SFR 177: How I Found My VA's...

Boom! What's going on everyone? It's Steve Larsen. This is Sales Funnel radio, and today I'm going to talk to you about how I found my VA's.

 

What's up, guys? Some people have asked, "Hey what's a VA?"  I'm talking about virtual assistance, I'm talking about how I found my team.

 

Now what's funny is, I remember sitting at a few events and I would watch these guys who had made 2 Commas through their sales funnels. And there was this interesting correlation that I saw as would watch these guys.

 

Someone would get up,  and they'd take the picture with the award "Yay!" (mine's over there.) And they'd take the 2 Comma Club picture and they'd be like, "Check it out! This is so cool!" And the next person would get up and they'd do it again. "Woo, what's up!" They'd take the picture; "I finally did it, yeah!" Which is really, really cool.

 

But I started noticing this very interesting thing about all of them - I can't help it, I'm kind of a pattern junkie.

 

I started looking and I was like, "What do each one of these people have? Like why is it that that guy can do that?" Right. "Why is it that that guy can do that?"

 

And I'm not trying to be like weird or whatever, but there's a lot of them that stand up and be like, "I think I can build a funnel better than that guy can in his own category, but he made a million bucks." Right. "Why didn't I?" You know what I mean. It's important to ask those questions.

 

And one of the things - amidst many of the things - one of the things I started realizing was that all these people had, (that I did not at the time), was a certain mentality. I was lacking in this area.

 

Growing up, I'll just tell you guys, this isn't to get all sad and sobby or whatever, but I didn't know what I was good at. And growing up, a lot of times entrepreneurs don't. They don't know what they're good at for a little while.

 

I always tease a few, but it's kind of like the X-men. Like you're still trying to figure out your powers. And I hate the mystic crap that people try to lace around entrepreneurship. It's not mystical, okay, it's business. It's giving value and getting paid for it.

 

Entrepreneurship is not mystic, you're not like a godsend to humanity to go bless, anyway. You know what I mean? You know the mentality I'm talking about? You see around a lot of times. That irks me a little bit, okay?

 

But anyway, right, I was young and I was like, "What am I good at? What am I good at?" And as I started getting a little bit older into my teens I started realizing that I had an ability to focus hard and go sell stuff.

 

I had a very intense fascination with the act of selling. And I started learning more, and there's a lot of self-discovery involved with entrepreneurship, I decided like, "Oh my gosh." I started learning how to learn and I got addicted to it.

 

I started saying things like, "Well I'm gonna learn that, and I'm gonna learn that, and I'm gonna learn that, I'm gonna learn that. And I'm gonna try and be the best at this, and the best at this, and the best at this, and the best at ..." And I like, "I'm gonna learn it all baby! Bring it on!"

 

And funnily enough, that's like the exact opposite of what each one of these entrepreneurs onstage were doing. And I was like, "Well what are they doing then? Like how does this actually work?"

And I remember I was sitting next to some extremely successful people and one guy he leaned back and he goes, "Yeah. I have no idea how to drive Facebook ads."

 

And I was like, "Are you serious?"  I didn't know either, but it shocked me that the guy didn't know because that's where I saw most of his stuff. I was like, "Yeah," he's like, "Yeah I just outsource it." I was like, "Huh. That makes sense. You really have never done one ever though? wow. Hmm."

 

Even I have massively failed at least getting one out the door. And I was like, "What's the issue? Huh."

 

And then the next guy was like, "Yeah, I didn't write my own book. I want to make sure I actually write my book, I'm writing it right now. But he's like, "Yeah I went through and I just dictate it over the phone or whatever and somebody writes it while I'm speaking."

 

And I start that way when I'm doing it, a lot of guys do. And then I like to go back again and rewrite again. I'm too much of, I do like the art of writing a little.

 

But anyway, so one thing that started fascinating me though is the incredible obsession each one of these guys had at having a team. That was it. The thing that they all had that I didn't.

 

I was focusing on being a Renaissance man. Being a Renaissance man has never made anybody a ton of money, okay? To a certain point, it's great to know how to do a little bit of everything, to a certain point, to a certain degree. Especially when you're brand new and you gotta wear a lot of hats, okay.

 

But there comes a point when you've gotta stop doing that right. And so the thing that all these guys had that I didn't was a team ...

 

And when I suddenly realized that, that's when I actually started getting into things like affiliate marketing. I started getting cash in and hiring out tasks that I could have done but should not be doing. Does that make sense?

 

So this episode's a little bit different - I took one of the lessons - well parts of it - from Affiliate Outrage. It's a free program. This is towards the end of the program.

 

I wanted to go through and share with you guys my strategies for finding good people for the team - because I've wasted a lot of money on bad talent. There was no talent.

 

So anyway we're gonna cut over here, I hope you enjoy it.

 

There are several strategies that I walkthrough for how to find good people, and how to vet them out. Is this an actual employee that you're bringing in? I'll show you how to do that kind of stuff.

 

Specifically, I want to share with you guys how I found VAs. So these are people that you're not going to hire, but you need to have specific talents for things that you need to be done.

 

So anyways, I'm excited about this. Let's go cut over there. This might be a little bit of a longer episode, but I think that's okay.

 

Pay close attention to this. This could save you literally time and money with the wrong person.

 

So anyways I hope you guys enjoy this, thanks so much, let's cut over now.

What's up, guys? I thought it would be cool if we go through and do a lesson today on how to find good people for your team.

 

A team is something I like to ... it's so funny...

 

I know there's a lot of people who go back and forth on this like, "You're so stupid for doing it by yourself. Okay, well, if I don't have cash flow I'm not gonna go into debt to get a team, right?

 

So that's why I started doing affiliate marketing, and then when I had a little bit of cash from the affiliate sales, I would go and get good people.

 

But then this is super choice cash, I mean it's really protected special cash, so I don't wanna go just blow that.

 

So how do I find good people? I totally get that, right? Some of you guys might be feeling that like how do I get good people then?

 

In college, I wasted a lot of my own money on bad VA's - like just tons of 'em - just 'cause I wasn't a coder. Sometimes I needed a website, or I need this, or I need that ...

 

There was this one time I spent $500 on this guy who said that he could put together a very simple thing. It was garbage. I mean holy crap it was so bad. I wasted money. I wasted money on bad writers, bad image people, bad...

 

The issue was this. In pretty much every single platform,  you can find a good virtual assistant... Places like upwork.com or freelance.com or Fiverr. Don't try to hire talent on Fiverr.

 

I like Fiverr for really tiny stuff. Why? Because it's five bucks! Like how good a talent can you get for five bucks?

 

It was the way that I was  finding people that was not good.

 

So two things here:

 

I just wanna share you guys real quick how I find people. It's actually very, well, pretty much the same strategy.

 

When I need somebody for a specific job that has to do with a creative thing, you know what I mean? Like "Hey, what's up, creative person? I need you to go make this image, or make this video intro, or outro, or make this, this jingle or voice over..." Stuff like that. I will go in, and I will just try and get a someone real fast, pay $50, $100, $200, $300 to go and do this thing.

 

When it's somebody that I'm wanting to bring onto my team, (whether or not they're a 1099 or they're actually W2) - the process for it is actually very similar. But one's just more intense than the other.

 

So to get a creative, okay? If you're like "Hey, I'm building this funnel, I wanna find somebody for this, this and this."  Freelancer is the best. Freelancer.com is amazing. If you guys go over to bestmarketingresources.com and scroll down, you'll see my video on how to get good people.

 

This is a big topic, right? So you'll see my video on how to get good people, and then what I wanna show you...

 

If you use the link to get a freelancer account, I think they give you $15 credit or something like that.

 

It's my affiliate link of course, but anyways, you get a little goodie for that.

 

There's a really good book called... I remember the sub-headline... It's called A Whole New Mind. It's called Why right-brained thinkers will rule the future... or rule the world." It's something like that. It's a fantastic book.

 

If you think about where we are right now and you're like, "Stephen, what does this have to do with getting a team?" It has a lot to do with it.

 

Are you farming right now? Unless it's by choice, probably not.  Are you going to a Well every day to get your water? I doubt it, right?

 

There are so many things in life that are already taken care of for us.

 

In the past, fortunes were made by supplying the basics of life. Fortunes were made that way, right? Let's get power to you. Let's get internet to you. Let's get water, food, let's get shelter, let's get ...

 

You're not building your own house most likely, right? There are systems created around the basics of life.

 

It makes the argument that because of that those are very left-brained ideas. What's logical, "Why I should go and make a system to bring water to my house?" That's a logical thing.

 

And so it says, because so many of the logical things have been taken care of now, the future is ruled by those who can be right-brained thinkers - those who are the creatives. Those who can sit down and say, "Hey, you know what? I've got this idea."  That's why right-brained thinkers rule the future.

 

I know that's one of the reasons why I do so well with my stuff is because I try to be creative, right? I wouldn't say I necessarily was at the beginning of my life, but that too can be a learned trait.

 

In the book, it goes on to say, "You've gotta figure out to be creative." So the problem is that you wanna make sure that you get someone on your team who is creative, right? Who's actually good at what they do, right? I still believe in capitalism baby, woo. I want the best of the best in every area of life.

 

So how do you find a good virtual assistant? How do you find a good freelancer to come and do this task or that task for you?

 

Following the capitalist rule... I stopped just going and trying to find somebody who was awesome. Instead, I created contests. This is literally how and why I was able to do what I do. Because while I was working a job, I had these rock stars getting these things done for me - which was paid for by affiliate cash.

 

So that's why I'm trying to help you guys understand this thing. So one of the things I did though with this is I went, and I grabbed ... funny enough Upwork doesn't even do the same work. They may have added it in the past little bit but, anyway ... freelancer.com is my favorite because they are the only one that allows me to actually create a contest...Freelancer facilitates the contest.

 

So what I like to do, and I'm like "Man, I need somebody to create images for me." I still do this, guys. I've got a bank of people that I'll go back to because of this process. This is the process. I had somebody complain to me once, "But that sounds like it's gonna take a few days." I'm like, "You're not gonna spend a few days finding somebody who's really good. What's wrong with you? C'mon, right?"

 

So this is what I do. It's all automated, but freelancer is the only platform I know of that automates and facilitates this contest process.

 

So what I do is  I try to make sure to overpay a little bit in these contests. So these contests run like this: I don't have to pay you unless you are the contest winner.

 

So here's what I do. I say, "Hey, what's up everyone?" ...Let's say it's an image and I just need a simple cropping done and put on the background of something else.

 

Something really, really easy and photoshopped. Something I could probably take my own time to go do, but I'm not an expert at it so why would I do it? So I don't.

 

So instead, in Freelancer I can put a contest up that says, "Hey, I need this image." I usually do a little screen record. "I need this image placed on this background, with this stuff cut out. It's a contest, and if you win the contest, I'll give you $100." $100? What? That's part of the strategy. You understand?

 

I make sure to overpay a little bit for it. Why? Because it attracts a butt load of people to me, right? Lots of the freelancer people they start jumping on and jumping on and jumping on and jumping on. They start submitting this image.

 

I make the contest a week long, and then what I do after that is I make sure that in the contest, I've got my critiques set to public - so that everybody else can see all the other submissions, and everybody can see my critiques.

 

For the first five days is I am pretty harsh in my critiques. I'm not saying I'm rude, but I'm not mincing words:

 

"I hate this. I hate that. I love this. Change that. I hate this. This is terrible. No, nothing like this at all. Why did you do this?"

 

Frankly, I'm very forward about it, and I don't wanna say rude. I'm not rude about it, but I'm forward because I know hundreds of other freelancers are watching my comments. They're watching my critiques.

 

And what's funny is 'cause it always happens away. I always do it for a week. I  do a week long, and I'm publicly critiquing just once a day, hard, heavy. Public critique, public critique, public critique. I'm like, "Holy crap, this is terrible," or like, "No, whoa, not this at all. Are you kidding?"  I'm super forward, and I'm giving feedback back on the critique.

 

Well, everybody can see that in the contest. Everyone sees it. Everyone gets notified of it.  The funny part is that on the last two days, the real talent will swoop in. The real talent swoops in, they see the comments, they see my critiques, and then they'll make just this incredible stuff, and I'm like, "Where have you been? I've been trying to find you in all of Freelancer and all of the freelancing world, the entire VA world. Where have you been?"

 

During the last two days, I'm even more interactive, and I will farm out the top 10 people and keep interacting, keep interacting. "Yes, I hate this. No, I don't like that." Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. Back and forth, back and forth, and then it's always within the last 12 hours just the most incredible work comes through, and I only have to pay the top one.

 

I did this once on a t-shirt and I had ... was it a t-shirt or an image? I can't remember. There was over 200 submissions. 200! It was cool 'cause the last little bit right, the last few hours, the real talent came in, the true designers. Just really gifted people, I could tell. They came in and I only had to pay the top person, but now the next time I needed a t-shirt done, I just went to those top three. I can go back to them afterward and just go straight to them, rather than a contest.

 

Does that make sense?

 

I literally filtered out hundreds of people that weren't good. I've done that whenever I need an image. I don't have to keep doing it because I found who they are, right?

 

That's literally how I created the graphic for Sales Funnel Radio - with me pointing at my shirt. It's through a contest. That's how I came up with that. The t-shirt that I have for "Hey, Steve." That was a contest.

 

A game, an actual coder. I found ... that actually was a "Help with freelancer" themselves. It's like an extra $10, and they helped me find out a good person. I love freelancer for that reason.

 

So number one, the biggest way to create and grow a team is you gotta understand, I use contests. I use 'em heavily. Not just when I need a freelancer position. I actually use it when I am hiring out for team members as well.

 

So when I found my incredible Facebook traffic driver, and you guys know that story if you're this far in the training. You guys know that story of me hiring Sema. You guys have learned it from Sema. It was literally a contest, and she won.

 

Then after that, I was like, "Holy crap, you're Dan Henry's traffic guy, too." That's crazy. She's very, very talented, but I found her because of contests.

 

I don't give a crap about resumes. It's what peaks my interest initially, but who I actually decide to have a long-term relationship with, it's based on contests. Who makes it rain? Who can make it happen? I want those kinds of people, and so I make sure I get people who can do that.

 

I use contests regardless of whether it's on the freelancer platform or not. Usually, I try and use though because there's great talent on there. You just gotta find 'em. Then in the future, you don't have to do it again.

 

A few caveats with this whole thing:

 

In college, I was taught to hire for the sake of building a business before creating revenue. That's backward. That's dumb. Don't do that. In my honest opinion, that is some seriously terrible advice. College taught me some great things. That was not one of them.

 

If you guys have ever watched my podcast, I've talked about the beginning of this year what really happened to me. There was like $200 grand almost that came in, just bam, real fast, but my business structure wasn't there to support the revenue coming in.

 

I had never considered that a funnel was not a business until like two or three years ago. I was like, "Yeah, well I built the funnel, so therefore I got the revenue," that's it. Like, "No, no, no, you still need a business to support the revenue." Support, itself. Fulfillment. Maybe you gotta get out there and actually do shipping stuff.

 

Maybe it's high ticket - like you're gonna fly out to them. What are the processes? If I handle every single customer complaint different. If I handle every single Dream 100 package totally different... I'm not saying you shouldn't customize.

 

If I handle every single purchase differently. If I handle every single aspect of every single thing I do, every time different. I don't have a business. I am the business. Does that make sense?

 

So I can have a funnel, but if there are no systems, there's no business. And so that's exactly what I'm trying to say here.

 

So I don't care about this whole like go build a team thing. Don't do it until you have freaking revenue. Otherwise, you're gonna go into debt. That's why they teach "Go get a loan, go get business loans. Go build a proposal to get a loan." Why? What does that money do? That was asked: "What are you gonna do with this money?"

 

The scary thing is when you find out that money that you've taken on is to build a business structure only. That's freaking scary because it means that you literally have no proof of concept. There's no proof of concept. There's nothing.

 

So what I'm trying to say is you guys gotta understand, don't go build teams for the sake of people saying you need one. Hire when it hurts. That's my whole thing. I hire when it hurts. Which means I gotta run hard. I'm totally fine putting a little sweat equity - which I'm totally known for doing. I'm cool with that.

 

I'm not telling you not to get help. I'm not telling you that you should be the one to do all the aspects inside of your company - but until you get revenue, man, I would not go out and hire people. I mean, for real, don't go hire people.

 

When it comes to team things though as far as like or creatives, I'm not gonna go take the time to learn some aspects of Photoshop that I know some other guy could just ... I could pay him $50 for and just have him do it, right? You see what I'm saying? Right.

 

You know Russell does all his doodle drawings? I went, and I found this awesome doodle drawing guy on freelancer to do some very similar things for a workbook I was putting out. It was a huge process to find him, but when I found him... I go back to him all the time now. He's awesome. He's super cool, and he does all my doodles for me now.

 

Anyways, I want you to know when it comes to creatives or when it comes to anything,  just 'cause I can do something...

 

There are several schools of thought with this. Yes, the business should not all be you eventually. It's fine if it is for a while -  in my opinion. If you're just standing up, you're just barely getting revenue coming in - I don't know why you'd ever go hire somebody? All your revenue should be back into putting into getting more sales, right? So eventually don't be the business. Don't be the business. Don't be the only one running the business. Get a team, get a system running. Totally, 100% love it.

 

In contrast to that,  I believe that you should hire when it hurts. That's something that Russell always told me when I was there with him. He said, "Hire when it hurts, hire when it hurts, hire when it hurts." Meaning if you can handle it, keep doing it.

 

A lot of companies died because they hire too quickly. Seriously, that's one of the major reasons why companies die quick is because they hire too fast.

 

To caveat that again with a third point,  just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should be doing it.

 

As I said, I'm not gonna go learn crazy things in Photoshop just to pull off this one image.  I'm just gonna go hire a dude. You know what I mean?

 

What I'm trying to help you guys understand, is that the trick is seeing what task needs to get done and asking yourself, "Is this a task that I can do?" Or "Is it a task I should do?" You know what I mean? You're trying to figure out what scenario to go for. "Am I just gonna pay $50 for someone to get it done for me in the next 24 hours, or should I just do it?"

 

Guys, entrepreneurs wear a lot of hats at the beginning, that's totally fine. It's the reason you love your company so much. It's the reason I love my company so much. It's the reason I'm very babyish of it. I have given much family time to the business instead of my family. You know what I mean? Because I'm wearing a lot of hats.

 

As things have grown, I've found other places,  people, and systems that take over aspects of it for me. But you gotta ask yourself....

 

The fourth point to think about is, "Is this a revenue-generating activity?" If it is, you should do it. If it's not, don't do it. Is the image you need to go get created, is there potential for it to bring revenue in? If the answer is yes, okay that's fine. But it doesn't mean you should do it. Maybe you could just go pay someone $50 to get it done, or run a contest and find out who that person is? You understand what I'm saying? I'm trying to teach several different schools of thought...

 

I run my entire process of this thing, I call  Red Dot, Green Dot.

I think entrepreneurs are really good at writing massive task lists, and that's cool. But the problem is that bogs you down, it stresses you out, and overloads you. Some things should be getting done, you never get done because they're important, but not that important. You know what I mean?

 

So I like to list out all the things I need to go do, and then I'll do a red dot, green dot. There are several planning systems that I use. This is the one I really a lot.

 

I just list out all the stuff and be like, "Oh, green dot. That's the one that makes me revenue, sweet." If it's a big green dot, I do it during the parts of the day that I know I'm most fresh. Usually, for me, that's like 7 am to 1pm.

 

I do the small green dots in the evening or the afternoon. They're still revenue generating - just not as big, right? A big green dot, that's like script writing, certain aspects of funnel building, or doing sales videos where I need to be fresh, I need to be awesome, I need to be hopping on. Does that make sense?

 

A red dot is something that needs to get done, but it's literally a cost on the business. I should never be doing those roles. An easy way to do it, and the way I did it for quite a while, was a red dot, green dot. Is it a green dot or a small green dot? What's the red dot? If it's a red dot, don't even worry about it. Most of the time, you really don't need to worry about those things. Unless it's like, set up an LLC or something that's truly foundational, but I guess technically that's revenue generating, that's why you're doing it.

 

So I hope that helps. I hope that helps with the whole team building thing. I just wanted to do a lesson real quick on how to actually find good virtual assistants, on how to find them and how to source things out.

 

I'll tell you, I just wanna finish with this real quick. I'll tell ya something that Dana Derricks told me:

 

He and I were chatting on Voxer one day, and he said one thing that's really helped me out is...

At the beginning you're probably the one doing support, that's fine. Especially when you're wearing a lot of hats. After a while, you don't wanna be doing that. It's not revenue generating, but you may not have the revenue to get rid of it and buy back your time. You know what I mean? So just keep going on it, that's totally fine.

 

....But one thing Dana told me, that I thought it was really cool, he said, "I always make sure whenever I'm about to go do a process, that I do it the hardest, most arduous way possible. Because when I do that, I make sure to document what I'm doing.  Then I literally have the system that I need to hire someone to do." He's like, "I make sure I do it the hardest way."

 

It's completely 180˚ of how most people react to pain or any kind of discomfort or growth. Like, "I don't wanna do the hardest way! Are you kidding me? Don't make me do it the hardest way." But he's the exact opposite, man.

 

He's like,  "Do the exact opposite, do something the hardest way the first time, do it a few times to document your system, document the process and now you have the system."  You'll know exactly what to hand off to somebody to buy back your time and replace you. I thought that was very, very key and really cool that he said that.

 

Anyways, guys, hopefully, that's helpful for ya. I just wanted to tell you a little bit about that.

 

So as you start to grow and start to get cash coming in. Honestly, strategically, what I would do, start thinking about what it is you really wanna go sell?

 

Affiliate products are incredible. A lot of people make a fortune just selling other people's products. It is a lot more fulfilling - both to your wallet, but also to you - to have your own product.

 

So as you're kinda beginning to stockpile cash, you're trying to figure out what you wanna go sell or whatever, it's just, it's important to think about that kinda stuff.

 

I've never seen a 2 Comma Club winner do it on their own - EVER! They might be the solopreneur, but they got a team. They at least got an assistant, a support guy, a high ticket seller, you know? Stuff like that. A fulfillment guy. You know what I mean? A sales guy. Does that make sense?

 

They're the ones still running it, but they got the team below them doing all the dirty work making sure the stuff gets done so they can keep selling. You know what I mean? I've never seen a 2 Comma Club winner EVER get it solely on their own. Where they're doing every function of the business, Yeah, right, Yeah right! That doesn't happen.

 

So just know as you start to get cash in...

 

I know a lot of you guys may not have money right now. That's totally fine, but as you start to get cash coming in, start thinking, "Where do I wanna drive the ship? Where do I wanna go? How do I wanna make this happen?"

 

And as you do that, hire smartly. Hire slow. Hire very slow. Be very careful of who you're bringing in. Be very careful what they do. Are you actually hiring a skill or just a heartbeat? Are you hiring a skill or just a heartbeat?

 

And with those few things in mind, use red dot, green dot,  so that you know you what you should be doing. Can someone else be doing it? Do you have the revenue to do it? Maybe you don't. Go sell something else then, right?

 

Anyway, super cool guys. And hopefully, this is a helpful lesson for you. I said that was the last thing, but this is the last thing here.

 

When Russell was getting Tony Robbins to speak at Funnel Hacking Live. He's not cheap, okay? I'm legally not allowed to tell you how much it was, but it was an absolute crap ton amount of money. It was a huge amount of money.

 

I know that Russell follows a principle called, "The question is not how do I do this? It's who already knows how to do it?" It's not what? it's who? It's not how? It's who. "Who knows how to do what I need?"

 

And what was interesting is instead of going like, *SHOCK* "Tony, you want that much money? What?" And freaking out about it, he said, "Okay, how can I afford that?" He could've paid out of his own pocket, but that's not the point. He's not gonna use his own cash. Instead, he asked, "How can the business pay for it?" So he added a few extra things to the event to pay for the thing he most wanted.

 

There was a guy who taught me once. He's the man actually. He's Don Hobbs. I was on a call with him, and he said, "Stephen, the question you need to start asking yourself as you're leaving ClickFunnels - this is a little bit after I had left. He said the thing you need to start asking yourself, "How can I hire people that I can't afford?"

 

When you can hire people that you can't afford it means that your vision of what you're trying to take down is big enough, but also realistic enough that it's attracting actual talent.

 

If you look at the list of people that I have had on this course so far for you guys, I could not pay all their fees together in a lump sum - there's no way, there's no way. I sold them on coming to do this because of the vision, and because of what I'm actually trying to get done.

 

When you actually go and start grabbing people in, when it's actual growth time, you need to make sure that you're hire slow, and you're hiring people that you actually cannot afford. Because when you do it that way, you're actually gonna be protecting your vision. You're gonna be hiring people who actually invested in what you're doing. What are they doing in the nighttime hours? What are they doing in the evening hours? What are they doing, right?

 

Man, I'm still building ClickFunnels dream even though I don't work there. I'm 100% invested in that. I know I am, right? I'm 100% invested in the products that I sell because I change people's lives. I know I am. And when I find people that are aligned like that, it's a huge deal.

 

So I make sure I go, and I grab... like that's why we hire slow. And you try and find people based off of talent, not how much they're gonna say like, "Oh, well, I'm this much money." Well if the vision is big enough, it's cool enough, and it not just like far-fetched, then you're gonna have a great time because you're gonna start attracting amazing talent to you that scratches your back and theirs. It might mean a partnership. It might mean that you just give them some revenue.

 

I hate it when somebody approaches me and says, "Hey, I got a great opportunity for ya, Stephen." You think I need another one? I got plenty. I'm trying to manage the opportunities I'm finding on my own. I don't need any more opportunities.

 

When someone walks up, they go, "Stephen, I got this great idea. Dude, here's the idea.  If you go build it, I'll give you like 50%!" And I'm like, "Huh. You know what's fascinating? I could just go do that on my own and keep 100% of it." Right? Ideas are nothing, guys. Ideas are not assets. "I got an idea." So? It's worth nothing. I don't even care what the idea is. Right?

 

That's why I was laughing at Shark Tank. They're like, "Well, I haven't actually sold anything yet." Then you have nothing. Even if you're holding the freaking product. You have nothing. Ideas are nothing. They're nothing. There's no value attached to an idea. Show me an idea that was sold for a whole bunch of money without some asset attached to it? It doesn't happen.

 

So when you're going out, and you start getting actual team people to start joining you, you need to make sure that what you're actually offering to somebody to come and join your thing, has everything to do with selling 'em on a vision.

 

Make sure that you've got assets. Are you gonna sell something? Ideas are nothing. So make sure, anyway ...

 

There's a podcast episode, I ranted about this a while ago.  I think it's like 100 episodes ago, but it just makes me laugh. So anyway, rant over. Rant's done.

 

But I just want you to know how I find VA's. How I find freelancers. How I find people to join my team. That's how I find 1099 versus W2 - it's because I'm trying to make sure that it's aligned with my vision, that they're people that will add constantly to the vision.

 

Guys, I worked way more than nine to five for Russell. Holy freaking crap, right? I'm totally cool with that. No contest. He spent zero time indoctrinating me into the culture of ClickFunnels. No time. I hit the ground running. No training. Tweaking? Sure. Stuff that he wanted me to change? Absolutely. But I was there to run. I produced day one.

 

So when it comes down to actually hiring people, there's no better way to do that than hiring from your own audience - 'cause they're sold on the vision, they know who you are.

 

If you're like, "Man I don't have an audience yet." That's totally fine. That's exactly my point. Then don't hire someone (like an actual W2) for a while, that's totally fine.

 

Hopefully, this hasn't felt like it's been all over the place! There's a lot of nuggets that I dropped.

 

I'm trying to help you see that when it comes to it, the sales funnel, the sales cycles are different from a business, and a business cycle. You're gonna be the one most likely doing both for a little while, and that's okay. Eventually, you shouldn't be doing both. You need to hire when it hurts. That's probably gonna be a little uncomfortable in the beginning. It is for everybody. That's okay.

 

Somebody told me this great quote: "It'll take longer than you think, but not as long as you fear."

 

So when you're jumping out you're gonna feel alone. You are alone. No one's around you. That's okay. But when you start to hire, man, it is methodical. It is not easy to work for you. It's not. It shouldn't be. You shouldn't just take anybody on. That's why I went ... that's why I still go the VA route forever -because it works.  I got my content team. None of them are W2's. They don't need to be. I still pay 'em a lot of money. But I sold them on the vision. They get crap done and problems solved I didn't even know were problems.

 

They're sold on the vision. They understand where I'm going. I'm trying to be a voice of clarity against a lot of gurus that are out there because I've actually done a lot of it. It's not just theory, you know what I mean?

 

Anyway, and when I find people who are not just willing to accept but also wanna protect and grow the same vision, it's like, "What do you want? Yes, come with me. What is it that motivates you? Okay, Tony Robbins, you want that much money? Okay,  I'm not gonna say no. Instead, let me figure out how to pay for that."

 

So this might feel like a little bit of rant, and maybe it is a bit, but I want you to understand when it comes down to the hiring thing, I'm very opinionated on this topic - because I wasted a lot of money for a lot of years until I made it hard to join my team -whether it was a $50 image or a big thing.

 

Guys, thanks so much. Hopefully, it's been helpful to ya. Again, please reach out. We got just a few more lessons that I wanna drop out to you as far as making it all work for you as an affiliate  - to make you money - and then we'll be done.

 

If you got value out of this, promote my stuff. This is my free stuff. You can imagine how good the paid stuff is. The products are good. I'll take care of your customers. I'll take care of any traffic you send over to me.  I really appreciate it. Guys, thanks so much and I'll talk to you later. See ya later, see ya in the next lesson. Bye.

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