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TAE 18: Generating Leads Through Summit Creation...
With Poster Child Gone Rogue, Mark Stern...
Click Above To Listen In iTunes...
Get YOUR FREE TICKET to the CLICK-Preneur Summit by Registering Here: http://bit.ly/CLICKPreneurSummit-marie
Marie Larsen: 00:00 Yo, what's up everyone? This is Mary Larson, so excited because today I have a friend of mine on here who came to me a couple months ago out of boise event and said to me, Hey Marie, I'm doing a summit and I would like it if you will be a speaker at it. Now guys, I've done a summit once before and it completely went plop, right?
Like it was, it was, so, it was so bad. I really didn't do a good job at it and it was really, it was kind of embarrassing for me in all honesty. Um, I was really starting to figure out what my voice was and everything like that. Um, but I got really excited for this because he started to sit down and said, you know, all these different types of people are going to be in the summer.
And I was like, Whoa, like I get to be part of this, this is so cool. And I got super excited about it. So yeah, I have to introduce mark because I, I feel like as a, there are a lot of people who don't understand the value of a telesummit or summit in general if it's done properly and correctly. If you do it right, it can generate so much revenue, generate so much, so many leads and really boost out your audience like crazy and you cross pollinate like crazy.
So I have to introduce mark just a little bit and say, well first off, mark, thanks so much for being on here.
Marie Larsen: 01:09 I'm so pumped for this and I'm so excited to hear all the cool stuff that you're going to share with us as far as like how you decided to do this because these are daunting tasks. I've done it and you've done it in such a manner. If I'd only learned from what you had done a I, I seriously feel like I would have done things so much differently and I wouldn't have gotten my, you know, easily. Like I think I got like 400 leads off of it or something like that. Like I was.
Anyway. I'm so excited. So we introduce yourself a little bit to us who you are and kind of your journey and then we'll hop into how you got into the whole summit world.
Mark Stern: 01:50 That was an amazing introduction. I appreciate that so much. I am Mark Stern. I'm the host of the click partner summit, which is crazy to be able to say that now has literally three months ago I was still in like fully immersed in the corporate realm. So my back story just real briefly is um, if there was a poster child for someone who followed the path and we're always like born and raised with this idea of there's this path that you follow.
You Graduate High School, go to college, you graduate college, then you get the dream job, then you go to Grad school and then after that like life is great. Everyone's happy. You have the kids and the white picket fence. Like the past I was the poster child
Mark Stern: 02:34 not to mention that, like if there was like a, like a, a sign on the wall that said like, like be like this guy. Like that would be my picture. I was president of my high school, I was president, my college, same thing in Grad school. Um, I like excelled at every corporate job I did and I loved it and I loved the people I wanted to work with. Um, and then it was, what was it, 2012 I graduated, got my Mba at duke graduated. And where did I find myself?
Well, um, when I enrolled at Duke, it was kind of the wave that was right after the bubble burst in 2008. So scholarships weren't were spares. And I find myself like I've done everything right up to this point. Um, and in 2012 I graduated with $165,000 in debt and a contract with a consulting firm that, um, you know, it was basically a clique committed to that firm for at minimum two years.
Mark Stern: 03:25 Um, and the reality is like the corporate experience in the journey I've been on has been awesome. But the problem is, especially with my last line of employment, um, I had an incredible job in corporate consulting. Um, but uh, when you work for a big firm, they truly control and own everything you produce. So the idea of starting a business, the idea of, um, like even if you want it to speak at an event, you'd have to get approval if you want it to buy a stock. If you wanted to join a board of directors, everything was very much. Um, so they take care of you.
But like if you have this entrepreneurial itch, you can't scratch it because everything you produce. And on top of that, it was a road warrior lifestyle. So every Monday I was at the airport every single week living anywhere but home. So, you know, this idea of being an entrepreneur is something that I've been chasing for years, but I haven't been able to do it.
So I've been that fly on the wall, learning everything that I could for years. Going to every conference and knowing like this is like my, I don't know, it was like my medicine to take care of me. Like wanting to live this life. And then finally it was being able to shear and I said now or never, I've got to take the leap. So flash forward today took the leap officially in May
Mark Stern: 04:42 and you know, the first call to action that I did, it was the summit. So this has been, you know, there was a couple of different things. I tested it out along the way, but the summit is really the big first thing that I'm really putting out there.
Speaker 1: 04:55 No, I think it's interesting because I've talked to several people that there is absolutely nothing wrong with people who want to live the corporate life at all. And uh, and I feel like a lot of times us as entrepreneurs, especially the digital marketers we get on here and you know, crashed and everything like that, which you totally can.
And guys, there is nothing wrong with that. However, if you were looking for a different aspect or different ways that you are not putting all of your content, all your ideas, all your aspirations pretty much into a different company where your content is no longer yours, then this is, this is great.
You know, listen to listen to mark here because as, as we go through and chat, like I really hope that you stop and understand that the more that you try to push out your content and really get your voice out there, like you really can, um, but, but you have to do it in a way that, you know, your corporate job is okay with it and instead you could just become your own person. You know, you can become your own boss, you can become your own self, which is really big. And Mark just within the last couple months you, you decided to leave corporate. Isn't that right?
Speaker 2: 06:08 When you worked for, like I call it deep corporate, like a big consulting firm. I worked for the world's largest consulting firm, you know, I put my notice in January and it wasn't until May that I was finally able to leave. Um, so it was a bit of a process to even make the transition out. But everything you just said, Marie, I, I couldn't agree with more like nine to five to be honest. In the realm that I came with from nine to five is actually a pipe dream. Anyone that I knew in anyone in my network, no one worked. Nine to five, we worked 24 slash seven.
It would have been like a, like a, a, a gift to have a little bit more balanced. But the thing that you did say also was entrepreneurship is not. I think that a lot of people like build the image of entrepreneurship being like, like this utopia or this haven that you know is for everyone and the reality is there's nothing wrong with a corporate or nine to five.
Speaker 2: 06:58 It's just understanding like what if you're unhappy in your situation? Is it because you're unhappy with corporate or you're unhappy with who you're reporting to or what you're working on? Because there's a lot of stability and a lot of protection that when you jump into the game of entrepreneurship, it's like the wild, wild west.
You really have to learn and rewire your mind to be able to apply a brand new game. So that's just like one of those things that until I really immersed myself, I always saw the writing on the wall, but it's a completely different rewiring. It's not about like I have a corporate skillset that I'm really good at. I can just translate that to entrepreneurship.
No, you've got to learn the game of entrepreneurship and then apply your corporate skills or whatever skill set you have to that. So how do you get back to the basics of learning? Hopefully a new game?
Marie Larsen: 07:41 Absolutely. Because the nine to five, like I remember I left my part time job as, as a college kid and I was like okay, like I'm going to have absolutely no money like and I, and I quit my job and within the first two hours I was like, awesome, okay. It's Monday nights, I have two hours. Like what, what do I do? Like I'm just gonna like, you know. So I sat there and watched like a Netflix show or something and I was like, I don't know what to do with my time, like nine to five. Okay. How can I fill my time for from nine to five and then within one ideal later, you know, within that two hours I was hustling and grinding and it was no longer nine to five. It was like, and then to 2:00 AM, right, like every single day and it was no longer like that.
Marie Larsen: 08:31 And so I always laugh when people are like, where you're always working, you're always doing stuff. I'm like, yes, because I'm the one in charge of it, you know, like I have to not then, you know, I don't have someone back there to do it for me.
Now my team has built out a little bit more, which has been really helpful, but when I first started I was like, Holy Crud, this is all on me and I have no idea. I have no leads. I have no email list, I have nothing. What do I do? And I was freaking out about.
I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, but within a very short amount of time, that time filled up with a ton of content and stuff that I should be building out people that I should be reaching out to clients that I should be trying to attain my dream 100 list every. Everything just started pushing out like crazy and it was so hard. But now it's, um, it's, it's becoming, you know, more bearable now instead of, you know, from like 6:00 AM to 2:00 AM now it's like 6:00 AM to like 1230 or one, you know.
So it's nice like we even proved. Um, but anyway, enough of that I have, I really want to get into, um, your, your, uh, your summit and how to do that. What was the inspiration behind that?
Mark Stern: 09:45 I was going back and forth of like, where do you begin? And I tested a couple of different concepts, but for those of you who aren't familiar with the concept of a virtual summit, it's where you basically create a platform that's around the central theme and then you go out and solicit speakers to provide value on that thing.
Um, so imagine if you've ever been to a live conference, how would you take that live experience and make it virtual? The benefits of doing.
There's a lot of benefits of doing a virtual summit, um, but for me, like the, the key ones to call out, one, if you're really starting from ground zero and you're trying to build your name, it's a great way to get leads. So as you said, Marie, it's a great lead generation platform because essentially when you do it, your leads become the leads of all of your speakers as well.
Mark Stern: 10:28 So anyone that has converted, um, if you provide a high value, you can find yourself pretty quickly going from zero leads to tens of thousands of leads. Um, so that's one, two, m for relationship building. For me, that's probably one of the most important parts of this. I have gotten to know the speakers so much better as a result of this know to provide an opportunity to provide a platform for them and this is like one of those things like having a plot for Marie.
You have several platforms that, um, you're able to engage with people.
It's such a powerful thing. People love to be part of a platform because I'm, the way I always put it to them as my goal with hosting a summit for you as a speaker is I want to elevate you, so how do I take you and elevate you further and make you an authority figure in your space? So they love the platform. And then when you have like 25 to 30 speakers, their platform is just not their platform. In my platform, it's that times 25 to 30 because now you increase that reach really pretty drastic.
Marie Larsen: 11:23 You get to cross pollinate like crazy. This is exactly what I've been talking about, about repurposing your content. If you are looking to repurpose your content, oh my gosh, how much, how much content, how many hours have you produced with all these speakers? In this last little bit,
Mark Stern: 11:39 so I think you and I could probably go on for an entire day with all the things we can do with the content because when you're talking about this alone, like we could easily nerd out for hours and so I actually think I'm going to create a course on this just because there's like people will like your imagination is the only thing that's going to limit you with how you can repurpose content with things like this. Because when we talk about like not only have I interviewed 30 speakers, you have the video and Maria is like the queen of repurposing, so you are like golden when we're talking about repurposing content, but you have the live videos.
So some people it resonates with them to watch live videos. You didn't have the MP three recording. So some people it resonates to listen to it like, like a podcast. You can get it transcribed. All of the sudden when you get it transcribed, I'm now becomes an ebook. When you collect in stock, all the speakers here so you can easily create a book.
This is what 30 days did, so the 30 days some of the click funnels put together, they took everyone's interviews and created this 600 page book, this massive book as a result of that book.
Mark Stern: 12:39 Me Too. I can't wait to get that book, but then you can start taking it a step further. One of the things I did was, um, I made all the speakers into animations and um, I'm going to turn all their interviews into infographics. So now it's just visualizing the data and that's going to become another product as well. I can take in creating action plans and fill in the gaps to make it super actionable for my listeners. And then on top of that I can document the entire strategy of a virtual summit and how every purpose content and how I put it together.
And that becomes another offering as well. So like the possibilities are truly endless, you know, when, when it comes to. So if you're someone who was like, I've never really put myself out there, um, I'm stressed out by like the amount of content that I feel like I need to produce. Like instantly as a result of this summit, I easily have enough content, if not for the next six months for quite some time.
Marie Larsen: 13:31 That's amazing. You know, there have been times or it has stressed me out like crazy with the amount of content that I have to produce. I have hours and hours of interviews of people that you know forever and then my own and it's just like so much content that I'm getting on instagram and it's like, Yo, what's up guys? And then I'm like getting on facebook and it's like, Yo, what's up guys on facebook live?
And then a lot of cats and it's, it's everywhere and it's so much. And so, um, this is such a great way that now, I mean mark has ammo. He has enough ammo to really build out an army. He had so much content information to be able to build out an army that not only is with some of the, I don't want to like include myself in it, but like some of the top entrepreneurs right now that are, that are trying to, you know, that are crushing it in their industries and he has them as friends now. Right?
Like that's genius because it's so smart to be able to go through and have not only your, your, your army of content be awesome and like so value packed, but you also have an entire group of people that are crushing it in their industries and would do anything and stick their neck out for you just because you did the summit. Right? Guys, that's so smart and you should totally do this, but make sure that you go and really figure out who you're going to interview or whatnot within, you know, within
Mark Stern: 14:52 your summit, because everyone will just say, oh, I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it. So how did you go through and figure out who you wanted to interview and, and the people that you wanted to involve in this. So this is, I actually think is one of the most important elements of it, that there's a lot of people who go after influencers with the largest list and that's, that's what they do is they have their, like, I'm creating this platform, I'm just going after influencers with the largest list.
And the only thing, the reason I struggle with that just a little bit is sometimes the people with the largest lists are not necessarily the people who are going to really push it out there because they're very protective of their time and they're very protective of the content that they put out there.
Mark Stern: 15:32 Um, and so, and, and if you do that, there's a relationship element that you may be sacrificing because you're getting people who have very limited time and you were like literally just interviewing them and they're just kinda going through your system. So for me, relationship was so critical in the way that I started out.
The summit was reaching out to people who I knew were on the journey of where I was a little ahead of me all the way up to really killing it right now in the marketplace and it was people that I had relationships with or people that I started to build relationships with. So for me that was pretty like, especially after our security, the first, let's just say 10 to 15 speakers.
I knew them all personally. I could call them friends. I knew what they represented. I knew that they had a lot of. I think everyone has a lot of value to add. It's just about honing in on your message.
So having this group of people that believed in my vision for the summit and I knew that could provide a lot of value on my topic. That was critical, but once that started happening, what you're going to see, what happens, and this is what I. I've seen like Dax and I were just talking and talking about this and I know taxi was, I'm on your show not too long ago.
Marie Larsen: 16:35 I love that. Daxy is awesome.
Mark Stern: 16:37 It's this idea that as you start to build your foundation, thinking about sacking Lego blocks, like as you get to a certain level of influencer and you have this platform, then when you go to the next level up, like it quickly builds. So did I go after the biggest name right away?
No, I wanted to start to build that foundation and build that platform and I'm telling you, especially when the website started to go live and we started to get big name sponsors to be a part of this event. Um, which is a whole nother strategy in itself. It became so much easier for me to then retail to people that had those larger list and get them excited in them. Seeing the energy and the momentum that was being built by having speakers that I knew could provide value and that I had relationships with.
And when I'm saying relationships, it doesn't have to be the person that's like your best friend that you hang out with every week. It's people that you've actively followed. You've commented on their stuff. You're, you're in tune to who they are. You may drop them a ping every now and then, but it's like, like even through this process, people who I've never met, I become close with just because they sold them a minimum of what I was building and they wanted to be a part of it.
Marie Larsen: 17:38 I love it. It's so good. And I think it's important that you said that you had to establish a foundation before you reached out to some of the bigger names. And uh, and, and I think that's really crucial. Guys. I'm, I'm done kind of the same with my podcast. You guys will totally see that as you go through and I've seen some of the other people, not that they're not big names, but you'll, you'll see that they, these are, these are, you know, always building my foundation, you know, um, I just recreated a new podcast I'm like two months ago, um, and that's what this one is on and it's super awesome and I love it.
And because of the foundation that I've been able to establish, then I can reach out to those bigger names and say, hey Yo, you human, you know, and all your falling want to come be on my podcast.
Marie Larsen: 18:27 And they're like, yeah. And then a lot of times they'll say, do you want to come be on my stuff too? Right? And because of it, it builds this relationship, this friendship that you can really grow and nurture to be something way more than just like, hey, be on my podcast. No, okay, it will be on yours. And like back and forth, back and forth in, instead, you can have a ton of interaction with bigger named people guys. People love a toot their own horn, right? Like they love it. It's like it's just human nature. It's how it is. And so being able to bring people onto your stuff is flattering. It's so flattering and it's like, Oh man, this person thinks I'm cool.
Well then I think they're cool. You know, like it totally works. It totally is. Um, and so I've been on so many podcasts so I've been on so many things, but I know that those people that I've interviewed me, if they had called me up at any time instead, henry what's up, I just have this course and I was wondering if I could just, you know, like share it to your audience or anything like that.
Marie Larsen: 19:25 But yeah, are you kidding me? Totally. And it's all because like we've done each other these solids, right. And uh, the summit is totally the same thing. He's built out an army at this point of people who are crushing it in their industry, would seek out their neck for mark at anytime. That's awesome. Awesome.
Mark Stern: 19:40 The best part, tune into the summit. You're going to see me taking notes during some of the interviews because like this is a huge benefit. If there's things you want to learn more about the interview people who are experts in it.
So talking with Marie about podcasting and building the foundation, like you're going to watch me take notes because it's an able content for me. I like to joke and say, I don't know if anyone ever watched a TV show heroes, but like the villain and heroes was called the, the watchmaker because what he would do is like really absorbed the other superheroes, um, uh, their superpowers.
So for me, there's an element of like just being able to absorb all this information and learn their craft and their expertise and then it also becomes a thing like, because it's not about creating a product to compete with you, it's about creating elements and ways to elevate you as a speaker. And for me, I just love to be in that state of learning. So the content is so powerful that I want to master it to just so I understand how to do it. And then I'm going to hire you to help accelerate that journey.
Mark Stern: 20:39 The other thing I was gonna mention to you though is, and this is just like a court, like you've got to do this with the speakers and this is just critical for anyone. It's the most important things for me is the relationship aspect of um, you know, bringing on speakers. Because this is not about just the summit and so that's why like if you do this and put this into play, you want to take care of your speakers like they are your greatest assets.
They're the ones who you want to get excited and get loud. So that's why like I created a facebook group to cultivate the speakers, to bring them together. It's constantly looking for ways to make things easier for them and get them excited. So even the simple thing of like, one of the things I'm doing with all the speakers is I'm turning them all into cartoons and the images look incredible. The artist is doing this and then ultimately I'm going to be turning them into trading cards. So think of collectible trading cards just to have a cool little fun asset to like have your own, whether it's a baseball card or a ...
What does that pokemon cards or trading card. It's like, it's a fun little thing that just gets people excited that in this day and age is, is anyone can do it. You know? It's just about having an idea and putting it out there.
Marie Larsen: 21:47 That's so good and, and I will tell you as a speaker, I have felt cared for throughout the entire process. Now that is something that I feel like and the previous song that I did with a different company, that's something that we didn't do as much. And so guys having a facebook group really nurturing.
I mean he's written out email sequences for as he's written, like there are so many, there's copy, there's all, there's graphics, there's all these things and constant live videos so that we can be updated as far as what's going on. That was so crucial.
Now to pull it back, I have to ask, when you decided to create a summit, what was the very first step that you took?
Like what were the first couple of steps that you took in order to get this ball rolling?
Mark Stern: 22:29 I can walk, we can walk through the whole process if you like. So first step is you really need to know your message. So it starts with like what is the message that you want to get out there? Um, so it's really understanding your why of like what message you want to get out in the marketplace. If you were to start a business around a centralized topic, you want to know where you want to take your audience.
So for me, like the core message that I really wanted to get out there coming from corporate especially was um, this idea that, um, it was, it was an eyeopener for me to realize that when I left corporate and came into entrepreneurship, how different the realms where like it literally was like starting from scratch to a degree because I'm influencer is, it's not about like having a corporate or hr or some processes in place that if something didn't go right, you can just escalate it to a manager.
Mark Stern: 23:17 No influencers who have audiences of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, they can however they like. So if they wanted to do things that I would look and say, you can't do that to your customer where they can do it because it's their ship so they can operate however they want to. So that was like a core message knowing me and knowing people like me who were in my situation, how do I make that transition easier for them?
So the core message for me is corporate versus entrepreneurship is like checkers versus chess. The gameboard may look the same. The rules of the Games are completely different. So if you're going to become an entrepreneurship, let me teach you the game of entrepreneurship and let's get back to the basics. So that's how I'm going to escalate to you and protect you in a way. So that's the message I went to get out there.
Marie Larsen: 24:07 That was awesome. I'm going to quote you on that. I'm going to use that. Go for it. Go ahead, sorry.
Mark Stern: 24:14 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's part one is just know your message because then everything else gets so much easier when you're communicating in. And part of that is also knowing your audience. So my core is going after someone in corporate who's looking to make the change into entrepreneurship, but the lesson really is applicable to anyone who may or may not be corporate if they want to become an entrepreneur.
Marie Larsen: 24:37 Absolutely. Figure out your message and I tell that within my audience lot too, as far as guys go ahead and make sure, and this is actually part of the weekly challenge that I have going on in my facebook group, um, is that you go and figure out what your messaging is, your brand messaging, who you are, what you're doing, and uh, why, why do you want a podcast, what message you want to try and share with people?
And so as going about and doing that, it's going to be so important for you to figure out, you know, what you're doing. We want to help, why you want to do it and how you're going to go about doing that. Because those are the four topics that I talked about in this, uh, this last week for this, a weekly challenge that we were working on.
Marie Larsen: 25:19 And a bunch of you, you know, have said, oh, that's really nice and everything. But like guys don't move on past that. Like that was the very first thing that marked it. He sat down and figured out his message. And if you don't do the same thing, you're going to have a purposeless, you know, you know, people, people will think you're cool for a little bit, but they'll lose interest, you know?
And so having a message that really resonates with an audience, I'm doing that customer research, figuring out what people are looking for, it's really important. So it makes sure that you're doing that. Anyway. Sorry to cut you off.
Mark Stern: 25:50 That was great. I think that was awesome. I mean this is like what memory is preaching right now is like, if you don't have a foundation than anything else that you do is just pumping money into a system. You're wasting time and you're wasting money because you're kind of just like walking blindfolded. You don't know where you're going. You're hoping something sticks and it's just like, this is where like when people start like throwing, this is the new platform that everyone needs to be on. It costs 10 bucks a month and it's a recurring revenue.
I've seen so many people start with like buying tools and then forcing their business into it rather than getting clear on their message. Getting clear on what they want to deliver and then selecting the tools that would help accelerate their goals.
Marie Larsen: 26:27 Exactly. I've been guilty of that for sure. And just don't do what I did to get started. Like, seriously, I went through and was like, okay, well I need this and I need this and so and so said I need this and I need to read these books. And yes, that's great. And yes, you totally need to do your research. You need to study it out. However, if you go through it and you pump, I have, I have so many things that I still have, you know, monthly subscriptions to the.
I swear I've never used that software before or you know, I have so many books that are seriously sitting on my, on my desk collecting dust and I've never read them, you know, but I mean there are others that yes, have changed my world and others where I'm like, so and so said I needed this book, I bought this book.
Marie Larsen: 27:08 It's sitting here, you know, um, so don't, don't waste all of the amount of time and money that I did. Um, and I'm sure mark has experienced, really figure out what, who your mentor is, listened to them and figure out what you're going to do along the way. Coaches, math coaches are so important.
And I, and I had to learn that lesson at funnel hacking live, how important a mentor was having coaches were. And without that, like I know I would not be on the route that I am if I did not have someone say you need to do this, execute, you need to do this, execute. And so I'm so grateful for that because it completely changed my world. And so anyway, uh, your next step, I'm sorry, I keep cutting you.
Mark Stern: 27:56 I could not agree more with what you just said. And, and just to say to everyone listening, I'm a don't do what I did which was buying online courses and trainings is like a form of medicine, like wanting it. So I would just buy another course.
Like you probably know enough already, take action, like stop buying courses unless, unless it is critical to what you're trying to achieve, you should know your objectives of what you want to do. And then like, you absolutely want the mentors, you want the right leaders, um, but just don't keep buying every course that comes your way. I was guilty of that at one point.
Marie Larsen: 28:29 Absolutely. I can't tell you how many courses I bought and have never used, so totally guilty of that as well. Make sure that you guys are dedicating your time and your scheduling out when you're actually going to use it. If you buy it, you know, and really find the value in it and not just buy it, just buy it.
Mark Stern: 28:47 Ready, ready? So this is where I'd say like, once you have like a clear message, um, the next thing I kinda like to do is to name your summit because it's like naming your baby, it becomes real. So, so when you start to name the summit, naming the summit, it's actually pretty critical as well because you want to keep it really simple so people get what the summit is right away.
Now I named my summit the Click prenuer summit.
That may be a little bit more of a stretch than probably what I should've done, but I actually really just loved the word click preneur. And really if you break it down, click this. Just saying that like I'm teaching you how to transition out of corporate to become entrepreneurs. And really this is about the, the digital age. So it's about building your digital presence, the age of the infant foreigners.
Mark Stern: 29:30 So that's where it came from. Pioneer just means basically that, you know, to start and set up and operate a business, it comes in as a, as a suffix. So bringing those two together, I think people get the gist of it when they hear the word click for Noor. I think that people are very familiar with other uses of whether it's click funnels or other uses of prenuer like infopreneur Solo, preneur, wantrepreneur.
So, so I think it's, it's, you want to name it, like if you want to bring together, um, uh, a list of women's weight loss experts than naming your summit. The women's weight loss summit is like crystal clear what you're trying to represent. So you don't want to overcomplicate it with the summit name, um, but to me, naming the baby starts to make it real. So that's what I would say as a part two, part three.
Mark Stern: 30:20 This is where you start to really craft out your delivery plan. So this is where you break down the strategy of what you want to do. This is the making it real.
What are the dates that you want to trend towards a executing the summit?
How many speakers do you want to target?
What is the overarching story you're trying to tell across the course of your summit? So to make that piece of real, for me, the overarching story I have is based off of another product that I created, a called entrepreneurial elements, um, which was I created this periodic table of elements that every entrepreneur should know.
So this is about getting back to the basics. It's still fits the theme of the summit. And this publication I put together is broken down into four parts, build Your Business Foundation, then your strategy, then select the tactics, and now implement.
Mark Stern: 31:07 So the story arc of the click printer where summit is those four phases and as you transitioned throughout the week, like you'll see there's a clear story arc about I'm taking people through it.
The reason this story is important and putting people on a journey is it also helps you structure the type of speakers that you're going to get because you want to have a nice balance of speakers and if you have a theme or a framework for how you're spending the five days or however many days you're selecting for your summit and it just becomes a clean path to make sure that everyone's talking about like not everyone's talking about launching an agency that everyone's talking about social media.
Like people are talking about a wide range of topics and that just helps you and it helps the listener to to get value from what you're doing. So you want to lay out that strategy. You want to really plot out that timeline. So here's the thing, when you have a date that you want to hit, bye bye. That's what this is, just making it more real. It's coming to life. You have a deadline, you need to take action and put yourself out there
Marie Larsen: 32:03 a plan to do in order to attain that plan those goals.
Mark Stern: 32:09 Absolutely. Absolutely. And it's probably the part that people don't enjoy, but it's like the most critical thing because then this is again, making it real. Um, so yeah, so I would, I would say that's part three. Part four really can gets into, I'm starting the outreach of speakers and really the strategy you want to do with the speakers as you really want to make sure that the value prop to the speakers is clear. So if you're just starting out, there's a lot for the speakers.
The core message that I was putting out there to speakers I reached out to them is, um, this is a platform that I'm building. We're going to have about 25 to 30 speakers on it. Here's the core message, here's the core target audience, here's why I think you're a good fit for this. Um, but really to me it's about how do I elevate you as a speaker?
Mark Stern: 32:54 How do I bring your message to the next level? Because that was what was most important to me, um, I didn't want to give, I wanted to give the speakers and enough to understand the story arc of my summit, but I didn't want to force what topic they were speaking on because the topic that they're going to provide the most value on is the topic of like what they're working on and what they care about right now.
Um, so, uh, really that whole transition was about here's the benefit to you, here's a platform for you. Um, I also offered all speakers.
You set them up as an affiliate. So the more you get into the entrepreneurial space, you'll really realize the importance of affiliate marketer. And really every entrepreneur should be an affiliate in some way, shape or form. So they can get financial benefit that if this is something of value to them, um, they could also make money off of it.
Mark Stern: 33:42 On top of it. They have a free ticket that they can offer their audience. So now they have something that if the message would resonate with their audience and they're a speaker, they can get back to their audience and show like I've elevated them as a speaker of this summit and as a speaker, they've gotten them their audience, a free ticket to the event that just adds value to them. So the audience is pretty happy about this as well.
Then there's two other things that, this is where you start to really make it clear that if there's a clear benefit to the speakers, oftentimes they'll jump right onboard.
And I'll tell you, I think with this summit, um, I think I had one no from a speaker early on, but because I think my messaging was really on point, almost every like a good 90 to 95 percent of the people I engage with. Hudson. Yes I can't. And that's just about like really making clear the value prop and the benefits to them.
Marie Larsen: 34:39 Uh, you guys have totally seen my posts on about the summit. You've seen all the stuff that I've done for it. You see that on my instagram right now. Um, as like the website for you guys to check out guys, make sure that you go through and you check all those things out because in all honesty, as these are people, these are entrepreneurs who have made thousands and thousands of dollars on online, right by sitting behind their computer and doing that.
And so it's really important that you go through, if you, if this is something that you want to do, the options there, like you could do it, there are so many people have done it before and want to guide you through that process and they're going to do it for you for free. Right?
And that is so cool. You know, like there's so many people as my coachings and stuff like that are thousands of dollars, you know, and so to be able to go through and say, Hey, I'm going to put so much on the line right here and provide as much value as I can because I know that this will benefit people and then there's 30 other speakers that are doing it.
Marie Larsen: 35:36 That's huge. Such a big deal. Um, and, and so I'm so grateful for that. Well, we'll probably wrap up here in just a second mark. I am so grateful that you jumped on and that you're able to show a little bit of this process and I'm excited. We'll probably do some facebook lives. Guys, make sure you check those out. They're going to be so good. But what is the best way for people to get out? They have questions or concerns, um, I guess on how to how to start a whole summit.
Mark Stern: 36:06 So first and foremost, my apologies. I have a puppy dog that I just got these last couple months, so my apologies for the barking in the background. Um, yeah, the, the best way. There's a couple ways you can follow up with. I love connecting with people and meeting New People.
Um, so you can look me up on facebook. This mark stern go. It's pretty easy to find me right away. Um, I invite everyone to get involved with our click for newer summit community.
So there was an official click preneur facebook group. Um, and uh, aside from that, yeah, this was probably the best avenues to learn more about me. That's probably where I'm most active. Um, but yeah, flew, please reach out.
Marie Larsen: 36:42 Hey, thank you so much for the value that we provided. I really appreciate it and we'll have you facebook lives and stuff like that. Again, and guys, if you found value in this, make sure that you rate and subscribe below and this is so important at the end. If you have any questions or concerns, make sure that you, that you go through and you leave a comment or something and we can go through and make sure to really help you understand the process that you should be going through your online journey.
So anyway, thank you so much, mark. I really read it.
Mark Stern: 37:11 Yeah, yeah. No, I love. I love what you're doing, marine. So very grateful to be a part of this podcast.
Guys go check out the: CLICK-Preneur Summit
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By Marie Larsen
With Poster Child Gone Rogue, Mark Stern...
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Marie Larsen: 00:00 Yo, what's up everyone? This is Mary Larson, so excited because today I have a friend of mine on here who came to me a couple months ago out of boise event and said to me, Hey Marie, I'm doing a summit and I would like it if you will be a speaker at it. Now guys, I've done a summit once before and it completely went plop, right?
Like it was, it was, so, it was so bad. I really didn't do a good job at it and it was really, it was kind of embarrassing for me in all honesty. Um, I was really starting to figure out what my voice was and everything like that. Um, but I got really excited for this because he started to sit down and said, you know, all these different types of people are going to be in the summer.
And I was like, Whoa, like I get to be part of this, this is so cool. And I got super excited about it. So yeah, I have to introduce mark because I, I feel like as a, there are a lot of people who don't understand the value of a telesummit or summit in general if it's done properly and correctly. If you do it right, it can generate so much revenue, generate so much, so many leads and really boost out your audience like crazy and you cross pollinate like crazy.
So I have to introduce mark just a little bit and say, well first off, mark, thanks so much for being on here.
Marie Larsen: 01:09 I'm so pumped for this and I'm so excited to hear all the cool stuff that you're going to share with us as far as like how you decided to do this because these are daunting tasks. I've done it and you've done it in such a manner. If I'd only learned from what you had done a I, I seriously feel like I would have done things so much differently and I wouldn't have gotten my, you know, easily. Like I think I got like 400 leads off of it or something like that. Like I was.
Anyway. I'm so excited. So we introduce yourself a little bit to us who you are and kind of your journey and then we'll hop into how you got into the whole summit world.
Mark Stern: 01:50 That was an amazing introduction. I appreciate that so much. I am Mark Stern. I'm the host of the click partner summit, which is crazy to be able to say that now has literally three months ago I was still in like fully immersed in the corporate realm. So my back story just real briefly is um, if there was a poster child for someone who followed the path and we're always like born and raised with this idea of there's this path that you follow.
You Graduate High School, go to college, you graduate college, then you get the dream job, then you go to Grad school and then after that like life is great. Everyone's happy. You have the kids and the white picket fence. Like the past I was the poster child
Mark Stern: 02:34 not to mention that, like if there was like a, like a, a sign on the wall that said like, like be like this guy. Like that would be my picture. I was president of my high school, I was president, my college, same thing in Grad school. Um, I like excelled at every corporate job I did and I loved it and I loved the people I wanted to work with. Um, and then it was, what was it, 2012 I graduated, got my Mba at duke graduated. And where did I find myself?
Well, um, when I enrolled at Duke, it was kind of the wave that was right after the bubble burst in 2008. So scholarships weren't were spares. And I find myself like I've done everything right up to this point. Um, and in 2012 I graduated with $165,000 in debt and a contract with a consulting firm that, um, you know, it was basically a clique committed to that firm for at minimum two years.
Mark Stern: 03:25 Um, and the reality is like the corporate experience in the journey I've been on has been awesome. But the problem is, especially with my last line of employment, um, I had an incredible job in corporate consulting. Um, but uh, when you work for a big firm, they truly control and own everything you produce. So the idea of starting a business, the idea of, um, like even if you want it to speak at an event, you'd have to get approval if you want it to buy a stock. If you wanted to join a board of directors, everything was very much. Um, so they take care of you.
But like if you have this entrepreneurial itch, you can't scratch it because everything you produce. And on top of that, it was a road warrior lifestyle. So every Monday I was at the airport every single week living anywhere but home. So, you know, this idea of being an entrepreneur is something that I've been chasing for years, but I haven't been able to do it.
So I've been that fly on the wall, learning everything that I could for years. Going to every conference and knowing like this is like my, I don't know, it was like my medicine to take care of me. Like wanting to live this life. And then finally it was being able to shear and I said now or never, I've got to take the leap. So flash forward today took the leap officially in May
Mark Stern: 04:42 and you know, the first call to action that I did, it was the summit. So this has been, you know, there was a couple of different things. I tested it out along the way, but the summit is really the big first thing that I'm really putting out there.
Speaker 1: 04:55 No, I think it's interesting because I've talked to several people that there is absolutely nothing wrong with people who want to live the corporate life at all. And uh, and I feel like a lot of times us as entrepreneurs, especially the digital marketers we get on here and you know, crashed and everything like that, which you totally can.
And guys, there is nothing wrong with that. However, if you were looking for a different aspect or different ways that you are not putting all of your content, all your ideas, all your aspirations pretty much into a different company where your content is no longer yours, then this is, this is great.
You know, listen to listen to mark here because as, as we go through and chat, like I really hope that you stop and understand that the more that you try to push out your content and really get your voice out there, like you really can, um, but, but you have to do it in a way that, you know, your corporate job is okay with it and instead you could just become your own person. You know, you can become your own boss, you can become your own self, which is really big. And Mark just within the last couple months you, you decided to leave corporate. Isn't that right?
Speaker 2: 06:08 When you worked for, like I call it deep corporate, like a big consulting firm. I worked for the world's largest consulting firm, you know, I put my notice in January and it wasn't until May that I was finally able to leave. Um, so it was a bit of a process to even make the transition out. But everything you just said, Marie, I, I couldn't agree with more like nine to five to be honest. In the realm that I came with from nine to five is actually a pipe dream. Anyone that I knew in anyone in my network, no one worked. Nine to five, we worked 24 slash seven.
It would have been like a, like a, a, a gift to have a little bit more balanced. But the thing that you did say also was entrepreneurship is not. I think that a lot of people like build the image of entrepreneurship being like, like this utopia or this haven that you know is for everyone and the reality is there's nothing wrong with a corporate or nine to five.
Speaker 2: 06:58 It's just understanding like what if you're unhappy in your situation? Is it because you're unhappy with corporate or you're unhappy with who you're reporting to or what you're working on? Because there's a lot of stability and a lot of protection that when you jump into the game of entrepreneurship, it's like the wild, wild west.
You really have to learn and rewire your mind to be able to apply a brand new game. So that's just like one of those things that until I really immersed myself, I always saw the writing on the wall, but it's a completely different rewiring. It's not about like I have a corporate skillset that I'm really good at. I can just translate that to entrepreneurship.
No, you've got to learn the game of entrepreneurship and then apply your corporate skills or whatever skill set you have to that. So how do you get back to the basics of learning? Hopefully a new game?
Marie Larsen: 07:41 Absolutely. Because the nine to five, like I remember I left my part time job as, as a college kid and I was like okay, like I'm going to have absolutely no money like and I, and I quit my job and within the first two hours I was like, awesome, okay. It's Monday nights, I have two hours. Like what, what do I do? Like I'm just gonna like, you know. So I sat there and watched like a Netflix show or something and I was like, I don't know what to do with my time, like nine to five. Okay. How can I fill my time for from nine to five and then within one ideal later, you know, within that two hours I was hustling and grinding and it was no longer nine to five. It was like, and then to 2:00 AM, right, like every single day and it was no longer like that.
Marie Larsen: 08:31 And so I always laugh when people are like, where you're always working, you're always doing stuff. I'm like, yes, because I'm the one in charge of it, you know, like I have to not then, you know, I don't have someone back there to do it for me.
Now my team has built out a little bit more, which has been really helpful, but when I first started I was like, Holy Crud, this is all on me and I have no idea. I have no leads. I have no email list, I have nothing. What do I do? And I was freaking out about.
I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, but within a very short amount of time, that time filled up with a ton of content and stuff that I should be building out people that I should be reaching out to clients that I should be trying to attain my dream 100 list every. Everything just started pushing out like crazy and it was so hard. But now it's, um, it's, it's becoming, you know, more bearable now instead of, you know, from like 6:00 AM to 2:00 AM now it's like 6:00 AM to like 1230 or one, you know.
So it's nice like we even proved. Um, but anyway, enough of that I have, I really want to get into, um, your, your, uh, your summit and how to do that. What was the inspiration behind that?
Mark Stern: 09:45 I was going back and forth of like, where do you begin? And I tested a couple of different concepts, but for those of you who aren't familiar with the concept of a virtual summit, it's where you basically create a platform that's around the central theme and then you go out and solicit speakers to provide value on that thing.
Um, so imagine if you've ever been to a live conference, how would you take that live experience and make it virtual? The benefits of doing.
There's a lot of benefits of doing a virtual summit, um, but for me, like the, the key ones to call out, one, if you're really starting from ground zero and you're trying to build your name, it's a great way to get leads. So as you said, Marie, it's a great lead generation platform because essentially when you do it, your leads become the leads of all of your speakers as well.
Mark Stern: 10:28 So anyone that has converted, um, if you provide a high value, you can find yourself pretty quickly going from zero leads to tens of thousands of leads. Um, so that's one, two, m for relationship building. For me, that's probably one of the most important parts of this. I have gotten to know the speakers so much better as a result of this know to provide an opportunity to provide a platform for them and this is like one of those things like having a plot for Marie.
You have several platforms that, um, you're able to engage with people.
It's such a powerful thing. People love to be part of a platform because I'm, the way I always put it to them as my goal with hosting a summit for you as a speaker is I want to elevate you, so how do I take you and elevate you further and make you an authority figure in your space? So they love the platform. And then when you have like 25 to 30 speakers, their platform is just not their platform. In my platform, it's that times 25 to 30 because now you increase that reach really pretty drastic.
Marie Larsen: 11:23 You get to cross pollinate like crazy. This is exactly what I've been talking about, about repurposing your content. If you are looking to repurpose your content, oh my gosh, how much, how much content, how many hours have you produced with all these speakers? In this last little bit,
Mark Stern: 11:39 so I think you and I could probably go on for an entire day with all the things we can do with the content because when you're talking about this alone, like we could easily nerd out for hours and so I actually think I'm going to create a course on this just because there's like people will like your imagination is the only thing that's going to limit you with how you can repurpose content with things like this. Because when we talk about like not only have I interviewed 30 speakers, you have the video and Maria is like the queen of repurposing, so you are like golden when we're talking about repurposing content, but you have the live videos.
So some people it resonates with them to watch live videos. You didn't have the MP three recording. So some people it resonates to listen to it like, like a podcast. You can get it transcribed. All of the sudden when you get it transcribed, I'm now becomes an ebook. When you collect in stock, all the speakers here so you can easily create a book.
This is what 30 days did, so the 30 days some of the click funnels put together, they took everyone's interviews and created this 600 page book, this massive book as a result of that book.
Mark Stern: 12:39 Me Too. I can't wait to get that book, but then you can start taking it a step further. One of the things I did was, um, I made all the speakers into animations and um, I'm going to turn all their interviews into infographics. So now it's just visualizing the data and that's going to become another product as well. I can take in creating action plans and fill in the gaps to make it super actionable for my listeners. And then on top of that I can document the entire strategy of a virtual summit and how every purpose content and how I put it together.
And that becomes another offering as well. So like the possibilities are truly endless, you know, when, when it comes to. So if you're someone who was like, I've never really put myself out there, um, I'm stressed out by like the amount of content that I feel like I need to produce. Like instantly as a result of this summit, I easily have enough content, if not for the next six months for quite some time.
Marie Larsen: 13:31 That's amazing. You know, there have been times or it has stressed me out like crazy with the amount of content that I have to produce. I have hours and hours of interviews of people that you know forever and then my own and it's just like so much content that I'm getting on instagram and it's like, Yo, what's up guys? And then I'm like getting on facebook and it's like, Yo, what's up guys on facebook live?
And then a lot of cats and it's, it's everywhere and it's so much. And so, um, this is such a great way that now, I mean mark has ammo. He has enough ammo to really build out an army. He had so much content information to be able to build out an army that not only is with some of the, I don't want to like include myself in it, but like some of the top entrepreneurs right now that are, that are trying to, you know, that are crushing it in their industries and he has them as friends now. Right?
Like that's genius because it's so smart to be able to go through and have not only your, your, your army of content be awesome and like so value packed, but you also have an entire group of people that are crushing it in their industries and would do anything and stick their neck out for you just because you did the summit. Right? Guys, that's so smart and you should totally do this, but make sure that you go and really figure out who you're going to interview or whatnot within, you know, within
Mark Stern: 14:52 your summit, because everyone will just say, oh, I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it. So how did you go through and figure out who you wanted to interview and, and the people that you wanted to involve in this. So this is, I actually think is one of the most important elements of it, that there's a lot of people who go after influencers with the largest list and that's, that's what they do is they have their, like, I'm creating this platform, I'm just going after influencers with the largest list.
And the only thing, the reason I struggle with that just a little bit is sometimes the people with the largest lists are not necessarily the people who are going to really push it out there because they're very protective of their time and they're very protective of the content that they put out there.
Mark Stern: 15:32 Um, and so, and, and if you do that, there's a relationship element that you may be sacrificing because you're getting people who have very limited time and you were like literally just interviewing them and they're just kinda going through your system. So for me, relationship was so critical in the way that I started out.
The summit was reaching out to people who I knew were on the journey of where I was a little ahead of me all the way up to really killing it right now in the marketplace and it was people that I had relationships with or people that I started to build relationships with. So for me that was pretty like, especially after our security, the first, let's just say 10 to 15 speakers.
I knew them all personally. I could call them friends. I knew what they represented. I knew that they had a lot of. I think everyone has a lot of value to add. It's just about honing in on your message.
So having this group of people that believed in my vision for the summit and I knew that could provide a lot of value on my topic. That was critical, but once that started happening, what you're going to see, what happens, and this is what I. I've seen like Dax and I were just talking and talking about this and I know taxi was, I'm on your show not too long ago.
Marie Larsen: 16:35 I love that. Daxy is awesome.
Mark Stern: 16:37 It's this idea that as you start to build your foundation, thinking about sacking Lego blocks, like as you get to a certain level of influencer and you have this platform, then when you go to the next level up, like it quickly builds. So did I go after the biggest name right away?
No, I wanted to start to build that foundation and build that platform and I'm telling you, especially when the website started to go live and we started to get big name sponsors to be a part of this event. Um, which is a whole nother strategy in itself. It became so much easier for me to then retail to people that had those larger list and get them excited in them. Seeing the energy and the momentum that was being built by having speakers that I knew could provide value and that I had relationships with.
And when I'm saying relationships, it doesn't have to be the person that's like your best friend that you hang out with every week. It's people that you've actively followed. You've commented on their stuff. You're, you're in tune to who they are. You may drop them a ping every now and then, but it's like, like even through this process, people who I've never met, I become close with just because they sold them a minimum of what I was building and they wanted to be a part of it.
Marie Larsen: 17:38 I love it. It's so good. And I think it's important that you said that you had to establish a foundation before you reached out to some of the bigger names. And uh, and, and I think that's really crucial. Guys. I'm, I'm done kind of the same with my podcast. You guys will totally see that as you go through and I've seen some of the other people, not that they're not big names, but you'll, you'll see that they, these are, these are, you know, always building my foundation, you know, um, I just recreated a new podcast I'm like two months ago, um, and that's what this one is on and it's super awesome and I love it.
And because of the foundation that I've been able to establish, then I can reach out to those bigger names and say, hey Yo, you human, you know, and all your falling want to come be on my podcast.
Marie Larsen: 18:27 And they're like, yeah. And then a lot of times they'll say, do you want to come be on my stuff too? Right? And because of it, it builds this relationship, this friendship that you can really grow and nurture to be something way more than just like, hey, be on my podcast. No, okay, it will be on yours. And like back and forth, back and forth in, instead, you can have a ton of interaction with bigger named people guys. People love a toot their own horn, right? Like they love it. It's like it's just human nature. It's how it is. And so being able to bring people onto your stuff is flattering. It's so flattering and it's like, Oh man, this person thinks I'm cool.
Well then I think they're cool. You know, like it totally works. It totally is. Um, and so I've been on so many podcasts so I've been on so many things, but I know that those people that I've interviewed me, if they had called me up at any time instead, henry what's up, I just have this course and I was wondering if I could just, you know, like share it to your audience or anything like that.
Marie Larsen: 19:25 But yeah, are you kidding me? Totally. And it's all because like we've done each other these solids, right. And uh, the summit is totally the same thing. He's built out an army at this point of people who are crushing it in their industry, would seek out their neck for mark at anytime. That's awesome. Awesome.
Mark Stern: 19:40 The best part, tune into the summit. You're going to see me taking notes during some of the interviews because like this is a huge benefit. If there's things you want to learn more about the interview people who are experts in it.
So talking with Marie about podcasting and building the foundation, like you're going to watch me take notes because it's an able content for me. I like to joke and say, I don't know if anyone ever watched a TV show heroes, but like the villain and heroes was called the, the watchmaker because what he would do is like really absorbed the other superheroes, um, uh, their superpowers.
So for me, there's an element of like just being able to absorb all this information and learn their craft and their expertise and then it also becomes a thing like, because it's not about creating a product to compete with you, it's about creating elements and ways to elevate you as a speaker. And for me, I just love to be in that state of learning. So the content is so powerful that I want to master it to just so I understand how to do it. And then I'm going to hire you to help accelerate that journey.
Mark Stern: 20:39 The other thing I was gonna mention to you though is, and this is just like a court, like you've got to do this with the speakers and this is just critical for anyone. It's the most important things for me is the relationship aspect of um, you know, bringing on speakers. Because this is not about just the summit and so that's why like if you do this and put this into play, you want to take care of your speakers like they are your greatest assets.
They're the ones who you want to get excited and get loud. So that's why like I created a facebook group to cultivate the speakers, to bring them together. It's constantly looking for ways to make things easier for them and get them excited. So even the simple thing of like, one of the things I'm doing with all the speakers is I'm turning them all into cartoons and the images look incredible. The artist is doing this and then ultimately I'm going to be turning them into trading cards. So think of collectible trading cards just to have a cool little fun asset to like have your own, whether it's a baseball card or a ...
What does that pokemon cards or trading card. It's like, it's a fun little thing that just gets people excited that in this day and age is, is anyone can do it. You know? It's just about having an idea and putting it out there.
Marie Larsen: 21:47 That's so good and, and I will tell you as a speaker, I have felt cared for throughout the entire process. Now that is something that I feel like and the previous song that I did with a different company, that's something that we didn't do as much. And so guys having a facebook group really nurturing.
I mean he's written out email sequences for as he's written, like there are so many, there's copy, there's all, there's graphics, there's all these things and constant live videos so that we can be updated as far as what's going on. That was so crucial.
Now to pull it back, I have to ask, when you decided to create a summit, what was the very first step that you took?
Like what were the first couple of steps that you took in order to get this ball rolling?
Mark Stern: 22:29 I can walk, we can walk through the whole process if you like. So first step is you really need to know your message. So it starts with like what is the message that you want to get out there? Um, so it's really understanding your why of like what message you want to get out in the marketplace. If you were to start a business around a centralized topic, you want to know where you want to take your audience.
So for me, like the core message that I really wanted to get out there coming from corporate especially was um, this idea that, um, it was, it was an eyeopener for me to realize that when I left corporate and came into entrepreneurship, how different the realms where like it literally was like starting from scratch to a degree because I'm influencer is, it's not about like having a corporate or hr or some processes in place that if something didn't go right, you can just escalate it to a manager.
Mark Stern: 23:17 No influencers who have audiences of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, they can however they like. So if they wanted to do things that I would look and say, you can't do that to your customer where they can do it because it's their ship so they can operate however they want to. So that was like a core message knowing me and knowing people like me who were in my situation, how do I make that transition easier for them?
So the core message for me is corporate versus entrepreneurship is like checkers versus chess. The gameboard may look the same. The rules of the Games are completely different. So if you're going to become an entrepreneurship, let me teach you the game of entrepreneurship and let's get back to the basics. So that's how I'm going to escalate to you and protect you in a way. So that's the message I went to get out there.
Marie Larsen: 24:07 That was awesome. I'm going to quote you on that. I'm going to use that. Go for it. Go ahead, sorry.
Mark Stern: 24:14 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's part one is just know your message because then everything else gets so much easier when you're communicating in. And part of that is also knowing your audience. So my core is going after someone in corporate who's looking to make the change into entrepreneurship, but the lesson really is applicable to anyone who may or may not be corporate if they want to become an entrepreneur.
Marie Larsen: 24:37 Absolutely. Figure out your message and I tell that within my audience lot too, as far as guys go ahead and make sure, and this is actually part of the weekly challenge that I have going on in my facebook group, um, is that you go and figure out what your messaging is, your brand messaging, who you are, what you're doing, and uh, why, why do you want a podcast, what message you want to try and share with people?
And so as going about and doing that, it's going to be so important for you to figure out, you know, what you're doing. We want to help, why you want to do it and how you're going to go about doing that. Because those are the four topics that I talked about in this, uh, this last week for this, a weekly challenge that we were working on.
Marie Larsen: 25:19 And a bunch of you, you know, have said, oh, that's really nice and everything. But like guys don't move on past that. Like that was the very first thing that marked it. He sat down and figured out his message. And if you don't do the same thing, you're going to have a purposeless, you know, you know, people, people will think you're cool for a little bit, but they'll lose interest, you know?
And so having a message that really resonates with an audience, I'm doing that customer research, figuring out what people are looking for, it's really important. So it makes sure that you're doing that. Anyway. Sorry to cut you off.
Mark Stern: 25:50 That was great. I think that was awesome. I mean this is like what memory is preaching right now is like, if you don't have a foundation than anything else that you do is just pumping money into a system. You're wasting time and you're wasting money because you're kind of just like walking blindfolded. You don't know where you're going. You're hoping something sticks and it's just like, this is where like when people start like throwing, this is the new platform that everyone needs to be on. It costs 10 bucks a month and it's a recurring revenue.
I've seen so many people start with like buying tools and then forcing their business into it rather than getting clear on their message. Getting clear on what they want to deliver and then selecting the tools that would help accelerate their goals.
Marie Larsen: 26:27 Exactly. I've been guilty of that for sure. And just don't do what I did to get started. Like, seriously, I went through and was like, okay, well I need this and I need this and so and so said I need this and I need to read these books. And yes, that's great. And yes, you totally need to do your research. You need to study it out. However, if you go through it and you pump, I have, I have so many things that I still have, you know, monthly subscriptions to the.
I swear I've never used that software before or you know, I have so many books that are seriously sitting on my, on my desk collecting dust and I've never read them, you know, but I mean there are others that yes, have changed my world and others where I'm like, so and so said I needed this book, I bought this book.
Marie Larsen: 27:08 It's sitting here, you know, um, so don't, don't waste all of the amount of time and money that I did. Um, and I'm sure mark has experienced, really figure out what, who your mentor is, listened to them and figure out what you're going to do along the way. Coaches, math coaches are so important.
And I, and I had to learn that lesson at funnel hacking live, how important a mentor was having coaches were. And without that, like I know I would not be on the route that I am if I did not have someone say you need to do this, execute, you need to do this, execute. And so I'm so grateful for that because it completely changed my world. And so anyway, uh, your next step, I'm sorry, I keep cutting you.
Mark Stern: 27:56 I could not agree more with what you just said. And, and just to say to everyone listening, I'm a don't do what I did which was buying online courses and trainings is like a form of medicine, like wanting it. So I would just buy another course.
Like you probably know enough already, take action, like stop buying courses unless, unless it is critical to what you're trying to achieve, you should know your objectives of what you want to do. And then like, you absolutely want the mentors, you want the right leaders, um, but just don't keep buying every course that comes your way. I was guilty of that at one point.
Marie Larsen: 28:29 Absolutely. I can't tell you how many courses I bought and have never used, so totally guilty of that as well. Make sure that you guys are dedicating your time and your scheduling out when you're actually going to use it. If you buy it, you know, and really find the value in it and not just buy it, just buy it.
Mark Stern: 28:47 Ready, ready? So this is where I'd say like, once you have like a clear message, um, the next thing I kinda like to do is to name your summit because it's like naming your baby, it becomes real. So, so when you start to name the summit, naming the summit, it's actually pretty critical as well because you want to keep it really simple so people get what the summit is right away.
Now I named my summit the Click prenuer summit.
That may be a little bit more of a stretch than probably what I should've done, but I actually really just loved the word click preneur. And really if you break it down, click this. Just saying that like I'm teaching you how to transition out of corporate to become entrepreneurs. And really this is about the, the digital age. So it's about building your digital presence, the age of the infant foreigners.
Mark Stern: 29:30 So that's where it came from. Pioneer just means basically that, you know, to start and set up and operate a business, it comes in as a, as a suffix. So bringing those two together, I think people get the gist of it when they hear the word click for Noor. I think that people are very familiar with other uses of whether it's click funnels or other uses of prenuer like infopreneur Solo, preneur, wantrepreneur.
So, so I think it's, it's, you want to name it, like if you want to bring together, um, uh, a list of women's weight loss experts than naming your summit. The women's weight loss summit is like crystal clear what you're trying to represent. So you don't want to overcomplicate it with the summit name, um, but to me, naming the baby starts to make it real. So that's what I would say as a part two, part three.
Mark Stern: 30:20 This is where you start to really craft out your delivery plan. So this is where you break down the strategy of what you want to do. This is the making it real.
What are the dates that you want to trend towards a executing the summit?
How many speakers do you want to target?
What is the overarching story you're trying to tell across the course of your summit? So to make that piece of real, for me, the overarching story I have is based off of another product that I created, a called entrepreneurial elements, um, which was I created this periodic table of elements that every entrepreneur should know.
So this is about getting back to the basics. It's still fits the theme of the summit. And this publication I put together is broken down into four parts, build Your Business Foundation, then your strategy, then select the tactics, and now implement.
Mark Stern: 31:07 So the story arc of the click printer where summit is those four phases and as you transitioned throughout the week, like you'll see there's a clear story arc about I'm taking people through it.
The reason this story is important and putting people on a journey is it also helps you structure the type of speakers that you're going to get because you want to have a nice balance of speakers and if you have a theme or a framework for how you're spending the five days or however many days you're selecting for your summit and it just becomes a clean path to make sure that everyone's talking about like not everyone's talking about launching an agency that everyone's talking about social media.
Like people are talking about a wide range of topics and that just helps you and it helps the listener to to get value from what you're doing. So you want to lay out that strategy. You want to really plot out that timeline. So here's the thing, when you have a date that you want to hit, bye bye. That's what this is, just making it more real. It's coming to life. You have a deadline, you need to take action and put yourself out there
Marie Larsen: 32:03 a plan to do in order to attain that plan those goals.
Mark Stern: 32:09 Absolutely. Absolutely. And it's probably the part that people don't enjoy, but it's like the most critical thing because then this is again, making it real. Um, so yeah, so I would, I would say that's part three. Part four really can gets into, I'm starting the outreach of speakers and really the strategy you want to do with the speakers as you really want to make sure that the value prop to the speakers is clear. So if you're just starting out, there's a lot for the speakers.
The core message that I was putting out there to speakers I reached out to them is, um, this is a platform that I'm building. We're going to have about 25 to 30 speakers on it. Here's the core message, here's the core target audience, here's why I think you're a good fit for this. Um, but really to me it's about how do I elevate you as a speaker?
Mark Stern: 32:54 How do I bring your message to the next level? Because that was what was most important to me, um, I didn't want to give, I wanted to give the speakers and enough to understand the story arc of my summit, but I didn't want to force what topic they were speaking on because the topic that they're going to provide the most value on is the topic of like what they're working on and what they care about right now.
Um, so, uh, really that whole transition was about here's the benefit to you, here's a platform for you. Um, I also offered all speakers.
You set them up as an affiliate. So the more you get into the entrepreneurial space, you'll really realize the importance of affiliate marketer. And really every entrepreneur should be an affiliate in some way, shape or form. So they can get financial benefit that if this is something of value to them, um, they could also make money off of it.
Mark Stern: 33:42 On top of it. They have a free ticket that they can offer their audience. So now they have something that if the message would resonate with their audience and they're a speaker, they can get back to their audience and show like I've elevated them as a speaker of this summit and as a speaker, they've gotten them their audience, a free ticket to the event that just adds value to them. So the audience is pretty happy about this as well.
Then there's two other things that, this is where you start to really make it clear that if there's a clear benefit to the speakers, oftentimes they'll jump right onboard.
And I'll tell you, I think with this summit, um, I think I had one no from a speaker early on, but because I think my messaging was really on point, almost every like a good 90 to 95 percent of the people I engage with. Hudson. Yes I can't. And that's just about like really making clear the value prop and the benefits to them.
Marie Larsen: 34:39 Uh, you guys have totally seen my posts on about the summit. You've seen all the stuff that I've done for it. You see that on my instagram right now. Um, as like the website for you guys to check out guys, make sure that you go through and you check all those things out because in all honesty, as these are people, these are entrepreneurs who have made thousands and thousands of dollars on online, right by sitting behind their computer and doing that.
And so it's really important that you go through, if you, if this is something that you want to do, the options there, like you could do it, there are so many people have done it before and want to guide you through that process and they're going to do it for you for free. Right?
And that is so cool. You know, like there's so many people as my coachings and stuff like that are thousands of dollars, you know, and so to be able to go through and say, Hey, I'm going to put so much on the line right here and provide as much value as I can because I know that this will benefit people and then there's 30 other speakers that are doing it.
Marie Larsen: 35:36 That's huge. Such a big deal. Um, and, and so I'm so grateful for that. Well, we'll probably wrap up here in just a second mark. I am so grateful that you jumped on and that you're able to show a little bit of this process and I'm excited. We'll probably do some facebook lives. Guys, make sure you check those out. They're going to be so good. But what is the best way for people to get out? They have questions or concerns, um, I guess on how to how to start a whole summit.
Mark Stern: 36:06 So first and foremost, my apologies. I have a puppy dog that I just got these last couple months, so my apologies for the barking in the background. Um, yeah, the, the best way. There's a couple ways you can follow up with. I love connecting with people and meeting New People.
Um, so you can look me up on facebook. This mark stern go. It's pretty easy to find me right away. Um, I invite everyone to get involved with our click for newer summit community.
So there was an official click preneur facebook group. Um, and uh, aside from that, yeah, this was probably the best avenues to learn more about me. That's probably where I'm most active. Um, but yeah, flew, please reach out.
Marie Larsen: 36:42 Hey, thank you so much for the value that we provided. I really appreciate it and we'll have you facebook lives and stuff like that. Again, and guys, if you found value in this, make sure that you rate and subscribe below and this is so important at the end. If you have any questions or concerns, make sure that you, that you go through and you leave a comment or something and we can go through and make sure to really help you understand the process that you should be going through your online journey.
So anyway, thank you so much, mark. I really read it.
Mark Stern: 37:11 Yeah, yeah. No, I love. I love what you're doing, marine. So very grateful to be a part of this podcast.
Guys go check out the: CLICK-Preneur Summit