SFR 109: My Funnel Insurance...

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There ONE skill that protects me against any mishap as I launch funnels...

Hey, what's going on everyone. This Steve Larsen, and you're listening to Sales Funnel radio.

Welcome to Sales Funnel Radio where you'll learn marketing strategies to grow your online business using today's best internet sales funnels. And now, here's your host, Steve Larsen.

And we're about to cross 100,000 downloads. I am going to remake an intro. I have loved the intro that I have, but it's time to switch it up. After 100 episodes, what, it's like 120 episodes now almost and almost 100,000 downloads. To celebrate that I'll probably toss it out there. Hey, so I was on stage, I was teaching the Fat Event. It's been super busy, I'm sorry I've not done a podcast here in a little while. Funny story though.

I was on stage and I get excited, which I know is hard to imagine. I get excited in general. But I was on stage and it was the second day. It was lie one o'clock. One o'clock, two o'clock in the afternoon. And the second day's a long day. For me it's 12 hours on stage at least. Anywhere from 12 to 15 hours, and then Russell will come on as well.

And I was just wrecked...

Anyway, it's a lot of fun though. I mean I absolutely love it. I enjoy it like crazy. So I was on stage, and I was jumping around. I was getting ... I can't remember what I was teaching about.

But I ... The pants that I was wearing. You guys will like this story. The pants that I was wearing were a little bit more like loose fitting. And I was like ... We were jumping around, and I was teaching ... I can't remember what I was teaching. I think I was teaching about like storytelling or something like that. I think I was talking about energy. Why it matters. Anyway, I can't totally remember it was. But basically I jumped and no one else knew, but when I came back down I totally ripped by pants.

Like right up my butt cheek. And nobody knew.

And so ... And I didn't know how bad the rip was. And so I'm like jumping around on ... "Hey." Like I have no idea what's going on. I just know it's getting drafty back there. And I was like, "What the heck?" Like I've never had this happen in my life ever. And so I ... So there was a whiteboard there, and I write whiteboards a lot.

I draw on them a lot to illustrate certain principles and stuff. But I wouldn't turn my back and actually write on the whiteboard in front of me because I didn't know how bad it was. I didn't know how bad it was. So eventually after while I was leaning around the white board writing down.

Anyway. And I ... In my mind I was laughing. I was like, "I'm literally going to podcast about this." So this is me doing that. And I decided I would called a break.

I was like, "All right. I'm going to call break." And uncouthly remove myself from the room. And so I remove myself from the room and I grab my friend Miles who's also ... He's into ClickFunnels. Employee there.

He works at ClickFunnels. He's the DJ basically. Runs all the sound and lights and all that stuff for me while I'm doing those things. And I was like, "Hey man. I need you to be a bro and look at my butt." And he's like, "What?" I was like, "I freaking ripped my pants dude."

And so we're hiding in a corner and he looks at my butt and he's like, "Dude, as long as you stand perfectly straight, your shirttail covers it. It's not even a big deal." And I was like, "Okay." So for the next five hours I had the most perfect, unnaturally amazing posture that I have ever had in my entire life.

And anyway, no one was the wiser until the next day I told literally everyone that story while I was up there.

And I know that some people might think that that's weird, but it's to illustrate a point. Okay. It's to illustrate a point. Whatever weird thing's going in your life, whatever it is that's going on, whatever it is that's happening to you, that develops your attractive character when you start to share those things. Right? I know now not to wear slightly baggy jeans while I'm on stage jumping around. Okay? Who would've known?

I'll make that secret 12 in like some stage presenting workshop coming up, or I don't know. Just kidding. But anyway. But it's true though, okay. It's all about ... You guys got to understand this, okay? When it comes to your attractive character, and new opportunities. New opportunities you compete by being brand new. Right? All right. Your attractive character though is also something to be treated not as brand new, but as different.

Let me explain what I mean, okay? In creating new opportunities your business should be a new opportunity. Your business is a new opportunity. The product itself is a new opportunity to somebody else. And if you've never ... If this is a brand new concept to you, you should probably go back a few episodes and start listening right? Right. It's a pretty standard idea now to find something that's a brand new product. Brand new idea.

Your attractive character though also needs to make some kind of evolvement. Okay? When I was in college I wrote this ebook. It was before I ever read dotcom secrets. I didn't even know who Russell was I think. Wait, I'm thinking timeline. Yeah. I had no idea ... I didn't even know he existed. Okay.

And I wrote this ebook, and what I did is I talked about this concept called product big bang theory where most of the time people go out and they say, "Hey come up with something that's totally brand new. Something that's completely out of the box."

I call it product big bang theory. Meaning it just popped out of nowhere. "Ah this is something brand new. It's not stemming from anything else." And product big bang theory is an issue, okay? It's scary. It's freaky. It's risky. It's one of the most risky product strategies you could ever have.

Instead I called it product evolution. I never actually released that ebook. I probably should. It was good...

And so when I saw Russell's book about dotcom secrets, about first funnel hacking what's going on I was like, "Oh. Product evolution." Right? I'm taking what already exists and I'm making it new but I'm stemming it from something that already exists. Right? It's the same thing with like ... So when it comes to products that works really really well.

When it comes to your attractive character thought, you can't really stem from another individual.

I can't really say ... Why? Why why? Because you need to ... You can't compete on something like a strength. If you compete on things like strength, it's like the scariest thing to do also as far as your attractive character goes. So just follow me here real quick. Okay? I know this is ... I'm getting kind of ... Just follow me for a second. Okay? When it comes to products, you're trying to create a new opportunity but stemming from something that's already successful. Right?

It's a combination between funnel hacking and creating a new opportunity. It's a combination between those two. You don't just funnel hack. And you just don't create a new opportunity. You combine them. You do them in tandem. Right? That's like one of the most secure easy ways to actually create a new opportunity for yourself. I'm sorry, a successful business. A successful product.

One that is slightly disruptive in nature and creates a mass movement. That's one of the easiest ways. First funnel hack, second create a new opportunity from what you funnel hacked. Not something that totally never existed before. That's scary. Okay?

When it comes to your attractive character though, there is always somebody who will be faster, better, stronger, better looking, whatever it is. Right? So you don't compete on those things. Instead, you compete on your differences. There's only one you. There's only one me, and it's very easy for me to stand out when I stopped competing on strengths. Okay. When it came to my attractive character I'm talking about. Just my own ... The way I deliver. The way I talk. My stories. My personas. What I put out into the world. Out into the marketplace as far as my character goes, my brand.

There will always be someone faster, better, stronger, better-looking, er, er, er, er. Right? ER, ER, ER, ER. All over the place, right? That's a scary place to go. It's a scary place to be. Right? So I don't compete on strengths. And I don't compete on weaknesses.

I'm not trying to, "Well, no I'm worse than you. I'm worse ..." I'm not trying to compete on weaknesses. But what I am trying to do, is I'm trying to compete on my differences. Okay? It's a different way to think about it. It's a ... I don't know if it's a ... Hopefully it's making sense what I'm talking about, okay?

Because I talked about this a lot at this last Fat event that your character development is ... It's paramount to how your business runs. Okay? The way your product sells, the longevity of it, followup sales. Not just the initial, but repeat buys, a lot of that starts to depend now on your attractive character. You can get a lot of people to buy something from you once, but to get repeat buyers, there's got to be something attractive about your business, about yourself. Right?

And I don't want my attractiveness to be based on strengths otherwise what ends up happening is I link myself and I compare myself to the ideals of pop culture. That's scary, okay? Because pop culture changes momently. Not even daily or hourly. It changes momently. Right?

And so what I'm trying to say here with this whole attractive character thing ... I wasn't even planning on talking about this in this one. But I'm just kind of on a roll with it. Stop hiding what's different about you. If you don't normally wear a shirt and tie, do not put one on to go put a picture of yourself on the internet. Right? I made that mistake. If you go to Sales Funnel Broker right now ... So I'm going to go change Sales Funnel Broker like crazy. Right?

I love ... To be honest, I like wearing suits and ties. Okay. But it's not the norm. Man, I wear that maybe once very few months. Right? I'll wear a tie for church on Sundays. Right? But not a suit. And I'm wearing a full out suit in that picture. I don't like that. I should not have done that.

That was not ... That's what I'm trying to tell you guys. Whatever it is that you ... That's why I tell you guys random stuff like, there is literally ... You guys know I'm really into air soft. It's like paintball. Right? There's a sniper rifle right next to me that I just barely finished rebuilding. Tons of fun. I love that stuff. Right?

Why do I talk about random things like that? "Steven what does that have to do with internet marketing?" It has everything to do with internet marketing. Has everything to do with your character.

Has everything to do with why people will be attracted to you...

Why would I tell a story about me ripping my pants down my butt cheek? Right? It's not just to tell the story. Is it funny? Yes it is very funny. And I was laughing about it ... I wasn't going to say anything. Well I didn't know how bad it was, but I told them all later. Be willing to expose yourself. Okay? Be willing to expose your character flaws. Talk about the things that you're not good at. It's not about ... I'm not trying to say, "Oh look at me. I'm terrible. I'm a Debbie downer."

That's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is don't be afraid when the story helps whatever you're doing. Do not be afraid to use a story even though it will appear to you to be a little bit to your detriment. It's not true. That's what I'm trying to say. It's not true. That's not how it actually works. Okay?

It's so funny. You will become human. You will become human to your audience. You will become human to those who are following you when you are willing to let other sin. And for a lot of entrepreneurs what I've noticed is they ... One sale, that's not super hard. Right? You could build a webinar funnel, tripwire funnel, any funnel, but the followup sales.

A lot of that starts to depend now your actual brand. I don't care about brand on the first sale at all. Okay. I really don't. I don't even take time to sit down and start thinking about brand. I build it as I go. It's not something that I ever had to sit down and start thinking about. The way I guess build my brand as I go, I tell stories. Right? When I'm the brand. When you are the brand. And even if you are not the brand. Your company still has stories.

Your company still has an origin story even if you don't have a specific face for it...

But anyway. That's all I was trying to tell you guys. Don't be afraid of telling stories about whatever it is that's going on about in your life. And so here's some things that's been going on right now. I think the next episode I'm going to do I'm going to walk through some webinar stats.

You guys know that I've been on my own now for about five weeks, totally solo. Self-employed. Had a lot of fun with it. It's been a whirlwind. I want to walk through some stats. I'll probably do it in the next episode because it'll be a little bit long.

But I want to walk through a few specific things with you. But as far as ... Like that's the business. But for my own personal stuff, how I've been handling it, it's pretty interesting. This is how it worked out. Week number one, like sickening anxiety. Like, "Holy crap. Why did I do this?"

Do you know what I mean? And anything ... A lot of things amazing in my life. I've had those feelings as I'm pulling the trigger. Right? Like, "Oh my gosh. Am I sure I want to do this?" You know? And I get that. And I get that. A lot of people get. Week two for me, I was excited. I had the first big successes. Week three and four for me I was gone a lot because I was traveling and speaking like crazy in three different events.

And week four was kind of a cleanup week fulfilling of things I sold in the previous weeks. And it's been kind of this whirlwind up and down, up and down, up and down. Right? Where I'm like, "Yeah this is working, oh my gosh." And then I go back, "And oh crap. So many things wrong with what I've launched so far." I'm going back and I'm fixing it. And I'm wrong, but you know things I want to optimize, and change and approve.

And just know that like your personal development is as much a part of the business as the business itself.

That's what I'm trying to say. That's the whole thing I'm trying to say with it. And being scared to share the stories of things you're going through at a personal level is not helping your business. It will actually hurt your business. It will help you tremendously. It will help get a following around you. So this is what I would do. I would sit down ... This is actually what I do. Behind me right now there is a whiteboard and it is chock full of storylines. Of things that are going on in my life that I can talk about okay?

And the longer I've podcasted, the longer I've done anything in internet marketing, the longer I've done anything kind of thing in this game, the more I've realized how much this whole thing is about storytelling. All of it is storytelling. Every funnel is it's own story. The link between the funnels is a story. How I got into it, is a story. It's all storytelling. If there's one thing that you can get good at, it's storytelling. Okay?

You can screw up 90% of your funnels, right? And be good at storytelling and they'll still work out just fine. Right? Why? I'm not making that up, okay? I've seen a lot of people with their funnels look like straight up trash, but that's fine. They sell like hotcakes because they're good at the story part. And that's the reality of it. It's not so much what the funnel looks like, it's can you evoke emotion in those who are coming to your pages?

Can you evoke over your business? Can you evoke emotion? If you're just another faceless corporation and literally your entire company is represented in a single logo, people are not in love with you. They might be in love with some outcomes that you get. But then if another person comes along and can beat you out, they'll start comparing you on features rather than emotions. Okay? That's super important what I just said.

If you want to be compared by features, don't tell stories. Right? And what I'm saying is someone will always be better, faster, stronger, right? And you might be number one. That's great. That's awesome. But man you will fight tooth and nail to stay there which is great. And you know I'm fighting tooth and nail to try and be one of the best funnel builders in the world. And that's what I'm doing. And I have tons people asking me to build their funnels, and I cannot accept them.

Way too much going on. But I ... That's the whole reason for it. Get good at telling stories and you'll have to sell hard ... You'll have to sell hard less. Get good at marketing, and it negates some of the need for hard sales. Get good at telling stories and you're not going to have to compete on features. Right? Because there's an emotion behind it. You know what's interesting is as I was launching this webinar, and I'll end it here. As I was launching this webinar, there were ... The very first week there was a whole bunch of issues with it.

I mean there's tons of issues with it. I knew that. And my customers knew that. And they were willing to stick through some of the weird things. Some of the tech issues I hadn't figured out yet, or just hadn't put any attention to yet. They were willing to stick through that stuff because of the emotional connection they have felt with me through these podcasts. Right?

I'm still on an MLM product and it's doing really well. And I've got a whole separate MLM show and because I have created that connection with those people, I hardly had to sell them very hard at all. Right? Hardly at all. And the weird stuff, that's the whole point of it. Guys, I just had my router, or modem get moved up into my actual office here where my computer is because my speed was slowing down. You know my router was ... They just barely left actually.

My speed was slowing down because it was in the other room, another floor actually. And so it was cutting my upload and download speed in half, and I was frustrated. I'm not going to lie. And I was super frustrated.

And when I called them, this lady just chummed it up and chatted with me and talked about where I was from, and the people that showed up on the doorstep, they came and they ... When they switched on the stuff they were awesome. And it wasn't just about the business. They took the time to treat me like a human being. Like a person. Like someone they would want to actually talk with. And it was noticeable to me. And I've actually sat and reflected on it here earlier this morning. And it was like, huh. You know what?

I was actually totally fine, and I was more understanding because of the stories that they brought me through. Both my own, and their personal ones back and forth and that's what brought the connection. That's what brought the emotion. And I was willing to actually put up with some stuff that was a little bit weird, that frankly if I didn't want to put up with, maybe I wouldn't have needed to. Right?

But I did put up with it, and now that everything's fixed it's fine. It's great. Everything's awesome. It's fast. The internet's great. But it's because of the stories, and because of the emotional connection. And if people are continually bombarding you with these features like, "Well this is faster. This is better.

This is ... What about this? Can I get a cutdown here?" It's because they have no connection with you. Start telling your stories. Don't be afraid to talk about your pants ripping. Or don't be afraid to talk about the way you got into this. Just publish. This whole funnel game guys. All of it.

That's what I'm trying to say. Anyway. I feel like I'm saying the same thing over and over again. But you can screw up on your funnels in a major way, and be good at publishing and storytelling and you'll still do great. Okay?

That's like being insanely ... That's what funnel is. It's a story. It's a progression. Sometimes people have great conversions on their pages, and I start to looking at them and it's like, "Well it's because you're just talking to me like I might be a potential sale. You're not actually talking to me like a human being.

What's the story here? What's the hook?" Okay, that's another word for it. "What's the hook throughout the whole thing?" The hook of the headline, the hook of the sales copy. Anyway. Anyway, that's what I'm trying to say.

You guys, I hope that makes sense. And what I would do as far as an actionable thing from this episode. I would sit down, and I've got an actual whiteboard right back there, and I just put down storylines of all the things that are going on in my life. And when I'm like, "Ah, you know I kind of want to put a new podcast out there. And there's this principle I want to describe.

Cool, what story can I wrap it in?" Right? Get good at story telling. Get good at that piece. And what I would do is if you're like, "Hey Steven, I really want to start publishing," I would seriously challenge that and invite you to reconsider. But if you're like, "Hey I really got a ... I want to practice. I don't feel like I'm good enough at this yet," just start I mean ... Start telling other people's stories, okay?

My dad is actually super good at this. So as a kid, he would just tell us random stories all the time. I didn't realize this until literally right now. And he would just tell us stories all the time.

And he would make them up right off the top of his head, and they were completely imaginary. But he helped me get good at storytelling because of how he would do it all the time. And then it would be our turn to tell a story. And he came over ... He was over here like a week ago, and I noticed he was doing it with my kids. And I was like, "Huh." I don't think he realized what he was doing with me when he did that.

But he lays down on the floor with them, and they're all just kind of looking at the ceiling and he just starts telling a story.

And seriously it'll be about my two girls and a make believe kitty. And they go on an adventure. And there is conflict. And there's resolution. And it's literally, it's an epiphany rich story. I don't think he realized that that's what he was doing.

But that is it. Okay. And then at the end, he'll ask my little girls to start telling a story. And they're four and two. Right? And they're practicing ... And of course the plot and the conflict, and the characters, and all that's not that amazing. Of course it's not. That's totally fine. It's just getting in the habit of it.

Coming up with the imagination piece of it is huge. If I was to go back to school, which I seriously doubt I'll ever do that. But if I was to do that whole piece over again, I would focus on storytelling. I would focus on debate. I'd focus on design. Right? I'd probably get the marketing degree again because I did learn some great things from there.

But that would be where the focus is. It's the ability to create. There's a book sitting right next to me, it's called A Whole New Mind. I recommend it to everybody. It's absolutely amazing. It's a book, it's by Daniel Pink. The subtext is Why Right Brain Thinkers Will Rule the Future.

And the context of the entire book, and the premise of the book is that, look, especially in Western culture, are you farming right now by necessity? No. Are you sewing your own clothes? No. Are you building a dam to create electricity? No.

Okay, the majority of the basics for life are here. Right? You have to actually work to die of poverty in this country. Right? You do. In almost every country now there's welfare programs. It would be hard. You literally would have to do nothing. Okay? To try and make sure that you would die by starvation. Right? There's programs. It's hard to fail. Okay?

Because of that it is such a huge crutch. Okay? Huge crutch for a lot of people's progress because if the need really isn't there, then I don't really need to figure out how to make this whole business work. Right? I don't really need to learn about story telling. But the whole premise of the book says, look, there's so much that is actually taken care of for us right?

The left side of the brain, the very analytical side, factory work style. The future belongs to the right brained thinker. The storyteller. The creative. I'm inviting you to learn how to do that. To learn how to be a creative. Okay? And if you're like, "Ah I don't know how to be creative." Guess what? I didn't know how to do that stuff either. Okay? Pretty sure my dad stimulated a lot of that by just telling lots of stories. He'd do it at dinner about his childhood.

He'd do it at bedtimes. And he'd do it all over the place.

I had no idea. I had no idea until literally like just a little bit ago as I started watching the way he would interact with my girls. And I was like, "Wait a second. This has been like a patter throughout my life." And I wish ... Anyway, I'm just glad I recognized it early on. Tell stories.

Even if they're complete make believe, tell stories. Get good at telling stories. Marketing is story telling. Okay? It's the transfer of belief by changing the story inside someone's head. That's all it is. Okay? And your ability to do that is like ... It takes the cake on 90% of the stuff that I teach in this podcast. 90% of the internet marketing world, okay? Just get good at telling a story.

Anyway, I'm saying the same thing over and over again now. I just hope that makes sense. And I want you guys to go through and start doing that. And like I was saying before, actionable stuff, guys just start keeping a list of the things that are going on in your life. The little storylines right?

And if you look at ... Inside expert secrets, right? What makes a story is a character, right? And a plot, and a conflict. I think those are the three. And just start coming up with that. You're the character. What's [inaudible 00:24:49] storyline? Where's the plot? Where's the conflict? Where's the resolution inside of it? And then boom.

Just keep coming up with it over and over and over again. Script writing, I'm not amazing at script writing. But I'm pretty good at storytelling. And because of that I have gotten by pretty well with it. And I did a lot also when I was a ClickFunnels employee. And at least the basic foundation of a lot of those things that I would write would be okay. Especially by the time I left.

And they would be just edited rather than scrapped completely because of the storytelling. It's the storyline. The funnel has a story. The page has a story. It all links together. They're all one big story. And it links into your origin story as to why people should get there.

Anyway. Sorry to keep saying the word story. Story story story story. So go think through the things that are going on in your life. The things that are strength, the things that are weaknesses, right? But more importantly, your differences. All right? I just told you that I ripped my pants on stage, and it was awkward. And it's because I don't care.

It's because it develops my attractive character. You literally have more a bond to me now emotionally than before I told you that. Okay? It takes me and makes me a more real person inside your head. Right? I know that's what's happening. Anyway, start doing that to your own people. That's all I got for you guys. Talk to you in next episode. Bye.

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