Live In The Feast

Part of his hands-on training as a business owner was figuring out how to sell something people didn’t want to buy. In this episode, we dive into the mindset of pricing and how powerful that can be, not just for yourself but for your client as well. We also talk about the importance of understanding your clients and the value you provide to them.

Vito stresses the importance of never assuming that what you’re selling is what your clients ultimately want. He also breaks down how you see your ultimate goal, and how to use that information to price your services and products.

In this episode Vito talked about:

• How his past as a musician lead him to where he is today.
• Why a proper mindset effects how much you will charge, how much you can earn, and if you will land clients.
• How to frame your financial goals in a way that makes them easy to break down and accomplish.

Main Takeaways

• What you believe you are worth is what people will pay you. Your mindset will determine if people will pay you what you want to be making.
• Pricing should be contingent on the value you are providing to your client, not just an arbitrary number. Don’t be afraid to raise your rate for a company that values what you’re giving them.
• Setting financial goals is simple if you frame your end goal as a per client cost (e.g. 10 one million dollar clients is $10,000,000. But those clients then need the appropriate amount of your time. More money is more time given to them).

Important Mentions in this Episode

• WPFeedback
• WPFeedback Community
• @wpfeedback
• Vito On LinkedIn

Today’s guest is David Kilkelly. David is the co-founder of BlinkBack, a creative video production studio that specializes in helping clients create marketing campaigns with video.

David started his career as a university video instructor, and he’s made his way back to education by helping entrepreneurs create content that amplifies their business and message across the web. It’s not easy to leave behind a consistent salary and venture out on your own. But that’s exactly what David did. And it’s a decision he points to as a defining moment in his 30-year career.

Like every entrepreneur, David has constantly refined his approach to pricing. His philosophy has always been to charge as much as necessary to make it worth his time. But following through and executing on this model can be incredibly hard, especially as he’s grown and matured as a creator and business owner.

David has worn many hats in his career, but these days he’s focused on helping entrepreneurs create content for platforms such as LinkedIn. He’s seen a shift in the way we do business online, and believes that video can be extremely useful in building brand loyalty and trust, as well as amplifying the personality of your business.

In this episode, we dive into why video is still on an upward trend, especially on platforms like LinkedIn. We also discuss how video allows you to super charge the connection you have with potential clients, and why pricing is more straightforward and simple that you might think.

In this episode David talks about:

• Why video is still poised to be the best medium for connecting with clients in the future.
• How David determines his pricing and how he communicates those prices to his clients.
• Why he is betting on LinkedIn as his social media channel of choice, and how video plays into the success of the platform.

Main Takeaways

• Newer generations are growing up with video everywhere, so it’s a natural medium to interact with. This trend will only continue to grow as video becomes more and more the medium of choice.
• With video, the behind-the-scenes and planning work can take as long as the filming and editing. Making sure your clients are informed about everything that goes into the service you are providing, is a good way to negotiate.
• B2B professionals are the main users of LinkedIn, and it’s far less saturated and “noisy” than Facebook. Your video content can have a much larger impact there than anywhere else.

Important Mentions in this Episode

• BlinkBack LinkedIn Course
• YouPreneur
• BlinkBack on Twitter
• David Kilkelly on LinkedIn

Today’s guest is Chris Do. Chris is a teacher, consultant, designer, and entrepreneur. He’s also the founder of Blind, one of the longest running, single-owner design agencies. Chris also founded The Futur, an education platform with more than 500,000 YouTube subscribers.

Chris started out in advertising, but eventually found his way to design. With Blind, he’s made a career out of helping clients tell better stories through award-winning design. But Chris would be the first one to tell you that craft alone isn’t enough. A key component of pricing — and success in general — is understanding business and marketing, and how to speak to a client’s bottom line.

In today’s episode, Chris talks about how to develop client relationships with research, how to understand what they really need, and how that knowledge can inform your pricing and increase your profits.

In this episode Chris talked about:

• The difference between cost, price and value.
• How to align your client’s goals with your pricing.
• How to build the kind of client relationships that will support your pricing.

Main Takeaways

• Most of the time, clients come up with arbitrary numbers. There is room for negotiation. Don’t be afraid to stand firm on your pricing.
• Your price is a reflection of who you are. If you want to increase your pricing, you have to increase the value you bring to the table.
• Always be present. You must be able to recognize the moments in life that could be big opportunities.

Important Mentions in this Episode

• Blind
• Blind on Facebook
• Chris’ Twitter
• Chris’ Instagram
• Chris’ YouTube
• The Futur
• One Plus One Equals Three: A Masterclass in Creative Thinking by Dave Trott

Today’s guest is Tom Morkes. Tom is an author, consultant, coach, and publisher. He’s written several books, including The Complete Guide to Pay What You Want Pricing. He’s worked with successful entrepreneurs, launched authors who have landed on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Best Seller lists, and has done more than a dozen product launches that have generated more than $100,000 in sales in their first 30 days.

While Tom started his career in the military, he always knew he wanted to follow more artistic pursuits at some point in his life. So after five years of service, he transitioned to being an entrepreneur. Starting a business provided him with the ability to make something out of nothing.

While he’s done many different things, he’s currently transitioning away from implementation toward consulting.

In today’s episode, Tom talks about “pay what you want” pricing, and shares the best way to start experimenting with your pricing, other places this model works, and how to align it properly with your goals and desired outcomes. We also chat the actual results he’s seen from selling his own products with this pricing model.

You can learn more about Tom, his services, books, and courses, at his website TomMorkes.com.

In this episode Tom talked about:

• How his military career segued into where he is today.
• Who his clients are, and how he helps them get to where they want to be.
• How you can use a “pay what you want” pricing models to increase your sales and traffic, regardless of industry.

Main Takeaways

• It’s ok if it takes some time to start selling your product. It might not take off instantly. You’ll have to work to gain traction.
• People will pay for things, even if you offer them for free.
• Eliminate your product’s barriers to entry, if possible. Even asking for $1 is a barrier to entry, and getting rid of it could increase results.
• Try testing out “pay what you want” pricing on a special day with a low-risk, low-margin product.

Important Mentions in this Episode

• Tom Morkes
• The Complete Guide to Pay What You Want Pricing
• Tom Morkes on Twitter
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
• Smart Passive Income Podcast
• Patreon

Today’s guest is Brendan Hufford. Brendan is a dad, husband, and entrepreneur, and has spent many years trying different things. With a background in education, he spent a decade as a teacher. On the side, he did product reviews for his website and blogs. Somewhere in there he also started a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu company, called OK! Kimonos, which he later sold.

Brendan eventually realized he wasn’t headed in a direction he wanted to go. So he quit his job, sold his businesses, and began devoting more time to his newfound passion: SEO.

He started doing freelance work and landed a day job as an SEO Director at Clique Studios. Through his websites, podcasts, YouTube channels and social media, Brendan has chronicled much of his journey, including his path into the world of SEO.

One thing is certain, Brendan has done it all (multiple times!), and has a lot of insight about entrepreneurship, content creation, and how to create a life worth living.

In this episode, Brendan talks specifically about SEO, pricing, client relationships, and what he’s learned along the way that has had the biggest impact.

You can learn more about Brendan, his services, projects and courses, at his website BrendanHufford.com.

In this episode Brendan talked about:

• How to price your services
• How to find information with the highest impact
• How to see red flags and avoid stressful client relationships

Full Show Notes and more resources 

Main Takeaways

• When using value-based pricing, it’s important to look for techniques that require less time but produce more results overall. Getting rich isn’t the goal, but rather, increasing ROI through word of mouth, spread by happy clients.
• Joining SEO communities is a great way to find mentors and helpful information from industry professionals and newcomers alike. But make sure to interact and engage with what you’re learning.
• Finding clients that are a good fit can’t be overstated. Use a system to qualify new potential clients. No amount of money can make up for the constant stress that comes from incompatible client relationships.

Important Mentions in this Episode

• Brendan on Youtube
• ThinkTank
• Brendan on Instagram
• 100 Days of SEO
• Brendan’s Podcast - Entrepreneurs and Coffee
• Brendan on Twitter
• Brendan’s Website

Today’s guest is Adam Pierno. Adam is a speaker, author, and marketing strategist who has built a career out of helping people simplify their approach to marketing. He’s most passionate about connecting people to help them accomplish their goals.

Born out of an interest in how people think and make decisions, Adam spends a lot of time thinking about consumer culture and human behavior from both personal and commercial perspectives.

Adam began his career as an art director, and the process of writing creative briefs immediately piqued his interest in how people think. He enjoyed writing the creative briefs and getting to the primary insights of how to truly make a connection. From there, he began reading psychology books and papers, and observing what makes people tick and motivates them.

Adam spends a considerable amount of time trying to help people understand the topics he’s covered in his books. You can find Adam at various speaking engagements throughout the year and listen to his podcast, The Strategy Inside Everything.

In this episode Adam talked about:

• Why it’s important to think about human behavior and how it can drive your business forward.
• Building and understanding customer personas.
• Saying no with confidence.

Main Takeaways

• At a basic level, marketing is figuring out the habit of the person that you’re trying to reach and what drives them as it relates to your brand or product.
• Build customer personas early on. Write out what your customer looks like and what makes them different. Put a lot of thought into this exercise.
• Send out surveys to better understand your customer’s pain points and who they are. It can lead to some pretty big results. But even without drastic changes, that kind of feedback is invaluable.

Important Mentions in this Episode

• Specific: How brands draw inspiration from a world that doesn’t want any more by Adam Pierno
• Under Think It by Adam Pierno
• The Strategy Inside Everything Podcast
• Adam on Twitter
• Adam’s Website

Today’s guest is Josh Garofalo. Josh is a SaaS copywriter and the founder of Sway Copy. If you search Google for “SaaS copywriter”, Josh will show up at the top of the list because he’s built a reputation as being the best. He’s worked with companies such as Hubspot, HotJar, and AWeber to get them more leads and sales.

Josh focuses on customer research, positioning. and copywriting. For developers and designers and consultants like you and me, he’s a fierce supporter of choosing a niche and owning it.

He first got into his niche somewhat by accident when he was working at a startup in 2015. He was doing everything related to marketing and didn’t even realize that copywriting was a specific task from which he could make a living.

Once he stumbled upon the Copy Hackers website, he realized he could focus on one this one piece of the marketing puzzle, and turn it into a career. He started his website on the side and never looked back.

Today, Josh and I talk about how he’s flipped marketing on its head, and has zero strategy other than focusing in on his ideal client when they are about to buy.

In this episode Josh talked about:

• How he turned basic networking events and simple conversation into profitable clients.
• Why you don’t need to “overthink” and complicate your SEO game.
• How to niche down, flip your marketing strategy, and be confident in your positioning and process.

Main Takeaways

• People don’t pay a premium for generalists. Once you become a specialist, people will gladly pay you a higher price because you have the knowledge they want.
• Start by becoming an expert before you do a lot of marketing. This way you have inherent trust built with your potential clients and they won’t waste time questioning your authority on the subject.
• When you become an authority, the people that come to you are already sold on your service. All you need to do is ask questions, research their product, and consult like you’re already part of the team.

Important Mentions in this Episode

• Sway Copy
• Sway on Twitter
• Copy Hackers
• Hubspot
• Hotjar
• AWeber

Stay in touch

• Full show notes
• Ask Rezzz Podcast
• Feast
• Follow Jason on Twitter
• Subscribe to the newsletter

Today’s guest is Mike Killen. Mike helps marketers and service-based businesses build marketing funnels and get better at sales. Mike has also written a book called From Single to Scale.

Mike has been in the trenches, successfully building systems and automations and knows what he’s talking about. He’s super passionate about helping people create better funnels and drive more sales.

In this episode, we dive into what a sales funnel is and why it has a bad rap. We also talk about why it’s important to do everything manually, before thinking about automation. Throughout the episode, we touch on the framework behind doing discovery calls and how to ask the tough questions, including the big one (budgets!) in a way that gets your the answers you need.

In this episode Mike talks about:

• The real definition of a funnel and why it sometimes gets a bad reputation.
• What you’re probably doing wrong when it comes to discovery calls.
• Why he’s made a mission out of getting sales training into the hands of children and schools.

Main Takeaways

• Sales funnels don’t create customers out of thin air, they just make your current customer attraction method better.
• You can’t automate something that you’re not already doing manually — automation only improves current tactics.
• Don’t start selling right away on a discovery call. Ask a lot of questions and get a feel for the business you’ll be working with instead of trying to sell them.

Important Mentions in this Episode

• Sell Your Service
• From Single to Scale
• Sell Your Service YouTube
• Mike on Twitter

Stay in touch

• Full show notes
• Ask Rezzz Podcast
• Feast
• Follow Jason on Twitter
• Subscribe to the newsletter

Today’s guest is Ilise Benun. Ilise is the founder of Marketing Mentor, an agency that helps creative solopreneurs, consultants and owners of small creative businesses find the right clients and avoid the feast or famine cycle.

Ilise started her career in New York, helping people in her network become more organized. She quickly found that disorganization was major part of what kept people from marketing and self-promotion, and she saw an opportunity. Ilise has written seven books, hosts two podcasts, and is adjunct faculty at Maryland Institute College of Art.

In this episode, we dive into how to get clients with bigger budgets as well as how creative professionals, web developers, and web designers can be great at the business side of things.

In this episode Ilise talks about:

• How she got started in the marketing world and helping creative freelancers get organized and self-promote.
• How to avoid common marketing pitfalls, and do marketing the right way.
• How social media fits within your marketing for your business and what you can be doing differently.

Main Takeaways

• Once you can identify ideal clients or ideal markets, then it becomes very clear how to reach them.
• A LinkedIn profile and smart marketing website (speaking to the clients needs) will enable you to build your marketing foundation.
• The expectation of social media is that it’s easy to bring business in. It’s an excellent tool, but you need to asses its value appropriately and use it as such.

Important Mentions in this Episode

• Marketing Mentor
• Simplest Marketing Planner

Stay in touch

• Full show notes
• Ask Rezzz Podcast
• Feast
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• Subscribe to the newsletter

Today’s guest is Matt Johnson. Matt is founder of Pursuing Results, a zero-hassle podcast system to break into new markets, build strategic relationships, and create authority.

Matt started out in the real estate space and found a great deal of success owning and dominating a specific niche market through podcasting. As a result, he built an agency to help other businesses own and dominate their niche through similar methods.

His agency started as a loose group of freelancers. But, eventually he realized he needed to formalize his agency and identify his ideal customer. Being able to niche down was an important part of gaining traction and focusing his business.

The defining moment in Matt’s journey so far was choosing to move to San Diego for a job opportunity. He directly credits that move, even though he didn’t stay for long, with everything he was able to do afterward with his own business.

Today, Matt is working on transitioning to the next phase of his business by capping the agency work and only taking on a certain number of one-and-done clients. To do this, he’s focusing on building courses and other scalable services.

In this episode, we dive into what business owners without a podcast struggle with most when they start to think about doing one.

In this episode Matt talked about:

• The ROI of podcasting and how you can capitalize on it.
• The biggest benefit to being a guest on a podcast for your business and the biggest reason why most businesses don’t do it.
• How Matt’s personality has allowed him to shape the direction of his career.

Main Takeaways

• Fear and mental roadblocks are generally the number one thing keeping people from starting a podcast.
• Having guests on or being a guest on another podcast is critical to building deep relationships and earning referrals that move your business forward.
• Podcasting is working whether you think it is or not. It’s out there, people are listening and it is doing it’s job even if you might not understand it completely.
• Never chase the numbers. Just because your podcast is “big” doesn’t mean that you are maximizing your marketing or connecting with your audience. Dominate your niche instead and become an authority.

Important Mentions in this Episode

• Podcast Pitch Assistant
• Podcast Guest Training
• Matt Johnson on Instagram
• The Business of Expertise by David Baker

Stay in touch

• Full show notes
• Ask Rezzz Podcast
• Feast
• Follow Jason on Twitter
• Subscribe to the newsletter