POPULARITY
Now, more than ever, this is a topic that is being brought up by a lot of people. Before we get into the episode, I want to take a couple of minutes to let you know how I'm feeling about the Coronavirus and COVID-19. Not because we're not inundated everywhere with this content, but because it's fueling an online revolution and it's got me fired up to get content like today's scheduled episode out. Last Wednesday, after my teenager was home from school but before my 11 year old's day was over, the school district announced closure for the following day for at least two weeks. My husband had already been home for a week at this point and I was mostly trying to make heads or tails of our new normal. I actually really like having him at home. Both of us working, but conversations during the day being over food or breaks instead of text and FB messages. When the schools announced the closure, we were prepared. We already had an inkling that this was going to happen and I was prepared to have the girls home while we continued to work. We would have more time together because our schedules were more in alignment (since nobody was leaving the house.) So, on the home and work fronts, things were good. Over the weekend gymnastics for my younger daughter was cancelled and Monday morning dance for my older daughter was suspended as well. Perfect, the decision to go to these programs was taken out of our hands. But there has been something simmering beneath the surface of all this… and that is freedom. We have all lost our freedom to live and work as we wish. That's really what has been taken from us, no matter the course of the virus spread. Our freedoms that we have taken for granted for as long as we've been alive have all but disappeared and we are at the mercy of others. And we had to decide how we were going to maintain our sense of self and self-worth. And, truth be told, my sense of self disappeared for a bit. Fortunately it's coming back - thanks to leaning on my support system. One member of my support system said, and I quote, “you are serving!” and another said “Breathe… you are right where you need to be.” She went on to ask me to name three positive things about where I am right now -- and immediately I was able to respond “The work I'm doing, my family and I'm happy busy.” The other way that I've been able to push myself through all the noise is reducing the time I spend on social media and instead having amazing conversations with experts on the upcoming Expand Online Summit which will be open for registration in mid-April and for viewing in May. If you want to be one of the firsts to register, make sure you're on my email list by going to https://techofbusiness.com/onlineproduct/ and downloading the free Expand Online Getting Started Guide. I don't know what the next days and weeks will bring. What I do know is that more and more people are looking to translate something they have previously done in person into something they can offer online. And this is my jam. I love helping you take your genius and get it online so that you can expand your impact and exceed your goals. With that, let's transition to the main topic of conversation today... Online program tech requirements. In episode 110 we went really deep into migrating an in person class into an online group program and in prior weeks we've spent a lot of time focusing on . So, this week, we're going to go technical, because as you know, that's where I gravitate. And because I know this is often the biggest question I get from listeners and social media followers - what do I need to do to start selling an online program? The free guide that I mentioned a few moments ago - The Expand Online Getting Started Guide includes a section on the tech requirements for an online product. We're going to use that as the basis of what you truly need. First up: somewhere to share what we're selling. This is essentially a webpage. I didn't say website, just a webpage. A webpage is a single page that shows the product that you're selling, who it's for, what it does, the price, dates and times if they are relevant and a button to initiate checkout. That's really it. When we boil it down to the must haves. We just need to have an online home to direct our offline clients to so that they can see what our online offer is (and ideally invest in their art by signing up!) The next thing we need is a way to take payments. There are two main online payment providers that I use for myself and with my clients. These are Stripe and PayPal. With PayPal you need to have a business account not a personal one. You don't need the pro level and there is no fee to maintain the account. Stripe will automatically transfer your money to your bank account about 3 days after the payment is received. PayPal holds your money until you request to transfer it to your bank account and then it takes about a day to complete the transfer. On the checkout page of a website Stripe comes across as credit card fields right on the page whereas PayPal is a button that takes purchasers to PayPal to complete the payment. I read somewhere that offering both options increases purchase rate by up to 15%. Our next tool is the home base for the product. I strongly recommend using MemberVault to start off with. Their forever free plan allows you to have 50 users without paying them anything. It also has native integration with both Stripe and PayPal and can serve as the webpage that I mentioned earlier. I've talked about MemberVault a fair amount on the podcast already and I'll continue to do so simply because I know it's a minimalist tool that can do so much heavy lifting. Episodes 43 - 47 were my 5-part MemberVault series. And they are absolutely worth a listen to get a good idea how MemberVault works. Depending on the type of program you've created, you'll use MemberVault in one of a few different ways. If you've created an online group program, you'll use it to share samples, worksheets and guides with your participants. They will be able to answer questions and give you feedback along the way. If you've created an online course or membership site, you'll provide the training content inside your MemberVault account as well. If you're creating any video content (which you should be -- and we'll talk a whole lot more about that in a few weeks) then you'll need to house the video content somewhere. My recommendation is a Vimeo Pro account, which costs $20/month but I can usually find a coupon code to reduce the fee. If you're strapped for cash, you can use YouTube to house your videos to start with. But let me say this -- the Vimeo Pro experience is far better for our viewers than the YouTube embed. The next set of tools are those that create community. Zoom and Facebook. Zoom Pro is the tool you'll be using to host the live components of your program. It is a video conferencing app and I use it on a daily basis. And Facebook, oh Facebook. Hosting a Facebook group as part of your online program is almost a necessity these days because we're all craving connection and this is the most robust connection platform available right now. So you'll find that embracing a Facebook group will be invaluable as you expand online. There's one other absolutely critical tech tool that needs to be in place before you start selling your online group program, membership or courses -- and that's an email marketing system. I am a huge proponent of ActiveCampaign and if you don't have an automated email system yet, it's the one I most strongly recommend. It also ties in super well with MemberVault because that's what they use for their business. ActiveCampaign is going to be the tool you use to communicate with your participants -- you'll use it to let them know that new content is available, you'll use it to remind them of live sessions, you'll use it to ask for testimonials and feedback. And, in time, you'll use it as you expand your online following to nurture prospective clients who don't know you from your local work. So let's recap: MemberVault , ActiveCampaign, Vimeo Pro, Stripe, PayPal, Zoom and Facebook. That's seven tools. And for most of us, it's 5 or 6 brand new tools. I want to give you permission right now to not try to tackle all these tools at once. It can break you. You didn't learn how to do what you do overnight, it took you years, multiple teachers and loads of trial and error. So let's make this clear -- learning all the tools to make that a viable business doesn't need to be done overnight either. You don't need to become an expert at all the things to be successful... And, I'm sure you've seen it too - out of virtually nowhere there are “experts” sharing how you can move your entire business online in a day and all this stuff -- well, I'm telling you that is not going to create the impact and success you seek. Doing everything at lightning speed really is not practical. Are you really ready to take everything you've done in your business and find an online equivalent overnight, then throw open the online doors and have clients immediately take you up on your offers. That's just not how it works, and that's why it's so helpful to know that you don't need to implement all the tech all at once. And that you need to feel supported by the tech and comfortable using it, but mastery -- that does not need to be your focus. I'm a technology strategist. It's my job to help my clients find the best right tech to support their business goals online. The last thing I want you doing is getting bogged down by the tech, So while it is super important to have a strong tech foundation, and that's why I listed 7 tools to use, it's also super important to package your teaching in a way that will be best received by your students. Focus on the results you are helping your clients achieve and learn enough about the tools to use them effectively. Time for my shameless plug -- you've made it to the end of the shownotes and I would love to work with you to implement your tech so that you can focus on the important stuff ~ your clients! To get started, send me an email at jaime@techofbusiness.com or reach out on Instagram @jaimeslutzky! Download the Expand Online Quick Start Guide Book a Strategy Session Instagram: @jaimeslutzky Facebook: @yourbiztech The Expand Online Community on Facebook Email: jaime@techofbusiness.com Contact Page: https://techofbusiness.com/contact/
Now, more than ever, this is a topic that is being brought up by a lot of people. Before we get into the episode, I want to take a couple of minutes to let you know how I’m feeling about the Coronavirus and COVID-19. Not because we’re not inundated everywhere with this content, but because it’s fueling an online revolution and it’s got me fired up to get content like today’s scheduled episode out. Last Wednesday, after my teenager was home from school but before my 11 year old’s day was over, the school district announced closure for the following day for at least two weeks. My husband had already been home for a week at this point and I was mostly trying to make heads or tails of our new normal. I actually really like having him at home. Both of us working, but conversations during the day being over food or breaks instead of text and FB messages. When the schools announced the closure, we were prepared. We already had an inkling that this was going to happen and I was prepared to have the girls home while we continued to work. We would have more time together because our schedules were more in alignment (since nobody was leaving the house.) So, on the home and work fronts, things were good. Over the weekend gymnastics for my younger daughter was cancelled and Monday morning dance for my older daughter was suspended as well. Perfect, the decision to go to these programs was taken out of our hands. But there has been something simmering beneath the surface of all this… and that is freedom. We have all lost our freedom to live and work as we wish. That’s really what has been taken from us, no matter the course of the virus spread. Our freedoms that we have taken for granted for as long as we’ve been alive have all but disappeared and we are at the mercy of others. And we had to decide how we were going to maintain our sense of self and self-worth. And, truth be told, my sense of self disappeared for a bit. Fortunately it’s coming back - thanks to leaning on my support system. One member of my support system said, and I quote, “you are serving!” and another said “Breathe… you are right where you need to be.” She went on to ask me to name three positive things about where I am right now -- and immediately I was able to respond “The work I’m doing, my family and I’m happy busy.” The other way that I’ve been able to push myself through all the noise is reducing the time I spend on social media and instead having amazing conversations with experts on the upcoming Expand Online Summit which will be open for registration in mid-April and for viewing in May. If you want to be one of the firsts to register, make sure you’re on my email list by going to https://techofbusiness.com/onlineproduct/ and downloading the free Expand Online Getting Started Guide. I don’t know what the next days and weeks will bring. What I do know is that more and more people are looking to translate something they have previously done in person into something they can offer online. And this is my jam. I love helping you take your genius and get it online so that you can expand your impact and exceed your goals. With that, let’s transition to the main topic of conversation today... Online program tech requirements. In episode 110 we went really deep into migrating an in person class into an online group program and in prior weeks we’ve spent a lot of time focusing on . So, this week, we’re going to go technical, because as you know, that’s where I gravitate. And because I know this is often the biggest question I get from listeners and social media followers - what do I need to do to start selling an online program? The free guide that I mentioned a few moments ago - The Expand Online Getting Started Guide includes a section on the tech requirements for an online product. We’re going to use that as the basis of what you truly need. First up: somewhere to share what we’re selling. This is essentially a webpage. I didn’t say website, just a webpage. A webpage is a single page that shows the product that you’re selling, who it’s for, what it does, the price, dates and times if they are relevant and a button to initiate checkout. That’s really it. When we boil it down to the must haves. We just need to have an online home to direct our offline clients to so that they can see what our online offer is (and ideally invest in their art by signing up!) The next thing we need is a way to take payments. There are two main online payment providers that I use for myself and with my clients. These are Stripe and PayPal. With PayPal you need to have a business account not a personal one. You don’t need the pro level and there is no fee to maintain the account. Stripe will automatically transfer your money to your bank account about 3 days after the payment is received. PayPal holds your money until you request to transfer it to your bank account and then it takes about a day to complete the transfer. On the checkout page of a website Stripe comes across as credit card fields right on the page whereas PayPal is a button that takes purchasers to PayPal to complete the payment. I read somewhere that offering both options increases purchase rate by up to 15%. Our next tool is the home base for the product. I strongly recommend using MemberVault to start off with. Their forever free plan allows you to have 50 users without paying them anything. It also has native integration with both Stripe and PayPal and can serve as the webpage that I mentioned earlier. I’ve talked about MemberVault a fair amount on the podcast already and I’ll continue to do so simply because I know it’s a minimalist tool that can do so much heavy lifting. Episodes 43 - 47 were my 5-part MemberVault series. And they are absolutely worth a listen to get a good idea how MemberVault works. Depending on the type of program you’ve created, you’ll use MemberVault in one of a few different ways. If you’ve created an online group program, you’ll use it to share samples, worksheets and guides with your participants. They will be able to answer questions and give you feedback along the way. If you’ve created an online course or membership site, you’ll provide the training content inside your MemberVault account as well. If you’re creating any video content (which you should be -- and we’ll talk a whole lot more about that in a few weeks) then you’ll need to house the video content somewhere. My recommendation is a Vimeo Pro account, which costs $20/month but I can usually find a coupon code to reduce the fee. If you’re strapped for cash, you can use YouTube to house your videos to start with. But let me say this -- the Vimeo Pro experience is far better for our viewers than the YouTube embed. The next set of tools are those that create community. Zoom and Facebook. Zoom Pro is the tool you’ll be using to host the live components of your program. It is a video conferencing app and I use it on a daily basis. And Facebook, oh Facebook. Hosting a Facebook group as part of your online program is almost a necessity these days because we’re all craving connection and this is the most robust connection platform available right now. So you’ll find that embracing a Facebook group will be invaluable as you expand online. There’s one other absolutely critical tech tool that needs to be in place before you start selling your online group program, membership or courses -- and that’s an email marketing system. I am a huge proponent of ActiveCampaign and if you don’t have an automated email system yet, it’s the one I most strongly recommend. It also ties in super well with MemberVault because that’s what they use for their business. ActiveCampaign is going to be the tool you use to communicate with your participants -- you’ll use it to let them know that new content is available, you’ll use it to remind them of live sessions, you’ll use it to ask for testimonials and feedback. And, in time, you’ll use it as you expand your online following to nurture prospective clients who don’t know you from your local work. So let’s recap: MemberVault , ActiveCampaign, Vimeo Pro, Stripe, PayPal, Zoom and Facebook. That’s seven tools. And for most of us, it’s 5 or 6 brand new tools. I want to give you permission right now to not try to tackle all these tools at once. It can break you. You didn’t learn how to do what you do overnight, it took you years, multiple teachers and loads of trial and error. So let’s make this clear -- learning all the tools to make that a viable business doesn’t need to be done overnight either. You don’t need to become an expert at all the things to be successful... And, I’m sure you’ve seen it too - out of virtually nowhere there are “experts” sharing how you can move your entire business online in a day and all this stuff -- well, I’m telling you that is not going to create the impact and success you seek. Doing everything at lightning speed really is not practical. Are you really ready to take everything you’ve done in your business and find an online equivalent overnight, then throw open the online doors and have clients immediately take you up on your offers. That’s just not how it works, and that’s why it’s so helpful to know that you don’t need to implement all the tech all at once. And that you need to feel supported by the tech and comfortable using it, but mastery -- that does not need to be your focus. I’m a technology strategist. It’s my job to help my clients find the best right tech to support their business goals online. The last thing I want you doing is getting bogged down by the tech, So while it is super important to have a strong tech foundation, and that’s why I listed 7 tools to use, it’s also super important to package your teaching in a way that will be best received by your students. Focus on the results you are helping your clients achieve and learn enough about the tools to use them effectively. Time for my shameless plug -- you’ve made it to the end of the shownotes and I would love to work with you to implement your tech so that you can focus on the important stuff ~ your clients! To get started, send me an email at jaime@techofbusiness.com or reach out on Instagram @jaimeslutzky! Download the Expand Online Quick Start Guide Book a Strategy Session Instagram: @jaimeslutzky Facebook: @yourbiztech The Expand Online Community on Facebook Email: jaime@techofbusiness.com Contact Page: https://techofbusiness.com/contact/
Today we are breaking down what it means to pre-launch or pre-sell your online program. We're going to break down what needs to be in place for the pre-launch to be successful and the factors to consider when using this launch method. Pre-launching or pre-selling an online program essentially means that you create your sales page and start receiving payments before the program content is complete. There are two primary reasons why businesses choose the pre-sell method which are: To validate the idea To raise funds to produce the product And because there is an investment on the customer side of things, more often than not, pre-selling an online product requires one or more of these customer sets: An established customer base asking for the product Loyal followers on social media Direct outreach to potential customers And there are other customer bases too -- but for now, these are the most likely who will be up for buying your online product before it's complete. For the rest of this episode, I assume that you know where your initial customers are going to come from and the work required to get them to the sales page… let's get to what needs to be setup and what can wait. The final action our customers are going to take is to go through the checkout process. Therefore, this is the most important element to have setup properly when you're pre-selling. The checkout cart that I most highly recommend is ThriveCart… Episode 82 of the podcast was a deep dive into this robust platform. For our purposes today, ThriveCart is where our customers are going to pay for this new online product. They are going to be presented with the checkout page which you'll want to fully build out. This includes: A well defined product name Price and payment options A list of “what's included” An image or graphic representing the product Your terms of service and refund policy It doesn't have to be complicated, it just has to be complete. And if you don't know the full extent of what will be included in your product yet, ...and more! always works well. After your customers pay for this pre-launch product, they will be directed to the thank you for purchasing page or another page of your choice. This page is likely the second most important pre-launch asset you can have. This is where we set expectations, double down on our commitment to product creation and let them know how much we value them. This page is where you reassure your new customer that their success with this program is your utmost priority. I like to throw a video on this page because it adds a personal touch. Right on the heels of the thank you page, there needs to also be a thank you email in addition to the payment receipt. They could be done as one single email customizing the ThriveCart receipt email or as two separate ones with the latter coming from your email marketing system. I like to do two emails -- ever so slightly customizing the ThriveCart one and then sending a more complete one from ActiveCampaign. So, yes, you will need to make sure that your cart is properly connected with your email marketing platform. And this is because we'll be using that as the mechanism for keeping our pre-sell customers in the know as far as the progress of the program they have purchased. So far: we have a place for our customers to purchase the product, a thank you page, a thank you email and hooked the purchase into our email marketing system. But for most of us, that's not enough -- we need a sales page to help our customers see that this product is truly right for them at this stage in their life or business. The sales page is kinda like a cover letter on a resume. The resume can stand for itself but the cover letter gives the resume context and warmth. It's the same thing with the sales page. Your sales page can be more simplified at the pre-launch stage than it will be during your public launch. The key elements of the sales page are the same as the checkout page, but usually it's going to be more aesthetically pleasing. I have three questions for you to ask yourself that can help you figure out if you need a sales page or just a checkout page: Is my customer interacting with me during the sales process? If so, then you might not need one. If they are not, then you probably want one. Is my audience already used to buying things online? If so, then your checkout page might be enough because they understand the process. If they are not, then the more we can warm them up to the idea of an online product, the more likely they will be to follow through and make the purchase. Is this product more than $100? If so, then a sales page is highly recommended. If it's more than $500 then a sales page is absolutely necessary. So, do we need anything else? Well… not to make the sale but to efficiently create the product that we are preselling, then yes, we'll want to have a few other tactical pieces in order. The first is how we are going to ultimately deliver the online program. If it's a live video session based program, then we'll be using Zoom to deliver it. And it's time to get your Zoom Pro account squared away. If it's an online membership program or an online course, know what platform you'll be using. I recommend either Thinkific or MemberVault… and if you want to know more about those platforms, I did mini-series on each of them earlier this year on the podcast. If it's a done with you or done for you type product, again, you'll want to make sure you know how this program will be delivered. If it's being delivered via email, then your email marketing system is soon going to be your best friend! The bottom line on this is that it's super important that you're clear how the product is being delivered so that you can refer to that in your language on the sales page, checkout page, thank you page and emails. Next, what type of content are you going to be including in this program? Is it going to be video content? Is it going to be printable PDFs? Is it going to be fill-in-able PDFs? Is it going to be audio files? What tools are you going to use to create the content? Does your chosen delivery platform include a mechanism for storing that content or do you need to source out Vimeo PRO or a cloud storage location? One other thing that I would highly recommend getting in place is your pixels -- this is going to vastly help your public marketing phase so the sooner you have your Facebook pixel installed in all the right places the happier your marketing team will be. This is most critical if you have an in person or offline established customer base that you want to start doing online business with. And then we get into the bells and whistles side of things. What else can you throw into your online product to wow your customers, help them progress through the program and win? While it's not necessary to have all this stuff figured out at the presale stage, it's super helpful and can streamline the decisions that are coming next. Are you wondering what doesn't need to be in place since I've talked so much about what does need to be there… You don't need to have all your content created. And you don't need to have all your emails written. And you don't need to have your public launch marketing plan in place. And you don't need to have your customer service automated or a chat bot. And you don't need to even create your entire online product before letting your pre-launch or pre-sell customers gain access to the product. What I mean by the last bullet point is that if you're doing an online course or online membership, you can be two or three weeks ahead of your audience so that they get access to Week 1 content while you're working on Week 4 content. At this stage, your customers are going to people that already know you, already trust you and truly believe that you're going to serve them right. Making the purchase experience smooth should be the primary focus. I would love to support you during your pre-launch. Join us in the Expand Online Facebook group which you can access by going to techofbusiness.com/community/ And if you want any assistance with ThriveCart or any of the other tools we mentioned here, use any of the links below to get in touch! Connect with Jaime: Learn about the Five Phases of an Online Product Instagram: @techofbusiness Facebook: @yourbiztech Email: jaime@techofbusiness.com
Today we are breaking down what it means to pre-launch or pre-sell your online program. We’re going to break down what needs to be in place for the pre-launch to be successful and the factors to consider when using this launch method. Pre-launching or pre-selling an online program essentially means that you create your sales page and start receiving payments before the program content is complete. There are two primary reasons why businesses choose the pre-sell method which are: To validate the idea To raise funds to produce the product And because there is an investment on the customer side of things, more often than not, pre-selling an online product requires one or more of these customer sets: An established customer base asking for the product Loyal followers on social media Direct outreach to potential customers And there are other customer bases too -- but for now, these are the most likely who will be up for buying your online product before it’s complete. For the rest of this episode, I assume that you know where your initial customers are going to come from and the work required to get them to the sales page… let’s get to what needs to be setup and what can wait. The final action our customers are going to take is to go through the checkout process. Therefore, this is the most important element to have setup properly when you’re pre-selling. The checkout cart that I most highly recommend is ThriveCart… Episode 82 of the podcast was a deep dive into this robust platform. For our purposes today, ThriveCart is where our customers are going to pay for this new online product. They are going to be presented with the checkout page which you’ll want to fully build out. This includes: A well defined product name Price and payment options A list of “what’s included” An image or graphic representing the product Your terms of service and refund policy It doesn’t have to be complicated, it just has to be complete. And if you don’t know the full extent of what will be included in your product yet, ...and more! always works well. After your customers pay for this pre-launch product, they will be directed to the thank you for purchasing page or another page of your choice. This page is likely the second most important pre-launch asset you can have. This is where we set expectations, double down on our commitment to product creation and let them know how much we value them. This page is where you reassure your new customer that their success with this program is your utmost priority. I like to throw a video on this page because it adds a personal touch. Right on the heels of the thank you page, there needs to also be a thank you email in addition to the payment receipt. They could be done as one single email customizing the ThriveCart receipt email or as two separate ones with the latter coming from your email marketing system. I like to do two emails -- ever so slightly customizing the ThriveCart one and then sending a more complete one from ActiveCampaign. So, yes, you will need to make sure that your cart is properly connected with your email marketing platform. And this is because we’ll be using that as the mechanism for keeping our pre-sell customers in the know as far as the progress of the program they have purchased. So far: we have a place for our customers to purchase the product, a thank you page, a thank you email and hooked the purchase into our email marketing system. But for most of us, that’s not enough -- we need a sales page to help our customers see that this product is truly right for them at this stage in their life or business. The sales page is kinda like a cover letter on a resume. The resume can stand for itself but the cover letter gives the resume context and warmth. It’s the same thing with the sales page. Your sales page can be more simplified at the pre-launch stage than it will be during your public launch. The key elements of the sales page are the same as the checkout page, but usually it’s going to be more aesthetically pleasing. I have three questions for you to ask yourself that can help you figure out if you need a sales page or just a checkout page: Is my customer interacting with me during the sales process? If so, then you might not need one. If they are not, then you probably want one. Is my audience already used to buying things online? If so, then your checkout page might be enough because they understand the process. If they are not, then the more we can warm them up to the idea of an online product, the more likely they will be to follow through and make the purchase. Is this product more than $100? If so, then a sales page is highly recommended. If it’s more than $500 then a sales page is absolutely necessary. So, do we need anything else? Well… not to make the sale but to efficiently create the product that we are preselling, then yes, we’ll want to have a few other tactical pieces in order. The first is how we are going to ultimately deliver the online program. If it’s a live video session based program, then we’ll be using Zoom to deliver it. And it’s time to get your Zoom Pro account squared away. If it’s an online membership program or an online course, know what platform you’ll be using. I recommend either Thinkific or MemberVault… and if you want to know more about those platforms, I did mini-series on each of them earlier this year on the podcast. If it’s a done with you or done for you type product, again, you’ll want to make sure you know how this program will be delivered. If it’s being delivered via email, then your email marketing system is soon going to be your best friend! The bottom line on this is that it’s super important that you’re clear how the product is being delivered so that you can refer to that in your language on the sales page, checkout page, thank you page and emails. Next, what type of content are you going to be including in this program? Is it going to be video content? Is it going to be printable PDFs? Is it going to be fill-in-able PDFs? Is it going to be audio files? What tools are you going to use to create the content? Does your chosen delivery platform include a mechanism for storing that content or do you need to source out Vimeo PRO or a cloud storage location? One other thing that I would highly recommend getting in place is your pixels -- this is going to vastly help your public marketing phase so the sooner you have your Facebook pixel installed in all the right places the happier your marketing team will be. This is most critical if you have an in person or offline established customer base that you want to start doing online business with. And then we get into the bells and whistles side of things. What else can you throw into your online product to wow your customers, help them progress through the program and win? While it’s not necessary to have all this stuff figured out at the presale stage, it’s super helpful and can streamline the decisions that are coming next. Are you wondering what doesn’t need to be in place since I’ve talked so much about what does need to be there… You don’t need to have all your content created. And you don’t need to have all your emails written. And you don’t need to have your public launch marketing plan in place. And you don’t need to have your customer service automated or a chat bot. And you don’t need to even create your entire online product before letting your pre-launch or pre-sell customers gain access to the product. What I mean by the last bullet point is that if you’re doing an online course or online membership, you can be two or three weeks ahead of your audience so that they get access to Week 1 content while you’re working on Week 4 content. At this stage, your customers are going to people that already know you, already trust you and truly believe that you’re going to serve them right. Making the purchase experience smooth should be the primary focus. I would love to support you during your pre-launch. Join us in the Expand Online Facebook group which you can access by going to techofbusiness.com/community/ And if you want any assistance with ThriveCart or any of the other tools we mentioned here, use any of the links below to get in touch! Connect with Jaime: Learn about the Five Phases of an Online Product Instagram: @techofbusiness Facebook: @yourbiztech Email: jaime@techofbusiness.com
This episode has been a long time coming! I am super excited for us to be kicking off the Thinkific mini series here on the podcast. Today we're speaking with Rob Balasabas who is a Social Media and Community Strategist with Thinkific. He is the first episode in a six part mini series where I'm going to be speaking with more people in the Thinkific network including employees and super users! I really felt that it would be beneficial to start this series off with a member of the Thinkific team up there in Vancouver. And Rob and I are always in contact because I am so connected with the Thinkific community. I just felt that he was a perfect person to bring on to just kind of talk a lot about what the platform is. And also what the platform can do and how it can help entrepreneurs and business owners deliver their courses. At its core, Thinkific is an online course platform. Rob says that Thinkific tries to make it as easy as possible for people of all types of business deliver their online content to their audiences. From solopreneurs to entrepreneurs. From small brands and teams and businesses to enterprise or mid market companies. Thinkific want to helps people in business to build their online courses, their training programs, and then their memberships. According to Rob, If you dig into it a little bit deeper, you'll learn that it's much more than that. There are people behind it. And that's what Thinkific tries to really focus on. It's not just the people that are creating the courses. Rob says, “We love them.” They are the ones that are paying for the subscriptions and they keep the lights on. But Thinkific also really cares about is their students, right? So the people that are purchasing or taking their courses. So Thinkific wants to make sure that the experiences for their students and their members are really good. It's seamless and smooth. And so then, that in turn, really helps their course creators succeed. If their students are having a really easy time consuming the content, that helps their course creators succeed that much more. If you go to the Thinkific website, you'll see a lot of their course creators there. You'll also meet a lot of their team members there. So Thinkific tries to really humanize this tech company that's been built. I think that's a really good way of describing Thinkific. There is definitely a human side to this tech company. I've had the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with a good handful of the Thinkific employees. Those conversations have taken place both in person and over a video call. To me that has been an incredible, incredible thing to help me to help the Tech of Business audience determine if Thinkific is the right platform for them. There are different levels of how you can use Thinkific, but let's start kind of at the beginning. If someone's brand new and they want to come in at the base level, they're coming in and they can create a couple of courses. Then they can sell them. It's all FREE to get started and it's out of the box. It works. You don't actually have to use anything else. I wanted to discuss what functionality is built in to that base level. Thinkific does have a free plan. It literally costs $0 million per month. On this base level, you can create up to three courses, which is plenty for most. Most people create one or two flagship courses. You can also have an unlimited amount of students. So you can have as many students take your course and it's still free. And the big thing is that you can integrate directly with Stripe or PayPal to accept payments. This means you can make money and sell your courses and not to have to pay us anything. On this base level, you'll have all the things that you would need in that free plan to launch your course. It would include all the video hosting. So if you want to upload as many videos as you like, you can do that on this free plan. You can use all of the different lesson types, quizzes, presentations, and audio lessons. THIS IS ALL INCLUDED IN THE FREE PLAN! Thinkific has made it so easy for everyone to get started. When a business is growing and starting to evolve it's so important to have a tool that you can use, continue to learn more, and use over time. I think that that helps lower the barrier to entry to try out Thinkific. And what I also think is very beneficial is when someone signs up as a student in your free school or all the way up at any level, there are some emails that can be automatically sent right on sign up. They can be sent on a weekly basis reminding people of their course that they've purchased and that they are signed up for. There are different things that are kind of built into the system to help that student of yours succeed. That keeps us as course creators, as entrepreneurs, out of the customer service, password reset, those types of functionality. The fact that Thinkific has made it so easy and useful for even base users might be one of the many reasons as to why someone would think this is one of the things that makes Thinkific better and different than other course platforms. Rob shared there's all the different features when it comes to course platforms. Everyone has their own feature that they may want for their course. And everyone's needs may be a little bit different. But he thinks what really draws people in, and if you go to their Facebook group, you'll see the support is just outstanding! So that's something that they as a company really tries to stand behind. Rob shared that the platform is great. They have a ton of developers working around the clock, launching tons of features. I know this to be true because I've spoken to and met a ton of them in person when I had the pleasure of visiting the Thinkific offices in Vancouver. The platform is great, but the people behind it are incredible. Rob shared with me a rule that they have in their office. That rule is that they need to answer every email, every day that comes in. So there's nothing that goes over to the next day, over 24 hours. “All of our team members, we do emails, like we'll reply to emails. It's just baked into our culture, baked into our calendar. So there is a portion of my week where I actually dive into customer emails and replying to emails and things like that.”- Rob Balasabas And their Facebook group is just very supportive. They have a toll free number. So I think the thing that a lot of people will come to is that they really like that support. So having that support, that's really like the one main advantage that Thinkific is really very proud about over other platforms out there. If you are an entrepreneur, you know how important it is to have a support system that you can reach out to when you are trying to accomplish a task and something happens. During this Thinkific series you're going to get conversations that I'm going to have with course creators who are using the platform effectively. I've got some great ones lined up. I'm so excited for you guys to listen to those and to enjoy those stories. But there's more that the platform can offer! These types of things take place in the next couple of tiers. Once you're using a platform, you want to use as much of it as possible. One of the things that oftentimes people come to me for is they want to integrate Thinkific with their email marketing provider that they're already using. That's something that happens quite often. Or they want to get update status and they want to be notified in ways or get action information in other ways. So when I'm talking email marketing integrations, I'm talking Zapier's integrations. So those are probably the two big things that people come to me for. I asked Rob if those are the ones that he generally sees people wanting to implement first? Or where did people put touch points and interactions between Thinkific and their other online tools? According to Rob, the Zapier integration is a really key piece with a lot of the course creators because it opens up the doors to whatever they're already using. That's something that as the company and as a platform, as a team, we really are not in the business of trying to build everything for everyone. So we're not building a CRM. We're not able to build an email automation tool because there's already really great ones out there. So what we've decided to do instead is make it very easy to integrate with those existing tools that our customers are already using. So a lot of those tools, we have direct integrations with. The ones that we don't, we leverage with Zapier. (THIS IS WHERE I HELP WITH THINKIFIC!) Rob shares that he finds that that's really one of first things that people want to do once they've figured out how Thinkific works. So the thought process is deciding that this is the platform you're going to use. They then learn how to upload and build courses. Then they think, “Now how do I communicate with my customers, my list,my database? How do I an offer later? How do I segment them?” This is where they start trying to see if Thinkific has direct integrations for the tools they are using. However, they may be using tools or apps in their business that don't have direct integrations. This is where Zapier can come into play. If you're very technical and understand how Zapier works, Thinkific has ZAPs that will enroll students and unenroll them and other different zaps that it works really smoothly. So this is how it works. In Zapier you've got triggers zaps, which means that when something happens on Thinkific, it triggers Zapier to do an action. And you have actions, which means something happens outside of Thinkific and it sends information into Thinkific. So it's a two way street. That is one of those pieces that you don't have to know as the entrepreneur how to make that work. You just have to know that that functionality exists. That if you want to do your sales outside of Thinkific, you can get your students enrolled. If you want to enroll people and have them pay inside Thinkific, but you want to update your database, your CRM, your email list, you can do that. It's a matter of just knowing that those are the options that are available. Let's talk course development, course tools, and structuring courses. There are so many ways that people can deliver their course content and structure their courses with modules and lessons. I want to kind of paint a picture of what it looks like in Thinkific as you're putting together a course. But also what the student experience is when they are taking that class, when they are taking that course. The student experience something that Thinkific focuses on a lot. Some of the things that they really look at include how students can progress through the courses as easily as possible. The more the students consume of a particular course, the better for the course creator, right? So that's a completion rate. “So the higher the completion rate, the better it is for the course because then the students are getting the most value from that course. This then leads to referrals, which then leads to them purchasing other courses that a course creator is also selling down the road. It improves their community. If they have a community, then there's good sentiment about the course inside the community.” - Rob Balasabas So Thinkific looks at that very closely. Because of this they create a ton of different things. Thinkific is ALWAYS updating. They've just updated the way that the student experience looks. Then there's so many different ways to structure a course. Some courses are very long. And some courses are short. Some courses are stand alone courses. And some of them are bundles. It really depends on what that course creator is teaching and who their students are. It depends on what kind of course it is and what space they're in. But in general, they've tried to build in little future features in their course platforms like prerequisites and assignments. These are those little things that will give that experience of almost like being in a classroom. So inside this Thinkific course, you're going to give information. You're going to teach them something maybe through a video, a presentation, or PDF.Then you can use an assignment to make them do something. You are going to make the students take that information they just learned and go and create, for example, that Instagram account. Then put that link to the Instagram account here. Or their assignment may be to optimize their LinkedIn profile. Then they would take a picture of it and upload it to an assignment lesson. And then the course creator can kind of see these things and evaluate them. They can then give their students feedback and either pass or fail. Then the student can move on to the next lesson. So it's just like being at school. That feedback is really important. And so that assignments feature has been a really popular one with a lot of Thinkific's course creators. So when you're thinking about creating a course and you're thinking, “Well, I don't want to force people to go linear.” Guess what? You don't have to. This prerequisite is an option that doesn't even have to exist. You could just have everything open. And all the work for any one module could be contained in a single lesson. It could be a downloadable PDF, a video, and some questions to ponder. And that could be it for that particular lesson. So it really depends on how you want to structure things. The nice thing is that when you get really good at understanding how your student is going to progress through a course, you can go back and restructure things. You can be like, “I want to move module four to module two because I'm finding that that would be a better progression.” Course creation in Thinkific is drag and drop. I think everybody at this point in time knows that drag and drop means it's pretty easy to go in and move things around. And it's really nice that everything is drag and drop. When it comes to creating the course content there are so many options. There are: Video modules Text modules The assignment module Audio modules Downloadable modules Quizzes Surveys Multimedia modules (which is an interesting one, but I would say don't start with that one.) Exams There's so much functionality that you can build into this. And what's more is that Thinkific acts as your video host. Excuse me while I geek out for a minute, but THAT IS HUGE. When it comes to hosting video, generally speaking, you have an expense associated with hosting video for business. Whether you're using Vimeo Pro, Wistia, or you're using some of the other up and coming video hosts that are designed for business videos, you are going to have to pay for those. With Thinkific your videos are included. The videos that you have on your landing pages and the videos that you have inside your course modules, those are available to be hosted at no additional charge. So that is definitely a value add for sure I love that. I think that this kind of helps complete the experience because there is an aesthetic to having a video that was designed to look right inside this platform. And because I think if Thinkific took the time to host the videos, they're also taking the time to make sure that those videos that are hosted in a way to look good in your course. And I think that that's their thought process of keeping it relevant, keeping your students top of mind, keeping your experience top of mind as of course creator, as the entrepreneur who is investing their time, resources, and energy into Thinkific as a tool. This is something that they've spent quite a bit of time on, not just showing up on like desktop, but also on mobile. Those things seem really easy when you are a student and it helps courses fit into your life. It shows up perfectly.They have optimized it for literally every single type of dimension and size. Then as a course grader, there's more to it than just uploading your videos. You can also customize the thumbnail if you like. So it looks nice. You can upload your post captions. You can also change the appearance of the play bar. So you can even brand the play bar to the color of your brand or you can remove the bar completely so that people can fast forward. And then if you'd like, you can also see the analytics. This means you can see things like the number of plays and how much of the video has been watched. Data is something that drives business. We all know this. Anytime that you know more about what's happening with your content, with your online presence, with your courses, with your students, anytime you know more information, then you're better off. It's not just watching how far have people watch the videos. You can also go in and you can drill down into individual users to see when did they sign up. Also, you can see when they signed up. And how far have they gotten in the course. You can find out what they have done? You have a lot of details that you can drill into so that if somebody paid $1,000 for your course and didn't get past the intro module, it may be an opportunity to reach out to them and say, “Hey, what's going on? How can I help you?” So having that data available right inside the dashboard, right inside the users area, is very, very helpful and beneficial. Data is really important. This is why Thinkific has already integrated Google Analytics and all those things. If you want to dig even deeper, they have an integration with Mixpanel, which gives you way more data that actually happens inside of your course. This because Google Analytics can't get data from inside your course because it's a private space. But Mixpanel can so you can see how much time your student has spent on particular lessons and what they clicked on. So we've got Mixpanel for data. And we've got Brillium for the exams. What other integrations does Thinkific have? Well, Accredible is a for certificates! For payments, there are integrations with Stripe and PayPal directly. Also with payments, if you have a membership site, Thinkific has a direct integration with a tool Stunning. With Stunning, Thinkific will help retrieve any failed payments for any subscriptions you have. So if you're a membership site owner, this is a really cool integration. Some other integrations include: Zapier Infusionsoft Facebook Pixel Segment.io MailChimp Constant Contact ConvertKit Aweber ActiveCampaign Disqus Sumo Sumo is a pretty interesting marketing tool. It helps you create buttons that pop up on your landing page when somebody's, for example, going to exit your landing page. This button will pop up and prompt them not to leave yet and then offer that person some type of promo to keep them or at least get them to opt in. Other than humanizing a tech company, what is it that helps potential Thinkific course creators get over that hurdle and make the decision to go in on the platform? As far as features, there's really two types of people. There's the people that are just starting up and they don't really know what the potential is yet because they've never built a course. So the fact that Thinkific has a free plan and in that free plan they can have unlimited students is key. They can also accept payments. It's very low barrier. That's a really big key for people that are just starting up. Then you have the other type of people who are already quite established. If they're migrating, say from another platform, then they just love the service. They love the service and the ease of use. Thinkific is able to migrate their tools. They have a team that will help those established business owners migrate all their students as well. So then they're able to manage even at scale. So Thinkific is able to help people that are just starting out and the people that are scaling because we have features to do so such as groups. Groups is where they can group together different groups of people or different groups companies or clients. So let's say that Rob has a course on LinkedIn. And he has a group that he's working with inside Microsoft and then another group that he's working with inside Apple, And he puts them all on the same course, but then they are segmented into groups within that course and all of the reporting is all segmented. Established course creators love that. It's just really easy for them. It doesn't take them a whole bunch of time to manage their courses. They like that there is higher tier plans. I think that there is something for everyone with a platform like this. I mean you don't have to spend money to get the product that you want. But you have to understand what that product is going to be able to do for you and for your business. In a nutshell, Thinkific is going to help you deliver your courses in a streamlined, organized manner. And it's as simple as that. There's a lot of bells and whistles you can add to your Thinkific course. Take it back to being able to deliver and teach so that your students get the success that they are looking for. So that they see you as the expert, as the”Go To”, as the person who is going to help them take that next step in their business journey or in their social space. Coming up on the series, we've got all sorts of different types of industries. We've got someone who's helping people to a certain type of business. And then we've got people who are learning an instrument. How different can you get? One's totally professional and another one is a passion. It goes to show you can host any kind of course. Most of the people who listen to the podcast are business owners. You may be listening right now and say, “No, I don't have a course in me, but I know my neighbor, she makes the best quilts. And she wants to teach people how to make quilts.” It could be just the perfect thing for you right there. What advice or recommendations would Rob give to someone who's saying, “I think I want to create a course. I want to deliver something pretty awesome to my community”? His advice is really leverage the team that's in place at Thinkific. They really do try to make sure that they are available. Not just by email, but also like inside our Facebook group and inside their community, and by phone. His advice is just to jump in. Know that when you jump in with Thinkific that you will have support. There's going to be resources. And there's going to be a community of other course creators that have gone through or maybe going through exactly what you are going through, trying to understand and learn this platform, and really understand the space of online marketing. Inside Thinkific's Facebook group, they don't just talk about online courses. They're talking about other types of tools that you may or may not use or want to use in your business. So Rob says to just jump in. They have a free plan. So they've tried to do the work of removing that barrier of cost and finances. They did that so you can just jump in start creating. They even have templates you can use. There's experts like ME that you can also reach out to. They are in their Facebook group and are there to support you and answer any questions and help out. Know you're not alone when you come into this. Thinkific has some incredible success stories. He's heard so many awesome ones. And they aren't just from people selling business knowledge. They are from people who are just sharing what they love to do. And they do it for free! But now they get to do it and they have built a business around it. Rob shared a story of a friend of his, Mo. Mo loves to draw and so now he's teaching people how to draw and be hired as a storyboard artist. And there's another lady in San Francisco who is teaching people how to stitch. She just loves to stitch and make like quilts. She launched and then did like a five figure launch in a matter of a couple of weeks. It's a really interesting time where somebody can just document what they already love to do and create a step by step, and then get to build a business around it. It's, it's really amazing. So So you may be saying, “Jaime, how do I get to Thinkific?” You are going to go to techofbusiness.com/thinkific. That is my affiliate link. That is how I can let Rob and everybody over at Thinkific know that this series was a success. So be sure to use techofbusiness.com/Thinkific. Using this link also gets you some bonuses Connect with Jaime: Instagram: @techofbusiness Twitter: @techofbusiness Facebook: @yourbiztech LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaimeslutzky/ Email: jaime@techofbusiness.com Connect with Rob/Thinkific: Facebook Group- Thinkific Studio Facebook- Thinkific Instagram: @thinkific YouTube: Thinkific Tutorials als
This episode has been a long time coming! I am super excited for us to be kicking off the Thinkific mini series here on the podcast. Today we’re speaking with Rob Balasabas who is a Social Media and Community Strategist with Thinkific. He is the first episode in a six part mini series where I’m going to be speaking with more people in the Thinkific network including employees and super users! I really felt that it would be beneficial to start this series off with a member of the Thinkific team up there in Vancouver. And Rob and I are always in contact because I am so connected with the Thinkific community. I just felt that he was a perfect person to bring on to just kind of talk a lot about what the platform is. And also what the platform can do and how it can help entrepreneurs and business owners deliver their courses. At its core, Thinkific is an online course platform. Rob says that Thinkific tries to make it as easy as possible for people of all types of business deliver their online content to their audiences. From solopreneurs to entrepreneurs. From small brands and teams and businesses to enterprise or mid market companies. Thinkific want to helps people in business to build their online courses, their training programs, and then their memberships. According to Rob, If you dig into it a little bit deeper, you'll learn that it's much more than that. There are people behind it. And that's what Thinkific tries to really focus on. It's not just the people that are creating the courses. Rob says, “We love them.” They are the ones that are paying for the subscriptions and they keep the lights on. But Thinkific also really cares about is their students, right? So the people that are purchasing or taking their courses. So Thinkific wants to make sure that the experiences for their students and their members are really good. It's seamless and smooth. And so then, that in turn, really helps their course creators succeed. If their students are having a really easy time consuming the content, that helps their course creators succeed that much more. If you go to the Thinkific website, you'll see a lot of their course creators there. You'll also meet a lot of their team members there. So Thinkific tries to really humanize this tech company that's been built. I think that's a really good way of describing Thinkific. There is definitely a human side to this tech company. I've had the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with a good handful of the Thinkific employees. Those conversations have taken place both in person and over a video call. To me that has been an incredible, incredible thing to help me to help the Tech of Business audience determine if Thinkific is the right platform for them. There are different levels of how you can use Thinkific, but let's start kind of at the beginning. If someone's brand new and they want to come in at the base level, they're coming in and they can create a couple of courses. Then they can sell them. It's all FREE to get started and it's out of the box. It works. You don't actually have to use anything else. I wanted to discuss what functionality is built in to that base level. Thinkific does have a free plan. It literally costs $0 million per month. On this base level, you can create up to three courses, which is plenty for most. Most people create one or two flagship courses. You can also have an unlimited amount of students. So you can have as many students take your course and it’s still free. And the big thing is that you can integrate directly with Stripe or PayPal to accept payments. This means you can make money and sell your courses and not to have to pay us anything. On this base level, you'll have all the things that you would need in that free plan to launch your course. It would include all the video hosting. So if you want to upload as many videos as you like, you can do that on this free plan. You can use all of the different lesson types, quizzes, presentations, and audio lessons. THIS IS ALL INCLUDED IN THE FREE PLAN! Thinkific has made it so easy for everyone to get started. When a business is growing and starting to evolve it’s so important to have a tool that you can use, continue to learn more, and use over time. I think that that helps lower the barrier to entry to try out Thinkific. And what I also think is very beneficial is when someone signs up as a student in your free school or all the way up at any level, there are some emails that can be automatically sent right on sign up. They can be sent on a weekly basis reminding people of their course that they've purchased and that they are signed up for. There are different things that are kind of built into the system to help that student of yours succeed. That keeps us as course creators, as entrepreneurs, out of the customer service, password reset, those types of functionality. The fact that Thinkific has made it so easy and useful for even base users might be one of the many reasons as to why someone would think this is one of the things that makes Thinkific better and different than other course platforms. Rob shared there's all the different features when it comes to course platforms. Everyone has their own feature that they may want for their course. And everyone’s needs may be a little bit different. But he thinks what really draws people in, and if you go to their Facebook group, you'll see the support is just outstanding! So that's something that they as a company really tries to stand behind. Rob shared that the platform is great. They have a ton of developers working around the clock, launching tons of features. I know this to be true because I’ve spoken to and met a ton of them in person when I had the pleasure of visiting the Thinkific offices in Vancouver. The platform is great, but the people behind it are incredible. Rob shared with me a rule that they have in their office. That rule is that they need to answer every email, every day that comes in. So there's nothing that goes over to the next day, over 24 hours. “All of our team members, we do emails, like we'll reply to emails. It's just baked into our culture, baked into our calendar. So there is a portion of my week where I actually dive into customer emails and replying to emails and things like that.”- Rob Balasabas And their Facebook group is just very supportive. They have a toll free number. So I think the thing that a lot of people will come to is that they really like that support. So having that support, that's really like the one main advantage that Thinkific is really very proud about over other platforms out there. If you are an entrepreneur, you know how important it is to have a support system that you can reach out to when you are trying to accomplish a task and something happens. During this Thinkific series you’re going to get conversations that I'm going to have with course creators who are using the platform effectively. I've got some great ones lined up. I'm so excited for you guys to listen to those and to enjoy those stories. But there's more that the platform can offer! These types of things take place in the next couple of tiers. Once you're using a platform, you want to use as much of it as possible. One of the things that oftentimes people come to me for is they want to integrate Thinkific with their email marketing provider that they're already using. That's something that happens quite often. Or they want to get update status and they want to be notified in ways or get action information in other ways. So when I'm talking email marketing integrations, I'm talking Zapier's integrations. So those are probably the two big things that people come to me for. I asked Rob if those are the ones that he generally sees people wanting to implement first? Or where did people put touch points and interactions between Thinkific and their other online tools? According to Rob, the Zapier integration is a really key piece with a lot of the course creators because it opens up the doors to whatever they're already using. That’s something that as the company and as a platform, as a team, we really are not in the business of trying to build everything for everyone. So we're not building a CRM. We're not able to build an email automation tool because there's already really great ones out there. So what we've decided to do instead is make it very easy to integrate with those existing tools that our customers are already using. So a lot of those tools, we have direct integrations with. The ones that we don't, we leverage with Zapier. (THIS IS WHERE I HELP WITH THINKIFIC!) Rob shares that he finds that that's really one of first things that people want to do once they've figured out how Thinkific works. So the thought process is deciding that this is the platform you’re going to use. They then learn how to upload and build courses. Then they think, “Now how do I communicate with my customers, my list,my database? How do I an offer later? How do I segment them?” This is where they start trying to see if Thinkific has direct integrations for the tools they are using. However, they may be using tools or apps in their business that don’t have direct integrations. This is where Zapier can come into play. If you're very technical and understand how Zapier works, Thinkific has ZAPs that will enroll students and unenroll them and other different zaps that it works really smoothly. So this is how it works. In Zapier you've got triggers zaps, which means that when something happens on Thinkific, it triggers Zapier to do an action. And you have actions, which means something happens outside of Thinkific and it sends information into Thinkific. So it's a two way street. That is one of those pieces that you don't have to know as the entrepreneur how to make that work. You just have to know that that functionality exists. That if you want to do your sales outside of Thinkific, you can get your students enrolled. If you want to enroll people and have them pay inside Thinkific, but you want to update your database, your CRM, your email list, you can do that. It's a matter of just knowing that those are the options that are available. Let’s talk course development, course tools, and structuring courses. There are so many ways that people can deliver their course content and structure their courses with modules and lessons. I want to kind of paint a picture of what it looks like in Thinkific as you're putting together a course. But also what the student experience is when they are taking that class, when they are taking that course. The student experience something that Thinkific focuses on a lot. Some of the things that they really look at include how students can progress through the courses as easily as possible. The more the students consume of a particular course, the better for the course creator, right? So that's a completion rate. “So the higher the completion rate, the better it is for the course because then the students are getting the most value from that course. This then leads to referrals, which then leads to them purchasing other courses that a course creator is also selling down the road. It improves their community. If they have a community, then there's good sentiment about the course inside the community.” - Rob Balasabas So Thinkific looks at that very closely. Because of this they create a ton of different things. Thinkific is ALWAYS updating. They've just updated the way that the student experience looks. Then there's so many different ways to structure a course. Some courses are very long. And some courses are short. Some courses are stand alone courses. And some of them are bundles. It really depends on what that course creator is teaching and who their students are. It depends on what kind of course it is and what space they're in. But in general, they've tried to build in little future features in their course platforms like prerequisites and assignments. These are those little things that will give that experience of almost like being in a classroom. So inside this Thinkific course, you're going to give information. You're going to teach them something maybe through a video, a presentation, or PDF.Then you can use an assignment to make them do something. You are going to make the students take that information they just learned and go and create, for example, that Instagram account. Then put that link to the Instagram account here. Or their assignment may be to optimize their LinkedIn profile. Then they would take a picture of it and upload it to an assignment lesson. And then the course creator can kind of see these things and evaluate them. They can then give their students feedback and either pass or fail. Then the student can move on to the next lesson. So it's just like being at school. That feedback is really important. And so that assignments feature has been a really popular one with a lot of Thinkific’s course creators. So when you're thinking about creating a course and you're thinking, “Well, I don't want to force people to go linear.” Guess what? You don't have to. This prerequisite is an option that doesn't even have to exist. You could just have everything open. And all the work for any one module could be contained in a single lesson. It could be a downloadable PDF, a video, and some questions to ponder. And that could be it for that particular lesson. So it really depends on how you want to structure things. The nice thing is that when you get really good at understanding how your student is going to progress through a course, you can go back and restructure things. You can be like, “I want to move module four to module two because I'm finding that that would be a better progression.” Course creation in Thinkific is drag and drop. I think everybody at this point in time knows that drag and drop means it's pretty easy to go in and move things around. And it’s really nice that everything is drag and drop. When it comes to creating the course content there are so many options. There are: Video modules Text modules The assignment module Audio modules Downloadable modules Quizzes Surveys Multimedia modules (which is an interesting one, but I would say don't start with that one.) Exams There's so much functionality that you can build into this. And what’s more is that Thinkific acts as your video host. Excuse me while I geek out for a minute, but THAT IS HUGE. When it comes to hosting video, generally speaking, you have an expense associated with hosting video for business. Whether you're using Vimeo Pro, Wistia, or you're using some of the other up and coming video hosts that are designed for business videos, you are going to have to pay for those. With Thinkific your videos are included. The videos that you have on your landing pages and the videos that you have inside your course modules, those are available to be hosted at no additional charge. So that is definitely a value add for sure I love that. I think that this kind of helps complete the experience because there is an aesthetic to having a video that was designed to look right inside this platform. And because I think if Thinkific took the time to host the videos, they're also taking the time to make sure that those videos that are hosted in a way to look good in your course. And I think that that's their thought process of keeping it relevant, keeping your students top of mind, keeping your experience top of mind as of course creator, as the entrepreneur who is investing their time, resources, and energy into Thinkific as a tool. This is something that they've spent quite a bit of time on, not just showing up on like desktop, but also on mobile. Those things seem really easy when you are a student and it helps courses fit into your life. It shows up perfectly.They have optimized it for literally every single type of dimension and size. Then as a course grader, there’s more to it than just uploading your videos. You can also customize the thumbnail if you like. So it looks nice. You can upload your post captions. You can also change the appearance of the play bar. So you can even brand the play bar to the color of your brand or you can remove the bar completely so that people can fast forward. And then if you'd like, you can also see the analytics. This means you can see things like the number of plays and how much of the video has been watched. Data is something that drives business. We all know this. Anytime that you know more about what's happening with your content, with your online presence, with your courses, with your students, anytime you know more information, then you're better off. It's not just watching how far have people watch the videos. You can also go in and you can drill down into individual users to see when did they sign up. Also, you can see when they signed up. And how far have they gotten in the course. You can find out what they have done? You have a lot of details that you can drill into so that if somebody paid $1,000 for your course and didn't get past the intro module, it may be an opportunity to reach out to them and say, “Hey, what's going on? How can I help you?” So having that data available right inside the dashboard, right inside the users area, is very, very helpful and beneficial. Data is really important. This is why Thinkific has already integrated Google Analytics and all those things. If you want to dig even deeper, they have an integration with Mixpanel, which gives you way more data that actually happens inside of your course. This because Google Analytics can't get data from inside your course because it's a private space. But Mixpanel can so you can see how much time your student has spent on particular lessons and what they clicked on. So we've got Mixpanel for data. And we've got Brillium for the exams. What other integrations does Thinkific have? Well, Accredible is a for certificates! For payments, there are integrations with Stripe and PayPal directly. Also with payments, if you have a membership site, Thinkific has a direct integration with a tool Stunning. With Stunning, Thinkific will help retrieve any failed payments for any subscriptions you have. So if you're a membership site owner, this is a really cool integration. Some other integrations include: Zapier Infusionsoft Facebook Pixel Segment.io MailChimp Constant Contact ConvertKit Aweber ActiveCampaign Disqus Sumo Sumo is a pretty interesting marketing tool. It helps you create buttons that pop up on your landing page when somebody's, for example, going to exit your landing page. This button will pop up and prompt them not to leave yet and then offer that person some type of promo to keep them or at least get them to opt in. Other than humanizing a tech company, what is it that helps potential Thinkific course creators get over that hurdle and make the decision to go in on the platform? As far as features, there's really two types of people. There's the people that are just starting up and they don't really know what the potential is yet because they've never built a course. So the fact that Thinkific has a free plan and in that free plan they can have unlimited students is key. They can also accept payments. It's very low barrier. That's a really big key for people that are just starting up. Then you have the other type of people who are already quite established. If they're migrating, say from another platform, then they just love the service. They love the service and the ease of use. Thinkific is able to migrate their tools. They have a team that will help those established business owners migrate all their students as well. So then they're able to manage even at scale. So Thinkific is able to help people that are just starting out and the people that are scaling because we have features to do so such as groups. Groups is where they can group together different groups of people or different groups companies or clients. So let's say that Rob has a course on LinkedIn. And he has a group that he’s working with inside Microsoft and then another group that he’s working with inside Apple, And he puts them all on the same course, but then they are segmented into groups within that course and all of the reporting is all segmented. Established course creators love that. It's just really easy for them. It doesn't take them a whole bunch of time to manage their courses. They like that there is higher tier plans. I think that there is something for everyone with a platform like this. I mean you don't have to spend money to get the product that you want. But you have to understand what that product is going to be able to do for you and for your business. In a nutshell, Thinkific is going to help you deliver your courses in a streamlined, organized manner. And it's as simple as that. There's a lot of bells and whistles you can add to your Thinkific course. Take it back to being able to deliver and teach so that your students get the success that they are looking for. So that they see you as the expert, as the”Go To”, as the person who is going to help them take that next step in their business journey or in their social space. Coming up on the series, we've got all sorts of different types of industries. We've got someone who's helping people to a certain type of business. And then we've got people who are learning an instrument. How different can you get? One's totally professional and another one is a passion. It goes to show you can host any kind of course. Most of the people who listen to the podcast are business owners. You may be listening right now and say, “No, I don't have a course in me, but I know my neighbor, she makes the best quilts. And she wants to teach people how to make quilts.” It could be just the perfect thing for you right there. What advice or recommendations would Rob give to someone who's saying, “I think I want to create a course. I want to deliver something pretty awesome to my community”? His advice is really leverage the team that's in place at Thinkific. They really do try to make sure that they are available. Not just by email, but also like inside our Facebook group and inside their community, and by phone. His advice is just to jump in. Know that when you jump in with Thinkific that you will have support. There's going to be resources. And there's going to be a community of other course creators that have gone through or maybe going through exactly what you are going through, trying to understand and learn this platform, and really understand the space of online marketing. Inside Thinkific’s Facebook group, they don't just talk about online courses. They're talking about other types of tools that you may or may not use or want to use in your business. So Rob says to just jump in. They have a free plan. So they’ve tried to do the work of removing that barrier of cost and finances. They did that so you can just jump in start creating. They even have templates you can use. There's experts like ME that you can also reach out to. They are in their Facebook group and are there to support you and answer any questions and help out. Know you're not alone when you come into this. Thinkific has some incredible success stories. He’s heard so many awesome ones. And they aren’t just from people selling business knowledge. They are from people who are just sharing what they love to do. And they do it for free! But now they get to do it and they have built a business around it. Rob shared a story of a friend of his, Mo. Mo loves to draw and so now he's teaching people how to draw and be hired as a storyboard artist. And there's another lady in San Francisco who is teaching people how to stitch. She just loves to stitch and make like quilts. She launched and then did like a five figure launch in a matter of a couple of weeks. It's a really interesting time where somebody can just document what they already love to do and create a step by step, and then get to build a business around it. It's, it's really amazing. So So you may be saying, “Jaime, how do I get to Thinkific?” You are going to go to techofbusiness.com/thinkific. That is my affiliate link. That is how I can let Rob and everybody over at Thinkific know that this series was a success. So be sure to use techofbusiness.com/Thinkific. Using this link also gets you some bonuses Connect with Jaime: Instagram: @techofbusiness Twitter: @techofbusiness Facebook: @yourbiztech LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaimeslutzky/ Email: jaime@techofbusiness.com Connect with Rob/Thinkific: Facebook Group- Thinkific Studio Facebook- Thinkific Instagram: @thinkific YouTube: Thinkific Tutorials als
Hello and welcome to the Kaz Johnson Show, my name is Kaz Johnson and I am your host today, and today I am talking about passive income ideas.. I stumbled upon making an online business out of a need, I was recently divorced and I had to start out from where I was with what I had. A PC and an internet connection. I had been delivering IT training and qualifications from my own bricks and mortar business and now needed to find another way of delivering training. With my background in IT, I did some research and found that you can deliver training online. I remember doing a degree course with the Open University, and that they used the Moodle to deliver some of the courses. Moodle is a learning management soft (LMS) and it is an open source software used by colleges and universities. So I managed to install it, and set up a website and put it out there! Then Boom! Someone purchased the course, and that is how I started earning a passive income. Since then I have added multiple income steams to my passive income revenues. So many things have changed since then and it is even easier now than ever before to start an online business and earning a passive income. But where to start? Let's look as some of the ideas you can do to start your journey earning a passive income… Here a just some ideas you can earn a passive income, there are many many more, but I have listed just some of the things… Here a just some ideas you can earn a passive income, there are many many more, but I have listed just some of the things… Start a blog Sell adverting space - eg Google Adsense Affiliate marketing - check out Share a Sale Sell sponsorships Create an e-book Sell it on your own website, publish it on Amazon Use a tool like Designerr Create a book for Kindle sell it on Amazon Create an audible book Sell it on Amazon's Audible site Create printables sell them on your own site sell them on Etsy Set up a podcast Sell sponsorships • Create videos Sell them on your own site Sell them on Unscreen, Vimeo PRO, CreateSpace DVD on Demand, YouTube Create music sell them on your own site Sell them on dittomusic where they will distribute your music to lots of other sites for you Start an Online T-Shirt Business Sell on Amazon KDP Create a course sell it on Udemy, Teachable Sell it on your own site using learning management system (LMS) like Learndash. Create a membership Program. Sell it on your own site using a membership plugin like Memberpress Create courses on your own membership program using an LMS plugin like Learndash Create a coaching program Sell on your own website Take photos Sell them on your own website Sell them on stock photos websites like:- Shutterstock Sell software as a service (SAS) Sell on your own website. Take in a lodger Five nights Become a host using your spare bedroom Air B n B Homestay Rent out your drive Your Parking Space Rent out your loft Stashbee Rent out your garage Just Park Rent your car On Turo Take in overseas students Just do a search for ‘Hosting Students' as there are different schools for different areas. Start a Tube Channel YouTube Set up an commerce store Sell products on your own store with Woocommerce. Sell products on your own store with Shoppify Drop ship your products Arbitrage Sell products on Amazon for them to drop ship and do all the customer service. Buy Dividends Buy shares and get dividend payouts This list is not exhaustive, but it's a good list to get your head thinking about how you can start an online business with a passive income. Try one, and then add more as you go. If you want help with any of the suggestions above, please just drop me an email…. kaz@thesuccessclub.co.uk If you want to learn more about planning, building and growing and online successful business, you can join the Success Club for free as a Lite Member where you can access free courses, resources, online networking events, and challenges all for free. Click here to get your free Lite Membership pass. Want my Free courses: How to Start a Profitable Blog in Want my Free Guide: How to Start a Profitable Blog in 7 Days? Join the Success Club as a Lite Member. Thank you for joining me this week. This podcast is sponsored by the Success Club, a membership program that helps you to plan, build and grow your online business. With a monthly masterclass, an online networking event, and resources. You can join for FREE as a Lite member where you can get access to FREE courses and resources as well as the online community.
We've had a couple other episodes on Virtual Summits. So for today, I want to break down the tech you'll want to get working together to have a fully functioning summit. **A quick clarification before we get into the tech. There are a few schools of thought on what makes a summit!. So for the purposes of this conversation, we're talking about pre-recorded interview or lecture style summits. Those that are consumed on a website (rather than Facebook or YouTube). And that are free to attend for a limited time. These summits also always offer an extended access to the summit content through an All-Access Pass or other aptly named purchasable digital entity. And communication with your summit attendees will be done through an EMS and a closed Facebook group. We're going to start with the end in mind – all summits need to lead the attendees somewhere. It is vitally important to know the customer journey. Are you going to send your attendees to a course? A membership? A group program? A done-for-you service? There are so many places that we lead our summit attendees to. It's super helpful to know what's next! And as long as what's next includes some kind of content delivery, it'll make it way easier to figure out how and where to set up the paid access portal. Your paid access portal is the first platform you'll want to nail down. It may be a WordPress site with an LMS or membership plugin. Possibly could be a stand-alone platform like Thinkific or MemberVault. The exact solution is something you and your team (and me!) will want to discuss. We'll want to make sure that all the I's are dotted and T's are crossed. It's important to pick a platform that has the ability to grow with your business vision. Once that platform has been determined, other decisions will be far easier to make… these decisions include the checkout or cart functionality and affiliate management utility. Other decisions also include whether or not you'll need or want to use Zapier. And, of course, updates to your EMS or other tools that are in your tech stack that aren't quite up for the job of supporting your virtual summit vision. I strongly recommend using the best, right tool for each given task. My personal favorite checkout tool is called ThriveCart. I like ThriveCart because it is a stand alone utility that takes care of affiliate details and selling your product. It also has integrations with a number of other tools that can be used to deliver the goods. And it also consolidates all the common payment tools. As of the time of this recording these are PayPal, Stripe, Apply Pay, G Pay and Authorize.net. This puts your consumer in the best buying position by lowering the purchase barrier. The best affiliate management systems put the affiliate as close to the point of sale as possible. So while there might be an affiliate system close to your content delivery, a better affiliate system is one that is intrinsically tied to the payment. There is a lot more that ThriveCart can do, but that's not the purpose of this episode – if you have payment functionality already then it's likely that will work for your summit as well. We now know the tools we are going to use to deliver the extended access, get paid for it and where our affiliates will be tracked. So let's get to the free summit! This is where your tech needs to be super solid! It's the first interaction many of your attendees are going to have with you and your brand and your business. If we were building your business from scratch with this summit, it would be pretty cut and dry what tools to use. And I have those available in a nifty download you can get here by scrolling to the bottom of the page! But since you've already got a tech stack to contend with, let's not add more clutter that is going to need to be cleaned up later. Hosting a summit might be a great time to clean out some of the tech tools that you are using to streamline your systems...take your EMS for example. This is one component of your tech stack and virtual summit that needs to be in tip top shape! WHY? So that it can do a lot of heavy lifting. If you're using a system that doesn't have tagging capabilities or isn't well organized it's time to clean that thing up. Your EMS is going to be responsible for keeping your summit attendees excited as the summit approaches. It will also provide links to the summit content during the event. And guide your attendees through whatever you've got on the heels of the summit. One of the reasons I like EMSs that have tagging is because it is a great built in organization structure. And less pre-cleanup is required to add your summit into the fold. It's just a matter of creating a series of tags that correspond to the different parts of the summit and different ways that your attendees and purchasers interact with your emailed content. Let me dig in a bit more! The more data you have about a given summit attendee, the better off you will be to help the exact right people find their way to the exact right next step with you. With ActiveCampaign (and probably other systems, but I'm most familiar with AC) there is site tracking available. With this functionality, you can actually see which attendees have visited which pages on your summit website! This is super powerful, especially if we're agile in our approach to summit communication. It's far easier to start a conversation with an attendee when you know what has piqued their interest! Not to mention, that it's crucial for a great experience to not sell to the already sold! If someone has purchased the extended access, it is crucial to stop including them in the summit upsell emails. Instead, the communication needs to switch to nurturing the relationship and helping them to use the content that they have purchased. I've worked on summits using ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, AWeber, Mailchimp and Infusionsoft… they all work. So if you're using one of those tools and using it effectively, your summit can be run with that tool. If you think that you might need to cleanup already, I strongly recommend doing the cleanup before you start adding your summit to this tool. And if you don't feel confident that your EMS is going to support your summit vision, let's chat and we'll figure out the next best EMS step for you to take. Before we go too much further, my biggest frustration with some of the EMSs out there is that the automations aren't as flexible as summit hosts' visions. It's a give and take. For example, ActiveCampaign may take 15 minutes to get your emails out to your entire list. It's super helpful to know that and not plan on sending emails “at the time the summit launches” but send them “we're live within the hour.” The rest of the system on ActiveCampaign is so good, that I'm willing to compromise on this little annoyance. All the EMSs have something that is going to go in the negative column on a pro-con list, but in general, if you have a system that is working – stick with it! OK… I've probably exhausted your listening desires around the EMS, so let's move on. My friend and past podcast guest Mark Wade has a great software tool called Virtual Summits Software. It's a robust tool that puts your summit content at the forefront and takes care of a lot of the tech so that you don't need to hire a team. It's certainly a viable option, but it's not the tool that I use with my clients. Mostly because my clients are wanting more customization than what is available in Mark's software. Instead, my go to is to build out your summit on a WordPress website using the Beaver Builder page builder. A stand alone WordPress website is the strong recommendation here… let me explain. Whether your main business website is on WordPress or not, the flexibility of WordPress makes hosting a summit so much easier than any of the hosted platforms. And stand alone means that your summit is the only thing that lives within that WordPress installation – no blog, no services page, no nothing. So it's completely “clean” and poised to present your summit content without distraction. And a page builder – that's mostly because it's so much easier to use the page builder to create the summit pages exactly how you want. Other than Beaver Builder, you might be considering Thrive Architect or Divi. I strongly prefer Architect over Divi but again, if you are used to a certain page builder, use it. These are suggestions and my preferences not a mandate! The next most important tool you're going to need is your video host. For this, there is basically one feasible option – that is Vimeo Pro. At the Pro level you can use their platform for business. And at the free and plus levels it's against the terms of service to use videos in that way. The question I often get at this suggestion is whether or not YouTube is a viable option. Viable, yes, recommended no. And that's because the playback experience is better with Vimeo. There are always new services coming up and a quick search of “Video Hosting Providers” will give you some idea of other options that are out there. But for the price and value, I believe you're not going to do wrong with Vimeo Pro! And with that – we have covered all you need to host a virtual summit – WordPress for the summit website and session pages, Vimeo Pro for your video hosting, an EMS, a checkout mechanism and a paid content portal. Of course, there are far more things that go into hosting a virtual summit than just the right tech tools. And that brings us right back up to the top of the episode where we dove into what's coming after the summit and positioning everything within that light. I see so many mentors and coaches and gurus tout summits as a great list building tool. And they are! But none of us are building a list for a vanity metric. We are building our lists to grow our businesses! And that's the exact reason why positioning and summit topic matter so much. I'm floating around a virtual summit idea for Tech of Business to host in early 2020. While I have so many ideas as to what I could do with the summit...none of them matter if I don't know what I want to provide to attendees after the summit wraps up. And for that, I have work to do! I know exactly what the offer is, but I haven't created it yet. I've proven it with one-on-one services! Before I can invest everything I need to into the summit, I need to first invest in translating the one-on-one service into the new form that makes sense to come on the heels of the summit. Because I know what I'm going to be offering, I am at the start of the cycle. I can pick a platform to house the new offer and that lays the foundation for how I'm going to implement the summit. My new offer is going to be housed on MemberVault and sold directly through ThriveCart. I want to be able to leverage the robustness of ThriveCart for affiliates and upsells and downsells and bumps and all that jazz (but that is totally for another podcast episode!) With that piece of the puzzle in place, I know that I'm going to be selling the summit extended access through ThriveCart and housing the content inside MemberVault. It feels so good to be 6+ months away from the summit launch and already have an understanding of how it's going to come together. Another piece that I can feel confident about is that I'll continue to use ActiveCampaign for the summit – and looking at my ActiveCampaign account, there is some cleanup I'd like to do before we get to summit promotion. I'll put that on the calendar so that it is complete long before the number of hours I need to dedicate to the summit increases. And I could go on and on about the tech foundation for the summit that I'm gearing up to hosting – I'll be sharing this process as I move through it, including all the tech and systems and processes that I use along the way. I love virtual summits and what they can do for businesses. And I sincerely hope this episode is something that you've also enjoyed. I hope you will come back to when you start to get an inkling that it's time to host your own virtual summit. I'm here for you – getting the exact right tech in place for your business goals! Next week, we've got a super fun conversation coming onto the podcast and as always connect with me on Instagram (I'm @techofbusiness) and book your http://callwithjaime.com to let me know what else you'd like to hear on the podcast!
We’ve had a couple other episodes on Virtual Summits. So for today, I want to break down the tech you’ll want to get working together to have a fully functioning summit. **A quick clarification before we get into the tech. There are a few schools of thought on what makes a summit!. So for the purposes of this conversation, we’re talking about pre-recorded interview or lecture style summits. Those that are consumed on a website (rather than Facebook or YouTube). And that are free to attend for a limited time. These summits also always offer an extended access to the summit content through an All-Access Pass or other aptly named purchasable digital entity. And communication with your summit attendees will be done through an EMS and a closed Facebook group. We’re going to start with the end in mind – all summits need to lead the attendees somewhere. It is vitally important to know the customer journey. Are you going to send your attendees to a course? A membership? A group program? A done-for-you service? There are so many places that we lead our summit attendees to. It’s super helpful to know what’s next! And as long as what’s next includes some kind of content delivery, it’ll make it way easier to figure out how and where to set up the paid access portal. Your paid access portal is the first platform you’ll want to nail down. It may be a WordPress site with an LMS or membership plugin. Possibly could be a stand-alone platform like Thinkific or MemberVault. The exact solution is something you and your team (and me!) will want to discuss. We'll want to make sure that all the I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed. It’s important to pick a platform that has the ability to grow with your business vision. Once that platform has been determined, other decisions will be far easier to make… these decisions include the checkout or cart functionality and affiliate management utility. Other decisions also include whether or not you’ll need or want to use Zapier. And, of course, updates to your EMS or other tools that are in your tech stack that aren’t quite up for the job of supporting your virtual summit vision. I strongly recommend using the best, right tool for each given task. My personal favorite checkout tool is called ThriveCart. I like ThriveCart because it is a stand alone utility that takes care of affiliate details and selling your product. It also has integrations with a number of other tools that can be used to deliver the goods. And it also consolidates all the common payment tools. As of the time of this recording these are PayPal, Stripe, Apply Pay, G Pay and Authorize.net. This puts your consumer in the best buying position by lowering the purchase barrier. The best affiliate management systems put the affiliate as close to the point of sale as possible. So while there might be an affiliate system close to your content delivery, a better affiliate system is one that is intrinsically tied to the payment. There is a lot more that ThriveCart can do, but that’s not the purpose of this episode – if you have payment functionality already then it’s likely that will work for your summit as well. We now know the tools we are going to use to deliver the extended access, get paid for it and where our affiliates will be tracked. So let’s get to the free summit! This is where your tech needs to be super solid! It’s the first interaction many of your attendees are going to have with you and your brand and your business. If we were building your business from scratch with this summit, it would be pretty cut and dry what tools to use. And I have those available in a nifty download you can get here by scrolling to the bottom of the page! But since you’ve already got a tech stack to contend with, let’s not add more clutter that is going to need to be cleaned up later. Hosting a summit might be a great time to clean out some of the tech tools that you are using to streamline your systems...take your EMS for example. This is one component of your tech stack and virtual summit that needs to be in tip top shape! WHY? So that it can do a lot of heavy lifting. If you’re using a system that doesn’t have tagging capabilities or isn’t well organized it’s time to clean that thing up. Your EMS is going to be responsible for keeping your summit attendees excited as the summit approaches. It will also provide links to the summit content during the event. And guide your attendees through whatever you’ve got on the heels of the summit. One of the reasons I like EMSs that have tagging is because it is a great built in organization structure. And less pre-cleanup is required to add your summit into the fold. It’s just a matter of creating a series of tags that correspond to the different parts of the summit and different ways that your attendees and purchasers interact with your emailed content. Let me dig in a bit more! The more data you have about a given summit attendee, the better off you will be to help the exact right people find their way to the exact right next step with you. With ActiveCampaign (and probably other systems, but I’m most familiar with AC) there is site tracking available. With this functionality, you can actually see which attendees have visited which pages on your summit website! This is super powerful, especially if we’re agile in our approach to summit communication. It’s far easier to start a conversation with an attendee when you know what has piqued their interest! Not to mention, that it’s crucial for a great experience to not sell to the already sold! If someone has purchased the extended access, it is crucial to stop including them in the summit upsell emails. Instead, the communication needs to switch to nurturing the relationship and helping them to use the content that they have purchased. I’ve worked on summits using ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, AWeber, Mailchimp and Infusionsoft… they all work. So if you’re using one of those tools and using it effectively, your summit can be run with that tool. If you think that you might need to cleanup already, I strongly recommend doing the cleanup before you start adding your summit to this tool. And if you don’t feel confident that your EMS is going to support your summit vision, let’s chat and we’ll figure out the next best EMS step for you to take. Before we go too much further, my biggest frustration with some of the EMSs out there is that the automations aren’t as flexible as summit hosts’ visions. It’s a give and take. For example, ActiveCampaign may take 15 minutes to get your emails out to your entire list. It’s super helpful to know that and not plan on sending emails “at the time the summit launches” but send them “we’re live within the hour.” The rest of the system on ActiveCampaign is so good, that I’m willing to compromise on this little annoyance. All the EMSs have something that is going to go in the negative column on a pro-con list, but in general, if you have a system that is working – stick with it! OK… I’ve probably exhausted your listening desires around the EMS, so let’s move on. My friend and past podcast guest Mark Wade has a great software tool called Virtual Summits Software. It’s a robust tool that puts your summit content at the forefront and takes care of a lot of the tech so that you don’t need to hire a team. It’s certainly a viable option, but it’s not the tool that I use with my clients. Mostly because my clients are wanting more customization than what is available in Mark’s software. Instead, my go to is to build out your summit on a WordPress website using the Beaver Builder page builder. A stand alone WordPress website is the strong recommendation here… let me explain. Whether your main business website is on WordPress or not, the flexibility of WordPress makes hosting a summit so much easier than any of the hosted platforms. And stand alone means that your summit is the only thing that lives within that WordPress installation – no blog, no services page, no nothing. So it’s completely “clean” and poised to present your summit content without distraction. And a page builder – that’s mostly because it’s so much easier to use the page builder to create the summit pages exactly how you want. Other than Beaver Builder, you might be considering Thrive Architect or Divi. I strongly prefer Architect over Divi but again, if you are used to a certain page builder, use it. These are suggestions and my preferences not a mandate! The next most important tool you’re going to need is your video host. For this, there is basically one feasible option – that is Vimeo Pro. At the Pro level you can use their platform for business. And at the free and plus levels it’s against the terms of service to use videos in that way. The question I often get at this suggestion is whether or not YouTube is a viable option. Viable, yes, recommended no. And that’s because the playback experience is better with Vimeo. There are always new services coming up and a quick search of “Video Hosting Providers” will give you some idea of other options that are out there. But for the price and value, I believe you’re not going to do wrong with Vimeo Pro! And with that – we have covered all you need to host a virtual summit – WordPress for the summit website and session pages, Vimeo Pro for your video hosting, an EMS, a checkout mechanism and a paid content portal. Of course, there are far more things that go into hosting a virtual summit than just the right tech tools. And that brings us right back up to the top of the episode where we dove into what’s coming after the summit and positioning everything within that light. I see so many mentors and coaches and gurus tout summits as a great list building tool. And they are! But none of us are building a list for a vanity metric. We are building our lists to grow our businesses! And that’s the exact reason why positioning and summit topic matter so much. I’m floating around a virtual summit idea for Tech of Business to host in early 2020. While I have so many ideas as to what I could do with the summit...none of them matter if I don’t know what I want to provide to attendees after the summit wraps up. And for that, I have work to do! I know exactly what the offer is, but I haven’t created it yet. I’ve proven it with one-on-one services! Before I can invest everything I need to into the summit, I need to first invest in translating the one-on-one service into the new form that makes sense to come on the heels of the summit. Because I know what I’m going to be offering, I am at the start of the cycle. I can pick a platform to house the new offer and that lays the foundation for how I’m going to implement the summit. My new offer is going to be housed on MemberVault and sold directly through ThriveCart. I want to be able to leverage the robustness of ThriveCart for affiliates and upsells and downsells and bumps and all that jazz (but that is totally for another podcast episode!) With that piece of the puzzle in place, I know that I’m going to be selling the summit extended access through ThriveCart and housing the content inside MemberVault. It feels so good to be 6+ months away from the summit launch and already have an understanding of how it’s going to come together. Another piece that I can feel confident about is that I’ll continue to use ActiveCampaign for the summit – and looking at my ActiveCampaign account, there is some cleanup I’d like to do before we get to summit promotion. I’ll put that on the calendar so that it is complete long before the number of hours I need to dedicate to the summit increases. And I could go on and on about the tech foundation for the summit that I’m gearing up to hosting – I’ll be sharing this process as I move through it, including all the tech and systems and processes that I use along the way. I love virtual summits and what they can do for businesses. And I sincerely hope this episode is something that you’ve also enjoyed. I hope you will come back to when you start to get an inkling that it’s time to host your own virtual summit. I’m here for you – getting the exact right tech in place for your business goals! Next week, we’ve got a super fun conversation coming onto the podcast and as always connect with me on Instagram (I’m @techofbusiness) and book your http://callwithjaime.com to let me know what else you’d like to hear on the podcast!
En esta ocasión hablamos de cómo montar una academia desde un punto de partida absolutamente lean, sin depender de un servicio de terceros que implique pagar por limitar la reproducción de vídeos dentro de una web, como puede ser por ejemplo Vimeo. La entrada Potencia Pro 099: Crear una academia con Videos privados sin depender de Vimeo Pro se publicó primero en Potencia Pro.
Mark Bittman (@bittman) is the author of 20 acclaimed books, including the How to Cook Everything series, Food Matters, and his latest, How to Bake Everything -- which is on a coveted shelf in my own kitchen. For more than two decades, Mark's popular and compelling stories appeared in The New York Times, where he was ultimately the Lead Food Writer for the Sunday Magazine. He became the country's first food-focused op-ed columnist for a major news publication. He starred in four TV series including the Emmy Award-winning Years of Living Dangerously. He's been a distinguished fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists, and was recently appointed to the faculty of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Throughout his career, Mark has strived for the same goal: to make food and all of its aspects understandable -- and he also extends that to a brand-new podcast called Get Bitt. In this episode, we talk about: My fasting regimen -- why I do it the way I do it Mark's favorite failures and what he's learned from them. Mark's first piece that broke him into the world of journalism. And much, much more. Please enjoy this episode with Mark Bittman! This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is the ideal video hosting platform for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how WealthFront works. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company's story. There are many other names who you would recognize among their customers (including Airbnb and Etsy). Why do they use it? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting for a fraction of the usual cost. Features include: Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads Up to 20 GB of video storage every week Unlimited plays and views A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more You get all this for just $199 per year (that's only $17 per month). There are no complicated bandwidth calculations or hidden fees. Try it risk-free for 30 days. Just go to†Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code "Tim" to get 25% off. This is a special discount just for you guys. This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront†is†a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple and world-famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. In fact, some of my good investor friends in Silicon Valley have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it's all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes two to five minutes, and they'll show you--for free exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. Well worth a few minutes: wealthfront.com/tim. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
By request, we have another drunk dialing episode (the most recent one can be found here, and the original can be found here). This one is a little different as it's a Ladies Night edition. Some of you may have noticed that ladies were absent from the last drunk dialing fiasco. Why? It's just math. Looking at the results of a recent poll of 11,463 respondents, my audience is 84.04% male, 15.83% female, and .13% other. The people who sign up first get called first. The last time, three out of the 20, which is exactly 15%, were female. Unfortunately, those women (and several guys) did not pick up. This time around, I decided to try the "ladies night" format. In this episode, we discuss: Language learning Exercising with (or around) injuries Viral marketing Handstands and handstand training How I decide my experiments (and what gets shared afterward) Teaching disabilities vs. learning disabilities The craft of writing: common mistakes, goals, etc. Please enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Business. Vimeo Business has all of the prior benefits of Vimeo Pro, including VIP support. Whether you make videos for a living, run your own company, or simply want to amp up your video marketing, Vimeo Business is here to help. It has more than 280 million creators and viewers worldwide and makes it easier to share your videos with a global audience and connect with professional video makers to bring your stories to life. Vimeo Business allows you to upload up to five terabytes and store your videos in one secure place, add up to 10 team members to your account for easy collaboration, and gather feedback with seamless review tools. You can even add clickable calls to action and capture email addresses directly in the player, which can help you generate leads and drive conversion for whatever you're trying to optimize, such as a newsletter or a sales page. Check out vimeo.com/tim10 to save 10 percent on Vimeo Business. This podcast is also brought to you by FreshBooks. FreshBooks is a bookkeeping software, which is used by a ton of the start-ups I advise and many of the contractors I work with. It is the easiest way to send invoices, get paid, track your time, and track your clients. FreshBooks tells you when your clients have viewed your invoices, helps you customize your invoices, track your hours, automatically organize your receipts, have late payment reminders sent automatically and much more. Right now you can get a free month of complete and unrestricted use. You do not need a credit card for the trial. To claim your free month, go to FreshBooks.com/Tim and enter "Tim" in the "how did you hear about us section."***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Dave Camarillo (@DaveCamarillo) was my long-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) coach (see him kicking my ass repeatedly here). Put simply, he is a machine. On the Mat once said: "It's funny that everybody in Judo is scared of David's ne waza and everybody in Jiu-Jitsu is scared of his stand up. (We) guess people, in general, are just scared of him." Dave is a very technical coach and an elite-level Jiu-Jitsu competitor. He dominated the lightweight and open weight classes at the 1998 Rickson Gracie American Jiu-Jitsu Association tournament; the legendary Rickson Gracie himself bestowed the honor of Most Technical American Jiu-Jitsu Fighter upon him. He has worked not only with people on the ground game, but many recognizable MMA (mixed martial arts) figures as a coach and as a corner man. We'll delve into: Tactical training Military training Hockey fights Defending yourself armed only with a flashlight How Dave's mom is the best sniping shot in the entire family And much, much more. Enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Audible. I have used Audible for years, and I love audiobooks. I have two to recommend: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Vagabonding by Rolf Potts All you need to do to get your free 30-day Audible trial is go to Audible.com/Tim. Choose one of the above books, or choose any of the endless options they offer. That could be a book, a newspaper, a magazine, or even a class. It' s that easy. Go to Audible.com/Tim and get started today. Enjoy. This podcast is also brought to you by Vimeo Business. Vimeo Business has all of the prior benefits of Vimeo Pro, including VIP support. Whether you make videos for a living, run your own company, or simply want to amp up your video marketing, Vimeo Business is here to help. It has more than 280 million creators and viewers worldwide and makes it easier to share your videos with a global audience and connect with professional video makers to bring your stories to life. Vimeo Business allows you to upload up to five terabytes and store your videos in one secure place, add up to 10 team members to your account for easy collaboration, and gather feedback with seamless review tools. You can even add clickable calls to action and capture email addresses directly in the player, which can help you generate leads and drive conversion for whatever you're trying to optimize, such as a newsletter or a sales page. Check out vimeo.com/tim10 to save 10 percent on Vimeo Business. ***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
This is a special episode because it doesn't focus on the lessons of one particular person. Instead, I explore the tips, tricks, and framework I've used to learn just about any skill. This is the meta-skill of meta-learning, or learning how to learn. I'm going to share techniques that can help you -- even if you're sub-par or a rote beginner -- take the smartest first steps and use 80/20 analysis to accelerate your progress. This is adapted from The 4-Hour Chef, which is the cookbook that's not a cookbook -- it's a book on accelerated learning. Without further ado, please enjoy this episode on meta-learning. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Business. Vimeo Business has all of the prior benefits of Vimeo Pro, including VIP support. Whether you make videos for a living, run your own company, or simply want to amp up your video marketing, Vimeo Business is here to help. It has more than 280 million creators and viewers worldwide and makes it easier to share your videos with a global audience and connect with professional video makers to bring your stories to life. Vimeo Business allows you to upload up to five terabytes and store your videos in one secure place, add up to 10 team members to your account for easy collaboration, and gather feedback with seamless review tools. You can even add clickable calls to action and capture email addresses directly in the player, which can help you generate leads and drive conversion for whatever you're trying to optimize, such as a newsletter or a sales page. Check out vimeo.com/tim10 to save 10 percent on Vimeo Business. This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it's all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they'll show you for free the exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Well worth a few minutes to explore: wealthfront.com/tim. ***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) is most associated with a tool that powers more than 25% of the entire Web: WordPress. He's also the CEO of Automattic, which is a multi-billion dollar, fully distributed startup. Matt loves tea, tequila, and Chicken McNuggets. His first time on the show went over so well that you've all been asking for a round two. So in this episode, he answers your most popular questions. Please enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Business. Vimeo Business has all of the prior benefits of Vimeo Pro, including VIP support. Whether you make videos for a living, run your own company, or simply want to amp up your video marketing, Vimeo Business is here to help. It has more than 280 million creators and viewers worldwide and makes it easier to share your videos with a global audience and connect with professional video makers to bring your stories to life. Vimeo Business allows you to upload up to five terabytes and store your videos in one secure place, add up to 10 team members to your account for easy collaboration, and gather feedback with seamless review tools. You can even add clickable calls to action and capture email addresses directly in the player, which can help you generate leads and drive conversion for whatever you're trying to optimize, such as a newsletter or a sales page. Check out vimeo.com/tim10 to save 10 percent on Vimeo Business. This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it's all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they'll show you for free the exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Well worth a few minutes to explore: wealthfront.com/tim.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
This is another special in-betweenisode. It's a little shorter than the normal long-form episodes, and it features a Q&A with Shay Carl (@shaycarl). If you missed our first interview, Shay's story is incredible. He was a manual laborer for ages and uploaded his first YouTube video while on break from his job. Flash forward to today: His SHAYTARDS channel now has roughly 2.3 BILLION views. Celebs like Steven Spielberg have appeared alongside Shay and his family. He co-founded Maker Studios, which sold to Disney for nearly $1 billion. He has been married 13 years and has five kids. He has lost more than 100 pounds since his overweight peak. This time around, he answers listener questions in the way only he can, such as: How to grow a YouTube following from scratch. The future of ad revenue and sponsorship. How he balances capturing the moment vs. experiencing the moment. His greatest obstacles in life. Lessons learned as a father. And much, much more. I also wanted to announce my new book, Tools of Titans (Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Amazon). It's the culmination of the last two years of this podcast. It's made up of my favorite takeaways, the lessons I've learned, and the tools I've applied to my own life from all of the guests on this show, including some new guests you've not yet met. Consider it the ultimate choose-your-own-adventure guide to optimizing your life -- it's got everything from finance to physical performance! Please enjoy this round two with Shay Carl. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and itís all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they'll show you for free the exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Well worth a few minutes to explore: wealthfront.com/tim. This podcast is also brought to you by Vimeo Business. Vimeo Business has all of the prior benefits of Vimeo Pro, including VIP support. Whether you make videos for a living, run your own company, or simply want to amp up your video marketing, Vimeo Business is here to help. It has more than 280 million creators and viewers worldwide and makes it easier to share your videos with a global audience and connect with professional video makers to bring your stories to life. Vimeo Business allows you to upload up to five terabytes and store your videos in one secure place, add up to 10 team members to your account for easy collaboration, and gather feedback with seamless review tools. You can even add clickable calls to action and capture email addresses directly in the player, which can help you generate leads and drive conversion for whatever youíre trying to optimize, such as a newsletter or a sales page. Check out vimeo.com/tim10 to save 10 percent on Vimeo Business. ***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Dr. Dominic "Dom" D'Agostino (@DominicDAgosti2) is one of my most popular guests, and I'm happy to have him rejoin the show for the third time. (You can listen to Dom's first appearance here, and his second appearance here). Dom is an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, and a senior research scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) -- which is mentioned in the current issue of Outside Magazine (on which there's a clown who looks a lot like me). Much of Dom's work is related to metabolic therapies and nutritional strategies for peak performance and resilience in extreme environments. Dom's research is supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Department of Defense (DoD), and other private organizations and foundations. In this episode, Dom focuses on disease prevention, cancer, and more mastery of the ketogenic diet. Please enjoy this tutorial and masterclass with Dominic D'Agostino. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Business. Vimeo Business has all of the prior benefits of Vimeo Pro, including VIP support. Whether you make videos for a living, run your own company, or simply want to amp up your video marketing, Vimeo Business is here to help. It has more than 280 million creators and viewers worldwide and makes it easier to share your videos with a global audience and connect with professional video makers to bring your stories to life. Vimeo Business allows you to upload up to five terabytes and store your videos in one secure place, add up to 10 team members to your account for easy collaboration, and gather feedback with seamless review tools. You can even add clickable calls to action and capture email addresses directly in the player, which can help you generate leads and drive conversion for whatever you're trying to optimize -- such as a newsletter or a sales page. Check out vimeo.com/tim10 to save 10 percent on Vimeo Business. This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it's all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they'll show you -- for free -- exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Well worth a few minutes to explore: wealthfront.com/tim.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
ON THE BUS ON TVI invite you to watch the last rerun of my Academy Award (Oscar®) qualifying short film, the noted award-winning psychological thriller, On the Bus. It plays live on prime time TV with me, for the first time this weekend! It is now live on Vimeo Pro as well. I am so proud! Wax showed twice that day and On the Bus aired 3 times, along with yet another television show I did, also on frequent reruns. If a schizophrenic can do it, anyone can! THANK YOU! —Jonathan Harnisch smile emoticon‘Award-winning executive producer and screenwriter, Jonathan Harnisch's first viewing, reaction and commentary of his Academy Award (Oscar®) Qualifying psychological thriller, On the Bus on live on DIRECTV®.'Distributed worldwide by Shorts International. In the vein of Christopher Nolan's MEMENTO comes ON THE BUS (2015) Fat Man Media's psychological thriller about the experiences of Larry (Mark Schrier), a mentally disturbed man, who rides a bus and bothers passengers based on recent circumstances in his life. The film's surprise ending startles the audience and ties the fragmented story together to a dramatic conclusion. Harnisch's WAX & ON THE BUS TV channels available w/ AT&T HD PREMIER TIER PACKAGE and can be viewed on Channel 1789. Otherwise DIRECTV® HD EXTRA PACK and can be viewed on Channel 568.About Jonathan Harnisch:Initially diagnosed with depression in 1994 at the age of 18, I was prescribed antidepressants, including the newest of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Unfortunately, these triggered mania, and to combat this, I began to drink, which intensified my psychological instability and led to an addiction that I was finally able to overcome when I was 26.However, as difficult as the disorders have been, in many ways, I have been blessed. Many call me a gifted artist, and I have frequently used my art to exorcise my own demons of isolation and loneliness. In 1998, I dramatized those issues in my award-winning film, Ten Years, which I produced, directed, and wrote while attending NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.In 2008, I once again dramatized those themes of isolation and loneliness in another award-winning film, On the Bus, which, in addition, explores the horrors and chaos of mental illness. Through the eyes of the main character Larry, we see the uncontrollable, tumultuous symptoms of schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as brought on by a random act of violence.A single act of violence rarely causes severe mental illness. Current research indicates that such illness is generally a result of a genetic predisposition combined with environmental factors. My case would seem to validate that research, as there is a history of mental illness in my family, and I have suffered repeated trauma. Whatever the genesis, beginning in 2009 and culminating in the summer of 2010, I experienced a severe psychotic episode that manifested in inappropriate, violent outbursts and regnant destructive behavior. Ultimately, however, this episode brought me the help I needed, including a comprehensive psychological work-up that provided an accurate diagnosis and the right medication. Now, psychologically stable, I invite others to behold my candid daily encounters with the symptoms of schizophrenia.In the past, I have been known to willingly and genuinely share my life. In the same vein as prolific figures such as Elyn R. Saks, Kay Redfield Jamison, and Oliver Sacks, I continue to illustrate my personal ongoing struggle with chronic mental illness nurturing truth, acceptance, fiction, transgression, and community.My art, imagination, and various creative outlets are simply my own catalysts for continuous resiliency and recovery. With the launch of my now former and viral website (as of December 2013), I had turned another engaging and uplifting page of my story. I hoped to impact others in some way through my publicized journey of how one individual copes with the perpetual rollercoaster of the experiences living with schizophrenia and Tourette's syndrome, some material stranger than fiction.I consider myself a still-recovering schizophrenic, an accomplished writer, producer, and musician, who writes about mental illness and New Age ideas and treatments, and again a darker side, a much darker side, to which you will likely bear witness. Alas, my Alibiography.— Jonathan Harnisch
This tactical episode covers principles and tactics for creating amazing careers, comedy, writing, and much more. Hilarious stories weave it all together. My guest is B.J. Novak (@bjnovak), best known for his work on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series "The Office" as an actor, writer, director, and executive producer. He has appeared in films such as Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds and Disney's Saving Mr. Banks. He is also the author of the acclaimed short story collection "One More Thing" and the #1 New York Times Best Seller "The Book With No Pictures" (great Christmas gift), which has more than one million copies in print. Last but not least, he is co-founder of The List App. In other words, he does a lot and does it well. What are the habits, tools, and routines that help him to do this? That's what we explore in this conversation. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is ideal for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how it develops personalized investment portfolios. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company’s story. Twitter uses it to showcase Periscope. Why are they using it instead of other options out there? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting that typically costs thousands of dollars for a tiny fraction of the cost. Features include: Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads Up to 20 GB of video storage every week Unlimited plays and views A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more You get all this for just $199 per year (that’s only $17 per/mo.) There are no complicated bandwidth calculations or hidden fees. Just go to Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code “Tim” to get 25% off. This is the deepest discount you will find anywhere for Vimeo Pro. This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple and world-famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last 2 years and now has more than $2.5B under management. In fact, some of my good investor friends in Silicon Valley have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it’s all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they’ll show you—for free–exactly the portfolio they’d put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. Well worth a few minutes: wealthfront.com/tim. Mandatory disclaimer: Wealthfront Inc. is an SEC registered Investment Advisor. Investing in securities involves risks, and there is the possibility of losing money. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please visit Wealthfront dot com to read their full disclosure.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Alain de Botton (@alaindebotton) is many things, but I think of him as a rare breed of practical philosopher. In 1997, he turned away from writing novels and instead wrote an extended essay titled How Proust Can Change Your Life, which became an unlikely blockbuster. His subsequent books have been described as a ‘philosophy of everyday life’ and subjects include love, travel, architecture, religion and work. His other bestsellers include Essays In Love, Status Anxiety, and The Architecture Of Happiness. More recent works include The News: A User’s Manual, which looks at the impact our obsession with checking news has on our minds, and Art as Therapy, co-written with the art historian John Armstrong. In 2008, de Botton helped start The School of Life in London, a social enterprise determined to make learning and therapy relevant in today's uptight culture. His goal is (through any of his mediums) to help clients learn "how to live wisely and well." In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: Real-world versus academic philosophy The value of rituals and tribes Practical pessimism "Ordinary genius" The magic of pomegranates Lesser-known modern thinkers Why "mean" is often simply "anxious" His favorite Japanese pens And much more! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by 99Designs, the world’s largest marketplace of graphic designers. I have used them for years to create some amazing designs. When your business needs a logo, website design, business card, or anything you can imagine, check out 99Designs. I used them to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body, and I've also had them help with display advertising and illustrations. If you want a more personalized approach, I recommend their 1-on-1 service, which is non-spec. You get original designs from designers around the world. The best part? You provide your feedback, and then you end up with a product that you're happy with or your money back. Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run… This podcast is also brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is the ideal video hosting platform for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how WealthFront works. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company’s story. There are many other names who you would recognize among their customers (AirBnB, Etsy, etc.) Why do they use it? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting for a fraction of the usual cost. Features include: Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads Up to 20 GB of video storage every week Unlimited plays and views A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more You get all this for just $199 per year (that’s only $17 per/mo.). There are no complicated bandwidth calculations or hidden fees. Try it risk-free for 30 days. Just go to Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code “Tim” to get 25% off. This is a special discount just for you guys.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Hello again friends and fans! Working on BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE was primarily influenced by challenging myself to be okay with the gifts of imperfection, artistic imperfection, to be more precise, leaving some intentionally undone otherwise perfectionistic creative choices; my goal was to not overdo or over produce the film or soundtrack edits on this particular project. I completed this short film on Valentine's Day 2015 feeling rather incomplete at the same time extremely satisfied and proud. Aside from THE MORNING AFTER in late 2014 which within its first 3 weeks upon upload tops my all time most popular films on Vimeo Pro, I have borrowed some footage from the vault of 2 of my Academy qualifying films, WAX and ON THE BUS, both featured on international television, and with the slightest hint of THE MORNING AFTER in the background in order to produce a rather creepily but intentionally disordered dream, if you will, of my past successes in cinema, while incorporating themes as parallel lives, masochistic tendencies in sexual escapades, and disturbing clarities embellished with addiction, fetish, lust, and love while evoking a dancing laughter at the past in order to come to terms with it, and bring it back, incorporating a perhaps occasional “neonic shock,” but more so evoking heightened elation and sadness. Once again, my hope overall is to force you to step back and question your own version of reality. I am an artist of many media, namely film, experimental music, and literature and I suffer from a rare comorbid form of schizophrenia, which has blessed me with many creative gifts. I hope you enjoy this example of inherent beauty in BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE. I never forget those who have inspired me over the years and I am eternally grateful, learning who I am and what I believe in and stand for lately with the films I have been competing on Vimeo Pro over the 5 or so years past now. Thank you, with love, from Jonathan Harnisch.
Casey Neistat (@caseyneistat) is a New York-based filmmaker. His online films have been viewed more than 50,000,000 times in the last 3 years. He is the writer, director, editor, and star of the series The Neistat Brothers on HBO and won the John Cassavetes Award at the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards for the film Daddy Long Legs. His main body of work consists of dozens of short films he has released exclusively on the Internet, including regular contributions to the New York Times critically acclaimed Op-Doc series. He is also the founder of Beme, a startup aiming to make creating and sharing video dead simple. Casey is excellent at breaking every rule imaginable and having people (fans, sponsors, big brands, etc.) thank him for it. In this conversation, we dig into his history, techniques, influences, habits, and more... Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is ideal for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how it develops personalized investment portfolios. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company’s story. Twitter uses it to showcase Periscope. Why are they using it instead of other options out there? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting that typically costs thousands of dollars for a tiny fraction of the cost. Features include: Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads Up to 20 GB of video storage every week Unlimited plays and views A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more You get all this for just $199 per year (that’s only $17 per/mo.) There are no complicated bandwidth calculations or hidden fees. Just go to Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code “Tim” to get 25% off. This is the deepest discount you will find anywhere for Vimeo Pro. Enjoy!***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Sophia Amoruso (@Sophia_Amoruso) is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Nasty Gal, a global online destination for both new and vintage clothing, shoes, and accessories. Founded in 2006, Nasty Gal was named “Fastest Growing Retailer” in 2012 by Inc. Magazine, thanks to its 11,200% three-year growth rate. Sophia has been called "fashion's new phenom" by Forbes magazine, and she has become one of the most prominent and iconic figures in retail. She recently founded the #GIRLBOSS Foundation, which awards financial grants to women in the worlds of design, fashion, and music. Sophia's first book, #GIRLBOSS, is a New York Times bestseller published in fifteen countries. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “if you could only use one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is, inevitably, Athletic Greens. It is my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body and did not get paid to do so. Get 50% off your order at Athletic Greens.com/Tim. This podcast is also brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is ideal for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how it develops personalized investment portfolios. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company’s story. Twitter uses it to showcase Periscope. Why are they using it instead of other options out there? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting that typically costs thousands of dollars for a tiny fraction of the cost. Features include: Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads Up to 20 GB of video storage every week Unlimited plays and views A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more You get all this for just $199 per year (that’s only $17 per/mo.) There are no complicated bandwidth calculations or hidden fees. Just go to Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code “Tim” to get 25% off. This is the deepest discount you will find anywhere for Vimeo Pro.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
This episode features a dynamic duo. Seth Rogen (@SethRogen) is an actor, writer, producer, and director. Evan Goldberg (@EvanDGoldberg) is a Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer. Together, they get into a lot of mischief and create amazing comedy. They’ve collaborated on films such as Superbad (which they first conceived as teenagers), Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, The Green Hornet, and Funny People. They have also written for “Da Ali G Show” and “The Simpsons.” In 2013, Evan and Seth released their directorial debut, This Is the End. In 2014, Seth starred in and produced (alongside Evan) Neighbors, which was a worldwide comedy hit and has taken in more than $268 million worldwide. In December 2014, Rogen and Goldberg’s film, The Interview, became the most-talked-about news story around the world. Under extremely difficult circumstances, the film persevered to become Sony Pictures' #1 digital title of all time. Neighbors 2 is shooting now and will be released next May. Seth and Evan are also in production on Sausage Party, a raunchy animated movie for adults about one sausage's quest to discover the truth about his existence. Seth and Evan are producing the film with Megan Ellison and Conrad Vernon. In our conversation, we discuss all manner of tactics and silliness, including: Kyokushin karate Writer’s block and related debates Writing process Who are the most underrated comedians and comedy writers? How Superbad got made... after they first drafted it around age 13 The odd book Judd Apatow recommended to them (also Woody Allen's favorite) How The Kids in the Hall influenced them The movie they both wish they'd written Common pot mistakes Recommended newb pot for working versus relaxing Will there be a McLovin spinoff? And much more... Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is the ideal video hosting platform for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how WealthFront works. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company’s story. There are many other names who you would recognize among their customers (AirBnB, Etsy, etc.) Why do they use it? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting for a fraction of the usual cost. Features include: Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads Up to 20 GB of video storage every week Unlimited plays and views A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more You get all this for just $199 per year (that’s only $17 per/mo.). There are no complicated bandwidth calculations or hidden fees. Try it risk-free for 30 days. Just go to Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code “Tim” to get 25% off. This is a special discount just for you guys. This podcast is also brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could only use one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is, inevitably, Athletic Greens. It is my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body and did not get paid to do so. Get 50% off your order at Athletic Greens.com/Tim Enjoy!***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Scott Adams (@scottadamssays) is a famous cartoonist and the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, which has been published in more than 2000 newspapers in 57 countries and in 19 languages. In my conversation with Scott, we cover topics ranging from the rise of Dilbert's success, to how he uses affirmations to impact stock market decisions, success with women, and building his career. We also talk about Scott’s interest in hypnosis and its role in Dilbert's success. Plus, we dive into his current fascination -- Donald Trump. You'll also find out more about: Goals vs. systems, and how he has used them to get what he wants in life His first ever Dilbert paycheck The six dimensions of humor How he got into the best shape of his life at age 58 and much, much more. It is a really fun conversation. Scott is one hell of a character and a hilarious guy. Enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is the ideal video hosting platform for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how WealthFront works. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company’s story. There are many other names who you would recognize among their customers (AirBnB, Etsy, etc.) Why do they use it? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting for a fraction of the usual cost. Features include: Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads Up to 20 GB of video storage every week Unlimited plays and views A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more You get all this for just $199 per year (that’s only $17 per/mo.). There are no complicated bandwidth calculations or hidden fees. Try it risk-free for 30 days. Just go to Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code “Tim” to get 25% off. This is a special discount just for you guys. This episode is also sponsored by 99Designs, the world’s largest marketplace of graphic designers. Did you know I used 99Designs to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body? Here are some of the impressive results. Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run… ***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Martin Polanco (@Martin_Polanco7), M.D., is the founder and program director of Crossroads Treatment Center, based in Rosarito, Mexico. Crossroads specializes in helping patients conquer powerful addictions (heroin, cocaine, etc.) by using the African hallucinogen ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT, also referred to as “the God molecule.” Martin's areas of expertise also include addiction medicine and therapeutic neurotechnologies. Dan Engle (@drdanengle), M.D., is a psychiatrist and neurologist, who combines functional medicine with integrative psychiatry to enhance regenerative health and peak performance. His prior and relevant experience includes traumatic brain injury (TBI) and working in the Peruvian jungle with plant medicines such as ayahuasca. In this episode, we step outside the lines of traditional medicine to discuss impulse control, introspection, and self-awareness through the use of powerful psychedelic and hallucinogenic agents like iboga, ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT. We also discuss flotation tanks, which can simulate or even replicate many of the benefits that can result from the use of psychedelic and psychotropic agents. So you don't have to be willing to experiment with these medicines to receive something valuable from this episode. If you are interested in optimizing your psychological performance, emotional control and exploring alternative medicine, then this episode is for you. Enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by TrunkClub. I hate shopping with a passion. And honestly I’m not good at it, which means I end up looking like I'm colorblind or homeless. Enter TrunkClub, which provides you with your own personal stylist and makes it easier than ever to shop for clothes that look great on your body. Just go to trunkclub.com/tim and answer a few questions, and then you'll be sent a trunk full of awesome clothes. They base this on your sizes, preferences, etc. The trunk is then delivered free of charge both ways, so you only pay for clothes that you keep. If you keep none, it costs you nothing. To get started, check it out at trunkclub.com/tim. This podcast is also brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is the ideal video hosting platform for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how WealthFront works. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company’s story. There are many other names who you would recognize among their customers (AirBnB, Etsy, etc.) Why do they use it? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting for a fraction of the usual cost. Features include: Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads Up to 20 GB of video storage every week Unlimited plays and views A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more You get all this for just $199 per year (that’s only $17 per/mo.). There are no complicated bandwidth calculations or hidden fees. Try it risk-free for 30 days. Just go to Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code “Tim” to get 25% off. This is a special discount just for you guys. ***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Dr. Brené Brown (@BreneBrown) is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Brené’s 2010 TEDx Houston talk, The Power of Vulnerability, has been viewed more than 20 million times and is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world. She has spent the past 13 years studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame. Brené is the author of two #1 New York Times bestsellers: Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection. Her brand-new book is titled Rising Strong. In it, she writes, “If we are brave enough, often enough, we will fall. This is a book about what it takes to get back up.” She is also the Founder and CEO for The Daring Way™, an organization that brings her work on vulnerability, courage, shame and worthiness to organizations, schools, communities, and families. For all links, show notes, resources from this episode, please visit http://fourhourworkweek.com/podcast This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is ideal for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how it develops personalized investment portfolios. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company’s story. Twitter uses it to showcase Periscope. Why are they using it instead of other options out there? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting that typically costs thousands of dollars for a tiny fraction of the cost. Features include: Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads Up to 20 GB of video storage every week Unlimited plays and views A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more You get all this for just $199 per year (that’s only $17 per/mo.) There are no complicated bandwith calculations or hidden fees. Just go to Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code “Tim” to get 25% off. This is the deepest discount you will find anywhere for Vimeo Pro. This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple and world-famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last 2 years, and now has more than $2.5B under management. In fact, some of my good investor friends in Silicon Valley have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it’s all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they’ll show you—for free--exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. Well worth a few minutes: wealthfront.com/tim. Mandatory disclaimer: Wealthfront Inc. is an SEC registered Investment Advisor. Investing in securities involves risks, and there is the possibility of losing money. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please visit Wealthfront dot com to read their full disclosure. Enjoy!***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly) returns to the podcast due to popular demand. Kevin continues to be perhaps the Most Interesting Man in the World. He is Senior Maverick at Wired magazine, which he co-founded in 1993. He also co-founded the All Species Foundation, a non-profit aimed at cataloging and identifying every living species on earth. In his spare time, he co-founded the Rosetta Project, which is building an archive of all documented human languages, writes bestselling books,and serves on the board of the Long Now Foundation. As part of the last, he’s investigating how to revive and restore endangered or extinct species, including the Wooly Mammoth. As usual, Kevin's responses and answers are fascinating. For all links, show notes, resources from this episode, please visit fourhourworkweek.com/podcast This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is ideal for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how it develops personalized investment portfolios. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company’s story. Twitter uses it to showcase Periscope. Why are they using it instead of other options out there? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting that typically costs thousands of dollars for a tiny fraction of the cost. Features include: Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads Up to 20 GB of video storage every week Unlimited plays and views A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more You get all this for just $199 per year (that’s only $17 per/mo.) There are no complicated bandwidth calculations or hidden fees. Just go to Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code “Tim” to get 25% off. This is the deepest discount you will find anywhere for Vimeo Pro. This podcast is also brought to you by Mizzen + Main. These are the only “dress” shirts I now travel with — fancy enough for important dinners but made from athletic, sweat-wicking material. No more ironing, no more steaming, no more hassle. Click here for the exact shirts I wear most often. Don't forget to use the code “TIM” at checkout. Enjoy!***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Tara Brach (@TaraBrach) is a PhD in clinical psychology and one of the leading teachers of Buddhist thinking and meditation in the Western world. She is the founder of the Insight Meditation Community in Washington, D.C. and her lectures are downloaded hundreds of thousands of times each month. I was first introduced to Tara's work by another guest on this podcast, Maria Popova. Soon thereafter, a friend and neuroscience PhD recommended her book, Radical Acceptance, as life-changing. It exceeded all expectations. It’s my hope that this tactical conversation offers you techniques for addressing loneliness, anger, self-hatred, the “trance of unworthiness,” and much more. Tara’s had a measurable impact on my life, and I wish the same for you. For those who know my fondness for Stoic philosophy, I think Tara’s work is a fantastic compliment to Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and the other favorites. Links, resources, and show notes from this episode can be found at http://fourhourworkweek.com/podcast This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is the ideal video hosting platform for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how WealthFront works. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company’s story. There are many other names who you would recognize among their customers (AirBnB, Etsy, etc.) Why do they use it? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting for a fraction of the usual cost. Features include: Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads Up to 20 GB of video storage every week Unlimited plays and views A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more You get all this for just $199 per year (that’s only $17 per/mo.) There are no complicated bandwidth calculations or hidden fees. Try it risk-free for 30 days. Just go to Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code “Tim” to get 25% off. This is a special discount just for you guys. Enjoy!***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Maria Popova (@brainpicker) has written for amazing outlets like The Atlantic and The New York Times, but I find her most amazing project to be BrainPickings.org. Founded in 2006 as a weekly email to seven friends, BrainPickings now gets more than 5 million readers per month (!). I read very few blogs regularly, but BrainPickings is one of the few that makes the cut. It’s a treasure trove. Maria is massively successful, and her output is staggering. None of it’s accidental, and she’s great at teaching what she’s learned. This episode answers the top-10 most popular questions you all had for Maria, including: The single attribute that leads to greatness in any given field Required reading and habits for anyone in public office How Henry David Thoreau was the first to talk about the dangers of sitting Why we must stop calling our work, "content" Links, resources, and show notes from this episode can be found at http://fourhourworkweek.com/podcast This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is ideal for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how it develops personalized investment portfolios. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company's story. Twitter uses it to showcase Periscope. Why are they using it instead of other options out there? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting that typically costs thousands of dollars for a tiny fraction of the cost. Features include: Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads Up to 20 GB of video storage every week Unlimited plays and views A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more You get all this for just $199 per year (that's only $17 per/mo.) There are no complicated bandwith calculations or hidden fees. Just go to Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code "Tim" to get 25% off. This is the deepest discount you will find anywhere for Vimeo Pro. This podcast is also brought to you by Mizzen + Main. These are the only “dress” shirts I now travel with — fancy enough for important dinners but made from athletic, sweat-wicking material. No more ironing, no more steaming, no more hassle. Click here for the exact shirts I wear most often. Don't forget to use the code “TIM” at checkout. Enjoy!***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
The Morning After [Feature Length Film] A Question of Love or Lust (2015)Hello everybody! Before viewing this particular edit of "A Question of Love or Lust," you might find the quality and soundtrack to be more appealing found on my Vimeo Pro site: vimeopro.com/jwharnisch/film/video/126036018. Nonetheless, a beautiful film where love and grief are eternally entwined. Please enjoy an example of schizophrenic art in this new film by former Hollywood/now independent outsider filmmaker Jonathan Harnisch (voilà, that's me) in "A Question of Love or Lust" I competed The Morning After vimeopro.com/jwharnisch/film/video/115438225 in December 2014 while undergoing a dark, deep experience with depression, existential despair and with new tears for old grief. This is a demonstration of the feature length film version. I am glad to see so many people have been appreciating my movies' inherent beauty, especially this one, which has such a deeply personal meaning. I thank you, all, to God, and to all my fans, friends, and family for playing such a very special role in the short experimental pieces within this short film series of sorts; this being said, perhaps without others knowing how many have inspired my art. The holiday seasons often bring me to a deep sense of nostalgia for good times long gone, from lost film footage in the archives, including a great deal of footage I shot during my days as a student of film and TV production at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU in the mid 1990s and also films kept here at the production office. I believe I have experimented into the depth of a new ground, and renewed visual voice of artistic expression keeping my goal intact, to find and redefine myself, through the arts. A new original soundtrack for these films, originally shot on both Super 8 film stock and Hi-8 video, will be developed and inspired by the final cut of The Morning After, Chance Encounter, and Emptying His Pockets. All 3 films in this series focus on my often-recurring themes of loss, love, and life and may be recreated with a revised original score, or soundtrack, in time. Please leave comments, if you would. The responses for all the working cuts of these generally short pieces have inspired me to bring The Morning After to the independent film festival circuit. It has been years since retiring from Hollywood film and professional TV work. It might, however, be time to see what I can do to reconnect with an audience in the world beyond the Internet, once again, in some way, and if not, I don't think the Internet is going anywhere anytime soon. Professional financing and marketing, etc., will often cause me a great deal of unwanted stress, which I prefer to do without. I suffer from rare and comorbid mental health diagnoses, namely those within the schizophrenia and autistic spectra. My mental illnesses have blessed me over the years with many creative gifts. So, with immense gratitude, I thank you, my muse, wife, and my family and friends without hesitation. Onward bound, as always.—Jonathan Harnisch, Harnisch Productions, LLC facebook.com/harnischfilm
AskPat 2.0: A Weekly Coaching Call on Online Business, Blogging, Marketing, and Lifestyle Design
Today's question comes from Kara, who has an audio podcast and is considering starting a video podcast. Which tools should she use to record her video podcast? Kara’s site is http://www.morningcooldown.com/. To learn about RSS feeds, go to my podcasting tutorial (http://podcastingtutorial.com). For video editing, I recommend Screenflow on Mac (http://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm) and Camtasia on a PC (https://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html). For video podcasts, my videographer Caleb Wojcik (http://diyvideoguy.com/) introduced me to Podbean (http://www.podbean.com/). Vimeo Pro (https://vimeo.com/pro) is also a good choice for video podcasts. Do you have a tool to share? Use #AskPat334. Do you have a question about video podcasts? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Thanks to our sponsor, Lynda.com. Try out all of Lynda.com's courses for free for seven days. Go http://lynda.com/AskPat to get started.
Hello again friends and fans! Working on BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE was primarily influenced by challenging myself to be okay with the gifts of imperfection, artistic imperfection, to be more precise, leaving some intentionally undone otherwise perfectionistic creative choices; my goal was to not overdo or over produce the film or soundtrack edits on this particular project. I completed this short film on Valentine's Day 2015 feeling rather incomplete at the same time extremely satisfied and proud. Aside from THE MORNING AFTER in late 2014 which within its first 3 weeks upon upload tops my all time most popular films on Vimeo Pro, I have borrowed some footage from the vault of 2 of my Academy qualifying films, WAX and ON THE BUS, both featured on international television, and with the slightest hint of THE MORNING AFTER in the background in order to produce a rather creepily but intentionally disordered dream, if you will, of my past successes in cinema, while incorporating themes as parallel lives, masochistic tendencies in sexual escapades, and disturbing clarities embellished with addiction, fetish, lust, and love while evoking a dancing laughter at the past in order to come to terms with it, and bring it back, incorporating a perhaps occasional “neonic shock,” but more so evoking heightened elation and sadness. Once again, my hope overall is to force you to step back and question your own version of reality. I am an artist of many media, namely film, experimental music, and literature and I suffer from a rare comorbid form of schizophrenia, which has blessed me with many creative gifts. I hope you enjoy this example of inherent beauty in BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE. I never forget those who have inspired me over the years and I am eternally grateful, learning who I am and what I believe in and stand for lately with the films I have been competing on Vimeo Pro over the 5 or so years past now. Thank you, with love, from Jonathan Harnisch. Music: Beat Hive by The Lothars (wobblymusic.com/lothars)
Angela and Aubrey Webber are the musical group The Doubleclicks, bringing geeky music to nerdy folk. The sisters never intended to form a band, but when Aubrey joined her sister Angela in Portland a few years ago, her cello coupled with Angela's singing caused enough of a stir for them to join forces and write songs about Dungeons & Dungeons, the Curiosity rover, and not dissing the geek girl. We talk about all this and their absurdly successful Kickstarter campaign that just closed. Sponsored by: lynda.com: Over 2,000 high-quality and engaging video courses taught by industry experts — with new courses added daily. Listeners get a free 7-day trial with full access to all content by visiting lynda.com/tnd and signing up. Vimeo: If you upload a lot of videos, Vimeo Plus and Vimeo PRO let you add 20 GB a week with no ads slapped on top. Get 10% off with the code DISRUPT. (Coupon expires 4/30/2014. Renewals are at full price.) Media Temple: Web hosting for artists, designers, and Web developers since 1998. World-class support available 24x7 through phone and chat—and even Twitter. Sign up with coupon code "tnd" to get 25% off your first month of hosting.
Greg Knauss is an independent software developer who created Romantimatic, a reminder program for absent-minded sweethearts. You may know him from the early 2000s: from Suck.com and Metababy and Rainy Day Fun and Games for Toddler and Total Bastard, a collection of stories he promoted on what was arguably the first digital book tour. Then for a decade he toiled behind the scenes until he went out on his own. We'll talk today about his expectations, the reality, and fear of failing--and of succeeding! Sponsored by: lynda.com: Over 2,000 high-quality and engaging video courses taught by industry experts — with new courses added daily. Listeners get a free 7-day trial with full access to all content by visiting lynda.com/tnd and signing up. Media Temple: Web hosting for artists, designers, and Web developers since 1998. World-class support available 24x7 through phone and chat—and even Twitter. Sign up with coupon code "tnd" to get 25% off your first month of hosting. Vimeo: If you upload a lot of videos, Vimeo Plus and Vimeo PRO let you add 20 GB a week with no ads slapped on top. Get 10% off with the code DISRUPT. (Coupon expires 4/30/2014. Renewals are at full price.) BackersHub.com: BackersHub is a daily deals Web site that rewards people who have backed previously successfully Kickstarter campaigns with exclusive discounts.
In this episode of Marketing Momentum, Charles and Deborah, again joined by Wade Harman, discuss topics that include Vimeo Pro; using Twitter to gain business leads; and event monetization perspectives. Come share in the fun. http://www.socialwebcafe.tv/mm23 Tune in, to watch the weekly "Marketing Momentum w/Charles & Deborah" show at SocialWebCafe.TV. Be sure to subscribe to get your free audio download of the show every week. Show notes, links, and resources are available at SocialWebCafe.TV and become an “insider” when you subscribe to the Social Web Cafe TV newsletter. Subscribe to the Social Web Cafe podcast on iTunes at http://sw.bcafe.co/podcast
La gente de Google acaba de modificar sus “Terms Of Service” para poder usar nuestro nombre, foto e información en anuncios de terceros. Y la gente de Toyota acaba de anunciar que van a introducir sus primeros vehículos autómatas (que se guían ellos mismos) para mediados de la década. Apple acaba de anunciar un evento adicional pautado para el 22 de octubre. ¿Que irán a presentar? Y Vimeo anunció mejoras significativas a su servicio “Vimeo Pro”. ¿Te gusta comer “nuggets” de pollo? Conoce os resultados que presentó el American Journal of Medicine cuando le realizaron la autopsia al famoso bocadillo de “carne”. La gente de Comcast están imitando a la de OneLink de Puerto Rico. ¿Cómo? Pues acaban de anunciar que de ahora en adelante todos sus usuarios tendrán que utilizar un convertidor digital. Y finalmente, una encuesta demostró que Safari es el navegador de Internet de mayor uso en dispositivos móviles. ENLACES: • Google modifica sus “terms of service” para poder usar tu foto, tu nombre y tus comentarios en anuncios publicitarios. • Dale clic aquí para impedir que Google use tu foto y tu nombre • Toyota se plantea ser la primera empresa en producir automóviles autónomos • Apple anuncia evento segundo evento para el 22 de octubre “lo que se nos quedó por cubrir” • Vimeo anuncia nueva capacidad y mejor servicio para su servicio profesional Vimeo Pro • American Journal of Medicine le realiza la autopsia a los “nuggets” de pollo • Accede al estudio del AJM aquí: • Comcast restringe todo su contenido mediante cajas decodificadoras • Encuesta demuestra que Safari aventaja por mucho a todos los navegadores móviles [sc:FirmaOrlandoMergal2013 ]
Cliff Ravenscraft, Podcast Answer Man ( Check%20out%20episodes%2011%20to%2020%20of%C2%A0The%20Sales%20Podcast%20here. ) , Shares His Entrepreneurial Insight on how he got started podcasting as a hobby, then left his job in his families insurance business to launch a successful career as a podcaster. Cliff Ravenscraft is the founder of The Podcast Mastermind and gspn.tv (Generally Speaking Production Network). Together with his wife and a few close friends, Cliff has produced over 3,000 podcast episodes, since December 2005, devoted to Entertainment, Family, Faith, Fitness, Career, and Technology. In January 2008, Cliff left a very successful career as an insurance agent, to pursue podcasting full-time. He felt called to spend his life serving the community that had formed around the many shows in his network. Being a husband and father of three, he needed to find a way to produce content, serve his community, and also provide for his family. Cliff focused on successfully generating income through coaching/consulting at PodcastAnswerMan.com. He has helped thousands of individuals and organizations launch successful podcasts through his one-on-one consulting/coaching and through his online training courses. Part of the reason he was able to go out on his own was that he and his wife got debt free! They followed the advice Dave Ramsey espouses and got out of $80,000 in debt over about five years and the rest is history! Next, he got clear on what he wanted to do. He can't help people create “niches to make money” out of thin air. So you need to get clear on what you want to do, “find something you love to do so much that you would do it all day long for free. And then become so excellent at doing that one thing that people will beg you and pay you to do it for them.” Find something you can do for 18 months and do it 20-40 hours a week on top of your day job and you'll develop a good, solid foundation for success…but most people don't want to do that. Cliff was fortunate in that he had a background in coding and web design. Began blogging in 1996 when it was called “web journals” using AngelFire.com and hand-coding HTML. Discovered podcasting in 2005 and was commenting on the TV show “Lost.” He left a comment on Entertainment Weekly's website and they picked it up and overnight he went from 200-300 visitors per month, which was pretty good for a “guy in Northern Kentucky.” He called in and left a voicemail with his theory about the show, Lost, and gave his website with more information on his theory and EW.com does an entire show on his theory and linked to it. He went to thousands of visitors per month overnight! So he spent $15 on a microphone and got some free software and within a few days he had his podcast up on iTunes and by the third episode, he had 17,000 subscribers. By 10-15 episodes he had 10-15,000 people listening to his podcasts. “You never know who is listening to anything you put online.” iTunes was making each episode available the next day for purchase so his podcast was found right next to it. But you can duplicate it with popular culture. In the business category on iTunes, 40 of the top 50 business podcasts are Cliff's clients! If you can get 1,000 to 3,000 subscribers you can easily be in the top 50 in any category. You can earn $30,000 to $50,000 per month with less than 10,000 followers. He built PodcastAnswerMan.com from scratch. Cliff left his job in 12 months but was making $500 to $2,000 from his “Lost” podcast. (He was making money selling products and services and reselling as well as doing webinars, affiliate sales and some advertising on his site.) At the time PodcastAnswerMan had less than 2,000 subscribers at that time. The money came from products and services and training people one-to-one on how to podcast. His free tutorial is at LearnHowToPodcast.com ( http://learnhowtopodcast.com/ ). There is no funnel there. About 300 people per month launch a podcast without hiring Cliff and he thinks that's awesome! Learn how to podcast with Cliff's help for free. 40,000+ people have watched the first video and 10-14,000 people have gone through all 8 videos. Most of those stay on his mailing list, listen to his podcast and are getting to know, like and trust Cliff. But now he's no longer available for one-to-one training. You can join his group training as a four-week course, which you can find at PodcastingAtoZ.com ( http://podcastingatoz.com/ ). Check out Cliff's “WordPress For Podcasters” in his Products section of his site. Before you start your first podcast you need to ask yourself “Why do I want to podcast? What will I talk about? Who is my audience?” Start there. Cliff recommends audio over video since there are 97 million people that commute alone with an average commute time of 26.2 minutes. And they are jogging or doing the laundry or some other repetitive task that allows them to focus on every word that comes out of my mouth. Video is expensive and takes a long time to make it professional. You can spend less than $2,000 and sound as good as any FM radio person. I don't want people to view podcasting as a business. Stick with WordPress and use your website as your home on the web. Do at least one blog post per month. More if you can. Produce a weekly podcast that runs 20-40 minute is perfect and can become part of someone's ritual habits. If you make videos, do more than just show your face! Puts his videos on YouTube as he's not too worried about piracy. He wants to benefit from the SEO of YouTube. He'll use Vimeo Pro to protect premium content. Authenticity is HUGE to help calm the fears of the listeners about people thinking I'm too big for them. It helps you take it to the next level. Failure to launch and not knowing what to communicate is what stops people in their tracks. Set it and forget it. Fix it and improve it later. Create an outline. Practice. Do a little prep work. Cliff preps a minimum of an hour before each episode and each episode is an hour in length and then there are one to three hours of post-production work. Screencasting is totally different. You can easily do edits and people won't notice. Professional has benefits as well as being authenticity has benefits. Just get started. Most people's first episode is horrible! By the end of the year, Cliff had 17,000 subscribers! He just got started. Good enough was good enough. But he does want you to improve and take it to the next level. The average visitor spends 6-8 minutes on his site and he gets 30,000 visitors per month. Today's the day for podcasting! Show some love for this episode. Give me a shout out on Twitter. ( https://twitter.com/saleswhisperer ) Grow your sales with this book ( https://info.thesaleswhisperer.com/way-book ). Thank you for checking out this session of The Sales Podcast with host, Wes Schaeffer, The Sales Whisperer®. Please leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes ( https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sales-whisperer-sales-marketing/id655310847?mt=2 ) by clicking on the link below! It would be extremely helpful for the show! 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