Part 5, of our seven-part interview with Bob Regnerus of Feedstories.

Topics covered in this episode

* Business Fundamentals that have Lasting Value* Role of a Coach in Business & Sports* Facebook Ads: Books, Education & Seeking Knowledge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAE8ERY1Nd4

Transcription

Intro Brian: Bob Regnerus of Feedstories, part 5.

Hi I'm Brian Pombo, welcome back to Brian J. Pombo Live.

Today's a little different than other days, we actually have part five of a conversation with Bob Regnerus.

And so this has been a lot of fun, if you haven't caught the rest of them, go back and watch them.

But if you would like to be on the podcast or if you'd like to have me on your podcast or speak at your event, go check out BrianJPombo.com.

And now here is Bob Regnerus.

Brian: If you can change one thing about either the industry that you work in, or your business itself, if you could change one thing what would it be?

Bob: I think one of the things that bothers me about the marketing industry in general is there's a lot of disingenuis people who really aren't there to serve people, they're there to kind of make money.

And you know, these people tend to get called out after time, they kind of get it…it's really hard to hide that stuff these days. You know, I mean, like, people talk and things like that.

I really don't like people that take advantage of others.

Also I'm not real keen on hacks versus fundamentals, in addition to running companies, I'm a high school basketball coach. And for us to be successful as a team year in year out, is we have to focus on fundamentals.

I'm not big on this is like a fluke play or a tactic or a hack that probably has a shelf life of a couple months. I hate people getting…it's the bright shiny object syndrome. I hate when those things get weighed in front of people and they waste money on it and they spent a bunch of time.

Yeah, maybe it works for a while and then it like fizzles overnight.

I don't want people to be in that cycle.

So I try to do things that are based on fundamentals that have lasting value. And yeah, I think that's what I would change, is that's probably the thing that bothers me the most.

Brian: You mentioned coaching, coaching the sport versus coaching a business person with their marketing and so forth.

What are the similarities and where are the differences?

What do you like most about that aspect of it?

Bob: It's great question.

So coaching is the same. No matter what sports or business coach is not there to play the game coaches on the sidelines. The coaches preparing the players, the coaches is coming up with plays and going over strategy, and putting the pieces in place to make a team more successful.

Same thing in business.

I'm not running your business, I'm not there doing everything for you. Like, if I'm there doing something for you, then I should be like an equity partner or you know what I mean, like, I should be paid differently.

I come in as a coach, and it's like, no, we're going to talk about strategy, we're going to talk about how you win, we're going to talk about positioning people in the right place, we're going to talk about things that have some lasting value.

But in the end,

As Bob from Feedstories puts it, "every business starts with a story."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD8KPAbkmjI

Transcription

Brian: Who's the ideal person that would benefit the most from Feedstories?

Bob: We like to work with people that have some sort of mission or purpose behind what they do.

Every business starts with a story.

I think if you don't start with a story, or you don't start with a reason why it's not really interesting to us, and probably you're not going to have lasting value.

We love pulling the backstory out of somebody, it really gets to the heart of why they do what they do. We do these videos called Big Why Videos.

And it's really amazing to kind of just hear from people like, why do they do what they do?

We interviewed this guy, he was down in Texas, and he started a whole chain of yoga studios, and he wanted to start this academy for training more yoga teachers.

And that's a great business, right?

Like, you think Yoga is hot. He's in Texas, he's growing like, fantastic.

Well, in our interview process, and what we got a video was the reason why he started the yoga studios, which was his mom had back issues when she was alive, and she went in for surgery.

And, you know, he was kind of nervous about that ended up that the surgeons kind of botched the surgery, and she lost most of the ability in her legs. And she suffered for a number of years.

He really felt that if yoga was an option for his mom, she went and had the surgery and she would've had a long quality of life.

And you could see like the passion, right? And this is all on video.

Now, if you're a yoga teacher, and you see the passion from this yoga owner, and he's like, I want yoga to be an alternative for people to have surgery, freedom from pain, and things like that really powerful, right?

That's why video is so powerful.

Now, we love working with kind of owner-operators, okay.

Typically we're working with companies that are like somewhere underneath $10 million.

So from startup to 10 million, we have and we'll work with companies that are bigger, but when we can get the owner on camera and get his or her story about why they do what they do.

Talk with the clients and the customers of these businesses.

That's really an ideal client for us when there's a substantial story there and we can pick up on it and about a 15-minute phone call, then they're a really good candidate for us.

Outro: For full conversations, go to BJP chats.com

Part 4, of our seven-part interview with Bob Regnerus of Feedstories.

Topics covered in this episode

* Who are Feedstories Ideal Clients?* What is a "Big Why" video?* 10,000 dollar an hour work: Outsourcing & Marketing Outreach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXVe3jkrB2I

Transcription

Intro Brian: Bob Regnerus of Feedstories, part 4.

I'm Brian Pombo, welcome back to Brian J. Pombo Live.

Today is part four of our conversation with Bob Regnerus.

If you would like to be on this podcast or if you would like to have me on yours or speak at your event, go to BrianJPombo.com.

And now here's part 4 with Bob Regnerus.

Brian: Who's the ideal person that would benefit the most from Feedstories?

It's a great question.

We like to work with people that have some sort of mission or purpose behind what they do. We think every every business starts with a story.

I think if you don't start with a story, or you don't start with a reason why, it's not really interesting to us, and probably you're not going to have lasting value. We love pulling the backstory out of somebody it really gets to the heart of why they do what they do.

We do these videos called Big Why videos, it's really amazing to kind of just hear from people like, why do they do what they do?

We interviewed this guy, he was down in Texas, and he started a whole chain of yoga studios, and he wanted to start this academy for training more yoga teachers.

That's a great business, right? Like you think Yoga is hot, he's in Texas, he's growing fantastic.

Well, in our interview process, and what we got a video was the reason why he started the yoga studios.

Which was his mom had back issues when she was alive and she went in for surgery. And, you know, he was kind of nervous about that ended up that the surgeons kind of botched the surgery, and she lost most of the ability in her legs and she suffered for a number of years.

And he really felt that if yoga was an option for his mom, she went and had the surgery, and she had long quality life.

You could see like the passion and this is all on video.

Now, if you're a yoga teacher, and you see the passion from this yoga owner, and he's like, I want yoga to be an alternative for people to have surgery, freedom from pain and things like that's really powerful.

That's why video is so powerful.

Now, we love working with kind of owner operators, okay. Typically we're working with companies that are like somewhere underneath $10 million.

So from startup to 10 million we have, and we'll work with companies that are bigger.

But when we can get the owner on camera and get his or her story about why they do what they do talk with the clients and the customers of these businesses, that's really an ideal client for us, when there's a substantial story there.

And we can pick up on it in about a 15 minute phone call, then they're really good candidate for us.

They're in a growing stage and they're using paid advertising. They're out there marketing themselves, and they know they need a better story. It's pretty common.

When I talk to somebody, one of the first things they'll tell me is we're not doing a good job telling our story.

Bob talks about how a visit to Facebook / Instagram headquarters led to an instant business idea that helped to launching Feedstories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqAi0v605lU

Transcription

Brian: You touched briefly on Feedstories.

Why don't you tell us a little more about what that is how it came about?

Bob: So that's interesting, that period between like 2010 and 2013, I was doing a lot of things to kind of find my way again, after you kind of lose an agency, you know, I was just kind of freelancing.

I hosted a radio show for a number of years doing kind of what you and I are doing right now, which is great, got to meet a lot of new people help other people, write books.

But 2013, I got heavily involved in Facebook.

Facebook started to become a media that advertisers could take seriously. I got my first five clients, and one of them just went into the stratosphere.

It was a clothing brand. In fact, it was a headband company, and it just took off.

One of the best things I did with that client early on was I said, got a headband. It's, you know, it's a $15 headband, I said, anyone can knock this off.

I said, but they can't knock off your story.

I said, we're going to build your whole advertising and your whole kind of foundation based on your story. And your story is what's going to sell headbands, and I was right.

I was really glad was right, but I knew kind of internally that would be that way. This business called Bolder Brand Headband, they won Shopify retailer of the Year in 2014, driven by Facebook sales, like 99% of their sales came from Facebook.

Facebook recognized that and said, Hey, Bob, we're having this meeting with some other big brands want you to come in, we're going to kind of brainstorm I had a chance over a number of years to meet with Facebook.

But in 2016, in particular, I went to this meeting and all they talked about was video, Facebook said we're a video company now Instagram, which's is owned by Facebook says we're a video company now.

And I'm like, Okay, this is my like, I'm looking ahead toward the future. And I went outside of the meeting was in the sidewalk outside of Facebook headquarters in Austin, Texas.

I called Brandon, who's my business partner for Feedstores. Brian is a creative guy, he's a copywriter, he's a video graphic guy.

I said, we really need to be prepared for this because Facebook and Instagram are changing who they are, and video is going to be like the thing that they are emphasizing the most.

And so we started that company, literally a conversation over the phone, came into the same city kind of put this thing together and started feed stories in late 2016.

That's how Feedstories was formed.

It was literally what I heard Facebook and Instagram telling me that they were going to prioritize. And so if I'm going to continue to be a really good Facebook advertiser, I need to have really good video creative.

And why not create a company that produces the creative that I know is going to work in the Facebook ad. That's how that company was born and we're going strong here in 2021, so far.

Part 3, of our seven-part interview with Bob Regnerus of Feedstories.

Topics covered in this episode

* How a Meeting at Facebook Headquarters led to the beginning of Feedstories* The Power of Your Businesses Story* Navigating through COVID-19* How COVID-19 led to an increase in demand for video content

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PStjuHKOykk

Transcription

Intro Brian: Bob Regnerus of Feedstories, part 3.

Hi I'm Brian Pombo, welcome back to Brian J. Pombo Live.

Today's part three of our series with Bob Regnerus. I hope you've been watching, if not go back and watch the rest of them.

If you'd like to be on this podcast as in a conversation with me, or if you'd like to have me on your podcast or speak at your event, go check out BrianJPombo.com, for all the details.

So here is part 3.

Brian: What do you think that most businesses can learn from that, in terms of you mentioned having cash on hand. What are the other things that you think that made the biggest difference for you that you think other people could learn from?

Bob: Well, for me, it was investing in things that have the ability to be flexible.

So team members that are flexible with multiple skill sets technology, like we were perfectly positioned to be remote.

In fact, our company's been remote for years, we were on zoom before zoom was cool, we had used it. So essentially, that didn't change.

We also had this enthusiasm for what could be, but we also had a sense of what could go wrong?

Now, the reason we're able to do that is we're in a mastermind with Perry. And as you know, Perry's my friend, he's a client, we do business together, but I also pay him for mentorship, because he's so wise.

And we went through an exercise, January of 2019, which is like, what could go wrong in your business this year?

Now, nobody predicted COVID, but we had some scenarios like, okay, you know, if our technology failed, or we went through probably five or six scenarios, it got us thinking.

Even then, like, what would happen if?

We weren't shocked when COVID happened. We certainly had this sense of dread like everybody else. But we had been exercising our what if muscles and had in mind, like, everything's not going to be rosy. So we're mentally prepared for what happened.

And I was really proud of kind of how we just, we didn't panic, we had some really thoughtful consideration of how we're going to move forward. And we positioned ourselves well, we were prepared for some worst case scenarios.

I think that's one thing as entrepreneurs, we're always thinking like, the best is going to happen. And I love that part of being an entrepreneur, every project we get involved in, we think this is gonna be great.

We haven't unbridled enthusiasm for it, and you have to, but you also have that sense of, okay, what if this doesn't work out?

Or what if this idea doesn't pan out?

You want to have contingencies, you want to have plans in place. Maybe that comes from my upbringing, maybe it comes from experience, I don't know.

But it just seems like the right way to approach things. Or you don't kind of have rosy blinders on and you're oblivious to the fact that we live on an imperfect planet, you know what I mean?

Brian: Absolutely. Boy, that's great stuff.

Bob from Feedstories talks about the value of relationships and mastermind groups and how he became a co-author with names like Perry Marshall and Robert Skrob.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV9_nOTyVtA

Transcription

Brian: You've co-written books with some great names out there.

You have a book out there with Robert Skrob, you've got a book with Perry Marshall, how did you go about doing that? How did you go about co-authoring, with people that had a name in a different area?

Bob: Well, in that case, it's about relationships.

So, you know, Robert Skrob is well known these days. I knew Robert before he was Robert.

One of the things I did early in my career, and I should say this, this is another thing I did is I took giant leaps by joining mastermind groups, not just like, hey, let's get together on zoom five days a month, or, you know, this is like, I paid Bill Glazer, at that time, I think it was $12,000 a year, quoting Hamilton, I wanted to be in the room where it happens, right?

I was in there with people that were above my pay grade. But the reason I did that was I wanted the mentorship from a guy like Bill Glazer, mentorship from Dan Kennedy.

But then I wonder the relationships of people who are doing better than me, and there were some people that were below me. But when you're in a group like that, it just pulls you forward.

And so that's where I met a lot of people who I still consider friends and met friends that introduced me to others. By knowing Perry Marshall, I got to meet and become friends with Brian Kurtz.

I was in the same mastermind group as Ryan Deiss, before Digital Marketer was even a thought in his eye.

I got to know Jeff Walker before he was the Product Launch Formula Genius.

So part of it is you you know, there are these names that we all kind of revere, they're just normal people. But I got to know them really, before they became famous, okay.

And they're all more famous than me, by the way, which is fine with me. But I really was intentional about joining those organizations, attending conferences and networking, I'm not naturally drawn to do that.

Like, I'm really good with talking and sharing what I know I'm not really good at meeting new people, but I've had to force myself to do it.

And so writing the check and taking the leap really like makes you go I'm gonna make the most of it.

Outro: For full conversations, go to BJP chats.com.

Part two, of our seven-part interview with Bob Regnerus of Feedstories.

Topics covered in this episode

* How Bob Co-Authored on Books with experts like Perry Marshall and Robert Skrob* How Masterminds & Networking: Establishing Relationships with good people* When Markets Shift: Hard times, Lessons Learned & Business Growth from it* Investing in Flexibility

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoXljB2hmf0

Transcription

Brian Part 2: Bob Regnerus of Feedstories, part two.

Hi, I'm Brian pombo Welcome back to Brian J. Pombo Live.

This is part two in the series of an interview that we had with Bob Regnerus. You can hear the whole interview over at BJPchats.com.

If you'd like to be on the show, or if you'd like to have me on your show, or have me speaking at an event, go to BrianJPombo.com.

And now here is part two.

Brain: So you've co-written books with some great names out there. You have a book out there with Robert Skrob, you got a book with Perry Marshall, how did you go about doing that?

How did you go about co-authoring, with people that had a name in a different area?

Bob: Well, in that case, it's about relationships.

So you know, Robert Skrob is well known these days.

I knew Robert before he was Robert.

You know, one of the things I did early in my career, and I should say this, this is another thing I did is I took giant leaps by joining mastermind groups.

Not just like, hey, let's get together on zoom five days a month. This is like, I paid Bill Glazer at that time, I think it was $12,000 a year.

Quoting Hamilton, I want to be in the room where it happens.

I was in there with people that were above my paygrade. But the reason I did that was I wanted the mentorship from a guy like Bill Glazer, mentorship from Dan Kennedy.

But then I wanted the relationships with people who are doing better than me. And there was some people that were below me, but when you're in a group like that, it just pulls you forward.

And so that's where I met a lot of people who I still consider friends and met friends that introduced me others.

By knowing Perry Marshall, I got to meet and become friends with Brian Kurtz.

I was in the same mastermind group as Ryan Deiss, before Digital Marketer was even a thought in his eye.

I got to know Jeff Walker before he was the Product Launch Formula genius.

So part of it is you know, there's these names that we all kind of revere, they're just normal people. But I got to know them, really, before they became famous, okay. And they're all more famous than me by the way, which is fine with me.

But I really was intentional about joining those organizations, attending conferences and networking.

I'm not naturally drawn to do that. Like, I'm really good with talking and sharing what I know, I'm not really good at meeting new people, but I've had to force myself to do it.

So writing the check and taking the leap really, like makes you go, I'm gonna make the most of it. That's kind of how it happened.

So I met Robert in a mastermind group.

Perry I met through a connection in my mastermind group, a friend of mine also knew Perry.

Perry and I live eight miles apart, literally,

Bob from Feedstories talks about the value of being an author and the importance of finding your "super power" to help you standout as an expert in your market.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkpD_AZZ4so

Transcription

Brian: If you were talking to someone that's never written a book before, they're looking to stand out more and become more well known.

What do you think are the main advantages of writing a book?

Bob: Well, I think there's a couple of things.

Number one, writing a book really establishes you as an expert.

Quite often, it's like a ticket, right? It's like, it's, I wrote another book called, The Best Business Card On The Planet. It literally opens doors for you.

So, you know, to be interviewed on podcasts and things like that. I guess it's a little bit easier these days, but getting interviewed for television or radio, like they wouldn't even pick up the phone unless you had a book like, you're an expert, where's your book?

So I think even though the publishing industry has changed, to some extent, and a lot of books are self-published, I think it's still an amazing positioning tool to be able to put yourself in a book like that.

And I think the other thing it really does is it forces you to really focus in on what are my superpowers?

I'm not going to go write a book about Google display ads or Google Search these days, I can write a book about Facebook because I do it day in and day out.

I'm helping my business partner write a book on getting videos that sell because that's what we do day in and day out.

Putting your knowledge and your superpower into a written format is really powerful for you, the entrepreneur, it helps you really understand like, I do know this stuff, right?

It's a validation for you.

But to be able to communicate it effectively write a narrative around it, tell stories about it. It really just solidifies your foundation as an entrepreneur as an expert as a credible person.

And I still think it's one of the best steps you can take no, you don't have to write a 350-page book that entrepreneur press publishes. You can write 125 pages, 150 page book, you know, 20 25,000 words, maybe even less, that helps establish you.

I think it's reachable for anybody that's serious about serving clients or setting themselves up as an expert.

Outro: For full conversations, go to BJP chats.com.

Bob from Feedstories talks about the power of writing a book, speaking opportunities and sharing your message in webinar and podcast interviews to help you grow your business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzRPiK9BM7I

Transcription

Brian: How do most people find you, how do they come across you end up becoming clients?

Bob: Well, two things that I've done that have been really powerful actually three things in my career.

The first thing is writing books.

There's nothing like writing a book to establish yourself as an expert. I think it's even over my shoulder here. Let's see…yeah.

The first book I wrote was called, Big Ticket Ecommerce. And I was encouraged by a friend of mine, Victor Cheng, who's an amazing consultant, who helped me put that together. And that's what I use to grow my first seven-figure agency. So that was great.

Now when you write a book, you get clients, but you also get speaking opportunities.

The second best thing I've done in my career is speak from the stage. That's how I've got influxes of clients.

And then speaking also applies to what we're doing right here is I frequently speak on webinars and podcasts. And those three things really are what drive people coming in.

So you know, you get people that buy your book, people that hear you speak my calendars full because I'm putting it out there.

I'm doing the work every day, putting the content out there, developing relationships.

We get a lot of referrals to of course, but that's how I grow is really just putting myself out there as an expert, sharing what I know, inspiring people and that leads to business.

Outro: For full conversations, go to BJP chats.com.

Our seven-part interview with Bob Regnerus of Feedstories begins.

Topics covered in this episode

* What led Bob to become a digital marketing and paid advertising expert* The THREE POWERFUL THINGS Bob's done in his career to help him thrive in business, and attract clients* How Victor Cheng encouraged Bob to write his first book, Big Ticket Ecommerce* What are the main advantages of writing a book?* Finding Your SUPERPOWER

Full Convo https://brianjpombo.com/bjpchats/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1RLL3CSeis

Transcription

Brian: Bob Regnerus of Feedstories, part one.

This is a series of conversation that we had with Bob Regnerus.

You're really going to enjoy it, you can watch all the other parts of it over at BJPchats.com.

And you can see everything else that I'm offering my book, you can have me as a guest on your podcast if you're interested on being a pet guest on this podcast or the other ones we provide. Or if you'd like to have me as a speaker at your event, go check all of that out over at BrianJPombo.com.

Now, here's the show.

Brian (Intro to show): Coach Bob Regnerus is the co-founder of Feedstories, a digital marketing expert and the author of five books, including, The Fourth Edition of The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising.

Bob, welcome to Brian J. Pombo Live.

Bob: It is so good to be with you, Brian. Looking forward to a lively conversation today.

Brian: Yeah, good deal.

So I like to jump into these things without a whole lot of research in general. But the issue is, is that I already knew who you were, because I'd seen you around. I knew that you had co-authored this book. And I'd seen your name around probably for years, because I think we have ran in similar circles.

Bob: Yeah, that's probably likely.

Brian: Yeah, just tell me…we'll get into the details as far as where you're at right now, eventually. But tell me how did you end up where you are?

Bob: Yeah, well, I guess I took a little bit of an indirect approach to being an entrepreneur. I was a programmer by trade, I went to college, you know, studied computer science, studied business, I had a dual degree.

And I ended up working for a large corporation out of college doing programming on mainframe computers, that's the computers that take up a whole room.

Did that worked at a couple different corporate jobs, and I met a guy at one of my gigs who was there on contract. And like, I was an employee, he was on a contract, I thought that was interesting. He kind of made his own hours.

And he was making, you know, I mean, he wasn't getting benefits from the company but it felt like he was making more money than me doing kind of what he was doing.

So I became friends with him and eventually, I went on my own with him and was doing some contract work. I worked for TransUnion, the big credit bureau. That was about 1998, I really got the bug for the internet.

Obviously 1998 we're going back a few years, internet wasn't what it is today. Right?

But I was a coder.

I actually developed my first e-commerce website, I built a shopping cart for a business from scratch. By the way, there's still a client today, there's still a client. So it's pretty awesome.

But we launched that thing in 98 and it was prett...