Cheat Sheet
About this Episode
Have you ever gotten stuck on a critical, 30 minute, task, procrastinating until 2 am the night before it was due, when fatigue forced you to complete, passing out at sunrise in a heap of emotional exhaustion?
Have you ever effortlessly executed on a brilliant brainwave, tirelessly toiling for hours that seemed like minutes, not wanting to get up, even to go to the bathroom, or to top up your coffee cup?
What’s the difference?
Why was one task hard and stressful and the other a blissful adventure?
With one task you were operating in your Zone of Genius and got into Flow and the other… you... weren’t…
It turns out that each of us has a particular zone of genius. Certain tasks that light us up.
Today we are talking with Brad Hart of MakeMoreMarbles.com.
Brad is a people person.
A connector. That’s HIS Zone.
He gets fired up meeting people and trying to add value to their lives.
He plays the long game and figures that if he adds enough value to enough people, eventually an interesting opportunity will come up. And he has done quite well for himself in the process.
And Brad has no problems raising money.
He did quite well in real estate and started a hedge fund after about 500 conversations with friends, relatives, and associates.
Those careers had elements of his Zone of Genius, some of the time, which is probably why he had the success he had.
Now, Brad works as a consultant and connector.
He is an expert at figuring out what it is your business needs, and then hooking you up with the person or company that can fulfil them.
That could be talent, or it could be an investment.
If you are a creator, flow probably involves thinking of new ideas, synthesising knowledge, and tinkering.
It probably does NOT involve spreadsheets and marketing execution plans, and it may not be around raising money.
The key to operating a high performing business is to divide the critical tasks out and finding people who will be operating within THEIR Zone of Genius when performing them.
This sounds easy and for some, like Brad, it is.
But if you have ever struggled with hiring or partnering, then I’d suggest you give this framework a try.
Resources Mentioned
Questions to ask google doc
I love having industry insiders on the show.
I learn as much from these talks as you guys do, and it is nice to hear other people say the same things… like that you NEED an email list beforehand… but say it in slightly different ways.
It is also fun to watch what a guy like today’s guest, Roy Morejon, is up to.
Roy has been in the digital marketing space for a while and chanced into crowdfunding when a failing campaign came to him for help.
He was able to use his extensive PR contacts to rescue that campaign, and in the processes found his new calling… advising and managing Crowdfunding campaigns.
Since then, he has raised over $75 million for his clients and has taken the business of advising campaigns to incredible levels:
I have been thinking for a while how a crowdfunding campaign is the start of a business, and how I can help my clients make the transition.
I believe that if you start thinking of Crowdfunding as the start of a business, and not a way to make some fast money, you will do a lot better.
Cheat Sheet
About This Episode
Two weeks ago, Austin Netzley talked about the famous “1000 True Fans” article from Kevin Kelly.
The essence of 1000 True Fans is that if you cultivate a relatively small tribe of people who love your work and are willing to pay for it, you can sustain a career in almost any field.
You can even fund a Crowdfunding Campaign.
But the key is learning how to identify them and how to engage with them.
Kevin Kelly wrote 1000 True Fans in 2008 before Kickstarter and Indiegogo were founded.
And in that essay, he even mentions that building and maintaining a direct relationship with your fans can be a bit daunting.
But that was 8 years ago and technology has changed.
We have Facebook Groups...
UpViral...
Thunderclap…
Typeform...
...and a host of tools that happen to make speaking directly to your 1000 True fans really easy.
In this episode, Nathan Chan and I talk about the “Facebook Insider Group”.
Nathan is the founder of Foundr Magazine and recently finished up a Kickstarter Campaign for a coffee table book for entrepreneurs.
While that campaign was going on, he gave me a behind the scenes look at how it works and it is super cool!
It is the most concrete and concise example of implementing 1000 True Fan Theory that I have ever seen.
And it works.
After seeing Nathan use it successfully with his Foundr Campaign, I implemented it for the JamStack campaign and it has been a huge success.
I will be using Insider Groups on all of my campaigns moving forward and you should too.
Special Bonus:
In this episode, Nathan and I go over some key MISTAKES we both made in our most recent campaigns that cost us a lot of money.
Here’s the thing.
Experienced entrepreneurs make mistakes all the time.
If this is your first campaign then you will too.
Accept this NOW, and go have some fun screwing up and learning from it!
But save yourself some headache (and make a bunch of extra money) by learning from our mistakes.
Resources Mentioned
Cheat Sheet
About this Episode
I am going to write a book.
It is December 2016 and I am preparing to write out my goals for 2017.
So there.
I said it.
I am going to write a book.
I have big plans for 2017 but I am going to find the time and here is why…
It doesn’t have to be hard.
In fact, today’s guest, Chandler Bolt, wrote 3 books in 6 months that all became best sellers on Amazon without any previous experience.
“I’m a BIG believer in looking at what is front of you and giving it your all”
He then went on to found self-publishingschool.com to teach others how to publish a book in 90 days.
When he got started, Chandler pre-sold 44 spots for over $80,000 without having a single piece of content written.
He then let his audience dictate what he would produce next and built the course.
This conversation reminded me that marketing fundamentals are marketing fundamentals and business startups are all very similar, with founders and creators experiencing similar psychological hang-ups regardless of industry
These fundamentals apply to Crowdfunding and Book Launches and physical and info product launches.
This episode is PACKED FULL of strategies and tactics you can use for Crowdfunding.
Like Chandler says, tactics change with time but principles and strategy are timeless.
I think I am going to write a book on that...
Resources Mentioned
Cheat Sheet
About This Episode
In last week's episode with Jon Bowes, Jon discussed his strategy to take successful ideas from one industry that is being underutilised in another.
In this episode, I am taking that advice!
Austin Netzley is a book launch expert.
With his 561 step book launch plan, he has the system dialled in and helped almost 200 authors launch books and build businesses, including real estate expert Kevin Ward…
...and the legendary self-help pioneer Brian Tracy,
Instead of crowdfunding, he launches on Amazon. But the parallels in book launches and Crowdfunding are fascinating!
Yes… you have to build your audience!
Like in Crowdfunding, email list SIZE doesn’t matter.
You want passionate engagement and a growth.
And you have to give a LOT of value to that list before asking for anything in return.
There is no use in an email list of 100,000 people and no one opens up your emails.
Like a Crowdfunding launch, Austin uses countdown timers to build anticipation for the book launch.
But the REAL benefit is taking that person who reads your book and helping them take the next step, which for a consultant may be a multiple five-figure consulting contract.
This is an area where I, and most crowdfunding campaigns, fall short.
Your launch is not the end game.
It is the beginning of a business.
Here’s my big takeaway.
The next evolution of MY business is to help transition my crowdfunding clients from the launch into an actual business.
Resources mentioned
Cheat Sheet
About This Episode
Every once in awhile you have a conversation that tweaks your brain.
Gets you to think differently…
And then sends your mind RACING.
For me, this conversation with fellow Canadian, Jon Bowes, is one of them.
Jon Bowes is a master when it comes to product positioning, price perception, and copywriting.
Jon writes the words and crafts offers to help his clients make more sales, create repeat customers, and have those customers come back more and more often.
He has worked with Pat Flynn, Russell Brunson, and other top online marketers. Like a crowdfunding consultant, his results aren’t based on warm and fuzzies, but measured in cold, hard cash.
Some copywriters like to stick to one niche, for example, weight loss and dieting. That enables them to really know their target audience to write directly to them.
But Jon likes to take the Jay Abraham approach and work with as many different markets as possible. This is so he can avoid “groupthink” and import great ideas from one industry that are being underused or ignored in others.
That’s what he did while helping the Filippo Loreti Kickstarter Campaign become the most funded timepiece project in crowdfunding history.
John imported a common internet marketing concept, Value Stacking, into this campaign.
Value stacking is where you keep adding bonuses for larger and larger purchases.
For example, in internet marketing, affiliates will often give free products in exchange for purchasing through their affiliate link.
This strategy had not been used effectively in Crowdfunding to date.
But Jon helped the Filippa Loreti team implement it and so far they have raised over €1.3 million in 15 days.
Resources Mentioned