Hustle & Flowchart: Mastering Business & Enjoying the Journey

We are hanging out with Rand Fishkin today, who previously co-founded the SEO company MOZ, and has most recently started a new venture with SparkToro. This tool is quickly becoming one of our favorite pieces of software to do a lot of research. It helps us figure out what content to create around specific topics, what topics resonate around audiences, and you can literally plug in your URL or social media channel and it will kick out all this research from a variety of platforms.    If you are running ads, you are probably noticing lately higher costs, fewer options, and lower conversions. We break a lot of that down from Rand’s perspective and you’ll see why it’s important to diversify from Facebook and Google if you are solely relying on those platforms. You’ll also hear us talk about what’s in store for the future with the way Google presents search results, and what you should be doing to rely less on links while building up your brand. After you listen, get some more advertising tips with Curt Maly and Tom Breeze.  “The primary goal is to get people to your website and your email list because that’s the one channel you always get to own and control.” - Rand Fishkin Some Topics We Discussed Include: Perspectives on the zero clicks search problem  Checking out the Crack Shack (it’s not what you think!) How to get honed in on a specific audience that will convert better What do cookies and strange pajamas have to do with advertising? Why getting people to like and share should be your secondary goal From chicken sandwiches in your email to ground beef in your advertising to al dente pasta on Youtube, we got you covered! Which ad networks are lacking in quality and which ones you should be using Predictions of what’s ahead in the way in which Google ranks your site and what you should be focusing on in the future Resources From Rand Fishkin: SparkToro Something is Rotten in Online Advertising Lost And Founder by Rand Fishkin References and Links Mentioned: MOZ SimilarWeb Buzzsumo Full Contact Clearbit The Butt Pajamas Will Follow You Forever HelloWoofy Are you ready to be EPIC with us?! Then grab our EGP Letter here! Did you know we have an awesome YouTube Channel?  Join the Facebook Community - be sure to hop in our Facebook group to chat with us, our other amazing guests that we’ve had on the show, and fellow entrepreneurs! This episode is sponsored by Easy Webinar - be sure to check out these special deals for our listeners. Unique Facebook Ad Strategies That Are Making People Rich - Curt Maly A Step-By-Step Guide To Profitable YouTube Advertising - Tom Breeze      

Salome Schillack from ShineAndSucceed.com joins us today and today we are chatting all about using Facebook ads to not only grow an audience but to grow podcasts. We like her approach because it doesn’t take a huge budget to make it happen, and she gives some great targets and metrics to look out for with your campaign. Salome also talks about the concept of getting engagement and why you don’t need to run ads with a call to action every single time. Even with your existing audience, you probably don’t need to be running ads to constantly telling them to do something and screaming for their attention.    We also talk about the top of funnel and we’ve never used ads in the flow that she talks about, but she broke down some cool things that we plan on testing. She also talks about the distinction between landing view pages and clicks. That’s why we love her approach which is to just give them something to love and/or laugh at. We also talk about front-loading your ad accounts in Facebook’s eye which ultimately leads to a better algorithm and lower ad costs in the end. When you are done, be sure to check out our chats with Ryan Levesque where he goes into depth about using quiz funnels for your Facebook ads and as well as our show with Curt Maly for more strategies on how to grow your brand without breaking the bank.   “The first clue as to what is good engagement content is to look at what has done well on your social feeds, look at what people have already connected with, what’s gotten people to comment, share and what is already triggering an emotion for people.” - Salome Schillack Some Topics We Discussed Include: Who knew that Joey from Friends had a social media strategy?  Facebook ad account secrets? Shhhhh What to do if you have no audience yet and want to run your first Facebook ad How to revive an older Facebook or Instagram account whose engagement has dropped How to use quizzes in your funnels Growing your podcast audience with Facebook ads The sweet spot for ad costs  Examples of ad content to use for multiple purposes Facebook quizzes that are tanking? Are you running one of these?  Getting the basics done first before you get into the fancy tactics Resources From Salome Schillack: ShineAndSucceed.com The Shine Show Podcast References and Links Mentioned: Interact  Active Campaign  Help Scout  Rev.com  WordPress  Kajabi  Searchie.io  Riverside.FM Are you ready to be EPIC with us?! Then grab our EGP Letter here! Did you know we have an awesome YouTube Channel?  Join the Facebook Community - be sure to hop in our Facebook group to chat with us, our other amazing guests that we’ve had on the show, and fellow entrepreneurs! This episode is sponsored by Easy Webinar - be sure to check out these special deals for our listeners. How To Force Facebook To Give You Cheap Opt-ins - Curt Maly 10x Your List Growth Using Quiz Funnels - Ryan Levesque

We always love chatting with Pat Flynn, and in this episode, we discuss how to build super fans in your business, how to grow an audience ethically, how to promote affiliate offers to your audience and make good money through affiliate marketing in a very ethical way that makes customers actually thank you for doing it. Pat also discusses how he has been able to build a successful building with a great, appreciative audience without the need to run a ton of ads and self-admittedly not having the best SEO on his website as well. We also talk to Pat about how he got involved in some of the deals he has equity in. He’s not just an affiliate for products such as ConvertKit, Lead Pages, Teachable and Samcart, he’s also an advisor and gets some sort of revenue share. So we dive into how he has been able to leverage his podcast to then get involved in these equity and advisory deals. When you have listened, be sure to check out our previous chat with Pat and our conversation with Lisa Cherney for more insight on how to give insane value while being real to your audience. “With affiliate marketing, it’s the easiest way of starting to generate an income because these products already exist, people out there are already buying them, you just have to be the person that people trust to make that recommendation to them.” - Pat Flynn Some Topics We Discussed Include: “Fannels” and how to ramp yours up (and no, we are not talking about soft pajamas!) The amazing result you can get in under three years which will set you up for success How Pat pivoted during the last time we had an economic downturn which changed his life forever How to get great fan engagement and healthier all at once! Tactics for when you are first starting out with affiliate marketing How to stay passionate about the same topic for years Common mistakes Pat sees on websites and how to differentiate yourself from the pack What ‘What’s Up’ tactic that will make you really stand out The pyramid of a fandom and why you should turn that funnel upside down Resources From Pat Flynn: 123AffiliateMarketing.com Smart Passive Income PatFlynn.com References and Links Mentioned: Superfans: The Easy Way to Stand Out, Grow Your Tribe, And Build a Successful Business Are you ready to be EPIC with us?! Then grab our EGP Letter here! Did you know we have an awesome YouTube Channel?  Join the Facebook Community - be sure to hop in our Facebook group to chat with us, our other amazing guests that we’ve had on the show, and fellow entrepreneurs! This episode is sponsored by Easy Webinar - be sure to check out these special deals for our listeners. Affiliate Marketing Through Insane Value - Pat Flynn Why Being Yourself Is The Best Business Strategy - Lisa Cherney

On every episode we’ve had where we talked about YouTube, we don’t think there’s ever been a show where TubeBuddy is not mentioned as part of the tool stack. Rob Balasabas is a Brand Evangelist and Partnership Manager for TubeBuddy and today we are chatting about such things as how to approach YouTube as co-creators, how to use TubeBuddy to analyze your channel as well as best practices for the all-important thumbnail. We have been using TubeBuddy ourselves and it’s a rock-solid tool to help you grow your YouTube channel.   Rob even talks about how he was able to grow his own personal channel and tips that you can use if you have a new channel yourself. There are so many cool tools within TubeBuddy that even we were not aware of, and in addition to the tactics we cover, one of the most fascinating parts that we discuss and which comes into play with YouTube is how media, in general, is changing and how well-known media personalities have evolved. After you have listened, be sure to check out our chats with Sunny Lenarduzzi on how to build a world-class brand on YouTube and with Aaron Biblow & Triston Goodwin and their awesome Video Flywheel strategy.   “It’s such a level playing field now...something like 88% of the content consumed on YouTube are influencers or individuals, not from big brands.” - Rob Balasabas    Some Topics We Discussed Include: How celebrities have changed over the years and the new celebrities of this age have come to be How TubeBuddy helps you grow your channel, even if you are brand new The future of using AI to monetize your channel How to collaborate with other people on the platform for mutual benefit Growth tactics to bring a new channel up to speed How to avoid “pod-fade” YouTube impressions vs. CTR and how to increase both What to put in your descriptions and what to say to viewers to check out your links How YouTube has leveled the playing field for content creators   Resources From Rob Balasabas: HustleAndFlowchart.com/TubeBuddy  TubeBuddy YouTube Channel Rob’s personal YouTube channel   References and Links Mentioned: Active Campaign Vidcon The Odd1sOut channel Are you ready to be EPIC with us?! Then grab our EGP Letter here! Did you know we have an awesome YouTube Channel? Join the Facebook Community - be sure to hop in our Facebook group to chat with us, our other amazing guests that we’ve had on the show, and fellow entrepreneurs! This episode is sponsored by Easy Webinar - be sure to check out these special deals for our listeners. The Video Flywheel Strategy for YouTube - Aaron Biblow & Triston Goodwin How To Build A World-Class Online Brand With YouTube - Sunny Lenarduzzi

Today’s show with Shaqir Hussyin left a deep impact on us. We were totally lit up about the concepts we learned! Shaqir is a guy who thinks on a whole different level that’s bigger and clearer and has his priorities straight on how he engages in business. He focuses on the right priorities, and he’ll explain how he does that to get such amazing results. At the end of the day, you’ll walk away with a bigger way of thinking.  Shaqir grew up with an abundant mindset which helped to take him to where he is today, coming from literally nothing to a life with multiple 8 figure businesses. He is able to turn companies into something mega huge in a short time. He breaks down his process and how you can think differently when it comes to your business, which includes concepts such as acquiring an email list without the grind. He lets us in on how you can swipe his approach and use it for your own business.  When you are done, make sure you check out our other shows with David Jenyns and Michael Gerber on setting up systems to create more time and scale profits.  “The secret to making this offer work is understanding that, when you have a funnel that has the ability to convert the right audience into a high ticket sale, traffic is endless and comes in abundance.” - Shaqir Hussyin Some Topics We Discussed Include: Online marketers are not the only ones who drive Lamborghinis - surprise! How a boring business model gets repeat high ticket sales Making the switch from low ticket to high ticket offers The marketplace is not as crowded as you think How to use thinking time to your advantage The beauty of partnering up and using other people’s email lists Three variations of webinars and which one is Shaq’s favorite The secret to making high ticket sales convert The one important thing to have when you are attracting customers who have a lot of money to spend Resources From Shaqir Hussyin: Funnels.com References and Links Mentioned: The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham WealthAcademy.com Are you ready to be EPIC with us?! Then grab our EGP Letter here! Did you know we have an awesome YouTube Channel?  Join the Facebook Community - be sure to hop in our Facebook group to chat with us, our other amazing guests that we’ve had on the show, and fellow entrepreneurs! This episode is sponsored by our go-to SEO research tool, Ahrefs.com, and by  Easy Webinar - be sure to check out these special deals for our listeners. Systems Are Everything, Stupid - Michael Gerber Business Systems That Create Time, Reduce Errors And Scale Profits - David Jenyns

Today we have a special show where we are holding a simulcast with James Schramko. We have learned so much from James over the years and we also have a similar business model. He’s also got some deep relationships with his community and our affiliate business model is similar in that we prefer to build long term relationships when promoting affiliate offers.   We reminisce about the first marketing events we all attended, even while still working at a job. James also tells us what is working best with his partnerships, revenue share deals, and some simple tips that lead to great customer satisfaction and retention over the years. He’s also got some great stories of both successes and failures that you can learn from. When you have finished, be sure to check out our previous conversations with James and Stephen Esketzis that we mentioned on the show.  “I think that’s one of the secrets. The longer you can wait to monetize something, the more powerful it can be when you do.” - James Schramko Some Topics We Discussed Include: How affiliate marketing and partnerships are related  What would happen if you become an affiliate of someone’s product line The networking event you do not want to miss James’ secret to selling cars and the story of how his manifesto got stolen How to use psychology in your selling effectively How to effectively get around the “I need to think about it” response to turn people into buyers Dealing with others who want your recipe for success Non-scalable tasks that still lead to long term affiliate income How to make the most out of revenue share deals Getting big results from a little effort Resources From James Schramko: Super Fast Results.com/30 - Work Less, Make More 30 Day Challenge Super Fast Business & Super Fast Results References and Links Mentioned: James’ most successful show Are you ready to be EPIC with us?! Then grab our EGP Letter here! Did you know we have an awesome YouTube Channel?  Join the Facebook Community - be sure to hop in our Facebook group to chat with us, our other amazing guests that we’ve had on the show, and fellow entrepreneurs! This episode is sponsored by our go-to SEO research tool, Ahrefs.com, and by  Easy Webinar - be sure to check out these special deals for our listeners. How To Scale Memberships And Retain More Customers - James Schramko Affiliate Marketing Double Header - James Schramko & Stephen Esketzis

Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone! First and foremost, we want to thank all of our listeners, folks in our membership, as well as our business friends and partnerships, and anyone else that has been a part of our lives for making this year truly amazing! We look forward to continuing to provide awesome content, tactics, and strategies to get you where you want to go in the years ahead as well as working with those we have partnered to carry on our mutually beneficial relationships. This show is our season finale, not only in the respect of what was a crazy, unexpected year, but also the last episode and a wrap up for us, as well. What a year we’ve all had, indeed. On today’s show, we wanted to talk about some of our accomplishments this year, some of our takeaways and lessons from the past year, as well as our plans for 2021. Here’s to our mutual success in the year ahead and we appreciate you! After you have listened, be sure to check out the previous shows we mentioned that discuss working with some of legends of online marketing as well as a big thank you on our 300th episode to all that have helped us get to where we are today.  “How do we combine these resources and get a little win-win in the middle? Let’s stop figuring out how to grind all the time, to build pages, to drive traffic, and optimize SEO. Look for people that have already built assets, in the form of audiences, software, and amazing trainings that are available. Find these people and just try to tie assets together and be the middleman of these asset connections.” - Matt Wolfe “I hate flying. It sucks to fly when you are tall.” - Bonus Quote From Matt “It’s our biggest source of warm leads that are coming to listen to this show...and it’s a great strategy to spread your brand and awareness and connect with people in a way that’s more than just an ad shouting at a bunch of targets on Facebook or Instagram.” - Joe Fier Some Topics We Discussed Include: Pop Quiz: How many appearances did we make on podcasts and virtual summits in 2020? Tune in to find out! How we prepare for our presentations What to and what not to do if you also have a podcast where you interview guests Thoughts from a super crowded room (pre-pandemic, of course!) Our hitlist and takeaways from our events and speaking opportunities from 2020  What we each hold at the highlight from this year Our presentation hack of how we figure out what we are going to talk about What is like being Elton John on guitar? Our favorite podcasts and tools of the past 12 months Why you want to learn about the tree trunk and not jump into the leaves The books we’re reading right now, the ones we often refer back to as well as some very interesting YouTube channels References and Links Mentioned: Podfest  War Room Members Pro Valher Media Majik Marketing JayAbraham.com  CEO of NO by Andrew Wilkinson Unicorn Equity Trip Mode Breathworth app Alex Charfen’s Momentum podcast  Cloze What South Park Teaches Us About Economics - Wisecrack Edition Who, Not How by Dan Sullivan The Courage To Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga  Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It by Kamal Ravikant Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson Are you ready to be EPIC with us?! Then grab our EGP Letter here! Did you know we have an awesome YouTube Channel?  Join the Facebook Community - be sure to hop in our Facebook group to chat with us, our other amazing guests that we’ve had on the show, and fellow entrepreneurs! This episode is sponsored by our go-to SEO research tool, Ahrefs.com, and by  Easy Webinar - be sure to check out these special deals for our listeners. Behind-The-Scenes with the Legends of Online Marketing  The People Who Got Us Where We Are Today

Today we have Joshua B. Lee, who runs a new venture called Standout Authority. He has a lot of experience and knows what to do with traffic having done this for legends in the marketing space for years. On today’s show, we are chatting about how to get engagement on LinkedIn and get real people to listen to you. We are diving back into LinkedIn lately ourselves, and on this show, you’ll hear why that is, and get some real a-ha moments as we did. Even if LinkedIn isn’t your jam, Joshua talks about the human algorithm and how he connects with folks in a unique way. He has a strategy to get into their world and figure out ways to collaborate or get them as a client, so it’s definitely applicable everywhere.  The dopamine hit is that initial conversation, and your value isn’t in likes but is in having a good conversation with people. Josh has definitely been on the other side as well, and we chat about how to really connect on LinkedIn without the dumpster fire full of spam. Plus, if you have an older account you don’t have to start over, and we talk about ways you can revitalize it. When you’re done be sure to check out our conversations with Will Wang and Josh Turner for more insight into how to leverage LinkedIn to improve your business relationships, how to grow a following organically, and how to use LinkedIn groups.  “There’s no B2B or B2C, there’s only H2H - Human to Human.” - Joshua B. Lee Some Topics We Discussed Include: Avoid doing these specific things on LinkedIn, especially if you do not want to be banned  The 10/20/70 content rule What your SSI score is on LinkedIn and how to improve it Why you want to include your job from high school on your profile How Josh was able to close a multi-million dollar deal with the help of Sales Navigator From buying selling traffic for MySpace to starting over again by moving back home with his folks How to get out of your home office “prison” and be completely open to your surroundings How talking like a 5th grader will improve your connections Examples of what to say when you are first connecting with someone - without being sales-y. Resources From Joshua B. Lee: StandoutAuthority.com LinkedIn Authority Accelerator References and Links Mentioned: Hemmingway app LinkedIn Sales Navigator Are you ready to be EPIC with us?! Then grab our EGP Letter here! Did you know we have an awesome YouTube Channel?  Join the Facebook Community - be sure to hop in our Facebook group to chat with us, our other amazing guests that we’ve had on the show, and fellow entrepreneurs! This episode is sponsored by our go-to SEO research tool, Ahrefs.com, and by  Easy Webinar - be sure to check out these special deals for our listeners. The Cold Outreach Strategy Guide - Will Wang A LinkedIn Strategy Guide - Josh Turner    

Matt Diggity joins us today for a real, in-depth, tactical show about affiliate marketing. He’s the founder of Diggity Marketing, Leadspring LLC, The Search Initiative, Affiliate Builders, The Affiliate Lab, and the Chiang Mai SEO Conference, and is probably one of the most, if not the most successful affiliate marketer that we know. He breaks down his exact formula on how to pick which niches to go into, how to figure out the best content to write, the ratio of valuable content to content that pitches your offer, how he drives traffic using SEO, and as well as how he builds these affiliate sites to flip to gain over a 40X earning.  So listen in as he’s going to give you a deep dive into his entire process around affiliate marketing, and when you’re done be sure to check out our conversations with Larry Ludwig and Gregory Elfrink for more tactics about affiliate marketing and selling websites.  “In the market places, this is just recently, we are seeing multiples go up to 40-45X profit. If you get a website making $10,000 a month, you can sell it for $450,000 right now.” - Matt Diggity Some Topics We Discussed Include: Examples of good niches to start out with when creating affiliate sites How to find a good copywriter and vet them out Best ways to optimize your site when selling for the biggest returns  How to dig out the best keywords using a swiss army knife? How to get out of the Google sandbox without digging your way out with a shovel Step by step instructions when first building your site What to create for content going forward after your site is up and ranking Ideas for who to partner up with both online and due diligence before you agree How to prove to show Google that you EAT: Expertise, Authority, and Trust Matt’s tool stack and which are his favorites The beauty of being optimized as showing up as the featured snippet Resources From Matt Diggity: DiggityMarketing.com HustleAndFlowchart.com/AffiliateLab - grab Matt’s course here with a huge discount for our listeners References and Links Mentioned: Ahrefs Surfer SEO for turning out perfectly optimized content Screaming Frog for technical SEO Hunter.io for outreach and email finding Clicky Analytics Rank Tracker Google Search Console Elementor for WordPress themes Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss Empire Flippers Cult of Copy Job Board on Facebook Are you ready to be EPIC with us?! Then grab our EGP Letter here! Did you know we have an awesome YouTube Channel?  Join the Facebook Community - be sure to hop in our Facebook group to chat with us, our other amazing guests that we’ve had on the show, and fellow entrepreneurs! This episode is sponsored by our go-to SEO research tool, Ahrefs.com, and by  Easy Webinar - be sure to check out these special deals for our listeners. How To Buy and Sell Online Businesses - Gregory Elfrink Selling an Affiliate Site For $6 Million - Larry Ludwig

On today’s show we nerd out on a tool we have been using lately in a small way, but there’s a lot of potential with it for so many reasons. This episode is not just about the tool though, it’s all about the opportunities around you, how to do well as an affiliate, and other awesome concepts you will learn from Jordan Mederich, the man behind DropFunnels, one of the fastest-growing marketing tools on the market today. You’ll hear how he’s doing things differently and has carved his own way of solving a solution that no one else has done.  As most of you know, Matt is the go-to guy when it comes to tools, and has tested so many over the years, so when he heard about DropFunnels he set it up on his own site, MattWolfe.com. As far as page builders, it’s been the easiest for dialing in the look you want, from any of the other ones so far. Besides talking about the tool’s features, we talk about affiliate marketing, trends in business, how to scale and do it in an effective way. After the show, make sure to listen to our previous episodes with Taylor Welch and Ryan Levesque, which will give you even more insight on mindset, and how to use funnels to grow your business and use entry-level products in your funnel to drive higher ticket sales. “I realized that anyone selling anything, it doesn’t matter if it’s your product or if it’s an affiliate product, often affiliates sell it better than the person itself.” - Jordan Mederich Some Topics We Discussed Include: Shooting green screen videos in a closet - can you relate? When you realize what you are doing is not the right path for you What do you get when you mix chocolate and broccoli in your business? Keeping up with customer’s requests with lightning speed The real top of funnel that you may not be thinking of The rules of 3’s and 10’s and what to do when you get to $5K a month (which probably is easier than you think) Why you want to think like a bison in a storm The reasons your Facebook ads may be shut down and how to get on Facebook’s good side Why WordPress is vital to your business Resources From Jordan Mederich: HustleAndFlowchart.com/DropFunnels Free DropFunnels group on Facebook References and Links Mentioned: Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masteron Web Of Trust Are you ready to be EPIC with us?! Then grab our EGP Letter here! Did you know we have an awesome YouTube Channel?  Join the Facebook Community - be sure to hop in our Facebook group to chat with us, our other amazing guests that we’ve had on the show, and fellow entrepreneurs! This episode is sponsored by our go-to SEO research tool, Ahrefs.com, and by  Easy Webinar - be sure to check out these special deals for our listeners. How Inexpensive Products Drive High-Ticket Sales - Taylor Welch 10x Your List Growth Using Quiz Funnels - Ryan Levesque