goes on right? Emulate their characteristics and take onboard their Well what if your purpose is for a cause that is greater guidance. They are a huge part for your future success. than yourself? Read their books and take action chapter by chapter. Would you worry about any of the above concerns or Read a chapter then action those steps. Be consistent would they now seem insignificant? in your approach to get great results. Taking the focus away from ‘I’ and focusing on 3. BUILDING UNSHAKEABLE BELIEF something greater than yourself creates an unshakeable belief system. When you define an unshakeable reason to WHY you are doing WHAT you are doing, the HOW will 4. GIVE YOUR BEST FOR FREE UPFRONT take care of itself. As a leader, it is your responsibility to bring the best out When it comes to taking adamant action in your of your clients and team. business; if you find yourself continuously hesitating or questioning these, then you may have not yet defined It’s a privilege to have such a rewarding responsibility, one were people invite you into their businesses, their WHY. lives, their hopes and dreams with belief that you can Think of it this way - If you see a small child about to show them the way to achieving something special. fall into a pool would you hesitate and think about whether you should save the child from hurting That means you can’t hold back in giving your best to themselves? At that moment your belief them upfront. As you hold back you hold yourself back to take action is unshakeable so from opportunities. you take it without haste. Let me put it this way, If you were going to enter into a cooking competition would you use your best recipe to impress the judges or a mediocre one? Would you VOLUME 2

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message and a large portion needs to be free. This builds trust. The same applies to giving your best work upfront to • The more your clients hear and see the value your prospects for free. By doing this you are giving a you offer upfront over and over again, the more first bite and taste to the value you can give them. they will take notice and start to see you as an authority figure in your industry. Or look at it this way, imagine that you’re going on a date with an incredibly attractive person who you might • People also connect to you if their values are similar to yours. So communicating your brand hit it off with… would you wear your frumpy tracksuit values or vision will attract the clients who think and hide under it or wear your best outfit? the same way. The same goes for presenting your best value upfront for your prospects! Your job is to be innovative, or at least creative in how charge the judges to sample your cooking?

you express these. So make it exciting, fun, engaging so it grabs their attention! Don’t be shy, bring out your Your customers and team are your valuable intellec- personality here. tual property. You can innovate and create solutions Your communication style and added value doesn’t from the answers they give you. All you need to do have to be complex or sophisticated. Being REAL is the is ask the questions. best way to go. People connect to real people as they If you are building a system or step by step approach have real pains and emotions. eg. coaching your clients from stage A to stage B, ask them the following questions and build your solution as KEEP IT REAL best you can meeting their needs: It can be the simplest actions… the theme here is 5. CREATE THE SOLUTION BY ASKING

• What’s causing them the greatest pain? • What have they already tried and failed at? • What steps are they actually putting in place consistently? • How can you make it easier and simpler for them? • What is their dream result? • What would really knock their socks off if you were to provide it? • How do they want it; in what shape or form? • How much are they willing to invest in making their dreams result?

consistency and re-communicating the same messages in different ways. 7. CELEBRATE SUCCESSES BESIDES YOUR OWN Top 1% leaders get a sense of achievement and reward by seeing their clients and team succeed. They share these success stories publicly. They feel happiness and pride in their clients and team’s wins!

Celebrating your clients’ successes has more impact than celebrating your own repeatedly. It starts to create an infectious culture when you do this repeatedly and consistently. Try it!

You can’t please everybody when you create your course, product or service but you can look at which of At first it may feel strange but if you continue to do it, those needs you can meet and design the best outcome. people will catch on and look out for these.

You will find that you’ll get greater results if you connect It gives your future clients a clear view of the possibility to people’s needs. If you can take away their pain by of their success using your service. It also acts as social offering an honest solution they will achieve the results. proof which builds trust for your future clients. They win, you win! 6. BUILD THE BRIDGE If you build the bridge people will follow! Here are key steps to building the bridge:

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I hope reading this article inspires you in creating a greater impact with your audience and making the world a better place.

Has Your Business Got Staying Power? Article by Andrew Wallis

A large proportion of my client base are involved in the health and wellness industry so we talk about health, fitness and staying in line with this month’s edition focus on longevity, I figured it apt to look at strategies to help you ensure your business’s longevity.

2. Motivate your team to share your vision

Strive to be the best leader you can be. A true leader develops a management style that generates trust whilst providing consistent motivation to their team members assisting in their growth and development in Although there are no guarantees on the survival of the roles they perform. They then see their position as a your business, there are steps that can assist your career instead of a job. company’s staying power. Take time to hire the right individuals and look for 1. Become a visionary. people with a commitment to succeed, then make them 2. Motivate your team to share your vision. loyal members of your team. These people will have the 3. Build a strong business model. drive and passion to want to make the business work 4. Create an adaptable business strategy. knowing that everyone will be rewarded. 5. Know your numbers. The number one criteria should be that they have a 6. Have a strong support network. great personality, have a passion for fitness and are 7. Stay consistent and flexible. good with people. You can teach them the rest. 8. And, most important, never stop learning. Once they’ve joined your team, you need to keep Let’s drill into each of these in a little more detail… them motivated. Make them feel that they are directly responsible for the company’s success and that they are 1. Have a Clear Vision able to share in that success. One way to do this is to This is the foundation of your business. Before you can implement a profit-sharing program. grow, it is important to have a clear vision of your future and the expectations of your business and put this down in writing. Questions to ask yourself would be… what type of business model will I follow? Where do I wish to be in 5 years? How large a business do I want?

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3. Build a strong business model Does your business model reflect the goals of your company? Have a look at the services you offer to your clients - are there too many options? If so, look to simplify things. Having the right business model in place can help grow your business to where you want it to be.

clients with quality service. Those are the companies that clients come back to and talk about. Ask yourself if your services are consistent. To go a step further, owners who care about quality service care about in-house quality, as well. That means hiring the right people and then treating them well. Staff turnover is one way to gauge consistency.

4. Create an adaptable business strategy

Chances are good that if you have high turnover, your clients are receiving inconsistent service. Clients can tell In order for your business strategy to succeed, you need when employees are satisfied with their jobs — and to follow the market. You must be flexible and willing when they’re not. to change. From the way you price your product to the way you bring on new team members to the state of 8. Stay consistent and flexible the economy, these factors should guide your business Flexibility means realizing that you don’t have all the strategy. answers. It means learning how to delegate authority Do you listen to your clients, then modify your product to those in your team you trusted enough to hire. And to meet their needs? Do you see an untapped market it means analyzing your numbers so you can make the that might be able to use your product? difficult decisions that will drive your company forward. Could your marketing approach be off, or is there a No matter how good a plan or system is today, unless better way to make sales? Little changes can make a you keep updating it, it will become old very fast. big difference. The market is changing constantly. To succeed, your business must change with it. Be open to new ideas and 5. Knowing your numbers different ways of doing things. Understanding your company’s finances means doing 9. Never stop learning more than just monitoring your cash flow. One of the biggest problems startup companies face is running out There’s no way to truly master any craft without always of cash. looking for ways to improve; learning and applying new skills is the ultimate self-improvement. As a business To keep on top of your business, analyze your financials owner it is important for you to strive to constantly every month. Determine which products and services educate yourself both on technical aspects but also on are making money, which are not, which cost the most the business side of things too. When we stop trying money to make and which provide the least amount to better ourselves and learn new things, we essentially of margin. Watch your payroll. Review your monthly stop striving for our goals. reports. Be aware of your cash flow at all times. You can’t have a business if you don’t have any money. The success of your company depends upon your ability to gain knowledge from your every experience. 6. Having a strong support network Surround yourself with a loyal and strong team and competent advisors. Acknowledge your strengths, then find others who compliment them. Identify your weaknesses, then find people who can compensate. Advisors will help you face hard decisions, as well as provide advice, input and encouragement. 7. Providing a consistent level of quality to clients and members It is imperative to provide clients with the highest quality of service or product that you can. If you try to get away with providing substandard work, you will be discovered, sabotaging your company’s chances for longevity. Businesses survive when owners provide QUARTER 2

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How to Find Effective Team Members Article by Heide Hargreaves

When I got started with keynote speaking about Building Effective Teams for companies, I was in a certification training class that was required by the company I was working for many years ago. I realized I was the only one in the group training who was actively involved in all activities that were given and understood the instructor teaching. Later that day the teacher stopped me in the hall to ask me a question. I was shocked when he shared how he noticed that I was the only one in the group that was actively involved, and a very good leader getting them engaged while everyone was not paying attention to the instructor and falling asleep. He mentioned that I was the only one who passed the certification test with a high score and only missed one question. As he said this, my mind flashed back to memories of looking around the room noticing many were not paying attention and falling asleep. I was the only one from my department there with other departments, maybe my boss knew? Prior to the training, our boss told everyone in the company to take the training class, and if we refused, we would not have our job anymore.

had never been a public speaker before. He told me that he will train me and plus everything he taught in the class was part of the training as well. I took on the job and loved every part of it, especially the part where I would get refocused, energized, and motivated. I also devoured self-help, self-improvement books, and all the training sessions. However, after a year, I had to quit because babysitting, childcare, different school schedule, kids getting sick and many doctorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s appointments became difficult juggling with a full-time career. I later started my own business and it allowed me to have a flexible schedule for my kids.

I applied all my training and knowledge to my business. I was surprised 13 out of 14 workers told me that I was the best boss they ever had, and I was given boss day cards as well. I have been asked by many, what my secret was to reducing high turnovers and how I hire the right team members who have the passion, work ethic, and customer focus as my team members have. Many would share with me how they had hired many team members whom they thought would be great but later learned after a few months they had made The instructor also shared with me that he got offered a a poor choice as their team was not representing their promotion with another department and how he cared company or their beliefs. about who will take his position. He then asked me I noticed this challenge is one that many leaders to apply for his position as he felt I was the find themselves wrestling with. Hiring well and hiring perfect person for it. I was shocked, I correctly can be extremely difficult, especially when your standards are high, and your work ethic is strong. I have been there as well when there is a mistake, or an error VOLUME 2

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happens, we can change it into a life learning lesson. I learned from my mistake when I hired a woman who I thought shared our belief and value of our business, somehow, I overlooked during the interview when she would talk over my conversations. I later learned that her intention was not in our business value but to steal our clients away for her to start her own business. Why is it so hard, why is it so difficult, and why, we as leaders, do we often make poor choices? The answer is simple: It is because we often hire based on skill and educational level, not on attitude and values. I realized I did look for the skill and educational level and value, not the attitude. I remembered one time I believed one new hire had the right attitude, however, it was a thought. I really did not look deeper into part of the attitude, I did not notice, when she was talking over my conversation about the kind of people who I wanted to hire; this should have sent me a signal that she would not be right for our team because she could talk over her team members conversations and irritate the team more. I do not want that kind of person in our business. Before our hiring process, we normally would first decide we need someone, then go ask a few people in the office whether they know someone, or ask a friend or two. We would never clearly explain what exactly we are looking for or the very values and attitude we need in a person we want to hire. If we do not find a proper candidate, we make a call for resumes, thru newspapers or indeed.com, jobing.com, social media and/or other outlets. It becomes a lot like blind dating. You would put an ad out online, someone writes whatever they want to on a resume, you spend twenty minutes interviewing them and hire them. I am picky, I had my hearing dog with me, using her senses, she helped me decide if it was ok to hire that person. I had one or two of my team members to talk with them, to learn more about them like a testing process, however, most of it was an educated guess. Why? Because most standard interview questions and testing processes are designed to assess skill level; they do not test for those

things that matter most, our values and our attitude. Thankfully, my hearing dog did help with some whom I have hired, and they did have the right attitudes. (Only when I had her with me.) When I interview people, I first find out more about them and their experiences then I let them know what I am looking for, the kind of people who will be representing me and my company, it is a lot like finding someone who you will get married to. It is serious in some ways, how they act in tough situations, how they handle customers if they create a customer experience, their work ethic, response time. Everything your new hire does is going be a reflection of your company, your team and you. That is why I felt I have to be sure in any given situation, they will handle it like me or better than me. How did I do that? I knew that having skills are to be taught and the attitude and values are ingrained, with that I can be the best example for them and to teach them the attitude and values of our company, clients, and team, what we hired them for. When they share the same values and the same attitude, it is almost like a shared language or having the same thing in common. Attitude and values are inherited within us. However it can be taught depending on whether the individual is teachable or coachable. This helps to spark the internal drive to talk with a customer a certain way, go to work even when it is cold and snowy, and enjoy building a team or working alone. Many times, I have told people that I need a clone of myself. I did not believe it could be possible for someone to become a clone of me, they often told me to train them to be like me. However, I did find it was possible through the 13 team members who worked with me out of the 14 QUARTER 2

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that I hired. Now I know that yes, it is possible to clone yourself as a leader. With a little different approach and a different focus, you can find the right people for the team and the right people to take your company to the next level. How do you hire based on values and attitude? 1. You would need to know and understand your beliefs, values, and the attitude you feel that you want your team member to have. Relax and sit down, ask yourself the question and spend some time really thinking about what is most important to you; what the non-negotiables in your office are. For example, a doctor put the value of patients first, this means that if a patient calls at 11:30 a.m. with an emergency, the doctor gives up his/ her lunch hour because the patientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs come first. By understanding this has saved us from hiring people whose priority is to work 7.5-hour day or those who insist on getting a lunch hour, it is just a diverse set of values and priorities. 2. Look before you need to hire. You should keep a list of amazing people that you meet, the ideal people you would want to have on your team and in your company. Have coffee or lunch with them, get to know them more, then when it comes time to hire, you can begin the recruiting process slowly. This gives you more time to see what they are like, how they act, and to see if they would be a good addition to your team. To hire well, the hiring process needs to be more proactive than reactive.

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3. Set up your interview question process ahead of time with the all the questions you want to ask. The questions should be centered around your situational issues. This will give you the opportunity to ask the right questions and will allow the candidate to share how they would react in a certain situation. Do not waste time talking or interviewing people who do not meet your requirement. 4. Never close a deal without doing a working interview. Insist they attend a networking event or a team meeting, this way you can see how they act and respond. Do their behavior and attitude match what you are looking for? Set your standards high and watch them in action. 5. Stick to the 90-day rule. It will be like a honeymoon period, learning more about what this person does, how they act, and what they do is the best of the best in the first 90-days. If their attitude and values do not meet your standards, you can end it now, and go back to your list.

The Art Of Leadership As A Heart-repreneur® Article by Terri Levine

There are many definitions of leadership. I have my own, which I created as a leader in business for over 4 decades. My definition will tie directly into the Heartrepreneur® philosophy. I define leadership as moving people to follow a leader toward a mutually beneficial goal.

First, let’s look at Amazon’s leadership principles: Customer Obsession • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Ownership Invent and Simplify Are Right, A Lot Learn and Be Curious Hire and Develop the Best Insist on the Highest Standards Think Big Bias for Action Frugality Earn Trust Dive Deep Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Deliver Results

Based on Amazon’s principles and other companies that I resonate with, I developed these principles for my own business which you can modify for your business. Heart-repreneur® Leadership Principles These are the principles of how to do business as a Heart-repreneur®: 1. A leader is a colleague There are organizations that truly live leadership 2. A leader mobilizes others toward a goal shared and meet my definition of the word. by the leader and their followers 3. You are a leader if people want to follow you

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4. Leaders use cooperation 5. Leaders use collectivism 6. Leaders are inclusionary 7. Leaders are open communicators 8. Leadership is built on trust 9. Leaders deal with direction 10. Leaders deal with vision and keep the mission in sight 11. Leaders motivate people to work 12. Leaders foster mutual respect and build a complementary team 13. Leaders share responsibility 14. Leaders have a clear focus that is understood 15. Leaders select team members that are gifted in needed areas 16. Leaders provide learning opportunities 17. Leaders encourage risk taking 18. Leaders see failures as a refining process 19. Leaders are flexible What can you take from Amazon and from me to 20. Leaders delegate develop your own leadership principles? 21. Leaders always embody authenticity, transparency, and integrity 22. Leaders always communicate with team 27. members 23. Leaders promote a team mentality 24. Leaders are continuous learners 25. Leaders are enthusiastic 26. Leaders exercise physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally

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Mind The Gap: Sacrifice vs Compromise! Article by Jeffrey Klubeck, M.A.

Compromising, on the other hand, can focus the subconscious on GAIN. Even though there is a movement away from 100% of what is desired, Compromising always ends in BOTH parties GETTING something they did not have before. Sacrifice is a PART of Compromise but when we are unwilling to lose, we are really unwilling to GAIN! “Mind the Gap”, in the London Underground, is the constant warning to “see and beware” of the space between the platform and the train door…literally a matter of life and death! Boarding my blog, however, “Mind the Gap” is a 2-minute focus on the “valuable difference” between words or concepts that, without much thought, are otherwise used interchangeably.

It is saying NOTHING new to you to say that Compromise can lead to long-term success, great partnerships and positive emotions. But maybe THIS is new: “There is no Compromise without Sacrifice…but when Sacrifice IS THE FOCUS of Compromise (when the focus is on loss), it makes true Compromise tougher.”

What IS the difference, for example, between Sacrifice Moreover, Sacrifice alone…without occurring in the context of Compromise…is really more like the difference and Compromise? between Spending and Investing. Sacrifice is defined as an act of killing a person or animal in a religious ceremony as an offering to please a god. You wouldn’t want to kill or be killed right? The word sacrifice can focus our subconscious on “loss” or “death.” Where there is loss, there is suffering. Sacrifice “vibrates” negatively. When people think they are making a sacrifice, it’s associated with the thought that they are losing something. Sacrificing can lead to resentment, thoughts of failure and other negative emotions. Sacrifice = Spending. Spending is transactional in that you pay a price and you get an item or service. The VOLUME 2

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money is gone never to be seen again…and the “value” remains located in the usefulness/enjoyment of the item purchased. Sure, sometimes people resell things they have “spent” money on…but selling a $5,000 sectional couch in a garage sale for $100 can hardly be considered an investment. Meaning, if the money isn’t totally gone, it’s mostly gone when we spend. And that can be how we FEEL when we “sacrifice”…that someone we cherish is gone…and if we focus on that loss more so than the value we place on what we’ve gained, we’re in emotional jeopardy.

that were $800K 12 months ago are selling for over $900K now.

Compromise = Investing. Investing is transformational because despite the “loss” upfront, the money can come back and even grow over time. Buying a home is a great example of investing because there are several “compromises” that can occur along the way. First, when “compromising” on elements of the home that may be less than ideal, but are not “deal breakers” (the tile, carpet, window coverings or type of grass on the lawn, for example, may be less than ideal but not SO undesired that they overpower the “must haves” like location, square footage, yard size, kitchen/bathroom size and design…for examples). Then, in the offer and counter offer process there may be more compromises that occur on the way to the final investment. Ultimately, real estate APPRECIATES in value (vs. a car that DEPRECIATES in value as soon as it leaves the dealership). As I write this, homes in my zip code

When you are in a position to Lead…and when that leadership requires negotiation, tough spending/ investment decisions regarding time, money or other resources, remember to Mind The Gap between Sacrifice and Compromise in your decision making and I predict greater success for you and your business/ teams!

This is why I’m a proponent of Compromise as a form of Leadership! It takes an evolved person to embrace Compromise when faced with a situation that requires SACRIFICE and multiple parties to agree. Compromise is focused on the future and a bigger picture (return on investment). Focusing on “sacrifice” can produce fear of loss and ruin an otherwise profitable deal, venture or relationship.

Photo Credit: handshake via photopin (license)

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What I learned at Funnel Hacking Live Article by Tish Luka

What I learned at Funnel Hacking Live That Changed the Way I Think and Design Funnels

And perhaps my biggest takeaway from FHL…

You MUST focus on one CORE FUNNEL! Once you’ve determined what you are selling and who That’s right, one CORE FUNNEL. you are selling it to, Nail it and scale it. you need to focus on the how. Now for me, this was such a big take away because Laugh out loud… it made sense, I had been creating different types of Deciding what you are selling and to who is the hard funnels before ever really knowing which ones worked part! the best. The best way to learn how to improve your funnel is to keep testing the market until the market If you need help with that decision, I recommend votes with their wallet! reading “Expert Secrets” because this blog post isn’t long enough! That’s right; the market will vote when they buy. Ok but seriously, what system will I use to sell it?

Plus, building the CORE funnel first and having it convert like crazy builds excitement and anticipation– Start with the back of the Value Ladder in mind. What it’ll ultimately help the other stages of the value ladder do you ultimately want to sell, what is the high-ticket perform better because you’ve created an audience (an item that you would sell to your ideal audience? audience who is eager to see what YOU are offering next.) The Value ladder: If you’ve read “Dotcom Secrets” than you know the So, despite your frustrations and inability to focus purpose of a funnel is to move your audience through (actually that should say my inability to focus, but just in case you fall into that category) – this is what Russell different phases of the buying cycle. Brunson said: “stay on that first CORE funnel, even if The Acquisition phase (brings in more customers), the you think you’ve lost interest and want to start fresh.” CORE phase (brings in more spend) and the Ascension or Monetization phase (spend Complexity, at least when it comes to building funnels, is not your friend. more often).

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Most of us buy into the idea that we need to create something “different” or from scratch versus what’s

tried and true. With funnels, the best way to test your product or your idea is to get something up fast and let the market tell you what works. What percentage did what, what do the stats tell you about each stage of the funnel? After you’ve contributed to an ad campaign, do your analysis, quickly make changes and go back to the market to research more by testing the market again. If the market isn’t buying your product, then you need Video Produced by Brandandflourish.com to edit the funnel. Breaking even when you’re testing ads A couple of things to analyze if your funnel pages aren’t performing: When you are testing using ads, you’ll want to test multiple ads, test the headlines, test the images, the Headline audiences, etc. Don’t limit the testing to two sets of ads, • Does your headline have a hook? test 10 or more. If you come up with an “ad spend” • Does is arouse curiosity? amount that you’d like to stay within, but don’t want • Does it give away too much information? to spend more than your offer is worth, keep these two numbers in mind to simplify your ROI: Simplicity 1. CPA Cost per acquisition Simplify your offer and give away your BEST stuff 2. ACV Average cart value FREE. Your (CPA) Cost per Acquisition should be less than I have worked with so many different people who refuse your (ACV) average cart value. to give away significant value. They feel they should charge for it and because they won’t give something Your Funnel is converting, and you’re ready to move away (that’s actually valuable) their conversions suffer. onto the other stages of the value ladder: Your Offer

When you are building acquisition funnels in the value ladder, you can have more than one (Acquisition If you give away your BEST value, your audience will Funnel) that go back to the same CORE funnel, but sign up for your offers because they will believe that again each of those additional Acquisition funnels your paid offer(s) will be 100x better than what you should be done one at a time, until they are converting. gave them for FREE and you’ll gain their trust. Most likely they’ll come back for more. If you are adding a Webinar to your CORE funnel, you should do it LIVE every single week 30-40 times! Adding a video Repetition is the key, even if no one is watching you’ll Adding a video can personalize your sales page or your get better and eventually they will be watching. Use family and friends too, they’ll be honest and will give advertisement. you feedback. People love stories, they like to understand you and connect with you emotionally before they buy, logic The One Common Trait of all the Speakers who had never sells but emotion does. Sharing a video of your Scaled Their Business had personal message can drive people to relate with you Lastly, the one common denominator I noticed with and your product. all of the successful leaders and speakers at Funnel Here is a video we used to capture a larger audience for Hacking Live was that they all “LEVELED UP”. this Yoga teacher. We shared the video through a paid Leveling up for them didn’t mean that they worked ad campaign on Facebook and then again in the sales harder and longer but that they had leveraged help. funnel. The cost per click was 27 cents. The video had They asked for help, they had at least one mentor more than 8 thousand views. Her video was designed and they built teams. This can be hard for to attract a new audience by gaining likes, comments entrepreneurs but the ones who scaled their businesses to the next level shares and views. had teams. https://youtu.be/BuSiWWHaN4w QUARTER 2

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I think the most significant and most enlightening commonality was that they were all contributing to a greater cause. If you make a massive contribution to your ideal audience and stop the B*:$ $#!^, become transparent and be real, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have success and all of the money you want.

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Rise of the Bots Article by Andrey Seas

For far too long, we as marketers have worried about things such as: page loading times, fancy page design, wondering if you should capture email and first or last name (or risk killing conversions), which landing page software to use, etc. when collecting leads online.

2. Set up a Sequence in Chatfuel requesting an attribute “email” from the User.

In Chatfuel, you have blocks that control a sequence of messages. Create a “User Input” element and set it to “email.” Chatfuel will automatically make it so that Now, there is now a new kid on the block that threatens the user has to input an email as the next message that to dethrone this increasingly archaic form of marketing. they send. (Pro-tip: Make sure to let the user know that ONLY their FULL email will work.) Enter: Facebook Messenger Bot Funnels. 3. Open a Zapier account. With Facebook Messenger now passing over 1.2 Billion Users and catching up to WhatsApp, it has now We will be using Zapier as the webhook to connect become extremely viable and profitable to begin to Chatfuel and your preferred autoresponder. For this use the power of Messenger Bots, in combination with tutorial, we will be using Active Campaign. the tried and true ways of Email Marketing, to funnel 4. Create the Trigger to be Webhooks by Zapier cold traffic into raving fans (without the need for a and Action to be Adding a Contact to Your traditional landing page.) Autoresponder’s Automation. Here is a step by step tutorial on how to eliminate the Connect Zapier to your autoresponder login and finish need for your landing page and begin to harness the setting up the Zap. You are almost ready to test! rising powers of the FB Bot army: 5. Add the JSON API code to Chatfuel in the same 1. Create your Facebook Bot Block that you are requesting the email from the Right now, the two biggest platform contenders for user. building your bot are Chatfuel and Manychat. You Once you get your Webhook code, you will be able to can Google whichever one you prefer. For the purposes input it into Chatfuel and test data passing through. of this tutorial, I will be using Chatfuel. However, I recommend setting up the {{first_name}}, {{last_ I do believe the same can be achieved in name}}, and {{email}} attributes to be sent to your Manychat. auto-responder.

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And just like that, you have a FB Messenger Bot that you can use to run more engaging Facebook Ads and

automatically sends your opt-ins to your autoresponder, enough to engage with your bot, but didn’t give you while also retaining their first and last names for more their email. personalized follow up. Not only that, but you have a list of people on your FB bot platform that you can Happy funneling! follow up with (Just make sure to abide by Facebook’s ever-evolving terms and conditions to avoid losing broadcast privilege.) “What about retargeting?” you might ask. Simple solution: You can create a custom audience with people that engage with your FB bot and then subtract your audience whose emails you already have. Then you can retarget the people who were interested

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The Day Facebook Hit PAUSE Article by Stephanie Blake

March 27th, 2018 was supposed to be a day like any other day: Rolling out of bed, tackling my to-do list covering anything from building massive funnels to making sure my 4 year old ate her breakfast. But when I woke up on and rolled over to turn off my alarm on Tuesday, I noticed my phone was lit up like a Christmas tree. I had messages upon messages, each one more anxious than the last!

what we love, and what makes us tick. Not only is Facebook collecting juicy bits and pieces about your life, its API allows developers to collect information about the lives of your friends, too! Because of that, big business will pay BIG bucks to gain access to that data. And that’s exactly what happened with the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Here’s the skinny on what happened: Friends, clients and even FAMILY members were sending me messages about the potentially catastrophic Aleksandr Kogan, an incredibly smart academic “Bot-ageddon” (or “Bot-pocalypse”) that had started psychologist and data scientist, successfully created an while I was sleeping. app called, “This is Your Digital Life” that collected data from an estimated 50 million Facebook profiles. “I’ve lost access to all of my bot accounts!” Yeah, my jaw dropped, too. “What will this mean for my campaigns?” I rubbed the sleepiness from my eyes and dove in. I discovered that my little world of chatbots was caught right in the middle of a much bigger battle: The Cambridge Analytica scandal. But what in the world does that scandal have to do with bots? Great question. Facebook is WAY more than a social media platform, it’s a data mining GIANT. At the root of Facebook is an ever hungry database that is constantly being fed information about who we are,

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Kogan then proceeded to share this data with • If you currently have a bot, you can work in it as Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm. normal but you will be unable to add or create a It’s now said that Cambridge Analytica then used that new bot. information to conduct psychographic profiling. Which • If you “Refresh Permissions” (a common is really just a fancy way of saying that they segment troubleshooting practice) you can lose all access people into groups based on their habits, hobbies and to your bot via whatever bot platform you’re values rather than just demographics alone. using (ManyChat, Chatfuel, etc…) They then used this data to create political campaigns. If you’re one of the unlucky souls who lost access, don’t Some say those campaigns had a huge impact on panic. You should regain full-access once we’re all both the 2016 US Presidential election as well as the officially un-paused. Brexit Referendum. How long will it last? Whew, are you wondering how this relates to bots yet? The review is said to last only 1-2 weeks but only time will tell. All of this culminated into a massive storm for Facebook and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. While bots are one of the least threatening apps when it comes to data collection (due to the limited amount This is the biggest public relations crisis that Facebook of user data that can be scraped automatically), has faced since accusations of Russian involvement in ultimately bots are built in apps and are subject to the helping get Trump elected in 2016. Mark Zuckerberg overall pause in the review process that all apps are himself is being called upon to testify before US experiencing. Congress to explain what U.K. parliamentary media committee chairman Damian Collins has dubbed as a Most of the main bot building platforms have issued “catastrophic failure.” releases and are helping their respective communities stay informed through bot-ageddon. ManyChat even The U.S. Federal Trading Commission, which made a bot that you can subscribe to so that you’ll be oversees our country’s data protection standards, is updated when the pause is over. now investigating whether or not Facebook failed to receive people’s express permission before sharing What will all of this mean for Facebook as a marketing their data with third-party developers, as outlined in platform? a 2011 decision. British authorities are also diving in to investigate because of possible interference in the Will this social media titan be able to maintain it’s voting process during the Brexit Referendum. And to viability amidst all of this legal and political drama? Or top it all off, Facebook stocks are on a downward trend. are they just another new-fangled trend to die before really taking off with the masses? It’s a bit of an understatement, but suffice it to say that Facebook is experiencing PRESSURE. Lots of it, from Only time will tell for the first two questions but that last one, that’s easy: NOPE! the authorities and users alike. They’re being pressured to clean up this mess and make Bots are here to stay. A little pause isn’t going to stop the sure it never. Happens. Again. And THAT’S what has bot train and the ability for business owners everywhere to reach their audience in this unique, powerful, and brought our lovely bot world into an uproar. innovative way. In an effort to take action, Facebook decided to double down on getting their data security up to par by pausing all new app reviews. During this “pause” Facebook has stated that they’ll be doing a full data audit on thousands of Facebook apps to see if there are others who could be abusing the power like Kogan’s app and inevitably Cambridge Analytica. The Facebook Messenger team posted that “these critical steps will give people more control of their data, and put stronger protections in place to prevent misuse.” This pause affects bot builders in the following ways:

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