Cubicle Liberation Podcast

* Still in a cubicle…or thinking of pivoting your business

* when to make the decision to go for it?

* when do you stay?

* FOMO/shiny object protection

* more than just good vs bad info products/business tools

* more than just best path vs all other paths

* give you some tools/strategies/perspectives…a framework for decision making on choosing paths

* Starting place…

* not fully won yet…

* Framework

* Start where you are…

* Ask big picture questions

* really dig deep…

* follow the threads…

* be honest with yourself about what YOU want

* not what your parents or your friends or your spouse wants…

* Check in with big questions at least once a year or so…

* sometimes your answers change

* Run scenarios through the different tools/perspectives/strategies

* compare different new paths

* use current path

* compare specific aspects

* metaphor: house hunting — 4 br vs 5 br

* $$$ vs $$

* sample big picture questions

* how do you know what’s true vs false vs unknown?

* BIG: confirmation bias

* how do you know what’s important?

* covered by other questions and points in this pod

* Importance brainstorming — priorities

* how do you know what’s good?

* comes from happiness

* pleasure vs happiness

* how do you figure out what you want?

* do you want the right things?

* what do you really want in life?

* what should you want in life?

* how do you want to measure your life?

* what’s truly important to you?

* when are you happy?

* what makes you fulfilled?

* potential path analysis perspectives/tools/strategies

* run by big questions

* minimum thresholds

* kids

* future projection

* current path

* new path

* trends analysis [link]

* new challenges

* Fletch trail work — audio books

* autonomy/freedom

* focus

* narrowed…

* long term…

* mind works on 1 thing at a time…

* meeting/exceeding thresholds…

* true cost analysis

* cost/benefit analysis

* growth queue building and maintaining

* commitment to never ending personal development

* Take single steps

* can seem overwhelming…

* break big task sets into smaller task sets…

* …not an exhaustive list

* meh list

* previous experiences…

* “natural” inclinations

* skills vs abilities

*

* examples

* David

* leaving job

* projecting well into the future

* not meandering enough

* why want to leave job?

* autonomy

* bad boss

* busy work

* felt like I was getting dumber

* why SEO?

* very interested

* saw long term value of SEO

* Dallas SEO Geek

* saw high search volume

* narrow service focus decision

* specialist vs generalist

* vs comprehensivist

* business vs personal

* started off as a generalist…

* DDD/info biz

* Jim Rohn…study, practice, teach

* 2014…

* noticed some things not getting talked about that I had direct experience with

* “successful” experiences — $140k…

* info off and on…

* selling to 1 audience, not my own

* going beyond OMG, bad taste

* 2018 OMG live, Kevin David

* $1k product…cost/benefit

* down moment for client biz

* finally committed long term

* Fletch

* Fletch’s start

* why pivot/change course?

* OMG?

* market business

* SUV vs providing for family

* paid for access to people who were making money

*

Recognizing Trends To Avoid big mistakes & Gain ____

*

Avoid Massive Mistakes By More Accurately Identifying Trends-

*

missing a trend, vs being wrong about one

*

Instead, Ride the Wave of a True Positive Trend

*

Can get really hurt by falsely identifying a trend…

*

much worse than missing a correct trend

*

Can really gain a lot by correctly identifying a trend

*

Open Loops:  Some of the topics we have mapped to cover

*

COVID biz ops

*

Stock Market

*

Fletch studied economics in grad school

*

Environmental/ecological

*

False straight lines…

*

Short term vs long term trends

*

What is a trend?

*

*

What actually is a trend?

*

Looking at why people make decisions

*

Economists look at historical data and come up with reasons why that data happened

*

to potentially model future events

*

Real Estate projections in California

*

Right way to ID a trend…

*

understand what is driving us

*

looking at the many contextual factors

*

ID what is driving…

*

Context that points to avoiding/going after a trend

*

Money is a huge frame of context

*

stock market

*

Bitcoin/crypto

*

Why is Bitcoin valuable?

*

Will Bitcoin continue to grow?

*

Does block chain have real, practical, and unique value

*

History

*

False long term trends…

*

tulip bulb bubble

*

Half truth long term trends

*

Internet bubble

*

Bubbles create irrational behavior — on the up & down

*

Climate change

*

C02 trends

*

https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/graphic-the-relentless-rise-of-carbon-dioxide/

*

true cost of things

*

suddenness of change

*

live in a box example

*

COVID-19

*

fear trend(s)

*

curiosity or gratitude

*

co-factors

*

…a lotta money changing hands

*

which will drive behavior

*

biz

*

hospitals

*

work from home

*

zoom

*

web cams

*

personal

*

short term vs long term

*

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&geo=US&q=fidget%20spinner

*

linear vs non-linear

*

short term vs long term

*

brainz

*

Intro…

*

quick about

*

Las Vegas & Hungtington, CA

*

used to live in Nebraska

*

Plug current work

*

web accessibility — services & training

*

SEO

*

weba11y.net

*

and FB page

*

Story

*

Born in Omaha, NE

*

Moved to Branson/Springfield, MO

*

Went to school at U of Nebraska

*

accounting

*

wanted to be a lawyer at 1st…

*

realized didn’t want to be an account or an attorney

*

quit school

*

Served in Gulf war

*

Navy reserves

*

took a job at a courier company…

*

created his own courier company — a couple of years

*

sold to partners

*

Transportation industry…

*

Sales…

*

phone book company sales ~2002

*

stupid job that paid a lot of money

*

migrated into digital marketing

*

started aggressively learning

*

2012/2013

*

went on his own with his agency

*

started off selling just SEO

*

got into website biz

*

sold by walking around Omaha

*

networking

*

started selling on the side

*

set small sales goals

*

made $97k in 5 months during 1st calendar year

*

recently/right now…

*

what clients are good/bad for him?

*

fired a few clients

*

much happier

*

gets new clients:

*

word of mouth referrals

*

email outreach

*

cold calls

*

Typical day

*

no typical day

*

lots of variablity

*

If you had to start all over…

*

future plans

*

Outro

*

weba11y.net

*

Thank you!

 

Thriving during Corona Virus

*

Mindset

*

Opportunistic vs Taking Advantage vs Price Gouging

*

Free vs selling

*

mindset changed forever

*

depression like effect

*

going to get better…

*

How Can I…? vs Can I…?

*

get over the threshold

*

set priorities

*

Netflixing vs …

*

Active recreation vs passive recreation

*

…Personal Development

*

E vs E ratio

*

Tension relieving vs goal achieving

*

Parenting

*

“remote” school

*

Social

*

Parents game night

*

Zoom hangout for 5 hours

*

Zoom happy hour

*

Contact old friends — Zoom party

*

*

Business

*

CARES act

*

done

*

applications are out…money will start hitting accounts 4/3/20

*

$10k for biz owners

*

$$ to continue paying employees

*

go to sba.gov

*

easiest form

*

Client SEO ___

*

Fletch’s Accessibility product

*

websites are deemed a place of public accomodation

*

American’s with Disabilities Act

*

tax credit for doing this + CARES act

*

weba11y.net

*

Biz is changed forever…

*

Kids: Piano, Violin, Ballet

*

My old TXN job

*

Implications…

*

biz that support work from home

*

Info Biz++++

*

trends.google.com

*

Fletch selling

*

Tax credits…

*

David selling

*

People start to realize…

*

Force contextual conditions…

*

Discipline

*

Intro…

*

Plug current work

*

Touching Brains Podcast

*

touchingbrains.com

*

createyourcourse.online

*

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

*

touchingbrains.com

*

createyourcourse.

Primary Guiding Concept:

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

Major Conversion (aka Sales) Framework:

*

Clarity of an offer

*

In a way that stands alone

*

Without broken windows

*

Context from there

Why???

*

Without clarity, it’s hard to create a vision.  Vision can pull us like a magnet

*

vision boards

*

write down your goals

*

prevents “I thought I was getting something else”. Buyer remorse and such.

*

Vision -> Justification

*

In a way that stands alone- Why buy from you, why now?

*

Brand: other people do this, but here is why we are different

*

all the brand stuff, aligning with a brand, or rather aligning the brand with a type of person in the market you can reach

*

this includes boundaries of what we are not, and priorities of what is important to us, etc.

*

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.

*

Tribes and such, like attracts like

*

Don’t be too overboard with distinction- don’t appear “un-natural”

*

No Broken Windows- Am I gonna get screwed?  I’ve messed up before, am I messing up before.

*

these take someone out of immersion.  The prospect begins asking questions on these side tracks or you disqualify yourself

*

Be careful with your metaphors and allegories because they may bring up non-relevant string of associations or thoughts

*

”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

*

not addressing potential questions in the sales letter or conversion experience can create a broken window effect

*

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”

*

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

*

Don’t take yourself out of the category of “natural”

*

From there, work on context

*

You want to get into, and stay in the category of “Natural”

*

An immersive story literally creates a memory that a mind will treat “as if” it is true and that it happened

*

deep personal stories can be immersive

*

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.

*

These can trigger a lot of reference strings of association and memories the potential buyer already has in their mind

*

Lamborghinis, Yachts, Mansions can all act as context.  Appear high value….

*

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 y...

*

Intro…

*

movingmountains.io

*

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

*

*

Intro…

*

Lives Sarasota, FL

*

Kids: 16, 8, 5 – 2 girls & a boy

*

Current Work

*

Agency — SEO, PPC, Web Design

*

cyberizegroup.com

*

Digital Domination Dojo — Operation SEO Agency Empire

*

7 Figure SEO Agency Exit Roadmap Link

*

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

*

Intro…

*

in Florida now –> Minnesota

*

Kids — 5, 2.5, 4 months

*

Plug current work

*

Free “Local SEO Secrets” Facebook Group

*

Modus8 open sometimes

*

*

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

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 [email protected] and mention this podcast to get a copy for free!

* leegoff.com

*

Currently lives near Lake Lanier near Atlanta

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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

*