SFR 96: My New Talent Directory...

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WHO Is The Best At XYZ?...

What's going on everyone? This is Steve Larsen, and I've got a bit of a treat for you guys today. I think you're gonna like it a lot, here on Sales Funnel Radio.

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 Steve Larsen.

All right, you guys. Hey, so as I have been moving along the entrepreneurial path, as I've been putting things today. One of the things that I've noticed that I need more, and more, and more is people; like just straight up talent.
The longer I've been doing this stuff I've realized ... Here's an example, okay, I'm sitting at my desk and I was working, I was getting some things done, and I sat up and I looked across the room and I was like "Man, Russell dude, I want to go ... I would be so nice if I understood more Java Script. I'd love to be able to code out a few pieces just here and there, things that I wish that I knew how to do."

He looked at me, he goes, "Why would you want to know how to do that?" And I was like, "'cause it would be so cool, like, look at all the things I could go do." And he goes, "Dude, you don't need to know how to do that, we have people for that."

And I was like, "yeah, but like I ... It might be faster if I go learn."
He's like, "No. It would be faster at first, it might ... It's gonna take you all to go learn it, you get distracted, and now you become like slightly renaissance man." He said something like that, I can't remember what exactly. But, that was the point, is don't be a renaissance man. And I was like, "Huh, all right that makes sense. That make sense."

You sitting there listening might be like, "Well, yeah, it does Stephen." But, to me from where I sit, most people are like, "I got to learn this next thing in order to be successful. I can learn this next piece, I can learn this next piece."

Over the last 18 months working there ... Guess it's been 20 now, but he ... There's been repeated times ... It's funny how it's been like a topic, and it finally ... It sunk in now enough that it's not just something I know, it's something I'm applying that you don't ... You don't just go learn crap for the sake of learning it, you learn it because you need it in the exact moment.

It's kind of what I call that Learning Cycle. The Learning Cycle for me is very heavy as soon as I'm about to enter an industry, 'cause I go learn as much as I can then I stop. Actually, I put the books down, I stop learning on purpose.
Then, I only learn for the problem that sit directly in front of me. How do I solve the exact problem that's in front of me? What he was telling me though, and what he's told me repeatedly over and over again is like, "Stop obsessing over learning all the little nitty gritties."

He's like, "Dude, no, we got a guy for that." I was like, "[Cabe 00:02:38], it'd be fun to go learn that." He's like, "No, go ... Dude, we have a guy for that too." He's like, "Dude, just because you can learn something doesn't mean you should." I was like, "Aah man, that's massive, that's a huge ... Wow, okay. Yeah, that's right. That's right."

Conceptually I understood that, I understood it before but I hadn't been applying that at the time. So, I've got a bit of a gift for you guys, I was looking at some people's websites, and I was looking at some of their funnels and things like that. I came across a persons' site and ... I know a lot of people do this, but it was a directory of all the valuable internet marketing apps.

All the valuable internet marketing software, and I was thinking like, "This is kinda cool. It's kinda cool." I mean, I visited the page once, maybe twice but that's about it. The problem I had with it is that most of those apps, most of those pieces of software, I'm like, "Hey, I got to find an email platform." Or like, "Hey ..."
I mean, these [inaudible 00:03:27] but ... Or "Hey, I wanna find ... Where can I find anything, any piece of tool that I'm looking for, the first place I'd go is Google. Or I'd ask a few buddies and see what they're using, and then I'd go to Google.

Honestly, YouTube see what the best reviews are, maybe a blog or two see what the best reviews are there.

Those are kind of easy to find, so I was like ... I was thinking through I was like, "Okay, I wanna ... How do I combine this concept that Russell just talked to me about versus ... And combine it with this whole directory kind of model?"
So, I've got kind of a gift for you guys. So, I wanna take a step back and I realized that the first four minutes of this episode might feel like it's all over the place; let me kind of bring it all together.

I want you to know what's going on inside my head. So, let me take a step back from the episode and where we're currently are right now. I am in a place right now where I am realizing ... Not realizing, but I'm applying all the stuff that I have been learning from the man himself.

Honestly, I've been ... I started honestly doing that at least two years ago, and I was hiring out tons of people, and I was ... I'm a huge fan of freelancer.com, I'm all about getting things done through other people who would rather do them.
I could go figure out how to code stuff, but frankly, the guy over there is begging to do, and he wants to do, and he loves doing it. He loves doing it more ... as much as I love building funnels, so let's let that guy do it 'cause he's gonna be ... He's gonna throw passion behind it, whereas I'll just throw an objective behind it.
So, I like hiring people to go do these things, I don't want to be a Solopreneur.

Most of the time when I see a Solopreneur usually they don't go very far, because you can't do it on your own for very long. Or you can't do very long and you actually go that far. It requires other people, it requires a team.

So, I was think like, "Where do I find like the best of the best of everything. Where do I find the best of this topic over here? The best of this topic over here? The best of these different skill sets around?

I was thinking, "How cool ..." I don't actually remember where I got the idea, I think it was a couple mon ... Maybe two months ago-ish almost, and I was sitting there I was like, "What if I made a Talent Directory."

A Talent Directory, so, it's not so much about like ... It's not so much about like, "Hey, here's the best softwares if you're trying to this. Or here's the best companies if you're trying to do that." People, who is the best individual that does JavaScript? Who's the best individual to get for this? Who's the best individual for this?

So, what I was thinking was like, "How can I ..." 'cause I believe I'm a huge proponent you guys of pumping as much value into the marketplace as I possibly can, so that when it comes time, anytime I come ... Excuse me, anytime I come back and I'm like, "Hey, market please pay me for said product."

There's so much reciprocity that I've created, and there's such a relationship that I've gone through and actually put together. That the market is like, "Sure, here you go." You know what I mean? It's easy for me to sell that way, obviously it takes a little time.

I've had this entire podcast, and I've been doing this stuff for ... I've be doing this podcast now for 18 months and then the ... I've been doing funnel building for 5 years 'cause I was doing a word press before, which is ... Was terrible and I didn't know honestly it was a funnel, but that's what I was doing.

So, anyway, guys I've created a Talent Directory and anyone can apply to put their name on it. Anyone can ... And their talent, so, I'm gonna ... On stevejlarsen.com, stevejlarsen.com, I'm gonna go rebuild the whole thing I don't really like what it is right now.

But stevejlarsen.com, I'm gonna go rebuild it and if on the tab on the top I'm gonna put something in there that says Talent Directory; top or bottom okay. There's a part ... Anyway, it's in the top and I wanna make sure I probably add it to the bottom too for the footer.

But, if you go there it's in the header/footer, click on Talent Directory. What it is, it's a page of all the different things that I see are needed in order to get a successful funnel off the ground; images, video, funnel building, this, that, copyrighting. You see what I'm saying, design, traffic, fulfillment, all the stuff in the backend; a coder front end developer, a back end developer.

I want ... All those things I want to have, I want a big bank of those kinds of talents. I want to know who those people are, I want to know ... So, again, let's take a step back and I want you to know why I'm doing this, because I want a huge list of that.

I know if I ... As a marketer if I increase the status of the individual who's willing to put their name on that list, I can in turn put it out there into the market and use it of my own benefit at the same time. Does that make sense?

That's why I'm doing it. So, I'm putting ... It's a living document, it's a Talent Directory but it's a living document. Meaning if you get on the list, for the people that are on the list or whatever, I want to be able to showcase each person.

I want to be able to showcase each individual and show like, "Hey, look this person is awesome at this and here's their contact information." It's all gonna be free.

I will probably require an opt-in of you to see it, why? Because I'm a marketer you guys of course I'm gonna ask you to opt-in; Duh, that's what I'm gonna do. But, how cool to be able to show and showcase tons and tons of people for free. All the individuals, and all the Talent Directory like, "Who's the best of this? Who's the best of that."

Guys, I have sat in an amazing place for the last two years, I know who a lot of the best people are, and I know exactly the people to hook others up with. I can't by name actually suggest certain things to you. So, if I can't ... If I can't tell you, "Hey this is the one to do this. Hey, this is the one to do this." I can at least make it user generated. Does that make sense?

In some things my hands are tied simply because it's a need-to-know basis, and that's a trade secrets' kinda thing. Anyway ... You know what I mean, but ... So, if you wanna know who like the best ...

So, it's gonna be by application basis where someone comes in and they're like, "Hey, I wanna get on the directory."

Well, if you go to ... If you click on the Talent; I'm gonna call it The Talent. It's Talent Directory currently but I think that's too long, so it'll be like The Talent, or Finding Talent, or Find Talent. Maybe that's what ... Find Talent. So, it's Find Talent, I'll change it to that.

Find Talent, you click on that up in the top and it'll ask you to opt-in. But, it's gonna push you over to the list that I've got where it's like, "Hey, here's the best writer, here's the best this, here's the best that, here's the best sales guy, here's the best ..."

I don't wanna say The Best, but I'll give a list, I'll give several different option. Why? It'll showcase like crazy all these amazing people, but it also let me get a relationship with those individuals so that when I want to go higher the best fulfillment guy, or the best this, or the best that. I also have places to go to, okay.
So, that's what I'm trying to tell you guys is that I had this problem. I've got a current team they kick butt, they take names, I want to be able to interview all of them so you know who they are, and what their roles really are.

Some went here shortly, and I wanna showcase each one of them also on https://stevejlarsen.com/download

However, I don't feel like it's time yet for that, I think in the next two or three months it will be for a few specific reasons, which I'm not ready to put out yet. But, I wanna showcase each one of them, which would be really cool 'cause I'm fully aware that this is not just ... I know I'm not a one band stand, I do not drink my own Kool-Aid, and hopefully ... Why? Because usually ... Number one, I think that it's kind of wrong.

Not wrong but, I mean, come on it's not really that ethical sometimes and whatever. I'm sure I offended some people but whatever.

But, B) It's bad juju like, "Holy crap, anytime I ever seen any marketer started to drink their own Kool-Aid, and think they're all that they literally separate themselves from their own market, which is stupid. Why would you ever do that?"

Anyway, I don't drink my own Kool-Aid and I know that it's more than just me. So, I'm constantly looking for the coolest, awesome, most kick butt people to be able to hire. So, the Talent Directory that I'm gonna go put up or that is there ... I got to edit it, I got to change stuff, it's in ... By the time this episode is up it will be done, just so you know that's how I launch stuff. Just like I talked about in the last episode.

So, by the time this episode is up it will be ready to rock. But, you can go in and if you want to get on the directory, there will be a button there too you can click, and it'll have you go through and tell me why you should get on it. Believe me you are selling me, you are trying to tell me why you're a kick butt and should be able to be on there.

What I want it to be though is for the rest of the community, so they can jump on and be like, "Holy crap, this is freaking awesome." This would be a huge Lead Gen for tons of people that I want to think that ... I want them to think that I'm cool, that's why. As a marketer I'm trying to figure that out, I'm trying to make sure that I'm staying in the forefront of what is awesome, of what's good, of what's ... Does that make sense?

So, I want you ... Start thinking like that when you're like, "aah gosh, I wish I knew who the best person for this was. I wish I knew who the best person ... Or I've got this problem in my business." Instead of ... don't let it ... I'm not saying it does bring you down but don't ... Instead of letting it be too big of a barrier, think through how you could answer that and put value into the market.

If you treat every single problem in your business that way what's gonna end up happening is, you will put tons of value into the market in a way that lets you create a relationship with everybody. People will know who you are because you scratch their back without you asking anything in return.

Does that make sense?

So, I'm being open and honest, and I'm being completely transparent to show you that is the reason why I'm doing it. I want to be able to help everyone be able to progress, be able to go forward, and push forward, and it's gonna be awesome.
But, at the same time I wanna know who those people are too so that I can hire them. So I can use them so I know the best person who that is.

Or here's three options for that problem or three option for this skillset. Does that make sense? So, that's why I'm doing it.

So, if you want to; number one, see who that is. Go to stevejlarsen.com, click on Find Talent up in the top header; Find Talent. It'll ask you to opt-in, duh, just know that. I was getting nervous if somebody's gonna be like, "Well, you ask me to opt-in." Like, "Yeah, I'm putting the list together, it's the value that I'm giving. But, of course I'm gonna ask you to opt-in. Why would I not Lead Gen from it, right?"

So, you think through like, "How would you do it?" Find out maybe there's some other kind of directory that would work well for your industry. It doesn't need to be a Talent Directory, or a directory of all the software, or a directory of this, or that, or whatever.

But, this is a huge opportunity. You guys, you know this episode ... I'm sorry, you this podcast like I'm only pumping out usually two, sometimes three a week of these things usually. They get three to 500 downloads a day, which I know isn't massive, massive but it felt completely organic you guys.

I think you'll spend ads on it maybe one time a year ago and that's it. I understand that and I get it, but we just screened pass 80,000 downloads and it's doing awesome guys really, really exciting. There's a lot of you out there that are listening to this just so you know, the community is big, and it's growing, and it's actually growing really quickly.

Anyway, so, number one; if you wanna know who those people are go to stevejlarsen.com, click on Find Talent up at the top [inaudible 00:14:53] 'cause the guy that wanted Stevelarsen.com, the guy wanted 40 grand, I talked him down to 20, and I was like "It's not worth it, come on. I'm not gonna do it." Anyways, it's Steve J. Larsen, my full name is Stephen Joseph Larsen.

So, stevejlarsen.com....

Then, number two though, if you want to get on the directory please do not PM me on Facebook.

I get way too many messages it will get lost. I know notice a lot of people sometimes they get frustrating with me like, "You haven't answered yet." I was like, "You got to get in my shoes and understand that logistically I will spend the entire day answering messages, if I go answer every single message." It's not to be rude it's to protect, and sustain my own momentum. You know what I mean?

So, number two, if you want to get on the directory go to, again, stevejlarsen.com, click on Find Talent. Then there's gonna be a button there that says ... probably like the top right or something like that, probably make a subheader menu bar where it's like, "Get on the directory, or apply to get on it." It is an application funnel.

On the backend I'll put an application funnel; a watered down version of one. But, you are definitely selling me on why you should get on it, because I wanna make sure that it's awesome people. I don't mind to have several people in a certain topic that's totally fine with me. I just want to make sure that you're awesome because you are on my ... Literally my page.

I mean, I'm gonna manage the thing, if I find out someones being shady, or dumb, or whatever I'm gonna delete you. It's not worth it to me and everything I've worked hard to build. Anyway, so just know that it is being watched like a hawk and because those are the people that I wanna go to, I wanna hire, I wanna get relationships with.

So, I don't care what it is that you do as long as you're good. I don't care if it's fulfillment, I don't care if you are good at like back office style management, a phone sales guy. I don't care if it has to do with sales, or if its more about management, or if you're like HR, I don't care what it is.

Whatever you are if you're great at it I wanna know, I would love to be able to meet you, and say hi to you, and start pulling together rock stars like that.
Then, be able to help showcase you so that everyone else can also benefit. I think it's gonna help the community as a whole because one of the biggest questions I get over, and over, and over again, which is why I'm responding to the market That's the other reason why I got the idea 'cause I was like, "Man, everyone's asking me, like, who do you hire to do this? Who do you hire to do that?" And I was like, "Ugh, I don't wanna ..."

In some cases, I can't tell you because my hands are tied because I work at ClickFunnels and it's a conflict of interest, and we got to protect ourselves too. And I was like, "Ugh ..." But, if it's user generated, if it's user created that's totally different. You know what I mean?

So, I was getting the question all the time like, "Dude, who'd you hire for this? Who'd ..." And it's like I can't tell you that. Literally, that's me showing favoritism and I work ClickFunnels not for too much longer obviously but ... Anyway, so, if there's not a ton of people on there right now when you go to it, just know that it's a living, breathing thing and you should be able to get on their quickly.
So, here's how the funnels gonna go though. Funnel, what? You use funnels for managing things, what? Yes, they're not just for selling things, I use them to manage all the time. There's more to come of that, which is why I'm podcasting this so you know about it.

So, first if you go to that page it'll have you opt-in, now, think through the funnel. Number two, you're gonna see the page. Number three though, if you wanna get on the list, people will go through and they'll apply.

Well, one of the last steps of the first page will say, "Hey, let me know why you should be on here?" If you have a one sentence bio of what you've done, and a one sentence credentials thing of what you are good at, or something like that; what are those things? Write them down. This is almost like a resume, I feel like resumes are crap but the traditional sense resume.

This is a way better form to have a resume though, you know what I mean. But, anyway, so you'll be able to go through and you actually toss in stuff that I'll put directly on the page; probably not a picture I'm just thinking space wise. 'cause it's gonna be like a phone book, the text is gonna be slightly tiny eventually maybe not first. 'cause I wanna keep adding to it or removing from it if something happens, you know what I mean?

Then, the next page it's gonna say, "Awesome, thanks so much ... Appreciate the application we'll reach out if we put you on there." Then, what I want each person to go do ... Okay, think about this. Think about what I'm doing, what I want you to go do if you wanna get on the directory and get all these sweet leads is, we got the make sure that there's eyeballs that get to it.

Please share this link and post about it to your profile. Some people are gonna be like, Stephen, I can't believe you just publish that that's what you're asking people to do. That's really what you're going on. Oh my gosh, what ..."
Guys, it's Lead Gen that's why I'm doing it, I'm amassing a list. I'm amassing huge ... Oh my gosh, huge value. You know what I eventually wanna do is I wanna interview on the podcast each one of the people who truly are rock stars in each one of those areas.

I don't care if you're not involved directly at Sales Funnels, it's all part of the sales process and management in the back end in order to get the sale. Does that make sense?

This is like ... So, I'm to farm out the best, of the best, of the best, of the best, and of course I'm gonna interview them I wanna be ... If I can, I probably can't get anybody but like The A player, The Rock Star for each thing. I wanna interview them on the podcast.

Then, I'd love to be able to go and have them drop the link for that same directory to their own people. This is how a marketer thinks through this kind of stuff. How can I solve the problem but leverage it? In a positive way that scratches everyone's back, that solves legitimate problems, this is solving a legitimate issue.

There's a lot of people that ask me who to hire for X, Y, and Z and I can't answer them. But, if it's user generated, if I know you're awesome, if you're a rock star holy crap, why wouldn't I do that? Why would I not create a directory?

Anyways, I felt like it's more valuable than the software directories that are out there because you can't Google that stuff.

I mean, it's not ... But, it's harder to find good people, it's harder to find individuals. I have wasted thousands and thousands of dollars on really bad VA's, really, really bad freelancers. Really, really bad people who said that they can do the did, and technically they did it but it was so crappy. You know what I mean?

I wanna know who the actual A players, and rock stars are out there so that's why I'm making this. Again, if you want to; A) see it. Go to stevejlarsen.com, click on Find Talent. If you wanna be on the list, same thing, go there click on Find Talent and I wanna showcase rock stars.

You can apply to be on there and yeah that's pretty much it guys. I'm super excited for this. I've actually been planning this for a long time because it's just a serious issue that's out there. Anyways, if you ... I invite you to apply regard ... How should I say this? If you're like, "I'm pretty good a what I do but I don't know." Just do it anyway, you know what I mean.

Gives us a chance to say hi and pull on in. So, anyway, there's a funnel for this and that's the funnel ... If you wanna see the funnel, if you wanna go through the process anything like that, that's how you do that.

Anyway, so, I gotta do some tricky stuff on stevejlarsen.com, the homepage in order to pull this off because there's gonna be multiple exits. It's not actually a funnel, that first page is more like a website. By definition if there was more than one exit then it's no longer a squeeze page, so, there's gonna be multiple exits and multiple things all over the place.

Anyway, it will be fun, I'm excited. I got to think through some stuff for the ... Okay. Yeah, that'll be cool though I got to go map it out and draw it out. I got another white board I'm super pumped about it, so I'm gonna go draw out the whole thing and I'll go build it. By the time this thing is launched you guys it will be ready.

So, anyways, you're all awesome and this is a chance to show others that you are too. There's a cool quote I saw it said, "You're already a rock star, we're just here to help others know it." So, I guess this maybe the title of this or something. All right, guys talk to you later. Bye.

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