Episode 27 — Josh Beechraft’s Interesting Path to Success

  • Intro…
  • Story
    • High School
      • very introverted
      • career tech center program
      • half school day –> college courses with skills…
        • electronics…
      • worked at local car stereo place job in 12th grade
        • “make it work” mentality…
          • no other options…
          • outcome must happen
    • Professional Magician a few years later
      • practiced a lot…and a lot more
      • “make it work” mentality usage…
      • build his own character
      • ~ 3 years –> presenting in front of 1,000 people
      • pro magician for about 10 years…exclusive for last 5 years
    • had a kid right before…
    • started new car audio store…
      • with partners
      • failed…in court
      • went down hill personally, professionally, financially
    • 2008
      • made more money in High School than in 2008
      • then started getting into internet marketing
        • helping partner to sell workshops
        • poor relationship…
    • got into studying psychology
      • Carl Jung, Tony Robbins…
    • started increasing income regularly
    • Got a job selling cell phones — ~2011
      • for about 2 years
      • quit without another job
        • was following Jason Fladlien
        • just started knocking on doors
    • Started “brand building” service…
    • 1st client
      • Friend
      • timing was right
      • looking to figure out SEO
      • started to join groups and study SEO
    • joined up with a coach
    • …eventually joined a program as a coach
    • recommendation: get a job in the industry you want to work at
      • don’t worry about pay…
      • you’re getting paid to learn
    • Aptitude test…nothing but mechanical
    • Tries to help everyone as much as he can if someone is in front of him
    • Transition from maybe needing a job…
      • to 100% not needing a job forever…
      • permanent cubicle liberation
      • giving lots of help to a lot of people…
  • Typical day
  • If you had to start all over…
    • mental over tactical
      • work on judgements
      • tactical: double down on how far a skill can take you
        • collected a lot of skills
        • get more skills faster
  • future plans
  • Outro
    • Touching Brains Podcast
    • createyourcourse.online
    • Thank you!
    • Plug again

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Episode 26 – A Powerful Yet Simple Framework for Making Sales

Primary Guiding Concept:

Vision -> Justification is a major path we all follow when we are making decisions

Major Conversion (aka Sales) Framework:

  1. Clarity of an offer
  2. In a way that stands alone
  3. Without broken windows
  4. Context from there
Why???
  1. Without clarity, it’s hard to create a vision.  Vision can pull us like a magnet
    1. vision boards
    2. write down your goals
    3. prevents “I thought I was getting something else”. Buyer remorse and such.
    4. Vision -> Justification
  2. In a way that stands alone- Why buy from you, why now?
    1. Brand: other people do this, but here is why we are different
      1. all the brand stuff, aligning with a brand, or rather aligning the brand with a type of person in the market you can reach
      2. this includes boundaries of what we are not, and priorities of what is important to us, etc.
      3. Brand is not everything for conversion. It is only this piece of distinction, it it is anything at all.  Brand is not necessary but can serve a purpose.
      4. Tribes and such, like attracts like
      5. Don’t be too overboard with distinction- don’t appear “un-natural”
  3. No Broken Windows- Am I gonna get screwed?  I’ve messed up before, am I messing up before.
    1. these take someone out of immersion.  The prospect begins asking questions on these side tracks or you disqualify yourself
    2. Be careful with your metaphors and allegories because they may bring up non-relevant string of associations or thoughts
    3. ”This company is incompetent”… but… the vision is still valid so they would be better off staying with you to build understanding of the offer, but they may not buy from you, instead from a competent company offering something similar
    4. not addressing potential questions in the sales letter or conversion experience can create a broken window effect
    5. if the vision clearly has actual value, these side questions are not helpful to get there, but they do create a sense of protecting the buyer.  Some buyers may have a lot of questions, this isn’t bad, they may eventually feel much safer if you address more of these “reasons”
    6. people have a built in protection mechanism.  If you trigger it, or it gets triggered, it needs to be addressed or you will get put into a totally different category
    7. Don’t take yourself out of the category of “natural”
  4. From there, work on context
    1. You want to get into, and stay in the category of “Natural”
    2. An immersive story literally creates a memory that a mind will treat “as if” it is true and that it happened
    3. deep personal stories can be immersive
    4. Scenarios are context- creating a scenario can help someone “see” things better or see the affects of the offer in a real world situation.  This can be a huge component in justification.
    5. These can trigger a lot of reference strings of association and memories the potential buyer already has in their mind
    6. Lamborghinis, Yachts, Mansions can all act as context.  Appear high value….
    7. Brains work, by default, with associations.  Triggering these associations will happen so be mindful of what you maybe triggering.  High value can be helpful, but there may be associations with a mansion that are not helpful, so you may offer triggers that fire off a lot more than you bargained for.
    8. Appear high value but relatable, so treat people as same status
    9. status is a potential broken window, but is definitely context and can bolster and be associated with vision.

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Episode 25 The SEO Agency Journey of Josh Fairhurst

  • Intro…
      • SEO agency for contractors
      • with Travis Causey — brain of SEO
    • Grants pass, OR
      • Southern Oregon
  • Story
    • Outta High School
      • Join Army as medic
      • Band of Brother’s inspired him
      • National Guard in Oregon
    • Started working with father in law
      • father in law had been working in insurance since he was 18 years old
      • worked with him for 8 years
    • Partner in new company in Portland
      • Financial advisory, estate planning firm
    • 2010…
      • Big deals…
      • Lotsa estate planning…
      • Big life insurance policy ==> $1.2 m check received!
      • Partner issues (father in law)
      • Got Sued…
    • Started dabbling in digital marketing
      • deep down sales man
      • met Travis Causey ~2014 Nov
        • cousin’s best friend…posting a bunch of memes on FB
        • 6 figures a year on sample site
        • …living in Mexico
        • purchased OMG together…scraped together $$
    • 2015…
      • Started agency while working in previous partner
      • …Pete tried to sell him $15000/m FB package
      • Grinding out the agency for about 3 months with OMG stuff
        • after hours…
      • …then another 3 or 4 months of doing a bit of work at the office while building OMG
    • Jan 2015…
      • Said he was done with his partnership
      • Gave everything to another who deserved
    • 2015…1st year of Moving Mountains…
      • Tried everything for sales…
      • Cold calling, networking
      • Used sales systems from previous job
      • Didn’t start off getting sales…
      • Networking: BNI & Chamber of Commerce
        • Jumped revenue by about $10k/m
      • Doing stuff for free…
      • Rotary…
      • Putting on fundraisers…
      • Building relationships…
      • 2 years working local market…
    • Learning from others…OMG
      • double edged sword
      • “don’t do BNI”
    • late 2016/early 2017
      • started going off track…
      • always been an SEO agency…core biz
        • would refer web design work out…
      • met an awesome guy at chamber of commerce…
        • big company known for branding & culture
        • started talking about expanding services…
        • trying to become full blown marketing agency
          • not nearly as profitable
          • non-SEO marketing paid on margin…
          • charge on ad spend…
          • yes, increased revenue, but profits were much lower
    • Now — late 2018 –> 2019
      • Partnered with web designers, Adwords, FB Ads, Email marketers…etc
        • vetted out
        • doesn’t take money and pay them…
        • just passes on to them
      • Service contractors…
        • decision ~same time
          • when made decision, was not just contractors being serviced
        • blue ocean theory
        • focusing on Google Maps…
        • Dad’s a blue collar (plumber)
          • Travis’ dad is an electrician
        • relate very well to contractors — pool guy, plumbing, AC…
          • anything on home services
          • main niche — Roofing & Water Damage
      • Let off brand clients go…
      • Business is much more fun to run
  • Typical day
  • If you had to start all over…
    • gotta get proof of concept to sell 1st
    • go out and find people to become advocates of you
  • future plans
    • Focus heavily on niche
    • Investing a lot in sales systems and documentation
  • Outro

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Episode 24 Mical Johnson’s Digital Marketing Agency Journey

  • Intro…
  • Story
    • Introverted…doesn’t get out of his house often
    • Big family…9 of them…moved around a lot…military family
      • His brother was his best friend — he’s the extrovert
    • Freshman in college
      • core curriculum he wanted to learn was not in there
    • In the Navy 95-99…
      • joined to use as a stepping stone
      • machinist…
      • Seal training cut short…
    • Got out of the Navy…
      • wanted to be in business for himself after he got out
      • got into a really bad car accident ==> left Navy
        • got run over by a semi
    • His job is to figure out where to go…
      • …and hire the right people
    • 1st job as a model…?!?
    • 2nd job out of the Navy…
      • sales @ car dealership
      • had to learn how to do small talk
      • worked from 9am to 9pm for a month and made $1.42
      • his manager was his roommate…mad at him for not paying rent
      • 5 other Michael’s that work there…
        • ==> change his name to Mical
        • if they don’t remember you, it doesn’t matter
      • ==> top 3 sales
      • ~1.5 years doing this job
      • started learning internet marketing at dealership
        • SEO, Email Marketing
        • ~1999/2000 — Google wasn’t super big yet
    • Then, wanted to keep growing his skills
    • last real job @ mortgage broker ~2003
      • “how much biz have I delivered to them?”
        • ~$100 million
    • daughter born…holding her in hospital
      • can’t do this working 80 hours a week at a job
      • ==> courage to go out there
    • Started his business ~2003
      • small office in old cigar factory
      • agency — getting clients
      • educating people
      • doing this for customers outside the USA first 2-3 years
      • 1st clients by going to conferences…
        • personal development conferences
        • then getting referrals
    • Next phase of business
      • branded as him…
      • ranking for Tampa SEO
      • Asked himself, “what happens if he wants to sell his business?”
      • changed to a business positioning vs personal positioning
        • ~2007-2008 started this…took about a year
        • ==> starting to pull himself out of the company’s roles
        • take his face and name out of it
    • Then…realized he needed to focus on systems and documentation
      • “What if something happens to me?”
      • no one could fulfill on what he did…
      • brought on a lot of people to try to fulfill
      • ~up to $50k/m
      • was working up to 18 hours a day
      • brought on someone, taught him the business…
        • he walks away and took away half his biz
    • Recovery from getting ripped off…
      • defining roles…
        • To start: 1 person can do multiple roles
        • Eventually: 1 person-1 role
      • built a system to create a system
        • empowered people who worked for him to build system
          • ==> system innovations he didn’t expect
      • hiring contractors…
        • on as an needed
        • but, if entire biz is outsourced, it has reduced value
        • employee base is an asset
    • Moved to Georgia
      • Met now wife…
      • Facebook brought him back to her
    • Get back to Florida
      • start to scale up biz
      • next kid born…wife sick…juggling lots of things
      • started speaking at local events
        • gives you a lot of authority
        • unconference, meetup
        • doesn’t like networking events…
          • …unless speaker or sponsor
    • Person at one of his events he was speaking at
      • Mical was wanting out of his business
      • Approached him…saw documentation he had…
      • Made him “absurd” offer: $2 million & he took it
        • paid out over time…
        • small % paid upfront with monthly installments
        • thinks he structured the deal poorly
          • didn’t listen to knowledgeable people on this
        • $2 million supposed to be paid out over 2 years
      • Took him about 1 year to transition out of the business after sale
        • he wasn’t systemized out of the sales yet…
        • he could have done it faster if his systems/documentation were better
      • Year: 2012
      • If he were to do it again…
        • get a business broker
    • Then tried to figure out what he wanted to do next
      • working in this biz for 15 years…
      • considered doing a course…
      • started looking at legacy
        • do something that is going to last longer
        • leaving his kids taken care of
      • partnered with a mentor…
        • looked for companies in this area to invest in
          • & use his marketing expertise can be leveraged
        • never invested $$ into companies because they couldn’t find the right companies
        • did take ownership in a few companies via advisory roles
    • started another agency…
      • with intent to build and sell
      • crashed and burned with web design partner
    • Then started Cyberize Group
      • More web design vs SEO
      • scaling up…
        • started using a call center for outbound sales
          • predictable 1-2/week new clients
          • paid hourly…
          • in the Philippines
          • Started outbound sales in Dec 2018
          • started call center in Feb 2019
          • makes the business worth
    • Inhouse vs contractor
      • critical positions need to be in house
        • strategy — in house
        • execution — contractor
    • Next 2-5 years
      • Agency —
        • scaling and removing himself from working in his business
        • wants to be the chairman of the board
      • Digital Domination Dojo
        • Operation SEO Agency Empire
          • Putting the documentation from his agency into here
    • need a vision for the business…
      • to spread to your team…
      • vision needs to be able to fit team member’s dreams inside of it
    • set out from beginning trying to learn “critical skills”
      • wanted to build a business…
      • knew he needed to learn how to sell…
        • …because businesses always need sales
      • skill vs talent
        • talent is starting point…doesn’t translate into high performance
        • skills develop on top of the talent
      • break things down into smaller pieces
  • Outro

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Episode 23 Matthew Versteegs Magical Journey to SEO Success

  • Intro…
  • Story — bulk of pod
    • Didn’t say when he was a kid that he wanted to be in SEO
    • 6 years old…1st taste of entrepreneurship
      • magician…volunteer…balloon octopus
    • Magic books/kits –> doing paid gigs @ 9 years old
      • top hat
      • roofing company book him for a party…$25 + tip –> another party
    • Performing at a restaurant every Friday 13 – 18 years old
      • learn how to be adaptive
    • College: Minnesota –> Florida
      • right after high school
      • didn’t do magic for about 1.5 years
      • some entrepreneurial dabbling: eBay arbitrage
      • “that’s the real world”
      • did graduate
    • Marketing internship…Classified Ads vs Google…–> Paid
      • –> having to be in the office doing a lot of stuff he didn’t enjoy
        • like showing properties, etc
      • felt trapped
      • he liked marketing
      • ~2 years
      • still doing magic gigs on weekend
        • per gig: ~$150-$250 –> $250 – $4,000
        • making $14/hr – $20/hr @ real job
        • driving/travel lot of the time — max 45 min
        • total show time ~ 1-2 hours
        • making more than the professors by the end of college!
      • felt he “should be doing it”
      • night and weekend company calls
      • very stressed out
    • Father was a biz owner
      • expected to join his biz
    • Getting advice from others…Beware!
    • Finished up school…quit “real” job @ 2007
      • everyone at college thought he was insane
      • finance degree use
      • turned down post college jobs
      • fellow students thought he was nuts
      • a bit scary
      • some family thought he was nuts
    • Magician Biz
      • ~ 40 shows a month from about 2007 – 2014/2015 ish
      • A lot of the best gigs were from the internet
      • Took his little website & expanded it out to more areas
        • added pages for every city in Florida
      • Consider growing your side gig expanding beyond where you are now…
      • $4k Exxon 1.5 hour gig
      • A lot of his growth came from taking what worked and expanding
      • transition from magician to business owner mindset…
        • started referring extra biz from friends…
        • on the phone all day coordinating performers
        • didn’t want to be a coordinator…fallen into another job
      • Asked himself: “where was the value here?”
        • getting the leads was the value
        • burned out with coordinating all magicians
        • large magician agency spending $30k-$50k/m on adwords…
          • sent him an email…offered sample leads…responded right away…
          • first day sent him 100 leads…blew him away
          • lasted for several years
          • cherry picked the shows he wanted to do himself
          • ended up selling the website to this magician agency
    • Has applied the city page strategy over and over again
      • “service area mindset”…
    • started taking SEO Clients @ ~2013
      • SEO Only?
        • …to start just SEO services provided
        • …did a little bit of Adwords — didn’t like it
        • likes the art and science of SEO
      • started taking on clients when sending leads to the magician agency
      • slowed down shows heavily…
      • referral business…
      • “Aren’t ranked #1 in Google? Then we haven’t talked yet.”
      • Didn’t really take on a lot of clients…
      • Exploring and having fun with SEO…
      • Loves testing things…
    • ~2015 ~ 2 years into agency –> ~ 30 clients
      • fallen back into the grind…
      • spending a lot of time on the phone…
      • wasn’t setting boundaries…
        • web design/web tech
    • Son was born…
      • shift in mindset…
      • didn’t enjoy the agency…
      • let go of most agency clients…forward them to students
      • transitioned back into lead gen
        • + teaching & training — what he really likes
      • VA taking on a lot of his work
        • he was doing all the work himself before!
    • Now
      • don’t take on new clients
      • have a few large lead gen sites
      • passion is on teaching & training
      • working with outsourcers…platform to use his formulas + pair with people who he’s trained to work those formulas
      • the means to buy the nicer things in life…improve health
      • effectively buy back some of your time
    • Future Plans? 3-5 years
      • NOT the agency
      • Training & Teaching — expanding Modus8
      • First Full Time USA team member in July 2019
        • coordinating a lot of his stuff
      • Goal: bring people together that have formulas that work
        • bring the formulas onto the platform
    • If you had to start all over/other people starting now…
      • Find something that works
        • gigs @ a restaurant
        • SEO in a city
      • copy that working something…
        • in a way that others can do it
        • “formulas” — systems, documentation
    • Hiring Gig you know vs Gig you don’t know
      • systematize self vs using others who already know
      • taking into account the costs of building your own systems…
      • if can plugin and get it right now, will buy it from someone else
    • Modus8 development
      • ~$50k over about 10 months
      • –> scrapped code and started completely over ~ early 2017
      • invested 6 figures in the development
    • GMB’s affecting city page strategy?
      • city page strategies by itself isn’t the only thing that will drive
      • best is GMB + city page
  • Outro

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Episode 22 Lee Goff’s Journey to Selling his Agency and Recommendations…

Listen to this podcast to get an insight into Lee’s brain on how he recommends agencies structure and build an agency that is sellable for the big bucks!

  • Intro…
    • Copy of his book for only $7 at agencysuccessroadmap.com
      • email lee@leegoff.com and mention this podcast to get a copy for free!
    • leegoff.com
    • Currently lives near Lake Lanier near Atlanta
  • Story
    • Grew up in South Mississippi
      • Buzzard’s Roost, MS until 11
      • Moved to Past Galoola (Probably butchered spelling!), MS
    • Father was an entrepreneur
    • Univ of Southern Miss
      • Dropped out
    • IT Radiant Systems
      • Point of Sales Systems
    • Started an Agency in 2003
      • called “Web Marketing”
      • “chop shop” for websites
      • Realized he hated it ~ 4.5 years into
      • was doing more tech & less marketing
      • was “chasing the money”
      • Purpose > Profit
        • Sometimes flipped in certain situations
      • Tech –> Marketing major biz transition
        • ~ June of 2008 ~ $500k/yr rev
        • beholden to his staff
        • engineers & programmers don’t like biz guys
        • he was miserable being a super technical shop
        • drive was going down
        • 7-8 people in his company…hired a few people with a more marketing focus
        • “If you don’t like marketing, find somewhere else to go”
    • Recommendation: Start building business with intentional direction
      • food on table needs can override this in specific situations
      • If don’t do this, spinning wheels
      • don’t repeatedly beg for business
    • Every Year Lay a Layer of Concrete
      • Try to line up Short Term & Long Term gains
    • 2009 low growth
      • Then took off
      • Hit 7 figures
      • ~2012, father passed away, heart attack, divorce
      • Late 2012 started removing him from the business
        • Very hard!
        • took years…2-3 years
        • Retired from Agency 2014 overseeing KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) for about 2 hours a week
    • 2016 Sale Exit –> Providing resources for entrepreneurs
      • Multiplier @ Profit
      • Sold to Employees — Owner Financing
      • Big Agencies buying smaller agencies for
    • New Company
      • hired 2 full time employees
      • launched marketing efforts in 2018
      • mission to make entrepreneurs’ lives easier
    • Recommendation: Get a Coach/Help
      • Don’t fall victim to so called coaches with no proven success
  • 30k view of an agency/framework
    • He has a roadmap
    • Takes 10 years –> 2 years
    • Increases high % of success
    • Niche Selection –> Products –> Proposals Setup –> Prospect Engagement –> Lead Harvesting database building –> Diversify traffic sources –> Leadership –> Project Management/Systems & Processes –> Legal –> Sales & Marketing Automation –> KPI’s –> Brand Position –> Pricing
    • Difficult to be a Jack of all Trades agency
  • Niche SEO vs Niche All DM
    • Picking 1 Niche with 1 Product is almost always a good idea
    • Only pick 1 Niche to work at a time
    • Plan –> Allocate Assets –> Drive Traffic to Assets –> Focus on Conversion & Follow Up (CRM) –> Reporting
    • Fletch & Lee Role Playing
    • David & Lee Role Playing
    • Inhouse vs Strategic partners
      • He does strategic partners to fill holes in path
      • Over time have a goal for it being inhouse
    • Control all relationships, cash flow
    • Pros:
      • Focus ==> Game Changer
    • Cons:
      • Poisoning the well issues
        • Position himself as the trusted advisor — agency is trusted advisor
  • https://www.marketingagencycoach.com/
  • Future plans
    • stick to his coaching business
      • agency sales system
        • beta launch
        • soup to nuts simple agency sales system
        • launching in 2Q2020
    • continuing product lines with agencysuccessroadmap.com
    • big data?
      • company retro active geofencing data sets to be uploaded into FB
        • Funnel Hacker Live, etc
        • People people walking into competitors’ offices
        • Mobile Ad ID — FB, IG, Snap Chat
  • Outro

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Moon’s & Marie’s Journeys to True Freedom

  • Intro…
    • Plug current work
    • Fletch met both at a Terry Samuels event in Phx
      • Marie secret fan of Fletch
      • Non stop Fletch questions @ conference
  • Stories
    • Marie
      • Degree in Business/Mgt
        • Started off in family biz of consultants…private –> public companies
        • wasn’t super in love with the job
      • 9/11 –> not as much biz
      • Then…App development company
        • One day needed SEO
        • hired & fired 2-3 SEO companies in San Antonio…disgusted
        • ~2010
        • started learning SEO on the side
        • ranked for national app development terms…
      • then fell in love with SEO
        • launched SEO agency in Austin…
        • stepped back from day to day operations of App dev company
        • passionate about analytical side of things
      • Filled agency fast…
        • shook hands with web developers within 3 cities
        • had tons of clients right away
      • Local Agency in Austin, TX
        • wasn’t happy
        • really bad accident…5 years of trying to heal…
        • refocus…had to look for something else
        • family time
        • found Moon during 5 years…1 year to accept friend request
    • Moon
      • Graduated in 2007
        • computer science
      • 1st job
        • customer service for a hosting company
        • SUPER stressful…miserable
      • Local school district programmer
        • had extra time
        • watched clock tick away
        • older colleagues
        • knew couldn’t do long term
        • bored…ran into make money online type of people
      • Started learning about SEO
      • Quit job…
      • moved out to San Diego
      • Had some SEO projects running…client/self
      • Got a job with a local SEO internet marketing…
        • learned a lot of valuable lessons…
        • met Marie and everything started to get better
      • working on brain…
      • 4 hour work week half truths…
      • Time freedom
      • Personal vs Professional via FB
      • chatting back and forth
      • being more bold in groups…confidence
  • Critical Task — Working on Your Brain
    • We all do that…
  • Typical day
    • Marie
    • Moon
  • If you had to start all over…
    • Marie
      • go back through process of failing before succeeding
      • probably stick with Client SEO Agency
        • wouldn’t be in the biz ops nearly as much
    • Moon
      • invest in case studies with a unique voice and data
  • future plans
  • Outro

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Dan Anton on Creating a Software Empire

  • Intro Dan
    • before we get started, where can someone learn more about you and what you can offer?
      • Integration: Email Auto Responder + FB messenger + Web Push notifications + SMS
  • Currently…
    • Puerto Rico
      • month long vacations
  • Dan’s story from the beginning
    • looking critical turning points
    • 95-96 in high school, ~sophomore
      • AOL
      • buy video games & sell for $5 more
      • New Jersey
      • message people who had video games on the profile
      • ~$200/m
    • college ~y2k
      • comp sci major –> biz
      • eBay
        • building computers
        • concert tix
        • World of Warcraft guide buy rights –> eBay sales page + unlimited quantity
    • never thought online was going to be career…
    • 9/11 –> army
      • loved army
      • 10 years in army
      • infantry…injured
      • didn’t want desk job
    • lost identity…
      • scary…
      • ~3 months to ETS (getting out)
      • what to I want to be/do?
    • brother was working at an SEO agency
      • …Warrior forum
      • started ranking…
      • ~2009-2011
    • saw a needs/questions –> Software make
      • hired a developer on freelancer.com
        • 1st hire burned him…out $5k
        • considered stopping
        • 2nd guy…vetted a bit more
        • still ranks
      • The Best Spinner guy…
        • emails him
        • Google’s “how to setup affiliate program”
        • strike while the iron is hot
        • $1k/m –> $18k/m in recurring rebills overnight
          • uhh, shit!
          • pressure to stay
      • Dan knew his market research…
        • questions being asked…
        • usually starts as a problem for him…
          • is there a good solution that exists already?
            • improve upon it?
              • no, no worries
              • yes, potentially build it
          • can it be automated/systemitized?
            • no ==> not start it
      • As an entrepreneur…If not growing, falling behind
      • More affiliates…
        • Colin Klinkert affiliate
      • reinvesting $$ in other ideas
        • some didn’t work…some did
      • His SW Dev team
        • A, B, C teams
          • A team for big, complicated projects
          • team leader
        • lots of options now to find good people
        • need to have some technical writing…
          • specs, docs
    • If had to start over…
      • look for upcoming talent on upwork/etc
        • interview thoroughly
        • do right by them
        • finding undiscovered talent
        • Vietnam…genius
      • SAAS…no…
        • Free Chrome Extension –> Build list –> paid version
        • do market research
        • ~$2k-$5k –> MVP
          • 1 programmer — 2-3 months
        • or buy an old extension that they let die (haven’t been updated in a long time)
          • come in with email list
        • avoid scope creep…3 months –> 6 months
          • only revise original plan if it is critical
        • how market it
          • reviews are very important for extensions — stimulate reviews
          • email list it comes to
          • downloads/traffic
          • FB Ads –> extensions
    • 2013
      • Bachelor fan site purchase…
      • 50k email list…
        • built to 300k emails
      • knew nothing about marketing
      • easy to market to non-marketers
        • need –> solution –> buy
          • vs need –> solution –> lotsa stuff –> buy
    • 2013/2014
      • JV Zoo event
        • run into people who know his stuff
        • people said he should do affiliate
        • he was doing and still does SEO
        • crowd search
        • started putting his face to the products
    • Smart Engage
      • 2-2.5 years old
      • why create?
        • built out of necessity
          • email lists…msgr’s list…sms lists…push notifications
          • couldn’t identify what was getting them the most results
      • now trying to streamline
        • understand where the market is going
      • onboarding process
        • learning curve…
        • 1-1 conference call
        • improve domain reputation…making sure they hit the inbox
      • Ads/Organic –> FB Msgr (best way to start) –> Email
    • Grew up in a household to do the best he could
      • Felt embarrassed to not do his best
      • False motivation is better than no motivation
      • Didn’t want to take a step back
        • …didn’t want his ex wife to think he’s fallin’ on bad times
    • Attitude change for being wholly responsible
    • Big plans in the future?
      • Long term goals? ~2030
      • Agency
        • Micro niche agencies
        • register domain –> new client within 30 days
        • exit strategy
      • Structure business around life
        • Puerto Rico + 1 month traveling
          • 2017 hurricane…no work for 2.5 weeks…infrastructure has gotten better
          • traveling with laptop…do a little bit each day
          • took about 3 years to really reach this point
    • Typical Dan Day
      • get up at 6 am ish…
        • work from 7am – 1pm…go to gym…
        • try not to work @ night
      • his personal calendar from Asana
      • check in on slack
      • jira project management tool
      • looks at ads — FB, Google
        • optimizes ads himself
      • yearly/quarterly/monthly/weekly
        • hitting objectives on conversions
        • churn…onboard…
        • features
  • Outro Dan
    • THANK YOU SO MUCH DAN
    • plug again — smartengage.com — grab a free trial
      • if found through podcast in support and get an extra month to the free trial!!

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Episode 19 How to Tap Dance into Work Every Day (The Client SEO Business Model)

Want to actually enjoy your work?

AND have it be wildly profitable for you and your family?

We both think you should consider the Client SEO Business Model…

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Episode 18 Tim Schmidt’s Journey to True Financial Freedom

  • Intro Tim
  • Currently working on…
    • Tim’s book — Amplifying Average
      • aiming for release before thanksgiving 2019
    • Affiliate in dating and health supplements niches
      • recommend: evergreen niches
    • SkinPro — 50+ products, CBD
    • content is a huge focus
      • new travel blog — allworld.com
  • Start at the beginning
    • Age 14/15 AOL dial-up…
      • geocities
      • Tupac fan page
      • addicted to the internet
    • Intern in HS & College
      • @ Northern Tool Equipment
      • New Business development department
      • cubicle for 4 summers in a row…
      • 3k people in a corporate office
    • In College loved to write
      • sold essays
    • hired by Accenture in 2000 in Chicago coming out of college
      • going to be a tech analyst
      • didn’t have a spot for them…$15k to do nothing
    • Started Sell SEO…
      • guy who made $4k commissions in 1 day
      • SEO was super easy
      • was making about half his Accenture yearly income in a month
    • started a new company
      • 6 –> 85 people in about 11 months
      • mostly sales people
    • …went independent…selling himself
    • started focusing on affiliate…
      • …in 18 months made a big chunk of change
      • free time in Costa Rica
    • SkinPro — started 1 product
      • own product vs affiliate
        • can be as creative as you want with your own product
        • something to sell later on with owning product
  • Outro Tim

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