Underdog Empowerment

In today's episode we're talking about building genuine relationships with people online. Guest, Michelle Berman, shares her personal and professional journey to success. Michelle grew up in Southern California and went to college on a swimming scholarship at Rutgers University. After graduation, she was told to get a job, but she hated it. She then uprooted for a boy, which didn't work out, but taught her a lot. During a difficult transition that included totaling a car and losing all her money, she made her way back to Southern California while her dad was going through chemo, and decided to stay there. After working in a public relations firm and hating that, Michelle started her own company in 2014, thinking there had to be a better way to do things. She hired a business coach in the UK, flew across the world, and sat in a coffee shop for 8 days with him. She then came back, fired all her clients, and started over. Today, she has done just over a million dollars in core sales and has been on 100 podcasts.

Michelle believes that the core value perspective of building genuine relationships with people online is no different from building them offline. She relates to Zach on how Instagram follower growth can be slow and painful. She shares that, even after starting in 2015, she still doesn't even have 10k followers because her goal is genuine followers. Michelle emphasized the importance of the three Cs: creating connection, conversation, and conversion. These are the links in the chain, and if one is taken out, it doesn't work. She suggested actively going out and commenting, DMing, and engaging in conversations with people on Instagram. Virtual assistants can be hired to do outreach, but it's not genuine. Michelle says you should be waking up to 20 conversations every day otherwise you're doing it wrong. Using a tracker in a Google sheet, she suggested using specific hashtags, geotags, and interacting with 45 comments and 20 story replies a day.

Michelle emphasized the importance of getting personal and using lifestyle photos, rather than branded photoshoot photos as marketing content. She believes storytelling is crucial and being able to sell what you can do for others. However, she also acknowledged the importance of grit and being relatable in marketing content. People don't want to see the perfect picture; they want relatable grit. Michelle now has nine employees, and her goal for next year is to have an eight-hour workweek. She believes family is essential, and will never apologize for spending too much time with her family. She believes it comes down to systems and processes and execution.

Lead generation and monetization are different, and Michelle suggests bringing qualified leads into the funnel. She emphasized the need to have conversations and engage on Instagram, posting in stories and feeds every day. Michelle's strategy is designed to stay top of mind and help people feel connected to her. She engages in 45 comments and 20 story replies every day, and when people message her, she replies. Michelle also re-engages with warm conversations when she has an event coming up, going from a cold to a warm lead. Genuine conversations are better than any ad, and she suggested having at least two back-and-forth conversations before inviting someone to check something out. She emphasized the importance of talking about them, talking about you, and then talking about them again.

In the end, Michelle believes that if she had to start over from scratch with no resources, her advice to herself would be not to give herself an out. She would delete her resume, get off LinkedIn, commit to being an entrepreneur, and go all in without an escape plan. Michelle believes in the power of certainty and confidence and suggests that it's the key to success.

What You'll Learn:

• What the 3 C's to success are.

• What it means to have grit and why you need it.

• The difference between lead generation and monetization.

• What the them-you-them method is and why it works.

Favorite Quote:

"I don't know what it looks like to not succeed, so I have to figure this out." -Michelle Berman

Connect with Michelle:

Instagram

Facebook

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How to Get Involved:

Get podcasting help here.

For more on how to grow your business, check out this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, head over and visit us on Apple Podcasts - leave a review and let us know what you thought! Your feedback keeps us going. Thanks for helping us spread the word!

Most of us have experienced some sort of trauma in our lives. That past trauma is most likely still in the background, not letting you reach your full potential. CEO of Brass and Unity, Kelsi Sheren, knows all about that. As a combat veteran, Kelsi has struggled with depression and PTSD. It's what inspired her business, Brass and Unity, which makes jewelry and sunglasses, donating 20% of all proceeds to veteran mental health organizations.

Many of the organizations she supports deal with non traditional mental health approaches, such as plant based medicine. After Kelsi realized her prescription medications were holding her back from gaining ground in therapy, she turned to cannabis, and then ultimately psychedelics. Having now completed 9 Ayahuasca retreats, Kelsi says she couldn't have fathomed where she's at now. She explains the importance of using any plant based medicine in the right setting with the right guidance. The medicinal journey is only the beginning, the things it opens your mind up to need to be integrated correctly with therapy both on the front and back end.

Kelsi would much rather put plants into her body than prescription antidepressants. She doesn't stop there though, she watches closely what type of food she uses to fuel herself as well. She says it all matters, right down to the different level of energy you get from using only grass-fed beef. Once you start down the food for health rabbit hole, it can be overwhelming. Kelsi suggests starting small; cut out soda and drink more water. Even little things like waiting 90 minutes after you wake up to consume caffeine can make all the difference. Like anything in life, Kelsi's words of wisdom are, 'just start'.

After being on prescription antidepressants for 10 years, Kelsi is happy to say that microdosing psilocybin is her antidepressant now. While it is still federally illegal, it's currently being decriminalized, and seems like it's on its way to being legalized. Like anything else, Kelsi can't stress enough that it should be used in the right setting, under the right guidance. Make sure you're prepared for the places it can take you, and that you're ready to sit through some hard stuff.

What You'll Learn:

• How past traumas keeps you from your full potential.

• What it means to eat for your blood type.

• Why seed oil is bad for your health.

• How Kelsi has healed past traumas.

Favorite Quote:

"You are stronger in my eyes, when you take the time to do this work. You are a more dangerous person in my eyes, if you sit with yourself." -Kelsi Sheren

Connect with Kelsi:

Brass and Unity

Instagram

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How to Get Involved:

Get podcasting help here.

For more on how to grow your business, check out this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, head over and visit us on Apple Podcasts - leave a review and let us know what you thought! Your feedback keeps us going. Thanks for helping us spread the word!

Growing up in Springfield, MO, there wasn't much that Brent Cassity could complain about; life was good. His dad was a bigger than life character that found success in everything he did, including owning multiple businesses. Brent wanted to be just like his old man. As he rounded out 8th grade, Brent was excited to embark on his high school journey and follow in his dad's footsteps. Then, a bombshell was dropped on Brent. His father informed Brent that he had gotten into some financial trouble and was looking at prison time. Not only would Brent's dad be pleading guilty and spending 6 months in prison, but the family had to move to St. Louis. Brent was devastated, and can remember thinking this is the one thing he wouldn't follow in his dad's footsteps.

Brent went on to do well in high school and college. He planned on becoming an attorney, but found that he couldn't pass the LSAT. His backup plan was to work at the one business his dad had left, which was in pre-arranged funerals. Brent's dad was all for the idea, and when Brent said he didn't want to be in his dad's shadow, he sent him to run their new Austin, TX location. Brent did great, and grew the region, before his brother ultimately came into the business. One day Brent's brother found a tape of their grandma 3 years after she had passed. The brothers realized that when someone famous dies, their highlight reel isn't far behind, and their memory is preserved. They decided this should be the case for everyone. So, they started a production company that specialized in honoring the dead. The business took off and they got a lot of press, including a documentary by HBO called The Young and The Dead.

Everything was going great, business was booming, Brent had a beautiful wife and 3 daughters, and lots of time was spent at their vacation home. Brent was on top of the world when he got blindsided. Their funeral business got into some trouble, and they found themselves in a criminal investigation. As the trial approached, Brent decided to throw in the towel and plead guilty. Facing 6 years in prison, Brent found himself alone, drinking, and thinking about how his family would be better off without him. Ready to end it all, something hit Brent, and he realized that wasn't the legacy he wanted to leave for his family. He decided to stop looking at himself as a victim, and instead, as a survivor. At the age of 47, Brent found himself following in his dad's footsteps.

As he entered prison, Brent found himself thinking that everything he knew, and everything he was, was behind him. He realized everything ahead of him was unknown. The thing that surprised him most about prison was the helpfulness of the other inmates. During his first phone call to his family, he confidently told them that he was going to be alright. He quickly found that the way he tackled certain things as a CEO, could also be beneficial in prison. There were 5 main things that he carried with him that helped him to survive prison. He calls them his survivor hacks.

The first of Brent's hacks was to not say a lot, but to look around a lot. He knew he had to humble himself and learn from the others around him on how to make it through successfully. Second, he knew he needed to have a passion to focus on, something that would keep him going when he felt otherwise stuck. His third hack was to write down a daily win, even on the days he had to look a lot harder to find one. Fourth, he was committed to learning from his mistakes. So many people are afraid of making mistakes, so they don't even try, but Brent knows your mistakes don't define you if you learn from them. Finally, Brent refused to give in or give up. He didn't want to become institutionalized, and so he decided to keep being himself, regardless of the circumstances.

Brent can recall many people losing themselves in prison. They lost sight of who they were outside of those 4 walls, and let prison become their new normal. It would get to a point where people would be months away from release and they would self-sabotage because they were afraid of the outside world. This phenomenon was also noted by a football player, Damon West, who went to prison for drugs and had a hard time adjusting. He went on to write a book called The Coffee Bean, about an antidote he was told in prison that helped him make it through. Prison was compared to a pot of boiling water, in which a carrot becomes soft, an egg becomes hard, but a coffee bean changes the water. The lesson was that you can't let prison make you soft or hard, instead you have to be the change regardless of the circumstances.

Since leaving prison, Brent has found success again, even writing the book Nightmare Success: Loyalty, Betrayal, Life Behind Bars, Adapting, and Finally Breaking Free. While promoting his book on podcasts, Brent got the idea to start his own. He interviews former inmates about life before, during, and after prison. Brent says the podcast, Nightmare Success In and Out, is about hope and overcoming. He hopes it will help people to see that prison can happen to anyone, and to not judge a book by its cover, because our past shouldn't dictate our future.

What You'll Learn:

• The similarities between surviving as a business CEO and prison inmate.
• The mindset difference between a survivor and a victim.
• The thing that surprised Brent most about prison.
• Why so many people return to prison and how, as a society, we can help change that.

Favorite Quote:

"Nothing is ever as bad as your mind makes it out to be." -Brent Cassity

Connect with Brent:

BrentCassity.com

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

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How to Get Involved:

Get podcasting help here.

For more on how to grow your business, check out this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, head over and visit us on Apple Podcasts - leave a review and let us know what you thought! Your feedback keeps us going. Thanks for helping us spread the word!

One of Zach's goals for 2023 is to grow his email subscribers list. So, while he's learning how to make that happen, he's sharing that knowledge with you as well. Greg Johnson is one of the experts on how email marketing works, and he's sharing some of his best tips and tricks. As a coach and consultant, Greg is passionate about e-commerce and digital marketing. Along the way he's learned that you almost have an unfair advantage for sales when you already have an audience to sell to. That's where email marketing comes in.

Think of it as a 'one-to-many' platform that feels more like a 'one-to-one' experience for the reader. Just like a podcast, an email series builds rapport over time. It's an opportunity for people to get to know, like, and trust you, before you try to sell them on something. It all starts with what you can offer a potential subscriber. For example, Zach offers his podcast listeners a podcast roadmap that will help them to launch and rank a podcast of their own, when they subscribe to his emails. From there you want to consistently deliver quality content to keep them engaged. Zach chooses to follow up his podcast roadmap with an email series about breaking down objections.

Once you've provided your subscribers with a win, you can introduce the option to purchase something. Zach gives his readers the option to book a call or buy an advanced course if they need or want further help. There are plenty of people out there that will write a check for a shortcut. Don't forget to throw some testimonials in there, so that people can have some level of belief that if they buy this, they're going to get the result that they want. The tone and content of your messaging really depends on where your reader is; their level of comfort and trust with you.

People focus so much on the size of their email list, but it's not the only metric that matters. What good is a large email list if you have a low open, or click-through rate? If your end goal is engaged people, give them a quick win, and then continue to deliver results. If you don't have a strong click-through rate, you're teaching email providers that your email isn't important. If your emails are deemed unimportant they end up in the spam folder. If you don't want your content to get demoted, if you want it to show up in the primary inbox, you need people to actively engage. One trick to stay out of the spam folder, is to include in your first email a request to hit reply, even with a blank response, so that your emails will continue to make it to them.

A lot of effort goes into obtaining email subscribers. So, if you can get it to stick, that's so much more valuable than always working on acquisition. Don't worry about building your email list until you have the back of house stuff dialed in. When you are ready for email traffic, paid traffic can be beneficial. With Google or Facebook, you can target people that are interested in what you have to offer. Then, hit them with an email opt-in that promises some sort of valuable offer and quality content.

With all of the knowledge that Greg has acquired, he says his number one piece of advice to beginners is something he was once told by a mentor. That is, the fastest way to get something going, is to provide massive value to someone else. So, what's the easiest way to do that? Look around and find out who controls massively valuable resources. For example, Greg found a successful YouTuber, with a big presence, who had a product to sell, but no email list. He told that individual to give him six months, and that he could build a machine to generate sales. The catch was that Greg would get a revenue share. That way, if he does well, he makes some money, but if he doesn't deliver, the individual is out nothing. Plus, when you do deliver, they're going to tell all of their friends about you.

What You'll Learn:

• What it means to work towards long-term customer value.
• How you can use one asset to build another.
• How to work with cold traffic vs warm traffic.
• When it's beneficial to pay for traffic.

Favorite Quote:

"The total list size is only one metric, and it's not necessarily the most important one."

-Greg Johnson

Connect with Greg:

Email Magic

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How to Get Involved:

Get podcasting help here.

For more on how to grow your business, check out this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, head over and visit us on Apple Podcasts - leave a review and let us know what you thought! Your feedback keeps us going. Thanks for helping us spread the word!

There's a problem Zach has been trying to solve for years, but never went all in on. While putting together his goals for 2023, Zach decided now is the time to build that large email list. With a goal of 50,000 subscribers, Zach wants to build a newsletter that creates transformation, and builds deep connections. So, he reached out on Facebook and asked his network if anyone knew someone that could help him make that goal a reality. Seth Ellsworth was tagged as the expert on the matter, and Zach has him on the show today to teach all of us the ins and outs of building a strong email presence.

It all starts with creating a transformation for your subscribers. Having been involved in high-ticket coaching/consulting since 2004, Seth has seen it all. What he has found works is the transformation first, transaction second philosophy. Seth prefaces by saying he's not a marketing scientist, he didn't do great in school, and has an average IQ, but he knows what works and what doesn't. He's found that when you care about the individuals you want to help, the money follows. Too many people look at marketing as a way to optimize a transaction, but all that does is violate the relationship you're trying to build by throwing stuff at people that they didn't ask for. The relationship is what matters.

People can feel when someone is in it for the long game, versus when they just want to turn a quick buck. Let your email campaign be a side effect of someone seeking a transformation. When you can offer a transformation that has both an internal and external payoff, you're golden. Lead with something that people actually want. Take people that want to start a podcast, for instance. Start with an email series that leads people to publishing their first episode. Not only will they have something tangible to show for it, they'll have gotten over their internal fear of starting. Then, people will associate a breakthrough with you. Once you've given them a win, they're going to want more.

The traditional direct response style funnel no longer works. It feels like you're trying to extract money without providing any value. A deposit funnel is a great option. For this strategy, you would ask for a deposit, let's say $95, that people can get back when they finish your experience. The psychology behind this is that people will feel invested and are more likely to follow through. This also sends the message that their transformation is more valuable than the money. Once you've helped them to get that first win, they'll want more. Then you can offer them a few different options for their deposit. They can choose to leave it as a tip if they found value in what you gave them, or they can credit it towards your full training or services.

Seth doesn't even track his numbers throughout the year. At the end of the year, he did calculate how many people entered his upfront experience, and how many finished. Traditionally, it's been about 96%, which is really good. Then he looked at how much cash he ended up collecting, and found that he made an average of $660 per subscriber. Some people will call it a win when they make $1 per subscriber. It's all about optimizing for a transformation without going broke. Seth never intended to sell or teach the deposit funnel, but he's since decided to offer a free walkthrough of it at DepositFunnel.com.

The life coaching, high-ticket space is very competitive and extremely hard to make money at. Seth helped one such company to implement a deposit funnel, and their first beta test had 20 people go through, and resulted in $41,000 in sales after the initial free transformation. Seth says you don't even need a blog, or even a website, this can all be done through email. Seth himself spent $1,500, got 12 people and $1,200 in deposits. All 12 people went through the full experience, and 5 bought the full program at $1,000 per person. That means his $1,500 investment brought in $6,200. People are too smart for sleazy sales tactics, and the hardcore direct response method just doesn't work anymore. Seth knows this from experience, as he's tried it all, and figured out what works and what doesn't. At the end of the day, Seth says the only thing that matters is staying true to yourself. Tactics don't matter if you don't believe in yourself.

If you want to be a part of helping Zach to build a strong email presence, and you're ready to create a transformation through email, go to UnderdogEmpowerment.com/Subscribe.

What You'll Learn:

• How a deposit funnel works and the philosophy behind it.
• How to overcome various objections.
• How Seth made $660 per email subscriber.
• The difference between warm and cold traffic.

Favorite Quote:

"Somebody who's a faker, or a taker, can't run a funnel like this." -Seth Ellsworth

Connect with Seth:

Deposit Funnel

Breakthrough Challenge

Facebook

Twitter

______________________________________________________________________

How to Get Involved:

Get podcasting help here.

For more on how to grow your business, check out this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, head over and visit us on Apple Podcasts - leave a review and let us know what you thought! Your feedback keeps us going. Thanks for helping us spread the word!

We're all familiar with digital marketing, but have you heard of neuromarketing? Chances are you haven't since today's guest, Alex Vonderhaar, is one of the only one's talking about it. It's completely unorthodox and will flip the script on marketing as we know it. Alex is no stranger to the Underdog Empowerment podcast, so if you missed his story before, check it out on this past episode. Today he's sharing the exact framework he uses to bridge neuroscience and digital marketing to get results that last.

As cliche as it sounds, Alex says it all starts with mindset. If you've never heard of the prime number maze, it was something discovered by physicist Richard Feynman. He found that rats could be trained to make it through a maze by turning at every even or every odd number, but they couldn't be trained to turn at prime numbers because it was too abstract. He found that there could be patterns in our daily lives that, if followed, would lead us to success, but we just couldn't comprehend them. In other words, we could see the how, but the why may not make sense yet, and that kept people stuck.

Alex's work has been around getting people to follow the how, accepting that they might not understand the why until after the fact. This will be extremely beneficial going forward, especially with how social media has pulled a 180 in 2022. The FTC has recently come in and said that people without clear demonstrations to get results, can't claim results. There was a big click funnels guy recently that claimed he could get people all these results, but when you went through his system that often wasn't the case. He was teaching the why, not the how.

Because of these changes, Alex predicts the entire marketing and client acquisition process will need to be revamped over the next couple of years. One small step that Alex recommends making is to stop putting all the focus on ROI, but more so on the ROMI, or return on marketing initiative. It all starts with identifying your TAM, or total addressable market. For Alex, that's business owners making at least $100,000/month. You can narrow that down to an avatar within your TAM, which would be your ideal client. Now, how can you visually empower that person? Alex uses the acronym of SUCCES (yes, that's success without the last s): Simple, uncertainty, concrete, credibility, emotion, and stories.

Let's start with simple. Is your product or service straightforward and easy to understand? If so, move on to uncertainty. We can use an air of uncertainty or mystery to build up the hype. Now, concrete it in people's minds, make it something they can't easily forget. As far as credibility, we have both internal and external. Internal focuses on convincing details, such as data and statistics. For external, you can either establish yourself as an authority, or paint competitors as an anti-authority. Tapping into your audience's emotions can be done by focusing on one person. It's hard to tap into the emotions of a whole group, but if you can make one person emotional, it will impact everyone around them. It's the power of association. All of this can get people to pay attention, understand, care, feel secure, and even act, but ultimately, you have to be a storyteller.

This process works for both products and services, but it will take time, so don't give up before the payoff. Alex recommends a 90 day minimum. It's all about demonstrating, over and over, so that they can see the results. Your top of funnel should be built around blogs and YouTube videos, where you continuously demonstrate your product or service's success. You can use both of those avenues to build your email and SMS lists. That's where the middle of the funnel comes in as something like a Facebook community; somewhere you can hold them and keep them warm. Throughout all of this, you're getting them to know, like, and trust you. Potential clients should have the opportunity to vet you and trust you before they reach any traditional sales pitch. It's all about playing the long game.

We want people to be self-validating as they move down the funnel. If you force them down the funnel, even if they buy your product or service, they're bound to quickly end up in the 'what have you done for me lately' phase. If they've sold themselves, the honeymoon phase will last much longer and they won't go there. You want potential clients to feel like they're the only one that matters, and this can be done by letting them establish credibility on their own terms.

Too often the game plan is to just dump money into paid ads and see what happens. It might work, but it's a gamble. Wouldn't you rather go in with a strategy that uses your best assets and increases your chances of success? Not to mention, so many people will run ads before they've gotten their email, SMS, or website in order. That's counter-productive! You want all parts of your funnel growing together. So, remember, listen to the experts, and listen to the how. Don't worry about the why in the beginning, because chances are you can't see what they see… yet.

What You'll Learn:

• What TAM is and how to identify yours.
• Why you should focus more on ROMI than ROI.
• Where a podcast can fit into your funnel.
• Why back of funnel gets overlooked and why it's just as important.

Favorite Quote:

"All great marketing takes a little bit of time to sink in, and most people give up on it way too early." -Alex Vonderhaar

Connect With Alex:

Instagram

Neuro-Insider Newsletter

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How to Get Involved:

Get podcasting help here.

For more on how to grow your business, check out this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, head over and visit us on Apple Podcasts - leave a review and let us know what you thought! Your feedback keeps us going. Thanks for helping us spread the word!

One of the first people to take Zach's original Podcast Powertrain courses was Jay Dan Gumm. He credits Zach's guidance with propelling him to where he is today. As the host of Background Check, Jay Dan aims to help people with a past realize their future. Having spent some time in prison himself, Jay Dan knows first hand how hard it can be to not only stay out of prison, but to elevate your life.

Growing up, Jay Dan was raised in the church and went to private school, but he was a rebel. Becoming an alcoholic by age 13, Jay Dan was kicked out of two junior high schools. He straightened up for a little bit since his mother was a teacher at the school, but when he went to college he picked up right where he left off. He can't count the number of times he was arrested for alcohol related incidents. After his 5th DWI, Jay Dan was facing prison. He had a court appearance for a bond hearing, and the judge told Jay Dan that he didn't see a bright future for him, so his bond was denied. He ended up spending 3 years in prison, but it wasn't all bad. That's where Jay Dan's faith journey began. He says he heard a voice tell him that there's more to life than getting drunk. While in prison, Jay Dan was mentored by two other inmates. When they got out, he thought they'd go change the world, but instead they landed back in prison before Jay Dan even left. That's when he realized he wanted to help people getting out of jail to not only stay out, but to thrive. That's how the organization Forgiven Felons came to be.

With his own struggles to get hired as a convicted felon, Jay Dan decided to start his own handyman business. The problem was things would get slow in the fall and winter months. So, when someone asked Jay Dan to hang Christmas lights for them, he realized that's how he could get through the slow season. He now has as many customers as he can handle alone. Still, he hopes to scale the business into year-round exterior lighting so that he can hire other felons that need work. Forgiven Felons has also grown into transitional housing, and soon a resource center. Often visiting prisons to spread his story, Jay Dan can't imagine going back to his old ways.

When Covid hit in 2020, Jay Dan could no longer go to the prisons to speak with the inmates. That's when he says a voice inside told him to start a podcast. He didn't know the first thing about starting a podcast, and was told he should check out Zack Babcock. Jay Dan took all of Zach's courses, bought all the equipment he recommended, and hit the ground running. He dove right in, with his first guest being a man that was wrongly convicted for murder, and his second, a lady from the Netflix documentary, I Am A Killer. He's since interviewed inmates, a retired warden, and soon a current warden. Jay Dan's success came from implementing the information he received from Zach. After all, effort is not all you need, you need it in the right direction.

Another incentive to succeed that Jay Dan offers anyone that's worked for him for at least a year and wants to start their own business, is that he'll help them. He will buy them startup assets, and all he asks in return is that they give back to the Forgiven Felons organization in some way when they're able. Wherever Jay Dan goes, he asks what his purpose is. He knows that everything happens for a reason, and believes in always doing the next right thing. He stays on the right path through discipline and consistency. He knows that having core values to live by is important. His family's core values are love, honor, generosity, and curiosity.

If you would like to build a dominant brand like Jay Dan with a podcast, you can check out Underdog Empowerment. They've helped hundreds of entrepreneurs to get launched, ranked, and to grow their audience. Simply head to UnderdogEmpowerment.com/Apply. You can jump on a call with Zach to see if it's a good fit for you. In addition, you're going to want to be at the next Dog Pound Live event. Happening July 14th, tickets are available now over at UnderdogEmpowerment.com/Events.

What You'll Learn:

• How Jay Dan found his faith in prison.
• What books have changed Jay Dan's mindset.
• Why your family should have their own core values.
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

"We get caught in the land of familiarity and complacency and we don't go pursue our dream." -Jay Dan Gumm

Connect With Jay Dan:

Forgiven Felons

Instagram

Facebook

______________________________________________________________________

How to Get Involved:

Get podcasting help here.

For more on how to grow your business, check out this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, head over and visit us on Apple Podcasts - leave a review and let us know what you thought! Your feedback keeps us going. Thanks for helping us spread the word!

During the holiday season a lot of people slow down, but not Zach's guest, Garrett Atkins. Today's episode is being recorded in Garrett's studio, Half Coast Studios in St Louis, MO. There, he records his own podcast, The Official St. Louis Podcast. Garrett was once named the Most Admired Business Leader in St. Louis, but he wasn't always business savvy. He says his entrepreneurial journey started in high school at the age of 16. His first job was knocking on doors and pitching windows and siding. He was bringing in $30,000/year at 16 and was quickly promoted to supervisor. Having learned a lot about sales, his next lesson would be in recruiting more salespeople. Not very academically disciplined, Garrett would try his hand at college and drop out soon after.

From there, Garrett job-hopped quite a bit. He sold cars, did inside sales at a startup, worked for credit repair companies, and at mortgage companies. Garrett went through 7 or 8 jobs in just 3 years, but he credits that for where he is today. Working an array of jobs, Garrett gained a lot of knowledge. It was while working at the startup company that Garrett saw how easy it was to start a business. By age 20, Garrett started a full service digital marketing agency. His success with that company was the catalyst for starting other companies. Three years later, Garrett was able to start his recording studio. As most of his friends were just coming out of college, not having had a real job yet, Garrett was already a successful business leader.

Beyond business lessons, Garrett learned a lot of life lessons along the way too. He learned that nothing is guaranteed and that family is everything. Watching his parent's business go under in 2008 through no fault of their own, leading to the loss of their home, was a pivotal point in Garrett's life. What could have scared him away from entrepreneurship, instead gave him the drive to take control of his own destiny. It's also the reason he wanted to have his hands in more than one business, because if one went under, he still had backup plans.

What You'll Learn:

• What it means to 'fail forward'.
• How the appraisal business changed in 2008.
• Why a backup plan is always a good idea.
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

"Unorthodox business strategies are how you differentiate yourself from other people." -Garrett Atkins

How to Get Connected:

Personal Website

Vie Media

Half Coast Studios

______________________________________________________________________

How to Get Involved:

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For more on how to grow your business, check out this episode.

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What are your plans for 2023? If it's to dominate every aspect of life, you're in the right place. Zach promises that if you follow this process to a T you'll do just that. It all starts with having your vision super dialed in. When we know what the target is at every moment, we plan how we'll get there, and we execute daily, that's when we dominate. And again, we're not just talking about dominating in one aspect of life, but in every aspect of life. Mind, body, soul, relationships, finance, they're all interconnected. What legacy do we want to leave behind in each of these areas? What's our plan to make that happen? Are we disciplined enough to see it through?

Have you made a legacy statement yet? Do you know how you want to be remembered, or what lasting impact you want to have? Start there. Write it down and be clear. Now, start making plans. What are the goals you'll need to achieve to make that legacy a reality? Set 10 year, 5 year, and 1 year goals, down to monthly, weekly, and daily goals. All that's left now is execution. Having the discipline to be consistent with your daily habits that are required to meet your goals is key.

Zach recommends taking some time away each year, going to a relaxing place, away from your everyday life. There you can reflect and update your legacy as needed. Just like you will continue to evolve, so will it. Update your plans; consider creating a vision board, so you can see them every day. To stay disciplined, check in every quarter to start mapping out the next quarter. As you bust out your current goals, you can get dialed in on the next quarter's goals as you move closer. Then, review your plans and disciplines weekly. Don't be afraid to make tweaks when planning out the next week. Zach uses a free app called Habit to track his achievements every day. Execution is the most important piece.

If 2023 is your year to make a massive impact, you're going to want to be at the Alpha Dog Pound Live event on July 14th, 2023. Together we're going to learn how to build dominant brands. Ticket prices will rise as we get closer to the event, so snag your spot ASAP at UnderdogEmpowerment.com/Events.

What You'll Learn:

• Why you need a legacy statement.
• Hot to develop a plan to achieve your goals.
• What clarifying questions to ask yourself about your goals.
• How to get your seat for Alpha Dog Pound Live.

Favorite Quote:

"Execution is the most important piece." -,Zach Babcock

How to Get Involved:

Get podcasting help here.

For more on how to grow your business, check out this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, head over and visit us on Apple Podcasts - leave a review and let us know what you thought! Your feedback keeps us going. Thanks for helping us spread the word!

Tomas Keenan, author of Unf*ck Your Business, host of the Step It Up Entrepreneur podcast, and head coach at Step It Up Academy, is back on to share what he's been up to since his first appearance. If you'd like to hear more of Tomas's backstory, make sure to check out his last interview on Underdog Empowerment HERE. It's been almost 2 years since Tomas has been on the show, and in just the last year so much has happened. There was some good, some bad, and some ugly, but Tomas was able to find the silver lining in most of it.

In September of 2020 Tomas had moved to Dallas, TX to start Step It Up Academy. Just 30 days in, he was recruited to work at a local coaching mastermind in operations. He ended up doing this for two years, all the while paying $800/ month on software licenses for his coaching business that he had yet to launch. Almost canceling a couple times, Tomas is glad he didn't because in July of this year he left the company he had been working for. With everything still in place for Step It Up Academy, Tomas was able to hit the ground running.

In the midst of all of that, Tomas found himself in Dallas in December of 2021 to give a speech at a Mobile Electronics Association event. The whole family was in attendance as Tomas likes to show his kids what he does for a living. The morning after a successful event, Tomas rolled over to spoon his wife and noticed a lump in her breast. He encouraged her to get it checked out and they went on their way. In February of 2022, Tomas is speaking at the same event, this time in Vegas, when he gets a text from his wife that they need to talk. Not speaking to him the way she usually does, Tomas immediately knew something was wrong. When they spoke, Tomas's wife told him that she had been diagnosed with two types of breast cancer. By May she had a double mastectomy, and by June she was starting chemo for prevention.

Launching a new business in the middle of all of that wasn't what Tomas had envisioned, but he's found his family is right where they need to be. As his wife finishes up radiation and starts on her recovery, Tomas is more focused than ever on his family. He's found that kids don't actually need a lot of time from you, they just need quality time. For all the parents that they need to take the kids to Disneyland to make an impression, Tomas suggests just being present in the everyday moments. Curling up together to watch a show, or throwing the football for 15 minutes, can make all the difference in a kids day.

He has that time to spend with his family because he's very intentional and strict with his routine. He's also freed up a lot of his attention by not having to be in control of everything when it comes to business. He's gotten very good at eliminating, automating, and delegating. If it really doesn't serve a purpose and is just busy work, eliminate it. If it's something you could do well once and then automate, by all means do that. If it's something someone else can do, give up the reins. If that last one scares you, try the do it, document it, delegate it model. Do it yourself, exactly how you want it done, document that process, and then delegate it to someone that can follow directions.

If you've enjoyed listening to Tomas and would like to hear more of what he has to say, check him out at the Alpha Dog Pound Live event. Tomas is the newest speaker to be added to the lineup, and one you won't want to miss. Make sure you reserve your spot ASAP before ticket prices rise, at UnderdogEmpowerment.com/Events.

What You'll Learn:

• What you should do when you're emotionally charged.
• What your kids need from you, and what they don't.
• How to know what to eliminate, automate, and delegate.
• Why everyone needs to be good at marketing.

Favorite Quote:

"I'm not scared of the work, but why do something 2-3 times if you don't have to." -Tomas Keenan

Connect with Tomas:

UnF*ck Your Business

LinkedIn

Instagram

How to Get Involved:

Get podcasting help here.

For more on how to grow your business, check out this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, head over and visit us on Apple Podcasts - leave a review and let us know what you thought! Your feedback keeps us going. Thanks for helping us spread the word!