Sales Funnel Radio SFR 242: Strategically, Why Were OfferMind Tickets Free Last Year?
Today I want to give you a peek behind the curtain to share with you the reasons why OfferMind …
- ..was FREE the first year
- ...will NEVER be free again
- … was a very STRATEGIC move on my part
WHAT WAS GOING ON?
People have asked why I gave OfferMind as a FREE bonus to the 30-Day book…
Others have gotten mad that it's NOT free any more…
And one person, (and I totally get this), commented that they hadn’t come to Offermind BECAUSE it was free…
He’d judged the content based on the fact that the event was free.
First of all, OfferMind was NOT a cheap event. Even though it was free, it cost me $80,000 to put on.
We didn't make much money from the whole thing once it was said and done, and I’m totally fine with that…
In fact, making money wasn't the primary purpose of OfferMInd at all ;-)
For you to understand WHY I need to walk you through what was going on in my business life at the time:
- I left ClickFunnels in January 2018
- I started out selling in the network marketing industry, (which I'm still very much a part of) #secretmlmhacks
- Around September 2018, I started to wonder about my life’s purpose
“Oh, my gosh... what is it that I really, really, really wanna do?”
I’d identified a place where the market wanted some value. I knew how to deliver that value and I was selling in that space… and it was going extremely well.
I love Network Marketers, but I’d started to wonder what it was that I actually wanted to be known for?
So I started having some deep heart to hearts around finding my purpose and I started future casting 5, 10, 15 years - which isn’t something I usually do.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?
I always hate it when gurus ask you to set goals by asking, “What's your life gonna be like 10 years from now?”
By the beard of Zeus…
I don't know what my life’s gonna be like six months from now most the time! I think it's stupid to plan that way.
I think it was Tim Ferriss who said that after six months planning is just guessing... I totally agree with that.
There's some fluidness that I can't have if I try to plan everything out all the time...
However, as I learned from Alex Charfen, you need to be able to predict the future in your business so that I know what action to take… and what I need to do to make things come to fruition.
...I've been practicing this a lot in last six months, and it's been working.
I say, “Hey, here's where we're going,” and then we go there... BOOM, it shows up - which is awesome.
Now…
Back to the PURPOSE question…
I started asking:
- What is it that I actually wanna do?
- How is it that I wanna move forward professionally?
- What do I really wanna be known for?
- What’s my natural skill set?
- What are am I already known for?
- What am I good at?
It's always best when you can build a business around your natural skill set. I'm not saying you have to... but it helps a lot.
I also started consulting with people that I look up to who are my peers and my coaches.
I hire a lot of coaches, guys. That’s one of the fastest accelerants to the game. I get coached.
I know I bring up Russell Brunson a lot... and it’s because I spent two years sitting next to the guy.
It's NOT like I did anything else. I didn't have any hobbies. It was such a fast work pace over there - I didn't do anything else with my life.
So, I have two years of memories that I keep going back to.
THEN STEPHEN ASKED RUSSELL THE PURPOSE QUESTION…
A bunch of us were hanging out at an Inner Circle at James Friel’s house.
Russell and Myron Golden were standing side by side, I was on the other side of a couch, and we were talking...
Russell looks over and asks, “How are things going then?”
I said, “Good, but I'm trying to figure out what my purpose is?”
(Have you ever asked that question? It's an important question to ask…)
...the moment those words left my mouth, Russell starts laughing hysterically.
I was like, “It's a serious question, dude. I feel like that's something that you shouldn't be laughing at!”
...but Russell just kept laughing.
Myron looked around and asked, “Wait, what’d he say?”
Russell said, “He just asked the purpose question,” and Myron starts laughing too.
I was like, “Why are you guys laughing at me? I’m assuming you're laughing because you're telling me it's NOT that big of a deal, but I'm acting like it is?”
Myron said, “Stephen, I only found out what I wanted to do three months ago.”
Russell said, “Yeah, dude, you came in right after I figured out what I wanted to do, #ClickFunnels, but I'd already been in the game for 12 years.”
https://media.giphy.com/media/69qpuTOBTsHTJRcNkW/giphy.gif
I was like, “...that makes sense, and I understand and accept that... but I'm trying to figure out if my purpose something I hunt... or if it’s something that’s discovered by me along the path?
(Right, that's a good question... you know what I mean!)
...because otherwise, I'm gonna start brainstorming my purpose and what it is that I'm gonna go do?!’”
My mind will go deep and I’ll obsess if I don't stop myself.
https://media.giphy.com/media/9RWeDFAf07oxT1hgLB/giphy.gif
(There's a lot of power in that obsession... but it needs to be focused on the right thing ;-))
After a while, Russell looks up and goes, “Dude, don't worry about it….
Solve problems for people and create value.
I was like, “Ahhhhh,” and I suddenly stopped freaking out so much.
THE GAME IS MALLEABLE
I loved the FHAT events, and when ClickFunnels decided to stop them; there was a part of me that died a little.
I was like, “Crap, I really loved that event.”
It was one of those scenarios where I knew I was getting the fastest results for people in a compressed three day period.
And so I was like, “I gotta find another way.”
How can I…
- Incorporate the things that I'm good at…?
- Mix them with the business ideas and the models that I like most…?
- Do live events…?
Live events are my jam. I come alive at events and I love that.
I'm bringing this up is so you can start asking these kinds of questions to yourself …
Maybe you don’t know what you wanna do yet... but I want you to realize that a lot of this is very malleable.
So… think about how you can combine:
- Your skill set
- A problem
- A business model that's proven
How can you take what you do and deliver it to the marketplace?
When somebody knows what they want to do, I'm very good at helping them make that profitable... but when somebody says, “I don't know what I wanna do?”
I'm like, “I don't know how to help you.”
A lot of times people hire me for a consultation and they’re like:
“Stephen, I've hired you so that I can figure out what I wanna do.”
I'm like, “Crap, I should probably refund you because that’s not my role. How on earth am I supposed to put words in your mouth and thoughts in your brain as to what you're gonna dedicate yourself to?”
That's not my role and I never will do that!
When someone knows what they want to sell - I'm very good at making that profitable on multiple platforms.
Honestly, it's the same four or five things that I've noticed work regardless of the industry you're in... and then it's bam, bam, success, success, success, success!
… and then I couple that with a lot of what goes on in the human psyche.
That's what I'm good at. That's what I’m known for.
… and that led me on this journey.
ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
… so back to discovering my purpose!
I was like, “What is it that I really wanna go do?”
I spoke with a lot of guys that I’m friends with:
- My buddy Dana Derricks
- Russell
- Myron
- Dave Lindenbaum
- Alison Prince
That's one of the benefits of an Inner Circle.
I gotta be honest, a lot of times I don't participate that much in the coaching. I should... but just the network alone is worth it.
That's why everyone should join a mastermind at some point.
The acceleration is so much greater than anything I’ve EVER experienced - it’s ridiculous.
Quite unanimously, the people I asked saw something in me that I could not see in myself … (which is another benefit of having an Inner Circle that knows you intimately).
I was like, “What is this thing? What is it?”
Julie Stoian started laughing, and she said, “Come on, Stephen, you know what you should be doing.”
I was like, “No, I don't. All of you see this thing that I'm NOT seeing in myself yet. I'm this close and I can't see it.”
(You may be in the same situation too, and I get that. That’s why I’m sharing my journey)
This is me making sure you understand some of the things that I've gone through along the way.
... most successful entrepreneurs do!
It’s a common theme in Inner Circle meetings - someone will stand up and say, “I'm standing here today because we're making a lot of money, but I don't know if it's what I wanna be doing anymore?”
… that's NOT an abnormal thing to say.
Don't freak out if you have that question - everyone has that question eventually.
So anyways, Dana, Russell, Julie and Dave and a lot of people, pretty much all said the same thing...(and I don't think they spoke to each other).
They're all said, “Dude, you obsess over offers.”
BECOMING THE OFFER GUY
Russell was said:
“Dude, you go so much deeper into offers than anyone I’ve ever met my entire life. You should be the offer guy. Dana Derricks is the Dream 100 guy, you should be the ‘Offer Guy’!”
Suddenly, all these maps and frameworks that I'd been developing came together and I saw the thing that I wanted to do…
I loved doing the FHAT event for Russell, but it was his content, all I did was organize it.
I realized that EVERYTHING I taught had to do with how to create a better offer.
Even if it seemingly looked like it had nothing to do with offers, it actually did, and now...
I wanted my own platform, and that’s how the idea for OfferMInd was born
There were two things that needed to happen in order for me to kill it as the Offer Guy:
- I needed people to think, “Stephen is the offer guy!”
- I needed to capture that market share in people's brains.
So how could I do that?
*This* is why, from a strategic standpoint, OfferMind was free that first time.
There are a lot of levels to this, so I'll just start from here...
THE DEATH OF SALES FUNNEL RADIO?
I want to be the offer guy.
iTunes doesn't like it when you go past 300 episodes - so I ll probably rebrand Sales Funnel Radio.
I will probably, (at some point), retire Sales Funnel Radio.
I'm not saying I'm going to... but it's a thought that I'm playing with.
I'm NOT trying to be the Sales Funnel Guy - that'd be stupid. In fact, that would be suicide.
Let me ask you a question...
Q: Who is the sales funnel guy?
A: Russell.
It made sense for me to have a show called Sales Funnel Radio when I was a sales funnel builder…
The first 100 episodes are me documenting everything I learned sitting next to Russell.
I'm not that good at speaking in those episodes, and that's okay ... that wasn't the purpose of it.
But from episode 101 onwards, I was documenting the journey to my first million!
Now I’ve done that I'm documenting my journey to the next 4 million.
I think we're on track to hit 4 million this year - I believe we will do it.
There's a shift coming - I can feel it.
BUILDING MY VALUE LADDER
There’s a lot of things at the top of my value ladder that you don't know about yet, but timing matters…
… and it's not time for me to reveal what those are.
You have to understand that in order for me to become the ‘Offer Guy,’ I had to create a new value ladder - which in my mind is a business.
So on the marketing side at least, there’s 100% an entirely new value ladder.
Q: What do I understand very clearly about how to develop new value ladders?
A: I have to start in the middle.
However, I wanna cash flow it like it's at the top... because I have a current business.
I've got a couple of employees and about eighteen 1099s that work for me monthly. I've got business expenses.
My monthly expenses right now are 30 to 40.grand a month - which is fine, I expected that.
… it was part of the plan.
We've been doing over six figures every single month for the last nine months.
Soon our expenses will rise to 40 - 50 grand - it just depends how much we spend on ads.
Anyway, here's the point, and there are a few forces that play here...
WALKING IN CLAUDE HOPKINS SHOES
The last guy to really be the offer guy was Claude Hopkins back in the late 1800s - there hasn't been an offer guy for 100 years! It's been a long time…
For me, that's cool because it means that:
- Historically, the banner has been raised historically in the past.
- The idea has been validated.
- No one is the Offer Guy now.
… which means that the move I want to make has been validated... and that was one of the things identified I was like, “Oh my gosh, I should go do that.”
Back in the day, offers were called schemes.
You’d hire a ‘Scheme Man…’
i.e., What's the scheme? What's the plan? What's the scheme for you to go sell your thing?
Hopkins was a Scheme Man.
Today, that means something different; it means you’re a schemer with a negative connotation...
...but it didn't mean that back then.
So I was like, “Well, I'm gonna go be the Offer Guy - that's technically a blue ocean. No one is the Offer Guy…
There are people who’ve brought books out... and there are people who’ve said “Hey, do this, this, this,” around the offer - which also further validates the move.
But…
No one is the Offer Guy! No one has dedicated themselves wholly to offers.
So those were all great signs for me!
FINDING MY RED OCEAN
The next question I had to answer was:
Q: What red ocean will come out of?
A: Definitely, ClickFunnels
ClickFunnels understand the power of an offer.
Does this make sense? I'm NOT just trial closing you!
Hopefully, you understand why I did this...
I was like, “Okay, there is offer stuff out there, but no ones put it together and become the offer:
- Ocean
- Market
- Guy
- Guru
Those are all HUGE signals for me!
So what I needed to do, (with that backdrop in place,) was capture as much of the market mindshare as possible in people's brains…
I wanted people to think:
“Oh, Stephen really does know what the heck he's talking about when it comes to offers!”
… so how do I do that?
So I started putting together all my content about offers together, but then, I need a platform to deliver it.
- I'd been teaching bits and pieces on Sales Funnel Radio
- I'd been teaching bits and pieces on other people's stages
- I'd been teaching bits and pieces on other people's platforms...
Until OfferMind I’d never had a scenario where I could teach all my stuff… (and literally, it wasn't everything... the audience gave out before I did. I was ready to keep going, we just ran out of time. Two days is not enough time for me to teach my stuff).
However, I was able to teach from beginning to as far as possible:
- Ideation
- How do I validate the idea?
- How do I know if it's a good idea?
- How do I know that it's most likely gonna be a success?
- What are all the things I can do to make sure that I've got all the cards in my hand to make sure this is a success?
- Market positioning
- About what marketing is
- How to actually create an ecosystem - which we know sits on top of content
- Content
It was just fascinating to see all these things come together that I'd already been doing. I realize, “Oh my gosh, there it is.”
CREATING OFFERMIND
I always tend to do better in front of a live audience because I can watch people’s reactions.
- I wanted to teach offer creation from start to finish
- I wanted to be able to create lots of content in front of a live audience
I spent three weeks preparing my slides. I did NOTHING else - it was OBSESSIVE.
It was fun and I can't wait to do it again… but *HOLY CRAP* it was a lot of work!
Here’s the thing…
I hate crappy events; when I walk into an event it needs to feel like I'm NOT in a hotel.
It needs to feel like I've entered another dimension
... it's all about the seventh phase of the funnel - which is to change the selling environment.
Then, I was like, “Okay, well, how do I fill the room? I really don't care if they pay...”
I didn't wanna lose money. I just wanted to break even.
So this is what I did…
PIGGYBACKING ON A GIANT
I looked over at ClickFunnels to see what momentum and noise they were already creating…
This is one of the easiest ways to create a lot of cash quickly -
You piggyback off some momentum that the category king in your red ocean market is creating.
This is how I filled the event and made so much intense noise.
I used the 30-Day book to piggyback and ride the momentum of a giant.
I was creating a blue ocean, (and I still am), but if I didn’t take as much market share as possible...
Someone else with a bigger list could swoop in and steal the crown
For Example:
Let's say, Frank Kern, Pat Flynn, or somebody else saw the opportunity and I didn't capture the market share quickly... they could swoop in and claim it.
So it was a game where I needed to capture as much of the market share in people's brains as possible - so that they associate me with being the ‘Offer Guy’.
So when I saw was Russell telling everybody:
“Hey, we got this big summit coming. Hey, it's gonna be big affiliate thing, “ and that's where I gave away a FREE ticket to the first event.
I can't do that anymore, and I won't do that anymore because it cheapens the content now... but in the beginning, it didn't.
So my plan was to…
- Ran a BIG live event
- Made a lot of noise about it
- Filled it by leveraging the momentum already created by a red ocean category King, i.e., ClickFunnels.
And because of that first event, I was able to...
- Capture (as much as possible) the market share in people's brains
- Fill the event with people from the ClickFunnels space - all my dream customers
- Leverage a campaign that ClickFunnels was heavily backing to people - my dream customers
- Validate my stuff in front of an audience and to myself
- Get it on camera and repurpose the crap out of it
MAKING NOISE
It's only April - it's only since November that I decided to try and be the Offer Guy.
Q: Doesn't it feel like it's been longer than that?
A: It was by design! I planned this out ahead of time.
I needed to create a lot of momentum, so I asked the questions:
- How can I create as much noise as I physically can?
- How do I set this up in a way that allows me to capture a large market share?
I wasn’t just looking from a market positioning standpoint … I was looking from a marketing position standpoint and seeing:
- No one’s the offer guy now
- There used to be an Offer Guy 100 years ago
- How am I gonna attach myself to reach my dream customer? (I used the ClickFunnels space where I already had some stature... why wouldn't I?)
- How do I get my dream customer to come over to me?
I'm NOT telling them to abandon ClickFunnels - I created a complimentary market.
I NOT trying to be the Funnel Guy, I’m trying to be the Offer Guy - and they work in tandem.
I didn’t throw rocks at ClickFunnels. Instead...
I created a complimentary blue ocean and attached it to ClickFunnels to fill it.
- I piggyback off of the momentum that ClickFunnels already had...
- Gave away a free ticket on purpose just get butts in seats…
- Told I will not ship their swag to them and that they will forfeit their swag if they don't show up.
… that caused some of the most ridiculous buzz ever. It pissed people off, and honestly, I'm okay with that... because “What happened?”
I got butts in seats
I wanted people to hear that I knew what I was talking about... and that I wasn't some guy who came out of the ClickFunnel riding that gravy train.
...and it worked.
It was more of a middle ladder move - even though it's free-ish, it’s still content that I used to launch something at the back end.
Now we're launching more things in the middle, and there's a lot coming down at the bottom of the value ladder.
SO WHY WAS OFFERMIND FREE?
The reason OfferMind was FREE the first time was by some serious design.
I wanted to…
- Capture that market share
- Test the core theories that I'd already had success with
- Go in and show that I was worthy to crown myself as the Offer King
None of my other events will ever be free again - EVER.
I actually pride myself on being very expensive for a lot of reasons - However, it's not to keep people out.
Man, I was going through my value ladder the other day - I have about 20 insanely valuable things that are FREE. If it’s NOT free, then it’s at the bottom of the ladder.
I’ve got a lot of FREE stuff.
My actual stuff’s very expensive and I don't apologize for it.
WHAT’S YOUR PURPOSE?
So when you're trying to figure out what you wanna do…
First of all, understand that it takes time to figure that out.
It's been like four and a half years that I've been active in this game, (I have to think how old my girl is)...
I started using ClickFunnels right after they left beta. I think it was actually on the webinar right after they left beta.
I was already selling stuff on the internet. I was already building websites with agencies and stuff...
I've been acting this game for a while, and I’ve just barely figured out what I wanna be and do - I'm the Offer Guy.
I know where my value ladder is leading… and I've designed it, but it would be a mistake to build it as fast as humanly possible.
Instead...
I should build it as fast as possible with the constraints of launching with good campaigns.
… so a lot of what you're gonna watch me do here over the next year is build campaigns and launch
is There's a bunch of other stuff that I'm NOT willing to release yet or talk about that stuff afterward - I know what those are as well.
OfferLab is one of the things that’s come out of this so far - it’s one of the things on the value ladder and OfferMind’s definitely under it.
OfferLab is AMAZING - it’s where I help people build their offers and put all this stuff in place! Go to myofferlab.com to check it out
(The guy who had OfferLab wanted a ton of money… it was insanely expensive.)
So once I know what those things are... it's not enough for me to just build the product... I also need to build a campaign that launches it and an evergreen campaign that sustains it.
Those a lot of things that most funnel builders don't look - they just start driving ads.. and it's okay…
BUT…
You lose out on a ton of money and promotional noise.
… and *that's* why OfferMind was free.
BOOM!
If you're just starting out you're probably studying a lot. That's good. You're probably geeking out on all the strategies, right? That's also good.
But the hardest part is figuring out what the market wants to buy and how you should sell it to them, right?
That's what I struggled with for a while until I learned the formula.
So I created a special Mastermind called an OfferMind to get you on track with the right offer, and more importantly the right sales script to get it off the ground and sell it.
Wanna come?
There are small groups on purpose, so I can answer your direct questions in person for two straight days.
You can hold your spot by going to OfferMind.com.
Again, that's OfferMind.com.
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