One thing is for certain:  You deserve a great life.  Another thing for certain: You are 100% responsible for your own happiness.  Never has that been more apparent then to today’s guest, Vasavi Kumar.  It was Vasavi’s 3rd appearance on the show, and while we’ve touched on some of her transition points, we’ve never fully discussed what it was like for her to leave her marriage, her hometown, and her strict Indian upbringing and reinvent herself in Austin, TX.  Now, a couple of short years later, she’s happy, grounded in a new relationship, and ready to give the world to her clients.

Today’s show is about reinvention, and having the chutzpah to make the hard decisions that will ultimately give you a better life.

Today’s show is brought to you by Conferencetopia, my free course on how to get the most out of conferences, and build your business faster and better with relationships.  Grab it now at http://conferencetopia.com

 

Mike and Vasavi Discuss:

* 4:34 Divorce

* 12:29 Going to culinary school

* 19:10 Leaving bad relationships

* 25:05 Ego, getting your hands dirty and back to business

* 36:05 How Vasavi coaching perspective changed

* 40:02 Steps to reinvention

* 49:53 Action taken on ideas

* 52:40 Launching Soul Special

* 60:29 Fulfillment for Soul Special

 

“At the end of the day, we are all the same” Vasavi Kumar

Links and Resources

* VasaviKumar.com

* Vasavi’s Free Focus Action Video

* @askvasavi on Twitter

* Vasavi on Facebook

* Soul Special

Vasavi Previous Episodes

* Episode 384: Trust your intuition with Vasavi Kumar

* Episode 169: Making big moves to fulfill your dreams with Vasavi Kumar

* Episode 43: Don’t let  your past dictate your future with Vasavi Kumar

 

Today’s Episode was brought to you by:

 

Dawn (Marrsmarketing.com) stops by again, and as always, I can’t keep up with all of the newer, better versions of the apps and services I use that she recommends. She has her ear to the ground all the time, and is constantly shifting and improving her solopreneur efficiency.  Today we talk about scheduling apps, a Leadpages killer, home automation, my email funnel, and a ton more.  Another can’t miss episode with Dawn Marrs!

 

Mike and Dawn Discuss

* 11:43 Overview for Michael’s Email Funnel

* 12:43 How much would it cost to get an optin

* 16:56 At what point do you cull your email list

* 18:28 Email sequences & Video export issues

* 29:19 Course Price Point and Product Launches

* 32:42 Interest lists and incentify buyers

* 38:44 Keyword optimization – Long tail keywords

* 47:12 Dawns wheelhouse – Marketing Automation

* 50:05 Dawns coaching group

* 52:46 Cool tools and Resource page

* 63:01 How the show was intended

 

Michael’s Funnel

Michael’s Lead Magnet is Conferencetopia.com which is currently getting 24 to 40 opt-in’s a day.

Before Michael figured out his funnel, he had to know what his value properties are, which are Sololab and The Art of the Interview course.

Having this mapped out allowed him to guide his subscribers through the right sequence. Once subscribed and have downloaded the Conferencetopia lead magnet they will automatically be put on the regular email series. After about five emails there would be an email that directs the subscriber down one of two paths.

One to Sololab, the other to “The Art of The Interview” course. Through later sequences, these paths will cross.

A typical opt-in within the entrepreneurial space without a podcast and presence would mean you have to pay for advertising/traffic. This would give you a cost per lead (CPL), and it can get expensive.

$3-$5 per lead in the entrepreneurial industry is probably decent acquisition, but if you were in real estate market, for example, CPL would be expensive because it is a competitive market. Around $50 to $100 per lead.

So a lead would be someone that would opt-in into a form to acquire their email address.

 

Active Reengagement

When someone has not clicked or opened an email in “X” amount of days, Dawn puts them on an email sequence that says,

“Hey,

There is a bunch of cool stuff that I would love for you to see, I think it would be very helpful to you.”

If they don’t click or open those emails, then they are automatically culled from her email list.

Dawn’s criteria for this email sequence is they have not opened/clicked or made a purchase. She doesn’t want to delete people from the list that have purchase history.

Having this sequence is good for your open rates, with an engaged list you are less likely to end up in the spam folder of a subscriber’s email inbox.

 

Links and Resources

* Marrs Marketing 

* Organifi

* Isagenix E-Shots

* Activecampaign.com

* Conferencetopia.com

* Art Of The Interview

* AttendThrive.com Promo Code: solohour to get $150 off

* Optimisepress

* Ontraport

*

If you haven’t listened to one of these episodes before this is YOUR chance to ask questions: ask anything you want on whatever you want, any topic you want: bring it on! If you want to be part of the next show join us in the Proudly Unemployable Facebook group here. Look for my post, typically on Thursday, asking for your questions. Post yours in the comments section and then tune in the next day to hear my answer

Today’s topics include how to be a guest on others podcasts, why do a BETA launch, my top interviewees, Podcast setup basics, my top influences, sending your kid to college, vanity URL’s, boosting Facebook posts,  and more!

THIS FREE COURSE IS SO GOOD you’ll wish you paid for it:

Learn to connect with influencers and build your business quickly with my FREE course on how to master conferences and events at http://conferencetopia.com

 

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening dear Solopreneurs joining us today from all around the world. As solopreneurs, we all dream about long and healthy life. Our returning co-host, Anna Vocino is back to share the kinds of foods you can eat to stay healthy and happy. Anna also talks about her new career in stand-up comedy, and her new book, “Eat Happy: Gluten Free, Grain Free, Low Carb Recipes Made from Real Foods For A Joyful Life”.

As it always is with Anna, it’s a great entertaining conversation packed with content and great ideas you can translate into YOUR solopreneur business! Tune in and enjoy your dose of The Solopreneur Hour.

About Anna Vocino

In case you missed any of Anna’s previous visits to Solopreneur Hour shows, be sure to tune in and listen to them. In those episodes, we have covered too much about her background including her career in Hollywood as an actor, musician and comedian and how she has managed to sustain success. In this episode, we will give just a recap of his background.

Anna is a talented actress, comedian and voiceover artist who knows what it takes to create a successful career in whatever she does. She has spent over a decade working on-camera and in voice over. She also produces the podcasts “Yoda And Me” and “America’s Angriest Trainer” with Vinnie Tortorich.

Anna knows that education is the key to success. She has dedicated her life to acquire much of it. She attended St. Andrews School for college prep from 1987 – 1991. In 1991, she joined Emory University where she studied a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, French and Cultural Studies.

Upon graduation from the university, Anna found herself truly unemployable. She wanted to work for herself. As a young lady, she used to believe that one day she would land on a certain project that would lead her to bigger and better opportunities. She knew that she was the one who determines the “bigger and better opportunities.” So she worked hard to achieve her goals of becoming a Hollywood star, blogger and internet marketer.

In 2002, she started her blog, annavocino.com, to recreate gluten free versions of comfort food favorites from her half Italian, half Southern-girl heritage. In 2012, she partnered with the inimitable Vinnie Tortorich to co-host and produce The Angriest Trainer Podcast, and her recipes these days are mostly free from sugars and grains.  She uses fresh ingredients whenever possible, and tries keep things simple.

Being the consummate solopreneur, you must be prepared to succeed in this world. Currently, Anna is working on numerous projects including a gluten-free cookbook. We discuss about her cookbook, what life has been like since she brought herself into the limelight, and how you can be inspired in order to stay healthy, fresh, and relevant.

Mike and Anna Discuss:

* [06:37] How Anna became a stand-up comedian. How did she start, where did she get the motivation from and her experience so far.

* [14:27] As a warmer soloprenuer (comedian, emcee, influencer etc), you have to double down on your energy to achieve what you want.

* [16:42] How much work it takes to put 30 minutes of solid comedy material together.

* [18:48] Why a premise in stand-up comedy is necessary.

* [21:00] How to come up with a good premise

* [28:07] Patience is the number one thing you should have if you want to become a successful soloprenuer.

* [34:00] Anna discusses about the shows she has been doing for almost three years with celebrity fitness trainer Vinnie Tortorich.

* [35:00] Ann introduces her book, “Eat Happy: Gluten Free, Grain Free, Low Carb Recipes Made from Real Foods For A Joyful Life”.  

 

 

 

 

“Every master was once a disaster!” David Wood

Today on The Solopreneur Hour, I’m rocking the show solo because I had a few thoughts, triggered by my pro-level suckitude at video production. So I want you to think about this for a second. Think about what you’re working on right now in your solopreneur world that’s not working. Are you trying to do Facebook ads? Are you trying to play something that can’t play? Are you trying to write copy? Are you trying to grow your mailing list? Are you trying to podcast? Are you trying to interview people better? Are you trying to connect with people better?

If you’ve ever despaired that you “aren’t good enough” at whatever you are doing, like you are terrible at those things or people won’t accept you, then this show is for you.

Every Solopreneur Master Was Once a Solopreneur Disaster. Listen in for all of that and more on Episode 465 of The Solopreneur Hour.

I then read a chapter from my upcoming book, “Unemployable™” (Working title)

Learn how to crush conferences and events with my FREE Conferencetopia course! 

More About Michael O’Neal

Why should you listen to Michael O’Neal and not any other individual out there? Well. This is everything you need to know about me.

I was born in Ohio and spent 12 years there being raised in a Catholic family. As a kid, I participated in every sport known to man from skating and cycling to swimming and gymnastics. Just like other kids being raised in American suburbs, I got in a lot of trouble both at home and in school.

At 12, we moved to a new community in the outskirts of Philadelphia. We were fed up with ground zero for problems in this state something that forced my parents to look for a different location to relocate to. So in between 10th and 11th grade, we moved down to Spring Hill, a little redneck town in Florida. My parents seemed to like everything down there, but I hated every second that I spent there. I bolted back to Philly for my high school diploma. Here, I got a good opportunity to move around the East and South Coast States. I remember having stops in Long Beach Island NJ, Newark DE, and Palm Beach FL.

About formal education, I’ve dedicated my life to acquire much of it. I graduated from music school in Palm Beach FL. In 1994, I graduated from Temple University with an undergraduate degree in communication. I have also done several professional courses about internet marketing and web development.

Upon graduation from the university, I became a web designer and worked in this field for 15 years.  In 1997, I moved to Boulder Colorado where I lived for almost 13 years until 2012 when I moved to San Diego.  After a few frustrations working for other people, I found myself to be truly unemployable. I realized it was the time I used to work for myself. So since 2005 till today I have been on the entrepreneurial track working for myself.

My journey to becoming a Solopreneur Master has not been as easy as you may think. I tried to do everything I would through 2008, but those things didn’t have much success. In 2009, I knew that I no longer wanted to trade a dollar for an hour, so I went looking for something else.  That’s when I found the hidden treasures in network marketing and internet marketing.

In August 2013, I started The Solopreneur Hour Podcast which aims to show the other unemployable people the correct path to business success on their terms.

In today’s show, I have highlighted the exciting journey of Solopreneur Masters because I think it’s easy to look at.  

In this episode, you’ll hear:

TUNE IN FOR FREE COACHING FRIDAY! 

Entrepreneurial Q&A – Today’s topics include how to start coaching, how to use a lead magnet, productivity tips, Guns and Roses, building online courses, “twitter bombing”, membership site basics, and more! 

 

Learn to connect with influencers and build your business quickly with my FREE course on how to master conferences and events at http://conferencetopia.com 

Michael Answers:

* 6:10 Build your business like it’s 1987

* 12:08 Going where they are, Crush It!

* 15:57 Stepping up the gears

* 22:33 Getting people to your lead magnet

* 31:54 Productivity and being in the zone

* 36:46 More money then time – Time to scale

* 42:00 Steven Adler or Matt Sorum

* 44:34 #VanLife

* 46:44 Influencers for teaching courses

* 49:25 Channels for promoting

* 51:38 Ethical twitter bombing

* 57:33 Creating a membership site

* 59:09 Best approach to connecting with influencers

* 61:01 Instagram Ninja and Recommended t-shirt brand to print on

Links and Resources

Instagram Services

* [email protected]

Membership Software

* S2Member

* Optimizepress 

Course Software & Influencers

* Teachery.co

* Zippycourses.com – Derek Halpern

* Amy Porterfield

* Natalie Sisson

* Chris Ducker

Lead Magnet Resources

* bit.ly

* Prettylink

Other Resources & Links

* MrandMrsAdventure.com

* virtualstafffinder.com

* theprintful.com

* Pandora – ambiante radio

* Crush It! By Gary Vaynerchuk

*

ArtOfTheInterview.co

*

Conferencetopia.com

*

SoloLab 

* Thrive 2016: Use the Promo Code: “solohour” for 30% off at checkout

Previous Episodes Mentioned

Episode 447: James Schramko Might Not Agree With You..And Will Tell You So

http://traffic.libsyn.com/solohour/447.mp3

 

Today’s Sponsor

Today we celebrate the 3rd anniversary of The Solopreneur Hour.  In this show I recap my journey to creating the Solopreneur hour, and I am so grateful to all of you for participating in this whole thing, and being the Unemployable.  Let’s pop a cork and celebrate another 3 years!

 

 

 

Links & Resources

 

Rich Dad Poor Dad

Cashflow quadrant

E-myth revisited

Conferencetopia.com

 

Today’s Sponsor

Chicken Soup for The Soul author Jack Canfield is our guest for today’s show.

Jack is the acclaimed author of numerous New York Times best-selling books including the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, a highly sought-after motivational speaker and multi-millionaire.

Today Jack and I talk about his journey from teacher to world-renowned author and how that experience led to his book The Success Principles and its 10th anniversary. All of that and more on the 462nd edition of The Solopreneur Hour.

More About This Show

As of the airing of this episode Jack Canfield’s Chicken Soup For The Soul series has been printed in 47 different languages and is on its way to selling a billion copies! After CSFTS became a global phenomenon, he asked himself if people wanted to be successful, what would be the one book they would read?

From asking that question he set the foundation for The Success Principles. Today that book is celebrating its 10th anniversary and has been updated to include three new chapters reflecting our digital era. The book lays out 67 principles to follow to create success in your life, and it lays them out in order.

The book also includes real-life stories from people who read the first printing of the book, acted on the principles and created success. These are stories from all walks of life: homeless men and women to people who had just lost their jobs and had sold their belongings to get by. People who were not successful in an area (or many areas) of their lives, but created success through implementing the contents of Jack’s book.

The Finer Details of This Show Include:

* What’s always been his biggest challenge?

* How many books does he read per week?

* What’s one of the weirdest experiences he’s had while speaking?

* What is the rule of 5?

* What does E + O = R mean?

* And so, so much more!

Jack shares these stories in greater detail on the show, and we also talk about why we have such a hard time getting out of our own way. And he has an answer for us: because no one has ever taught us otherwise. We’ve all grown up with limiting beliefs that have been given to us by the world around us (from parents to clergy to school teachers), but no one has told us how to release those beliefs.

By nature we are creatures of habit so until we unlearn those limiting beliefs and create new habits, we’ll continue to get in our own way. But there is a solution: simply create a new habit and cement it faster by pairing it with an existing habit.

If you are committed to doing your age in push-ups every morning, then pair the new push-up habit with brushing your teeth. Every time you brush your teeth, do your age in push-ups after. And you’ll want to give yourself a solid 66 days to make that new habit a lasting one, Jack says the latest research out of London has found we need 66 days (not 30).

Another way to create success in your life is to take 100% responsibility. Jack says the happiest, most successful people he knows take full responsibility for everything in their lives.

And by doing so when something goes wrong you can ask yourself what you did to contribute to the result you got. When you examine a result from that perspective you aren’t defensive. When you’re not defensive you can take steps to learn from the experience and apply it to the next situation, and grow in the process,

We talk about SO much more on this show, like why a no is a good thing and his legendary joke-telling, but one final piece to leave you with is the number one thing all successful reader...

Today’s show is a fun one.  We talk about focus, getting away from distractions, doing something you love versus something you think you’re supposed to be doing, how to organize your thoughts around books and information products, how to take the “Art of the Interview” course, and much much more.

Get conferencetopia, a free course on how to crush events and conferences, and build relationships that will build your business faster.

Participate in the Art of the Interview Beta (Only 3 spots left!) for 50% off, until midnight Friday, August 19.

 

Michael Answers:

* 9:18 Lessons learned from Puerto Rico

* 13:22 The One Thing & Consuming the Art of The Interview

* 16:25 Working alone together

* 18:17 Writers write, they do it because they love it

* 26:03 Turning fiction writing into a business

* 31:12 Organizing your course or book

* 37:11 Thrive 2016

Links and Resources

* ArtOfTheInterview.co

* Conferencetopia.com

* Teachery.co

* Rev.com

* The One Thing

* SoloLab 

* Comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com

* Evernote.com

* ideapaint.com

* Thrive 2016 

* Podcasting Package 500

* Podcasting Package 900

* Zencastr.com

 

Today, I get to have a chat with John Lee Dumas & Kate Erickson from their kitchen in their beautiful new home in Puerto Rico. (Bad Zika…bad!)  We talked about the big move from San Diego to Puerto Rico, how to hire and train employees, the success of The Freedom Journal, and the new book they are launching about productivity and discipline (and no one has more…) called The Self-Mastery Journal.  (http://selfmasteryjournal.com)

 

Mike, Kate and John Discuss:

* 6:23 Transition from San Diego to Puerto Rico

* 10:50 Running EOFire

* 12:40 Growing the team

* 15:09 Hiring Technique and finding the right person

* 23:58 Learning to become a leader

* 28:43 “The first time you should fire someone is the first time you think about it”

* 29:56 Productivity – Planning out your day

* 35:29 “Do things that don’t scale” Brad Feld, Techstars

* 42:22 “You cant scale caring” – Gary Vaynerchuk

* 46:48 The Self Mastery Journal – Refine your process

* 55:36 Collaboration

* 60:01 Getting into hard goods vs online

* 62:00 Productivity Book Recommendations

 

“The first time you should fire someone is the first time you think about it” JLD

 

Links and Resources

* EOFire.com

* Art of the interview Course

* selfmasteryjournal.com

* ZipRecruiter.com

* virtualstafffinder.com

* SoloLab

* The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy 

* Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

 

Sponsors of Today’s Show