Brian Kurtz: The Lost Art of Using Direct Mail & The Internet To Scale Any Business

Hello everyone! Welcome to another episode of The Ed O’Keefe Show. On this episode I have a very special guest Mr. Brian Kurtz.

Brian was the Executive VP at a one of the most renowned direct response marketing and publishing businesses of all time, Boardroom Inc. For 33 years he was the right hand, where he went from list management to the direct response side, to managing copywriters to running it for many years. Now before you wonder if this is for you or not, let me just tell you when I went into this interview my number one goal was to listen to how Brian and Boardroom went from a company from zero to doing hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and mailing as Brian says in the interview close to 2 Billion direct mail pieces of all time.

One of the secrets that I’ve discovered in our business is that everything’s about the list meaning who are you communicating with, and then how you reach them. So in this episode we discuss how to scale the business, any business, from a mathematical perspective and it’s not going be the same math you think you’ve already heard before. So dive in, enjoy, share it, let me know what you think!

Selected Links from the Episode:
51:00 Secrets of Successful Direct Mail by Richard V. Benson

Show Notes:
00:00 - 00:30 Teaser
00:30 - 3:19  Introduction
3:19 - 11:43 Work history and present time focus
11:43 - 17:01 Optimization team in converting traffic
17:01- 18:01 Tracking by metrics (lifetime value of original source and renewal rates at different time periods)
18:01 - 23:39 Concept of how to promote and how to respond
23:39 - 1:09:00 Q/A How far are you willing to be negative?
>28:03 - 51:59 Value ladder
>> 29:28 - 33:19 Contact strategy
>> 33:19 - 51:29 Regression offering
>51:29 - 1:03:40 Q/A How many of the secrets are still true?
>1:03:40 - 1:09:00 Q/A What are you studying and why?
1:09:00 - 1:15:47 - How to contact
1:15:47 - 1:18:03 Closing remarks
1:18:03 - 1:21:02 Sponsor

People Mentioned:
1:04:27 Ryan Deiss
1:04:51 Jeff Walker
1:06:43 Stu Mclaren
1:06:50 Robert Scrob

Gary was a gentleman who I hired through the organization called Vital Factors. He was my mentor and coach on operations and scaling for about a year and a half as I was growing my dental marketing consulting business. He was the one who came in and really showed me how to get fact-based management style.

People love Gary’s stories and I’ll tell you, any business that grows beyond the one-person operator, even though I could argue that even if you are a one-person operator, you need to know these numbers. You need to know how to focus on what’s really important. And that’s why we call it Vital Factors!

Please remember to share this episode with those who could benefit from it!

Selected Links from the Episode:
20:21 – Vital Factors: The Secret to Transforming Your Business- And Your Life by Lee Froschheiser
21:47 – Finding Your Way: A Guide to Discovering God’s Best for Your Life by Gary LaFerla
39:58 – Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t by Jim Collins

Show Notes:
00:00 – 00:18 Teaser
03:00 – 01:10 Introduction
04:32 – 03:30 Vital Factors
06:12 – 07:23 Story about Larry
10:05 – 14:20 Personal and business dreams
14:20 – 26:38 Maturity, discipline and the Vital Factors
29:20 – 32:29 Talking about Kathryn Leigh from Vital Factors Book
35:11 – 33:11 Delegate and focus your time
35:53 – 51:15 Vital Factors
53:57 – 57:56  The benefits of the Vital Factor team process/business examples
01:00:38 – 1:03:25  Goals and controls and coaching your team for success
01:06:07 – 01:04:27 Steve Campbell success
01:07:09 – 01:08:06  Coaching your team
01:10:48 – 01:13:46  Closing story
01:13:46 – 01:15:25  MarineD3 Sponsor
01:15:25 – 01:16:28  Dormant Forces Sponsor

People Mentioned:
02:12 – Michael Gerber
03:28 – Los Angeles Times
03:29 – New York Times
12:24 – Kirk Douglas
12:25 – Dean Martin
12:26 – Tony Curtis
12:32 – Deborah Reynolds
12:52 – Rock Hudson
13:19 – Ludwig
20:56 – TNT
22:59 – Cort Furniture
23:01 – Hawthorne Caterpillar
23:03 – Cold Stone Creamery
23:08 – Los Angeles Clippers
23:12 – WebEx
23:45 – Vilfredo Pareto
54:16 – Doug Ducey
54:22 – Procter and Gamble
01:04:32 – Ed O’Keefe

In this episode I will take you behind the scenes from one of my closed door events where we talk about the power of bridging the gap from where you want to be to where you want to go with key relationships and properly aligned relationships.

One of the things I like to challenge people to do is, at the end of the year is intentionally seek out the models, the mentors, and the people that you’d like to acquire specific skill sets from or get certain wisdom from on the front side. You’ll here in this episode how specifically me having some wrong relationships cost me a ton of money. I really want you to hear my discussion on this topic because it’s made one of the most significant differences in my life with being okay going from where you are now today to where you’re going to be in the next year at an accelerated rate. So that’s it let me know what you think and I look forward to talking to you on the next episode. So enjoy this episode and please share it!

Selected Links from the Episode:
8:05  Swim with the Sharks
17:13 Moonshot!
19:19 The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More 

Show Notes:
00:00 – 0:19 Teaser
0:19 - 02:31 - Introduction
02:31 - 04:09  Reason why switch to Health Supplements
04:09  - 08:09 Vegas story
08:09  - 12:51 Creating Right Relationships
12:51 - 17:22  Mastermind: Napeleon
17:22 - 20:43 John Scully on Innovation
20:43 - 23:19 Sponsor Message

Tony Grebmeier has been a friend of mine for a little over a year and we met through this health supplement business. Tony runs a company called “Ship Offers”. Ship Offers is a private labelling company and formulation company for health supplements but that’s not what we talked about in this episode.

Tony’s stories are absolutely fascinating! He went from making millions to drug addiction to getting sober, while insuring his family units stayed together. And now he’s been sober for many years. So in this episode we talk about the disease of addiction and overcoming it, but also the phase in his life that actually led him to it.

You will see in this episode, we did something different! We did a power talk where we interviewed each other so we could both use the information for our podcasts. So throughout this episode we go back and forth asking each other questions. You will hear some behind the scenes that I shared about Kokoro camp, my prep work, my mindset, and my goals while being there!

Please subscribe and share this so that we can get the message out and transform lives one person at a time!

Selected Links from the Episode:
18:06 Ed O’Keefe Show
19:21 Chicken Soup for the Soul
36:05 Zero to One
51:45 Kokoro camp

Show Notes:
00:00 – 00:24 Teaser
00:24 – 02:34 Introduction
02:34 – 04:45 Greetings and Similarities
04:45 – 09:14 Backstory of Tony
09:14 – 13:26 Drug addiction
13:26 – 15:15 How Tony made his first millions
15:15 – 22:14 Backstory of Ed
22:14 – 26:25 How Ed chose the path on being an entrepreneur
26:25 – 28:06 Road to success
28:06 – 32:27 The Art of Time Collapsing
32:27 – 35:12 Success and Selfish Traps
35:12 – 39:07 Leapfrog theory
39:07 – 44:18 Skill sets & super power
44:18 – 48:12 Overcoming things
48:12 – 01:00:15 Relationships and Networking
01:00:15 – 01:03:55 Acknowledgment and life advice
01:03:55 – 01:05:30 MarineD3 Sponsor
01:05:30 – 01:06:31 Dormant Forces Sponsor

People Mentioned:
18:16 Lloyd Irvin
19:19 Tony Robbins
19:20 Jack Canfield
23:26 Bill Gates
24:04 Jesse Itzler
24:47 Marquis Jets
25:51 Warren Buffet
32:09 Brian Tracy
32:14 Zig Ziglar
36:04 Peter Thiel
36:10 Paypal
41:21 Gary V
41:22 Bob Proctor
41:26 Mark Cuban
47:29 Vinnie Fisher

 “Making Fridays Count” podcast!  This podcast is about why I believe the concept around making Fridays count has never been more important and why or what you should be focusing on Fridays. If you’re anything like me, the week flies by and you’re sitting there trying to get as much done on Fridays as you possibly can.

You are trying to tie up as many loose ends as you can. The challenge with that is, is that by doing those reactive skill sets it actually sets me up improperly for my weekend and next week.

Our society has become ever increasingly open and that means that people have access to you that shouldn’t, people have opinions they share on Facebook, Twitter that they shouldn’t. And the amount of ability to focus has dramatically shifted and gone down. In this podcast I explain what I mean by that in this podcast! Make it an awesome Friday!

Selected Links from the Episode:
1:47 - The Art of Time Collapsing by Ed O’Keefe

Show Notes:
00:00 - 00:19 Teaser
00:19 - 00:57 Introduction
00:57 - 02:50 Societal understanding on what success is
02:50 - 05:00 Fridays can be reactive days or focus on long term
05:00 - 07:14 Create a space for the things that matter for the next 3 months
07:14 - 07:54 Last thoughts
07:54 - 08:08 Closing
08:08 - 11:01 Sponsor

People Mentioned:
07:18 - Jeff Bezos 

This interview I have is with a very special guest and good friend Lewis Howes! You probably heard of him; he is currently a New York Times bestseller for his book called “The School of Greatness”.

In this interview Lewis shares an amazing story of how he went from a high-level athlete to a career ending injury which made him go on the path of entrepreneurship. Nowadays Lewis teaches phenomenal courses at Lewishowes.com where he holds webinars on how to hold webinars for your business, and how to build the life that you want.

This interview is great because we got a chance to talk about a lot of things like how Lewis learned, how he assimilates information rapidly, how he finds mentors, and how he takes action. Lewis shares a surprising story about which story out of his entire book, is the the most impactful. The story is profound about overcoming obstacles and dealing with adversity.

So I know you’ll love this interview; please let me know what you think of it. And share with those who could benefit from it!

Selected Links from the Episode:
32:09 Mastery (Book)
57:48 The Gift (Book)
59:19 The 4-Hour Workweek
1:04:26 School of Greatness podcast
1:07:55 Your Erroneous Zones (Book)
1:11:51 lewishowes.com

Show Notes:
00:00 - 00:28 Teaser
03:00 - 02:35 Introduction
05:07 - 12:10 Brief background of Lewis to success and athletics
14:42 - 17:55 How Lewis fought depression and became inspired
20:27 - 23:23 How he came into LinkedIn and used it for business
25:55 - 26:52 Stumbling into webinar and using social media websites
29:24 - 33:22 Starting to receive earnings and make more
35:54 - 34:47 Breakthrough depression as an athlete
37:19 - 38:34 Meeting Joe De Cena and Spartan sports
41:06 - 47:34 Lewis Howes' book and going in Podcast
50:06 - 56:50 Reflection of book to Lewis' brother
59:22 - 1:04:52 Book's Process
1:06:40 - 1:10:24 Lewis' support with other people
1:12:56 - 1:12:25 Closing remarks, Lewis plans and how to connect with him
1:12:25 - 1:13:59 MarineD3 Sponsor
1:13:59 - 1:14:57 Dormant Forces Sponsor

People Mentioned:
15:24 NFL
18:16 LinkedIn
35:47 Joe De Sena
38:57 Aristotle
39:06 Peter Till
47:43 Tim Piering
58:21 Tim Ferriss
1:05:26 Tony Robbins
1:07:50 Wayne Dyer

My interview with Jesse Itzler is absolutely awesome! This guy is a trip, he’s hysterical, he’s a business badass and he’s a warrior athlete. He was crazy enough to hire a navy seal and not just any navy seal, a complete and utter bad dude who you’ll learn more about in this interview we have together. If you haven’t read the book, “Living with a seal” you are going to be inspired to do that.

A little bit of a background on Jesse; he was a rapper in his early 20s. He’s well known for his popular New York Knicks anthem called “Go New York go New York go!” which I asked him about in the interview.  He co-founded Marquis Jet, the world’s largest prepaid private jet card company in 2001 which he and his partner sold to Berkshire Hathaway. He then helped pioneer the coconut water craze with ZICO coconut water which he and his partner sold to the Coca Cola company in 2013. Nowadays you can find Jesse at NBA’s Atlanta Hawks games where he is the owner, and you will hear more about in our interview.  Jesse married the founder of the company called Spanx which all women know about, Sara Blakely. You’re going to be in for a treat while listening to this interview. I was in heaven interviewing this guy! Enjoy!

Selected Links from the Episode:
01:15 Living with a SEAL (Book)
02:02 Zico Coconut water
59:21 Hell on the Hill

Show Notes:
00:00 - 00:30 Teaser
00:30 - 01:20 Intro
01:20 - 03:17 Jesse Itzler's Brief Background
03:17 - 05:17 Ed Presents Jesse Itzler
05:17 - 10:10 Jesse's Living with a SEAL
10:10 - 11:19 Race Experience with the SEAL
11:19 - 13:31 Jesse's Wife Sara reaction living with a SEAL
13:31 - 17:53 SEAL moving in with Jesse
17:53 - 19:53 Mental Toughness and Awareness
19:53 - 23:31 Pushing the limits, being capable of doing so much more
23:31 - 25:02 Workouts
25:02 - 28:58 The most fun workouts and Jesse's experience doing the workouts
28:58 - 31:51 The SEAL and Kevin Garnett
31:51 - 34:57 The Meeting
34:57 - 39:26 Skinhead Story
39:26 - 41:06 Ed's Friend
41:06 - 44:24 David's level of security
44:24 - 46:40 Jesse's Advice to David
46:40 - 54:11 Jesse's Career, Super Power, and Network
54:11 - 57:08 Jesse's Go NY Go
57:08 - 58:14 Any influence that Mark Cuban had on Jesse
58:14 - 59:15 Atlanta Hawks
59:15 - 01:04:42 Hell on The Hill Event and #2016OfEverything
01:04:42 - 01:05:45 Ending Remarks
01:05:45 - 01:07:14 MD3 Sponsor
01:07:14 - 01:08:14 Dormant Sponsor

Selected Links from the Episode:
01:15 Living with a SEAL (Book)
02:02 Zico Coconut water
59:21 Hell on the Hill

Show Notes:
00:00 - 00:30 Teaser
00:30 - 01:20 Intro
01:20 - 03:17 Jesse Itzler's Brief Background
03:17 - 05:17 Ed Presents Jesse Itzler
05:17 - 10:10 Jesse's Living with a SEAL
10:10 - 11:19 Race Experience with the SEAL
11:19 - 13:31 Jesse's Wife Sara reaction living with a SEAL
13:31 - 17:53 SEAL moving in with Jesse
17:53 - 19:53 Mental Toughness and Awareness
19:53 - 23:31 Pushing the limits, being capable of doing so much more
23:31 - 25:02 Workouts
25:02 - 28:58 The most fun workouts and Jesse's experience doing the workouts
28:58 - 31:51 The SEAL and Kevin Garnett
31:51 - 34:57 The Meeting
34:57 - 39:26 Skinhead Story
39:26 - 41:06 Ed's Friend
41:06 - 44:24 David's level of security
44:24 - 46:40 Jesse's Advice to David
46:40 - 54:11 Jesse's Career, Super Power, and Network
54:11 - 57:08 Jesse's Go NY Go
57:08 - 58:14 Any influence that Mark Cuban had on Jesse
58:14 - 59:15 Atlanta Hawks
59:15 - 01:04:42 Hell on The Hill Event and #2016OfEverything
01:04:42 - 01:05:45 Ending Remarks
01:05:45 - 01:07:14 MD3 Sponsor
01:07:14 - 01:08:14 Dormant Sponsor

People Mentioned:
01:39 Michael Jordan
01:40 Knicks
01:45 Marquis Jet
01:54 Berkshire Hathaway
01:55 Warren Buffet
02:06 Coca Cola Company
02:27 Atlanta Hawks
02:40 Spanx
02:44 Sara Blakely
09:14 David Goggins
29:05 Kevin Garnett
45:18 American Sniper
46:45 The Art of Time Collapsing
57:22 Mark Cuban

In this quick little video I will share how to create a fail proof online health product business. I'm really excited to share this with you because this is probably one of the unique factors that you're not going to get at any typical seminar or really in any course! My goal is to show you behind a curtain of what it actually takes to run a successful health product business online. And the same principles I'm about to show you right now actually apply to offline businesses as well. So it all kind of starts with this simple question...

Show Notes:

0:00 - 0:47 Introduction

00:22 - 2:56 Sponsors

02:56 - 04:24 Acid Test Question

04:24 - 06:11  Guaranteed to go Broke Formula

>4:29  - 4:36 Great idea. product or story

>4:36 - 5:09  I will go out and sell it to *insert market*

>5:09 - 6:11 Assume that the idea will work

6:11 - 12:28 Fail Proof Formula

>6:11 - 7:18 Target Market

>7:18 - 8:10 Who is already successful selling items?

>8:10 - 8:35 Traffic History

>8:35 - 9:51 How are they Selling to Them

>9:51 - 17:15 How they get Traffic

>09:51 - 11:49 Adbeat.com

>11:49 - 13:33 Offline

>13:33 -  15:34  Amazon.com

15:34 -  18:41 What you can do now

I hope you enjoy this. Drew is amazing. Make sure you check him out at fitlife.tv and I take his top-selling green juice mixture which he'll tell you all about organifi. And by the end of this, I have a feeling you will be inspired, have some awesome insights as to how the body really works. And also learn a thing or two about what it's like to perform at this level. 

Selected Links from the Episode:
07:10 - The Art of Time Collapsing
07:51 - Bible
12:46 - AlphaReset.com
18:20 - Dr. Weston Price
20:18 - WellnessFX.com
27:48 - Vinny Fisher
28:36 - Doug Brackman
29:37 - Brian Tracy
29:45 - Michael Nitty
29:47 - Tony Robbins
30:17 - Fit Life TV
31:59 - The Myers-Briggs
32:10 - KOLBE
35:36 - Liam Neeson
37:44 - OrganifiShop.com
38:27 - Elon Musk's biography
38:37 - Einstein
38:38 - Benjamin Franklin

Show Notes:
00:00 – 00:15 Teaser
00:15 – 01-07 Greetings
02:24 – 07-10 “Overnight Success” and Drew’s brief history and his first client
07:10 – 19:43 Spirituality and juicing insights, benefits and results and bloodtesting
19:43 – 25:39 Drew’s fitness regimen and recovery
25:39 – 36:40 Drew’s coaches and mentors and their ideas, tests, and activities
36:40 – 40:09 FitlifeTV and how to get Organifi with an ending inspirational advice
40:09 – 42:43 Sponsor Message

Hello ladies and gentleman this is Ed O’Keefe and welcome to the first video blog where I go over a book review!

One of my favorite books of all time, “Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat” by Michael Masterson, also AKA Mark Ford. Now in this short review, I tell you a funny story about how the first time I met Michael Masterson at one of his seminars and how I ended up drinking, would loiter in for 3 hours before we went with Michael to do Brazilian Jui Jitsu.

But more importantly, in this you’re going to get some of the best nuggets I took out of his book. This book is definitely worth reading and is really a blue print for anyone who is looking to seriously grow a business from scratch or if you are at the million to 10 million dollar range looking to bring it up to the next level, you will get to hear some insights from a proven pro.

So hope you enjoyed it, give me a feedback, let me know what you think and I will see you on the other side. Thanks so much!