The Unicorn Perspective

None of the “sexy” and big risks your favorite influencers are taking are real. Your big payoff will come through investing your time and energy in your work, then investing those profits. This week on The Unicorn Perspective I chatted with longtime friend and digital marketing wizard Ezra Firestone about deliberately building audiences and finances through consistency, the UFC, Formula 1 racing, how Joe Rogan has built his empire, and more. 

About the guest:

Ezra is the CEO and co-founder of a massive cosmetics line called BOOM by Cindy Joseph, CEO and Co-Founder of Zipify Apps, a SAAS company focused on Shopify. He also founded Smart Marketer, which is an industry leader in digital marketing. 

Connect with Ezra on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ezrafirestone

What you’ll learn:

• The benefits and pitfalls of being very disciplined
• How startups can no longer be nimble when they reach a certain size
• The difference between “I’ve got something and I wanna make it better” customers versus “I’ve got nothing and I want something” customers

Choosing revolution over money. Collecting art versus NFTs. Turning significance into a legacy. Brian Burt, leading mind & educator to Amazon & digital marketing entrepreneurs, and I get into all of these topics this week on The Unicorn Perspective. We also talk about the battle between corporations and creative minds, neural implants, the idea of the dollar and more. 

About the guest:
Brian Burt is a New Jersey native, but spent the majority of his life in Arizona and Chicago before moving to Austin to launch CANOPY Management. As a lifelong Entrepreneur, Brian has founded (more than a handful) of 7 to 8 figure businesses & is a successful Amazon Seller himself. As the Founder of the Leading Amazon ‘Done-For-You’ Agency, a five-time 2 Comma Club Award Winner, three-time Amazon Seller Award Recipient, and an Eight Figure Award Winner - Brian is recognized as a Leading Mind & Educator to Amazon & Digital Marketing Entrepreneurs. 

Connect with Brian at www.canopymanagement.com 

What you’ll learn:

-How everything in life is about momentum, whether it is positive or negative

-What Brian thinks Amazon and Google will look like in 10 years

-The importance of having “the string to your kite”

Dog-Chasing-It’s-Tail environment. Hustle culture. Toxicity. Akbar Sheikh and I talk about the dark side of entrepreneurship and internet marketing on this episode of The Unicorn Perspective. We also address how eliminating the value ladder has brought success to Akbar and those around him, how we often overlook the happiness factor, the fake it ‘til you make it mentality and more. 

About Akbar:

Akbar Sheikh is a #1 International best-selling author, a global keynote speaker on stages such as Tedx, master of ethical principles of persuasion, has helped 11 funnels hit seven figures, a father of two, and a philanthropist with a concentration on building water wells for the needy, sponsoring underprivileged orphans and giving the gift of vision back to blind children.

An avid user of the Clickfunnels platform and top 1% earner in the world - Akbar spends his time finding ways to better serve his clients through a unique 7 on 1 coaching program designed to get coaches, consultants, course creators, agencies - or anyone with that offers ongoing support calls with their clients, get to 6 and 7 figures without ad spend.

He has been awarded multiple 2-Comma-Club awards, has been featured in multiple entrepreneurial focused publications, and most recently was awarded the IUBCCI Trust Mark Seal Award from The International Union of Bilateral Chambers of Commerce and Industry. This award is for being one of the best business training platforms in the world and proven to be trustworthy by bringing awareness and creating confidence in individuals that want to excel in personal business or become a successful coach. His mission: Help people make more, so they can give more to their favorite families, charities, and communities, thus making the world a better place.

Connect with Akbar:

https://www.facebook.com/coachakbar/
akbarsheikh.com/gift

What you’ll learn:

-Why you should continue to “chase” customer after they make a purchase

-The difference between a hustle culture and a giving culture

-How to look at profitability holistically

I sat down with Dee Deng, the co-founder and CEO of Right Hook Digital, to discuss the seismic changes coming in how commerce and content works. We also talked about traffic channel strategies, what retargeting and data evaluation may look like in the future, and the importance of focusing on brand development instead of marketing schemes. 

What you’ll learn:

• Why you should consider email list rentals over Facebook and Google ads
• How an inability to pivot and pivot quickly enough could cause major issues for Big Tech and for your own business
• Why shifting your focus from your ad sets to the quality of your offer is necessary

About the guest:
Dee Deng is the co-founder and CEO of Right Hook Digital - an eCommerce growth & performance marketing agency; managing millions in ad spend for their growth clients across Australia and the USA.

Obsessed over 'delivering wow' - Dee leads his agency team of 80+ while sharing his team's learnings & insights; educating founders & brand owners on how to scale profitably and sustainably.

Most recently, Right Hook has been listed as one of Australia's Fastest Growing Companies of 2019/2020 by the Australian Financial Review.

Connect with Dee:

https://instagram.com/realdoseofdee

https://twitter.com/realdoseofdee

https://linkedin.com/in/deedeng

https://fb.com/growgreat.tv 

https://fb.com/realdoseofdee

Entering the world of digital marketing and dropshipping is easier than ever. But what does that mean for new entrepreneurs and the world as a whole? Brand-builder, author and friend, Martyn Cook joins me this week on The Unicorn Perspective to talk about the current and future state of ecommerce. 

About the guest:
Martyn Cook has been marketing and selling online since the age of 14 when he learnt to build websites to impress a girl (it didn’t work!). Since then he’s sold everything from dog collars to houses leveraging the internet.

Martyn Co-Founded a Software company, Built multiple highly successful Ecommerce Brands, Co-Founded a High-Level Digital Entrepreneur Mastermind that hosts luxury meet-ups around the world, has spoken from stages around the world and still somehow found the time to self-publish two books.

Martyn’s latest project, http://noobru.com/ , a cognition drink, is on a mission to fortify 1 Billion meals by 2025, helping to tackle the 2 billion person, worldwide malnutrition problem

Martyn absolutely loves connecting with interesting Entrepreneurs and he regularly does that via his Smarter Destiny Podcast and Community.

Connect with Martyn:

https://smarterdestiny.com

facebook.com/smarterdestiny

instagram.com/smarter_destiny

What you’ll learn:

-Why this time of uncertainty is exciting for entrepreneurs 

-The importance of brand loyalty in your ecommerce business

-How selling online has changed between 2014 and 2021

-What the blockchain economy might look like in the future

How do successful entrepreneurs balance work and family life? Especially when they have five children? Learn from Depesh Mandalia, agency owner and dad, on this week’s episode of The Unicorn Perspective. We get into work-life balance, freedom versus finances, leaving a legacy, and more. 

About the guest
Depesh Mandalia is an International speaker, educator, agency owner and Founder of The BPM Method. He believes successful advertising relies on simply getting four thing working effectively: your Product, your Audience, your Offer and your Funnel. His "Advertising Core-4 Model" was developed over 15 years and is responsible for delivering over $100M through Facebook ads alone.

Learn more here: https://depeshmandalia.com/

What you’ll learn
-How to schedule your day to make sure you are making the most or both your personal and professional life
-What you can do to help your children find their path
-The ways in which marketing professionals should shift as platforms become more unstable
-How your reputation is more important than your revenue

This week I sat down with my mentor and friend Rich Schefren for the third time on The Unicorn Perspective! We discussed the major issues surrounding Big Tech, Wall Street, and repeating history. Rich also talks about his latest project, The Coalition To Save Internet Business. 

About the guest:
Known as the Guru to the Gurus because he's the coach behind many of today's top online marketers early in their careers i.e Russell Brunson of Clickfunnels, Ryan Deiss of Digital Marketer, and countless others (all names you'd recognize). He's the only consultant on the planet with a $1 billion dollar testimonial for his work with Agora Publishing, and in total has been responsible for his clients raking in an additional $15 Billion in increased sales, all it of documented. The name of his company is Strategic Profits, where he offers coaching programs in marketing and business growth, and has a free daily email named Daily Insider Secrets.

What you’ll learn:
-Why you should be concerned about Big Tech today
-What you can do to help mitigate potential damages caused by Big Tech
-The importance of looking at the cost of a course versus what you’re losing by not having the skills that course teaches

This week on the Unicorn Perspective, I sat down with marketing and SaaS expert Eric Siu. We talk about how acquiring new businesses should be considered part of leveling up, how plans for expansion and exit strategies are vital, and how gaming can create excellent leaders. 

About the guest:
Eric Siu is the CEO of content intelligence software ClickFlow, which helps you grow your traffic while looking like a genius. He also owns ad agency Single Grain and has worked with companies such as Amazon, Airbnb, Salesforce and Uber to acquire more customers.

He hosts two podcasts: Marketing School with Neil Patel and Leveling Up, which combined have over 30 million downloads to date.

He also speaks frequently around the world on marketing and SaaS.

Learn more by visiting www.levelingup.com


What you’ll learn:

-Why you should be willing to defer income for investments

-The importance of sacrifice to build an excellent brand

-What characteristics ideal internet marketers have

-How video games can build good leadership skills

On this week’s episode of The Unicorn Perspective, podcasting pro Jeremy Slate joins me to talk about all things media. Is podcasting too popular now? What makes a podcast engaging? Is Clubhouse worth the time users are spending on it? Will there be democratization of social media?

Books we referenced:
Hate Inc. by Matt Taibbi
#deleted by Allum Bokhari
Don't Burn This Book by Dave Rubin

About the guest:
Jeremy Slate is the founder of the Create Your Own Life Podcast, which studies the highest performers in the world. He studied literature at Oxford University, specializes in using podcasting and new media to create celebrity and was ranked #1 in iTunes New and #78 in the iTunes top 100. He was named the #1 Podcast to Listen to by INC Magazine in 2019, as well as being named a Top Influencer by Forbes.

After his success in podcasting, Jeremy Slate and his wife, Brielle Slate, founded Command Your Brand to help entrepreneurs get their message out by appearing as guests on podcasts.

Connect with Jeremy:
https://commandyourbrand.com/

https://www.jeremyryanslate.com/

https://twitter.com/JeremyRyanSlate

https://www.facebook.com/Jeremyryanslate/

https://www.instagram.com/jeremyryanslate/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-ryan-slate-bb7b284a/

What you’ll learn:

-If Clubhouse is actually worth it

-Why certain podcasts stand out

-The problem with constantly seeking instant fame

-How and why the media keeps us angry

How can we handle work-life balance? The onslaught of notifications we receive every day? Up and coming technology? Bridging the divide between people who don’t agree? Derek Thurston and I answer these questions and more on this week’s episode of The Unicorn Perspective. 

About the guest:

Derek has been an ecommerce entrepreneur since 2013, having driven more than $130 million in revenue. He is currently enjoying building a pet brand, BarxBuddy, launched in Summer 2019. Coming from a finance and accounting background , he is passionate about analytics and understanding every nuance of ecommerce operations and how they drive financial success. Prior experience in his career included Big 4 public accounting, CFO roles as well as outsourced CFO and financial consulting, and M&A transactions.

Connect with Derek:

Instagram - @djt813

LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/derekthurston/

What you’ll learn

-How to help productivity while working from home

-Why purpose is important to our society

-How focus shifts as you age

-The importance of objectivity in journalism