Marketing Expert Reveals Secret For Building an Audience That Buys | Seth Godin
Zusammenfassung
TLDRIn this insightful podcast episode, marketing innovator Seth Godin shares his expertise on effective marketing strategies. He highlights the importance of understanding your audience's needs and desires, rather than focusing solely on personal goals. Godin stresses that marketing is about creating genuine connections and providing value. He also addresses the evolving role of AI in marketing, noting that it can replace mediocre tasks but cannot replicate human empathy and creativity. Throughout the conversation, Godin encourages content creators to maintain resilience, embrace their authenticity, and focus on building a loyal audience rather than fleeting trends. Ultimately, he believes that prioritizing meaningful interactions will lead to long-term success and impact in both marketing and personal finance education.
Mitbringsel
- 🤝 It's about understanding who you're serving.
- 💡 Marketing is not just about hype and promotion.
- 📖 Creating genuine connections is key.
- 🔥 AI can enhance marketing but doesn't replace creativity.
- 🔑 Focusing on a small audience can yield meaningful impact.
- 🎯 Consistency in content should not compromise quality.
- 📈 Use empathy to identify customer desires and needs.
- 📝 Resilience is vital in navigating challenges in marketing.
- 💬 Engaging authentically with your audience builds loyalty.
- 🌟 Success comes from helping others achieve their goals.
Zeitleiste
- 00:00:00 - 00:05:00
In the podcast, the focus shifts to understanding marketing as a service to others rather than self-promotion. Seth Godin emphasizes the importance of identifying the audience's needs and desires over mere advertising tactics.
- 00:05:00 - 00:10:00
Seth Godin introduces Erica Colberg's savings challenge, highlighting its success in helping people save significant amounts of money, showcasing how valuable information can lead to behavioral change.
- 00:10:00 - 00:15:00
The conversation digs deeper into marketing fundamentals, with Seth advocating for understanding your audience's beliefs, fears, and desires. Knowing whom to serve is crucial for effective marketing.
- 00:15:00 - 00:20:00
The discussion touches on empathy and understanding consumers' behavior. Seth argues that marketers can develop this skill through observation, suggesting that effective solutions often stem from understanding others rather than personal experiences alone.
- 00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Seth acknowledges that while some individuals have a natural knack for reading social cues, empathy in marketing can be learned and developed through intentional effort and practice.
- 00:25:00 - 00:30:00
The value of AI in marketing is discussed, highlighting its potential to enhance understanding of customer behavior, while also emphasizing that meaningful connections require human emotional intelligence that AI cannot replicate.
- 00:30:00 - 00:35:00
Seth reflects on his experience with technology, including AI, and its evolution over time. This conversation highlights that being unique and understanding customer needs remains vital amidst technological advancements.
- 00:35:00 - 00:40:00
The theme of taking risks is stressed; Seth emphasizes that true leadership involves trying new things, learning from failure, and leaning into generative opportunities, even at the expense of perceived safety or mediocrity.
- 00:40:00 - 00:45:00
The notion that consistency in content creation must be balanced with the urge for creativity is presented. Seth advocates for a healthy mix of experimentation while being diligent about delivering value through the consistent output.
- 00:45:00 - 00:50:00
The conversation then transitions into the significance of goals and expectations, explaining that real change comes from acknowledging discomfort and guiding audiences through struggles rather than simple solutions.
- 00:50:00 - 00:55:18
Seth concludes the podcast by encouraging creators to focus on their smallest viable audience, taking a long-term view of their work and impact on their community. He emphasizes building meaningful relationships and ensuring quality over quantity in audience engagement.
Mind Map
Video-Fragen und Antworten
What is the key to effective marketing according to Seth Godin?
Understanding who you are serving and what they truly need.
How does Seth Godin view the relationship between marketing and AI?
He believes AI can replace mediocre work but emphasizes the irreplaceable value of human creativity and empathy.
What should marketers focus on when developing their strategy?
Marketers should focus on serving their audience and helping them solve problems.
What is the importance of having a small, dedicated audience?
A smaller audience allows for deeper connections and meaningful impact.
How can content creators balance consistency and quality in their work?
By creating a systematic approach to content creation while also allowing space for experimentation.
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- 00:00:00who are you seeking to serve what is the
- 00:00:01change you hope to make and these people
- 00:00:03you're serving what is it that they need
- 00:00:05and want from you it's not about you
- 00:00:07it's not about what you worked so hard
- 00:00:09to make it's Seth Goden is a bestselling
- 00:00:12author and marketing expert who is also
- 00:00:14the inventor of email marketing he built
- 00:00:17a $30 million company using his
- 00:00:19marketing techniques and now shares his
- 00:00:22Innovative strategies with the world if
- 00:00:24you spread out and do a lot of things
- 00:00:26you're going to do them all pretty well
- 00:00:27and if I was pretty good at all of those
- 00:00:29things no one would care but if I only
- 00:00:31have one thing then I could be the best
- 00:00:32in the world if I can make a difference
- 00:00:34for my audience the money will take care
- 00:00:37of itself hi it's Erica Colberg and
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- 00:01:56again that's erica.com slgo
- 00:02:00ka.com slgo see you inside I'm Erica
- 00:02:04Colberg and you're listening to the
- 00:02:05Erica taught me
- 00:02:07podcast I wanted to start by asking if
- 00:02:10someone comes to you and says Seth I
- 00:02:11want to become a better marketer and you
- 00:02:14can only give them one homework
- 00:02:15assignment to go home and do what do you
- 00:02:17give them to learn what marketing is and
- 00:02:20what it's not marketing used to be
- 00:02:22advertising that was it if you ran
- 00:02:24enough ads you can make enough money to
- 00:02:26run more ads and then the internet came
- 00:02:29along and some people got confused and
- 00:02:30they think that marketing is about hype
- 00:02:32and hustle and interrupting people and
- 00:02:34spamming them and getting a lot of
- 00:02:35social media followers getting the word
- 00:02:37out getting attention it's none of those
- 00:02:39things that's not marketing that's
- 00:02:41promotion the homework assignment would
- 00:02:43be who are you seeking to serve what is
- 00:02:47the change you hope to make and these
- 00:02:49people you're serving what is it that
- 00:02:52they need and want from you it's not
- 00:02:53about you it's not about what you worked
- 00:02:56so hard to make it's what are their
- 00:02:58dreams their desires if you can serve
- 00:03:01other people and help them get to where
- 00:03:03they want to go marketing looks really
- 00:03:06easy so when you started off your
- 00:03:09companies do you figure out the customer
- 00:03:11Avatar first I mean in order to figure
- 00:03:13out who it is and who you are serving
- 00:03:15and what outcome you're getting for them
- 00:03:17is that the first step you take in
- 00:03:19everything we do in our life we begin
- 00:03:21with who's it for right that when we are
- 00:03:26you know dealing with a dog or a toddler
- 00:03:28or another person we don't speak to that
- 00:03:30person in a language they don't
- 00:03:32understand we bring the language they
- 00:03:34speak of course because otherwise they
- 00:03:36wouldn't be able to hear us so I've been
- 00:03:38lucky enough to do 40 Years of projects
- 00:03:40some big some small and every single
- 00:03:43project that has succeeded every single
- 00:03:45one of them begins with who is this for
- 00:03:49not what's their name not what do they
- 00:03:51look like I don't care how tall they are
- 00:03:52where they're from I care about what do
- 00:03:54they believe what are they afraid of who
- 00:03:56are their friends what does this remind
- 00:03:58them of these yearnings are why we're
- 00:04:02here to solve other people's problems
- 00:04:05and how do you find that out is that
- 00:04:06from speaking to the customers is that
- 00:04:08because you were once the customer
- 00:04:11obviously the easiest thing to do is to
- 00:04:13make something for yourself and assume
- 00:04:14that other people have the same problem
- 00:04:16but legs panty hose was not invented by
- 00:04:18a woman it was invented by a guy who
- 00:04:20didn't wear panty hose that you don't
- 00:04:22have to be a cancer survivor to be a
- 00:04:24good oncologist and uh the toys at Lego
- 00:04:27and Fisher Price are not invented by
- 00:04:29three-year-olds so empathy is the
- 00:04:32resilient reliable thing to do and you
- 00:04:37can learn a lot just by noticing by
- 00:04:39watching by saying why did that person
- 00:04:42at the supermarket grab this instead of
- 00:04:44grab that following people around asking
- 00:04:47them hard questions not questions about
- 00:04:50will you buy my product because people
- 00:04:52will lie when they answer that but
- 00:04:56noticing what do they do when no one is
- 00:04:58watching what are their habits where are
- 00:05:00their
- 00:05:01frustrations and developing this empathy
- 00:05:05is not something we're born with it's a
- 00:05:07skill and we can learn to do it well but
- 00:05:10are some people born as better natural
- 00:05:13marketers and some people are learning
- 00:05:15it or you think everyone kind of starts
- 00:05:17off at the same Baseline some people are
- 00:05:19born with you know ability to read faces
- 00:05:23and ability to understand interactions
- 00:05:25more easily than others for sure I do
- 00:05:28think we've indoctrinated people over
- 00:05:30time in issues of social class and cast
- 00:05:34so that they don't believe they have the
- 00:05:37privilege to show up and make things
- 00:05:39better but I have seen people from lots
- 00:05:42and lots of different backgrounds show
- 00:05:45up and make a difference the thing about
- 00:05:47Charisma is being charismatic doesn't
- 00:05:51make you a leader being a leader makes
- 00:05:53you charismatic people are drawn to you
- 00:05:56not because you tell funny jokes but
- 00:05:58because you have something in mind that
- 00:06:01you want to make better do you think as
- 00:06:03we're talking about how knowing your
- 00:06:05customer knowing what they want is
- 00:06:08really important do you think AI is
- 00:06:10ultimately going to be a really good
- 00:06:11thing for marketing where you just have
- 00:06:14so much more intelligence around who the
- 00:06:16customer is what their behavior is what
- 00:06:18they're doing and can tailor the
- 00:06:19marketing around that or are you worried
- 00:06:21about the future of AI and marketing I'm
- 00:06:24not worried about marketing at all most
- 00:06:26of the people who do marketing don't
- 00:06:28have a problem and I'm certainly not in
- 00:06:30charge of marketing AI is the biggest
- 00:06:33change in our culture since electricity
- 00:06:36and if you're not using it every day
- 00:06:39you're going to be afraid of something
- 00:06:40you don't understand what AI is capable
- 00:06:43of doing right now is replacing an
- 00:06:46enormous range of mediocre human work by
- 00:06:49mediocre I mean average if you're a
- 00:06:50mediocre radiologist I've got an AI that
- 00:06:53can read an x-ray faster cheaper maybe
- 00:06:56better than you but it has no threat to
- 00:06:59somebody who can do things that most
- 00:07:01people can't do because that requires a
- 00:07:05nonlinear sort of approach that one day
- 00:07:08AI might be able to figure out but right
- 00:07:10now it can't and so all of my writing is
- 00:07:14my writing but I ask Claude questions
- 00:07:17every day I say here's bullet points can
- 00:07:19you think of a fifth one and it can
- 00:07:22suggest something to me so if you're a
- 00:07:23mediocre copywriter if you're making
- 00:07:25average stuff for average people we
- 00:07:27don't need you anymore we've got AI but
- 00:07:30if you want to use this magical
- 00:07:33librarian and ask it hard questions why
- 00:07:36wouldn't you so how are you using AI
- 00:07:39besides having the fifth bullet point
- 00:07:40Auto populated for you well it's funny I
- 00:07:43started with chat GPT like most people
- 00:07:46well first um a little bit about my
- 00:07:48personal background I um I walked here
- 00:07:52from the center of New York and I passed
- 00:07:54the Chelsea Hotel there's a plaque on
- 00:07:56the wall of the outside that says Arthur
- 00:07:58C Clark lived there and wrote 2001 A
- 00:08:01Space Odyssey while he was in that hotel
- 00:08:04which I thought was really cool I worked
- 00:08:06with Arthur toward the end of his career
- 00:08:08in
- 00:08:091983 and of course 2001 is where
- 00:08:12everyone decided to get afraid of AI so
- 00:08:14I've been studying AI for a very long
- 00:08:16time and I was eager when it finally
- 00:08:19showed up the way it did with chat GPT
- 00:08:23mostly I just argue with it I think it's
- 00:08:25arrogant and doesn't recover well from
- 00:08:28making a mistake I decided spending my
- 00:08:30days arguing with AI wasn't helping
- 00:08:32anybody so I switched to Claude claw. is
- 00:08:35Kinder and gives me better insight and
- 00:08:39what I will do is give it hypotheticals
- 00:08:42ask it to make combinations and
- 00:08:45connections what you know here's three
- 00:08:47things I read over here and six things
- 00:08:49that disagree with it over there who's
- 00:08:51got something going
- 00:08:52on recently I gave it a 40-page business
- 00:08:55plan that had been written by five
- 00:08:57different people over the course of a
- 00:08:58year so it was was complicated and I
- 00:09:00said please read this and highlight the
- 00:09:02contradictions and the hard parts and in
- 00:09:05less than 30 seconds it gave me a
- 00:09:07two-page MBA quality memo that was
- 00:09:12fantastic so how do you become someone
- 00:09:14who is
- 00:09:15mediocre and replaceable by AI to
- 00:09:18someone who cannot be replaced by AI the
- 00:09:21most important thing is you do things
- 00:09:22that might not
- 00:09:23work people who are mediocre aren't lazy
- 00:09:27they're afraid they have been pushed by
- 00:09:30this educational industrial complex to
- 00:09:32not make a mistake to make everything
- 00:09:34defensible to follow the leader to fit
- 00:09:37in all the way and so if you you know
- 00:09:40walk through a shopping mall you will
- 00:09:42see a whole bunch of people who are
- 00:09:43dressed in a mediocre style because it's
- 00:09:46deniable they're like well that's the
- 00:09:47way everybody else is dressed that's
- 00:09:48average but then you will see someone
- 00:09:51who is quite Dapper that person when
- 00:09:53they left the house maybe they're
- 00:09:55thinking H maybe I'm overdressed they
- 00:09:57were doing something that might not work
- 00:09:59work and that's what leadership is
- 00:10:01leadership isn't management leadership
- 00:10:03is leaning
- 00:10:05into something generative and generous
- 00:10:08that also might not work I am really
- 00:10:11proud of all my failures more proud than
- 00:10:13my successes because the failures are
- 00:10:15hard to come by and really pay off in
- 00:10:18the long run what would you consider
- 00:10:19your biggest failures that you're proud
- 00:10:21of well there are failures of omission
- 00:10:26people I didn't give the benefit of the
- 00:10:27doubt to opportunity that I should have
- 00:10:30seen those I'm not proud of failures of
- 00:10:33commission you know I started one of the
- 00:10:35first internet companies and I invented
- 00:10:37email marketing and I could have
- 00:10:39invented the search engine I was there
- 00:10:41but I didn't because I didn't get the
- 00:10:44joke of the worldwide web I'm like no
- 00:10:46everyone's going to be on AOL I just
- 00:10:47completely missed that I've launched
- 00:10:50projects that meant well but either the
- 00:10:53timing was wrong or the strategy didn't
- 00:10:55quite line up before there was Pinterest
- 00:10:58and social netw works we started squido
- 00:11:01there were eight of us we grew it to the
- 00:11:03uh 40th biggest website in the US but
- 00:11:06then it went away because Google shut us
- 00:11:07down and you look at that and you learn
- 00:11:11from that and I wouldn't take any of
- 00:11:13them back because those are the things
- 00:11:15that enabled me to be sitting here
- 00:11:17talking to you today Eric what do you
- 00:11:19think today are the things that most
- 00:11:22people are omitting and not looking
- 00:11:25towards I mean I feel like AI is most
- 00:11:27people in our space at least are into it
- 00:11:30are there things that you're looking at
- 00:11:31that you feel like people are missing so
- 00:11:34it's not hard to manufacture things
- 00:11:36compared to the way it used to be that
- 00:11:39you can program a laser cutter and come
- 00:11:41back the next day and all these pieces
- 00:11:42came out of it that you can go online
- 00:11:44and order something from 5,000 miles
- 00:11:46away and it
- 00:11:47arrives coming up with a making
- 00:11:49manufacturing Insight is not going to be
- 00:11:52easy but people are loner than they've
- 00:11:56ever been before so who's building
- 00:11:59connection real connection not the face
- 00:12:01fake connection of Facebook but real
- 00:12:03connection who is making people feel
- 00:12:06like insiders who is creating the
- 00:12:09conditions for people to find Hope and
- 00:12:13possibility there's an unlimited market
- 00:12:15for that not enough people are doing
- 00:12:17that and that's accomplished through
- 00:12:20authentic storytelling and again
- 00:12:21understanding what people's problems are
- 00:12:23and what their desired outcome is that's
- 00:12:25a really good way to say it however the
- 00:12:27word authentic freaks me out a little
- 00:12:29bit okay um I think authenticity is way
- 00:12:32overrated no one wants you to be
- 00:12:34authentic when you're doing these shows
- 00:12:36because if you're having a bad day they
- 00:12:38don't want to see cranky Erica right
- 00:12:40they want you to play the role of this
- 00:12:44consistent interested interesting person
- 00:12:47who talks about what you talk about
- 00:12:48that's consistency that's not
- 00:12:50authenticity what we need is someone who
- 00:12:53is willing to show up as a professional
- 00:12:56and professionals do great work even
- 00:12:58when they don't feel like it how do you
- 00:13:00do that when you are you output a lot
- 00:13:05how do you show up day in and day out
- 00:13:07and produce even sometimes when you
- 00:13:08don't want to well what we're looking
- 00:13:10for as professionals is resiliency right
- 00:13:14so if you go to a war zone you'll see
- 00:13:16doctors who can do extraordinary output
- 00:13:20but they can't get away with that in the
- 00:13:21New York City hospital because they
- 00:13:24there's also errors but you get away
- 00:13:26with it in a war zone because people are
- 00:13:27dying right so we build systems so that
- 00:13:31if a bad day happens or if if we get you
- 00:13:34know a cold it doesn't all fall apart in
- 00:13:37my case I write three or four blog posts
- 00:13:39a day but I only publish one of them and
- 00:13:42my blog has been running for a long time
- 00:13:44because it's resillient because I didn't
- 00:13:46establish that have to Sprint all the
- 00:13:49time right and saying no to a lot of
- 00:13:53things is part of the secret to being
- 00:13:56able to show up as a professional
- 00:13:57professionals say no all the time for my
- 00:13:59content creation it's quite hard
- 00:14:01balancing between trying to stay
- 00:14:03consistent but then also staying
- 00:14:05inspired because sometimes if it's just
- 00:14:08purely about consistency I feel like I
- 00:14:09can put out subpar work that I'm not
- 00:14:12that proud of and I never want to put
- 00:14:14that out but at the same time waiting
- 00:14:16three weeks for inspiration to strike
- 00:14:18and having one good idea that I'm really
- 00:14:20proud of does not allow me to have that
- 00:14:22consistency in those multiple touch
- 00:14:24points so how do I think about that
- 00:14:26these are great questions um social
- 00:14:29media builds things up and then destroys
- 00:14:32them and you know the Gangdam Style
- 00:14:34video from Sai has been seen three
- 00:14:36billion times where's his next one I
- 00:14:38don't know right because every there's a
- 00:14:41hit
- 00:14:43mindset you can't simultaneously chase a
- 00:14:46hit and be consistent that you know
- 00:14:50maybe Billy Joel could have done it a
- 00:14:51long time ago the doie brothers but even
- 00:14:54they can't keep doing that forever and
- 00:14:56now it's so much harder so one mindset
- 00:15:00is to say there are two things that I do
- 00:15:03I professionally show up with gems about
- 00:15:07personal finance and big ideas and
- 00:15:10thoughtful consistent
- 00:15:11work but there's a lot of spaces in
- 00:15:14between where I'm having a different
- 00:15:17voice and that's the voice of here's
- 00:15:19something new here's an experimental
- 00:15:21idea here's you know a short form or a
- 00:15:24different platform and by balancing
- 00:15:26those two going back and forth you have
- 00:15:29the chance to put fuel into the The Arc
- 00:15:32of what you're doing you know so in my
- 00:15:33case I said no to Twitter to Facebook to
- 00:15:36LinkedIn I don't use those platforms for
- 00:15:39my work so the blog is there it's only
- 00:15:41once a day that's it but then I can show
- 00:15:44up on a different platform like
- 00:15:45streamyard and say I'm going to do a
- 00:15:47live conversation with somebody I'm not
- 00:15:49promising you when I'm coming back what
- 00:15:51made you even as you saw after your blog
- 00:15:54started you saw YouTube and then Tik Tok
- 00:15:57and Twitter what made you feel like you
- 00:15:59wanted to stick with the medium of blog
- 00:16:00writing it's pretty simple um if you
- 00:16:04spread out and do a lot of things you're
- 00:16:05going to do them all pretty well and if
- 00:16:08I was pretty good at all of those
- 00:16:10things no one would care but if I only
- 00:16:13have one thing then I could be the best
- 00:16:15in the world at it that's the only
- 00:16:17reason it would I knew because I saw
- 00:16:20Twitter like you know six weeks after it
- 00:16:22started to pick up speed I knew if I
- 00:16:24showed up on Twitter I could have a lot
- 00:16:26of people following me but then am I
- 00:16:28going to be be great at Tweeting or
- 00:16:30mediocre at tweeting if I'm great at
- 00:16:31tweeting I'm going spend all my time
- 00:16:33reading the comment I don't want to
- 00:16:35build that life for myself so these are
- 00:16:37choices we have more agency than we
- 00:16:39think and what's interesting you and I
- 00:16:41have been talking for a few minutes we
- 00:16:43haven't talked at all about tactics we
- 00:16:46haven't talked at all about hype or
- 00:16:47logos none of this is what's important
- 00:16:50it's who trusts you who gives you the
- 00:16:53benefit of the doubt and what's your
- 00:16:56strategy for making the change you want
- 00:16:58to make happen so now there are I don't
- 00:17:01know how many hundreds of thousands of
- 00:17:03people who are being more careful and
- 00:17:05thoughtful with their money because of
- 00:17:06you that's a big thing to have
- 00:17:08accomplished you should take credit for
- 00:17:10that it's
- 00:17:11extraordinary and you don't work for Tik
- 00:17:15Tok Tik Tok works for you and the minute
- 00:17:18it stops working for you you should stop
- 00:17:20using it something I've been thinking
- 00:17:24hard about is just as my social media
- 00:17:27background I started off on YouTube
- 00:17:29and I was I think a very mediocre
- 00:17:31YouTuber it took me 6 months to get
- 00:17:352,000 followers one video per week and
- 00:17:38then after about a year I switched to
- 00:17:40Tik Tok and within 30 days I had five
- 00:17:44million followers on Tik Tok so I
- 00:17:45realized okay mediocre YouTuber but
- 00:17:47pretty good short form 60-second Video
- 00:17:50Creator but now I'm after it's been two
- 00:17:54years now I have 21 million followers
- 00:17:56across these short form platforms and
- 00:17:58and I'm realizing that the depth of
- 00:18:01connection that I create can create on
- 00:18:03these short form sites is quite shallow
- 00:18:08yes and so now I'm almost thinking about
- 00:18:09going back to YouTube where I can have
- 00:18:12these 10 15 minute videos and have these
- 00:18:15really deep insights around personal
- 00:18:17finance that I can't accomplish in a
- 00:18:1960-second video but at the same time I
- 00:18:21know I'm a mediocre YouTuber and an
- 00:18:23excellent Tik tocker so what would you
- 00:18:25do here okay this is such a useful
- 00:18:29generous question because lots of people
- 00:18:31are watching this think about this you
- 00:18:33are not a mediocre YouTuber what is true
- 00:18:37is that you weren't serving the YouTube
- 00:18:39algorithm in a way that they rewarded
- 00:18:43you either through luck or skill but has
- 00:18:46nothing to do with whether watching one
- 00:18:48of your videos helped somebody right so
- 00:18:52the challenge we've got so many people
- 00:18:54are busy throwing coal into the Tik Tock
- 00:18:57fire without think about why they're
- 00:18:59even doing it so we need to keep coming
- 00:19:02back to who's it for and what's it for
- 00:19:06so the big number doesn't mean anything
- 00:19:10it's just noise what matters is are you
- 00:19:13building trust the benefit of the doubt
- 00:19:16and are people taking action in a way
- 00:19:19that benefits you so we haven't talked
- 00:19:22about whether you're going to make money
- 00:19:23from this I'm putting that aside can you
- 00:19:26make a difference with this because if
- 00:19:28you're going to put on a clown suit and
- 00:19:30get more views from that well yeah but
- 00:19:31why did you do it and so what we know is
- 00:19:35that there are certain kinds of
- 00:19:37interactions that yield a lot that the
- 00:19:41relationship between uh a lawyer and her
- 00:19:45client that lasts for seven years has
- 00:19:47way more impact than that same lawyer
- 00:19:51talking to somebody for seven minutes
- 00:19:53over seven years via Tik Tok so that
- 00:19:56doesn't mean you should go back to being
- 00:19:57a lawyer God forbid what it means is you
- 00:20:00need to think about what's the smallest
- 00:20:02audience that could sustain your mission
- 00:20:06anybody more than that is a bonus and we
- 00:20:09need to stop putting on a show because
- 00:20:12the show isn't serving us it's not
- 00:20:13nutritious so I don't know if I have
- 00:20:15Clarity on the answer then well what do
- 00:20:17you think well I C I do have impact with
- 00:20:22my Tik toks I know that oh for sure each
- 00:20:25one of them is designed to be actionable
- 00:20:27I want people to listen to the 30 to 60
- 00:20:30seconds and then think oh I can take
- 00:20:32action on that or I feel empowered by
- 00:20:34this I totally agree I didn't mean to
- 00:20:35diminish that one bit I thank you for
- 00:20:37letting me clear but it's not deep
- 00:20:41enough like I want to change people's
- 00:20:44lives I want to help people get to
- 00:20:46Financial Freedom and I don't I'm
- 00:20:50starting to believe less and less that a
- 00:20:5260c Tik Tok is ever going to get them
- 00:20:54there I right now the the way it works
- 00:20:56is I have to get them truly into my
- 00:20:58email list or into my podcast but you
- 00:21:01know I can get millions and millions of
- 00:21:03people to watch 60-second videos to get
- 00:21:05them to watch a 1hour podcast episode
- 00:21:07that is with the best person in the
- 00:21:09world it is much more difficult but is
- 00:21:12it better to put my focus there then on
- 00:21:15changing a small number of lives or is
- 00:21:17it better to go why that's I'm just
- 00:21:19still conflicted right well we're we're
- 00:21:21talking about here as enrollment
- 00:21:23enrollment isn't the mandatory
- 00:21:26enrollment in public school enrollment
- 00:21:27is someone who is voluntarily exposing
- 00:21:31themselves to effort and to emotional
- 00:21:34labor to get to where you hope to take
- 00:21:37them if they sign up for that it is much
- 00:21:40more likely that they will respond so if
- 00:21:43you put up a billboard in Time Square it
- 00:21:45will be seen by a million
- 00:21:47people that's great but the real change
- 00:21:50is only going to happen among the few
- 00:21:51who go to the next step and the next
- 00:21:53step and the next step so the
- 00:21:55opportunity for you is to realize that
- 00:21:57there is a funnel here
- 00:21:59and the funnel is a is very very leaky
- 00:22:0222 million eyeballs going at the top
- 00:22:04well to per person 44 million eyeballs
- 00:22:06go at the top and most of those people
- 00:22:08bounce off but maybe a million consider
- 00:22:11signing up for your podcast and maybe
- 00:22:14100,000 actually do and maybe 50,000
- 00:22:17listen to more than one episode so now
- 00:22:19we're down to 25,000 whose lives have
- 00:22:22been transformed you got to put 44
- 00:22:24million eyeballs at the top to get
- 00:22:2625,000 people at the bottom that's
- 00:22:27actually great because it didn't cost
- 00:22:29you a lot of cash at the top of the
- 00:22:31funnel so when we think about
- 00:22:33this the answer is not put more at the
- 00:22:37top of the funnel the answer is make the
- 00:22:39funnel more efficient make it so that
- 00:22:42people who have a glancing interaction
- 00:22:45with you are more likely to send you an
- 00:22:47email right what's the email address you
- 00:22:50want them to send a note to to get to
- 00:22:51sign up do we know what it is support
- 00:22:54er.com so what when they write to
- 00:22:56support er.com what do they get back
- 00:22:59an an answer to their inquiry whatever
- 00:23:02they so are you reading these emails
- 00:23:04sometimes well so we need a different
- 00:23:06email address okay one that when someone
- 00:23:08writes to it they get a note back that
- 00:23:10just says thanks for finding out all
- 00:23:12about Erica here's my podcast here's my
- 00:23:14YouTube channel here's my book then they
- 00:23:16can just go to erica.com okay but
- 00:23:18erica.com is different than writing an
- 00:23:20email because if they go to erica.com
- 00:23:22they could bounce right off of that but
- 00:23:24if they go if they send you an email or
- 00:23:26a text which is really cool you make
- 00:23:28teach twilio to do this now they
- 00:23:31instantly get it back in the same medium
- 00:23:33and you can follow up next week to say
- 00:23:34how'd that go what did you like and now
- 00:23:37permission has been granted it's not
- 00:23:40broadcast it's relationship and what
- 00:23:43we're trying to do step by step is find
- 00:23:47subscribers they don't have to pay you
- 00:23:48at first but subscribers are enrolled
- 00:23:51they're saying oh this is part of who I
- 00:23:53am now it's not what comes up next on my
- 00:23:55feed it's Erica reached out to me with
- 00:23:58home
- 00:23:59delivery and so when newspapers worked
- 00:24:01for 150 years they only work because of
- 00:24:03subscribers not because of news stand
- 00:24:05sales and right now you are winning at
- 00:24:07news stand sales but you don't have
- 00:24:09enough subscribers so you got to say how
- 00:24:11do I build these offers these
- 00:24:14opportunities these chances for people
- 00:24:16who care to enroll okay now you're a
- 00:24:21teacher you can teach them things but
- 00:24:23you can also offer people status and
- 00:24:26connection those are the two things all
- 00:24:28human beings want affiliation is who's
- 00:24:31to my left who's to my right did I dress
- 00:24:33right am I using the right language who
- 00:24:35am I with and we have affiliation in so
- 00:24:37many areas of our lives and status is
- 00:24:40who's up and who's down am I winning or
- 00:24:43am I not so you're ticktock about buying
- 00:24:47a Tesla versus buying Tesla stock the
- 00:24:49person who buys a Tesla that person
- 00:24:51isn't evil or lazy they just got more
- 00:24:54status in the short run by being able to
- 00:24:56drive the car around the other person
- 00:24:58got more status in the long run by
- 00:24:59making $400,000 in stock right so you
- 00:25:03can adjudicate and award status to
- 00:25:06People by giving them Levels by saying
- 00:25:08look you made it this far you achieved
- 00:25:10this you and merit badges are a real
- 00:25:12thing or it could be something less
- 00:25:15public than that that they're
- 00:25:17internalizing and when you build these
- 00:25:21arcs the way Dave Ramsey did you can
- 00:25:24find people who will stick with it and
- 00:25:26you can change their lives
- 00:25:28you can also make a living doing it but
- 00:25:31that's not the primary objective the
- 00:25:33objective is can I undo all these years
- 00:25:37of financial indoctrination that have
- 00:25:38pushed people to be consumers to help
- 00:25:41them find what they're actually looking
- 00:25:43for with Finance it's going to be really
- 00:25:45hard to do that with just a 30 second
- 00:25:47video I think I'm starting to understand
- 00:25:50the answer to this which is that yes
- 00:25:52it's okay to have more people in the
- 00:25:54funnel but what you really want is a
- 00:25:56more sealed funnel that you don't have
- 00:25:59to put millions of people into it to
- 00:26:01impact the lives here right I see
- 00:26:04YouTube as a more sealed funnel if
- 00:26:07people can get on to your YouTube
- 00:26:09channel and watch a 10-minute video with
- 00:26:10you that's the equivalent of them
- 00:26:12watching 20 Tik toks with me so I'd
- 00:26:16rather have them into YouTube so is that
- 00:26:18my answer that I should go back to
- 00:26:19YouTube then if it is I see YouTube as a
- 00:26:22more skilled funnel so for example one
- 00:26:24way that people can get deeper with me
- 00:26:26by going on my email list is going to
- 00:26:28for these 5-day challenges that I have
- 00:26:30so I have a 5day investing challenge
- 00:26:32where I teach them how to go from
- 00:26:33knowing nothing about investing to being
- 00:26:35a confident investor I have a 5-day free
- 00:26:38savings challenge where I teach them how
- 00:26:39to save money but in order to get them
- 00:26:41into this challenge to get them to
- 00:26:43subscribe it takes a lot if I get 10
- 00:26:46million views on a video promoting my
- 00:26:48savings challenge
- 00:26:50maybe 20,000 people sign up yeah so it
- 00:26:53takes a lot of views to get my 100,000
- 00:26:56people to sign up right whereas I think
- 00:26:58on YouTube the conversions are going to
- 00:27:01be higher so is that my answer well
- 00:27:04let's break it down in the emotional
- 00:27:06mindset okay it's
- 00:27:09very unlikely that a Tik Tock from you
- 00:27:11is going to make someone uncomfortable
- 00:27:13because it's going to be over in 30
- 00:27:15seconds so let's just go on to the next
- 00:27:16thing but
- 00:27:17learning always involves discomfort
- 00:27:21learning means acknowledging you are
- 00:27:24incompetent on the way to discovering
- 00:27:27you're competent first you have to oh I
- 00:27:29didn't know that and now I do right so a
- 00:27:3210-minute YouTube isn't 20 times better
- 00:27:36than a Tik Tok it's 200 times better
- 00:27:39because what you did was you created
- 00:27:41tension and in that tension in that
- 00:27:43discomfort someone grew you didn't have
- 00:27:46the chance to do that in Tik Tok you're
- 00:27:48just entertaining in a carnival whereas
- 00:27:50in YouTube so it's not do you belong on
- 00:27:53YouTube it's do you belong in any medium
- 00:27:57where someone's going to experience
- 00:27:59discomfort on the way so you know in New
- 00:28:02York they have the marathon they don't
- 00:28:04promise that you can run the 26 miles
- 00:28:06without getting tired in fact they
- 00:28:08insist that you will get tired and the
- 00:28:10only difference between people who
- 00:28:11finished the marathon and people who
- 00:28:13quit at Mile 20 is the people who quit
- 00:28:15at Mile 20 don't know where to put the
- 00:28:17tired and what you're doing is teaching
- 00:28:20people where to put the discomfort so
- 00:28:22that they can do these things because
- 00:28:23it's not like you're having breakthrough
- 00:28:26thoughts that weren't buett never
- 00:28:27thought of you're just teaching a
- 00:28:30generation how to deal with their
- 00:28:32discomfort about personal finance to get
- 00:28:34to the other side so it could be that
- 00:28:38it's an email once a week it could be
- 00:28:40they have to fly to Dubai and sit with
- 00:28:43you in your office it could be that they
- 00:28:45have to watch the whole video maybe they
- 00:28:47have to buy your book I don't know what
- 00:28:49that thing is but whether it's on
- 00:28:51YouTube or not is not the
- 00:28:53point now YouTube offers you the chance
- 00:28:57to have some subscribers that you have a
- 00:29:00better ability to go and alert when the
- 00:29:03next video so it becomes more generative
- 00:29:05step by step by step you can build on it
- 00:29:09but by itself it's still going to get
- 00:29:11you back into the same rut which is
- 00:29:13YouTube is going to reward videos to get
- 00:29:16engagement right at the beginning which
- 00:29:18is how do I eliminate discomfort not
- 00:29:20create it right and it's pretty trendy
- 00:29:24and as someone who has trended it's easy
- 00:29:27to get hooked on
- 00:29:28trending right so what I did and I'm not
- 00:29:31saying you should do what I did what I
- 00:29:33did is I refused to look at any of my
- 00:29:35stats I refused to do any SEO of any
- 00:29:38kind for a while I was the number one uh
- 00:29:41match on blog if you did a Google Search
- 00:29:43and then I wasn't and I didn't care
- 00:29:45because I wasn't paying attention to
- 00:29:46that what I was paying attention to is
- 00:29:49did somebody subscrib to my blog and did
- 00:29:54I get a note from them 3 4 6 months
- 00:29:57later not easy to send me a note that
- 00:30:00would say this is what I learned from
- 00:30:01you I never ask anyone to do that but
- 00:30:03when they do that I'm like I am doing
- 00:30:05something that is working here that is
- 00:30:07what I keep track of not how do I get
- 00:30:10more readers because I don't want to do
- 00:30:14writing to get me more readers I want to
- 00:30:16do writing for my readers and if my
- 00:30:18readers want to share it with other
- 00:30:19people that's great but that's what I am
- 00:30:22focused on when I'm doing my online
- 00:30:25work and it leads to the fact that when
- 00:30:28I write a book enough people buy it that
- 00:30:30I could write another book it's like I
- 00:30:32don't have to hustle to go get that
- 00:30:34first group of people because the
- 00:30:37pattern has been established I'm not
- 00:30:39racing around saying how do I get the
- 00:30:41word out and one of the challenges
- 00:30:44you're going to have on Tik Tok is you
- 00:30:45can't possibly grow as much in the next
- 00:30:48two years as you grew in the last two
- 00:30:50years because otherwise you have every
- 00:30:51person on the planet watching you that's
- 00:30:53not going to happen so now it's okay how
- 00:30:56do we make the funnel not leaky how do
- 00:30:58we make it empathic and generous so
- 00:31:00people want to stick with it and go down
- 00:31:03this journey and if people don't get the
- 00:31:05joke good for you thanks for checking
- 00:31:07this out I'm not angry at you you didn't
- 00:31:09get the joke it's fine not for you and
- 00:31:12do you think for the next two years
- 00:31:13looking forward what got me here is the
- 00:31:17same things I should do or should so for
- 00:31:20example I have a Playbook I know exactly
- 00:31:22how to create viral content about around
- 00:31:24personal finance but I'm finding that if
- 00:31:27I just repeat that Playbook over and
- 00:31:28over and over I'm going to get very
- 00:31:30bored but it helps a lot of people so
- 00:31:32that's ultimately good thing but what
- 00:31:34should I be looking forward into for
- 00:31:36Content creation should I be creating
- 00:31:38content that I want to create should I
- 00:31:39be creating content that I know goes
- 00:31:41viral should I be creating content that
- 00:31:43I know will help the most people or all
- 00:31:46of the above well I don't know what you
- 00:31:47should do should is a tricky word so we
- 00:31:50we'll leave that aside Jay levenson who
- 00:31:53I worked with years ago uh said you
- 00:31:55shouldn't change your logo when you get
- 00:31:57bored with it you shouldn't change your
- 00:31:59logo when your spouse gets bored with it
- 00:32:01you should change it when your
- 00:32:02accountant gets bored with it and
- 00:32:06professionals like the uh professionals
- 00:32:09who do uh corneal implant surgeries over
- 00:32:11and over all day should not stop doing
- 00:32:14it because they are bored they are good
- 00:32:16at it and they are saving people's
- 00:32:19Vision you're a professional you should
- 00:32:21do this if it serves the mission even
- 00:32:25and especially if you're bored with it
- 00:32:28that doesn't mean you should spend your
- 00:32:29whole day doing things that you're bored
- 00:32:31with but this is the work of the
- 00:32:33professional is not to be a Wandering
- 00:32:35generality oh look a puppy but instead
- 00:32:38you're saying this is what the market
- 00:32:40needs in order for it to respond to join
- 00:32:43my funnel so that's what I'm going to do
- 00:32:46and that's okay but for your creative
- 00:32:50self for the one that wants to be on the
- 00:32:52frontier you're going to have to find a
- 00:32:53platform or an interaction that scares
- 00:32:57you and and that will let you up the way
- 00:32:59this lit you up two years
- 00:33:01ago but you can do both when I look at
- 00:33:05your career or in my space someone like
- 00:33:07Dave Ramsey's career that has spanned so
- 00:33:09many decades and continues to have the
- 00:33:12mission at the Forefront helping people
- 00:33:14when I think about myself I want to be
- 00:33:1730 years from now still someone people
- 00:33:19think about with helping them with their
- 00:33:21personal finances but a lot of content
- 00:33:24creators have very short career spans
- 00:33:28three to five years what do you think I
- 00:33:30need to do differently to ensure that 30
- 00:33:33years from now I am a Susie Orman or a
- 00:33:35Dave Ramsey still helping people with
- 00:33:38their finances that maybe other people
- 00:33:41who have short life short Creator
- 00:33:43lifespans aren't doing the shorter
- 00:33:45simpler answer is don't
- 00:33:47hustle that personal finance people who
- 00:33:50say buy nfts buy nfts you get rich
- 00:33:52tomorrow they're GNA be go away and you
- 00:33:55know the fact is someone's going to win
- 00:33:57the lottery it's probably not going to
- 00:33:58be you but if you're out there saying I
- 00:34:00won the lottery I must be smart you'll
- 00:34:02you'll get some traction that's not what
- 00:34:04you're interested in that's the short
- 00:34:05answer that's Broad in the sense it
- 00:34:08works for people who want to teach about
- 00:34:10health want to teach about Cosmetics
- 00:34:12want to teach about anything just don't
- 00:34:14do that thing where I got lucky
- 00:34:16therefore I'm smart that's not helpful
- 00:34:19the
- 00:34:19bigger uh analysis is
- 00:34:23this
- 00:34:24Dave showed up when Spectrum
- 00:34:28in radio was available to people like
- 00:34:31him and he overinvestment
- 00:34:57employees to support that from that
- 00:35:00piece of spectrum he was then able to
- 00:35:03build the Outreach programs he has in
- 00:35:05the other parts of his funnel you don't
- 00:35:08have that ability with Tik Tock because
- 00:35:10Tik Tok owns it you don't he owned his
- 00:35:13show and his show as long as it was on
- 00:35:15the station station owned he was fine
- 00:35:19and you know we can go all the way back
- 00:35:21to the Reverend Sheen who was on
- 00:35:23television when Ed Sullivan was on
- 00:35:26having a slice of spum in whatever form
- 00:35:29it is is something that lasts for a very
- 00:35:31long time
- 00:35:33so what I taught people in the book
- 00:35:35permission marketing is you can build
- 00:35:37your own version of spectrum it's your
- 00:35:40email list it's something that you
- 00:35:43control that no one can take away from
- 00:35:45you and if you can figure out how to use
- 00:35:48that next to the more ephemeral YouTube
- 00:35:52or Tik Tok thing you can then start
- 00:35:54building something that's longer so
- 00:35:56that's the end of that PR pareses and
- 00:35:58then I would say content
- 00:36:00wise we know that everything you need to
- 00:36:03know about personal finance you can
- 00:36:04write on five pages of paper so that's
- 00:36:07not what this is about this is about
- 00:36:10what do I tell my friends what do I tell
- 00:36:12my spouse how do I talk to myself when I
- 00:36:16feel like going off the path what is
- 00:36:19that cycle like so in Warren Buffett's
- 00:36:21case he's just an icon even bigger in
- 00:36:24China than here but Warren Buffett has
- 00:36:26basically said I'm living by example
- 00:36:28just do what I do and
- 00:36:32that's a hard way to live a life that
- 00:36:34much in public
- 00:36:36right but there are other ways you can
- 00:36:39do it basically what you're seeking to
- 00:36:41do is build a non-spiritual religion one
- 00:36:45that says these are the precepts these
- 00:36:47are the handshakes these are Where We
- 00:36:50Gather this is the way we do things
- 00:36:52around here culture is People Like Us do
- 00:36:55things like this and what you have done
- 00:36:57on Tik Tok is established for a whole
- 00:36:59generation of people people like Erica
- 00:37:02do things like this you're not Erica but
- 00:37:04you want to have a model like that will
- 00:37:07Erica make a mistake sure she's a person
- 00:37:10but this is the method and this is what
- 00:37:12it means to be part of it but the Step
- 00:37:15Beyond it is where are the uniforms
- 00:37:18where are the phrases where are the
- 00:37:19Gatherings what does it mean to stick
- 00:37:21with this who gets a prize for never
- 00:37:23having missed a week kind of thing those
- 00:37:26are all buildable I think when I look at
- 00:37:28someone like Dave Ramsey it's apparent
- 00:37:31why he has been very successful he has
- 00:37:33very hard and fast rules the baby steps
- 00:37:36that everyone needs to follow no matter
- 00:37:38what my style of personal finance is a
- 00:37:43little less concrete I truly believe
- 00:37:45that personal finance is personal if
- 00:37:47someone asks me a question like should I
- 00:37:49pay off debt or should I invest first my
- 00:37:51answer is well it depends it depends on
- 00:37:53tell me more about your circumstances
- 00:37:55but I find that in in marketing and in
- 00:37:59general the people who are successful at
- 00:38:02building big brands have very like hard
- 00:38:05and fast rules that you have to follow
- 00:38:07so do you think that if I want to go
- 00:38:09towards the path of being relevant still
- 00:38:11in 30 years and helping people in 30
- 00:38:13years I need to create more these are my
- 00:38:1610 steps to follow for to get to
- 00:38:19Financial Freedom so there's a little
- 00:38:21false evidence appearing real here um
- 00:38:24the singer Peter Gabriel the
- 00:38:26entrepreneur Jeff B and me all have no
- 00:38:29hair but there's no evidence that being
- 00:38:32bald LED any of us to succeeding having
- 00:38:35hard and fast rules isn't why Dave
- 00:38:38Ramsey succeeded and other people didn't
- 00:38:40there are plenty of people in personal
- 00:38:42finance who have hard and fast rules
- 00:38:44that you have never heard of hard and
- 00:38:46fast rules is
- 00:38:47insufficient Dave Ramsey has succeeded
- 00:38:50because for the audience he seeks to
- 00:38:52serve he is great on the radio and you
- 00:38:57you can listen to his show for weeks and
- 00:39:00not get bored that has nothing to do
- 00:39:03with hard and fast rules that has to do
- 00:39:05with the medium the distribution method
- 00:39:08yes there is a funnel and his funnel is
- 00:39:10beautifully shaped and he is very clear
- 00:39:13who it's for and who it's not for those
- 00:39:15things are way more important than hard
- 00:39:18and fast rules and so we need to think
- 00:39:21about the people we're serving what are
- 00:39:23they afraid of what do they seek what
- 00:39:26keeps them up at night what are they
- 00:39:27yearning for and what do they tell their
- 00:39:30friends and it's true the Atkins diet
- 00:39:33spread because the rules were really
- 00:39:35hard and fast but the main reason it
- 00:39:37spread is it made you lose weight
- 00:39:40quickly for like three weeks and you had
- 00:39:44to eat like a weird person at
- 00:39:45restaurants so you'd show up at a
- 00:39:48restaurant with your friend and they say
- 00:39:50you look great and you say thank you and
- 00:39:53then you'd order butter with bacon and
- 00:39:56they say what and You' talk about the
- 00:39:58Atkins diet and you could talk about it
- 00:40:00with four sentences and be done so yes
- 00:40:03the the strict rules helped but what
- 00:40:05mostly helped is the butter and the
- 00:40:06bacon and the
- 00:40:07conversation not that there were strict
- 00:40:10rules but if there weren't strict rules
- 00:40:12it would be hard you wouldn't have those
- 00:40:15conversations that would be harder if
- 00:40:17the answer is it depends it's harder
- 00:40:19right the fact is if you want to be a
- 00:40:21jazz musician I can't teach you when
- 00:40:24you're standing on one foot how to play
- 00:40:26like Miles Davis it's complicated right
- 00:40:29it
- 00:40:30depends but there's still Jazz and
- 00:40:33there's still jazz in a lot of places
- 00:40:35even though it's complicated so that
- 00:40:38doesn't kick you out of the game it just
- 00:40:40means the opportunity is not quick Erica
- 00:40:43come up with hard and fast rules it's
- 00:40:45figure out what it's like to be around
- 00:40:47Erica and figure out how to multiply
- 00:40:49that I think from all of the evidence
- 00:40:52that I have seen though and of course
- 00:40:54the three bald men doesn't equal success
- 00:40:57but from all of the evidence that I've
- 00:40:59seen in the personal finance space the
- 00:41:01people who truly make it and have a very
- 00:41:03long career do have essentially A
- 00:41:06playbook that can be followed they're
- 00:41:09okay they're okay saying that it's not
- 00:41:11for everyone fine let's figure out so
- 00:41:13like let's figure it out okay let's
- 00:41:14figure you have a sister yes all right
- 00:41:16you're writing a letter to your sister
- 00:41:18okay and you're saying sis I've been
- 00:41:21doing this for years and I've boiled it
- 00:41:24down over and over again it turns out
- 00:41:26there are five things
- 00:41:27that if people would just change their
- 00:41:29mind about these five things it would
- 00:41:32make a big difference what's the first
- 00:41:33thing save more than you spend okay
- 00:41:36what's the second
- 00:41:37thing invest part of your savings third
- 00:41:41thing don't get into bad debt fourth
- 00:41:49thing educate
- 00:41:51yourself fifth thing be smart about
- 00:41:53taxes okay I'll add a sixth one tell
- 00:41:56everybody body else because when you
- 00:41:58tell everybody else it keeps you honest
- 00:42:02great there are your
- 00:42:04rules
- 00:42:06perfect those are my six steps yeah and
- 00:42:10they were vague enough that I don't
- 00:42:11think there's anybody they don't apply
- 00:42:13to yeah right it's save more than you
- 00:42:16spend unless it's an emergency close
- 00:42:18parenthesis right you're not being that
- 00:42:21strict but the fact is the principles
- 00:42:24aren't that hard what's hard is sticking
- 00:42:27with it when your friends are all flying
- 00:42:30to Aruba for a bachelor weekend that's
- 00:42:33the hard part that's what you help with
- 00:42:35Switching gears how much of your time
- 00:42:37personally do you spend on the actual
- 00:42:38content creation and the thinking that
- 00:42:40goes behind it versus the marketing and
- 00:42:44the business operations and the revenue
- 00:42:47generating Parts okay so I don't usually
- 00:42:51talk about me as an example because it
- 00:42:55lets people off the hook because they oh
- 00:42:57well he did that so he doesn't but I
- 00:42:59will tell you that if I am awake I am
- 00:43:02thinking that's my hobby and I spend no
- 00:43:06time on the business part of it I have
- 00:43:10no employees at all and the The Arc
- 00:43:15every single time I've leaned into how
- 00:43:16can I hack this system and make it work
- 00:43:19better for some metrics I have not been
- 00:43:22glad I did that because doesn't
- 00:43:27fit the change I'm seeking to make nor
- 00:43:30does it make me sleep better or make me
- 00:43:32happy right the smallest viable audience
- 00:43:35like everyone's a hypocrite I'm a
- 00:43:36hypocrite too but I'm very clear about
- 00:43:39this serve the smallest group that you
- 00:43:42can live with and ignore everybody else
- 00:43:46because when you get jealous about the
- 00:43:48biggest group you could possibly serve
- 00:43:51that's infinity and you will never be
- 00:43:54done and instead
- 00:43:57you know I have this online community I
- 00:43:59have these uh courses I've run I have
- 00:44:02these opportunities to talk to people I
- 00:44:03don't do any Consulting I don't do any
- 00:44:06coaching because I could make a living
- 00:44:08doing that but I don't wouldn't find it
- 00:44:10generative for
- 00:44:12me and blog posts if you know you're
- 00:44:14there's going to be a blog post tomorrow
- 00:44:17you're going to have more than one
- 00:44:18having a daily blog is really useful
- 00:44:21because I don't have to say is this good
- 00:44:24enough to blog today I say today is
- 00:44:26Monday day there has to be a blog post
- 00:44:29so whatever the best one is is the one
- 00:44:31that goes out okay let me let me take a
- 00:44:33step back so throughout your career
- 00:44:35you've had many employees to now just
- 00:44:40yourself what decisions LED you to
- 00:44:44decide that being just yourself was the
- 00:44:47optimal life you wanted to create hardly
- 00:44:50optimal but anyway um there are
- 00:44:53Freelancers and there are entrepreneurs
- 00:44:56this is lost on most people a lot of
- 00:44:58Freelancers call themselves
- 00:45:00entrepreneurs because it sounds sexier
- 00:45:01it's French but in fact they're very
- 00:45:05different Freelancers you and me we get
- 00:45:09paid when we work we have to show up in
- 00:45:12person entrepreneurs built something
- 00:45:14bigger than themselves usually using
- 00:45:16someone else's money so Tim Cook has
- 00:45:18never written a line of programming in
- 00:45:20his life but he runs apple right that
- 00:45:24when you're are an entrepreneur your job
- 00:45:26is to hire people to do all the jobs
- 00:45:29that's your job if you are doing the
- 00:45:31work that people are paying for you've
- 00:45:33made a mistake because you've hired the
- 00:45:35cheapest best available person you to do
- 00:45:38the work instead of scaling so yeah I've
- 00:45:41built companies and when I have done
- 00:45:45it I almost burned myself out the first
- 00:45:48time because I had 50 people reporting
- 00:45:50directly to me and I was basically a
- 00:45:54freelancer on performance drugs that was
- 00:45:57a bad idea and I've also been an
- 00:45:59entrepreneur where I have created the
- 00:46:03conditions for other people to do work
- 00:46:05that I couldn't do or I wasn't able to
- 00:46:07do great so if you're a freelancer it's
- 00:46:10totally fine to hire people on upwork to
- 00:46:12have an editor somewhere else where
- 00:46:14you're giving them tasks but if you
- 00:46:16start thinking the best way for me to
- 00:46:18grow is to hire more people you're
- 00:46:20trapped the best way for a freelancer to
- 00:46:22grow is to get better clients because
- 00:46:26you can't can't work more hours but
- 00:46:28better clients they demand more they pay
- 00:46:31more they talk about you more so if a
- 00:46:33freelancer is listening to this that's
- 00:46:35what I would say to you is I'm a
- 00:46:37freelancer and proud of it what I found
- 00:46:39in this day when I can Outsource most
- 00:46:41other things is employees were involved
- 00:46:46a promise that was harder and harder for
- 00:46:48me to make as I get older which is that
- 00:46:50I'll take care of it and that we'll make
- 00:46:52this thing happen and as a freelancer I
- 00:46:55can say I have this many hours to day
- 00:46:57where can I put them in a way that will
- 00:46:59fuel me and the people I serve and if I
- 00:47:03have work that needs to be done I got to
- 00:47:04someone editing an audio in Pakistan
- 00:47:08right now I will never meet him he's not
- 00:47:10an employee there's a task to be done so
- 00:47:13that's the distinction I think and that
- 00:47:15all comes down to get better clients get
- 00:47:19better clients with all of the different
- 00:47:22courses and programs and speaking events
- 00:47:24who do you consider your clients I gave
- 00:47:27a thousand speeches around the world for
- 00:47:2830 years the client is who is hiring me
- 00:47:33to come give a speech there are the
- 00:47:35local Kanas Club good for them says will
- 00:47:38you come for lunch you can Hawk new
- 00:47:41business when you're there we don't pay
- 00:47:42anything and I'll get there and there'll
- 00:47:44be like a little Podium and 40 people
- 00:47:46eating chips they're not a good client
- 00:47:48for me given the work I seek to do right
- 00:47:52whereas there were I don't know 27,000
- 00:47:56people people in the auditorium that Zig
- 00:47:58Ziggler and I worked in Wisconsin that
- 00:48:00was a good day because they were
- 00:48:03professionals I was a professional I had
- 00:48:05a chance to do my craft how do you work
- 00:48:07your way up that speaker ladder that's
- 00:48:10part of how you get better clients I
- 00:48:12used to have a record label one of the
- 00:48:14groups on the label lived in a van they
- 00:48:16were very talented married couple and
- 00:48:19they would drive to a new town and when
- 00:48:21they get to a new town there's always a
- 00:48:23coffee shop coffee house that will take
- 00:48:26unknown to Talent pay you 15 bucks and
- 00:48:29you can play and they would leave and go
- 00:48:30to a new town I like guys get out of the
- 00:48:33van stay in one town go from the $15 a
- 00:48:36night to the $50 a night to the $200
- 00:48:39that's how you work your way up not
- 00:48:40racing around taking the little ones
- 00:48:43right so I've had lots of different
- 00:48:46clients that's interesting to me
- 00:48:49ultimately people who pay me with their
- 00:48:51attention are my readers I'm not seeking
- 00:48:54to get $15 from them or $100 them I'm
- 00:48:57seeking to make a difference for them
- 00:48:59because if I can make a difference for
- 00:49:01my audience the money will take care of
- 00:49:03itself do you have to I know you've
- 00:49:06talked about this before but how do you
- 00:49:09or do you have to suppress the thoughts
- 00:49:12of what if like what if I had a team of
- 00:49:1620 people could I have more impact and
- 00:49:18reach and money like do you suppress
- 00:49:21those thoughts do those thoughts not
- 00:49:22exist for you the wh
- 00:49:25ifs around SC scaling oh Erica there's
- 00:49:28so many wh ifs if you get started on the
- 00:49:29wh ifs when are we going to stop right
- 00:49:32what we're dealing with now is a world
- 00:49:34where each one of us has so many more
- 00:49:35options than we used to and if you want
- 00:49:38to be paralyzed my friend Steve
- 00:49:40pressfield calls it resistance all you
- 00:49:42need to do is look at how many things
- 00:49:44you could be doing today each one comes
- 00:49:46with an opportunity cost because if I do
- 00:49:48that I can't do this if I do this I
- 00:49:50can't do that if I do this I can't do
- 00:49:51that and you're just in this endless
- 00:49:53cycle and my model is this there's a dip
- 00:49:57in any project that's worth doing and
- 00:49:59the dip happens when it gets really hard
- 00:50:02when you've made 40 Tik toks and not one
- 00:50:04of them is caught on and you feel like
- 00:50:07quitting the time to quit is not then
- 00:50:10either quit before you start totally
- 00:50:12allowed or quit after you've made it to
- 00:50:15the other side but to quit in the dip
- 00:50:18gets you in this endless cycle of being
- 00:50:19a Wandering generality so my analysis is
- 00:50:24yes I could go do that and am I willing
- 00:50:27to go through the dip and give up all
- 00:50:29the other things that were require to
- 00:50:30get to the other side of that right
- 00:50:33could I get elected to the local school
- 00:50:35board probably would I then want to get
- 00:50:38elected to this and get elected to this
- 00:50:40and become the governor God forbid no
- 00:50:42but there's a dip there and we can see
- 00:50:44what it is before we start and could I
- 00:50:48start using Twitter yeah and it would be
- 00:50:51fun for a little while but do I want to
- 00:50:52stick it out to get to the other side so
- 00:50:56I guess what I would finish this with is
- 00:50:59uh Steve's book The War of art strong
- 00:51:01recommend also Ben and Roz's book The
- 00:51:04Art of possibility which has a similar
- 00:51:05title both books will change your life
- 00:51:08then I'll have another do you think
- 00:51:10question so do you think that you would
- 00:51:13have been able to come to this
- 00:51:14conclusion you have now about the
- 00:51:17optimal lifestyle workstyle that you
- 00:51:19have without having tried everything
- 00:51:21because you have tried everything in
- 00:51:23terms of the big teams the being the
- 00:51:25entrepreneur versus the
- 00:51:27freelancer well part of my work is to
- 00:51:29tell people things I learned so they
- 00:51:30don't have to do it themselves but the
- 00:51:33journey is priceless to be 25 or 28 or
- 00:51:3835 and fail and fail and learn from the
- 00:51:40failing not to take it personally but to
- 00:51:43say there's a whole bunch of keys on
- 00:51:45this key ring there's a lock this key
- 00:51:47did not open that lock that doesn't mean
- 00:51:49I'm a bad person it just means this key
- 00:51:51did not open that lock and that when I
- 00:51:54can find a truth from
- 00:51:57some of that that I can share with
- 00:51:58people that's part of my work the impact
- 00:52:01that you've had on the marketing space
- 00:52:02over these
- 00:52:04decades is
- 00:52:06not in my humble opinion in proportion
- 00:52:10to the money you've made from it for the
- 00:52:13impact the impact that you've given
- 00:52:14people you should have billions of
- 00:52:16dollars I don't believe you you have
- 00:52:19billions of dollars in the bank how do
- 00:52:21you how do you think about that or
- 00:52:24reconcile that is that an okay position
- 00:52:27that you're in or do you feel like you
- 00:52:28weren't compensated accordingly for the
- 00:52:30value that you've brought to the
- 00:52:31marketing world or I is a great position
- 00:52:34to be in what's the point of competing
- 00:52:37against other people to see who could
- 00:52:38make the most ridiculous amount of money
- 00:52:40if you're going to do that you have to
- 00:52:41focus on doing that and I haven't
- 00:52:44focused on doing that I am so lucky to
- 00:52:48live the life I live it's an art project
- 00:52:50followed by an educational project
- 00:52:52followed by an experiment followed by
- 00:52:54what do you think about this and I don't
- 00:52:57have a board of directors and I set up a
- 00:53:00very low overhead life there's no
- 00:53:02private jet there are no Butlers what
- 00:53:04would that wouldn't make me happier I
- 00:53:06know people who have an enormous amount
- 00:53:08of money they are not happy that is not
- 00:53:11the point it is a symptom it is not the
- 00:53:14cause and so if you're going to keep
- 00:53:17track of more money than you need you
- 00:53:21better have a good reason to do so and I
- 00:53:24haven't wrestled at all with like
- 00:53:27email marketing is a whatever it is $50
- 00:53:29billion year industry I owe none of it
- 00:53:31fine great that's terrific it would be
- 00:53:33better than if it was a zero billion
- 00:53:35dollar industry and I was wrong great
- 00:53:37I'm fantastic and so that philosophy
- 00:53:42works even if you're not in this line of
- 00:53:46work I think what we've done is we've
- 00:53:50increased the amount of resources
- 00:53:52everyone on this planet has that anyone
- 00:53:55listening to this has more resources
- 00:53:56ources than the last king of France did
- 00:53:58but we have an increased happiness so
- 00:54:01instead of focusing on trading our
- 00:54:03happiness for stuff it makes more sense
- 00:54:06to say what do I want to do in the first
- 00:54:08place for my audience what would be
- 00:54:10their homework what book would you want
- 00:54:11them to start with or what blog post I
- 00:54:15think the best thing you can do is find
- 00:54:18three other people you are willing to
- 00:54:20talk to to about this that if you check
- 00:54:23in with three friends once a week about
- 00:54:27what Erica is teaching you if you check
- 00:54:29in with three friends once a week about
- 00:54:30what you read on my blog I don't care
- 00:54:33I'm not keeping track but I am keeping
- 00:54:35track of the change you are making and
- 00:54:37it's very hard to do it by yourself find
- 00:54:40a few other people and do it together we
- 00:54:42have a closing tradition so the podcast
- 00:54:44is called Erica taught me but today is
- 00:54:46all about Seth taught me so what do you
- 00:54:48want people to walk away saying Seth
- 00:54:50taught me this Seth taught me that I'm
- 00:54:52enough if I just decide not to work for
- 00:54:56a system that doesn't have my best
- 00:54:58interests at heart and instead lean into
- 00:55:01the possibility I can create for other
- 00:55:03people thank you so much that was
- 00:55:05beautifully said thanks Erica if you've
- 00:55:08enjoyed the episode please take a moment
- 00:55:09to leave a review it really helps
- 00:55:12support what we're doing thanks for
- 00:55:13listening and I'll talk to you next
- 00:55:15Tuesday on a brand new episode of Erica
- 00:55:17taught me
- Marketing
- Seth Godin
- Audience Engagement
- AI
- Content Creation
- Empathy
- Authenticity
- Personal Finance
- Value Creation
- Community Building