As someone who has done more organic marketing than paid traffic, when I first came across Ben Perry and his Organic Facebook Marketing I was immediately intrigued. I think the ideal situation is organic with a paid strategy, but when you're first getting started (or rebooting things), then having an organic strategy in place is a must. The beauty of a good organic strategy is also that you're getting data without having to pay (at least monetarily, you're going to have to pay with your time, because just like anything else, growing a business organically takes work and time). I connected with Ben through is Facebook Group, Organic Marketing Secrets. What I loved instantly about Ben was his willingness to show up, every day, and do the work. Questions I Asked Ben Tell us about your background (what were you doing before starting your online business) When you joined the military was your intention to have a long-term career? Have you found that when you share your story it connects you more with people? Where did you start with internet marketing? What made you decide to go into organic Facebook marketing? Let's talk about Facebook Live. What are your insights around this medium? Why do you think people hesitate to show up? What You're Going to Learn How his daughter's cancer diagnosis drove him to re-enlist in the military How Ben went from being discharged from the military to a thriving online business The initial product (person) that inspired Ben at 16 to get into marketing (and is where he picked up after he left the military) How jumping full force into Facebook in 2013 forced Ben to cash out his military retirement so he could work with a mentor How Ben used the GI bill to pay for school and support him while he was completing school and immersing himself in marketing and sales Where to Connect with Ben Website | Facebook Group

I've been thinking about this a lot in the last month or so and knew it was time to share it on a podcast with you guys. Hopefully, through the writing of these show notes, I'll be able to articulate exactly what I mean and it makes sense to you (hopefully by now you guys are familiar with 'Kimspeak' though and this will flow for you). I've been sharing how I've been a little obsessed with all this stuff 'behind the scenes' lately... and it's working. Taking the time to work on this stuff and figure out the things that people can't see is helping me create better stuff that people can see. The end product. I'm going to share something with you from one of Seth Godin's books, "What To Do When It's Your Turn (and it's always your turn)": "WAIT. While standing on one foot, we ask, impatiently, "what's this about?" We don't go to a movie unless the coming attraction tells us exactly what to expect. We don't listen to music we're not sure we'll like. And we want to know how to pigeonhole every idea and every book so we can move on and click. Please, wait. Let it simmer. It might not be for you, but at least this time, postpone the relief of resolution. This is your opportunity to make something that matters." -Seth Godin Amen. We're living in a time when it's very easy to get distracted, get consumed by information, and stay stuck on the hamster wheel. Yes, entrepreneurs can get stuck on the hamster wheel just like employees do. What happens is we start our businesses excited and motivated. We take off from the start line guns blazing (I don't know if that's the correct saying here, but you get my point). Then a few months in you realize, "hmm... this is hard work. This is going to take longer than I expected" and you start looking for a different path. You still want the results you hoped for when you started, freedom, income, making your mark on the world, but all of the sudden you realize that just like a job, you have to show up every day and do the work. Don't worry, before you think this is going to be another post or rant about "doing the work", hang with me for a minute. What I've realized (just in the past couple of years), is that we often think we're doing the work. And we are... sort of. Here are some of the things I'm referring to, tell me if they sound familiar: Reading posts and books about what you're doing Buying and starting courses (because after all, it's that ONE course that will change everything, right?) Creating cohesive branding collateral (logo, site, lead magnets, etc.) Mapping out products and services Sharing things on social media Making lists of ideas Creating multiple opt-ins on your site ... etc., etc., etc. Here's why that's only 'sort of ' doing the work. You NEVER actually produce anything. Cue the sad music... Let me share a couple examples/stories because I think it will make more sense and probably connect on a deeper level for many of you. Before I share these stories with you let me say that there is zero judgment here. Both are examples of people I know and am close with, and both are still in the same place they were 9 years ago when I started this business. One friend, I've known for about 20 years and one is someone I met the first year I started my business. Story 1 The first friend (that I've known for 20 years), was with me from the very beginning of my journey. She and I had gone to a wealth expo in San Francisco (pre-crash of 2008, I think it was 2006?) and went into one of their side sessions and it was about internet marketing. I had already had my interest peaked after having heard someone on an audio program talking about it. Before I go any further, let me remind you that I was NOT technical at this point in my life (or should say I didn't think I was). We were both hooked by the promise and possibility of the internet (I really thought I was going to be a million...

When I looked back to the first time I had Dan Norris on the podcast I was floored to see that it was almost 100 episodes ago! Dan as always has been busy creating, producing content,  and even launching a brewery! I had a ton of questions for Dan about Black Hops as well as the sale of WP Curve his books, and the fun project he launched for explainer videos, BoredAF ( I told you he's been busy). At the time of this recording, Dan and his partners with Black Hops Brewing had just hit a milestone revenue mark which was pretty exciting (he was pretty generous with sharing numbers when he could, which I kind of put him on the spot a few times, unintentionally. Sorry Dan!). Of course, I had to pick his brain about content creation. Having gotten sidetracked a couple years ago with the mastermind I was in, you guys know I've come full circle back to working on (and mastering) the fundamentals. Content is a huge part of the fundamentals for me and Dan's book, Content Machine, was pivotal for me. Questions I Asked Dan How has opening a brick & mortar business been for you? (Black Hops has brewery you can go to as well as finding the beer in other local pubs & stores) Your books Content Machine and Create or Hate were game changers for me. What are your thoughts when people say they're not good at creating content? How did your third book, Create or Hate come about? What can you share about the sale of WPCurve to GoDaddy? You've also been very transparent about the challenges you've dealt with to get to where you are (when you discussed getting kicked out of University and not making money with your agency). What are your thoughts about people being hesitant to share the struggles? How do you balance everything? What are your thoughts on focusing on "one thing?" Let's talk about Bored AF. I'm assuming the name came out of you wanting something new to work on, how's that going? What are your thoughts on Medium? What's in store for you next? What You're Going to Learn Where the idea for Black Hops came from How they created a unique beer for a video game (major release) The next step in growing and expanding the brewery and their beers The roll his books play in his overall business plan How the sale of WPCurve to GoDaddy happened (and what he could legally share with us) Dan's thoughts on repurposing content (hint: he's not a fan) What he's focusing on now Where to Connect with Dan Website | Facebook | Twitter Links from this episode A 7-Figure Business in 18 Months with Dan Norris WPCP: 056 Black Hops Brewing Content Machine Create or Hate 7 Day Startup Operation Brewery

O.K, guys... This episode is a little different in that I recorded the episode from the car before I wrote the show notes. My standard process for solo show episodes is that I write out the show notes first, then use those as a guide to record the episode. I've been thinking about how to proceed with the show notes for this episode and am going to do something a little different. I'm going to give you the bullet points and then will include the transcripts after the fact (I'm still working on them). I'm sure I'll be adding to the post after the transcripts are completed but I really wanted to get this episode out first (not wait for the transcripts). This episode was a ton of fun for me because I've been a little extra fired up lately. But fired up in a good way. I feel super focused with everything I'm doing. Why You're Not Making Money with Your WordPress Site Are you the technician or the entrepreneur? If you're stuck in the day-to-day tasks in your business and don't feel any further than you did in your business last year? You're probably the technician. If you're able to focus on what you're really great at (as opposed to keeping yourself busy with what I call the 'peripherals'), then you're the entrepreneur. At some point, you need to shout from the rooftops that you have something to SELL. That YOU can solve a problem for your customer/subscriber. If you don't want to do the marketing and promotion, it's quite possible you don't want to be an entrepreneur. Which is O.K. Not everyone who is good at a particular skill wants to sell that skill. They simply want to practice it. Here's an example of what I mean. Let's say you're an amazing woodworker. You create custom furniture pieces and love what you do. If you're more excited about woodworking than you are about selling the creations? It might be time to hire someone for marketing (or you have to step into marketing until you can hire someone). My Deep Dive into Expert Secrets This book has totally turned my life upside down (in a good way) and is where I've discovered "the missing piece" in my business. It was because of reading this book that I've had this light bulb moment and have really dug into ALL my messaging in my business. I'm starting with LeadSurveys (because it's a new brand and I'm still not super clear on everything) then will dive into WPChick. Here are a few things I've been working on: messaging why my story (what was the moment or thing that got me excited about LeadSurveys in the first place) what are people's beliefs when it comes to list building and growing their audience what is the pain point for our customer? what is the new opportunity that LeadSurveys offers them? what is the psychology behind what makes someone want to take action? NONE of this is new you guys. I've heard it all before, I've read it before, but for some reason, it's all clicking into place. And it's WORKING. Links from this episode Content Creators LeadSurveys Expert Secrets

Don't let the name of this show (or book, The Complete Software Developers Career Guide), fool you. Having this conversation with John Sonmez, one of the co-authors of the book, was a little bit of a shift for me in term of what I talk about on the show but it's also one of my favorite topics. We talked a lot about self-development, personal productivity, books that changed John's life and how you can take a different perspective on all of this. The amazing thing about John is that he's got both sides of the equation when it comes to what he calls 'soft skills' as well as the tangible skills you need to have as a software developer (basic overview of things like 'what is source control, what is unit testing, what is continuous integration, etc.). He's also devoted an entire chapter to women in tech, which is awesome. We covered SO much in this interview! Even if you're not a software developer, you're going to gain a ton from this conversation. John is a huge inspiration and the book is definitely worth grabbing! Questions I Asked John Before we jump into your new book, The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide, can you share your story with the listeners? Was there one specific thing or incident that brought on this shift for you in your business? From software developer to performance coach? How did you step into 'act as if'? Pulling in the mindset and self-development into the software development space isn't common. How did the book come about? Were there any epiphanies or things that have come out of writing the book that surprised you? Are you running paid traffic to promote the book? You're producing a LOT of content, how big is your team?   What You're Going to Learn How John went from a shy kid to software development to performance coach What book kept showing up in John's life that changed everything How John multi-purposed his blog posts into the book (and how you can too) How John used the Pomodoro timer to get the book written How John marketed the book What John means by 'Unmortgage Your Life" Where to Connect with John Website | YouTube | Twitter Links from this episode The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide Book Simple Programmer Think & Grow Rich As A Man Thinketh Psycho-Cybernetics

Content Snare is the product every web dev person has been waiting for. I know, I know, that's a big claim. But ask anyone who has ever done a website for a client... I don't care if it's an individual or an agency, getting content from clients is a pain in the arse! Projects can go on way longer than necessary and before you know it, you've got yourself into work debt (basically you start feeling like you're working for free because the project just keeps going on and on and on...). With Content Snare it doesn't have to. I had the good fortune of connecting with James Rose, one of the founders of Content Snare a while back for the podcast and am SO glad I did! Not just because they're solving a huge problem in this space but because he's a great guy. There are some amazing things happening in the WordPress space that makes it so much easier for freelancers or agencies to work more efficiently (and be more profitable). I'm really excited to share Content Snare with you guys. Questions I Asked James Before we get into Content Snare, can you share a little bit about your business and what you've been doing before launching Content Snare? I'm a huge fan of content and the power of good content marketing. Why do you think clients struggle so much with content? I'm sure there are a ton of reasons you guys created Content Snare but was there a moment or something that happened that made you guys say "we need to create a solution to this problem?" Tell us about the journey to Content Snare. How did you decide which features to include? Have there been any requests that you guys hadn't thought of? What are the plans for Content Snare this year? Your company overall? What You're Going to Learn How they came up with the idea for Content Snare How having conversations with designers gave them the validation they needed to start What they did to double their email list in only 3 days when promoting Content Snare What features will be included in the MVP (version 0) Who Content Snare was built for (but I see so many possibilities with it) What future features they'd like to include Where to Connect with James & Content Snare Website | Facebook | Twitter

Social Campaigns on automation sounded like a little more hype than I was interested in, but after a friend told me I should take a look at it I did. And I was HOOKED. Everyone knows I'm a user and fan of CoSchedule, so part of me thought, "do I really need another social tool?" When it's Missinglettr, the answer is yes. I do need another social tool. I did a quick review and post of Missinglettr when I signed up. As soon as I signed up I knew I wanted to talk with Benjamin Dell, the founder of Missingletter. Before we get into the interview, let me give you the quick overview of what Missinglettr is and does. First, it pulls your content into the platform (Missinglettr is a web app, not a WordPress plugin). You can edit your settings so that as soon as you hit publish on your site it's automatically pulled into Missinglettr. Then Missinglettr goes to work behind the scenes creating a social campaign for you. I've set it so that as soon as the campaign is ready I get a notification from Missinglettr that my "campaign is ready". This is where the magic happens. You log into your account and can now preview your campaign. The first step is to review the recommended hashtags. Missinglettr will pull these from your content but you can edit, delete, or add new ones (I tend to edit this every time). Once you've approved your hashtags, the next step is to review the campaign that was created for you. The image below shows you how many campaigns that have been created and are ready for review: Once you select the campaign to review you'll get the messages that Missinglettr has created for you (there are 9 pieces of content that are scheduled to go out over the next year. And you get to edit them so it's not the same message going out over and over): Once you edit and approve your messages then you're done! You get to go about your business and let your content go to your social networks on auto pilot. O.K., let's jump into the interview. Questions I Asked Ben As much as I'd love to dive straight into Missinglettr, I'd love to hear your story and what lead you to develop Missinglettr. Can you explain what Missinglettr is? What gave you the idea? How long was it from idea to MVP? I love your blog strategy (they use contributing bloggers). What made you decide to approach your blog this way? How have you guys been marketing Missinglettr? What You're Going to Learn What the development roadmap was for Missinglettr What current features exist What social networks are connected to Missinglettr (note: at the time of the recording, Facebook wasn't connected. It is now) When the calendar view is coming How they're going to incorporate more images and more compatibility with WordPress Where to Connect Website | Facebook | Twitter

Build the Machine First. I literally just heard that on a webinar (podcast?) from Shane Melaugh of Thrive Themes (they're launching a new podcast called Active Growth, so naturally I wanted to listen in for their launch. I love their products & content. They're also brilliant at conversions & growth). I've followed the content on Thrive Themes as soon as I became a customer. It's one of the very few product sites I read regularly (they do content around using their products as well as online marketing strategies). One of my most favorite things that Thrive Themes does is break things down, step-by-step. Which was no doubt why Shane said to "build the machine first." Before we get into building the machine, I wanted to talk about a few things I see going on in the online marketing space and what it means for us. Buh-bye Bullsh*t Obviously, there will always be the ding dongs out there who make huge income claims or get caught up in the 'make money teaching how to make money' space, but they won't last long. During a recent podcast interview, I had with Troy Dean he reminded me of something I think most of us who have been online for a while forget... "there are literally hundreds of thousands of people discovering WordPres for the first time every day"... think about that for a minute. And it doesn't have to be WordPress. Whatever it is you do, there are tons of people out there who are just discovering what you do and would love to learn more. At the same time, there are tons of people out there who hit the web running with enthusiasm for finding their "thing" and find the douchey marketers first. Then they get frustrated because they've invested thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours (quite possibly thousands of hours as well) and haven't made a penny. They own more information products than they know what to do with, haven't completed most of them (side note: plenty of these products may very well be great products, but most are rarely a 'one size fits all' solution), and are on total overload. I wish nothing more for people to understand that creating a profitable online business takes work, commitment, and time. Can it happen faster than an offline business? Totally. In terms of speed, that depends on you. Although it's not how quickly you do things... it's how consistently you do things. As much as I try not to give energy to regrets, I truly wish I had gotten this lesson earlier. I wish I had trusted what felt right in my gut when I was building my business and had the strength to put blinders on when I came across shiny objects or lifestyle images. Not because everything was bullsh*t, but because they were simply distractions. Every time I went in a different direction (and losing site of the fundamentals), it delayed the results I wanted. Think about it... Let's say you decide you want to paint your house (or simply a room for that matter). What happens if start painting one wall, then go to Pinterest and start looking at other paint colors. You see something that appears to look better so you go get a different color and start over. Then you do this 10 more times. You NEVER see the end result. You never get the full picture for what the color would look like on the house or in the room because you never complete the job. Let's say you do finish the paint job... Unless you're having a party or inviting people over you'll never get the 'wow! Love the paint color you chose!' Of course, you painted the room for you, but the validation still feels good, right? Can you imagine going through this process over and over and over again? At some point you'd just pick a color... any color, because you'd be so sick of painting that you would just want it DONE. This is what happens in business when you keep jumping from one thing to the next (note: there is also a time for letting things go before they're finished as well,

Beaver Themer was the initial reason I asked Robby to come back on the podcast (of course representing the Beaver Builder team). This was my second 'three-peat' guest on the podcast and I couldn't be happier that Robby McCullough joined me to represent Beaver Builder for the third time on the show. Needless to say, we talked about Beaver Themer, but we also talked about the amazing year and journey that the Beaver Builder team (and company) has gone through. I couldn't be happier for them, their success and the amazing community that has grown from one simple idea. The simple idea to streamline the site building process. Questions I Asked Robby Congratulations on the 3 Year Birthday of Beaver Builder! Super exciting! What's changed for you guys since the first interview we did? Can we talk a little bit about the partnership with GoDaddy? How did that come about? The Beaver Builder Community is pretty amazing, how does that make you guys feel to see such a strong community that has grown from your product? How many downloads have you guys had of both plugins (the free & premium)? Let's talk Beaver Themer. Can you explain to the listeners what Beaver Themer is? What are the best uses for Beaver Themer? How long was Beaver Themer in the making? Next is the new UI for Beaver Builder, when is that coming out? What You're Going to Learn Why the Beaver Builder team started with a premium product and then released a free version The changes they made to the plugin specifically to incorporate it into the GoDaddy on-boarding process How the Beaver Builder Facebook community was started (shout out to Dave Toomey) What the Beaver Builder team thinks about the third party ecosystem that has evolved from their product Who they've followed for inspiration to grow their support and ecosystem What Robby's thoughts are on pricing in the WordPress space How they've grown with the team What's coming with the Builder 2.0 Where to Connect with Beaver Builder Website | Facebook Group | Twitter Links from this episode Beaver Builder Beaver Themer Beaver Lodge PowerPack for Beaver Builder Ultimate Beaver Addons Beaver Builder Swag Store

I'm totally going to date myself here... but as soon as I wrote 'Let's Get Personal' in the post title the song "Let's Get Physical" by Olivia Newton-John popped into my head and has been stuck on loop. Although I will say that I was still in elementary school when this song came out (trying to hold on to as much of my youth as I can I guess). I've gotten a wee bit obsessed with where things are headed in terms of personalization in marketing. I'm sure I would have dipped my toes in eventually, but as soon as we started working on LeadSurveys and what we wanted it to do, down the rabbit hole I went. I'll talk a little more about LeadSurveys in a minute, but let's talk about personalization. There are a few terms you're probably familiar with when it comes to personalization. You've seen people use custom fields or merge tags in email marketing (ex: Hi {first_name} and it automatically inserts your first name into the body of the email, or whatever name you gave them when you signed up in the first name field. ;- )). No doubt you've experienced some of this when you're online shopping and next thing you know you see ads everywhere for a product you were looking at a few days prior. This is the magic of retargeting.   It might feel a little creepy (Lord knows all of our action online is creating data for someone), but it's also making sure you only see ads for things you're interested in (note: I'm not saying you will only see ads for things you're interested in. It depends on how many ads are on a site you're looking at and the type of advertising the site owner is using). Things are going to get a lot more personal. I've mentioned in a few of my recent emails that I'm moving from Active Campaign to Drip. I've been really happy with Active Campaign but as I started digging into more automation I realized that Drip has way more potential with their features than Active Campaign does. I also read a great article by Andre' Chaperon where he explained in full detail the power of Drip and he more or less convinced me. I definitely have plenty to learn with Drip, but that's O.K., I'm in this for the long haul. Taking the time to set up these automations and send the right message to the right people at the right time will be golden. Here are a few of the things you're going to see more of when it comes to personalization: What does all this mean for you? You don't have to change everything you're doing, but you should start preparing for these options. The first thing I would recommend you do is to make sure you're using an ESP (email service provider) that has the power to do all of this (obviously my recommendation is Drip). If you're using an ESP that doesn't allow tagging or segmenting, then you should move to one that will does this now and start segmenting your subscribers. I recently wrote on post in more depth over at LeadSurveys that will explain where to start with this. Read 'Segmenting Subscribers: Why You Need to and Where to Start' I cannot recommend ENOUGH that you should NOT jump into every element of this at once. If all of this is new to you then you should simply start by planning and get the basics set up. Begin by segmenting your subscribers and deciding what the customer journey (or path) is going to be. You don't need to start building crazy funnels with upsells, downsells, etc. Start collecting emails and segmenting subscribers. That's step 1. How I'm doing all this... I've got the basics set up. I have a tagging framework that makes sense to me and follow-up sequences for each. The next step will be a more in-depth sequence with triggers built into the sequences. My challenge will be managing all of this while doing my daily emails. I love doing the daily emails and won't be changing that anytime soon, so I need to figure out the best way to use both without people being sick of hearing from me.