SFR 299: My SECOND 17 Product Failures...

I recently recounted through the timeline of all of the business and product attempts I've made... Here's a recap of my second 17 tries

Here's a recap of my second 17 tries...

Buckle up, this is Part #2 of my 33 product failures journey!

(Alternative Title ‘The Obstacle is the Way’ #2)

Hopefully, it's cool me taking two episodes to share my actual journey with you ‘cause there’s been A LOT of ‘failures…

BUT…

There's also been a lot of growth.

In fact, in my opinion…

Failure is largely made up. It's a facade to dull the will of dreamers

So when somebody sits back and says, "Stephen, I've tried these things, or I'm doing this, or I'm doing that..."

I have empathy, but I have very little sympathy…

Because... you know what?

• No one cares about your business as much as you do.
• No one cares about your success as much as you will.

So own that and know that it's part of the gift.

The gift that allows you to do stuff that the rest of humanity has a very hard time hacking.

They get really sensitive and tender, and that's okay,...

However…

You will become somebody new under this umbrella faster than anything else I can think of.

And the changes stick, they stay.

My business grows to the degree that I do.

As long as I see that revenue going up, funny enough that's one of the indicators I know that I'm changing, and it's awesome. 

So guys, let's cut back over to the rest of this episode here. I would love to see your comments on this though.

For those of you guys who aren't watching on the YouTube session, it might be helpful for you to see the list.

If you feel like ‘I got it’ and that's cool too.

But I would love to actually hear how many attempts you guys have gone through on this.

And this is NOT like a ‘you/ me’ kind of thing.

Instead, I wanna celebrate that with you and say...

• "Whether or not you're successful, keep going..."

Or…

• "Hey, that's awesome you made it."

One of the games I'm obsessed with is called Cashflow (where you aim to get out of the rat race).

And when you get that first funnel that REALLY kills it, you get out of the rat race rather quickly and it's super fun.

So I want to show you …

1. How I actually finished out my 33 attempts.
2. How it actually blew up.

I appreciate you being here, and I wanna know how many times you've tried to make a business work, (funnel or not)...

So leave me a comment!

THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY PART #2

After my first 17 product failures, that's when I started working next to Russell.

At that time...

• I was a good funnel builder
• I was an okay salesman
• I wasn't that awesome of a marketer.
• I was good at the mechanics of the funnel build.
• I was not good at creating a campaign.
• I didn't know how to create a message.
• I didn't know how to develop and design an offer.
• I didn't know how to publish.
• I didn't know to speak
• I was still learning and getting over a lot of shyness at that time

Understand that the first four years of my entrepreneurial journey did not go that awesome, but these individual little lessons were ‘the way!’

However, I was obsessed…

• Obsessed
• Obsessed
• Obsessed

(I'm just gonna keep saying it 😂)

I WAS OBSSESSED!

I was listening to a ton of podcasts (because they were free).

I didn't have ANY money.

It was a huge deal when I got a $7.95 free plus shipping DotCom Secrets book…

$7.95 was A LOT of cash for us at the time.

It was painful for me; I was nervous about it, thinking, "Ugh, is this gonna be okay ??? You know we could buy three loaves of bread with that money.”

Money was SUPER tight.

One of the reasons I rode my bike everywhere was because $20 for gas felt like too much

 

I know what it's like to NOT have money.

Everything, after I started working for Russell, gets a little foggy because I was building most of the products from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM.

Here’s what happened...

• I'd wake up at 5:00 AM and I'd go to Russell's office from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM to work on my own stuff
• Russell would come in at 9:00 AM, and we'd go from about 9:00 AM to 6:00 or 7:00 PM
• After we finished, I'd work on my stuff again from about 8:30 PM to about midnight
• Then I'd sleep five hours…and do it all again the next day.

 

I just told myself, "Larsen, you ready to feel a little pain?"

I'd say, "Yeah... okay, you're gonna feel tired for a little while, you're alright with that?"

I'd be like, "Yeah, I am,"

I'd do a lot of self-talk. I was like, "Alright, let's do this."

It was like this for probably for the first nine months because I was trying to develop just one additional revenue source.

And that's really when I started documenting my journey 'cause I realized how freaking rare was to sit next to Russell Brunson.

I was fully aware of the scenario I was in.

MY FALSE BELIEF

One of the things I had to overcome at this time period was like the belief that it would work just because I was sitting next to Russell, so it was a very raw moment for me as I say that.

'Cause like, Man people, what are they gonna say? “You're only where you are because you were next to the man."

Q: Did that help?

A: Of course, it helped, come on!

Q: Would you do the same?

A: Of course you would, right? Of course, you would.

But there are like 340 employees over there now and you don't know how to name a lot of them.

… that's NOT a bash, it's a really powerful lesson, (and I hope no one gets offended when I say that).

But the reason why everything else happens from this point on is that I started this podcast.

I was now getting paid by Russell - so we weren't broke. We had four-digit checking accounts or less and basically had zero savings.

We weren't living on student loans anymore and we were out of the starvation mentality where we’d wait for the next loan to come in so we would eat…

It was great not to have to think:

"Okay, we have to live off this money for the next four months because we don't know what other business Stephen's gonna fail at."

...you see what I'm saying?

I know some of you guys are going through that and that's why when someone's like, "Okay, but we'll do this, we'll do this."

I'm like, "Bruh, I get it. I get it 'cause I've been there. I get it. It took me years."

And then when I finally met Russell, it took three, four more tries before "BOOM!"

I'M NOT AN OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

Understand where I'm coming from on this...

It was April when I started working at ClickFunnels and I launched Sales Funnel Radio in July. It took several months 'cause I was so freaking scared to be sitting next to Russell.

I was like, "Oh, man! "

You can listen to the first few episodes of the show… and they're NOT good.

*WHATEVER*

I was in the act of doing the thing.

I don't want hindsight bias, but when I look backward...

Like, "Man, I had to change, like, crazy in order to do what I'm doing now."

That's why I just keep launching the next thing.

Do that and you'll turn into somebody that you didn't realize you had the power to become.

I STATED MAKING MORE MONEY

When I created 'Sales Funnel Broker'  the cash size started getting large because I started giving away a lot of free funnels.

I started becoming a stronger affiliate for ClickFunnels.

I was an affiliate for a lot of the very projects I was working on and that was BIG for me. It helped my confidence A LOT

Then probably 50 about funnels in, I started doing funnel audibles for people. You could get an hour with me for 100 bucks.

At that time, I was like, "A hundred freaking dollars. Oh my gosh." I was going nuts.

So I started selling more coaching and selling more.

You understand I was a good funnel builder but what I started becoming next to Russell was a marketer.

Being a funnel builder isn't altogether that crazy once you spend some time inside the ClickFunnels mechanics.

Learning to become a marketer was very different.

And I think it's one of the reasons people like Sales Funnel Radio so much is because I'm very open about the pain stuff.

I've been doing this for four years now, (just the funnel game), and to see how fast it all can happen when you just do ‘what the heck I'm telling you to do…’

It doesn't take that long to make A LOT of cash.

It took me 13 months to make my first million after leaving ClickFunnels.

Hopefully, no one gets weird as I say that. It's just...

That's the reality - proof is in the pudding.

Anyway, so I became more of an affiliate marketer for ClickFunnels itself.

I already loved ClickFunnels beforehand but when I saw how genuine Russell is, I began to love ClickFunnels even more.

I still love real estate - I own realestatesalesfunnels.com.

Don't go there right now. It's freaking garbage. It's terrible.

But I just started launching tons of funnels in those evenings or early morning hours.

I’d just launched stuff, man. There was no rhyme or reason.

• I was doing supplements stuff.
• I was doing eCom stuff.
• I was doing real estate stuff.

And the reason it was that during my day job with Russell, we were launching funnels around those things.

And so I would walk away, like, "Oh my gosh, I saw how he did that. I could go do that too."

So I started launching…

And they would fail, and I'd be like, "What's going on?"

(This is a very powerful lesson)

The role that I had at ClickFunnels doesn't exist anymore, so I’m looking through very unique eyes…

... and I'm trying to give and be very open about this.

I started launching more and more. I had…

• Supplement funnels
• e-Com funnels
• Real estate funnels
• Tons of little free plus shipping things...

... there was a time when I had 12 funnels on a waiting list, which was crazy!

And what was nuts was that…

None of them worked very well.

I was like, "Wait, but I'm building all these funnels for Russell."

However, Russell was creating the offer and the message, and those were the two key things that I wasn't doing so well yet.

It took me, the first six months to really see how important the Offer and Message are.

It was all we did all day.

For me, personally, it was 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM pure obsession for a straight year, and then also in the evening times.

Then suddenly I started seeing these patterns in what Russell was doing; it was all the in-between things that are extremely hard to pick up from a book.

It was all the stuff that you gain from having a mentor, (even though Russell wasn't exclusively doing that with me).

Anyway, it was a crazy powerful lesson... and so I started pushing myself even more.

• I started stage speaking
• I started teaching more funnel principles other than marketing.
• I launched a bunch of small products …(and they made a couple of grand here and there, but still it wasn't a lot.)
• I started building Funnels Live.
• I had something called Funnel Feast for a while.
• I started doing big client builds.

.. and I had my first five-figure a day!

I was like, "Holy crap." My eyes rolled to the back of my head and I realized how big this was.

• I did the first big client build and then I started launching the first version of Funnel Stache.

It wasn't called My Funnel Stache, but I've launched that product several times now.

We’ve got it at a great place now and it sells well now, which is awesome.

But it usually takes a few rounds.

• Next, I did the second launch of Secret MLM Hacks.

That's when I started doing a grand a week and it changed our lives, (that was probably six months into working for ClickFunnels).

I was building so many freaking funnels on top of doing it for Russell.

Not all of them were revenue funnels, I think some people think I built 500 revenue funnels.

No, No, No, No.

Maybe they were a100 of them specifically for leads in sales. Out of the 500 funnels, a lot were just for fulfillment.

There were major projects specifically for ClickFunnels.

So then I started doing big client builds - that was $11,500 a day. That was nuts.

I started launching My Funnel Stache.

I realized the thing that everyone wanted from me was just more funnel education.

So I started selling that.

And the rest is kinda history...

I NAMED MY MODEL

The BIG moment was when I realized that the info product model can attach to ANYTHING.

I was building funnels for Russell's inner circle and people like CNBC with The Profit.

• Several funnels for eCom.
• Funnels for supplements.
• Funnels smaller stuff.
• Lots of funnels that were middle price range.
• Lots of funnels that were top price range…

 And a lot of times, it’s how these guys would make a ton of money.

I've heard several people say like, "Yeah man, that made a lot of money, but I'm gonna make more money teaching how I did it."

I remember the first time I heard somebody say that, and I was like, "That's kind of weird."

But I realized it's because they're doing their skill and then they go teach how they did it on top and they get all this cash.

That's a powerful principle to realize.

THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY

I took a long journey until I found the two or three products exploded and changed my life.

A lot of the funnels that I have that are cash-flowing a couple of grand a day - this is the second or third time I've launched them.

That's very normal for ‘the space.’

But I feel like the thing that happens with people is they're like...

"Hey, I gotta go do all that crap in order to actually make it happen?!?"

A: Not if you follow a guy like me!

My whole purpose is to condense this, so you don't need to…

• Take seven, eight years to figure it out
• Spend a lot of money
• Go through a ton of pain figuring it all out like I did.

So make sure you're following somebody who's actually done it and walked the walk.

Originally, I thought I’d had 17 failures, but it's more like 33.

GETTING STARTED AS AN ENTREPRENEUR

My stories are real. My stories are true.

The only time I've ever lied to you guys is on that fake book story.

I'm just bringing that up so that you all know 😂

Anyways, you guys are awesome.

Keep going at it and realize that there are hardcore patterns.

These are just my personal journey funnels that I’m sharing with you.

And you see, (obviously) when I started following someone, and actually paying to get into groups, the acceleration was insane.

It was so fast.

This blog covers the course of a year and a half versus ‘the six years’ I covered last week…

So it's yeah, that's a BIG lesson there.

Anyways guys, hopefully, it's been a good episode for you to see that!

It's of no other purpose than to show you truly what the journey has been…

1. How awesome it's been.
2. How sucky it's been.

That's why I created OfferMind... and I'm gonna pitch it right now, okay?

COME TO OFFERMIND

The OfferMind event was created to teach you the patterns that I did not know on any of this stuff.

• Until 2015, I thought it was all about the product.
• Then I thought it was all about the funnel.

Even a little bit into working for ClickFunnels, I still thought it was about the funnel.

It's NOT!

Q: What is a funnel?

A: Funnel is a sales message and an offer.

If you wanna learn the VERY simple formulas,( it's like six easy steps that I've just continued to condense, condense, condense, condense).

I coach like crazy and I'm doing the thing.

• We have three employees now and 18 '1099s.'
• I have a funnel team.
• I have two content teams.
• I have what I call a hero team, that's the admin team.

I am doing ALL this actively, and it's my obsession.

So if you wanna come learn from a guy like me who's actually done it and walked the walk…

I'm not just here just blowing smoke and theorizing.

Come to OfferMind.

Go to offermind.com, grab a ticket!

We're excited 'cause it's gonna be crazy, guys.

We have…

• Brad Gibb.
• Myron Golden (He's one of the coolest guys in the world).
• Dana Derricks - he's gonna come teach more about the Dream 100.
• Then keynoting the whole thing is Russell Brunson.

I will tell you…

Russell does not go to many events, much less speak at any besides his own, so this is a really rare thing.

I'm so thankful to him and I appreciated him for doing this.

Come to OfferMind, guys. I want you there.

• It will short-cut tons of time for you
• Give you a clear road map of not just what to go sell but how to sell it, what that thing is, and how to get it out there.
• AND… 'll give you a road map on your positioning on what you freaking do.

It's really easy to create a message when you just follow the format that I'm gonna share with you.

and it comes from me doing it and becoming really introspective. So, guys, go to offermind.com, grab a ticket, so you can come learn from people who are actually doing it instead of theorizing. We'll see you guys later. Go get rich and give back my friends.

Oh…

*OINK*

Hey, if you're like me, you love marketing and sales strategies, right?

I have a hunger to learn new marketing and sales strategies all the time.

So I recently reached out to 98 marketing experts to ask them how they sell their products…

But I decided I wanted to do it in a clever way, and here's what I actually asked them…

"Your doctor suddenly delivers terrible news. You're diagnosed with an unknown disease, and unless you stop working in exactly 90 days, you will die.

You have a thriving business, an epic cash flow but now you need to use your marketing know-how to trim it all down and prepare for your final offer.

What steps would you take to plan, create, and launch your final offer, that will fund the rest of your life?"

Now, of the 98, only about 30 answered.

And I decided that I turn my video interviews with them into a cool FREE virtual summit.

If you want to watch the summit for free and see…

• What their final offers would be for the rest of their lives
• How these experts use their skills to keep their offer selling for the long term
• Even how they set it up so they have very low management

...just go to yourfinaloffer.com.

That's yourfinaloffer.com and sign up for the FREE summit now.

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