TCC Podcast #232: Making Magic with Marcus McNeill

On the 232nd episode of The Copywriter Club podcast, we’ve got Marcus McNeill. Marcus is the co-founder and CEO of Magic based in Boulder, Colorado. He works with purpose-driven companies who seek global impact and change around both the country and world. He’s helped leaders such as Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra spread their missions and messages across the globe. You may want to grab a notepad right away because this episode is full of insights you won’t want to miss. In this episode, we discussed: •  How a conscious-based life can radically shift perspective. •  Why learning from Deepak Chopra became the greatest catalyst to vulnerability and openness. •  The secret to going from monkey mind to observing thoughts with confidence •  How an agency helped in decriminalizing magic mushrooms. - and the key marketing components needed to make such an impact. •  How to create multiple avatars for one campaign and nail their personal values to make an impact. •  The ingredients behind asking people to change their buyer behavior and trust a new brand. Is it possible? •  Where copywriters are getting their customer avatars wrong and why they should spend more time in the research. •  How copywriters have the power to truly make an impact and difference around the world. •  What you need to know before starting an agency and what should come first. •  The reality of growing a business - why it’s okay to take a step back, so you can take two steps forward. •  3 ways you can gain clients and close sales like it’s nothin’. •  How to maximize customer experience and become a partner with your client. •  The client comes first, right? Think again, when your team is connected and nurtured, great work follows. •  The truth about combining business and wellness. Can the two coexist? •  Why small impact matters and how it can be the first magic step. This episode might leave you thinking about impact and copywriting in a whole new light. To hear it, click the play button below, or scroll down for a full transcript. And of course, you should subscribe with your favorite podcast app to ensure you never miss an episode.   The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Our Event for Copywriters Marianne Williamson The E-myth Revisited by Michael Gerber Jonny Stellar Magic Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground   Full Transcript: Rob:  If you're a longtime fan of this podcast, or I guess any other podcast, you've probably had the experience of listening to a guest share their story and what they learned, and then had to reach for a pen and paper to capture the ideas that they're sharing, so that they don't get lost, or so that you don't forget them. Maybe you've even had to pull off the road as you were driving, or tell your kids to be quiet so that you don't miss something that you could use in your business.  That's exactly how we felt more than a handful of times in this interview. Our guest for the 232nd episode of the Copywriter Club Podcast is Marcus McNeill, the founder of Magic. And as we spoke to Marcus, we found ourselves taking more notes than usual, trying to capture the wisdom that he shared about building his business. Fair warning, you might want to grab a pen and a notebook, or pull off to the side of the road, as you listen to this episode.  Kira:  Before we share our interview with Marcus, this is the last week for a while that this podcast is brought to you by TCC, Not in Real Life, our event for copywriters and other smart marketers. And the reason for that? Well, it's just about the last week you can get a ticket for our event, which happens April 7th through the 9th. If you want to learn firsthand from experts like Joanna Wiebe, Todd Brown, Jereshia Hawk, Joel Klettke, Eman Ishmael, and so many more. You need to get your ticket today. To do that, visit thecopywriterclub.com/tccirl-1. There's also a link to that information page in the show notes of this episode.  Rob:  So, hit pause now to get your ticket, and then jump back into our interview with Marcus McNeill, which begins with us asking Marcus why and how he started Magic Agency.  Marcus:  So, starting Magic, I would recommend going back a little bit further back. When I was in my early 20s, I was working in the corporate world and I absolutely hated it. So, I packed up all of my possessions and a crappy Honda Accord with no air conditioning and barely even operated, and drove from Texas to California in hopes of the California dream, living by the beach and all that. Serendipitously, although I'm a Texas raised kid and had never been exposed to yoga or meditation, or consciousness teachings of any kind, I got a job working with Deepak Chopra. I'm not sure if you guys know who he is, but he's a relatively famous spiritual teacher.  He teaches primordial sound meditation and just general spirituality. I learned those consciousness tools from him and it changed my life. It rocked my world. It changed everything. I was, at a very young age, responsible for launching marketing campaigns to promote his teachings, and for whatever reason, that led to more opportunities being the voice behind luminaries. I was working with the names of Eckhart Tolle, and later Byron Katie, and Kim Eng, and Marianne Williamson, and spiritual centers and spiritual organizations preaching things that really had a huge impact on my life.  They allowed me to get myself out of panic mode and come back to a place of centeredness and balance, and confidence in myself, which was something I struggled with for many years. Anyways, I became addicted to the world of digital marketing because I was 23 something years old, and was serving hundreds of millions of impressions of messages, of people who I truly admired, who were doing amazing things in the world. Every conversion was a conversion into somebody's personal development. We were converting them into a better way of being in the world, and that was extremely rewarding.  From that, I started working in Agency Land, first as a copywriter, then as a strategist and account manager, and then later, quickly after, I became the Director of Strategy, running strategy for all of the clients at that particular company, and all of them were purpose driven. And I wanted to do more and I wanted to do it better. So, the typical freelance story that many of you could probably relate with is that I started out doing freelance gigs with small little companies in town, and then over a couple of months, I had a business that was too big to manage on my own, so I hired a team.  Then once I hired a team, we called ourselves an agency, and then we grew bigger than I thought we would, or bigger than I ever intended we would, and that's what brought me to where I am today. I started Magic three and a half years ago with my co-founder, Gareth. Today, we have 35 team members. We focus on scaling the customer acquisition and the impact of organizations that are elevating consciousness, and enhancing health and wellbeing, and reversing climate change. That's where we like to play. That's what gets us inspired. So, that's a bit about how I joined the world of digital marketing and why I started an agency.  Rob:  So, I have a feeling that this question may take us in a different direction than what I was originally thinking we would be talking about, but listening to you talk about your experience and where you've been, I'm wondering about the consciousness tools that you're talking about, as tools to use in business. Are there... we could probably spend a whole hour talking about this, maybe even more, but are there two or three things that you've learned from experts like Deepak, Marianne Williamson, that are applicable in business in ways that maybe we haven't thought of before?  Marcus:  Yeah, that's a really good question. I would say that, ultimately, Deepak's teachings were a catalyst for growth in my life, spiritually, and that led me all kinds of different directions. That led me to experimenting with psychedelic healing. That led me to going to festivals and, and Burning Man, and going to yoga retreats and all kinds of things. So, if there's anything that I would take away that, I've applied to business, it wouldn't necessarily be a sitting practice in meditation, but it would be the vulnerability and openness that creates in yourself, which gives you greater capacity to be a great leader, because you can see that in others and help guide them into a greater version of themselves.  Kira:  So, maybe this question ties into what you just shared, but you mentioned that you experienced this boost of confidence, confidence with yourself, from working with these leaders. You mentioned some of the tools that you use, but what really worked? What practices worked on a daily basis to help boost your confidence during that time? Especially for copywriters who are listening, who maybe are struggling with confidence and they know that's holding them back, what is something, or a couple of things they could try in their everyday?  Marcus:  Yeah, that's a good question. I noticed this because when I started meditating, I realized that I have this Negative Nancy inside my skull, that's always telling me why I'm wrong or why I'm bad, or why I'm not good enough, and I feel like that is a common ailment. Most people can relate to that. They call it the monkey mind. When I started meditating, I would detach from my thinking, and a better word for that is I would observe my thinking.  Instead of controlling me and being me, then I became just the observer, which means that the thoughts were more like a flowing stream and I wouldn't cling on to them so much, and then they would dissipate and I would feel a bit more quiet. So, that was my experience. I had an extremely low self-esteem. I was picked on all through elementary school,