Sales Funnel Radio

My focus is shifting from, "what should I have customers do post-purchase" to "what should they do pre-purchase?"   Cue drum roll, cue lights; it's time to grab that tux and dig out that little black dress because - TODAY, your product is about to get the Hollywood Treatment.   I'm about to drop some gold here - so settle down and take notes ;-) WHEN OVER-DELIVERING IS A BAD MOVE   Recently I've been focusing on the small tweaks that you can make in your customer onboarding that create BIG effects.   There this time that I built  86 funnels (x2) for a promotion that Russell was doing for one of Stu McLaren’s products called Tribe.   When somebody purchases Tribe, they are given a step by step path to help them go through the program without overwhelm.   Let’s think about that for a moment…   Have you ever bought an online course and been so overwhelmed by the amount of content that you didn’t know where to start... or even worse, decided to ask for a refund?   Providing a massive amount of content often makes us feel great because we feel like we're over-delivering. However, bombarding a customer with too much information can actually freak them out - causing them to utter the dreaded “refund” word. (*gasp*)   Your customer is not looking to be overwhelmed; they're looking for a solution.   Since I launched my product, I've been thinking a lot about the concept of onboarding and success paths. I've been trying to figure out the most effective ways to hand-hold your customers into being successful.   There was a membership area that I built. It was by far the best members area I've ever created in my entire life. The problem was that it contained 200 hours of content.  It was packed with value, but it was just too much for most people to handle.   People were coming up to me saying: “I gotta quit my job to watch this! I'll never get through it." It was way too much stuff.   People felt so stressed that they started asking for refunds. If they didn't have time to consume all the content - they wouldn't get the result - so they asked for their money back. Not good, right?   So I started to create success paths that show customers exactly where they should start and what they should do if they want to achieve a certain result.   Your kind of giving your customer permission to focus on just one thing and holding their hand along the journey.   Creating a Success Path is a super effective way to increase customer satisfaction and reduce refund requests   We’ve just talked about the importance of a post-purchase success path for your customers… but what about before they purchase? What happens there?   Is it possible to create a pre-purchase success path to help you increase sales? The answer is a definite YES!   PRE-PURCHASE THE HOLLYWOOD WAY   Think about how Hollywood releases previews way before the movie gets released.   Can imagine what would happen if Hollywood didn't release previews? I mean, think about that. Our brains wouldn’t be pre-framed and loaded with anticipation. We wouldn’t look forward to the release dates and arrange to go to the movies with friends. A movie release would just slip out without much of an event.   It's like being really excited to go to a party or vacation. Sometimes, the most exciting bit is the anticipation and planning beforehand. THE BEST PART OF YOUR VACATION ISN’T WHAT YOU THINK   A 2010 study published in the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life, found that planning or anticipating your holiday often makes you happier than actually taking it. The happiest part of your vacation actually happens before you even begin your holiday   How does this work? I have a favorite story that explains what’s going on in our brains when this happens, so let me share it with you quickly… THE WARM/ COLD EXPERIMENT   There was a college class who were told that they would have a substitute teacher for the day.   Right before the substitute teacher came in to teach, the students were handed a biography of the teacher. However, there were two versions of the biography.   Both versions were completely identical except for one word.   One version said that, most students found the new teacher to be a very “warm” person,” The second version said that, most people him to be a very “cold” person.   The biographies where split equally between the students - Half the students were pre-framed to expect the teacher to be warm and friendly, while the other half expected him to be cold and aloof.   What happened next was fascinating...   At the end of  the class, they surveyed the students to see if the professor should continue teaching.   The students who were pre-framed with the “warm” biography said that he was incredible and that they enjoyed the class.   Conversely, the students who were given the “cold” biography  answered that they didn’t enjoy the class and didn’t want the professor to continue to teach.   It was exactly the same person teaching exactly the same lecture - but students the responses were wildly different depending on how they’d been pre-framed!   That’s nuts, right? It was exactly the same person teaching exactly the same lecture. On the surface, the students were in the same room having the exact same experience, but how positively they responded depended on the pre-frame that existed in their head.   Isn’t that fascinating?   As a marketer, I started to ask the question:   What can I put in place to pre-frame and  build positive anticipation for the purchase of my product?   I started to look for a way to boost levels of anticipation and to create “an event” around the purchase of my product?   So here’s what I’ve been doing…   CREATING A PRE-PURCHASE EVENT   Before people attend my webinar, I have a product that they can purchase which helps me to recoup my ad cost.     As soon as somebody buys that mini product - I have a system set up that sends a message to my phone telling me who it is and I send them a quick personalized message.   Bloop. It sends straight back over to their email, and they get a personal message from me inviting them to come and watch the webinar. It's super effective.   We have a program on my funnel called “Deadline Funnel” and when somebody doesn't purchase within a certain window of time, it removes their ability to buy   Next we ask them if, “they want to join the waiting list?”   The people who join the waiting list are super pre-framed to buy the next time the purchase window opens because they don’t know when they’ll get another opportunity. BAM! It’s sooo effective.   What I'm trying to illustrate is that the way a customer is pre-sold your product drastically affects the likelihood of them buying the program - and their success once they purchase.   So start focusing on the question:   How can I pre-frame my customers brain to create a purchase, and to make the purchasing experience better? TAKING THE EASY PATH   There are a group of people who purchased one of my main products who did not go through a success path. It's the same product, and yet they are having a different experience.   Nothing has changed in the product. However, the way they were pre-framed and what happened after they purchased was different.   You guys know how to create  value, but if the lead up to the purchase doesn’t create enough anticipation and the post-purchase success path doesn’t do the right amount of hand-holding afterwards; then you are making your life (and the experience of your customers) harder than it needs to be.   With some great pre-framing and an effective success path - the same product can produce a vastly different experience for your customer.   Start thinking about, how you can create a positive pre-purchase experience and an supportive success path post-purchase.   For a long time, I was only thinking about post-purchase, but once I started thinking about pre-purchase too my results went wild.   Getting people excited to buy, then finding ways to reduce overwhelm post purchase is one of the keys things that you can do .   Most people spend too much time running around asking, “Is my product good enough?” The answer is “Yeah, it usually is.”   There’s just not enough of a pre-frame. You’re literally sending your potential customers straight to an order page or a sales message.   You need to put something in place that will actually get them in the mood to buy. Start thinking of how you can create an event for someone who is thinking of buying your product - think of it as a Hollywood preview that builds anticipation for your product.   Ask  yourself: How can I create a Red Carpet experience for my customers?   Answering that question will pay you back tenfold.   Until next time - Keep Crushing It!   Got a question you want answered live on the show? Head over to salesfunnelradio.com and ask your question now. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

A common funnel error is targeting the wrong persona in the red ocean…   Do you have a great product that you know could change someone's life, but you’re not getting the sales you want?  Well, stick with me, because you might just be selling to the wrong people.   In this blog, it's my mission to help you discover the customers who are ready, willing and able to buy your product. In fact, these people are so eager to buy - that you can even be a C-level copywriter - and still make loads of cash. Intrigued? You should be ;-) MY PERFECT PITCH   A few years ago, I got a job as a door to door salesman. I'd walk around knocking doors, "What's up, pest control!"   As the summer went on, I developed a bit of a theory.   I started to notice that when I went to areas that were less affluent - smaller houses, not as much cash - I could get a ton of sales fast.   I was killing it!      Two to three sales a day was good in the pest control business, but I was regularly making six. I'd collect the cash, and we'd spray the houses... I thought everything was amazing. I felt like “The Man."   Every so often, we’d rotate our areas and visit different cities with more affluent neighborhoods where people had bigger houses and more money.   When I'd knocked doors in these wealthier neighborhoods and gave them my pitch, I was shocked to find that I got a lot of rejections.   It was rejection after rejection; I couldn't figure out what was going on. So I decided to go back to those old neighborhoods where the people didn't have as much money - 'cause I knew I could sell them.   Well, at the end of the summer, at least half of my accounts failed. Lots of my contracts refunded or didn’t renew because the people I’d pitched were not able to keep up the payment - even though they “wanted” the product.   I realized that I’d perfected my pitch to sell to people with less cash.   In the meantime, all my buddies who had spent time learning how to pitch to rich people made a lot of cash.   They had fewer cancellations and sold higher value contracts - so by the time the summer was over they were still getting paid on their accounts.   Not only were their customers not leaving, but they were also putting more money in their pockets. I realized that even though I’d been making lots of sales, in reality, I’d been selling to people who didn't have the money for continuity -  which made them far more likely to refund or cancel; leaving me broke and fed up.   Sure, I'd get a lot of accounts, but none of them would stick very long.   I was like, “Crap! How can I NOT ever do that again?” It was  a huge lesson for me. WHO ARE YOU SELLING TO?   Now it probably won't surprise you to you to learn that since my pest control days, one question I’ve obsessed over is “How do I sell expensive things to people who have cash?”   Most of the time when I consult with businesses they have a great product, it’s simply that they're  selling it to the wrong “type” of person.   We know that it's best go sell in places that are competitive (i.e, the red ocean) - because there's security there.   Personally, I combine elements of the red ocean with elements of the prolific and the blue ocean to create a purple ocean offer that’s extremely attractive to your customers.   If you want to learn how I create purple ocean offers, you can find out here. However, If you want to avoid making the same mistakes that I made when I sold pest control, it’s vital that you understand the 3 personas inside of the red ocean…   So let me grab my whiteboard and show you what I’ve figured out!     YOUR “NO DUH” PROMISE   The first thing I look at on any funnel that I work on is its promise.   There are 3 “no duh” areas that people spend money in, and these are HEALTH, WEALTH & RELATIONSHIPS.   So the question that you need to answer is: “Does my product promise results in either Health, Wealth, or Relationships?”   These are the “no duh” places for people to spend money in. They are the basic that everyone wants - they’re like milk or eggs (or maybe tofu if you’re vegan). There's no salesperson next to eggs, right? It's a “no duh” buying experience.   I'm not saying, “go get in the eggs business.” But it's best to choose industries where there’s a “no duh” purchasing experience because this will make selling your product so much easier.   People will spend money on:   Improving Relationships   Improving Health   Growing businesses, investments, and wealth THE 3 PERSONAS OF THE RED OCEAN   In every red ocean and every single industry, not all buyers are created equal - that probably goes without saying, right?   So let’s look at why I made such a big mistake as a door to door salesman.   Let’s look at the 3 types of buyer who exist in the red ocean (i.e.,the proven market) and what motivates the to buy.     THE “DIE-HARDS”   The “die-hards’ are deeply seated inside of their red ocean product.   If you come to a die-hard person and say, “Hey, I got this cool thing for you.”  There not going to be interested. They’ve had success with the product that they use - they’re a fan.   I'm wearing my funnel hacker shirt right now. I'm a die-hard. For me to move away from ClickFunnels - well, it isn’t going to happen.   For me to shift from using ClickFunnels, I would need an identity shift. I would literally need change how I see myself. It’s about so much more than price and value for a die-hard.   If someone starts bad-mouthing ClickFunnels, I get a little hot and bothered about it. I'm like, “Are you kidding me? ClickFunnels changed my life! I'm a product of that product! No. I will never change.”   If you ask a die-hard to switch products - it's a personal insult. THE “BREAK-EVENS”   Let’s use a relationship example here:   Let's say someone goes to Tony Robbins kind of event and that person is someone who's considering suicide or divorce and then Tony flips them around - those people are the die-hards. They’re never not going to love Tony Robbins. They’re never not going to buy his next program coming out. For them to change to someone else would mean an identity shift. It is not likely.   However, a person who goes to a Tony Robbins type event, and as a result, they feel better about themselves - but they don’t experience a massive transformation - they’re a “break-even.”   They’ve not had a massive transformation like the die-hard. They’ve  had a little bit of a, “Oh my gosh, this is super super cool.’ They're probably gonna keep purchasing the products. They won’t be looking for anyone else for relationship advice.   They've had a taste of success, but they don't necessarily “love, love, love” the product like a die-hard would.   For the break-evens, it’s the pain of disconnect that they want to avoid.  They don’t want to go through the struggle of switching services or finding something new.     However, for the break-evens, price and value do have a role to play. If they become aware of a better product that offers more value, if the incentive is enough they will be willing to shift their allegiance. THE “NO OTHER OPTIONS”   Now, let's get to the number ones - the “no other options.”   I’m going to use a health example here:   Have you guys ever had pea protein powder? It’s like whey protein powder, but made from peas. It tastes terrible and the texture is horrible... oh my gosh! But I know it's the best one.   I was read loads of reviews and found out that pea protein is awesome for protein synthesis. I was excited to get some. When it arrived in the mail, I took a scoop, put it in water.   I have a strong stomach. I'm not the kind of guy who throws up or anything, but honestly, “That’s some nasty crap!” I’ve spent 6 months trying to find ways to mask the texture of that crap.   I’m a number one pea protein drinker. I drink that stuff simply because I know it's the best, but I HATE it. I hate that it's the vehicle. I have no customer loyalty that brand at all.   If you can offer me “a super sweet protein powder - that works as well as mine but tastes waaay better - How easy do you think it would be to sell me on that? Super easy, right?   On the other hand, if someone has a protein powder that they love and it’s helped them lose 50 lbs -  How likely is it that they are going to switch? They’re a die-hard - so your chance of getting them to switch is practically zero.   The break-even person who's had some success with that protein, but doesn’t “love it” - well, they may be willing to try it.   For number twos, it's all about price and value; it's not an identity shift. IDENTIFYING YOUR TARGET MARKET   Now let’s go back to my pest control fiasco!   When I was selling pest control, who was I selling to? I was selling to a lot of “break- even” and “no other option” people. There weren't that many die-hards.   I was selling to the people inside the red ocean who wanted to get rid of the bugs. I was selling to a lot of ones and twos, but it was the wrong kind of ones and twos because they didn’t have the resources.   So within the three different personas, you also have then you have levels of different resources. You need to identify “Who has money?” and as who, as Russell Brunson says, …“is willing and able?”   The reason why I want to talk about this issue is that 80% of the time, when I’m looking at somebody's headlines, or doing some consulting - I see that the people creating their messaging to try and convince with facts, figures, and features, and maybe with some benefits…   BUT they're trying to convince the die-hards to come and buy their product.   That's the wrong person to write your copy for... It's the wrong person to write your headlines for... It’s the wrong person to build your product for...   You are not trying to sell to the die-hards!   Your target market should be the people who are willing to hear your message… the people who have no customer loyalty to the brand that they already use.   You need to design your message to sell to the break-evens and the no other options; the guys that are just using a product 'cause they don't know of anything better.   These people just need to hear a new story. They need to hear a new sales message.   That’s the thing I didn't figure out when I was doing pest control until it was too late.   When I started building my first info product, I did the same thing again. I spent eight months building it, and when I tossed it out there, I was selling it to the die-hards.   The people who were like, “Don't you dare make fun of my products and the things I use.” It was an insult to their identity - I was offending them by merely suggesting an alternative.   Once I changed my messaging to hit the people who “hated the vehicle” and “hated the products they were using,” things changed. I made my messages for those people. I helped them throw rocks their old products and showed them a better way.   All they needed was an excuse to switch, and they bought my product.   So if your product is not selling the way you want it to, or you’re designing your sales message, remember to run it through the 3 personas I’ve talked about and check it for fit.   I'm trying to help you guys identify the people “no other option” people because it's not hard to sell to these people.   If they also have the resources, you can be a C- level copywriter, and still sell to these people easily.   They're just looking for something that’s that's different and better to save them from their current vehicle - which mean more money in your pocket.   Anyway. Hopefully, this has been helpful. You can check out the episode on  iTunes, please rate and review. If not, subscribe to my YouTube channel as well, that'd be very very helpful.   If you’d like to see some live funnel building, (a lot of times I'll build whatever project I'm doing, live), go to the science of selling.online, and it'll forward to my Facebook group, it's free.   You guys can join me there and watch as I document what I'm building and why I'm doing what I'm doing.   Until next time - Keep Crushing It!   Hey, want me to speak at your next event or mastermind? Let me know what I can share that would be most valuable by going to stevejlarsen.com and book my time now.  Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

I have a FaceBook group called The Science of Selling Online -  I hang out there daily (it’s a FREE group).  I do live funnel builds - and walkthroughs of my latest projects where sharing the reasons for what I'm doing. You can ask me questions, and I’ll answer them live.   One of my latest projects is a program called Affiliate Outrage. It's an amazing course. The cherry on the top is that I’ve managed to pull together some outstanding experts to share their skills in each module.   Last week, during one of my live funnel builds in The Science of Selling Online, someone asked me, "Steve, how did you build a product and get so many experts to contribute to it...  How do you crowd-create a product?”   So in this blog, I'm going to answer that question and reveal a skill that I see many Entrepreneurs utilize - that you may not be aware of.   I'm also going to share some of the secret self-improvement skills that have influenced me profoundly over the last few years. Stay with me; this is going to be juicy!   DODGEBALL - AND BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR   There was this one time in my life, where every Monday for months; a group of us would show up turn tables over in a gym and hurl tennis balls at each other as hard as we could.   There was about 30 of us, all in our late teens and early twenties - playing dodgeball and using tables as barriers.   People got hurt -  this was hardcore.   I remember one particular time - I was super excited to play that week. I tried to get everyone to start.  Man, I wanted to play so bad. I kept trying to get people ready, but nobody was taking any notice of me.   After about 10 - 15 minutes, I got frustrated and went over to this other guy.  He goes, "Oh, you're trying to start?" Then he lifts his head, and says, "Hey, guys, we're getting ready to start."   With that one sentence, everyone turned their heads, stopped their conversations, and started listening.   I watched the room in dismay. I couldn’t believe it, "Are you kidding me? - I've been trying ‘forever’ to get these people to do what I want!"   I remember right there, at that moment, I realized that I didn't need to be good at everything - in fact, it was better if I wasn’t.     I realized that it was better for me to be an orchestrator rather than try to learn how to play every instrument...   That an entrepreneur is someone who has a vision and brings is to life.  An entrepreneur is a maestro. MY LITTLE BLACK BOOK   For years, I kept a little black book in my pocket. Every time I had a business idea or an insight, I would write it down in that black book. It was chock full ideas - some great, and some dumb - but I carried it around with me at all times.   When I realized that I didn’t need to be “good at everything” to be an entrepreneur, I wrote it down in that book.   Even though I was in my early 20’s when I wrote that thought down - it was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn as an entrepreneur.   When I was at ClickFunnels, Russell drilled this lesson into me for eight solid months before it finally sunk in   Multiple times, I'd be, "Dude, I'm gonna go learn more CSS." Russell would look at me and say "Why? We have someone for that." He'd be dead serious.   I’d say, “Well, my major before marketing was CIT. I know I could understand it.” Again, Russell would look at me and say, "Oh, yeah, but who cares? We’ve got someone for that. Don't  learn that."   I struggled to take it on board because I’m curious and I like to know how thing work. However, when it finally sunk in, it was one of the best lessons EVER!   If you’re like me, it may not be an easy lesson to learn, but please learn it. Here it is:   Just because you know how to do something doesn't mean you should do it   Sure, I can pop open Photoshop, use Illustrator, do my video editing, write copy, film videos, build funnels. However, to scale and get the highest leverage for my business - I need to concentrate on doing the things that only I can do. It's hard, I get it - but it’s soooo worth it DON’T BE A RENAISSANCE (WO)MAN   The reason I started affiliate marketing was to get the cash so that I could hire people to do all the things that I shouldn't be doing. I also learned to develop another skill that I see many successful entrepreneurs use get stuff done.   About 3 months ago, I had a brilliant person tell me,"Figure out how to hire people you can't afford." It's changed everything in my business!   If you’re reading this, then you’re an A-player - a weird breed of person with both vision and ability    You can bring your vision to life. However, the worst mistake you can make is to be a renaissance man or woman and do “all the things” yourself. It’ll slow you down and burn you out.   So what do you do instead? SHARING YOUR VISION   There’s one skill that I alluded to at the start of this article. A skill that I see so many successful entrepreneurs use to their advantage. A skill that can help you stay focused on your highest value tasks and get results at the same time. That skill is Influence.   If you have a vision and the ability to share that vision in a way that connects with people on an emotional level, then people will follow you and support you - even when the path is rocky or unchartered.   Let’s face it, as an entrepreneur; it’s likely that you’ll be laying a path rather than following one. So it’s vital that you can communicate your vision and tell your story effectively so that people will follow you.   USING INFLUENCE   Influence is what I’ve used to help bring my incredible content machine together. The caliber of people on my team would normally cost me 40 or 50 grand a month, but because they believe in the vision of where I'm taking the ship, it's way less than that. It's only 30 grand a month!   Granted, it's still 30 grand a month - but in hindsight, I'm getting a huge discount because everyone involved believes in what I'm doing.   Yes, I know, 30 grand a month is still a shed load of money, but if you don't have the cash, don’t panic…   You still have a story.   A great story is one of your most valuable assets.   If you get good at telling stories, your vision will help you hire the people that you can't afford.   It’ll stop you from getting stuck trying to learn everything. It’ll help you bring in the experts you need to grow your business. I see way to many entrepreneurs stunting their growth because they try to do EVERYTHING.   The highest leverage thing you can ever to learn is marketing, and how to change belief   If you want to change someone's belief - tell them a great story. Get REAL good at telling stories that connect emotionally with people. If you can tell amazing stories, it will negate 99% of your need to learn scripts. Just tell a story and then make an offer.   When I started approaching all these experts - calling them in to help me, that's exactly what I was practicing - communicating my vision with a story.   Show people how coming along with your mission will benefit their business too, and you’re on to a winner.   I used this strategy to create my content machine - and to get all the amazing experts to contribute to Affiliate Outrage - which is where this blog post started…   However, before I round up this blog, I want to say a few words about “Vision and Purpose.” Along with trying to “learn all the things,” - the other place I see people getting stuck is on trying to find their “vision and purpose.”   THE PURPOSE QUESTION   Recently, I was hanging out at an Inner Circle member's house with Russell. We were chatting away when he asks me, "How's it going, man? What are you struggling with? Gimme the deets, brutha."   I thought for a minute, and then I replied, "Dude, I'm trying "to figure out what my purpose is."  Immediately Russell starts laughing. Myron Golden was standing next to us, and laughing, Russell interrupts Myron:   Dude, Stephen just asked the purpose question. He's trying to figure out what his purpose is."   Myron laughed, "Man, are you kiddin' me? I just found out my purpose 3 months ago."   Russell grinned and said, "Dude, I only found my purpose 3 years ago when I started ClickFunnels, and this whole thing blew up."   Right there I decided, "Alright, I'm not gonna freak out my purpose anymore."  Russell said, "Yeah, don't worry about it… Just  help people make money, it'll be great." So, that's my purpose for now.   You don’t need to have a grand vision or purpose for things to workout - Just make some money, solve problems for people and your purpose will develop in its own time   My vision right now is to develop something that's freakin' cool. I want to help a whole bunch of people who probably haven’t made their first dollar online yet. I want to teach people how to do what I've done. TAKE ACTION   If you want a following, publish. Get over the fear of it! I was scared to death. It took me 30 episodes before I was comfortable publishing   You want people to come and follow you? Make a product. If you don't want to make a product (or don't know how to), sell someone else's. Join Affiliate Outrage, and I’ll show you how to do it   Launching. Don't worry about the details. Just figure out all the things that you’ve got to do to get off the ground. Don’t wait… you’ll turn around and 3 months will have passed - and you’ll have no cash or results to show for your time.   Figure out your BIG purpose as you go along. I've talked about my revenue outpacing my business, and that's true. However, the secondary thing that was going on was the psychological game I was playing with myself; “What's my purpose, what should I be doing? What do people want from me?”   THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY   I have this coin on my desk. It reminds me to lean into any challenge I have. I'm sending these coins out with a lot of my new products because I freakin' love this concept.   On one side it says: “The Obstacle is the Way.” On the other side it has the message:   The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way"   At the last Funnel Hacking Live, the countdown clock for the Two Comma Club coaching program is dropping down. There are 4 minutes to go, and someone comes to me and says: Hey, we're gonna go get in the program, but we figured if we split the program, it'll be half the cost -  and we'll take turns going to the events."   My answer was, “ Well, you could do that… but I believe that if you seek a discount, you will find a discount. If you ask how can I afford this program, and you really believe you can do it, you will answer that question instead.”   Questions invite revelation - so it crucial to pick your questions carefully.   Don't worry if you don't have a solid vision yet. Be fine with the fact that you have unanswered questions. Just be careful of what your questions are.   For example: When I asked the question, “How do I become a Russell Brunson?” One of the answers I got was,  “Publish your journey along the way.” That's why I publish like an animal. It's because I'm NOT a Russell Brunson yet. Most people use their lack of status as an excuse not to publish.   Don't worry that you don't have any followers yet. No one's listening for a while.   As you start publishing, you’ll begin to create an attractive character, and you start gaining expertise. You’ll become a figure.   If you wait to begin publishing until you're “a figure,” no one's gonna believe you. People only believe you when they see the trail you’ve left - when they can see your history.   I asked a much more useful question than asking “How to get a discount.” That question has brought me to a much cooler place than finding out how to get a discount ever could.   ADVICE TO MY PAST SELF   If there's any advice I could give myself looking back, it would be to ask different questions   For a long time, until I became cognizant of the principle that “questions invite revelation,”  I asked some stupid questions, and it slowed me down - A LOT.   So if you take anything away from the blog, I hope it’s a commitment to ask better questions.   So let’s round up, and finish of with the steps I took to “crowd create” my products. They are so powerful, that you can use them to move forward with any project you’re working on… Here we go: HOW TO CROWD CREATE A PRODUCT   These are the step I’d follow:   Have a Vision - it doesn’t have to be your grand life purpose   Don’t try and be a Renaissance man/ woman - don’t try do it all yourself - Find experts   Share your vision - master storytelling to help bring in experts from different fields to support you   Don’t be put off by challenges - remember, “the obstacle is the way.”   Ask better questions and get better solutions - questions invite revelation   Until next time - Go CRUSH IT -  and, Keep Upgrading Those Questions!   Hey, wish you could geek out with other real funnel builders and even ask questions while I build funnels live? Wish granted!   Watch and learn funnel building as I document my process in my funnel strategy group. It's free! Just go to my FaceBook Group, The Science of Selling Online and join now.   Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

What's going on everyone, this is Steve Larson, and this is Sales Funnel Radio.   Today we are gonna talk about how to create your own affiliate army.   I've spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now I've left my 9 to 5 to take the plunge and build my million dollar business.   The real question is how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch.   This podcast is here to give you the answer.   Join me and follow along as I learn, apply and share marketing strategies to grow my online business, using only today's best internet sales funnels.   My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio. What's up guys?   Hey, so one thing I wanna get out of the way real quick is in the last few episodes I know I've talked a lot about things that I was doing at Clickfunnels when I first started working there. And the reason why is because what you'll notice that I'm doing, is I'm actually modeling the very things that I was doing over there, in my own business. Why? Because they work.   I had a hand in creating a lot of those things, and I've done it before so, why not just do it again for my own company, right? And so to tell the story, real quick:   I was just starting at ClickFunnels; I'd been working there like three months, and I noticed Russell started doing this weird thing...   He grabbed an iPad, and he sat figuring out how to mirror his iPad to his computer. I was like that's kind of weird. He would record his computer. And he was sitting there, he was writing out the script…   I think I was working on Biohacking Secrets at the time, or something like that. Feels like about the right timeline I think.   Anyway, so he was writing those things out, and I would kinda notice him, you know just over my shoulder, just watching what he was doing. And I was building stuff, putting things together   He did this really cool presentation where he showed how to be an affiliate, and the power of being an affiliate. Right, and if you guys know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about when we created affiliatebootcamp.com.   And then something magical happened. This was one of the things that was a catalyst for me - that gave me confidence to actually teach the things that I was doing.   He turned around and he said “Hey, do you wanna make the videos for this?”  I was like, “Are you serious? Yeah!”   On the outside I was like, “Yeah,” but on the inside, I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is crazy, right? Holy crap. Oh it's Russell Brunson.” I was pretty sure lightning would strike me if I didn't do a good job.   Right, that's what was going through my head...  but I didn't want him to know that. So I sat there and we started going through the different topics, coming up with different topics and different ideas for what Affiliate Bootcamp training was going to be.   Now I knew affiliatebootcamp.com, he had used that in previous businesses, but the current version of it right now, at the recording of this video, I created.   I remember I stayed up super late multiple nights filming and re-filming. I don't know if he knows that I did that, but I did that so many time because I was so scared that it wasn't gonna be amazing.   And so I'd film, and I'd re-film, back and forth, back and forth…   They were only 15 minute videos teaching a single really cool strategy that was very powerful, but I wanted to deliver it well. So I stayed up super late.   I remember Russell went out of town once and the project was due soon. I was probably over obsessing, but just 'cause I wanted to do a really good job.   So I was there really, really late. This was well over two years ago now - I was there super late, telling my wife, “Babe I gotta finish this thing... I'm doing the videos.” And she's like, “Whoa, that's crazy!”  So anyway, I was super excited about it.   I filmed a bunch of these strategies and taught a lot of cool stuff. And then I showed some of my own stuff that I had be doing to get affiliates at that time too.   And that's what a... You know then Jon Parks came in with this amazing amazing job, right, teaching incredible Facebook strategies. Right, and it was really fascinating the way it all came about, and a lot of people joined Clickfunnels because of that.   So yesterday what I did... I was going through and I have a Facebook group, if you guys don't know…. It's where I dump a lot of my strategy sessions. It's where I bring up a lot of things that I'm thinking of throughout the day. These podcast episodes are a little bit more... I think through them heavily, and I make sure that they all are like... It feels a little bit more permanent, right?   The Facebook group though, that's what I'm doing on a daily basis. It's called The Science of Selling Online, go check it out - it's free.   Anyway, yesterday, I did a deep dive with my group about creating an affiliate army. It was funny because half the people on the Facebook live told me that they were in Clickfunnels because of those original videos I did for Russell…   They're were like, “It was after seeing that strategy, that I decided to come and join ClickFunnels.” I was like, “No way,” it was a ton of people. Lots of 'em on the Facebook live that said that.  It was crazy.   So, I wanna show you how to get your own affiliate army. I also wanna show you more of the strategy of why you should want your own affiliate army. It's a little bit like where to start…   My brain's all over the place on this one. I'm excited to go through this:   Number one, we need to talk about the Dream 100. And funny enough, I feel like there's this, almost like a... It's almost like when I mention the Dream 100, people are like, Oh yeah... the Dream 100....” There’s this attitude around  it... “Freakin' do it - it works!”   We shipped out a whole bunch of packages yesterday to our Dream 100 - AGAIN. It's gone really, really well. It's super fun... really neat stuff.   You have to know that I treat Dream 100 and affiliates different... While I might do a joint venture, I’m not necessarily looking to do a joint venture with an affiliate. However, I am seeking to do a joint venture with a Dream 100. Does that make sense? It's one of the major differences between the two.   People can go out and they can promote my product, but they might not have a much of a following yet. It's not worth me doing a specific webinar with that person,right?     A Dream 100 person is an influencer. They're a ‘river owner,’ right? They own traffic. They own eyeballs. I can do a joint venture with them, but that's different to most affiliates. Does that make sense?   For example; when we were getting the Expert Secrets book out of the door, we spent a significant amount of time... Dave Woodward did an amazing job putting together this cool campaign inviting people to promote the Expert Secrets book.   Who made that list? Influencers. A and B list influencers, maybe even some C list. People who owned traffic, people who already had a list. That's Dream 100s style strategy.   All I wanna do with influencers is get them on a joint venture. Maybe a webinar we can do together, or something like that. Affiliates, though, are different…   What I do with affiliates is, I go and I create assets for the affiliates. I want to make it as painless as possible for them to promote my product. What do I mean?   If you guys log into your ClickFunnels account... If you don't have one, you're crazy…. You can get your free trial accounts at salesfunnelbroker.com - you get free funnels too. Yes, it's an affiliate link, okay? - go get it though. It’s awesome.   If you go inside the back area in your ClickFunnels account (when you get a Clickfunnels account, you're automatically an affiliate for Clickfunnels) … Let's say you want to promote the “Expert Secrets’ book; if you go into your CF account, there's a bunch of assets in there.   You’ll find a unique link that you can send people to - so you get an affiliate commission. Scroll down and you’ll see pre-written emails, image assets and pre-done videos that you can use. There’s lots and lots and lots of pre-done assets just to promote Expert Secrets.   That way, all the affiliate has to do is grab an asset, and put their affiliate link under it, and press go - or turn on the ad. It's super, super painless.   I don't wanna offend anybody when I say this, but stereotypically, affiliates are very lazy people... meaning they have their own projects going on, right?   For me to get them to actually promote my thing, I have to do a lot of work to remove the pain that they'll feel when they start to promote my product. Does that make sense?   So, just understand that I'm talking about how to create your own affiliate army - I'm not talking about the Dream 100. That's a different strategy. I'm gonna go different things with them. I'm gonna treat them differently, I'm gonna massage court and date them very differently than an affiliate.   For affiliates, it's a great way for them to make a whole bunch of cash quickly without a whole lotta fulfillment time. So just know that that there's the difference.   Now that we've established the difference - there's a huge difference in the way you treat them.   One has a following, one doesn't. One has an existing success that's happened, one usually doesn't, and that's fine.   Some people just wanna be full time affiliates, and that's great.   A little while ago, I was standing in front of Russell in his office there with him and I was talking about some cool things I wanna go toss together. I was talking about campaigns, and I said one of the campaigns I wanna run is my own Affiliate Bootcamp. And he was smiling and he said, “yeah that's a super cool thing to do,”  because you train people how to sell for you.   Right, think with me real quick on this….   In Affiliate Bootcamp, when I'm going through and teaching how to promote and actually get cash as an affiliate, (which a lot of you have - which is amazing. Super cool)...  Every example that I'm giving is actually a ClickFunnels product. So it's free training showing you how to promote ClickFunnels.   Mine will be completely free as well. It will be what I drive ads to. I will definitely get money back and those ads are definitely gonna be profitable ads.   Every example that I give will be my own product. I'm pseudo teaching how to promote me, alright? And that's cool, it’s totally fine.   So I started thinking through, like okay right, Affiliate Bootcamp goes through things like YouTube, it goes through things like podcasts. It goes through things like how to use other people's content and blogs. And while I'll still go through some of those strategies, I wanna add in some of those new things as well.   So here's my plan, here's my strategy. This is me being completely open, completely vulnerable. I'm excited to invite you you guys - it's gonna be totally sick. It's amazing, oh my gosh.   In my affiliate training, I wanna to show you how to use Chatbots for affiliate commissions... 'Cause there's a way and there's a FREE way. How to use things like offerwalls. How do you use things like the strategy Todd Brown was talking about, along with Instagram and Facebook groups.   I want to show you how to use strategies that have come into play more heavily in the last two years. I mean obviously Facebook groups were there. But how do you use the most up to date strategies as well?   I have a habit of going really deep with stuff... sometimes it's kind of a negative... But this is gonna be amazing. I was thinking to myself, “Self, why don't I have other people who are already experts teach those things?”     A lot of the people who are doing my YouTube, my Instagram, my Facebook groups, my blogs, my podcast stuff… The people I'm spending a lot of money for on a monthly basis to have around... What if I asked them to be the ones who do the training?   They'll just spend 10 -15 minutes teaching the strategy, how to promote, and how to actually be an affiliate. You could use it for any product, but we'll use our product strategically as the examples in there. It's teaching people how to be affiliates for me. Right, does that make sense?   Russell was really excited about it. It's gonna drip out to you over 30 days. You can obviously speed up and go a lot faster if you want... but we're putting together now. It's planned for the end of June. So I'm really, really, really, really excited about it.   There's a beta list and you can jump on the training and do it kind of live with us. That's the plan so far anyways. Go to affiliateoutrage.com and get on the waiting list.   There's a cool monkey there, it's like a gorilla, and he's got glasses on, and they're the Clickfunnels colors.   What I wanna do is, train my own affiliate army. Create my own affiliate strategy and teach people how to promote my stuff, 'cause it's freakin' awesome.   Right, and one of the campaigns I'm putting together is I wanna show people… I have watched multiple people become wealthy with just one campaign. One! When I say campaign, I don't mean Facebook ads. Facebook ads, YouTube ads, Google ads, those platforms are destroying the term campaign. They're destroying it. That term is being lost.   Campaigns are not ads. A campaign might include ads, but it's not a campaign. Does that make sense? I know it doesn't make sense yet, follow me…   Doing something like a seven day launch. That's a campaign. Ads are included as part of that. But an ad is not a campaign.   So what I started doing a little while ago, is I started thinking through all the strategies that I've either been a part of, or I've seen people pull off - where just the one campaign has made their product a lot of sales and cash.   So I thought well, what if I got a whole bunch of campaigns, and did all of them? Right? If one's not amazing - six are, right!   So what I did is I went through, and I started putting together six different very unique campaigns… (Watch what I'm doing closely from about June through the end of October.)   This has been in the works for quite a while... But it is campaign strategies, not just ads. We're gonna scale ads, ads are gonna go crazy. But there's six different campaign strategies that I'm using - that I've seen, been a part of, or done in other areas where it's made a lot of cash.   This 2 Comma Club award right there - that's the result of one campaign. That's one campaign!  So I wanna go through and show you guys how I've pulled all this stuff off. How I've actually done it.   Watch what I'm doing. I'm gonna make my own affiliate army, and then I'm gonna do an affiliate contest…   Then the top ten affiliates, I want you guys to fly out for a day or two. We'll just do whatever you want. We'll work on funnels together. I'll help build your businesses, I'll help you do whatever. That's part of the gift I'm gonna give.   But where I did I learn that? Ah, the Expert Secrets book, right? That was part of the campaign of that launch. There was a Dream 100 campaign, but there was also an affiliate campaign.   Campaigns are events, they're not ads. It drives me nuts, I'm starting to get all itchy about it.... Campaigns are not ads! Campaigns are EVENTS.   They're succinct events that are happening inside of a period of time. They're things that you're doing to create pressure, and then release pressure towards your sales page, or towards your order page, right?   Anyway, I am excited for all this stuff. So watch what I'm doing here… I'm creating an affiliate army by teaching them how to be affiliates for anybody. I don't care if they don't promote my stuff. They're on my list, right, and I'm gonna show them why promoting my stuff is really freakin' profitable.   I give amazing affiliate commissions, and at the same time, I'm not gonna be the one to put it all together, I'm gonna crowd create it…   I'm gonna grab some of my most trusted people on my team, and have them go in these incredible skill sets that have taken them a long time to go master...  I'm gonna have them do little pieces of the training. What does that do? That scratches their back and mine at the same time, I'm totally cool with that... why would I not be?   I'm not a genius at YouTube. I love it, but I'm not a genius at it. Why would I teach that? Let's go have the person who is a genius teach that.   Right, why don't I teach Instagram? I love Instagram... Instagram's blowing up. And it's really, really cool. (We're at 11 and a half thousand followers now, which is really, really fun. And... Anyway, gosh, super cool.) But I'm not gonna teach Instagram because I’m not an expert.   There was a principle that I learned when I was 20. Actually I was 21... I remember where I was standing when I realized that successful people are not necessarily renaissance men. They don't act like a renaissance men. They act like an orchestrator.   They stand up  and they put the pieces together. That's it!  They're contractors basically. Just be better at it than most contractors are. Anyway, I hope that that's helpful to you.   Remember to watch the campaigns that I'm going to start launching and putting out... use them, follow them, right.   We're gonna do a seven day launch. We're gonna do all sorts of stuff. We've got a really cool summit that we're gonna do that's coming up as well. It's to promote the same product, but from different angles - because some people are like’ “I don't wanna be an affiliate... but man, I'll check out that summit…”   “I don't wanna do this... but man, I'll come to a two day event.” You know, a little masterminding...   Does that make sense? I've laced these all together, so watch very closely what's gonna happen. It's one of the reasons why I know it's gonna do really well.... And 'cause the product is selling well, the offer's amazing, the story's incredible, the funnel's fantastic. So now it's just time to promote.   Let's scale those ads - we're doing right now. And it's working. Our SLO is selling, and it's liquidating ads costs. It's exciting guys.   Anyway, thanks for following the journey, and where I'm taking the ship. Again go to affiliateoutrage.com if you wanna be on that list, and watch that training - it's free. Watch how I'm unrolling it, it's very methodical.   Anyway, we're gonna talk about a lotta cool stuff with that, but if you have anything that you wish was in that training, man let me know, okay, let me know…   Comment on the YouTube version of this video. Put on there what you would love to have inside that training.   We're gonna go through Facebook ads, we're gonna go through different groups. We're gonna talk about Instagram. We'll talk about all tons of different traffic platforms and how to use that to gain affiliate commissions for whatever you're promoting.   My hope is that you choose to promote my stuff, 'cause it's really good. It's not all the plan, but it's a snapshot, okay. I’ll document even more along the way and you guys can follow it as we move forward.   So anyways, hope that's been helpful to you, as you start to think through  which campaigns you’re using to promote yourself?   If it's just ads...man, do a campaign. Do something big, right? Do something real big, make an event out of it. A seven day launch, that's another great version of it. I don't wanna give all the secrets away. Okay, I'm not going to…   Anyway, I'm excited about it though. I'm excited for what's gonna happen here with this. Watch what I'm doing, and feel free to follow along @ affiliateoutrage.com I'm having a lot of really incredible experts come on - who are frankly really expensive to get - to teach some cool stuff to you guys.   So anyways, thanks so much and I'll talk to you guys later. Bye.   Many of you don't know that I actually made my first money online as an affiliate marketer. If you wanna know how I funded my entire company without using any of my own money ever, you can learn to do the same for free @ affiliateoutrage.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

- What's going on everyone, this is Steve Larson, and this is Sales Funnel Radio.   Today I'm going to talk to you about why I chose the info business over the others.   I spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now I've left my 9-5 to take the plunge and build my million dollar business.   The real question is, how will I do it, without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch. This podcast is here to give you the answer.   Join me and follow along as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business. Using only today's best internet sales funnels.   My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio.   I wanna deep dive into some of the reasons that I sell info now. I started and walked through several other models and markets over the years, but I've planted in Info for a few specific reasons. Here's why...   What's up guys, hey, first off please know that I know there are far more types of business than just the ones I have on the board right here. But generically I find that a lot of them fit kind of in this category as far as the way that we market them. The four categories that I’m using are: Ecomm/ Agency/ Affiliate/ Info   Service is kind of the same way as Agency. We might market Ecomm in similar way to retail.   Anyway, so I went through and I started looking through different ways.   I did this a while ago and I was very methodical about the way that I entered the business space and which market I actually went into.   I'm not saying that one is not better than the other, and I'm not saying that these are all of them...  please know that I’m going to talk in massive stereotypes.   There are lots of different businesses out there. The kind of people that are solopreneurs, I typically see them going into one of these categorizes - until they get to a certain level, then they'll scale and blow it up and get to other places as well.   I might put supplements under Ecomm. They’re very similar - the funnels are different -  but there are some similar aspects to them.   Services and Agency are kind of the same.   Affiliate/ Salesman/ MLMers/ are all very similar   Then there’s Info products…   Anyway, what I want to do is I just want to show you guys real quick why I chose what I do and first of all I want you to know that this is, I actually sell info products now, right? I did not start that way at all though.   Info products is kind of interesting the way that it plays out because to sell info products, it helps to have a little bit of authority in the space that you're selling it to. Obviously, it helps, it's true for anything. But especially with info.   I didn't start with info. If you want to you can tackle it right away. Awesome, go for it.   I actually was just trying to prove that this whole internet game worked. I remember the first time I was sitting in college in a class and for this particular class, it was Quantitative Marketing Research. That was the name of the course. And we went through and we had a live client, and it was actually Paul Mitchell.   It was a Paul Mitchell school that was nearby. And what they were having us do was we would go collect a whole bunch of survey data and we were going to try and consult Paul Mitchell on what they should do with this actual real life scenario in business. And it was really really interesting.   Well the assignment was for us to go talk to 10 people each as a class, then collectively we have a whole bunch of, we have a lot of data to work from. Well, sitting there with one of my buddies, we were like, "I do not want to go ask people, even ten, "I don't wanna ask ten people how to do the survey."   And so what we did, we were like "What if we go, "and let's just actually put the survey on a Google form "and we will drive ads to it." Something very simple, but we did Facebook ads and we drove to it.   And what was interesting is we actually went and we had we collected more surveys than the rest of the class combined. And it went really really well.   Well that's how I started working for Paul Mitchell. Because Paul Mitchell came back like, "Hey, we don't have to do any of this internet stuff, "professors, like college teachers, do you guys "know how to do this stuff?" And they were like, "No, but these two psychos over here "seem to be doing something crazy, talk to them."   And we got a handoff from the professors and we started building funnels, we didn't know they were funnels.We were building sites, in WordPress, we were driving traffic, and it was really really interesting how that happened.   Well, right before all of that happened, I was like "Does this internet game even work? "Is it all a scam?" And so what I did was I started studying a lot of, if you guys know, High Traffic Academy from Vick Strizheus, I'm sorry I'm probably butchering your name man, Vick.   Anyway, I started studying that and I started learning, "What if I was to just put a squeeze page in front "of a clickbank product and drive traffic to it? "Oh my gosh, let's try that." It seemed so simple.   And I looked at my internet marketing teacher, and I said, "I don't want to come back." It was like the first or second day of that class. And I said, "I don't want to come back." And I drew a funnel, I didn't know that's what I was drawing, but I drew a funnel. I drew a funnel, and I drew an email follow up sequence, and I drew, and I said, "I want to go build this." And shockingly he looked at me and he goes, "Okay." And he left, he said, "You don't need to come back "the rest of the semester, but just give me some "kind of cool deliverable at the end of the semester." So I was like, "Cool."   So me, and this other guy, we went and we started, we started, trying to make and literally we held class everyday just trying to make as much money online as possible. That's what our task was. Today, let's make as much money as we physically can on the internet.   And so one of the very first products we did, was what I was just saying. We went and grabbed the squeeze page, it was a template software, we didn't know what we were doing. And we grabbed the template and we just changed the headlines and we grabbed a video from YouTube of someone else talking about that product, and then we put our affiliate link at the bottom.   When they clicked submit, the page collected their email and it redirected over to the Clickbank page, and I remember that night we put, it was a ton of money at that time, we put $50 in in ads, and we woke up the next morning, and I was anxious... this was like the 100th business I had tried. You know what I mean.   I opened up my computer and I was like, "Crap, "there's cash in here, what?" And I called my buddy real fast and we put $50 in, we got $50 back out, and we got 17 people on our list.   And one person was the buyer and bought the up sale and we liquidated. And I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is crazy. "That sucks we only made 50 bucks."   And at the time, I didn't understand how cool a deal that was. On our very, that's the very very first real funnel that I ever built. And we liquidated because 17 people on the list, and I thought it was a failure because we didn't make any money. How stupid is that. I should have kept it going, would of got a massive list quickly with that. Anyway, lessons learned. And we kept doing stuff like that.   I started in the affiliate area, as far as the internet business goes, I started here. This is actually where I started. Like, I'm not joking, a few weeks later that's when we start doing these cool things and we start getting involved with Paul Mitchell. And I start building these, we start building these things, and at that time, my buddy graduated, and I was like, "There's something to, what's this funnel thing. "There's something about this funnel game. "What's with this funnel game thing?"   And I went and I decided that I would start studying the funnel game more. I was like, "Who is this Russell Brunson guy, he looks like he's 13." Alright, what? And I was like, "Who is this guy?"   And I started deep diving guys, I mean I obsessed, I still do, right hardcore on what he was teaching, I was like, "Yeah, that's totally how it works. "Yeah, he's right, it doesn't work that way. "Whoa, look at that." And I started learning all these lessons.   I took “Dot Com Secrets X”, and I filled an entire notebook, page by page, you know those Steno notebooks with the lines, the graph notebooks. I filled it from front to back from notes just from that one course.   I mean, it took me three months to go through that one course. because I played it for 15 seconds, and then I stopped and I thought about it and I wrote down what I had just learned. And then I would press play, and guys I did that for a year.   And when I say I hid in the box office seats in campus, I did. And that's what I was doing for a year and a half, was studying and learning, and I started applying and doing all those little things   And I got to a place here where I was like, "I'm gonna start proving that I know this stuff." And I started going out and I wrote down, I started building all these funnels, and I did it with a lot of startup companies for a while. And the problem with startups was there business wasn't proven out and if the funnel didn't work they thought it was my fault, and I was like "No, you don't have like a product yet. "You don't have a business. "I have to train you on all this stuff before you even accept me."   Anyway, startups were really really hard to work with for many reasons. Then I was like, "Ah man, I should "change who I'm actually pitching." I was like, "Oh sweet, I'm gonna go for successful people "who already have a list, who already have a successful "product, who have testimonials, with a mid-range product."   And I shotgun blasted out this invite to tons of people and I said, "Hey, I know you don't know what a funnel is, I will build one for free "just to show you that it works. "If it works, let's talk about me getting paid. "If it doesn't work, no harm no foul, I'll walk."   And I had several people bite, like alright, bring it on. And I went and I kind of, I started building funnels for several different people. I kind of went Agency, it was service style. And this is really where I started making actual real money, on my own, in college, ever.   First was, I started doing a whole bunch of affiliate stuff. But number two though, I went over, I actually, oh you can barely see that , okay cool. Anyway, number two though I started doing a whole bunch of service stuff and just putting my name out there, being like, "Look, I understand how this works now. "Am I perfect? "No, I'm not. "But let me just learn under your business wing, right, "let me go build this funnel and I'll keep getting better "and if it's working then let's talk about me getting paid "Don't pay me before hand though." And that's what I did and started getting these huge success stories.   Well, around that time is when Funnel Hacking Live was coming up, and I was like, "I wanna go. I'm getting "successes for a lot of these guys yet, but still "didn't feel like enough cash to spend money "on a Funnel Hacking Life ticket." And I started trading even, building even more funnels for plane tickets, and hotel nights, and things like that.   And I was like, "Oh, what's up Russell. "Then I got hired by Russell, right?" And that's really where I started building a lot of Ecomm funnels. Right, some of the biggest projects we were doing together were like, Fiber Fix, and a lot of products for Marcus Lemonis, for that TV show, The Profit, on CNBC. It was a lot of Ecomm style funnels that was going on there.   And it went really really well, it was awesome. I mean, we were blowing these guys up, sometimes too fast and they'd be like, "Turn it off, you're going "to bankrupt us." And I was like, "Oh my gosh," that's the model for Ecomm does really really well.   Whenever Russell's like "Dude, we need an Ecomm funnel, kinda like this funnel this funnel, this backend versus that back." I was like, "Sweet, I got it," and I'd go build it real fast. So I got really good at that model.   However, I've always known that this is kind of one of the Holy Grails. Info products are, I wanna go through this real fast, and then I want to show you something and this is the only reason why, but info products, it's one of, it's one of the hard categories to get into, but it's also one of the Holy Grails.   If you look at what Dan Henry did, well, it's episode, it's one of the earlier episodes of Sales Funnel Radio, but I interviewed when he had only made 200 grand with his current offer, that he'd blow up with.   His Facebook ads for entrepreneurs He'd only done like barely $200,000 at that time. And he was talking about it and if you have listened to that episode, what he was saying, was for his info product, he spent a solid like five, six months taking a beta group through and seeing what they were doing and how they were reacting to what he was teaching.   Okay, I told you to build the Facebook ad this way, but turns out you all thought I meant this. Okay, let's clarify. Then okay, now do this step. Oh man, you're all screwed up here, let's do it right. And he was spot checking and he was making a system.   And he spent a lot of time proving out his info product before he ever sold it. I've done the exact same thing with mine.   Alex and Leila Hormozi, at Funnel Hacking Live, this last one, they were talking about for a full year, before they ever, they just got, they just made 10 million dollars since last April. But they didn't just start doing that.   For a full year before they ever started really scaling and selling hard, for a full year, they were living in crazy areas, doing crazy things, just so they could prove the process that they were going to bring people though.   That is really one of the gateways, it's one of the key gates of getting really good and awesome at Info. Your crap's gotta be amazing. It's gotta get results for people. And the best way to do it is to just spend a lot of time with your prospective customers. With people who represent your prospective customers. And make them successful, make them successful, and get, and when you do, it's in my mind, it's one of the Holy Grails.   I love selling info products, okay. I love it. And here's why, let's walk through this now real quick.   Here's a good reason why, just so you know, that's been kind of my journey I've gone through it, I kind of did a little more Ecomm stuff then I jumped over here to the Info side where I will reside as long as I can. I absolutely love it, and it's super cool. It takes a little finesse to get into a lot of times.   I'm not saying you can't go interview a bunch of people and toss out that interview series as an info product. You could totally do that. Now, I'm not saying you can't, there's a lot of ways to create an info product really quickly. But I'm saying, like you as a brand, you as an educator, you as an idea and a vehicle that has potential for two commas, like info wise, it's gotta be really good. It's gotta be really good, okay. So let's walk through this real quick here.   With Ecomm, let's say over here on this side, we're going to go through Ecomm and for each one of these we're going to look at the profit margin potential.   Again, massive stereotypes... I understand that there are people out there who have figured out how to game the system, but they are not typical.   I'm talking typical, stereotypical, kind of result in each one of these categories. How much profit, how much margin potential is there? How much money for you after all the expenses are done? How much earning potential is there for you, typically, in that category and how much time does it take to actually do the business, actually fulfill on the thing that you're selling? I'm gonna walkthrough really fast.   This is why I've chosen what I have and I've been methodical about it. I'm going to say that #1 equals a little, #2 equals kind of medium, and then #3 equals a lot.   Let's go with Ecomm. And I know that some of you guys want to reach out to me, and kind of fight me on these things. I understand. I'm talking just straight atypical general person that goes through this think, okay.   What is the earning, at the very end of the day, the profit potential of the Ecomm category? What is it? It's not, it's not actually that high.   A lot of people get in two comma clubs in Ecomm, but they don't actually keep that much money, they actually don't have that much cash to their name themselves.   I understand the coolness of the award, and you certainly can scream to it real fast by doing something like Ecomm really quickly. But there's not typically that much profit margin inside of Ecomm. Especially when people don't do my freaking offer creation strategy in this.   If they do, they can make a lot of cash. It's like, I don't know why, a lot of Ecomm people don't believe me. Like even though that's what we do, and it works. Anyway, but the actual earning potential, actual profit margin on the actual business itself, is a little bit tiny. I'm gonna say, we'll say a two here. A one to a two. It's kind of a little, especially if you're doing something like drop shipping, that's obviously a one.   If you own the product, you're going to get more of a 2. But let's talk about time to fulfill. Even if you got a shipping fulfillment house doing your work for you, or if it's in house, you're typically sourcing products like crazy. You're spending a lot of time finding the next product, testing the next thing. I'm not saying you gotta sell the Ecomm product for a couple bucks like a lot of Ecomm people do. You can sell really really expensive, but you're usually in a game of trying to figure out the next thing to go sell really really quickly.   Info, the way I write info, is a little bit different, ok? I'm gonna say a 2, because you can spend a butt load of time actually on the phone. Right, that's one of the things that Trey Lewellen was having a hard time with, with his, which you can't blame him, with his credit card knife. The dude's the man, absolutely amazing. Spent a lot of time though fulfilling, and it's easy to run into troubles that way.   Ecomm, I was like Ecomm's cool but like, ah man, I'm about that ROI. How can I get the highest leverage, ok? Which in Ecomm comes in later.   Remember this, ok? I'm going to come back to this and show you how I use this now. But you sell info. Wait, do I?   Agency's freaking awesome too, there's a lot of cash that usually comes in the business. The thing that I don't like about Agency is when you get paid, is when the work starts. I don't like that. It's where I proved that I knew what I was doing. It's services, services/Agency. It's where I, it's a really fast way as well. I love the path that I personally took. I learned how to sell other people's products, which is awesome, we'll get there in a second.   But then I went over to the service and Agency side and it was really cool because you get paid a lot of cash but you're also, even if you have an amazing team Agency wise, you're still managing the team, you're still closing deals typically. I'm not saying you're, anyway, there are exceptions to the rule, but usually, there's a lot of time to fulfill on Agency model.   After the sale is made, is usually, that's when it starts; I'm going to say a three and then a two here.   Let's talk here about affiliate. Now typically with affiliates, the profit margin, usually small, right? You got the crazies out there like Russell Brunson giving 40% every single month of his check to you for getting an affiliate person it. That's amazing, that's incredible. Usually not the case though. So I'm going to say a one. But what's interesting, but actually 1.5, let's say 1.5. Depending on the product, depending on the affiliate, there's a lot of variables with every one of these categories and I totally get that. But just generally, usually 1, 1.5.   How much time does it take for you to fulfill after the sales made. No time, no time at all. Oh my gosh, great place to go. And this is actually how I built my entire company and business without ever spending a dollar of my own. I've never spent a dollar of my own, I don't think so, in my own business. And it's because I started with affiliates.   That generated cash so I could do cool things like hire VAs in service/Agency and that brought in even more cash, and I was like, "Well this is awesome, but I want to free "up my time a little bit." Let's jump over to info, and that's what I went in to next.   Let's talk about info. What's the earning/profit margin potential on an info product? Guys, my margins right now on my main product is like 94%. Obviously there's a business margin, but I'm saying the actual product margin is like 94%, it's ridiculous. It's like no cost to fulfill on it at all. I think it's actually like 98.8. It's really, it's ridiculous. Three, definitely a three.   Time to fulfill, like virtually nothing. The cost of an email with access to a members area or something like that. Now, there's a caveat to this. If I go through and there's an info product, people know, there's this inherent understanding that the info product is already made. It's like the subconscious know, the little thing that they know that it's not going to take you anything to fulfill on that. Because of that, the perceived value, the perceived value, so it's a lot of value to me, but the perceived value of info, is usually kind of low. It is, right.   Let's take Ecomm for example, though. Ecomm something physical, something I'm gonna get in the mail. I got these stupid crows that are flying all over the place around the office and they just, they're messing with me, they'll like, so anyways, I've got a BB gun coming, you can guess what's happening, right, but the perceived value, perceived value of an Ecomm product is really high.   Perfect example, go think about Amazon. There's not sales copy on Amazon, there's like bullet point descriptions, this is what it is. Bam, here's the button, put it in your order and just go get it. The perceived value, perceived value, of Ecomm is high, but the value to the entrepreneur is typically a little lower. So what I do is I combine them.   In my offers with info, the reason why info does so well for me now, is yes, you get the info thing, but I also ship a lot of amazing, incredible things to the person when they purchase. I combine info with Ecomm and it's one of the reasons why my stuff does so well and one of the reasons why the perceived value of my offers is so high, cause the value is high.   They're getting something in the mail, they're getting, it's not just like something, they're crazy cool things, they're getting those and they're getting access to all this crazy stuff: funnel builds, incredible things. Things that people pay a lot of money for me to go do normally. They're getting those things in there and that's the reason why I chose and landed on info, and I will stay there, stay there, stay there.   The category that I want to move into eventually though is software. I think I don't know what it's going to be, but it's because it's almost like the benefits of Ecomm, high perceived value, software, right, software is high perceived value. With really high margins on the product itself, the business margin on software is a little bit hard, because you have a lot of support usually, that's a higher.   But the time to fulfill is like virtually nothing which means the entrepreneurs can spend, as long as they get great support, usually in software the entrepreneurs can spend little time doing any kind of fulfillment, instead they do a lot of time selling.   Russell stays in the act of selling like, 24/7. He can do that because of the software game, because he's in the info game, because he combines a lot of Ecomm inside of it. Does that make sense?   So he tosses off a lot of the benefits to his affiliates by giving them the ability, "Hey look, you don't have to fulfill anything, "I ain't going to pay you for it." Sweet. And he teaches a lot of people, look, if you need cash and a lot of it pretty quick, go service/Agency style.   You'll get a lot of cash quickly but eventually that's why I landed in what I do, and that's why I stay in info, and I will always stay info. I love it. The time to fulfill is tiny, which lets me stay in the zone, where I get to create more things for the same product. Toss in more cool things. Make the value of the offer even bigger. Create amazing things for people, and the profit margins are big enough that it allows me to do that.   I'm not having to sell thousands of little knick knacks. And take away a thousand dollars to go put that in something else from the source of knick knacks, that's really really rough in Ecomm.   But a thousand dollars, coming from the source of an info product? It's really really easy, it's not that crazy hard, at all. SO this is why I do what I do. This is the reason that I've structured it the way I have. So I hope that helps.   If you guys are thinking through how to actually sell the stuff that you are, and what you're trying to get into. I started as an affiliate and it's a great way to go.   And frankly, when I started Sales Funnel Radio, I kept this thing going by giving away share funnels. And now I've got a bunch of people on ClickFunnels accounts.   At the beginning when I was working at ClickFunnels, at a 9-5 job, I had this extra cash that was coming in, and because of that, while I was doing my 9-5, which was way more than that but while I was working over there, during the same day, there would be doing VAs in different places that were getting projects and cool things done for me. Not from my own pocket, because I was doing affiliate stuff like crazy. Really easy to fulfill, got some cash from it.   Still to this day, it's significant. I think we've passed, we're well passed thirty grand in affiliate commissions in the last like year-and-a-half, I mean that's good. It's been the cash that I've needed to do all the stuff on the side and prep the groundwork so I could launch into the info space.   So anyway, I just hope that that helps. It helps you guys work through and think through where you're heading.   If you're like "I'm trying to do info." Okay, does anyone know who you are? Have you proved out the process yet? Can you, if someone actually follows the process, can you virtually guarantee that people are going to be successful at it. If you can't, it can be to sell that at scale.   If someone follows my process, they get results, I know they do. I have the best product in the category I'm selling in in the entire market, and I know I do, and I'm fine with that, and I'm fine saying that because I know it's true.   Because that's what happens, when people do it, they get results. It's happening life, like right now. It took me like two years, honestly, to really get to a spot where my info product could do that for people, so if you're knowing that, if you're like, "I want to do info," Awesome. Or if you're like, "I want to stick in Ecomm." That's great, that's great. Just figure out the little tricks to make the margins huge and make that two into a three. That's super super cool.   Just be cognizant of what that industry is typically like and the cost associated with that. Like supplements, supplements takes a lot of cash to sell someone into the supplements.   Continuity, and software, take a lot of cash to sell. Continuity is expensive to sell. So don't sell continuity outright. Attach it to other things. Funnel Hacks, like Russel does. Isn't it amazing. When you do it that way, oh my gosh, so much easier.   Same thing with supplements over here, supplements cost a lot of cash to drop in, but if you have an info product that you're coupling it with, they buy the info product, that's what's self-liquidating, your ad cross and now in the backend go toss them to your supplements.   Awesome, or your Ecomm, or whatever. Does that make sense? This is one of the reasons I've structured the way I have - I'm very methodical about it. It's turned out really really well.   So I hope that it's helpful to you?   If you're stuck or you're like, "Oh gosh, I don't know "how this is going to work? I don't know if this is going "to be successful here or there?" Man, just go figure out how you can get cash now. And some of the easiest places to do it, Affiliate. Probably next, probably the Agency. I know a lot of Ecomm people will probably fight me on that and that's fine, that's totally fine. We all have our own opinions and that's perfect.   The model I'm following and I just wanted to walk you guys through why I do what I do. And what my logic has been behind each one of them is... profit margin potential out of the gate, not tricks, not little tips. Profit margin potential out of the gate - what is it?   I'll do the little tips and tricks and stuff like that, and I do and it goes even higher, but I don't want to bank on those. That's why I didn't run into Ecomm. I almost ran into Ecomm... I just about did Ecomm, but that's the reason I didn't right out the gate.   Again, not telling you not to, but that's the reason I didn't was ‘time to fulfill.’ I was like, "Man I just want to "do revenue generating activities, but what I'm constantly managing a product for someone else. I’d collected the cash already but I can't "actually do anything with it cause my hands "are tied, my time is tied because I can't actually "go do, I have to fulfill.   I don't know if I want to marry the Agency/service model. It was a great place for me to go for quite a while honestly, to vet out and prove who I was and what I was doing and that I could do it, which the market obviously needed to see, why would they not?   I got my testimonials from there, I got, that's what launched me in to being able to work next to Russell. In fact, that's one of the first things he asked when I sat down face to face with him.   Actually before I even got there, he's like, "Have you "been building funnels?" I said, "Yeah." He's like, "What are the URLs?" Boom, blasted over like 20 URLs over to him. Look at all these funnels I've done, look at all the stats here we go, boom, and when I sat down, he was like sick, okay, cool. He didn't say sick. He was like, "Okay, cool, awesome." You've actually done this. I didn't start from ground 0. But it's because I actively was trying to prove that I could do it. So anyway, that's the path I took, hopefully it helps?   Sit back, figure out where you're trying to go and those are some of the, when you're just talking about generating cash flow, I'm not talking about change the world products, I'm talking about you making money, for you. Change your own life before you go trying to change the world. It’s way easier, do it that way.   I want to change the world and I plan to. I don't know how yet. But first I'm changing my world so that I have the ability and power to change the world afterwards.   So this is the path I took with that intent in mind and it's been working really well. And we haven't had a negative month yet and I don't think we will. Anyway, things have been going great. I really appreciate it .   Thanks for listening, please rate and review the podcast. Please share it, we'd love to have more people on. For those of you guys who are on iTunes, I do film these now, if you want to see the graph I just drew, go to my YouTube channel if you want to see - it’s just ‘Steven Larson’, that's the name of my YouTube channel.   If you're on You Tube and you're like, "Hey, I would rather just listen to these," go to iTunes. A lot of you guys on Instagram, I know these get pushed to you as well.   Bloggers, what's up. You guys can come out to any of these platforms as well. We push out now to, it's over, it's like 25 different platforms. Just know that the others exist and excited to have you guys. Thanks so much, talk to you later. Bye! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Boom, what's goin' on everyone? This is Steve Larsen and this Sales Funnel Radio.   Today we are gonna talk about how to pay for expensive things with your business.   I've spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now I've left my nine to five to take the plunge and build my million dollar business.   The real question is, how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.   Join me and follow along as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business using only today's best internet sales funnels.   My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio.   All right, guys, hey, I'm excited for this episode. This has been kind of a long time in the making. This is gonna be one of those episodes that have kinda been on my mind for a long time as something that I wanna  share with you guys and teach you something really interesting.   I wanna tell you a story, okay? We were planning Funnel Hacking Live 2017. I remember being on cloud nine, I could not even believe that I was in the planning sessions for Funnel Hacking. I was freakin' out about it, I was super excited. I was with Melanie, Dave, and Brent. It was just fun to be in the room. Russell's like, “Dude, what if we ask Tony Robbins to come?”  We're like, “Oh my gosh, that's crazy.” So they started doing some research and reaching out to his team.   Tony's team reached back out and said, it's gonna cost about this much. I am not privy to say the amount... I'm not even gonna allude to it... but I will tell you that it was a lot of cash. It was a butt ton of money. It was so cool to watch how Russell handled it…There is a lesson that I picked up... I was watching him like a hawk. I always do.   First of all he goes, “Oh my gosh”, with this face. “Huh, oh my gosh, huh, oh god, I feel sick, huh.” What was interesting was what he did next...   There was a moment where he freaked out, and that's appropriate and everyone can feel free to do that when you wanna buy something expensive. But then, he just said “Yes.”   Then he was very careful to structure the FHL event in a way that would pay for Tony. Isn't that interesting? The event literally liquidated the cost of Tony Robbins.   If you go look at any time he's ever had someone really big on - that's how he structures it. That's really fascinating.   We started doin' some pretty interesting things that were very expensive. Things like the Harmon Brothers.The Harmon Brothers, they're the ones who did the viral video...   Hopefully you guys are cool with me telling all these stories? I wanna link it back to what I'm doin' right now and hopefully you'll take something cool from this.   The Harmon Brothers, it's public knowledge, so I'm just gonna say it... they charge half a million dollars to do a video. One video! A three, four, five minute video. Half a million bucks. They're expensive, but they get results. They're really cool, so they can charge that money.   Instead of Russell going, “Gah, are you kidding? Half a million dollars?” Which was appropriate (and we all did that at first)... what he did was start figuring out a way to liquidate the cost with some kind of campaign, event, or product.   So that at the end, he is left with both the asset and with his own cash in hand. Meaning he doesn't let his own cash out, he created something else to pay for the expense. Does that make sense? This is the smarter VC funding way.   You guys know I'm pretty against things like VC funding, but it's because of this very principle right here.   Think about a free plus shipping book funnel. A free plus shipping book funnel or even a webinar funnel... A lot of times in a webinar funnel there’s a self-liquidating offer before somebody even gets to the webinar.   There’s a product to purchase even before someone gets to the webinar - that way, an average of 10%  - 15% purchase the product, then it liquidates most of the ad cost. So everyone who comes and buys during the main product during webinar is actually pure profit. Does that make sense?   That's how it works in a funnel, and the same principle can apply your business and the way you run it. This is the principle that I’ve been  applying to my business.   I told you guys about the story at this last Funnel Hacking Live, someone was like, “oh man, maybe I can get a discount on the 2 Comma Club X Program. Maybe I can split it with a few other people!” and I was like, “No, wrong question!’  Questions invite revelation...  So you need to change the question.   Instead of asking “How do I get a discount?” ask the question: “How can I afford the most expensive things in life?”   Solve that problem, not the question: “How can I get a discount?” You'll solve either question... but most people don't ask questions with intent.   So what I said to him was: “Look, go figure out how to pay for the most impressive, most expensive things in life, and at the end of it, you'll be left with the thing that you wanted that's very expensive, and you'll be left with a paying asset.”   If  you just go out and say: “Oh man, I guess maybe we'll have to get someone cheaper” or “I guess we have to take this cheaper option over here.” What ends up happening is you get a much cheaper experience and there's no asset!   Usually you end up paying out of pocket. Does that make sense?   So start thinking about how to liquidate costs... this is something most entrepreneurs end up getting pretty good at as they go down the road.   I would watch Russell, and it's  an active theme. He goes and figures out what he wants to do and then figures out what he can create to pay for it.   And so I started applying this strategy too.   About two years ago I launched a funnel explicitly to do this. What eventually started happening was I started making more money off that funnel than I was getting paid at my job.   In essence, I replaced my income with this funnel that was running on the side while I was working at Clickfunnels. Isn't that interesting? I'm always looking for some kind of asset to do that. When I finally left ClickFunnels, I didn't take a paycheck from my business for almost three months. We were living on savings through March. It wasn't until April that I got paid. It was fine - we had cash, it was just I wanted to make sure the funnel was awesome. I wanted to make sure the business had enough cash flow. So I was like, well, “How do I remove the cost of me?”   I launched my funnel, I got it off the ground. Things are doin' awesome. It did a lot of money.   Grant Cardone says “Cash is King.” But in reality CASH FLOW is king. Cash flow is king. Cash is NOT king, Cash Flow is King.   If you think through your business and you think about how much do you pay yourself right now?  Or do you have a business you're actually paying yourself from? I make it a consistent amount so I can count on it. And then I ask the question, “How can I replace that cost?”   I pay myself eight grand a month before taxes, before costs - and I have people that work for me, I have a team, then I need to liquidate those costs.   At the beginning I asked: “How do I remove eight grand a month?” Boom, I'm gonna start a coaching program. I went and launched the coaching program and that removed the cost of me taking money from my main product. Does that make sense?   All I want  is for my main product to scream it to a million bucks. Structurally, the way that I'm doing this is that instead of me getting paid out of the profits from my main product, I take money from this entirely separate thing over here - from coaching or something else.   Then the product can just roll on itself. We can spend a crap ton of money on ads and get a lot of people in there fast. Is this making sense so far? This is how I've structured it from a money standpoint. From a cash flow standpoint I can pay for expensive things like my content team this way.   In the last episode I talked about my content team which is 26 grand a month in hard costs before I even think about ad spend. “26 grand, oh my gosh,”  right?     Back in the day, I made 18 grand during my first year of marriage... only $18,000.  And it was loans - so I wasn't even making it! We were living on students loans, guys.     So I’ve gone from $18,000 my first year of marriage to 26 grand a month on hard costs that are not direct cash flowing things! It blows me up... that's a lot of money!  $26,000 a month on the team as an ongoing cost.   So I was like: “Okay, okay, how do I remove that cost from my main product?” My main product could pay that cost... but I don't want it to. So what I did is I upped my coaching. I increased my coaching availability. I increased my consulting. A lot of people have reached out lately and asked: “Will you fly out for a day? Just come in and work through our offers with us, work through our funnels with us. We're not asking you to build 'em. We just want you to come double-check, look over the top of it...  How much is that?”   I'm like, “Sweet, well, 10 grand a day... Fly me out and we'll do that... I'll dive deeply through your stuff with you. I'll teach you. I'll show you what to do and how to put it together. I’ll critique and tweak, or build it straight from the ground up and design your marketing with you.”   So that's what I've been doing. I’ve been going through and figuring out different opportunities to remove the cost of the team, my salary, the hard costs that I have. I want to completely remove them and liquidate them from my main product.   With my main product, we've kept the ads tiny because I've been testing stuff.  As of yesterday... I'm actually really excited, it’s the first full day that our self-liquidating offer was up on the webinar. It's doin' well.   It has an 8% purchase rate right now, which is okay... I'll keep tweakin' it and making it better and better. But it's a good starting place, right? It tells me at least that there's need for it. That it’s actually working…   I'm liquidating my ad costs, so now everything in that webinar purchasing process is pure profit.   The whole principle of this entire episode, what I'm trying to say (and I know I've said a lot of things, and hopefully you've followed it), is that you need to find a way to liquidate ‘your costs’ from your main product so that you can keep enough cash flow to scale your product fast.   I was talkin' to somebody and they're like, “I'm gonna go get off the ground here, I'm just gonna quit my job immediately.” And I was like, “Duh, don't do that.”   I had active cash flowing funnels... I had active cash coming in from another source before I ever did that. We had savings and security - you know what I mean? The waters were well tested.   I'm a risk taker, but I'm a calculated risk taker. It took a lot of time to actually put that stuff together and get things rockin' off the ground.   I’ve got an SLO in my funnel. It’s liquidating the ad costs. Awesome! If it's not always break even at least it's always like nothin' now. So when it's all said and done, the cost is really, really tiny to acquire a paying customer.   Then the business side, I'm like, “Sweet, how do I remove myself from the books of that product specifically?” I don't wanna get paid from the profits of that product. So I remove myself from the books with coaching consulting and speaking. I'm speaking in loads of different places recently. It's been a ton of fun and I’m liquidating all the costs of the business which means I can get a sweet content team together and publish way more.   I’ve liquidated the cost of my content team, my salary, the people workin' for me without taking any money out of my business.   Don’t ask, “Uh, how do I get a discount on stuff?” It's a bad question! You'll answer it… You just don't want to answer that question. It's the wrong question.   So the next thing I want is a super ninja support team.  If you guys didn't listen to my deep dive on webinars... it's in two parts…  it's a few episodes ago. It's probably 10 episodes ago... It's worth listening to.   One of the things that I've been seeing other guys do on webinars is have live support. So now I want to toss in support on my automated webinars too...  This represents a new cost coming in.   Watch how I'm gonna handle it. We already have awesome support, but I want 24/7 support. I want three people in eight hour shifts. Sheesh. A good support person, you can typically get good ones, maybe I won't say numbers, but it's not gonna be cheap. So how do I replace that cost?   So I thought, okay, what if I do this? If my webinar is what the main revenue generator is right now, it's like the big product that I'm pushin' out the door… how do I make it so that it further replaces the support person cost?   I wanna beef up support and I wanna get a full-time assistant. Those are the two positions that I'm looking at right now. So how do I remove that cost and not bankrupt the company, which we're not close to at all, but like, right? How do I make it so that I don't have a negative month?   I don't wanna have my first negative month - I wanna keep goin' up. How do I do that? So this is what I'm thinkin'... Follow me on this…   On the broadcast page for my webinars, the replay pages, right underneath, I have a cool chat box, but now I wanna have live support on the page while they’re watching.   If someone's has a question, who's gonna fulfill those support tickets? Support. Who's gonna fulfill that live chat when they're on the webinar? Support.   A lot of people just have a last question or two before they actually purchase something from you. If they don't get it answered they won't buy it. It's that important to them, even if, in hindsight, it's a really small question…   This is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna add in a live chat box element - so  that when they click it opens up Facebook Messenger right there. Then they can chat with one of my three support people tight there on their profile.   If a support person closes that person, number one, it brings in more cash... Number two, I'll give that support person some affiliate commission. That way they’re motivated to close people when they do write in. Isn't this interesting?   If support answer a few extra questions and bring in the cash, it will probably liquidate the cost of my support team. Will it actually make extra cash? Probably not, but it will probably remove the cost of the support person. Does that make sense?   Anyways, that's what I'm doin'. Maybe this is a little bit too crazy for me to go into on a actual podcast episode... but that's what I've been doin' lately, which is kinda interesting.   What if the question is not: “How do I do this?”... but: “Who knows how to do this?” Go listen to that podcast episode from Russell if you haven't…   Maybe the question is not, for example:“How do I build a funnel?” … but “Who knows how to build a funnel?”   If you don't know how to build funnels, you could go learn... or you could find someone who already knows how to do it. Go find the right “who” with the know how and your speed increases. And that's I've been focusing on lately.   Going from six to seven figures is not a matter of more hours in the day spent in the office, it is a matter of leverage. And so that's what I've been figuring out.   I've been getting this team, and I've been putting people together. I'm getting these support people, and it's been awesome, you guys. All of its been awesome. I've been able to liquidate the cost of my team through the coaching and other stuff.   Next episode, stay tuned, I wanna show you the other way that I'm gonna replace them again with more revenue. I'm very, very excited to go through and share that thing with you.   Anyways, I'm excited. Hopefully this episode made sense to you? It's just a recap. I know I kind of went deep with all this stuff…   Just the same as I would create an SLO or some kind of self-liquidating offer that pays for ads in a funnel… I’m doing the exact same thing in my business now.   I've removed “me” completely from the cost of my main funnel profits. I've removed my team completely from my main funnel profits. The more people I put in, instead of figuring out: “Can the business handle it?” (The answer's yes, but I don't wanna ever go negative on my revenue or my cash flow)... Instead, I ask: “How can I remove that cost from my business?”   I'm getting a few more support people and I'm just plugging them into the closing process. So I'm getting support people, a little bit more aggressive support people... People who know how to close a little bit.   Support people who know just even the smallest amount of closing techniques, so they can come in and answer and close people. People who can answer support questions and support tickets when they come in, but who can answer any kind of closing questions too.   That's kinda the thing I wanna go build team-wise. I wanna to put that together. I'm really, really pumped about it. I hope it makes sense.   What's funny is that when you start asking and answering these sort of  question, your speed's gonna increase like crazy.   I've never met anyone who made a ton of money just on their own. It always takes a team. Everyone benefits as the entrepreneur and the business move together.   So just start answering these questions: “How do I attract the right ‘who’?” - “How do I liquidate the cost of the right ‘who’?”   Russell was a  room with a lot of brilliant people... I think it was at the Genius Network, but I'm not sure. Anyway, someone said:   “Don't figure out how do I do this, how do I do that.. That route takes you forever... Yes, you'll become a renaissance man - which means you're really gettin' good at nothing.”   Instead of asking, “How do I do this?, ask, Who knows how to do this?”   I was on a coaching call, I'll end it with this…   I was on a coaching call with another amazing mentor of mine and he was telling me, the one question that I should start learning how to answer is: “How do I hire people that I can't afford?” And if I can answer that question, everything blows up.   He asked me to start thinking about that probably about six weeks, eight weeks ago, and I've been answering that question. It's the reason why my team and my business is accelerating is because I have learned how to hire people and bring people in that I can't afford.   How do I do it? I do it by creating a liquidating asset that covers that cost.   I still have one funnel. I still have one thing that I'm doing, that's it. My focus is there, is absolute. However, on the cost of the actual business itself, to start really leveraging the speed of the team, I need to go create something else that pulls in and liquidates the cost of that person. That's the question I wanna pose to you: “How can you hire people that you can't afford?” And when you start doing that, oh my gosh, it's crazy. There's so much expertise that will get brought into your company and your business, it's ridiculous.   I don't even know all the stuff that my team do for me - it’s insane. It's really cool. Problems get solved that I didn't even know existed. And they get solved in an expert way rather than a just good enough way.   All right guys, hopefully this was helpful to you, and I will see you on the next episode.   Please get a chance to rate and subscribe and review this podcast. And please share it.   I would love to be able to share my message with people who are kinda just starting out and haven't quite made it yet. Or people who have made cash, and they're trying to figure out how to scale. That's where my expertise is - in offer creation and the storytelling.   Anyways guys, thanks so much. Have a good one, and I'll see you in the next episode. Bye-bye.   Hey, thanks for listening. Please remember to rate and subscribe. Got a question you want answered live on the show? Head over to salesfunnelradio.com and ask your question now. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

- Boom, what's going on everyone. This is Steve Larsen, and this is Sales Funnel Radio.   Today, we’re gonna talk about my content machine and how I'm pulling it off.   I've spent the last four years learning form the most brilliant marketers today. And now I've left my nine to five to take the plunge and build my million dollar business.   The real question is, how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.   Join me and follow along as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business, using only today's best internet sales funnels.   My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio. What's up guys?   Hey, I am excited to share this with you. You know when I first started listening to gurus on the internet, when I first started consuming their content, when I first started going through and reading it - I was grateful for the content. But... I don't know if you're like me?... I didn’t ever want to do any kind of publishing ever, ever.   I remember when I first went to my first Funnel Hacking Live. It was 2016. I remember this very clearly... I think I might have shared this with you before....   I was biking around the bay at San Diego because what cash we had, I didn't want to spend on a cab. So I was biking around on a hired bike and I remember thinking to myself, “I will do whatever Russell tells me to do, except I will not publish.” That was my actual thought.   Fast forward a week, and I'm working next to Russell Brunson, and this is what I see him doing. He's sitting there and he's on camera going, “What's up guys, this is Russell Brunson!” Then he's over on his podcast, “What's up guys, this is Russell Brunson!”  And then he's over on his blog... “What's up guys, this is Russell Brunson.” And I was like, there's something to this. This is really interesting.   Funnily enough, on the very first day at Funnel Hacking Live, he said, “Everyone needs to start publishing.” And I was like, “there's no way I'm not gonna do it. I will build the funnels. I'll do whatever you want me to do Russell. My life's already changed. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. But I will never, ever, Mr. Russell Brunson, ever be one of those podcasters.” And that was my thought.   Well, “What's up, how you doing?” I'm podcasting!   We've crossed over 160,000 downloads between the two shows that I have - which is awesome. It's gone really, really well. I remember after watching Russell publish…. We didn't do anything unless there was a camera around a lot of times, right. We’d go grab a camera...   One day it was like 4:00 a.m. and he voxed me; he goes, “Dude, I got this sick idea man - swing down to the office as soon as you can. I'm really, really pumped about this. I'm gonna make you famous.” I was like, what does that mean? And then he goes, “Dude, we're gonna start a reality TV show man!” And that's when we started Funnel Hacker TV.   So we had a visual show... and then a podcast so people could listen... then there were blogs so people could read. Dominating everywhere! I mean, to be completely honest with you, can you consume all of the content that ClickFunnels puts out? No, nobody can. But that's not the point. He's trying to dominate the conversation.   I remember about six weeks into working at CF,  I decided to get a handle on this whole content creation thing. There was no way to do this without actually publishing.   I know I'm gonna suck at first. Like I'm gonna be terrible. I'm gonna be awful. And I was awful. I was super bad. I really was not good. If you guys go listen to the first few episodes of Sales Funnel Radio - the content is good. What I'm talking about is great. But the delivery is terrible. I knew that. And I came to grips with the fact. I just needed to gut it out a little bit -  just start moving forward.   When I first started publishing, I was the only person in my content team. I was watching a lot of  major entrepreneurs, and they were never the only one doing the content. They had a content team.   I was like, “Oh my gosh, I'm not gonna be able to afford something like that… and how do you even put a team like that together.”   The whole point of this episode is to show with you guys the journey through my content team - because even though I have a team now - it didn’t start that way.   When I started, I was just using Libsyn. That's Liberated Syndication dot com. Libsyn.com. It's L-I-B-S-Y-N dot com. It's amazing, okay. It was like five bucks a month for me to start.   And what it allowed me to do was... I wanted to be able to push out on iTunes obviously.... But I knew that a lot of people want to read, but I didn't want to write a blog.   I like writing about this kind of stuff. But I'm not gonna take the time to write a blog for every podcast episode.   So what I did was rip the audio and get it transcribed at Rev.com. Then I took that transcription, and it became the blog post. So now I have an blog for every episode. That's all I did. I just took the transcription, I put it on WordPress, and pressed go. I believe in using tools for the intent they were created. ClickFunnels is not meant to be a blogging platform. So I don't blog on it.   I use WordPress because WordPress was built to be a blogging platform.   Some people do some weird things with WordPress and turn it into a sales platform. But it's not a sales funnel. So I don't use WordPress to sell things. I use WordPress to publish things. Does that make sense?   You could make a lot of things turn into a lot of other things with weird connections and stuff. I just don't.   It's kind of like going to a sushi place and  ordering a hamburger. I'm sure they could make it for you, but that's not their thing. You know what I mean?   I look at software the same way. Whatever the software was intended to do, that's what I use it for. And that's why I still use several different platforms and I'll tie them together.   ClickFunnels is built to sell crap. So I use it to sell my crap.   When I first started out, it was just me; it  took me about two hours per episode to get it out of the door. I would wake up at about 5:00 a.m -  I'd be at ClickFunnel's HQ at about 6:00 a.m - and I would take Russell's microphone 'cause I didn't have money to go get a microphone at that  time… I would unplug the microphone from his computer and I'd go over and plug it into mine. Then I'd record the episode 'cause I knew his mic was good.   And I was like, well crap. I gotta figure out how to use Adobe Audition, or some kind of software for editing, or something like that. I went through and I created my intros. And I make all my intros and outros by the way. I really like doing it.   I've been a sound junky and editor since I was like 12. And I would make a lot of music on a lot of different platforms. I spent a lot of Saturdays just making music. It was a bunch of fun. So I did my own sound editing. I would go to Fiverr and have somebody do a voiceover.   The way I wrote my intro, just so you guys know, is I went and I actually listened to all the top rated podcasts in the business category on iTunes.   I listened to all their intros, and transcribed them. I found all the similarities and grabbed some of those - and then I threw a few other things in as well.   Then I went to premiumbeat.com and downloaded a cool song I liked. Had a voiceover guy from Fiverr just say it. And then I just put 'em together. That's how I made the original Sales Funnel Radio intro and outro.  Guys I freakin' bootstrapped, okay. That's the whole point.   Before I was at ClickFunnels, I started putting together videos - I didn't have video editing software. So I thought, who does? I was like, ahh libraries. So I did all my video editing in libraries for like a year before working at ClickFunnels. I didn’t have a camera. So I went back to libraries and I would rent their cameras.   Entrepreneurs would hire me to get on planes film their events, and film them doing sales videos. Then I'd go back and edit them in libraries, and give the camera back that I didn't own.   I’d take those videos and put them up on the funnels that I was building, which I was just hacking from what Russell and other successful people were doing. The whole way is bootstrapping. All of it's been bootstrapping.  And it's been super fun.   My content has been no different. I bootstrapped it.  I didn't have a mic, so I just borrowed Russell’s really early in the morning. That's like how I did the first 50 episodes of Sales Funnel Radio. I got to CF HQ way before everyone else - so I was completely alone in the office - and grab Russell's mic.  My job required that I had the Adobe Suite - so I’d use Adobe Audition (because it came with it) to do all my sound editing on.   I didn't know which settings to use. So I went to YouTube and I googled, podcast sound editing. I didn't know what they meant. I have no idea what all those letters mean on the sound editing stuff. I just took them and pasted them in... and it's one of the reasons that my podcast sounds so good today. So many of you have complimented me on that. I don't know what the settings mean,  I just know it does really awesome stuff when I push the button and apply those settings.   I have literally bootstrapped the entire way. The obstacle is the way. Just follow  your questions - and the answer's on the other side usually.   So for a while, I was the producer, and the recorder, the attractive character, and the content creator. For  the first 40 episodes, it took me about two hours per episode to take the transcription, put it into WordPress, and make it look amazing.   Then I'd go in Libsyn and press the publish button - and blast out to 16 different platforms. Boosh!   I hate Twitter. I don't know why it's there. But I publish there 'cause people like it, right. I did it for a lot of different platforms. Pushed to YouTube, pushed to Facebook, pushed to the blog, pushed to iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spotify. Boosh, all over the place. Libsyn did all that. It really helped my time.   Around episode 40, I went and I hired my first VA. And it was my sister. A lot of you guys know who she is. She was in a position where she was interested in this kind of stuff.   I said look, “I'll train you how to do it all.”  I showed her exactly what I was doing, right. I would get the episode transcribed, and then I would just hand off the transcription and the episode, and she would do everything else. She put it in WordPress. She did SEO optimization on it with some cool plugins we had...   And that's what I did for quite a while from like episode 40 up until like episode 140. For the last few episodes, I’ve been doing something different. I'm just going through this so you guys see the content journey. Those of you who went to Funnel Hacking Live and saw Peng Joon’s presentation on how he does his content might  think that you need to start with a gigantic content machine, right?   I never started with that. Number one, because of the cost, right. I'm spending $26,000 in hard costs a month right now on my content generation process. My content machine costs me that much. But I would never have started that way.  There's no way. That's dumb. But I knew content was important.   If I could get my voice more out there and share  what I was learning as I was watching these gurus...  If I could document my journey (which I'm still doing)... You guys are watching me do it all the time… If I could just do that...   I know that whoever controls content in an industry controls the industry. If no one hears you speak, then no one knows you exist in your industry, okay.   That's why this whole content thing is so important and so powerful. If no one knows you're talking, you don't exist, okay.   One of my first mentors was the CMO of Denny's and also Pizza Hut. I spent a lot of one on one time with him. He was actually a professor of mine. And he and I got a friendship. I would ask him a lot of questions and I talked a lot with him. He invented stuffed crust pizza. Whoa, right. He's the man…   I remember I was sitting in his office with him once and I was talking with him. At the time we were in this semester of college where we don't do anything but run a business. That's it…   You start a business from scratch. They give you virtually no help. You start it....   Well I was voted the first CEO of this company.  We ended up making two to three grand a week during that semester, which was awesome. With no help, we built it up, and it was awesome.   I remember though, I was talking about marketing with him. It was at a time in my life where I had not yet totally decided to go into just marketing alone. I was like man, should I go do supply chain? Should I go do finance? Should I go do this, should I go do that?   Anyway, he and I were chatting. And I was like, “I feel like I'm yelling at people about our company... like hey, we're here, we're here. Come buy our thing.”  And he said, “You know what's funny about marketing? The moment that you feel like you are being annoying is the moment that people are just starting to realize you even exist.”   You're gonna get tired of your message. You're gonna get tired of your stories way before the market will - Far before. You are not yelling as loud as you might think you are. You're not, okay.   Now I'm pushing content around all over the place, and that's what I want to talk about real quick.  I want to show you how I've evolved. It's interesting to see the journey that it's taken…   Whoever controls content controls beliefs and ideas.   If you're barely talking, or if you're not even talking,  people just don't know you exist for the longest time.They really don't.   You're gonna have the core people who follow you, who love you, who do the crazy things, who are the fanatics over what your business does. But most people don't really know you that well. They know of maybe your podcast. They know maybe of your business. They don't know what it is. It just feels like you're yelling at them because to you, it feels like you're yelling. You're not, okay.   So get used to speaking or at least communicating in some way. If you don't want to do a podcast, don't, okay. If you want to do video, sweet. If you want to just blog, awesome. Neil Patel blew up that way, right.   Whatever medium you're comfortable doing most frequently, just marry it. Okay, marry it, right.   We just did the episode a little bit ago about the attractive character. It is the vehicle for your attractive character to explode on. Okay, that's why it's so important for you to do this stuff.   I remember at Funnel Hacking Live feeling that my content machine was good - even though it was just me handing it off to one person. However, I realized that I could do a lot more.   I was like, you know what, I've worked my butt off. I'm gonna go try and blow up some of these platforms a little bit better.   I love YouTube, okay. Facebook and I still have a love hate relationship - but I use it. Instagram, loving it...   At  Funnel Hacking Live, Russell stood up and he said... It was like his first presentation. He stood up and he goes, “Where's Stephen?” And I was like “Woo!”... 'cause that's what I do, I yell. And he's like there he is. “Stephen's one of my favorite people on the planet. But he does not know what's on Instagram. He does not ever get on it.” Then he proceeded to pseudo make fun of me. Huh, I know you're watching man. Okay, proceeded to pseudo make fun of me for not using Instagram. I felt the stance of shame. Here's the stance of shame. That's the stance of shame. The very next day during a lunch break in Funnel Hacking Live, Colton and I went over to an Apple store and we grabbed myself an iPhone, a new one, and I have been Instagramming my face off. I started putting these different pieces together.   When I saw Peng Joon talk about how he does his content machine - I was like, you know what, with a few tweaks, I'm actually close to what he's doing.   So that's what I've been focusing on. It’s part of the reason why some of my other business has slowed down just a little bit - because my focus has been on this content machine. Setting up systems, setting up the business, getting my processes in place.   We've kept the ads small on my main product - but we're still very profitable. And I’ve been building up this content machine and the business. Like we have this crazy accelerant now guys. We got this insane power. And it's been really, really cool.   So here is my new content machine. I'm not gonna name names because they are my people, and it took me a while to find them, and I'm spending a lot of money to get them. So I'm  just gonna let you know what the roles are, okay. These are the roles that I filled and I really wanted to go hit, okay.   If you read Dotcom Secrets. These books are never really that far from me. Here they are. If you read Dotcom Secrets, one of the things that Dotcom Secrets talks about very early on is it talks about this whole concept of old media versus new media.   Old media, if you think about old media….That's things like newspapers, right, a lot of direct mail, the radio. It's still consumed, it's just that there's all these new media that you also need to be cognizant of and speak on.   If you look at the new media versus the old media you can see that podcasts are the new radio. What is the new TV? Kind of YouTube, right. YouTube and Facebook Lives, things like that. What's the new newspaper? Blogs, right.   If you go study guys like Ryan Holiday who's obsessed with the ideas of content creation... He's very good at placing ideas in places. Right, if you go look at what he's doing, he's just using different media sources against itself, right. Anyway, really, really fascinating okay.   So what I did is I said: I want to be on YouTube. I want to be on blogs. I want to be on Instagram. I want to be on Facebook groups. I want to be on…  And I started thinking through all these different platforms that I wanted to be seen on, even though that's not the format I was gonna publish on, okay.   I was like, well that causes a really interesting scenario because you need to match the content to the platform, right. Each platform has a context. You don't go on podcasts and listen to these podcasts typically while just standing in a room. You know, usually you're doing something else.   So on podcasters, I know I'm usually talking to like active individuals who are running around. They're getting something else done, typically.   If I want to get on Facebook... what's the intent of Facebook? People go on Facebook to get distracted usually, right. So I’ve gotta make sure that it's somewhat entertaining when my same content piece hits that platform.   People get on YouTube to either get distracted, entertained, or it's like a how to video … generally, it’s more instructional than Facebook's intent - I'm talking stereotypes here.   Why do people read blogs? There's not tons of story usually in blogs. I know it depends. Like in the space that I'm in, there's usually not tons of stories. It's usually a lot of how to stuff, right.   So that became the challenge; how do I just do a podcast and then repurpose the content for the different platform's context?   I believe that questions invite revelation. So that's been the question on my mind... How do I solve that problem? And cool enough, I solved it.   That's what happens when you ask the right questions. Questions aren't threatening. You'll answer the question, no matter what you're asking. If  you ask, “Oh, why am I broke?” You'll get the answer. Instead ask, “How can I make more money?’ and you'll start finding that answer. Isn't that funny. Total side note and rabbit hole.   So…   Here's my content machine:   The first thing I do is I have a video podcast now, right. I primarily do this on a video camera. This is the same camera type that we use for Funnel Hacker TV that Russell uses. And I like it. It's big though…. meaning the camera file is big. The camera itself is small. It's a 4K camera.   I film, and by the time this episode's over, it's gonna probably be like 10 gigs, no joke.   Then I go rip the audio from it and send it to my audio guy -he's the man. He adds whatever intro and outro I said I want to the episode (he already has those). He then adds on the settings that I like. He puts all those settings in there. And then he goes through and matches the volume loudness.   Have you guys ever wondered why my intro and my outro all sound the same volume as the actual episode?  It's because of some cool things he does in the background with post editing.   Up until this point, I’d  been adding the settings myself - but I had to remove myself from this process.   So he goes through and he does a whole bunch of cool sound editing, and he re-uploads it to our Google Drive folder that we use as a team.   Then the Trello card, yes we're using Trello to track this, gets assigned to the next person, right. And that person goes out and does crazy, amazing things on YouTube with it.   She takes the video that's been recorded - she's amazing - and she figures out really cool ways that I should be competing with different keywords on SEO to rank me in YouTube. Then she creates these cool, 15 second clips of neat things that I said and takes them out. And that's what gets passed into our assets folder again for future use for Instagram, right.   Next, she creates a thumbnail video... She does a whole bunch of other stuff. She's absolutely amazing.   The card then gets passed off to my incredible blog writer. She grabs the actual transcription from Rev when it comes in and writes a blog post.   So it's no longer just a transcription. She actually takes this, (which you guys reading right now) and turns it into a blog.   So now, you guys know what I'm doing with this after I stop recording... It's going through his machine that we've created with these amazing, brilliant, specialized people.   They're not cheap. They're incredible, okay. I wanted good people. And I found out a lot of them have their own agencies behind them too, which is another reason why they're so good.   It's taken me a long time to get to this stage - so don't feel like you have to do this when you start out. You don’t need to. This is something you will graduate to eventually.   And it'll keep blowing up from here I'm sure and we'll keep adding processes and cool things to it, but this is the core of what it is.   So anyway, after the writer uploads the blog post back to our individual episode asset in Google Drive, then the next person goes in and takes it.   She goes in and puts the blog post into WordPress, and makes it awesome....   We're gonna do a massive overhaul of the blog that's actually associated with this. It’s gonna be a massive overhaul of the look, the feel, the layout, everything! I want it to be cleaner, neater... everything...   Anyway, she goes in and she makes the blog look visually amazing inside of WordPress. This is the sixth episode that we've launched doing this process. Really cool.   Then the next person goes in and  launches everything on Libsyn. He does all the cool checks so that it can blast out to tons of platforms at one time.   Then the next person comes in... He goes in and puts it up on Instagram, on Facebook groups. I think he does a Twitter blast . He does a Chatbot blast. It's nuts guys… that whole team, that whole process.   What's cool about it is the deadline for the episode at the exact same for every platform. So everyone publishes at the exact same time. So at the exact same time (give or take maybe a few seconds), all this content is hitting the internet at the same time. Boom, from different platforms.   The same content, repurposed to suit the intent and context of each individual platform.   So because of this, there's over a week lag time in the preparation. So after I record, there's usually about a week and a half, or two weeks, while everyone's doing their role.   Anyways, it's freakin' awesome. It's super cool. That's my content machine.   I call it a machine, because I wanted to find a way to hit those all platforms in a systematized way.   I had to find people and pay them what they want to get paid, and what they're worth. They're worth a lot of money, okay.   If you go out and you start putting those people together. It's pretty interesting what happens... But for the love; if you're just starting out, do not try to build that from the get-go.   Like, good, great… eventually!  But be gentle with yourself until you can put 26 grand out on a team just for content's sake. It certainly, certainly pays me back more than that - but you can build up gradually, like I did.   So that's the content machine that I've got going on. I just wanted to give you guys an update.   Episode 60 and 61 of this podcast go through in depth on how I put my actual content together for the podcast. It dives more deeply through some of my tech setup, and the systems that I use as well. They're great ones to listen to if you are trying to build your own content machine, whether it's blog, or podcast, or video, whatever.   But with this episode, I wanted show the updated of what I've been doing here.   So anyways, you guys are awesome. You're rock stars, appreciate it. Keep at it.   I’d love if you could please, please, I know I keep asking... but what I'm putting out here, a lot of people charge a lot of money for. And I do it for free a lot of times. I really, really, really would love if you wouldn't mind, please go rate this podcast, review it on iTunes. It proves to iTunes that I'm not a schmuck and that this is all really good stuff.   It's been fun for me document my journey along the way. I am still telling you guys what I'm doing along the way so you can avoid pitfalls.   So, if that is worth anything to you and you've gotten any value from this, please go to iTunes.   Someone reached out once and they said, “I don't know how to leave a review on iTunes.”  Just go to iTunes, open it up, type in “Sales Funnel Radio”. I will show up. When you click on the show, right at the top there, it says ratings and reviews. Click there and it'll say write a review. Click write a review. I’d appreciate that. Thank you so much. It does mean a lot to me.   I want to keep showing funnel builders and entrepreneurs who are starting out and crushing it, the pitfalls to avoid, and some cool tactics along the way too.   All right guys, thanks so much, and I'll talk to you later, bye. Boom, thanks for listening.   Hey, please remember to rate and and subscribe. Hey, you want me to speak at your next event or Mastermind? Let me know what I can share that would be most valuable by going to stevejlarsen.com and book my time now. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

What's going on everyone, this is Steve Larsen and this is Sales Funnel Radio. Today we are going to talk about what to do when your revenue outgrows your business.   I've spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now I've left my nine-to-five to take the plunge and build my million dollar business.   The real question is how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch. This podcast is here to give you the answer.   Join me and follow along as I learn, apply and share marketing strategies to grow my online business, using only today's best internet sales funnels.   My name is Steve Larsen and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio.   What's up guys, hey, I am very excited for this episode. So, when I officially left my job, just like the intro to this podcast says, January first, it's been five months. Five solid months now, five and a half-ish by the time this episode goes out, and five and half.. it's been fascinating to watch what's happened. So follow me here, this is what happened.   Okay, so I left, right, and I had this awesome idea, I vetted it, I knew it'd be successful and what I did is I went and I started launching, launching, launching, launching, launching and what started happening was over on this side was the sales. Sales, sales, sales, sales, revenue, revenue, revenue, revenue. Lots of money started coming in.   I was like "Whoa! This is crazy, "I've never had this much cash coming. "Whoa, my gosh, whoa!" And all this cash started dumping on in. And we did about 100 grand the first month and then it just continued.   Now it's 50 grand a month and that's where it's been for a while because I slowed it down ..   You guys might be like, "Hey, that's kinda funny, why would you slow it down?" I actually slowed it down because here's what happened; January, February, March was like sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, and I'm selling, and we're making cash, and it's coming in, and we're at a 100 grand. You know, 100 grand, right... Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, we're making... A lot of cash coming in...   What I started realizing was the actual, my actual business wasn't able to handle what was going on. I was like, "Crap, I never ever thought this would ever happen to me." And I say that because when I started building funnels for companies while I was in college and it always happened the same way…   The funnels that we build, they sell things very, very, very well. I don't think people understand how well the funnels work, and that actually creates a business problem NOT a funnel problem.   Here's what I mean:   I was building all these funnels for people in college and there's this guy I was building a funnel for…  I did the research, I ran ASK campaigns, and I figured out exactly what his customers needed. Then I went put those things together, and created funnels. When we launched them, boom! He made a lot of cash real fast.   He made 50 grand really quick. 50 grand in the first month, it something like that. I can't remember exactly, it was a long time ago now. But there was a lot of cash coming in and then it kept going, and going, and going.   It’s funny because Day #1 after launching the funnel, the business owner always comes and they're like, "Oh my gosh, look at all this cash coming in! "That's amazing, these funnels are so cool!"   Then Day #2, they reach back out and they're like, "Wow, this is really awesome. "Holy crap, that's still a lot of sales."   Then Day #3, they're always like, "Turn it off! Turn it off! "You're gonna bankrupt us, turn it off!"   I remember I was kind of laughing when they said that, I thought they were joking. I was like, "Why would I ever turn off this... " Why would I turn off this funnel? Who wants less sales? I've never heard anyone say that in my life ever and at the time, I was making fun of it... I just didn't know any better. I was like, "Aw, that's stupid, why would you ever want less sales?"   However, he’d run into a situation where the revenue was outpacing his business!   Funnels are not businesses, they're not. A funnel is a revenue arm. A funnel is a very effective way to sell stuff. A business, though, that's completely different.   A business is a series of systems - that's really all it is. It's a series of systems that fulfills on the funnel, that's really it. Okay, that's the way I define it anyway, okay?   If you don't have enough systems in place, it means that every person who purchases from you is being fulfilled on differently.   It means that every person who's coming in, right, and has a support question, you're treating it differently every single time.   It means for every single, you know, package that needs to get shipped out there's not a process in place.   It's literally different every time, and what's hard about that is that it makes it very challenging to scale.  Especially if you’re just starting out and you’re kind of a solo guy for a while. If you're a solo, individual person for a while and you're kind of running on your own, that's great. That's a great place to be, but eventually you're gonna get to a place where your revenue starts to outpace your ability to fulfill well, and that's what happened to me.   Funnily enough, right after, I graduated college and started working at ClickFunnels, we did the exact same thing to so many other people:   Day #1, we launch an amazing funnel. They're like, "Oh, my gosh, look at all the sales!"   Day #2,  they're like, "Wow, that is "still a lot of sales, oh my gosh."   Day #3, they're like, "Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off, there's no way... "Oh, my gosh, we're gonna die, you're literally gonna bankrupt us, we're not gonna be able to fulfill on all this stuff"   I remember the second time it happened it was for a funnel we’d built for... I don't know if I should say the name, but anyway…   Russell and I built this sweet e-comm funnel. It was amazing, they had tons of revenue coming in, and they spent the next two or three months simply upgrading, building, solidifying and putting in place systems inside of their company so that it actually could handle the revenue coming in. Isn't that funny?   For some reason I had never, ever considered that for such a long time, and so I ran into the same thing. Part of my first role as ClickFunnels was to build funnels for Russell's personal clients. I built a lot of funnels for ClickFunnels itself, but (especially when I first got there there) I built funnels for his personal clients - building them, putting them together…   I have a marketing degree. In the business marketing degree that I got they do a lot on teaching ‘the business.’ The actual systems and the structure. They do hardly anything on teaching sales, right? Which is so funny.   It makes sense of why everyone goes and gets VC funding... because they build the team and there's no cash to freaking support it. You're like, "That seems backwards."   Anyway, so I started going through this very same thing. I started recognizing it coming up... I launched all my stuff and I was like... It was like, "Money, Money, Money, Money," and I was like, "Holy crap."  I was still the sole operator of my business. I was like, "Huh, this is interesting."   I knew what happened next; pretty soon it becomes so high, the tower gets so tall that eventually there's not enough foundation and it starts to crumble and you start getting refunds and people start saying bad things about you.   And I was like, "Crap, I don't want to hit that," and so I purposefully had my amazing ads person, (I will interview her one day and put her on here because she's incredible), but I had my amazing ads individual go and turn the ads down. We kept the ads tiny because I didn’t have the power to fulfill at the rate I was able to sell at.   Most businesses are the exact opposite. They’ve  got the sweet structure and they don't know how to get new cash in. “Well, I'm a funnel builder, baby. The cash part's not the hard part…” It's this other way around.   So, I guess I've been feeling the need to... You know, it's June now, to account,  to let you guys know what's been happening, and so for the first, like, three months there's been a lot of cash that came in. I was like, "Oh, my gosh, that's nuts. "Crap, I'm like the only guy!" I was pulling my hair out - stressed 24/7.     I remember I was talking to... This wasn't an Inner Circle meeting, but I was talking to a lot of the members. We were hanging out at someone's house and they were asking, “What's going on?” and I was telling them, and someone said, “You know, you're probably gonna have to put the brake on just a little bit to go build this stuff up and then you'll be able to handle more cash coming in.”   I didn’t want that to be the answer. I really didn’t want him to say that. I was like, "sell, "sell, sell, sell, sell," but...   This year, I've been doing a lot of stuff. I'm one of the coaches for Two Comma Club Coaching X, the new 2CCX program, and it's going freaking incredible. I've gotten my own processes down and in place there now. I’m helping them fulfill; helping them do amazing stuff, helping everyone make money and put their funnels together. So, I've been doing that as well as actually my webinar  So, I've been selling, selling, selling, selling.   It's been tons of fun. Now I’ve backed off on the selling a little bit. I’ve put together a lot of systems - a lot of them.  I always thought that it was kind of like a drag, but I know now why.   Because without huge cash coming in why on earth am I building the system, right? That's what my mentality is like. I'm like, "What's the ROI of me building a system when there's not buttloads of cash to match it with?”   So, that's all I would encourage you guys to do.  If you’re selling and you've got cash coming in and you're like, "Hey, this is going really, "really well, it's going incredible,"  but you're having a hard time blowing up, I want to tell you one thing that Russell told me...   Actually, I was sitting next to him, I’d only been working there for a little bit and I was keeping notes. I mean, I was sitting next to the dude, right? Would you not take notes? So I did.   I had a Trello board called "Brunsonisms" and "Russell Lessons" and I would write down things that I heard him say - things that were really profound. I was already fanatic about his content, but like, really profound things, and this is what he said... He was talking to one of his Inner Circle people and he goes, "Scaling from six to seven figures... " I'm gonna botch the quote, but this is the lesson. He said, "Scaling from six to seven figures is NOT a matter of MORE hours in the office.... Scaling from six to seven figures is about leverage."   So if you've got a product, right...  that’s done, like, 300 grand, something like that… What I've noticed is that you probably have a leverage problem.   You need to  put systems in place that let you expand, that lets you fulfill, that lets you, right, go grab another funnel out there, put something out there that brings more cash in, so things like that.   But specifically, right, it's a leverage problem. It's not typically a cash problem.   You guys will all notice and you'll all see, if you haven't already, which I know a lot of you guys are already rockstars and you're selling. You're making a boatload of cash already, right, but for those of you guys who are, like, just starting out, you'll see really quickly, right, it's typically...   When you go and you start, right, you're building, you're building, you're getting the revenue coming in. Awesome, and you should do that. Prove to the market that it's awesome. You’ll find that when you have an amazing product, right... Like, my product right now is so freaking awesome. (I keep adding some amazing... Oh, my gosh. I just added this really cool thing to it.) Another time, another episode, but oh, my gosh. And the success rate is just, like, skyrocketing because of it.   Anyway, when you actually figure out something really awesome, the path to a million bucks is not actually that hard.   I remember I was walking out, I think it was my last day at ClickFunnels, and Russell was like, "So, what's the goal, man?" And I was like, "A million bucks," and he goes, "You're gonna find out real fast that's not that hard," and I was like, "Oh, hahaha."   It's not that hard, let me just tell you right now. It's not that hard, oh, my gosh.  The funnel that I tossed out it was really, really quick, and revenue came in real fast. I was like, "Crap, I need systems to handle it," I don't want to become so systemized that the systems start outpacing the revenue…   I can feel it. I have an organization now. There's eight people on my team now. I have a full-time employee. I'm getting full-time support, full-time assistant. I'm setting up the structure so that I can go back to the funnel and be like, "Blow it up, baby, yeah, go, we're going to three." Does that make sense?   If you watch all these other Two Comma Club winners, they've gone through a very similar pattern. While we often study the funnel, which is great…  we study their marketing, which is great. Remember, though, to actually study their business and the structure of it.   When you're funnel hacking- you're not just hacking funnels, you're also funnel hacking the way they fulfilled on what the funnel was selling.   That's been part of what I've been doing heavily this last little bit. I mean, I've been studying my face off. I’ve got notes and papers all over the place, all over my desk right now. Because now I’ve got the revenue coming in,  I can build the actual systems and the processes to support even more revenue.   My structure as of two months ago couldn’t have handled much more. My structure now, though, it's getting a lot cleaner. I know that soon I'm gonna be able to just, like, scale, scale, scale, scale, scale.   What I've learned and what I've seen a lot of people do, is... If you look at the pattern of a lot of Two Comma Club winners, you'll notice that usually with a team of three to five people they'll run to a three million real quick.     It’s different for every business, every industry, but the actual structure, the business structure allows them to get to that kind of place, usually pretty quickly with not many people on the team.   It doesn't take a huge team to do these things. Brandon and Kaelin Poulin, they just crossed 10 million dollars. They just had their first three million dollar month - crazy!  They've got 40 people on their team. However, it doesn't take these gigantic teams to make a significant amount of cash for your pocket.   So, real quick I'll tell you the roles and then my camera's gonna die…   Okay, so what I'm going for is, right, I am the main marketer, funnel builder, CEO, right. That's the position that I'm in.   I also have an affiliate manager. Right, that's my first full-time employee. Not support, right, not assistant. I want other cash generating people, right. That's all I want, right, where there's still structure. He's going out and he's my affiliate manager.   He's going out and he's creating relationships. We're doing another huge Dream 100 package drop. That's actually where he is right now. That's why he's not sitting there right now. He's at the post office, we're doing another big Dream 100 drop, and we got a lot of people excited to promote. He’s bringing in new blood. New blood as far as relationships goes.   Okay, so it's me as the funnel builder and marketer and attractive character. Right, that's the roles I'm trying to take on.   The next one, though, right, affiliate manager, and that actually was told to me by Russell. He said, "The next employee I would get, 100 percent man, go grab an affiliate manager and then grab an assistant, and then a support person."  Really that's it.   If you're, like, shipping stuff out you might need a fulfillment person too. I'll probably maybe grab two support people so that they're almost around the clock.. That’s all I really need, right, as far as full-time people go.   've got six content people and I do have a bookkeeper, but those are like VA positions, they're not full-time on my books. They're on my books every month, but they're not W-2 employees. They’re 1099s.   As far as full-time W-2 employees that are actually like here with me I’ve got the affiliate manager and I’m  definitely gonna have a full-time assistant, and definitely gonna have full-time support. Because right now we're doing the support piece. He mostly is doing support and affiliate stuff, and that's kind of it. Those are the roles, it's really four roles that I'm going for for the business model that I love and am modeling. It's going great and everything's running how it should.   So, anyways guys, hopefully that was helpful to you? I just wanted to do a little bit of accounting so that you see where you are.   If you're feeling stuck, start  asking: "Is my funnel revenue outpacing my business?" - because they're not the same, right?   Or if you're like, "Hey, I've got this "sweet business and these cool systems "and structures and processes, but not enough revenue." Then go build a funnel. There’s kind of this balance between one and the other. They're gonna have a hard time outpacing each other.   After a while the structure will get too weighty, you're not gonna have the cash to hold the system so the system will need to get leaner.   I don't like to build the business past the revenue. That's called debt and I personally am not a huge fan. I own my stuff. I don't want anyone else to own it. All right, hopefully this was helpful?   Just so you guys know what's going on with my team and how I'm actually building it out and actually putting it together....   My content team, they're freaking rockstars. I'm definitely gonna interview them so you guys all know who they are. Then over here on the W-2 side where I'm actually building out a full-time team, I backwards plan my structure.  I figure out how much money is that person gonna want a month? My hard costs right now are like 25 grand a month for my salary and my team’s salary. So hard costs right now, for the content team, for everything else, 25 grand a month.That's not bad at all. All right, sweet, done-zo.   So I've backed way off, built up the structures, got the systems in place- we're just vetting them right now. That's really all we're doing. Yesterday I talked to my amazing ads person and we're gonna go scale these ads like crazy and get them off the ground.   So, anyways, I just thought it would be kind of cool to show a little of the accounting so that you guys know what I've been doing, because my structure could not handle much more.   So, anyway, awesome stuff. The next road mark I fully expect we'll probably do the... This is me calling my shot, okay. Probably I think we're gonna hit the million by October at the latest.  I think we'll go to maybe 1.4, 1.5 by the end of the year.   That's me looking at where we are combined with the campaigns that we're putting in place, where I've seen them go before, where I've put them before. Anyway, we'll see what happens, but that's where I am right now.   It's kind of a different episode. I never realized that I would be in the role that I am as far as a systems builder, you know what I mean? I'm a funnel builder, but  now by necessity I'm also a systems builder - which has been great.   I'll talk to you guys later, please rate this podcast and review it, that helps me like crazy. I think that my podcast is one of the foremost podcasts on funnels, which is why I'm trying to push it hard and prove to iTunes that it matters.   So, please, please leave a review and share. That means the world to me, and I'll talk to you all in the next episode, bye. Hey, thanks for listening, please remember to rate and subscribe. Want today's best opt-in funnels for free? Get your free opt-in funnel pack by going to SalesFunnelBroker.com/FreeFunnels to kick start your opt-ins today. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

What's going on, everyone? It's Steve Larsen, and today, we’re gonna talk about how to compete with your Attractive Character.   I just spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now, I've left my nine to five to take the plunge and build my million-dollar business. The real question is, how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.   Join me and follow along as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business, using only today's best internet sales funnels. My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio.   Guys, I'm pumped for today. This could be a bunch of fun.   A lot of guys know, I was really shy for a long time, right? And I've mentioned that many times, and some of you guys have said, that's not true, Stephen. No way that's true, right?   But I was. I was really shy for a long time. I would say I even had a near-clinical fear of adults. You know, I would see an adult, and I would physically move in a different direction - I did that for a time.   Even into my early 20s, I was pretty shy. It's not that I was like cowering, or  that I wouldn't speak to anybody else...   It's just that I was doing everything that I could to not engage with human beings. I don't know why I was that way. It’s not that I was really reclusive… or that I was sitting back all the time, going, “ugh, it's a person.” That's not how I was at all. But there was no way I would be getting on stage now. There was no way I would ever do something like a podcast. Just the thought of that would freak me out. To have a camera on my face right now, there's no way.   When I finally became cognizant that I was this way, I started noticing all these business people who were amazing leaders. I’d be, “oh my gosh, check out those guys... Look at him, he's so impressive. He speaks and things sway. I wanted to develop that skill.   I started doing things like door-to-door sales for the explicit reason of learning how to sell in scary environments. I started doing telemarketing, for the explicit reason of going in and learning how to sell hard in environments where you're constantly getting rejected.   I don't know that everyone has to go through this kind of thing, but for me, I chose to start molding who I was... and who I was trying to become. It was a really challenging thing to go through.  As I started getting more into it, I noticed that my ability to speak and to give sales messages started improving.   Several years before I started working for Russell, I realized that I needed to get even better at this whole stand and deliver concept. I wanted to work out how to become… I don't wanna say, ‘a leader’… How to become... a ‘follow-able person’. It's kind of like saying leader.   Anyway, but I was trying to figure out how to do that. Because from my background, and where I was coming from - that was an insanely hard thing to do!   I would take my computer and find videos of people on stage. I did this specifically with Russell Brunson's stuff. This was way before we ever knew each other personally. I would take his videos - videos of him on stage, and I would go in front of a mirror, mute the video of him, so I could see him, but not hear him. And he'd be making all these gestures and I would mirror him. I would mimic him.     I’d be moving around all over the place, mirroring and mimicking everything he was doing. It was so weird. It was awkward. I know that it’s weird, but it was what I needed to start breaking out of the shell I was in.. It’s how ‘Steve Larsen’ was born.   Fast forward, I was working for Russell, sitting next to him; I was about 40-ish episodes into Sales Funnel Radio...  We were running this thing called the FHAT event - the Funnel Hackathon Event. People would pay 15 grand for three days, and I would teach for hours. I mean, man, it was a long freaking time!   Well, the very first FHAT event, we were vetting out the content, we were making sure that everything was awesome and solid. Then, right before Russell goes on stage, he turns around at me, and he goes, "Hey dude. Do you wanna introduce me?"   I always make it a habit to say “YES’ - especially when someone with a lot of influence asks me to do something…  My knee-jerk reaction is to say “YES!” and then figure out how to do it later. This attitude has brought me to some cool places in life.   At the FHAT event, the room's filled with loads of people - very successful people.There's like 60 people in there, and many millions - tens of millions - hundreds of millions of dollars, collectively inside of that room.   There's a lot of Russells inner circle - and they know what the heck they're talking about, right? I was like, crap, I gotta get on and introduce…   The whole role of somebody who introduces somebody else is merely to raise the state of the room so that when the speaker comes on, they don't have to raise the state of the room. They can just walk on and start presenting.   Otherwise, the speaker spends a whole bunch of time to do that. Russell told me, “that's your role.”  I was like, crap! How can I do that? It's not like Russell's low energy. How do I introduce Russell Brunson in a way that suits who he is? That suits his audience?   It was very challenging for me. I remember sitting there. I mean, he asked me three minutes ahead of time, to go on and do this. Immediately I was like, okay, is there a script? Is there like a format that good introducers use to bring on other prominent people? There's gotta be something. What can I do?   Russell walked over, and he said, "Hey, just make sure you raise the state of the room- that way, I don't have to."   I was like, oh crap. Okay, another huge task. Okay, sweet. Inside, I was like, oh, crap! He could tell I was stressing out. He knew that I had done all that stuff, like stand in front of a mirror with his videos muted,  just moving around and mimicking what he's doing.   He knew I’d done door-to-door. He knew I’d done telemarketing. He knew I’d done a lot of stuff and become good at them so that I could break out of my shell.   Instead of fight the fact that I was in a shell, I accepted the fact, and just did things to come out of it.   Knowing this, Russell turned to me, and this is what he said, and this is the reason why I wanna share this with you... Because it really, really, really matters:   He turned to me, and he said, he said, "Dude, "You model me. It's quite impressive how you model me. You model me to the ‘T.’ You do everything that I do. You model me so well, but you’ve got to have your own voice eventually. Just do it how you’d introduce me."   It's funny because I knew that answer, but for Russell to say it ‘in that way’, I really took notice.   At that time, I'd already been publishing. I'd already been doing a whole bunch of stuff. I would already say that I had, quote, unquote, found my voice.  However, when he said, dude, you gotta have your own ‘isms’, you gotta have your own character, you gotta have your own thing, I started thinking through, what makes ‘me’ me?   These were all quick thoughts that were hitting me as I'm about to walk on stage. I don't remember what I said, but it went great. The energy in the room got really high. It's half the reason I yell like crazy, guys. Those are all little things that I do on stage before bringing somebody big on, and, and it's a bunch of fun.   What does this have to do with anything? It has to do with everything....   Your business competes in the marketplace based on how much value it provides, right? You're very valuable if you answer a lot of questions, if you solve things for people, if you give things that people want, if you give things that people need (I suggest you go for the wants, not the needs - You’ll make more money). However, let’s start thinking through what value your business gives to the ecosystem - to the market? Because that's where you compete on the business side - with your strengths.   How can you be the best? How can you deliver more? How can you be more than the other guy? How can you do things in an entirely brand new, unique way? That's  what the business side competes on. Strengths.   Your Attractive Character, however, doesn’t compete on strengths. Isn’t that interesting? Let me explain…   In the first office that I was a part of with ClickFunnels, Russell and I would sit back to back. His computer and my computer screens were facing each other, so I could see his reflection in my screen...   I'd be building these funnels - In the first two months, I was totally mute. I didn't wanna say anything. I was like, this is freaking Russell Brunson, like, oh my gosh, look, Y'all, oh my gosh. He's gonna melt me with his marketing zeroes and ones, huh! I’d see his reflection in my screen 24/7 right there, I was like, don't say anything or you'll die. That was my mentality.   I remember my desk was a picnic table that was slightly too high, and my chair was slightly too low - so I get a lot of back pain 'cause I have kind of long arms. These details are burned into my head... I remember the way that room smelled, I remember the way it looked, I remember everything about that room. Over to my right, there was a book. I never read it, but it was called: ‘How The World Sees You.’ And on the back, it said two things. One of them was, “Don't compete on your strengths. Compete on your differences.” I thought that was really interesting.   The other one was, “You don't learn interesting, you unlearn boring.”   Now, I wanna look at those two phrases real quick. You have to understand that this is HOW your Attractive Character competes.   On the business side, you compete on strengths. Your business, the systems, the offer, the marketing.   But with your attractive character (which marketing bleeds into for sure) - You don't compete on strengths! Somebody will always be better, faster, stronger, right or  better-looking, right? Does that make sense?   Someone's always gonna be more talented. Someone's always gonna be boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. So on that measure, your attractive character will die.   It’s the fastest way to entrepreneurial suicide; to start competing with your attractive character on strengths because it’s never gonna be enough.   You start comparing yourselves to ideals. The problem with an ideal is that it’s fluffy, it's fictitious, it's out there. There's no way for you to know if you'll ever hit it... And because of that, it's not measurable - so it's not attainable.   As an entrepreneur you start spinning your wheels and comparing yourself to an ideal. To strengths. Don't do that. Don't do that.  I did that for a long time. I'm speaking from experience with this stuff. I did that for quite some time. It sucked. It was hard because you start saying things like, “man, I don't know if I'm ever gonna make this. Am I ever actually gonna be successful with this?” Right?   Every one of us has said that. Come on, I know we all have, right? Am I ever gonna, is something wrong with me? Oh my gosh, another two people made a million, you know, made the two comma club today. Crap. Gosh, dang it. Are you kidding me? Right? What's wrong with me?   Something must be wrong with me, because it’s not the funnel, it's not this, it's not that. It has to be me, right? And the entrepreneur starts to blame themselves because they're comparing themselves to where the other people are. They're comparing themselves to another person's business. That's a stupid comparison. Don't do it.   The way to move forward on the Attractive Character is to compare YOU to YOUR history. That's it. That is what keeps you from, from self-sabotaging, from literally burying yourself. It's like your brain eventually turns submarine mode, and it doesn't know how to go back up.   You start sinking-and going further, and further down. Oh crap, I can't get this, something must be wrong with me, because all these other people are getting it done.   You're comparing themselves with somebody's business. Stupid, dumb comparison. Because while a business competes on strengths, an attractive character competes on DIFFERENCES - YOU compete on your differences.  It is so much easier. My gosh, guys, you’ll save your sanity.   If you guys haven't been following me on Instagram, (I think you'll like it)... Monday morning, I always yell, and it's exactly what it sounds like. I yell. I get up, and I yell, whoo, yeah.   What I've been doing lately is having a whole bunch of you guys yelling back.  In the the highlights - Russell's in there yelling, Peng Joon's in there yelling - it's really fun.   Go check it out if you want to; you'll see what I'm talking about. But why do I do that? It's because it's what I would do anyway. I'm just me, but louder… That's the real trick with becoming an attractive character.   This internet business, does not exist for you to have to change into someone you’re not... Meaning there's this facade, right? There's this facade about what it means to be successful. I don't want any expensive fancy cars. Heh. Right? I'm not living in a mansion, urgh. Right? And there's this facade that's complete garbage when it comes to what it means to be successful on the internet. There's this persona that you have to go live. It's crap. It's complete garbage. Don't believe it. It doesn't make sense.   For those people who are doing it because that's who they truly are, great, I'm not poo-pooing on that. Like, that's great, okay, stay that course. That's awesome.   What I'm saying is those of you guys who are not naturally that way - you don’t have to pretend. If you want those things, that's awesome, but you don't have to pretend to be someone different to be successful.   I'm saying this because I've heard a lot of people say things to the equivalent of, I don't even own a briefcase, how can I be successful, urgh. Right? It's like, what? That's not what the game's about, right? Your business competes on strengths, but your Attractive Character competes on differences.   What makes me ‘me’ is how I compete; so I listen to music more openly, 'cause I'm always listening to music - my kind of music. I don't care if people don't like it because it’s one of the things that makes me different.     On the business side, I can't say that though. When it comes to products, I need to have slight reactions to what the market wants me to build for them…   However, for the Attractive Character, that's not how it works. I can do all the quirky things I love to do. The little character traits that I have that make me a bit weird... those things that I don't necessarily want other people to see... Man, those are your freakin' superpowers. That's the stuff to go publish about.   Right now, I'm yelling into a camera in an office by myself. It would be weird for other people to come to see this. I don't care. Right? For a long time, I would've cared though, 'cause I had that same perception.   I was like, this is what it means to be successful in this business; I have to go have X, Y and Z over here. I need to have this kind of suit, and I must look this way, I must act this way. I must be slightly recluse from all of these other people and set myself apart…   (I still have to be a little bit reclusive sometimes, when I'm around other people,  just to recharge, but it's not for the same reason. Mentally, I have to recharge, 'cause there's a lot of questions 24/7 at events, you know. Whoo, and I'm like, whoa, I gotta separate and isolate for a second)   When I hear somebody say, “I don't know that I can be successful because I have a stutter” or I have this limitation or that limitation, or I'm dyslexic, or I have ADHD. Man, that’s just wrong!     I had this counselor once tell me that I have a lot of tendencies of ADHD. And for a long time, I used to think that this was a hindrance. That's garbage. It's bullcrap.   Did you know that most billionaires are dyslexic? Seriously, go look it up. Richard Branson - the guy's dyslexic - it didn’t stop him.   Whatever it is about you - I'm not just talking about dyslexia, and you know, ADHD and stuff, whatever - I don't care what it is. Whatever it is about you that makes you feel incompetent- is actually a superpower. Stop acting like it’s a hindrance.   The beauty of the internet is that you can become who you are, even more, louder. You don't have to change you -  just be a louder you. That's what the attractive character is.   Instagram's kinda fun, 'cause I can do a lot of the little snapshots of what I'm doing throughout the day. I have a little dummy down there that I beat the crap out of. I'm gonna name it ‘Poverty’, so I can beat the crap out of ‘poverty’ every morning. It's really fun. But no one's telling me to do that. That's my own creativity and my own little weirdness kicking in. That's great for my Attractive Character.   What's funny is that if you try to go and you compete on strengths, if you try to be something that you’re not - IT WILL SINK YOU. You’ll have a tough time connecting with your audience. Your audience won't feel your authenticity if you're not being true to yourself. People can smell it. They can.   When you start having thoughts like, I don't know that I can do this because I have, blank. I have a limitation because of, blank. I have a limitation because of, blank. Those things are the things that you should be publishing about!   Not that it's a pity fest. Not that you're walking around all the time, saying like, oh well, follow me, I'm terrible at this. I'm awful at that. That's not what I'm saying at all. The reason I can push so freaking hard, is because I do have some ADHD tendencies. I’ve got a lot of friends who can't do that. It is a superpower.   When I talk about this, all of you guys who feel the same way - you reach out to me and you say, I getcha. I feel ya. I'm with ya. I understand what you're saying. If I wasn’t willing to expose my vulnerabilities - the things that I feel I'm limited on - I wouldn’t be able to connect with you in the same way.  Does that make sense?   That is why I tell everyone to publish so much. Don't take on a persona that doesn’t feel like you. Just be you - louder.   While  businesses competes on strengths and the ability to give results, your attractive character competes on differences. You don’t need to compare yourself to somebody else. If you're comparing your business to somebody else’s, I don't see a massive problem with that, as long as you feel like you’re not your business. You know what I mean?   Sometimes in an agency setting you are the business. Well, that can be dangerous. You'd be like, well, I suck at this, I suck at this. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. Bad.   The reality is that you don't have the ‘systems’ in place to get those things done. That's not YOU!  It’s your business. Right? So get in the habit of running your critiques through a filter.   You need to ask’ “Is this a business-oriented adjustment, or is this just, who I am?”   On the business side; judge, and critique away. It’s your baby and it's always broken. Don't fall in love with it. But when you head over to the attractive character side; don't judge yourself on how you’re different.   Your difference is your superpower - it’s what lets you be you. It's what calls out your tribe and provides the blanket of security for the people who follow you. What makes you attractive, what makes you followable, is your ability to be open with the things that you're not amazing at, your little quirks, the things that you ‘like’ or ‘don't like’ -  the polarity that you have…   When I say, “I hate this” or “I love this” - It's very polarizing. When I say “I freakin' hate VC funding, I can think of 99% of businesses that probably didn't need it.” I understand that some people are not gonna like that, and that's okay because it's me. I'm totally fine with that.   So as you think about your attractive character, don't judge yourself. Don't come over here and be like, oh, I should change, I should be this, I should...   I'm always for self-improvement, but don’t tie your self-worth to the worth of your actual business. Don’t tie your self-worth to the value of your offer, or how many people you’ve helped - You are NOT the business.   If you’re in this scenario, you need to start separating your business from your attractive character. You can be an attractive character of the business. Every business should have one. However, you are NOT the New Opportunity. You are NOT the Offer. You are NOT the Cause. You ARE the Attractive Character.   Every mass movement needs an Attractive Character, a Cause, and an Opportunity. However, the attractive character is in its own category. The Cause and the Opportunity are separate too. They are not judged on the same report card as the Attractive Character.   Anyway, I think I've beaten this one down like crazy. I just wanna help entrepreneurs to stop beating ourselves up. If you’re not like everyone else, then good, great, awesome. Be louder about it! You'll find it’s actually an accelerant. It's a catalyst, an enzyme. *Other synonyms*. So that you can go forward faster. Boosh!   But only, if you're willing to be open about your differences - that's the key- and the caveat. Again, it’s not a pity fest. That's not what I'm saying at all. Those little quirks are the things that make you amazing and unique.   Anyway, I think I've said the same thing like 12 times now, but it's because I'm trying to hit it home! Now, I challenge you to sit down and start thinking about what makes you different. Either write it down - or just start being cognizant of it.   I like guns - there's a sniper rifle behind the camera right there. It's an Airsoft sniper rifle. I don't care about being politically correct - because it's me. So start writing down these things. Start being cognizant of who you are - and then be willing to share those differences.   It may require you to drop a wall that you’ve been building because you're afraid of people seeing the true you. “I'm not clean all the time… Sometimes I'm a slob, heh.” Whatever. I don't care, okay?   My garage downstairs, it's not painted. Urgh, it shouldn’t be on Instagram because it's not painted, right? I hate that kinda garbage. On stage the other day we were talking about the stack slide. We were talking about using certain scripts, and I was talking a little bit about this…   There's one great therapy known to help people get past the fear of doing these kinds of things. It's really interesting. So if you guys raise your arm out at a 45-degree angle in front of you. Next bend, right, at the elbow. So your arm's out 45 degrees, starting bending at the elbow, and then get your hand, kind of like right by your face. Kind of like right by your cheek right here.   While you have been watching this, while you have been listening to/ reading this, without you knowing, I have ‘ninja-ly’ (that's a new word)... Like a ninja, I’ve placed the most deadly spider on your face from South Africa, and it's gonna bite your face.   Okay, get that thing off. Just slap that face. Yeah, right, get it done. Get it out there, right?   I couldn't tell if it was offensive when I did it on stage, or if it was actually  really cool. But you got the point, though?   Just buck up a little bit, and you guys are gonna be awesome. I care about you so much, okay, so much. I think about you guys like, 24/7, and that's 'cause when I look back and see where I've gone, both from a revenue and a business standpoint - it's humbling, right? But I was not expecting all of this other stuff ‘mentally’ to have to happen.   Am I an attractive character? My attractive character has now come to a point and a spot, where it is... My business doesn't move past the level of my attractive character anymore. I now have to develop individually, personally, mentally because my business will not move past the level of my attractive character. It's fascinating.   Anyways, guys, I hope that that was helpful. It's a long episode. Thank you for tuning in. I appreciate it. Hopefully, this episode has made you cognizant of the power that you have inside of you. The power that’s already there.   All right, I'll talk to you later. Bye.   Please remember to rate and subscribe. Got a question you want answering live on the show? Head over to salesfunnelradio.com and ask your question now. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Just over two years ago, fresh out of college - having unexpectedly landed my dream job as 'Lead Funnel Builder' at ClickFunnels - I found myself sitting just feet away from my marketing hero, Russell Brunson.   For the first few months, I was practically mute. Looking back, I think I was in shock. Inside, my head was whirring and going crazy: 'Oh, my gosh, I'm sitting next to Russell Brunson. RUSSELL BRUNSON! Look it's Russell Brunson. I'm in the same room as RUSSELL BRUNSON...'   After a few cool moves to start a conversation: 'Hey, Russell, I nearly put a poster of you on my wall.'- *AWKWARD*- I decided that the best approach was to stay quiet and learn everything I could by watching the Master Marketer doing his thing.   It was fascinating to watch Russell's brain work; the incredible way that he’d create offers, recall marketing campaigns, get into the zone to brainstorm and solve problems. Each day I learned far more than I ever had in my whole Marketing Degree.   The main reason I started my Sales Funnel Radio podcast was to record all the nuggets that I was learning and pass them on.   Day after day, I'd sit there mesmerised, listening to Russell coach and talk with his inner circle. I'd listen to him advising all these massive gurus and influential people - as well as entrepreneurs who were just starting out. So much golden advice- I was a like a sponge soaking it all up.   After about three to four months, a funny thing happened - I started to notice patterns in the conversations that Russell was having. So one day, as he finished on a coaching call, I turned around to him and said: 'Hey, Dude, you're kinda  saying the same things over and over again.' And, he goes, 'Yeah!'   Now, if you're an expert in your field, you've probably noticed a similar pattern? You like to dive deep into your subject; you're obsessed with it.   You have sooo much knowledge to pass on, but the problem is that a lot of the people you're serving don't need to go that deep with you.   They don't want to freak out and geek out the same way that you do - they just want to take the next step- or get to the next level.   So we had this idea to create a way to guide people from the ground up, on a step by step path, to create a million dollar company. From that point, Russell could take them EVEN HIGHER. It was a win/win solution.     The entrepreneur got access to everything they needed to help them on the first part of their journey, and Russell got to spend less time on the basics, and more time in his zone of genius.   I spent six months going through twelve years of Russell's videos, and all of his content. I backward planned and organized the material into the exact steps needed for a million dollar business. We created a 200-hour membership area -  it was freaking huge and packed with VALUE... And that's how 'Secrets Masterclass' was born. On its launch, Secrets Masterclass made a million in three weeks!  What was even more fun was that people who joined the program made a  million dollars too. A lot of people became hundred-thousandaires, while many others made money on the internet for the first time in their entrepreneurial life.     It was such a success that we decided to take the material from the Secrets Masterclass and condense it into a three-day live event -'The Funnel Hack-A-Thon' (aka, The FHAT Event.) The FHAT event was loads of fun and got excellent results for the participants.   Then right before the 2018 Funnel Hacking Live in Orlando, Florida, Russell asked me if I wanted to go on stage to do a presentation (Hell, Yeah!)... The challenge was to take the material from the three-day FHAT Event and present it in ten minutes. Holy Smoke!   At first, I didn't think I could do it. It was soooo challenging. Luckily, my head is kinda geared towards sorting this stuff out - I love to take a complex subject and simplify it down to the essentials.   So I put on some music and got my brain into gear. I started at 4pm and didn't finish until 5am the following day. That's eleven solid hours spent creating a ten-minute presentation. CRAZY!   Hands up, guys - at the event I ran over time by seven-minutes (sorry, Russell). But you get the picture? Twelve years of teaching - turned into a two hundred hour membership site, then condensed to create a three-day live FHAT event, finally turned into a ten-minute (ok, *cough* seventeen minutes) presentation.   Well, all this condensing got me thinking…   Sometimes you have a fantastic product that you've been selling it face to face, but it's not selling online the way you want it to.                    Here’s the problem (and most entrepreneurs have been through this at some time):   You decide that you're going to sell a something - so you go out and find a product that is selling well. That's smart. That makes sense.   However, once you find your product, then you just kind of toss it out there and kind of hope that people start buying it. And that's the extent of your plan. I've definitely done that before… and then been shocked that no one's buying. Duh!   The truth is if you want to take less risk and make your product launches more successful - you need a better way.   A bit more work up front is the best way to ensure a launch that goes well, makes money while serving both you and your customer…   Often when things don’t go well, we think it’s a problem with the funnel. However, it's usually NOT a funnel problem. It's usually a marketing problem! If you can sell your product face to face, but you’re not making online sales, then you're just not doing the necessary ‘marketing’ to qualify your customers in a way that makes the sale easy.     So, I started to wonder what would be the quickest way to help entrepreneurs create an effective Marketing Plan that would take away the guesswork and risk to bring in a constant stream of qualified leads.   I started distilling the material down again...   My goal was to find a way to design a marketing plan without having to go through two hundred hours of content.   Once again, it took me a whole night of obsessing, but by the time the sun came up, I’d created a two-page document that solved the problem. By filling in a two-page sheet, you can design your offer and the marketing that sells it.   It doesn't matter if you're selling face to face, or on the internet;                   this is the core stuff that anyone would want ever.   About three weeks ago, I taught this method at my own event. It took about six hours. I think that’s the fastest I can teach this while still being effective.   As I was watched people fill out the sheet I could feel the energy in the room change. Suddenly, I’d sense that someone in the front had got it - then another person and another - until the energy of the room was buzzing with people having breakthroughs.   It didn’t matter what kind of funnel they were building - whether it was free plus shipping book funnel, low ticket, high ticket, coaching, agency - it was the same process. It's still the act of selling and putting things together.   ‘You need to start creating the marketing and designing the marketing before you freaking launch the product.   I know you might be thinking, ‘Yeah, Steve, that’s obvious!’... But let me ask you, ‘Do you actually do it?’   Before you even go into ClickFunnels and consider building a funnel - you need to take these steps: Essential Steps Before You Build A Funnel   Do not open your ClickFunnel Account ;-)   Figure out what's selling and where? Identify the red ocean - what's the current offer that people are paying for?   Discover the Story that’s selling those existing products, i.e., What's the sales message/ story that gets your potential customers to open their wallets?   Design your New Opportunity. Your aim is to get the sales message to the point where somebody is so excited, that they’ll take their wallet, and whoosh, hurl it at you - then you know you’ve got a winner!   Next, go obsess over the fulfillment of your offer. Once you know that your sales message is good and the fulfillment of the offer is great, then you can freak out over all the bells and whistles of the funnel.   Obviously, you create a rough draft of the funnel to sell your product, but don't obsess over it.   Right now, my funnel is limping on one leg. It’s broken, I know it is. There's lots of stuff that's wrong with it, but I don't want to shift my focus away from what I’m working on yet.   Every time I say that people are shocked, ‘What? Why is your funnel broken, man? You were the lead funnel builder at ClickFunnels. Are you kidding? Why is your one funnel limping along?’   BUT that stuff doesn't matter. The funnel won’t make the sale. What makes the sale is THE SALES MESSAGE.   The success of your product has so much less to do with pages or what color the button is. On a page level that's great, but on a market level you need to figure out:   What’s the current offer that people are paying for?   What's the sales message that’s working to sell that offer?   That's all Funnel Hacking is. If you know those two things, you’ll have pretty much everything you need to create an opportunity. Then you go and design your New Opportunity before your actual funnel.   You need to be able to stand up and deliver the sales message so that people want to give you cash. It has nothing to do with being online or offline and EVERYTHING to do with your sales message.   The act of putting a product on the internet is just a method to market your sales message.   I love how Joe Polish talks about the difference between Sales and Marketing:   ‘Marketing systematizes and automates selling. Marketing is selling in advance.’ - Joe Polish Sales is an activity that happens face to face.   It's a whole bunch of logical closes as to reasons why people should act now:   It's 50% OFF   Buy one, get one free   You’ll get ‘this’ bonus   Act Now! Marketing is how you get somebody to your face so you can sell to them   Marketing delivers people to your offer who are (to quote Joe Polish again):   ‘Pre- Interested’   ‘Pre- Motivated’   ‘Pre- Qualified’   ‘Pre- Disposed’ The great news is that the better you are at marketing, the less hardcore sales tactics you’ll have to use. Just think about that:   Marketing delivers people who are ready to do business with you. It’s the act of attracting pre-qualified people in an automated way so that you don’t have to knock doors or cold call to find them.   In my opinion, selling is the most prestigious career out there, but marketing will take you to the next level.   When I buiIt my first ever  funnel in ClickFunnels, we didn't have  the $97 a month. So we put everything together before we even pushed ‘go’ on the two-week trial.   We designed the funnel. We designed the offer. We designed the videos. We wrote the copy. We had to build the funnel and get customers before ClickFunnels started to bill us. And that’s how we did it.                     If I think back through on every successful funnel I've ever had, I’ve taken the time to design the marketing before I ever build the freaking funnel - Every Single Time!   If you've got products that are not doing as well as you want, then take a step back and look at your marketing.   You've got to get into the psyche of the person who's leaving the red ocean. You've got to know the psyche of your prospective customers.   Anyways, I'm excited. I want to do an event where you’ll be able to work through this two-page document with me. You’ll design your sales message, your story and your offer in a way that attracts customers easily from the red ocean.   It doesn't matter what funnel you apply it to; this is the first step that you need to take before you even open ClickFunnels...   My wife is due to have our third kid any day now. She keeps having contractions, and I'm going to sleep with an eye open so that I can be ready. I don’t exactly know when the event will be, but I’m thinking sometime in August - so stay tuned, and I’ll let you know. Until next time- Go Crush It!   Want me to speak at your next event or mastermind? Let me know what I can share that would be most valuable by going to stevejlarsen.com and book my time now.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands