everybody welcome to another YouTube
hangout super excited to be here with
you I’m scheduled to have this session
with Steve Straus who is the small
business columnist for the USA Today
lots of wisdom and advice to share to
help entrepreneurs grow just having a
little bit technical difficulty so I
thought I’m going to start it up you
guys got me let’s do it let’s answer
your marketing questions this program is
brought to you by Microsoft and Steve
and I are both Microsoft ambassadors I
linked up one of the programs below and
they’re committed to helping
entrepreneurs grow and build their
businesses and so they put this session
together for you so I’d love to get your
questions in the chat and I’ll do my
best to answer them for you and help you
out nothing brings me more pleasure than
helping entrepreneurs grow just my quick
thoughts on marketing I think I think
too many entrepreneurs have a fantastic
product they have a great idea they have
something that can not just make a lot
of money but help a lot of people but
they have no idea how to market and
that’s a big challenge a lot of people
like how how do I get this thing in
people’s hands how do I get people to
learn about me how do I get some more
exposure and so that’s really the the
point of this hangout is to be able to
answer your questions if you’ve been
kind of struggling with a marketing
question then you know I wish I had this
when I was starting my first company
people to be connect with so ask in the
chat and I’ll do my best to to get
through into the questions for you
so first up is having on done the hope I
pronounce that okay I have an online
voice coaching business music class ah
seems like it’s never-ending battle for
me reaching out the people and failing
my ideal age group is kids age 7 and
above I also teach people in their 60s
as well and trying to get clients main
source has been 5 when people don’t
stick around so fantastic question one
of my favorite ways to grow a business
and what really helped me in my first
company is making alliances one of the
hardest thing to do that I found is to
try to get clients one at a time
to go one at a one-and-one one it’s
draining it’s hard to get their
attention it doesn’t pay very well
because you’re getting one calling
slowly
a time where the fastest way to market
your business is to ally yourself with
people who already have your target
market and try to find a way to work
with them so I’m targeting kids age
seven and above who want to learn about
music I’d be lucky not where else are
these kids buying from we’re also these
kids shopping from who are they
connecting with and how can i partner up
with that person so are they going to
piano class are they downloading music
apps are they listening to certain
youtubers or paying attention to people
certain snapchatters or instagramers
right if if there’s a youtuber who loves
teaching their kids about music or
wishes that their kid knew about music
you could swoop in and say hey I have
these online coaching programs that help
kids understand music making that kind
of liance is a super quick way to reach
tons of people instead of one at a time
so for example you’re trying to sell the
entrepreneurs I’m a great person to know
right if you had some new app or new
product or new service at targeted
entrepreneurs I would be a good person
to connect with because if I endorse it
and I said hey this is something really
cool you should check it out then a lot
of people will go check it out the
caveat is it’s going to be good right I
only talk about things that I like that
I use that I enjoy that I’m a fan of so
your service at the end of day has to be
a good one but reaching out to those
connectors reaching out to people who
have already secured your target
audience is the fastest way to grow and
one more quick story about that this was
the biggest struggle that I had in my
first business I was 19 I had a software
company I was trying to build and grow
and I felt like I tried everything
you know I was I was not slacking I was
putting in the hours I was working
insane hours you know from my business
partners dining room table because his
office of too small for me at his house
and I told them that I quit and that I’m
done and that like I need to feel like
I’m a valuable human being that the work
that I’m doing is is going to pay off I
didn’t end up quitting
he let me back in but the thing that
saved me was making those alliances and
is actually looking up to Microsoft I
mean I know this section is is brought
to you by Microsoft but I have a huge
soft spot in my heart for Microsoft
because when I was at my lowest low when
I wanted to quit my business I said
somebody else has done this before right
somebody else has figured this out I
cannot be the first person in the world
to have tried to figure out how to sell
software and that was the biggest
challenge I was trying to do everything
myself trying to come with every new
idea myself and and it wasn’t working so
I looked at Microsoft we looked at Bill
Gates and look at how did Bill Gates get
started like not how does how does he
make an extra million dollars now right
that’s not interesting but zero to one
right like zero to one how does that
happen that’s what I wanted to do and it
was through partnerships and alliances
and I told the story a couple times on
the channel but their big deal came when
they made a partnership with IBM so
every IBM computer sold had Microsoft
software on it at the time IBM was the
biggest computer manufacturer in the
world
and that put Microsoft on the map the
Microsoft was already a seven million
dollar company when that happened seven
million dollars right that’s not huge
but it was seven million more than what
I had at the time um so that was uh that
was a big moment for me and that really
helps save my business so I’d be
encouraging you to look at how can you
ally yourself with people who have your
target audience who are the potential
connectors for you to partner up with to
get the word-of-mouth message out there
for you my first deal that I closed for
thirteen and a half thousand dollars and
that was that was you know that was
insane that was a huge payday for me for
you guys we not seem like a lot but for
me that was that was a lot of money and
more importantly I had a way to do it
again and again and again so I’ve been
looking for you again who are those
people who are already targeting kids
who are working with kids and different
programs and how can you work with them
to get your service introduced to them
uh cool next up Arturo
sorry please answer when you can who do
I sell to first
distances give a hard time because of
bureaucracy figured I would sell to the
general public first to get businesses
on board is that a healthy strategy in
general I’m not a huge fan of selling to
the general public if I had a choice
because it it just takes too long to get
my business off the ground it takes too
long to bring in reasonable revenue I
think with a business audience if here’s
the thing if you are indispensable to
business like if you can solve an
important business challenge for
somebody they’re going to keep you on
board they’re going to spend more money
with you they’re going to increase their
budgets are going to refer their
businesses to you
you might be able to grow within their
current business uh it’s really hard as
a business to let go of somebody who’s
providing a ton of value they can see
the markets a lot more fickle and you
know if you are providing something that
is making a business money or saving
them money it’s it’s really hard to let
you go or consumer is a lot easier to
drop things so that combined with the
fact that is way harder to go and reach
them that finding those customers one of
the time is so difficult I would prefer
to focus on the business market what I
might say that was start smaller because
not every business is bureaucratic you
know my business I have 16 people who
work in my company uh
you know I make decisions myself though
right
you know something came in I would make
a decision on it and that might mean
everybody in my team getting a new piece
of software or you know some new
technology whatever it is so you don’t
have to go into the big guys you don’t
have to go to the companies with 10,000
employees because that’s a super long
sales cycle and is highly bureaucratic
you can still do it
look if you have a product that can help
them start but you may not be around for
the 18-month sales cycle that it takes
to land that deal right it can take a
lot of time to land a big deal so you
want to make sure you have some cash
flow coming in and that can come by
working with smaller companies if you
think they can see what market is still
something you want to go after you can I
would just really weigh my time you know
are you getting a return on the time and
is it is it
it where if I had a product or service
that could be both consumer and business
I would always go for business first or
ever possible all right holy cow the
chat is blowing up uh let’s go through
David how do you reach and find people
to interview that’s an interesting one
um I don’t do a lot of outreach just in
general for my business I’m not a big
I’m not a big sales person I’m not the
guy who makes a list of people and goes
out and knocks on doors or mixed phone
calls or sends out emails and say you
will you come on my show even for making
partnerships with companies the the
brains that I work with they’ve all come
to me and and that’s not it’s not that
I’m just you know great amazing person
it’s just speaks to my skill set I am
not the type A personality guy I’m not
that I may not see me as you know I’m
talkative when I’m chatting with you you
talking about entrepreneurship I can get
going but in general I’m not super
social like I’m not talking to people
next to me on the subway I don’t go to
conferences because I don’t I don’t
mingle well and do small talk while I
don’t enjoy I didn’t go to VidCon this
year I don’t go to conferences period
unless I’m speaking at them speaking
allows me to expose what I’m really good
at we’re just going to a conference and
trading business cards and trying to
strike up conversations just doesn’t fit
into my skill set so it could be amazing
for some people it just doesn’t work for
me and so if my business rely on me
being the super salesman it would feel
like I would be off doing something else
so the way that I have success in my
company and the way that I get people
the interview is I kick up a lot of
noise in my market that’s what marketing
is like you kick up a lot of noise you
kick up a lot of dust you get people to
pay attention to you and if you’re
producing good stuff people will pay
attention to you and they’ll reach out
to you with opportunities hey I’d like
you to write a book that’s how I got my
book deal hey I’d like to be your agent
and represent you on different deals hey
I’d like to be a brief Bram
with you hey I’d like to introduce you
to this author who was trying to come
with a book can you interview them a lot
of the opportunities that came i never
even expected it was never in my
business plan and start it just happened
because I focused on kicking up a lot of
noise in my industry and I think a lot
of times a lot of times are looking for
the simple solution right a lot of times
looking at I I look at right now I look
at my youtube channel thinking how do I
make my youtube channel grow faster you
know I’m on a 350 thousand subscribers
something like that how do I get 2
million I want to get 2 million what do
I need to do to do that and I’m always
looking for other like hacks and
techniques and tricks and you think
about SEO and and it’s great and you
know people say share it on Twitter and
share it on Instagram and and it’s great
we’re always looking for this magic
bullet we’re really the thing
consistently that has helped my channel
grow is making better content it’s me
being better on camera right me
providing more value to you guys it’s
profiling people that give better value
in their responses it’s launched a new
series that add value to your lives if
you like it you’re going to share it
you’re going to tell people whether you
can the consumer you’re going to come
back to the channel regularly and from
that a lot of unexpected things happen
and so that answer sucks because it’s
work like I don’t want the answer that
my content is just okay I need to make
it better that’s not an amazing answer I
want a magic bullet I want you to tell
me you know put it up on snapchat and
I’ll blow up that’s the I said I want
right that’s the answer we all want but
really it’s always come down to for my
channel for the content that I make it’s
just got to get better and the more pour
into it and the more hard work and love
that I show it the more results I get
and so that’s how I get people interview
that’s it next up the chat just exploded
so quickly that I’m not going in order
so if you guys could if you had a
question you could post it there again
I’ll pick it up Larry’s writing good
afternoon what’s the best social media
platform to market an e-book I think the
best platform for you is the one where
you can match your skills to the
audience so let me explain I think most
of the major social media platforms have
a have a good chunk of people you know
you can still say some things like
LinkedIn is more geared towards a
business audience you know Microsoft
just bought LinkedIn so that’s super
interesting you know Pinterest is still
more geared towards a female audience
snapchat is still more geared towards a
younger audience but there’s your
customers are pretty much on all the
platforms unless you sell something
super nice sheen specific your customers
are pretty much everywhere and so the
answer then becomes which platform best
lines up with your skill set so you know
if you’re great on video you should be
on YouTube or you should be on snapchat
but if you want to produce videos get on
YouTube if you want to do raw and just
be a natural talent and do vlogging then
you know get on snapchat if you’re a
photographer if you want to be on
Instagram if you are great at writing
then you can start a blog or if you are
great at writing short things and you
can get on Twitter like there’s no one
right answer it’s figuring out what’s
best for you me personally I’ve gone
all-in on YouTube because it matches
what I’m naturally good at and what I
want to get better at so I’m more of a
visual learner
I’d much rather look at something then
try to hear it
uh you know if somebody on my team is
trying to explain something to me and
they’re reading it out it’s like oh let
me see it I need to see it for me to
process it where I’m only hearing it it
becomes a lot harder that’s me
like you guys might be different I would
much rather watch a video then listen to
a podcast
it was the same content you know Lois
house has a great podcast called a
school of greatness and I had them on my
channel not that long ago uh I watched
his video version I learned more from
that than just listened to the audio and
that’s me and so understanding what you
are good at or what you want to get good
at like I wasn’t the greatest at you too
when I started you can go back on the
videos and see how terrible they were
and I’ve kept them up there the show the
history the content was still good but
the execution my delivery wasn’t
fantastic and so you’ll see you know I
wanted to get better at it and slowly
did it took me a long time I have I
don’t know how many thousand videos on
my channel now it’s crazy but you know
you put in the work you’ll get better at
it and so what do you want to get better
at you know if you have an e-book then
probably you’re a good writer I’m hoping
hoping you’re good writing if you wrote
in eBook
so you know Twitter would be a logical
place for you and you can follow
hashtags you can get involved in
conversations just as an example here I
was involved that we just finished the
Microsoft Twitter chat before this and
before it started I was on Twitter
searching anybody who’s happened in
marketing people were posting links
getting conversations and I just joined
in instead of talking about marketing
and on my Twitter bio it said I’m
starting a marketing Twitter chat at
12:30 that’s still there I haven’t
updated my bow yet you can go check it
out and that helped bring in some people
to the conversation so like use the
skills that you have and any of the
platforms can work but I think the
biggest challenge for a lot of people is
we try to do everything right you need
to be on snapchat you need to be on
Instagram and so you sign up for all
these accounts and everything is just
mediocre right everything is everything
sucks because you’re trying to do
everything and you don’t have enough
time to do everything so figure out the
one maybe two platforms that you can
really excel at that tap into your
natural skills and then do the work to
get better people ask me is a quality or
quantity and it’s an easy question but
it’s a deeper question because the easy
answer is is quality of course I get the
stuff if you just produce a ton of crap
nobody’s going to care about it you want
to have something quality but to get to
the quality you need to do quantity
right if you want to get better on
YouTube and you’re making one video a
month you’re not going to get really
good on YouTube it’s just not going to
happen you’re not producing enough so
the quantity whether you put whether you
release them or not I have tons of
videos that I haven’t released but
whether you release or not you need to
do the quantity to get the skills to get
better to produce the quality so the
answer really becomes both that’s my
rant for the day okay what else
Enzo what do you recommend to do
regarding SEO learning do it by yourself
or outsource um for me it comes down to
again your core competency like if you
are excited about learning SEO then then
go out and do it if you’re not but you
realize that it’s important to your
business then I would look at
potentially outsource in it if it’s core
to your business like your business will
depend on it rely on it your business
you know doesn’t exist almost if you
don’t have it then I wouldn’t just
outsource it I would in source it I
would delegate it I would hire somebody
to do it for me so that that would be
those would be my three options if I was
really curious about it and excited by
it then I would do it myself and there’s
still a lot like you look at video I am
involved in every video that gets
produced I’m reviewing every video that
gets produced
I’m helping research for some of them
are helping with titles for like I like
it I want to get better at it it fuels
me and drys mean it makes me come alive
right I feel satisfied I feel growth and
joy I don’t want to edit you know I am
NOT a good editor
I hate editing I don’t want to get
better at editing it’s not on my to-do
list and so editing then become
something is important to me right I
can’t just outsource that because if I
don’t have a good editing team and
structure my channel doesn’t exist right
they all live YouTube hangouts so I’ve
hired some the first person I hired from
my YouTube team was an editor and now we
have two full-time editors who are
working on the channel and you know
there are other things that I might look
at that I might outsource a start you
know maybe we do a caption
everybody’s asking for captions can you
caption this can you translate this you
know that would be something I would
text on an outsourcing basis do I get
results if it then become something that
is so insanely important to my business
that the growth depends on captioning I
wouldn’t just dress into some outsource
company I would I would want to hire
somebody in-house I’m not going to be
the guy transcribing all of my words and
putting them you know in the captions
but I would have somebody that I would
hire so you know Enzo to your question
with SEO are you interested in it does
it fuel you know SEO is one way to grow
a business it’s enough it’s a highly
effective way but it’s not the only way
so are you interested in learning about
if you are then go and study get
learning get better at it if you’re not
then I would start with outsourcing and
see if you’re getting results but if it
really helps really works I’d look to
get somebody on your staff on board
somebody who who really cares about what
they’re doing and cares about the
mission of your business to help you
create something that will love that
will grow ah next bill mean what is the
best way to market via Instagram to be
loyal customers slash pain prospects and
once you start social media marketing
how do you build followers likes noise
noise interesting okay so first of all
do the first part first or the second
part first sorry about the social media
it’s about providing value right just
like in anything else in business it’s
about providing value want people to
follow you sure you can buy followers
but that’s not going to lead you to
anything besides a vanity number and for
some people that’s important you know
for some people having 10,000 Twitter
followers maybe that helps you close a
deal even though those 10,000 were all
bought in all fake that’s when people do
it it’s a vanity number you still get
value out of it even those those 10,000
people don’t really exist but if you’re
eventually trying to sell stuff to them
and you want them to actually share it
and promote you and help you with
whatever business objectives you have
then I’ve been looking at quality
content like why do you guys follow me
on YouTube you like the content that is
being put up right if you didn’t you
would unsubscribe I’m sure there’s other
channels that you’ve watched that you
didn’t enjoy
then you subscribe that it’s pretty
simple it’s not about you know how do
you market and how do you all of these
social media sites are really easy to
share stuff right if you really like
something you’ll tell your friends and
buds to check out this video check out
this pose check out this picture so it
comes back to again the harder decision
like the the sucky answer is that you
got to put in the work you got a Creek
good stop it’s never been easier for
good stuff to spread right in the past
you had to take out an advertising
campaign now it can help amplify it but
it’s not required it’s not necessary
I’d much rather put my money to the
creative then into the advertising and
marketing and if you do that you build
up a following right you get people to
care about you and then when trying to
sell something it becomes a lot easier
when you are selling dog make sure that
you have content that is personal I’d
say 10 to 20 percent of your content
should be personal it should be about
you should be about your life should be
what you’re doing that’s why I have the
life with eben series on my youtube
channel the life of Evan series on my
youtube channel is the worst-performing
series on my channel people that watch
as much people comment on as much people
don’t like it as much people don’t share
it as much we sometimes lose subscribers
on those so when do I do it just from a
business perspective why do I have that
series up it’s because the people who
watch that become way more connected to
me they feel like they know me they
trust me they like me so whenever I
launch a product the people who are
watching that series those are the ones
who are going to be first in line to buy
and be the hardcore fans so you want to
have personal content that get people to
be your superfans so when you have a
product to sell when you say that you
endorse it and you like you’ve made this
you’ve tried this people are much more
likely to buy commute than if you have
this huge following but they’re not
really committed to your the ability who
you are
so get some personal content in there
next what are we doing here k f k t the
best fan k6r KH KH the best fan that’s a
mouthful I have a what
think how do you deal with failure if
this makes you depressed I think failure
is feedback I think people get too
worried about failure I failed a million
times I don’t know many times I feel I
feel it so many times it’s crazy I think
you fail your way to success you fail
and fail and fail fail and you suck
along the way
and then eventually you you’re
successful just look at any successful
entrepreneur look at look at Steve Jobs
look at Bill Gates look at look at Satya
Nadella these guys failed their way to
becoming successful and too many people
see failure as permanent like you try
something and you fail and that’s the
end what was the last time you tried
something new and you were instantly
good at it like I’m gonna try
snowboarding you just get up and you go
down the hill and you’re amazing well
I’m gonna learn Japanese like you pick
up a book and just boom you got it maybe
for some people but that’s insanely rare
you usually suck at the start like of
anything you suck at the start that’s
what happens and you fail and you get
better the next day and go to the next
thing better the next day and I think
too many people have this this gap in
that they have standards where you can
look at something say that’s that’s what
I want to create this is where I wanna
be but you’re producing at a much lower
level right like you want to be here you
know this is what you can do you know
what looks good like if I wanted to make
hoodies like I know this looks good but
I can’t make it you know the first
hoodie that I would try to so total
disaster uh but you know I just need to
get better next time I model success to
learn from people I learned from Bill
Gates I learned from Microsoft is how I
built my business and I failed along the
way so I think as long as you’re seeing
failure as this huge thing that you want
to try to avoid you’re never going to be
successful like if you’re not failing
it’s mean you’re lit means you’re living
life so safe that you never take any
kind of risk and that’s the biggest
failure of all you know it means you’re
just living somebody else’s life and
being told to do and you just do it
because somebody else told you to do it
that’s not a real life in my opinion and
so failure is just a way to understand
how
not to do it the next time and really
just getting better you know so look at
my videos and say okay you know I want
to be as big as Tony Robbins or Les
Brown you know Les Brown I look up to as
a public speaker you know I’m not there
yet I’m not Les Brown level and I mean
that’s hard it’s like one of the
greatest of all time
and so what because I’m not Les Brown
level yet I’m a failure I can’t do it
you know I’m going to stop working
no like I look at what I did I look back
at what I did last year and it’s already
insanely better right so looking back in
the work you’ve done last week yesterday
you know last month whatever it is as
long as you’re better than you were
before you’re making progress so I don’t
mind failure I mean I like failure you
fail your way to success just take small
failures like don’t mortgage your house
in cashing it with every savings you
have to launch some t-shirt company and
take out ten thousand t-shirts and you
sell to write like that’s a pretty big
failure you can still bounce back from
it but I’d rather much rather fail on a
smaller level and build myself up uh
tons of questions next what do we have
what we have would have Akash what to do
when I get distracted I tried so much to
focus couple things here one I think a
lot of times people are just doing the
wrong things a lot of times what you are
trying to focus on may not be the thing
that you should be focusing on like I’m
a big believer in following my flow and
that I get pulled in the direction I
want to try this thing out and
oftentimes it doesn’t make sense you
know like maybe there’s no practical
application that I can immediately see
to my business but by following that
flow something magical happens you know
some solution comes and so if I’m
consistently not able to keep focus I
feel like something is wrong with the
work that I’m doing like you can only
force yourself to do something for
so long before you need to change yeah
if you’re if you’re looking at your day
and seeing everything ahead of you and
say man I got to do all this work today
and it sucks and that’s your life every
day that sucks
who wants that life right like no wonder
wise you’re having a hard time focusing
I would have a hard time focusing too so
if that’s a consistent thing then maybe
you’re just doing the wrong stuff at a
high level now you kind of zoom in uh
there are micro things you can do right
like listen to music can help you if
it’s especially music with no lyrics is
why I created the productivity and vibe
series I have music to help you go one
thing that helps me is I work in
90-minute chunks so I’ll do a 90 minute
chunk and then take a 15 minute break
and another 90 minute junk
and in those 90 minutes I need to get my
project done so if it’s uh you know
doing a slides for my next speaking gig
okay I got to get that done in 90
minutes so it forces you to stay focused
right you plot out the big things that
you need to get done and put them into
90-minute chunks and suddenly a lot of
little things that chew up your time
whether it’s checking Facebook or seeing
if somebody emailed you or whatever
falls away and I find that super helpful
to stay focus on the project that I’m
working on but again I’m working on
things that excite me
you know if I’m sitting there for weeks
worrying about this presentation I’m not
that excited about the real answer is
that probably should not be doing that
presentation next Kevin Evan to making
business you have to provide a service
right because the chances of inventing
something are very slim ah not
necessarily lots of successful product
companies and you could also be a
reseller where you’re selling products
I prefer starting with a service
business because the cost one because
the costs are lower I think
entrepreneurs spend too much money at
the start I hate spending money till I’m
making money I think entrepreneurs have
spent way too much money as a start of a
business they think is going to be more
successful than it is they don’t
anticipate how much it’s going to cost
and how long it’s going to take to get
going and then you’re out of money and
then you
cashing in everything you have and then
you go broke and you know you go back
and get a job and so I much rather build
a service first to get Cashel coming in
the other thing that it does it gets you
closer to your customers a lot of times
the first product that you have is a
miss you know like you may think that
your your hoody design is insane is
amazing we want it and so you buy 10,000
of them but nobody buys them like a lot
of times your first product is a flop
and so the way to what a lot of
entrepreneurs do is they spend a lot of
money behind that inventory because you
get the price breaks and then you’re out
of money and so the better way to do it
in my view at least is the start of
service even if your long term goals
that have a product start a service you
get cash flow coming in you don’t have
any expenses at the start you can get
close to your customers understand their
pains understand their problems and then
build a product around the problems that
they have like if you have a good
relationship with the customers oh hey
I’m you know I’ve noticed this keeps
coming up over and over again if I had a
product that solved that problem that
did this for you would you buy it you
can have people saying yes then you have
a product and then you can build your
company off of that and you you build
your company the product side you might
have to invest some money there but
you’re making your money from the
service side and it fuels you it keeps
you going right it pays your internet
bills and pays your food bills and helps
make sure that you’re still around to do
it a great example in a small scale
there’s a guy called podcast Answer Man
bulletin whose name goes on Tim Schmoyer
is channel on YouTube and he was
consulting with people helping them set
up their podcasts and you know that’s
what he was set his day up you know he
sits podcast consulting all day long
except different meetings with people
and that was a great source of cash flow
for him he had a day were almost the
entire day back-to-back people were kept
asking him the same thing like how do I
use this tool one of the tools to run a
podcast number the name how do I use
this tool and so this is crazy
everybody’s asking me about this I’m a
it’s from the same thing over and over
and over and over again that can get
boring too for
a service environment so the same
question over and over and over again so
we turn that into a product that that
any good sound and that help this
product site grow and so I love starting
with the service wherever possible then
transition into a product but it’s not
something only way to do it you can
start with a product way business is
tons of small companies who have
successful product big business it’s not
the only way to do it but I just prefer
this also would the salsa way to go
salsa dancing the service way to go a
skate maybe last questions here we got
skateboarder vans hey how would you
suggest making contacts in the industry
uh
I kind of talked about this at the top
of the show again it depends on your
skill set you know I had those house on
my show earlier or last week and he’s a
natural networker like he loves talking
to people he goes to events he he gets
along with people super well Alex too if
you’ve watched the stuff I’ve done with
TBS everybody just likes him like if you
don’t like Alex on the first meeting
there’s something like you’re in a bad
mood today or something he’s just like
he’s got that personality and so for him
it be go out meet people like your job
should be just be who you are and meet
people and they’ll like you and you’ll
get connections for me I hate that stuff
I hate small talking now that would be
hell for me like if all my day was spent
just talking to people and trying to
make connections it would be it would be
just a disaster my business would not do
well so I do it much more from a
marketing point of view like I’d rather
be speaking at an event and then people
come up and talk to me afterwards and
that’s how I build up my connections and
so I think you got to go all-in on your
strengths good on your strengths just
because it’s how I did it doesn’t mean
it’s how you’re going to do it although
like Mahlon success is great learn from
me learn from other people who who’ve
had some success and see which strategy
best speaks to you I want to do one more
I know I said last time I want to do one
more Dixey writing in oftentimes closest
friends and family pay other people did
services for them but expect you to do
it for free or at a discount just how do
I deal with such people um yeah it’s
true
for me it’s it’s really just
understanding and explaining to them
that this is your business right like
you are not making money this is one of
the hardest things from yours getting
started up I left potential
opportunities to make you know six
figures starting salary at a university
and I didn’t to go do $300 a month that
my jaw on my business works I was
basically sucking whelmed all my friends
were investment bankers and I had the
job that I thought I wanted before and
and I was always too embarrassed to tell
them that I was broke that I was failing
you know that I had no money they wanted
to go out and party and celebrate
birthdays and just have beer and pizza
and like I had to pick one thing a month
I just didn’t have the money to do it
and I would never tell them that I was
struggling I was too ashamed and I would
just say I am too you know I’m living
the entrepreneur is I’m just too busy I
got I got so much going on and it on
time for it but really I just had to
massively budget what I was doing and I
think a lot of times your family and
friends they don’t see all the hard work
that that’s going into the business they
don’t realize that like you’re losing
money doing this doesn’t mean they have
to be a customer right like maybe you’re
not a fit but giving them an
understanding of how hard you’re working
and how you know you’d appreciate their
support but you can only go so far to
help I think it’s really just a
misunderstanding for a lot of people
that they don’t get it and it looked
great like most people don’t I’m sure
you didn’t they’re saying how much hard
work it was to be an entrepreneur until
you actually became an entrepreneur like
I think it’s going to be harder than its
way way way harder than then it you
thought it was when you started and if
people still don’t understand that you
know if your friends and family still
don’t get in they still feel like you
owe them
then then you know that might be
of spending less time with them you know
family might be hard but friends you
might have to change your friends you
know a lot of times the friends and
family that you have they hold you where
you are right like when you tell them a
great idea you have to do something big
all your friends saying that’s amazing
here’s here’s what I think you can do
here’s how it can help you here’s how I
see it growing or do they give you a
look you know and make you doubt
yourself make you feel like you’re not
good enough you know and a lot of times
it’s just out of their own fear their
own insecurities their own inability to
do things and because they’re afraid
they put that on you if they can’t
achieve success they don’t want you
having massive success and so a lot of
times you might have to change your
friends like you know if you stick
around those people you’ll achieve what
they achieve you know do you want their
life and thinking about advice that you
take from people even will it close
people like you know thinking about your
parents have your parents done what you
want to do even if what they say is out
of love like I’m assuming most parents
don’t just hate on their kids right like
they’re saying stuff to you out of love
but it may not be the right thing for
you like look at the advice that you’re
taking from people the heart it has to
be there obviously but if they haven’t
done what you want to do then they’re
probably not in the position to give you
advice right and the more you listen to
them more you’re going to stay where you
are instead of get to where you can be
and so that’s maybe a bit of a harsh
reality but you may need to change your
friends as you get older and be more
successful just throwing that out there
and it was a weird one to end on but
much love thank you guys so much for
joining I really appreciate all the
questions and thank you again to
Microsoft for hosting this I’ve linked
up them in the description below so you
can go check them out this is a new
thing that we’re testing we haven’t done
a live hangout with Microsoft before so
if you guys like this you want to see
more let us know leave in the comments
below and maybe we’ll make it a series
who knows
thank you guys again for watching
continue to believe and we’ll see you
soon
hangout super excited to be here with
you I’m scheduled to have this session
with Steve Straus who is the small
business columnist for the USA Today
lots of wisdom and advice to share to
help entrepreneurs grow just having a
little bit technical difficulty so I
thought I’m going to start it up you
guys got me let’s do it let’s answer
your marketing questions this program is
brought to you by Microsoft and Steve
and I are both Microsoft ambassadors I
linked up one of the programs below and
they’re committed to helping
entrepreneurs grow and build their
businesses and so they put this session
together for you so I’d love to get your
questions in the chat and I’ll do my
best to answer them for you and help you
out nothing brings me more pleasure than
helping entrepreneurs grow just my quick
thoughts on marketing I think I think
too many entrepreneurs have a fantastic
product they have a great idea they have
something that can not just make a lot
of money but help a lot of people but
they have no idea how to market and
that’s a big challenge a lot of people
like how how do I get this thing in
people’s hands how do I get people to
learn about me how do I get some more
exposure and so that’s really the the
point of this hangout is to be able to
answer your questions if you’ve been
kind of struggling with a marketing
question then you know I wish I had this
when I was starting my first company
people to be connect with so ask in the
chat and I’ll do my best to to get
through into the questions for you
so first up is having on done the hope I
pronounce that okay I have an online
voice coaching business music class ah
seems like it’s never-ending battle for
me reaching out the people and failing
my ideal age group is kids age 7 and
above I also teach people in their 60s
as well and trying to get clients main
source has been 5 when people don’t
stick around so fantastic question one
of my favorite ways to grow a business
and what really helped me in my first
company is making alliances one of the
hardest thing to do that I found is to
try to get clients one at a time
to go one at a one-and-one one it’s
draining it’s hard to get their
attention it doesn’t pay very well
because you’re getting one calling
slowly
a time where the fastest way to market
your business is to ally yourself with
people who already have your target
market and try to find a way to work
with them so I’m targeting kids age
seven and above who want to learn about
music I’d be lucky not where else are
these kids buying from we’re also these
kids shopping from who are they
connecting with and how can i partner up
with that person so are they going to
piano class are they downloading music
apps are they listening to certain
youtubers or paying attention to people
certain snapchatters or instagramers
right if if there’s a youtuber who loves
teaching their kids about music or
wishes that their kid knew about music
you could swoop in and say hey I have
these online coaching programs that help
kids understand music making that kind
of liance is a super quick way to reach
tons of people instead of one at a time
so for example you’re trying to sell the
entrepreneurs I’m a great person to know
right if you had some new app or new
product or new service at targeted
entrepreneurs I would be a good person
to connect with because if I endorse it
and I said hey this is something really
cool you should check it out then a lot
of people will go check it out the
caveat is it’s going to be good right I
only talk about things that I like that
I use that I enjoy that I’m a fan of so
your service at the end of day has to be
a good one but reaching out to those
connectors reaching out to people who
have already secured your target
audience is the fastest way to grow and
one more quick story about that this was
the biggest struggle that I had in my
first business I was 19 I had a software
company I was trying to build and grow
and I felt like I tried everything
you know I was I was not slacking I was
putting in the hours I was working
insane hours you know from my business
partners dining room table because his
office of too small for me at his house
and I told them that I quit and that I’m
done and that like I need to feel like
I’m a valuable human being that the work
that I’m doing is is going to pay off I
didn’t end up quitting
he let me back in but the thing that
saved me was making those alliances and
is actually looking up to Microsoft I
mean I know this section is is brought
to you by Microsoft but I have a huge
soft spot in my heart for Microsoft
because when I was at my lowest low when
I wanted to quit my business I said
somebody else has done this before right
somebody else has figured this out I
cannot be the first person in the world
to have tried to figure out how to sell
software and that was the biggest
challenge I was trying to do everything
myself trying to come with every new
idea myself and and it wasn’t working so
I looked at Microsoft we looked at Bill
Gates and look at how did Bill Gates get
started like not how does how does he
make an extra million dollars now right
that’s not interesting but zero to one
right like zero to one how does that
happen that’s what I wanted to do and it
was through partnerships and alliances
and I told the story a couple times on
the channel but their big deal came when
they made a partnership with IBM so
every IBM computer sold had Microsoft
software on it at the time IBM was the
biggest computer manufacturer in the
world
and that put Microsoft on the map the
Microsoft was already a seven million
dollar company when that happened seven
million dollars right that’s not huge
but it was seven million more than what
I had at the time um so that was uh that
was a big moment for me and that really
helps save my business so I’d be
encouraging you to look at how can you
ally yourself with people who have your
target audience who are the potential
connectors for you to partner up with to
get the word-of-mouth message out there
for you my first deal that I closed for
thirteen and a half thousand dollars and
that was that was you know that was
insane that was a huge payday for me for
you guys we not seem like a lot but for
me that was that was a lot of money and
more importantly I had a way to do it
again and again and again so I’ve been
looking for you again who are those
people who are already targeting kids
who are working with kids and different
programs and how can you work with them
to get your service introduced to them
uh cool next up Arturo
sorry please answer when you can who do
I sell to first
distances give a hard time because of
bureaucracy figured I would sell to the
general public first to get businesses
on board is that a healthy strategy in
general I’m not a huge fan of selling to
the general public if I had a choice
because it it just takes too long to get
my business off the ground it takes too
long to bring in reasonable revenue I
think with a business audience if here’s
the thing if you are indispensable to
business like if you can solve an
important business challenge for
somebody they’re going to keep you on
board they’re going to spend more money
with you they’re going to increase their
budgets are going to refer their
businesses to you
you might be able to grow within their
current business uh it’s really hard as
a business to let go of somebody who’s
providing a ton of value they can see
the markets a lot more fickle and you
know if you are providing something that
is making a business money or saving
them money it’s it’s really hard to let
you go or consumer is a lot easier to
drop things so that combined with the
fact that is way harder to go and reach
them that finding those customers one of
the time is so difficult I would prefer
to focus on the business market what I
might say that was start smaller because
not every business is bureaucratic you
know my business I have 16 people who
work in my company uh
you know I make decisions myself though
right
you know something came in I would make
a decision on it and that might mean
everybody in my team getting a new piece
of software or you know some new
technology whatever it is so you don’t
have to go into the big guys you don’t
have to go to the companies with 10,000
employees because that’s a super long
sales cycle and is highly bureaucratic
you can still do it
look if you have a product that can help
them start but you may not be around for
the 18-month sales cycle that it takes
to land that deal right it can take a
lot of time to land a big deal so you
want to make sure you have some cash
flow coming in and that can come by
working with smaller companies if you
think they can see what market is still
something you want to go after you can I
would just really weigh my time you know
are you getting a return on the time and
is it is it
it where if I had a product or service
that could be both consumer and business
I would always go for business first or
ever possible all right holy cow the
chat is blowing up uh let’s go through
David how do you reach and find people
to interview that’s an interesting one
um I don’t do a lot of outreach just in
general for my business I’m not a big
I’m not a big sales person I’m not the
guy who makes a list of people and goes
out and knocks on doors or mixed phone
calls or sends out emails and say you
will you come on my show even for making
partnerships with companies the the
brains that I work with they’ve all come
to me and and that’s not it’s not that
I’m just you know great amazing person
it’s just speaks to my skill set I am
not the type A personality guy I’m not
that I may not see me as you know I’m
talkative when I’m chatting with you you
talking about entrepreneurship I can get
going but in general I’m not super
social like I’m not talking to people
next to me on the subway I don’t go to
conferences because I don’t I don’t
mingle well and do small talk while I
don’t enjoy I didn’t go to VidCon this
year I don’t go to conferences period
unless I’m speaking at them speaking
allows me to expose what I’m really good
at we’re just going to a conference and
trading business cards and trying to
strike up conversations just doesn’t fit
into my skill set so it could be amazing
for some people it just doesn’t work for
me and so if my business rely on me
being the super salesman it would feel
like I would be off doing something else
so the way that I have success in my
company and the way that I get people
the interview is I kick up a lot of
noise in my market that’s what marketing
is like you kick up a lot of noise you
kick up a lot of dust you get people to
pay attention to you and if you’re
producing good stuff people will pay
attention to you and they’ll reach out
to you with opportunities hey I’d like
you to write a book that’s how I got my
book deal hey I’d like to be your agent
and represent you on different deals hey
I’d like to be a brief Bram
with you hey I’d like to introduce you
to this author who was trying to come
with a book can you interview them a lot
of the opportunities that came i never
even expected it was never in my
business plan and start it just happened
because I focused on kicking up a lot of
noise in my industry and I think a lot
of times a lot of times are looking for
the simple solution right a lot of times
looking at I I look at right now I look
at my youtube channel thinking how do I
make my youtube channel grow faster you
know I’m on a 350 thousand subscribers
something like that how do I get 2
million I want to get 2 million what do
I need to do to do that and I’m always
looking for other like hacks and
techniques and tricks and you think
about SEO and and it’s great and you
know people say share it on Twitter and
share it on Instagram and and it’s great
we’re always looking for this magic
bullet we’re really the thing
consistently that has helped my channel
grow is making better content it’s me
being better on camera right me
providing more value to you guys it’s
profiling people that give better value
in their responses it’s launched a new
series that add value to your lives if
you like it you’re going to share it
you’re going to tell people whether you
can the consumer you’re going to come
back to the channel regularly and from
that a lot of unexpected things happen
and so that answer sucks because it’s
work like I don’t want the answer that
my content is just okay I need to make
it better that’s not an amazing answer I
want a magic bullet I want you to tell
me you know put it up on snapchat and
I’ll blow up that’s the I said I want
right that’s the answer we all want but
really it’s always come down to for my
channel for the content that I make it’s
just got to get better and the more pour
into it and the more hard work and love
that I show it the more results I get
and so that’s how I get people interview
that’s it next up the chat just exploded
so quickly that I’m not going in order
so if you guys could if you had a
question you could post it there again
I’ll pick it up Larry’s writing good
afternoon what’s the best social media
platform to market an e-book I think the
best platform for you is the one where
you can match your skills to the
audience so let me explain I think most
of the major social media platforms have
a have a good chunk of people you know
you can still say some things like
LinkedIn is more geared towards a
business audience you know Microsoft
just bought LinkedIn so that’s super
interesting you know Pinterest is still
more geared towards a female audience
snapchat is still more geared towards a
younger audience but there’s your
customers are pretty much on all the
platforms unless you sell something
super nice sheen specific your customers
are pretty much everywhere and so the
answer then becomes which platform best
lines up with your skill set so you know
if you’re great on video you should be
on YouTube or you should be on snapchat
but if you want to produce videos get on
YouTube if you want to do raw and just
be a natural talent and do vlogging then
you know get on snapchat if you’re a
photographer if you want to be on
Instagram if you are great at writing
then you can start a blog or if you are
great at writing short things and you
can get on Twitter like there’s no one
right answer it’s figuring out what’s
best for you me personally I’ve gone
all-in on YouTube because it matches
what I’m naturally good at and what I
want to get better at so I’m more of a
visual learner
I’d much rather look at something then
try to hear it
uh you know if somebody on my team is
trying to explain something to me and
they’re reading it out it’s like oh let
me see it I need to see it for me to
process it where I’m only hearing it it
becomes a lot harder that’s me
like you guys might be different I would
much rather watch a video then listen to
a podcast
it was the same content you know Lois
house has a great podcast called a
school of greatness and I had them on my
channel not that long ago uh I watched
his video version I learned more from
that than just listened to the audio and
that’s me and so understanding what you
are good at or what you want to get good
at like I wasn’t the greatest at you too
when I started you can go back on the
videos and see how terrible they were
and I’ve kept them up there the show the
history the content was still good but
the execution my delivery wasn’t
fantastic and so you’ll see you know I
wanted to get better at it and slowly
did it took me a long time I have I
don’t know how many thousand videos on
my channel now it’s crazy but you know
you put in the work you’ll get better at
it and so what do you want to get better
at you know if you have an e-book then
probably you’re a good writer I’m hoping
hoping you’re good writing if you wrote
in eBook
so you know Twitter would be a logical
place for you and you can follow
hashtags you can get involved in
conversations just as an example here I
was involved that we just finished the
Microsoft Twitter chat before this and
before it started I was on Twitter
searching anybody who’s happened in
marketing people were posting links
getting conversations and I just joined
in instead of talking about marketing
and on my Twitter bio it said I’m
starting a marketing Twitter chat at
12:30 that’s still there I haven’t
updated my bow yet you can go check it
out and that helped bring in some people
to the conversation so like use the
skills that you have and any of the
platforms can work but I think the
biggest challenge for a lot of people is
we try to do everything right you need
to be on snapchat you need to be on
Instagram and so you sign up for all
these accounts and everything is just
mediocre right everything is everything
sucks because you’re trying to do
everything and you don’t have enough
time to do everything so figure out the
one maybe two platforms that you can
really excel at that tap into your
natural skills and then do the work to
get better people ask me is a quality or
quantity and it’s an easy question but
it’s a deeper question because the easy
answer is is quality of course I get the
stuff if you just produce a ton of crap
nobody’s going to care about it you want
to have something quality but to get to
the quality you need to do quantity
right if you want to get better on
YouTube and you’re making one video a
month you’re not going to get really
good on YouTube it’s just not going to
happen you’re not producing enough so
the quantity whether you put whether you
release them or not I have tons of
videos that I haven’t released but
whether you release or not you need to
do the quantity to get the skills to get
better to produce the quality so the
answer really becomes both that’s my
rant for the day okay what else
Enzo what do you recommend to do
regarding SEO learning do it by yourself
or outsource um for me it comes down to
again your core competency like if you
are excited about learning SEO then then
go out and do it if you’re not but you
realize that it’s important to your
business then I would look at
potentially outsource in it if it’s core
to your business like your business will
depend on it rely on it your business
you know doesn’t exist almost if you
don’t have it then I wouldn’t just
outsource it I would in source it I
would delegate it I would hire somebody
to do it for me so that that would be
those would be my three options if I was
really curious about it and excited by
it then I would do it myself and there’s
still a lot like you look at video I am
involved in every video that gets
produced I’m reviewing every video that
gets produced
I’m helping research for some of them
are helping with titles for like I like
it I want to get better at it it fuels
me and drys mean it makes me come alive
right I feel satisfied I feel growth and
joy I don’t want to edit you know I am
NOT a good editor
I hate editing I don’t want to get
better at editing it’s not on my to-do
list and so editing then become
something is important to me right I
can’t just outsource that because if I
don’t have a good editing team and
structure my channel doesn’t exist right
they all live YouTube hangouts so I’ve
hired some the first person I hired from
my YouTube team was an editor and now we
have two full-time editors who are
working on the channel and you know
there are other things that I might look
at that I might outsource a start you
know maybe we do a caption
everybody’s asking for captions can you
caption this can you translate this you
know that would be something I would
text on an outsourcing basis do I get
results if it then become something that
is so insanely important to my business
that the growth depends on captioning I
wouldn’t just dress into some outsource
company I would I would want to hire
somebody in-house I’m not going to be
the guy transcribing all of my words and
putting them you know in the captions
but I would have somebody that I would
hire so you know Enzo to your question
with SEO are you interested in it does
it fuel you know SEO is one way to grow
a business it’s enough it’s a highly
effective way but it’s not the only way
so are you interested in learning about
if you are then go and study get
learning get better at it if you’re not
then I would start with outsourcing and
see if you’re getting results but if it
really helps really works I’d look to
get somebody on your staff on board
somebody who who really cares about what
they’re doing and cares about the
mission of your business to help you
create something that will love that
will grow ah next bill mean what is the
best way to market via Instagram to be
loyal customers slash pain prospects and
once you start social media marketing
how do you build followers likes noise
noise interesting okay so first of all
do the first part first or the second
part first sorry about the social media
it’s about providing value right just
like in anything else in business it’s
about providing value want people to
follow you sure you can buy followers
but that’s not going to lead you to
anything besides a vanity number and for
some people that’s important you know
for some people having 10,000 Twitter
followers maybe that helps you close a
deal even though those 10,000 were all
bought in all fake that’s when people do
it it’s a vanity number you still get
value out of it even those those 10,000
people don’t really exist but if you’re
eventually trying to sell stuff to them
and you want them to actually share it
and promote you and help you with
whatever business objectives you have
then I’ve been looking at quality
content like why do you guys follow me
on YouTube you like the content that is
being put up right if you didn’t you
would unsubscribe I’m sure there’s other
channels that you’ve watched that you
didn’t enjoy
then you subscribe that it’s pretty
simple it’s not about you know how do
you market and how do you all of these
social media sites are really easy to
share stuff right if you really like
something you’ll tell your friends and
buds to check out this video check out
this pose check out this picture so it
comes back to again the harder decision
like the the sucky answer is that you
got to put in the work you got a Creek
good stop it’s never been easier for
good stuff to spread right in the past
you had to take out an advertising
campaign now it can help amplify it but
it’s not required it’s not necessary
I’d much rather put my money to the
creative then into the advertising and
marketing and if you do that you build
up a following right you get people to
care about you and then when trying to
sell something it becomes a lot easier
when you are selling dog make sure that
you have content that is personal I’d
say 10 to 20 percent of your content
should be personal it should be about
you should be about your life should be
what you’re doing that’s why I have the
life with eben series on my youtube
channel the life of Evan series on my
youtube channel is the worst-performing
series on my channel people that watch
as much people comment on as much people
don’t like it as much people don’t share
it as much we sometimes lose subscribers
on those so when do I do it just from a
business perspective why do I have that
series up it’s because the people who
watch that become way more connected to
me they feel like they know me they
trust me they like me so whenever I
launch a product the people who are
watching that series those are the ones
who are going to be first in line to buy
and be the hardcore fans so you want to
have personal content that get people to
be your superfans so when you have a
product to sell when you say that you
endorse it and you like you’ve made this
you’ve tried this people are much more
likely to buy commute than if you have
this huge following but they’re not
really committed to your the ability who
you are
so get some personal content in there
next what are we doing here k f k t the
best fan k6r KH KH the best fan that’s a
mouthful I have a what
think how do you deal with failure if
this makes you depressed I think failure
is feedback I think people get too
worried about failure I failed a million
times I don’t know many times I feel I
feel it so many times it’s crazy I think
you fail your way to success you fail
and fail and fail fail and you suck
along the way
and then eventually you you’re
successful just look at any successful
entrepreneur look at look at Steve Jobs
look at Bill Gates look at look at Satya
Nadella these guys failed their way to
becoming successful and too many people
see failure as permanent like you try
something and you fail and that’s the
end what was the last time you tried
something new and you were instantly
good at it like I’m gonna try
snowboarding you just get up and you go
down the hill and you’re amazing well
I’m gonna learn Japanese like you pick
up a book and just boom you got it maybe
for some people but that’s insanely rare
you usually suck at the start like of
anything you suck at the start that’s
what happens and you fail and you get
better the next day and go to the next
thing better the next day and I think
too many people have this this gap in
that they have standards where you can
look at something say that’s that’s what
I want to create this is where I wanna
be but you’re producing at a much lower
level right like you want to be here you
know this is what you can do you know
what looks good like if I wanted to make
hoodies like I know this looks good but
I can’t make it you know the first
hoodie that I would try to so total
disaster uh but you know I just need to
get better next time I model success to
learn from people I learned from Bill
Gates I learned from Microsoft is how I
built my business and I failed along the
way so I think as long as you’re seeing
failure as this huge thing that you want
to try to avoid you’re never going to be
successful like if you’re not failing
it’s mean you’re lit means you’re living
life so safe that you never take any
kind of risk and that’s the biggest
failure of all you know it means you’re
just living somebody else’s life and
being told to do and you just do it
because somebody else told you to do it
that’s not a real life in my opinion and
so failure is just a way to understand
how
not to do it the next time and really
just getting better you know so look at
my videos and say okay you know I want
to be as big as Tony Robbins or Les
Brown you know Les Brown I look up to as
a public speaker you know I’m not there
yet I’m not Les Brown level and I mean
that’s hard it’s like one of the
greatest of all time
and so what because I’m not Les Brown
level yet I’m a failure I can’t do it
you know I’m going to stop working
no like I look at what I did I look back
at what I did last year and it’s already
insanely better right so looking back in
the work you’ve done last week yesterday
you know last month whatever it is as
long as you’re better than you were
before you’re making progress so I don’t
mind failure I mean I like failure you
fail your way to success just take small
failures like don’t mortgage your house
in cashing it with every savings you
have to launch some t-shirt company and
take out ten thousand t-shirts and you
sell to write like that’s a pretty big
failure you can still bounce back from
it but I’d rather much rather fail on a
smaller level and build myself up uh
tons of questions next what do we have
what we have would have Akash what to do
when I get distracted I tried so much to
focus couple things here one I think a
lot of times people are just doing the
wrong things a lot of times what you are
trying to focus on may not be the thing
that you should be focusing on like I’m
a big believer in following my flow and
that I get pulled in the direction I
want to try this thing out and
oftentimes it doesn’t make sense you
know like maybe there’s no practical
application that I can immediately see
to my business but by following that
flow something magical happens you know
some solution comes and so if I’m
consistently not able to keep focus I
feel like something is wrong with the
work that I’m doing like you can only
force yourself to do something for
so long before you need to change yeah
if you’re if you’re looking at your day
and seeing everything ahead of you and
say man I got to do all this work today
and it sucks and that’s your life every
day that sucks
who wants that life right like no wonder
wise you’re having a hard time focusing
I would have a hard time focusing too so
if that’s a consistent thing then maybe
you’re just doing the wrong stuff at a
high level now you kind of zoom in uh
there are micro things you can do right
like listen to music can help you if
it’s especially music with no lyrics is
why I created the productivity and vibe
series I have music to help you go one
thing that helps me is I work in
90-minute chunks so I’ll do a 90 minute
chunk and then take a 15 minute break
and another 90 minute junk
and in those 90 minutes I need to get my
project done so if it’s uh you know
doing a slides for my next speaking gig
okay I got to get that done in 90
minutes so it forces you to stay focused
right you plot out the big things that
you need to get done and put them into
90-minute chunks and suddenly a lot of
little things that chew up your time
whether it’s checking Facebook or seeing
if somebody emailed you or whatever
falls away and I find that super helpful
to stay focus on the project that I’m
working on but again I’m working on
things that excite me
you know if I’m sitting there for weeks
worrying about this presentation I’m not
that excited about the real answer is
that probably should not be doing that
presentation next Kevin Evan to making
business you have to provide a service
right because the chances of inventing
something are very slim ah not
necessarily lots of successful product
companies and you could also be a
reseller where you’re selling products
I prefer starting with a service
business because the cost one because
the costs are lower I think
entrepreneurs spend too much money at
the start I hate spending money till I’m
making money I think entrepreneurs have
spent way too much money as a start of a
business they think is going to be more
successful than it is they don’t
anticipate how much it’s going to cost
and how long it’s going to take to get
going and then you’re out of money and
then you
cashing in everything you have and then
you go broke and you know you go back
and get a job and so I much rather build
a service first to get Cashel coming in
the other thing that it does it gets you
closer to your customers a lot of times
the first product that you have is a
miss you know like you may think that
your your hoody design is insane is
amazing we want it and so you buy 10,000
of them but nobody buys them like a lot
of times your first product is a flop
and so the way to what a lot of
entrepreneurs do is they spend a lot of
money behind that inventory because you
get the price breaks and then you’re out
of money and so the better way to do it
in my view at least is the start of
service even if your long term goals
that have a product start a service you
get cash flow coming in you don’t have
any expenses at the start you can get
close to your customers understand their
pains understand their problems and then
build a product around the problems that
they have like if you have a good
relationship with the customers oh hey
I’m you know I’ve noticed this keeps
coming up over and over again if I had a
product that solved that problem that
did this for you would you buy it you
can have people saying yes then you have
a product and then you can build your
company off of that and you you build
your company the product side you might
have to invest some money there but
you’re making your money from the
service side and it fuels you it keeps
you going right it pays your internet
bills and pays your food bills and helps
make sure that you’re still around to do
it a great example in a small scale
there’s a guy called podcast Answer Man
bulletin whose name goes on Tim Schmoyer
is channel on YouTube and he was
consulting with people helping them set
up their podcasts and you know that’s
what he was set his day up you know he
sits podcast consulting all day long
except different meetings with people
and that was a great source of cash flow
for him he had a day were almost the
entire day back-to-back people were kept
asking him the same thing like how do I
use this tool one of the tools to run a
podcast number the name how do I use
this tool and so this is crazy
everybody’s asking me about this I’m a
it’s from the same thing over and over
and over and over again that can get
boring too for
a service environment so the same
question over and over and over again so
we turn that into a product that that
any good sound and that help this
product site grow and so I love starting
with the service wherever possible then
transition into a product but it’s not
something only way to do it you can
start with a product way business is
tons of small companies who have
successful product big business it’s not
the only way to do it but I just prefer
this also would the salsa way to go
salsa dancing the service way to go a
skate maybe last questions here we got
skateboarder vans hey how would you
suggest making contacts in the industry
uh
I kind of talked about this at the top
of the show again it depends on your
skill set you know I had those house on
my show earlier or last week and he’s a
natural networker like he loves talking
to people he goes to events he he gets
along with people super well Alex too if
you’ve watched the stuff I’ve done with
TBS everybody just likes him like if you
don’t like Alex on the first meeting
there’s something like you’re in a bad
mood today or something he’s just like
he’s got that personality and so for him
it be go out meet people like your job
should be just be who you are and meet
people and they’ll like you and you’ll
get connections for me I hate that stuff
I hate small talking now that would be
hell for me like if all my day was spent
just talking to people and trying to
make connections it would be it would be
just a disaster my business would not do
well so I do it much more from a
marketing point of view like I’d rather
be speaking at an event and then people
come up and talk to me afterwards and
that’s how I build up my connections and
so I think you got to go all-in on your
strengths good on your strengths just
because it’s how I did it doesn’t mean
it’s how you’re going to do it although
like Mahlon success is great learn from
me learn from other people who who’ve
had some success and see which strategy
best speaks to you I want to do one more
I know I said last time I want to do one
more Dixey writing in oftentimes closest
friends and family pay other people did
services for them but expect you to do
it for free or at a discount just how do
I deal with such people um yeah it’s
true
for me it’s it’s really just
understanding and explaining to them
that this is your business right like
you are not making money this is one of
the hardest things from yours getting
started up I left potential
opportunities to make you know six
figures starting salary at a university
and I didn’t to go do $300 a month that
my jaw on my business works I was
basically sucking whelmed all my friends
were investment bankers and I had the
job that I thought I wanted before and
and I was always too embarrassed to tell
them that I was broke that I was failing
you know that I had no money they wanted
to go out and party and celebrate
birthdays and just have beer and pizza
and like I had to pick one thing a month
I just didn’t have the money to do it
and I would never tell them that I was
struggling I was too ashamed and I would
just say I am too you know I’m living
the entrepreneur is I’m just too busy I
got I got so much going on and it on
time for it but really I just had to
massively budget what I was doing and I
think a lot of times your family and
friends they don’t see all the hard work
that that’s going into the business they
don’t realize that like you’re losing
money doing this doesn’t mean they have
to be a customer right like maybe you’re
not a fit but giving them an
understanding of how hard you’re working
and how you know you’d appreciate their
support but you can only go so far to
help I think it’s really just a
misunderstanding for a lot of people
that they don’t get it and it looked
great like most people don’t I’m sure
you didn’t they’re saying how much hard
work it was to be an entrepreneur until
you actually became an entrepreneur like
I think it’s going to be harder than its
way way way harder than then it you
thought it was when you started and if
people still don’t understand that you
know if your friends and family still
don’t get in they still feel like you
owe them
then then you know that might be
of spending less time with them you know
family might be hard but friends you
might have to change your friends you
know a lot of times the friends and
family that you have they hold you where
you are right like when you tell them a
great idea you have to do something big
all your friends saying that’s amazing
here’s here’s what I think you can do
here’s how it can help you here’s how I
see it growing or do they give you a
look you know and make you doubt
yourself make you feel like you’re not
good enough you know and a lot of times
it’s just out of their own fear their
own insecurities their own inability to
do things and because they’re afraid
they put that on you if they can’t
achieve success they don’t want you
having massive success and so a lot of
times you might have to change your
friends like you know if you stick
around those people you’ll achieve what
they achieve you know do you want their
life and thinking about advice that you
take from people even will it close
people like you know thinking about your
parents have your parents done what you
want to do even if what they say is out
of love like I’m assuming most parents
don’t just hate on their kids right like
they’re saying stuff to you out of love
but it may not be the right thing for
you like look at the advice that you’re
taking from people the heart it has to
be there obviously but if they haven’t
done what you want to do then they’re
probably not in the position to give you
advice right and the more you listen to
them more you’re going to stay where you
are instead of get to where you can be
and so that’s maybe a bit of a harsh
reality but you may need to change your
friends as you get older and be more
successful just throwing that out there
and it was a weird one to end on but
much love thank you guys so much for
joining I really appreciate all the
questions and thank you again to
Microsoft for hosting this I’ve linked
up them in the description below so you
can go check them out this is a new
thing that we’re testing we haven’t done
a live hangout with Microsoft before so
if you guys like this you want to see
more let us know leave in the comments
below and maybe we’ll make it a series
who knows
thank you guys again for watching
continue to believe and we’ll see you
soon
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