If Webinar Ads Were Honest

Do you have a problem you’d like to solve?
Have you been looking high and low for a solution?
Would you like to hear me talk about your problem without doing anything to solve it other than asking for your money?

You are in luck!

I’d like to invite you to an incredible, life changing webinar. 90 minutes of your life that you’ll never get back.

During this webinar, you will learn….
…how excited I am about some meaningless credentials that don’t prove I can help you.
…the story of when I did something I’m really proud of that has nothing to do with the topic.
…just how many ways there are to talk around a topic without teaching you anything about it.

In this webinar, you are absolutely guaranteed to not learn one single solitary useful tip, tool, or technique on the topic.

But you will be kept on constant suspense, thinking I’m about to teach you something.

As an added Bonus, I will share with you a series of case studies. These case studies are carefully crafted to yield no information as to what my process might be, and you’ll be pretty sure I made them up using stock photos.

For example, meet Bob and Suzy Jones!
Before working with me they were sad, overweight, miserable, and broke. They were actually in the brink of divorce.

But after going through whatever my program is, they are happier. They have lost 193 pounds between them. They have more money than they ever dreamed of and were finally able to drive that RV. And their sex life is better than ever. 

šŸ˜‰

So, join me for this incredible webinar.

At the very end, I’ll offer you an amazing $397 offer that’s really $997, although no one in this history of mankind has paid $997 or even been offered that price.

In the $397 program, I will teach you between 0 and 3 actionable pieces of information, while mostly continuing to tell you how awesome I am, and setting you up for the next sale, which really is $997 (although I tell you it is normally $2500).

Register now for this powerful event that will unlock your new future!

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Why is everyone a “Marketing Coach?” And How that’s ruining the world

Have you noticed that the vast majority of people in the online business world are some variety of marketing coach or consultant? Do you know why that is?

There are some marketing coaches who just love marketing, and that’s what they’ve always done. They are awesome and provide a valuable service. But that is a small minority of marketing experts out there.

For many of them. if you take a look at their history, you’ll find that most of them used to be something else. An energy healer. A wellness coach. A parenting coach.

But then, in order for their business to be successful, they had to master all aspects of marketing. The learned to build funnels, write copy, run launches, manage social media and all the rest.

After spending months or years perfecting those skills, they discovered that selling those hard won skills was more lucrative than contributing to the world in the way that they had been called to.

And, just like that, the world has one more marketing coach.

We don’t need more marketing coaches

Nothing against marketing coaches, but they don’t actually create anything in the world. They facilitate those who make a difference to reach the people they can make a difference for.

Or they would, except for the fact that too many people, once they spend years mastering marketing, give up on making that difference for selling their marketing knowledge.

This is a bad system. It drains the world of the knowledge and solutions we need.

But, up until now, it has been necessary. It doesn’t matter what you are an expert in. If you don’t also become an expert in marketing, no one will ever find you.

The beginning of a better way

What if there were a platform that let experts be experts without becoming marketers.

That is the core of what The Great Discovery is.

The Great Discovery is a course platform where experts can share their courses to be promote by an affiliate network.

The core of the marketing strategy is a network marketing model, but unlike most network marketing companies, The Great Discovery’s affiliates aren’t selling the products of The Great Discovery. They are selling the courses created by the members.

Course creators get to leverage the power of network marketing to promote their content by simply creating great content.

They don’t have to get involved in the network marketing side at all, or they can choose to do so for additional revenue.

The key thing is that experts can focus on being experts!

The best time to get involved is now

The Great Discovery is still in a pre-launch phase.

That means that course creators who sign up before March 15th, 2024, will have the opportunity to pay just $628 one time to get unlimited lifetime course posting privileges. One course or a thousand courses, all included. No limits. No maintenance fees.

After the launch, it will shift to a more traditional monthly membership model.

If you would like to sign up, go to this link, and follow these steps:

  1. Sign up for the 14 day free trial of the Genius Club (that gives you 10% off)
  2. Click the button on the right to become an affiliate
  3. Select the Champions Course Creator Pack
  4. Fill out the information to register and pay

At that point, you will be a course creator with lifetime course posting privileges.

If you would like to know more, there is a video on that web site, or you can email me at michael@guywhoknowsaguy.com to ask questions.

But I encourage you to act quickly because there is a great benefit in getting in on this early.

Networking: Is the the Plane or the Pilot?

In Top Gun: Maverick (one of the best movies of the decade so far), there is a repeated motif of ā€œItā€™s not the plane. Itā€™s the pilot.ā€

It culminates in the climactic battle when Maverick and Rooster end up an old F-14 up against multiple state of the art, fifth generation enemy fighters.

Rooster inspires Maverick to do some of that pilot s#!t by saying, ā€œItā€™s not the plane. Itā€™s the pilot.ā€

Very exciting. Very dramatic. Very awesome!

So, maybe it is the pilot?

Iā€™ve also been watching Drive to Survive lately on Netflix. Thatā€™s the reality series about Formula One and the stories behind the races.

Many stories focus on the drivers and their skill and confidence and how they drive the car.

But they also talk about the importance of the car.

The best driver in the worst car cannot win.

The worst driver in the best car cannot win.

Only the best driver in the best car can win.

Which brings us to networking

I recently heard someone say that the most important thing in finding success in a networking group is ā€œself initiative.ā€ A good networker with the right mindset and techniques who takes the initiative to take the right action can find success in any networking group.

Technically this is true.

No matter what group you are in, if you take initiative to make connections, provide value, develop relationships, and get introductions, you will eventually be successful.

Anyone you meet can connect you to people who can connect you to people who can give you anything might possibly want.

Likewise, you could put Max Verstappen in my Honda Civic out on a Formula One racetrack, and heā€™ll get all the way from the starting grid to the finish line.

But heā€™ll get there a lot faster in an F1 race car.

Itā€™s the pilot AND the plane.

If you donā€™t have self initiative, if you arenā€™t a go giver, if you donā€™t know how to ask for what you want, it doesnā€™t matter what room I put you in. You wonā€™t have success.

However, if you do have self initiative, if you are a go giver, if you do know how to ask for what you want, then you will do better in a great, well structured networking space full of the right people

Can you be successful in any networking group? Yes.

But with tens of thousands of options of spaces to network in, why would you spend your time in a group that does not have the people you need to meet?

Why would you spend your time in a group that isnā€™t structured well?

This is why I created JV Connect

I created JV Connect because I want to put the best pilots in the best planes. 

I want to see what happens when we put abundance minded, successful, effective people into a space that maximizes connections, facilitates relationships, and does everything possible to make awesome things happen.

And then, I want to create a space where you donā€™t have to be Pete ā€œMaverickā€ Mitchell or Charles Leclerc to be successful because the event is structured to guide you to do the right things in the right way.

JV Connect is December 12th and 13th, and you can get into the cockpit here.

Niching the Right Way to Serve the Right People

In the summer of 2015, I found myself in the Emergency Room. My sciatica was so bad that I could not walk and could barely move.

I went to chiropractors, and they could do nothing. A physical therapist was able to get it from debilitating to manageable, but certainly not able to fix it.

As it turned out a combination of short hamstrings and tendons combined with weak core strength (the result of too much sitting and not enough exercise) led to the symptoms. 

The PT gave me a very effective set of exercises to get me from non-functional to functional.

And not a step beyond that.

Continue reading “Niching the Right Way to Serve the Right People”

Why I’m so Transparent in my Emails

The secret to the quality of my emails is that Iā€™m lazy.

You know those emails that you donā€™t like. The ones that are generic and salesy. The ones that identify a generic problem that you may or may not have, then they agitate that problem, then they make an amazing offer while delivering no value?

Those are super hard to write. Thereā€™s a whole formula and process.

They are part of big fancy funnels with all kinds of technology, tracking, trigger links, and landing pages.

Want to know my process?

Continue reading “Why I’m so Transparent in my Emails”

Why Monthly Emails Have More Unsubscribes

A joint venture expert once told me that when you promote a partnerā€™s launch you should expect 5-8% of your list to unsubscribe.

This expert also told me that every email you send will cause list attrition, so you should send email sparingly.

I was impressed by the fact that this expert could make so much money using email while understanding it so poorly.

The infrequent email fallacy

Letā€™s say you have an email list that you donā€™t mail to often, and this list came from colder sources like giveaways or freebie swaps.

You send an email to them announcing your latest webinar, and 2% of your list melts away.

You send another, and another 2% wanders off.

You promote a launch with a series of 8 emails, and 8% more exits stage right.

Holy moley! These guys are fleeing like rats from a sinking ship. You better send less emails to preserve your list.

Itā€™s a reasonable conclusionā€¦ except itā€™s wrong.

As you may be aware, I mail my list daily. Out of over 2300 members, the last three emails had 6, 3, and 1 unsubscription respectively.

Whatā€™s really happening?

Thereā€™s a few things going on under the numbers here.

The first is that thereā€™s a group of people who get on your list who donā€™t want to be there. They signed up for a freebie, and thatā€™s all they want. They are customers but they are one and one. They signed up for an event, but not for you.

These people are going to unsubscribe the first time they see an email. If you send daily emails, theyā€™ll leave pretty quick, but if you send monthly or occasional emails, they might linger for many months because they donā€™t see your messages.

Thus, when you do send a few emails together, they will all unsubscribe at once making it seem like a mass exodus, when itā€™s really just people who never wanted to be there in the first place.

Then, there is a group of people who were interested when they signed up, but they forgot who you are. By the time they get your rare message, they donā€™t remember signing up, so they feel like they were subscribed involuntarily, and they leave.

Additionally, if you reserve your email activity for the most ā€œvaluableā€ uses then you may end up sending nothing but pitches, so these people leave because they signed up to get your knowledge and vibe, but what they receive is offers, mostly offers for products of strangers.

The solution

You will never avoid unsubscribes completely unless you never send emails.

However, the best way to make sure the right people stick around is to give them high value frequently.

Every email that you send should contain value.

Yes, I said ā€œevery.ā€

Value doesnā€™t have to mean not making an offer, but it does mean that every email reminds your audience of why they signed up in the first place.

It could be that you teach them something.

It could be your unique style of writing.

It could be a recommendation, invitation, or offer they will find interesting.

Sure, you could preserve your pristine list by never sending an email, but what good is that?

It doesnā€™t help you because if you ever do use it, your audience will flee.

It doesnā€™t help your audience because they signed up to get value, not to be stored in a museum.

As they say, a ship is safe in the harbor, but thatā€™s not what ships are for.

If you want to preserve your audience, then serve your audience.


This was originally shared out through my highly valuable, very interesting, and not-monthly Resource Letter. If you’d like to receive content like this every day, and get my Power5 Networking Tips, just sign up below…

The Monthly Newsletter Myth: Why Sending More Emails gets Less Unsubscribes

One of my agency clients recently asked me to write a monthly newsletter for one of their clients.

When I inquired as to why they wanted a monthly newsletter, I was told that the client wanted to minimize unsubscribes.

This makes a lot of sense as a motivationā€¦
ā€¦except that itā€™s wrong.

This common but incorrect conclusion is built on three false underlying assumptionsā€¦

Continue reading “The Monthly Newsletter Myth: Why Sending More Emails gets Less Unsubscribes”

Build Community for Your Funeral, Not Your Financials

“My first business was wildly successful except for never making any money,” is something that you’ll often hear me say.

That first business was Phoenix Games, and it created a robust and valuable community that was a great value for many of the people who were part of it.

Ultimately that community was done in by the scarcity created by the lack of money and by my own youthful arrogance.

I’ve always been a community builder. I personally crave connection, and I have never been terribly good at keeping track of individual friends. When I build a community, a space, whether physical or virtual, where the kind of wonderful people I like to associate with can come together, I can find the connection that I seek.

I hope that this also helps the other people in the community to find the connection, support, and love that they seek as well.

As I have been building the Entrepreneur Mentor Community, I have been giving a lot of thought to what would make it successful. Yes, I would like it to be profitable. It’s not a charity. It is a business. But money is a side effect of doing it right.

Too many people try to build “communities” that are nothing more than sales funnels. They are icky and gross. They are a pale simulation of community. Worst, they feed on our deepest desires as humans and feed us fake connection with the intention of manipulating us out of our money.

Then there are some who do an amazing job at building a loving and supportive business community. Joint Venture Insider Circle does an incredible job of this. When I attended their live event in October, it was like a family reunion. Hugs and smiles all around. Sure the event had good content, but what made it worth the trip was the feeling of connection.

So, what is my KPI on the Entrepreneur Mentor Community and other communities I might build? It’s my funeral. And my anniversary. And my birthday party.

I have come to realize that the ultimate measure of success for me is not how much money I can get in my bank account. It’s how many people will show up to my funeral. You show up to the funeral of someone who has touched your life, someone who has made a difference for you.

I want a community where there is true connection. I want the kind of place where if someone in the group hears that you’re coming to town, they’ll say “The door’s unlocked. Come on by.” I want a community of people that I’d trust to teach my daughter.

It’s not that money’s not important. My first community failed because money is the lifeblood of any enterprise. Without it, you can’t keep the lights on.

Money is so important that it must be made the right way.

And the right way is to build that community of trust, support, and love. People want to do business with people that they can trust. Not some artificial “know, like, and trust” but honestly and authentically knowing, liking, and trusting them.

That cannot be achieved through any funnel or any marketing strategy. It can only be achieved by putting good people in proximity (physical or virtual) over time to develop relationships.

As I look at the list of people I have invited as Mentors, and those I am continuing to invite. I give no thought to how much revenue they can bring to the project. I invite people who have the right spirit, the right energy, and the right character. I invite people who can help build this kind of space, and who, hopefully, are as excited as I am to be part of it.

Sure, we’ll make money, but my mission is to create something so much more valuable than that: a community.

What Business and Life Coaches Can Learn From Sex Workers

They identify the right kind of potential clients, tease them with a preview sufficient to get them excited and into the right state of psychological arousal. At the proper moment, when the prospect is at peak excitement, they make their offer, and the client happily hands over their money for the services they are excited to receive.

Of course, what I am describing is the funnel sales process that many successful coaches use. Only a small proportion of coaches are actually able to use this strategy effectively while most struggle to get clients. If you are in the second group, you will find this article very interesting.

What coaches can learn from sex workers
Continue reading “What Business and Life Coaches Can Learn From Sex Workers”