You're Not Perfect. That's the Whole Point

Click above to listen in iTunes...

Trust Comes In 2 Forms. One Builds And The Other Kills...

Welcome to Sales Funnel Radio where you'll learn marketing strategies to grow your online business using today's best internet sales funnels. Now here's your host, Steven Larsen.

Ho-ho, isn't that cool? Hey, big shout out to Robert Phillips, he is a listener to this podcast. He reached out to me and he said, "Hey, I am known as the rock and roll speaker. He stands up and he speaks and he's totally awesome. He's like, "What's one of your favorite songs, I'm going to go learn that on guitar and give it to you." I was like, "Okay cool."

I'm a huge fan of Foo Fighters and Audio Slave, and Muse, and so I gave him an Audio Slave so one of my favorites. Anyway, I thought I'd give it to you. I actually super, super enjoy stage. Anyway, when I saw what he did I was like, "Dude, I'm going to put that as a podcast intro man, that's so cool, I appreciate that, that's so cool."

I play drums and I play piano and I sing a lot and, but I didn't ever play many strings instruments. Play the ukulele right now, that's about it, that's because my little three year old does it so ... Big shout out to Robert Phillips, the rock and roll speaker, you're the man. He just came out with a book, it's actually pretty awesome.

Anyway, speaking of stage I'm super excited you guys because I'm trying to figure out, there's two things I wanted to tell you. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I am speaking on two people's stages and I am really, really pumped about it.

The first one I'm speaking at is called Ad Comm and it's Dan Henry's event. I don't know how many hundreds are going to be there but it's a lot now and I'm excited about it, it's going to be great.

It's like two weeks out from now. He reached out about two months ago. He said, "Hey, if I actually did this would you, I'd love you to come speak." I said, "Sure, it'd be awesome." He is having me speak I believe on eCommerce. I need to actually finish writing the actual presentation itself and I think he wants me to do two presentations so I might need to ... Anyway, it's time for me to dive in.

You guys know me, I don't like to start something until it's getting a little bit close so it's fresh in my brain. I actually do it on purpose despite others thinking it's procrastination, it's actually not. Anyway, so I'm really excited about that though. I get to go speak on his stage and it's going to be awesome.

Then the second one is, it's actually even bigger. That one will be on ... Let's see, the first one is April 22nd which is my birthday, I'm very excited, turning 29. Earth Day. It's both Earth Day and my earth day, it's going to be awesome. That's April 22nd and it's going to be in Orlando, Florida.

I'd love to know if you're going to be, if anyone listening that's actually going to be at that. I'd love to meet you in person, it'd be great. Then the second one, right after I got that speaking gig, I got the second one over in Vegas and I think it's at the Bellagio but I can't remember, or the Paris, I can't remember.

Anyway, but it's LCT, it's Local Client Takeover. These guys have a gigantic following and I think they're planning on over 500, less than 1,000, somewhere in that range, people to come. I am so, so excited to do that.

They were going to pair me up with Frank Kern's Funnel Builder and we were going to go back-to-back on stage and teach some cool ways to get local clients. I was like, "Sweet man, I'd love to do that." It's been kind of fun to do all this stuff.

I had one with Russell, because it's given me really intense depth on so many areas of business...

I've built funnels from anything to supplements to toilet paper, it's nuts how much ... I mean, Sales Funnels has to do with anything, you guys know that. I'm really, really pumped about that so the second one, like I said, will be I think it's the first weekend in May.

That one'll be yeah, local client takeover, talking specifically on ... I only have like an hour on that one, I don't have a full 90 minute presentation which kind of stinks but there's a lot of speakers at this one, it's going to be awesome.

Anthony Crawley, got ... I mean, it's a lot of big speakers. I'm super honored to be doing that and it's awesome. If you guys want me to speak on your stage let me know. I'm just kidding, kind of. I actually really love it and it's just a ton of fun to do that. I love movies and movies are great and it's fun because of special effects and you can see someone's face.

You can get up close and personal. There's music, then it's really intense sometimes and you can kind of delve into motion harder but I have a really strong appreciation for stage because there's no second take.

It's all, it's very raw, it's very authentic. Anyway, very, very excited though to go do that and show some of the things that I know have been working that we've been doing. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun.

I told Russell and he was like, "What's up, that's awesome man." I've spoken on stages a couple times now and, I spoke at that Dekko one, that was really fun. It was like 2,000 kids there, high school kids and I taught them how to automate their fund raising. It's so funny because there's all these MBAs who were their advisers who didn't want them to pull off what I was teaching them because they're like, "Oh, we'll have them learn real stuff."

It's like, "Okay, well I guarantee that your MBAs are not making you much money. How about we compare money?" Not like a cocky way but let's just actually see what's actually come of your MBA? I'm not going against MBAs just so you guys know, I've actually really considered going and getting one.

It's just when people hide behind it like that is what creates the money I'm like, "Okay, you are so off the ball it makes me want to throw up."

Anyway, really interesting. I was thinking about, I was like, "Hey, I'm super stoked, going to go do the stage presentations here soon." It's doing the time we've been moving and there's all this stuff going on with Russell launching his book.

I'm running what we're calling the FHAT Event for Hack-a-thon and Secrets Master Class and all these other projects, it's been a lot of fun, it's been cool but it's just been really intense. I ran into a guy recently and he was, here's a little long here and I'll probably end with this, this is a shorter podcast.

His whole job, he gets hired by companies and hospitals a lot actually too which is cool. His whole job, he goes into places and he teaches them a lot of organizational effectiveness. It's super cool, and he was teaching me about trust. He was teaching me and it's so cool because while he was saying it I was like, "Oh, I've totally seen what you're telling me right now."

Anyway, so I knew what he was saying was true and real, it was really awesome. He said, "There's really two kinds of trust. One is a predictive kind of trust." For example, Russell sends me to go to, I went to ASW in Vegas.

We went and we were, it was a small group of us we went and we were presenting on Click Funnels to a bunch of affiliate people, people who their only job is they are affiliates for other people and they make a good living like that which is really cool.

He trusts me, he trusts me to go on and do a good job there...

That's a kind of trust...

I trust you to go forward and to say the right thing and not be an idiot, and not make Click Funnels look dumb. That's a predictive, futuristic based type of trust and that's the first kind. Everybody thinks that that is actually the most important kind of trust but the they're wrong, it's not.

What is more important and what is more foundational to any kind of organization is a trust called vulnerability trust. Vulnerability trust is, for example let's say I'm going through some sales funnels for Russell or for somebody else and I'm looking in there and I'm saying, "Oh my gosh. I see that what we are doing here is wrong." I have so much ... Russell has so much faith in me to come to him and show that.

There's an environment in the business space that allows for me to go up to him and say, "I think what we're doing is wrong," which I've done before and he's done before on my stuff and I've done on his stuff.

Which is cool, we have that kind of trust, it's a vulnerability trust. It's the ability to be completely vulnerable with another human being, is very hard to get, very hard to get because people don't want to be vulnerable.

They want stature and they want status...

They want to be, all to be important and, "Oh you should when you hear my name go oh, it's going to be Steve Larsen, oh." People want that. What's funny is the more you crave that the less you get it. You gain status by not seeking it, by the way, that's the best way to do it. I've had some cool talks about that with others, especially Russell.

Anyway, I thought it was really, really powerful and I was thinking how cool it is that these people who are saying, "Hey, would you come speak on our stage?" It is a ... What the people who have asked me to come speak on their stages are doing is they are giving, it's a predictive style trust but the people who attend are counting me being the vulnerable kind of trust.

They trust that I'm going to come and be vulnerable and be real with them, actually show the raw stuff, how it actually works. Little tricks to increase conversion, little things that we'll do ... Great ways to create continuity and things that ... There's this certain kind of trust, especially in teaching environments where you expect the teacher to be vulnerable and show that stuff.

As a teacher if you're ever in a room of people who are not willing to be vulnerable and try the things you're teaching it sucks because they're not willing to do anything you're saying and you feel no progress.

Anyways, those are two kinds of trust and I was thinking about that.

I was like, "Hey, this is super cool, like yeah. I've been a part of other organizations before working for Click Funnels on other people and this sucks, I did not have the kind of trust with the boss at the time or the entrepreneur who I was working with or whatever it was or whoever I was building for.

Where I did not feel the kind of trust where I could go be vulnerable about their own business and say, "Hey look, I understand this is your baby but you're too in love with it and you're going to run it into the ground and here's three reasons why. Here's three places I can see that it's wrong."

If you aren't willing to be wrong in your own business about that you're going to kill your business. I'm not even going to sugarcoat that. You will kill your business if you do not allow people to show you faults in it because it's not perfect. You're not perfect so why should your business be?

If it's your baby and it came from you it's not going to be perfect, you're not perfect. You know what I mean? That's just the whole point.

Take all these things, and I know I talked about duct tape marketing the last podcast but this totally ties into it...

Be vulnerable, have the kind of trust in both yourself and others around you and the kind of environment that allows people to come to you and say, "Hey, you know what? Mr. Russell Brunson I know you got a lot of status, you don't seek it but you really boss a lot of people lives. He comes to me and says, "Hey, check it out man. There's a few things, I know you really like this product you've put together and you spent a lot of time on it but I actually think it's wrong. I think this is wrong or the message as a whole is wrong."

It's hard to get that environment. I remember I said that once about a sales video we had created. I said it probably a little bit more forward and harsh than I should have. It wasn't harsh it was just ... I probably could have said it softer than I did.

I was like, "I don't think this is going to sell. I actually think this is a completely wrong angle and I think that what we've done here is not going to be effective or successful."

We were ... We had to try and remember to be in a place of vulnerability. I know the way I said it was probably a little too forward. I'd rather just say what I mean and not sugarcoat stuff. I said it in a way that ... He was a little bit put off by it which is fine. I was like, "Oh dang it, I shouldn't have said it the way I did but I still agree with that."

Then he came back and said, "Okay, I get it, I see what you're saying, it makes sense." Cultivating an environment like that is not easy or it will require you to get out of your comfort zone like crazy. In order for you to have a culture of vulnerability, being able to accept things about your business, you too need to be vulnerable.

It's not comfortable and it sucks...

I've had a lot of ... I know there's things wrong with Sales Funnel Broker, I know there's things wrong with stevejlarsen.com, I know this. Eventually you guys are going to launch stuff, you know I mean?  It may not move forward but you got to have trust and you've got to accept people's feedback.

That's where you get the duct tape marketing, you know what I mean? That's where you get all this stuff moving forward. That's how you figure out, "Hey, I suck at this, let me hire out for that," you know what I mean? You got to be able to have that kind of stuff.

Anyway, it's just been running through my head.

Anyway, super excited to speak on those stages...

Guys, please let me know if you're going to be in them, in the audiences, I would love to meet you. I had so much fun meeting so many of you guys at Funnel Acting Live, it was awesome. A lot of you guys asked why I wasn't on that one, I wasn't speaking at that one.

Maybe not, maybe next year I can convince that to happen but I don't know, it would be fun.

Anyway, guys I will talk to you later. Remember to have trust. Predictive trust is
important but it's not the most important one. The organizational, killing version of trust is if you're not vulnerable with each other and can't trust each other to be vulnerable. Anyway, I am excited. I should probably go prep these presentations because I am not ready for them yet.

Anyways guys, talk to you later. Bye.