Fri, 31 May 2019
What if Ryan could show you 3 ways of never buying a house but reaping all of the benefits of real estate investment? Find out how! Key Takeaways [:24] At 9 years old, Ryan used to read a kind of consumer report publication for children called Zillions — he was not the popular kid in school — that’s where he got his love of entrepreneurship, real estate and investing in general. [3:10] Initially, entrepreneurship was Ryan’s way of making enough money to become a real estate investor so he started buying single family real estate as soon as he was able to afford to. After doing it, he can openly say that it’s a mistake to do that if you are an entrepreneur. He explains why and moves on to what to do instead:
Go all in on your primary business and take your cash to put into passive income.
[8:00] The source of any income is never passive in and of itself, but it can be passive for you. Here are the three areas Ryan invests his own money: 1. Real Estate Investment Trust 2. Hard money lending 3. Real Estate Syndications and Funds As long as you’re confident in the underlying business and people running that business. Braingasm [15:20] Buy stressed assets, take investor money, fix ‘em up, get the value high and take bank loans to pay back investors quickly! The Fastest route to freedom? Make your money in one specific business and invest the profits in an area you’re confident in. You liked this content? Comment, subscribe and share! Tweetables “Money while you sleep is nice, but it doesn’t really exist: there has to be a business behind the investment!” — Ryan Daniel Moran “Income can be passive for you but the source of it is never passive.” — Ryan Daniel Moran “I would never invest in a business where I didn’t trust the people.” — Ryan Daniel Moran |
Wed, 29 May 2019
Are you too late? Did you miss the boat on Internet opportunities? Ryan signs in from Austin Texas to answer this important question.
This podcast will share what opportunities he is currently chasing, as well as others he has watching in the marketplace.
Key Takeaways [3:02] Isn’t it risky to invent a new product and do something cool? No more so than releasing a product that anyone can copy.
Ryan built his most successful businesses around a cool idea for a group of people and then used Amazon as the delivery mechanism.
On the other hand his businesses that struggled were the ones trying to find the hole in the market and then release for that.
[5:20] He shares a super exciting new project he’s become an advisor for, he thinks he can get the company to 100k a month in the next 90 days.
There is no data to back this statement up: there is no demand for the product on Amazon, it’s never existed before, it’s twice the price of similar products on the market. How is he so confident?
[8:06] Lots of entrepreneurs will have the product in hand and ask what influencer they should bring on. Ryan does things differently:
Partner with influencers; find out what their community needs and make it, then use the sales channels (Amazon, Shopify, etc.)
[9:25] Become good at creating a product that a group of people want. There are lots of different ways to do this but the obvious one is that you need to bring unique value to the marketplace.
Think outside of what other people are doing.
[16:08] One of the mistakes Ryan made was releasing the same product in the same way as others, which can bring a successful company to plateau.
Ryan has helped people learn and watched them scale and sell for 10’s of millions of dollars. And that was another mistake: he wasn’t partnering with them at the start!
[19:30] Ryan talks about the new backroom where he has now started to do mentoring and advising work with entrepreneurs and businesses that are looking for a more intimate, hands on experience with possible partnerships.
It’s open to about 20 people for the next year but it doesn’t come cheap, the financing structure is interesting though in that you pay the bulk of the fee off your profits.
If this kind of thing is out of budget for you or if you’re just starting out you still have 2 options: 1. A less involved online option will become available in the coming year 2. 3 day workshops are also held for 4 to 15 people at Ryan’s house every quarter |
Tue, 28 May 2019
Dreaming of the big payday? Coran woodmass shares his secrets on the brands getting bought and sold today. How does he know? His registered buyers have over 830 million available for buying product brands: Coran is the Founder and Managing Partner at FBA Broker, the first company to focus exclusively on physical products that have an Amazon sales channel. Want to know what’s killing it in the ecommerce space and what criteria business buyers look at before acquiring?
Key Takeaways [3:43] For the last 2 years, FBA Broker has been producing a monthly business price guide that tracks and reports on all the public business sales in the industry.
The last 12 months were dismal, the market is flooded with low quality small businesses leading to record low sell through rates.
Comparatively, record levels of capital is being raised to acquire physical products brands.
[7:50] In the 2 to 5 million range, the sell through range is 39% whereas in the 100k range, we’re looking at 13%.
So what is working? Brands. Here are the 5 elements for a brand to always sell, regardless of market condition: 1. Brand synergy — repeat sales to one demographic 2. Product uniqueness and diversification — don’t rely on one hero product 3. Revenue diversification — keep the 30% rule in mind 4. Size — most buyers are not interested below 1 million revenue 5. Growth — Year over year trend Coran also shares a very important buyer criteria: margins, they are all looking for healthy margins. 30% is the average tracked. [14:54] What if you don’t have the 5 key elements? Build or acquire them! Coran explains how to do just that. 1. Think like a bigger business Look offline: US based businesses valued under 50 mil present the greatest legal investment opportunity available. The next 15 years will be the largest intergenerational transfer of private biz in the history of the world worth an estimated 10 trillion. 2. Think strategically Vertical, Horizontal, operations, shared services, logistic, supply chain: what you want is multiple arbitrage: buy low, combine, sell for a much higher multiple. 3. Get money (Where the f*ck do I get the money?) There is zero shortage of capital in this world. The shortage is in entrepreneur-led operational teams that know how to deal with product brands. If you can find the good deal, you will get the capital, if you have an operations team and you find the deal you can get all the capital you want. [22:24] Coran’s parting thoughts: pay attention to your mindset, read as much as you can, participate in events, hang out with people that are not holding you back from your crazy dreams: be with like minded people, pay for all access, VIP, join the backroom! Have questions? sales@thefbabroker.com Thanks for listening! Visit capitalism.com/events for upcoming events and additional content. If you have feedback, guest ideas or topics to explore for this podcast, email max Kerwick at max@brandbuildingstrategies.com Because it really does make a difference: don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review on iTunes. Mentioned in this episode |
Mon, 27 May 2019
This episode is all about unwavering faith that you can accomplish your singular mission.
Hal Elrod survived 2 very serious brushes with death — with a joyful, happy attitude — which gave him singular insight on overcoming and achieving your goals, and to top it off he has bootstrapped a multimillion dollar business.
If his advice on the subject isn’t solid, there is no advice to be had!
Key takeaways [2:14] Ryan asks what unfulfilled dreams Hal Elrod has turning 40: Lakehouse dreams!
[4:36] Hal Elrod’s talks about his background from direct sales to keynote speaker, writer and coach and publisher.
But being self-published is a tough hustle: Miracle Morning was published on 12-12-12 — he needed an unforgettable date because of his significant brain damage from a car collision at the time — during the year and a half that followed he did hustle, we’re talking: 150 podcast interviews, 40 + speeches, 12 local and national television interviews. It took 6 years to get to the million books goal.
[12:48] Ryan asks Hal to talk about the radical new publishing business model he implemented
[15:00] Hal explains his quantum year, the one where he accomplished everything:
Mission: Double best years’ sales Side goals: Publish first book Launch speaking career Launch coaching business Put on 20 pounds of muscle Meet wife Rock climb 3 days a week Lead a team to achieve at their highest level
[23;34] what is the process you can predetermine and commit to which if you commit to over time will move you goal from possible to probable to inevitable? 1. Predetermine the process 2. Don’t be attached to the day to day results. [25:11] Having the singular goal forces you to structure and schedule your life in a way that permits success in more than one area. And by way of following your goal, the one thing that if of most consequence, you are countering human nature and it’s usual path of least resistance. [26:46] Ryan had his own ridiculously productive year but shares how the process has seemingly exhausted him. How is Hal just such a happy dude, he never seems tired despite almost dying twice and accomplishing all those goals how o you go all in on a goal without it being a total grind? Have enough goals that you love, that energise you, to balance out the ones that are less joy-a-riffic. Don’t let your goals compete: if all the thinking and energy and planning goes into the one main mission, the rest of the goals find their place. [31:17] Hal touches on the importance of a foundation schedule — especially for entrepreneurs — including fun time, and free time. Structuring your schedule gives you more freedom and it prevents you from getting lost chasing the shiny things. [34:13] Hal has talked about his car accident story very publicly but has been more reserved about his battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He shares the gut wrenching details of how he found out he would have to fight the odds with a 10% chance of survival (downgraded from 30%). The day he was diagnosed he had to have unwavering faith that he would be in that 10% and make it his singular mission to live. 1. I will beat this 2. This will be the best thing that ever happened to me [40:47] Do medical doctors factor in commitment in the way of recovery? Hal shares how his doctor convinced him to do chemo despite the fact that he was initially against it and was aiming for a more holistic approach. [46:18] Our greatest growth comes of our greatest adversity, Hal chooses to live as if every adversity is his growth and treats it in a positive way. Forget hindsight 20/20! [47:44] Ryan’s final question: does Hal still have a singular mission, or does he ease off sometimes? He does, it’s actually 2 grand missions and he shares how his foundational schedule ensures these missions long term. [52:02] Ryan thanks Hal and invites listeners to subscribe to the podcast and send him their comments on Instagram @RyanDanielMoran. Mentioned in this episode
|
Fri, 24 May 2019
For some reason, entrepreneurs seem to forget that mentorship is also a relationship like any other: you have to add value to it, or else you’re just another askhole.
Tune in for a 3 step on how where you need to be and what you need to do to find and keep a good mentor.
Key Takeaways [:24] “Hey Ryan! will you mentor me?” No. [1:42] The one-on-one mentor/mentee relationship is very important — and just like any relationship — you have to make deposits in order to withdraw.
Here is what you need to do to find a mentor:
Right place [2:28] put yourself in a position to identify and meet the type of person you want to enter into a mentoring relationship with. Join communities, pay for masterminds, events and conferences!
Right person [3:50] identify the person who has built or done what you want to do, regardless of the area, marriage, business, fitness.
Right price [4:55] find the give! Find out what they want, what they don’t have and give it to them.
[5:54] Human beings have a limited capacity for people who they can pay attention to. If you want a mentor to pay attention to you, you have to offer them value, and offer it to them strategically.
Comment, subscribe and share! |
Thu, 23 May 2019
This episode is about what it looks like to put together million dollar offers and about why it would go much faster if you were dialed in: even idiots get rich.
(Or to paraphrase Michael Scott from The Office: K.I.S.S.: Keep it simple, stupid)
Tune in for some great insight and straightforward tricks from Travis Sago of Bum Marketing.
Key Takeaways [3:26] Ryan introduces one of the people that has had the most impact on his life, his mentor Travis Sago.
[4:11] Simplicity and specificity of offers is one of the lessons that Travis had been waiting for Ryan to understand.
Offers x Execution = Business Success.
If you have a great product for the market (Offer) and build it, market it, and distribute it well (Execution), then you’ve “won” at business. That’s all there is to it.
It’s possible to do well with an awesome product and okay execution, or with a mediocre product and great execution, but you’ll find greater success doing well at both.
[6:15] Ryan shares his struggles with ideas he thinks are great but end up failing and asks Travis what can be done to remedy the situation:
1. Identify the offer [6:37] Anyone can sit in a corner and imagine something. But, if you don’t look at what people’s actual purchasing interests are, you’ll have no idea whether or not it’ll make a wave in the market.
Let’s say you’re relaxing at a farmers’ market. If you just observe what shoppers are looking to buy and where and how they are dissatisfied with what’s on offer, then you’ve found an opportunity to meet an unmet demand.
2. Test the offer in the marketplace [10:25] So you have this idea and it seems solid and people seem interested, how do you gauge the markets?
The answer is pretty straight forward: ask people! Gather data, run pilots and market tests and from those results, either jump in, shift your focus or can the idea.
Ryan’s recent braingasm [13:38] There is no need to learn this the hard way: always have market intelligence before spending time or money developing or investing in something.
[18:41] Travis shares the acronym he uses to classify ideas into areas of business people get fed up with: TIMER Time. Identity. Money. Energy. Reputation. An idea that doesn’t fit into any area should be floated, there is no harm in discovering a new category and broadening your offer! Just be careful of polishing turds.
[23:54 — 27:22] The Backroom.
[24:54] How do you know if your offer is clear? People are simple really, the best conversion tool on the planet is your index finger: make it so that you can point to your customer’s need as well as your offer to fill that need. Travis gives examples of how that might look in different industries.
3. Sales [28:00] So the offer has been identified and tested in the marketplace, what is the sales mechanism? It’s a very, very simple G3 order form (Gimme, Gimme, Gimme) or a payment link. Don’t overcomplicate this part.
[29:00] When you really start to dial-in on your offer, you will multiply value.
You can tweak and optimize your page 5% a month and see where that gets you overtime, but wouldn’t you be better off making a change in the direction of your offer to be something that really resonates with the market? That could multiply your revenue!
[39:10] Scaling what works: throw your spaghetti against the wall and then throw more of what sticks.
[41:08] Ryan thanks Travis for everything and gives him the floor to talk about where people can find and follow him.
Mentioned in this episode |
Wed, 22 May 2019
Today’s episode is a one on one that occurred during CapCon between Ryan Moran and Matthew, an attendee with whom Ryan has been exchanging online with about business, life and religion.
Tune in for an honest chat about the necessity for honesty in everything and deciding how you want to show up for your vision.
Key Takeaways [:20] C-Money introduces today’s episode, a backstage conversation at CapCon between Ryan and Matthew.
[1:05] Matthew opens up about the year of transitions he’s facing personally and professionally as well his plans for a new product and brand. [2:34] Ryan’s 6 month course helped Matthew and his business partner ideate a brand for which they are currently doing Facebook ad testing — the platform offers a cool feature in that they provide you with the names and addresses of your customers so you can build lookalike audiences. [4:39] Ryan’s advice on building an audience or a tribe. You can realistically and successfully be one of 2 things:
Be a BRAND, be absolutely brutally honest with yourself, and with the people who follow you — Ryan talks about his super fans.
Be an AUTHORITY, be the lighthouse, be the mentor — Ryan shares how this is less suited for him, and how his own mentors shine.
[8:59] Matthew opens up on his insecurities about putting himself and his content out there. [9:54] Before having a crystal clear vision you need a crystal clear understanding of yourself: who and how do you want to be when it all happens? [11:57] If you know what you want your tribe to look like, start communicating with those people. [12:47] Matthew asks if there is anything Ryan would have done differently with his online presence and brand?
Mentioned in this episode |
Tue, 21 May 2019
Joel Marion is the founder of Biotrust Supplements but he caught Ryan’s eye when his own personal brand blew up overnight. How do you develop the right mindset around advertising, marketing and brand building in 2019.
Tune in for some actionable strategies on how to scale your business and your message 10x bigger and 10x faster. The proof is in the results: from 0 to 100 million in one calendar year. More than once
Key Takeaways [3:57] Joel introduces himself and explains that the strategies he’s about to share are all things he has spent the last decade successfully implementing into his business ventures.
[10:48] When it comes to income vs impact opinions differ, Joel sets everyone straight: Go for impact and income will follow? Nope. You may have a fantastic products but it will go unsold if insufficient energy is focused on generating sales. Go for Income and impact will follow? Nope. If you only push the sale and don’t have a great product, you will have short lived income.
In truth, both are equally important: you can’t have scalable impact without scalable income.
[14:12] Everyone needs traffic to convert customers but traffic is an auction: pay more, get more. So the lion’s share of traffic goes to the one who can pay the most for it, without fail.
Organic growth is very nice, but it’s not repeatable or sustainable. The only 2 sources of scalable traffic are the ones you pay for: 1. Warm traffic (pay for someone’s audience) 2. Cold media (CPA, CPM, CPC) [21:05] “Okay Joel, how can I afford to may more than everyone else, Joel? I’m not rich, Joel!” To scale a business you have to dial in these 2 aspects of your business:] 1. Front end — Increase traffic to acquire more customers. 2. Back end — Build a sales funnel and monetize your customers. To scale a business fast the trick is to get confident enough to go negative upfront to increase traffic, and maximize your sales funnel. How do you get confident enough to front all this advertising money and fast-track your front end? KNOW. YOUR. NUMBERS. [24:13] This is actually the name of the game. Do you know your cost to acquire a customer, down to the dollar? Do you know your cost to acquire a customer for every traffic source? You need to figure out what is the value of that customer at 2 weeks, 60 days, 90 days, 180 days. This is the information you use to determine how long you will be in the hole before you break even. If you know exactly when and how much a customer will pay you, you can know how much to pay to acquire that customer and how long you can front the money for it. How do you maximize your sales funnel and fast track your back end? UPSELL [27:07] You should upsell immediately, on the order confirmation page, on the order confirmation email. The shipping confirmation email has a 95% open rate, you never see that elsewhere, use it. [40:46] The real scaling of a business comes from dialing in the back end, knowing your numbers and being able to comfortably lose money upfront. Learning all of this is complex and complexity can be scary, but the more you put yourself in complex situations, the less fear you will feel. [51:34] Joel recaps the 4 steps to scale any business fast: 1. Maximize front end offers through testing, optimization and refining your marketing skills — never outsource marketing. 2. Dial in your back end and know your numbers, know your numbers, know your numbers. 3. Do the work and get comfortable with back end reporting. 4. Be willing to go negative upfront to outbid your competition — don’t go beyond 180 days. Thanks for listening! Mentioned in this episode Capitalism.com Other Joel Podcast Dan Fleishman — social media presence build |
Mon, 20 May 2019
This episode is a private conversation with AJ Vaynerchuk, who comes in with the tactical, practical side of business and who Ryan believes has been underrated in the success of Vaynermedia. Tune in to hear some of AJ’s insight on Ryan’s overarching strategy as well as how they agree on what the future holds for products and brands.
Key takeaways [4:55] AJ was asked to speak at the 2019 CapCon because Ryan has always perceived him as the integrator of Gary’s vision.
Ryan shares his current feeling that he is on the cusp of something bigger and that AJ is the person to ask about how to know when the time is right, and the opportunity is right.
[7:35] There are often several different way to sink your teeth into something, but what do you do when you are unsure of which path to chose? How did AJ know he was sitting on something special? It’s a complex answer:
1. Opportunity. A major part of where Vaynermedia is today takes root in Gary’s and AJ’s 2006-7 belief that social media was the new frontier in communication: they were believers and essentially bet on a sector.
2. Timing. By 2011 they had a head start and it was going to be f***ing hard to catch them. They were talented enough, smart enough and early enough.
3. Expertise. Gary and AJ are both really good at customer service, at every level. Service-based businesses are a natural fit for them.
Find your fit: Having a clear grasp of who you are and understanding your own personality will help you find an industry in which you thrive and are successful.
[10:22] Ryan’s bet is as follows: he posits that influencers will start launching their own brands and it’s inevitable that the likes of Honest Co. — with the pairing of Brian Lee and Jessica Alba — is where things are headed.
Influencers don’t want to learn business, they want to do what they do, so the play is to help them monetize their following as leverage for access to the person with 2 million followers.
[11:57] AJ synthesises that Ryan intends to become the infrastructure and operational partner for an influencer to launch a brand from and agrees that there is in fact a business there, a scalable business to boot: once you do it once or twice, trust is built and the next influencer will fall in.
[14:46] Ryan share the Aha! moment he had with Gary: “Vaynermedia is the play”, it stands on its own and allows Gary to build his own brand and give freely.
It stands to reason that to follow a similar path, 2 choices are available to Ryan: 1. Capitalism.com becomes its own business and infrastructure and liberates Ryan to build his own brand 2. Another business is launched and stands on its own to liberate Capitalism.com as Ryan’s personal brand channel [17:41] AJ shares how Vaynermedia went through that transition from being Gary’s social media agency to becoming its own independent company, not to the public eye or Gary’s following but in the industry — If you’re the CMO of a multi-billion dollar brand you know that Gary is not spending 20 hours a week on your brand. Note: It used to be that Gary would work on every account for the first few YEARS! [20:01] AJ suggests that Capitalism.com should be spun out: create a new business with a new name and independent branding and leverage Capitalism.com as a funnel to get customers. He disagrees with Ryan that the value proposition for something like that would be that it’s part of the Capitalism.com network — a good disagreement is always food for thought and growth! [25:19] Find the give. [25:47] Ryan shares his takeaway from this discussion with AJ and Gary and how they run their business is how they empower people and they stay in the owner’s seat. AJ agrees with the direction anthanks listeners and invites them to subscribe to the podcast and send him their comments on Instagram @RyanDanielMoran. Mentioned in this episode
Book: Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination by Gino Wickman and Mark Win |
Fri, 17 May 2019
Today’s episode is about daily routines, how they generate momentum and help drive you forward even when you aren’t at your best.
Weather you have an established practice or are just starting out, tune in for some practical advice on how to structure your mornings and your days for a better chance at achieving your goals.
Key Takeaways [:27] Morning routines: they’ve become really popular and complicated, but don’t get overwhelmed by other people’s routines or try to reverse engineer their lives.
Take control of your own life, and be happier, wealthier and wiser, if you do nothing else, Ryan explains why you should stop this one thing and start this one other.
1. STOP THE PHONE [3:00] Be intentional about the use of your time from the moment you wake up. Don’t put yourself in a position where you are reacting to what the world throws at you, there will never be time to build what you want and do what you want if you are constantly reacting to what other people say and do.
2. START JOURNALING [7:04] Journal about your goals. The practice suggested in the book The One Thing is a good starting point:
Take your life goal, put it on a timeline and break it down to what you need to do in 10 years, in 5, in 3, this year, in 3 months, in 2 weeks, and finally, today: what is the One Thing you should do today in service to that goal.
It will set the intent for your day and put you in a position of intention and control over your time, your goals and ultimately your life.
[9:52] If you only stop the phone and start journaling, you will have a leg up on everyone. But if you want to take it a step further, create a system that will accelerate your results: TRIBE 5
Time — how you spend it and who you spend it is your happiness. Relationships — every dollar you make will come from someone else. Income — sustaining your happiness. Body — ROI is really low when you’re dead. Expansion — challenge your mind.
On a quarterly basis, set targets for each area of focus and determine the habits that are required to foster those goals. If you’re just starting out, try these goals on for size:
T target: don’t check your phone, decide on your intent for today. R target: connect with 2 non work related people per day. I target: accomplish your One Thing. B target: get a workout in before going online. E target: listen to a podcast, read, etc.
And finally, here is what a daily routine looks like with TRIBE 5: Wake up 1. Set your intent (don’t look at your phone!) 2. Work out 3. Do your One Thing 4. Connect with 2 people 5. Read
At the end of the day, grade yourself on 5 without judgment. [22:50] If you are starting over or going through a really hard time, just do one of those things, never miss it and it will create momentum in your life and momentum creates success. Thank you for watching and let lkndflckjsndlfcjbasldvkjbadvjna Mentioned in this episode Craig Ballantyne Tim Ferris Aubrey Marcus The One thing |
Thu, 16 May 2019
Today’s episode is an excerpt from the Freedom Fast Lane Live 2015 (now known as the Capitalism Conference) with Jeff Hoffman.
Tune in for the Q&A section of this very popular talk with the well known billionaire.
Key Takeaways
Q. Thoughts on funding.
[2:26] For some reason, everytime Jeff asks entrepreneurs what their sources of funding are, no one says ‘customers’. He blames Silicon Valley for all the loans, bank debt, private equity, venture capital and this idea that you need to get the funding NOW.
List everything you need to do for your business to reach your definition of success, and circle all of the things you can do without anyone else’s money. Then do them.
If you need money, ask yourself if you can you sell something. Creative ways to finance your company through customers should always be your first attempt.
Borrowing money from somebody else should only come after you’ve done everything you can think of.
Q. Thoughts on money.
[4:43] Jeff would literally divide his money into 2 piles, one for him for the value that he created, and the other one to reinvest in his business.
To best manage your business’ money, you need to think of what normal controls you would you implement for someone else’s money: is the money being spent on things that will sell more for the business?
Entrepreneurs is like jumping off a cliff and building an airplane on the way down. If you don’t have that mindset of always focusing on the plane, you’re in the wrong field.
Q. Thoughts on failure.
One of the harder things with entrepreneurs is that failing is tangled into pride and ego, and when you have borrowed money from everyone you know and your business is failing, you don’t want to see them — especially for the holidays.
The problem is that people don’t define success and failure, and so they have no way of measuring.
So Jeff developed what he calls the Thanksgiving test. 1. Make a clear list of what success looks like 2. Have all of your stakeholders sign it 3. Come next Thanksgiving, determine if you succeeded/failed 4. Keep going/move on By following this, you will never be stuck in failure for a long time, and your pride and ego will not prevent you from facing your stakeholders. Mentioned in this episode |
Wed, 15 May 2019
Today, Ryan talks about a product that integrated itself into his life journey and why he chose to invest in it. His Tesla.
Tune in for his advice on when to be frugal and when to spend as well as why (and how) you shouldn’t pay cash for bigger ticket items.
Key Takeaways [:22] Living frugally — which Ryan did while building a 6 figure business from his dorm room and paying himself 500 $ a month — means driving a Chevy Cobalt with manual crank windows who’s engine finally blows out. He was the first person in his family to buy the new car he wanted. Bruce, the Kia Sportage. He still owns Bruce. [1:38] Once he started making legitimate money but more importantly when he found out he was going to be a father, he decided to give Bruce to his partner, and started looking for his new car. [2:05] How do you feel driving a Tesla? New. Ryan bought the Tesla a little bit for the insane button, but this car reflected his growth, and gave him the confidence to be what he felt he had evolved into. It was an investment in training his brain to think bigger. [3:47] This investment helped Ryan because he could afford it. It’s important to push yourself to more, but always within your means. Living above your means will foster a mindset of scarcity and fear. [4:23] Ryan’s Tesla life lesson is also a lesson in business: your customers are on their own journey: if you communicate how your product or service helps them on that journey, they will be willing to pay a premium for it. [4:50] How does Ryan find balance between frugality and expense? The answer is two-fold: 1. Will it stress you out? 2. Can you pay cash for it? If you can pay cash, it’s okay to buy it (but don’t actually buy it cash! Ryan explains why, and what to do instead. Mentioned in this episode |
Tue, 14 May 2019
1 Million Per Month On Shopify Alone: How I Started Selling Online Without Touching Amazon w/ Garret Akerson #BrandBuilderPodcast
Today’s episode is a keynote by Garrett Akeson on the company he bootstrapped with his wife: Kindred Bravely. He shares a mountain of examples on how they company managed different aspects of growing a business out of Amazon.
Tune in for some practical tips on how to run a remote team, why culture matters and how much money you need to actually run ads!
Key Takeaways [2:58] Garret introduces himself and his brand Kindred Bravely.
[4:54] Launching a business can have a clear path but it’s rarely smooth, this talk will cover 7 areas to help you navigate growing a business: 1. Brand 2. Telling a story 3. Vision 4. Timing 5. Hiring 6. Culture 7. Remote teams
However, Garrett’s overarching advice, will always be focus. Brand [6:10] it matters from the very beginning, but don’t be afraid to change if it doesn't feel right — Kindred Bravely was called Davy Jeans for the first three months! Story [7:56] is what you use if you and to get out of Amazon, and that story is how you connect with your customers and how you build that relationship. So the first thing you have to do is get to know your customer, the numbers are there: use the information and identify the core values your customers resonate with. Communicate your story and your values everywhere you can. Use imagery to create emotional connection and make sure all of your copy is brand coherent — you can outsources ads, but you have to keep your content in-house, no one can talk about you better than you! Vision [13:08] is how you shape what’s to come, build a vision for your company that projects far into the future, make it detailed and share it with the whole team so that everyone aims in the same direction. Timing [15:11] means that there are never any guarantees. So getting off Amazon may not lead to greener grass. Garrett shares some indicators that the timing may be right for you. At less than 200k per year on Amazon, don’t bother with anything else, focus on increasing sales. When you hit 100 to 200k a month, now might be the time to start thinking about building your off channels.
You will need deep pockets for Facebook and Shopify ads, Garrett recommends no less than 100k dedicated in cash. Acquiring a new customer on Shopify averages 23$, you will burn through money to test your funnels, and your ads, and get your target audiences right. Let Amazon foot the bill for that, launch all your new products there! Hiring [23:22] people that love what you do will ensure they require less management! When Kindred Bravely posted their first job application, it was a flood of their own customers that came, a flood of moms. Garrett shares some tangible tips on hiring practices: 1. Use long form questionnaires that get really specific, this will enable you to screen out people that are not right for the job — Kindred Bravely uses a google form they developed in part from Topgrading questions. 2. Do skill specific testing — Kindred bravely does typing and phone typing tests since most of their work is with social media online. 3. Do group interviews to see people dynamics and immediately compare and grade applicants — Zoom is a good tool for this. 4. Don’t be afraid of hard questions, they give you insight on the type of person you are meeting — Garrett shares the last question he always asks and what kind of insight it gives him. 5. Keep your 2nd, 3rd and 4th choices as potential employees on future positions. Culture [28:39] ties in to vision and core values. By attracting applicants that identify with the brand it’s much easier to build that internal culture and brand. Empower your employees to embody the vision and values both at, and outside of work — Garrett shares the Kindred Bravely monthly giving program initiative. Remote teams [30:27] means that people rarely get a chance to meet, so you have to pay extra attention to building and fostering connection, support and growth for your employees in order to drive success. Garrett shares how he adapted Ryan’s TRIBE 5 into his own company culture and rembraded it BRAVE (Body, Relationships, Assets, Vigilance and time, Expansion) as well as integrated The One Thing’s “One Thing” to implement quarterly 90 day goal sprints for his employees. Kindred Bravely also uses GetGuru as a way to centralize all company workings information including, vision, mission and values so that the employees always have something to measure up against. [39:06] Garrett wraps up with details on Kindred Bravely’s progression and talks about SBA loans — have a business plan and remember it’ll take about 4 months to get the loan, Amazon lending — with high enough sales, and after having 3 years of financial history, you can get a traditional Bank loan. Q&A [43:36] Q. How do you figure out and reconcile salary ranges for full-time and part time positions in a remote setting? A. Ask how much the applicant would expect to make for the job! Set yourself up into a negotiating position by asking 2 simple questions: 1. “How much would you like to make now or?” 2. “How much would you like to get in a year from now?”
With the answers to these, you get a range to work with. [45:40] Max invites listeners to share feedback and suggestions for the show by sending him an email at max@brandbuilderstrategy.com. If you enjoyed this content, subscribe and review the podcast! Mentioned in this episode
Book: Double Double: How to Double your Revenue and Profit in 3 Years or Less by Cameron Herold Book: The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
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Mon, 13 May 2019
Ricardo Pero launched a business that lends money to e-commerce companies to fund their inventories.
Most business owners will buy inventory with their own money, and with all of their capital tied up, they have nothing left to do but stress out.
But there is another way of doing things which is use other people’s money to fund inventory, so you still have your own money to invest into growing your business (advertising, product diversification, systems, people, etc.)
Tune in for a great conversation on the challenges people run into while funding their own inventory and how SellersFunding can help you do things differently.
Key takeaways [6:12] Ryan talks about an idea he had a few years ago and introduces the man who beat him to the punch! Ricardo Pero, Founder and CEO of Sellers Funding.
After working in investment banking for years, Ricardo saw how inefficient traditional credit models were at accurately assessing e-commerce business risk. He saw an opportunity.
[8:14] Traditional business owners usually rely on their own resources (bootstrapping), and tend to be overly conservative in the way they borrow. They don’t have an ROI mindset.
In a lot of cases if you’re going to spend X$ on inventory, it’s X$ you can’t put into anything else. However if you fund it, you will pay interest but because you get the same amount of money when you sell the product your return will be much higher.
A tool for planning cash flow [13:29] The SellersFunding sales prediction model looks into cyclicality and sales performance and provides you with this information so you can make more informed decisions.
You will know exactly when you need to order more inventory, how much of it you need and how much it’ll cost you.
[14:14] Ricardo talks about why he chose to divert his career from investment management to focus on this new enterprise. The main question was always how can I best apply my knowledge of investment management?
E-commerce has the largest dataset to work with in terms of investment evaluation and, as a sector should outperform brick and mortar by a wide margin.
Once he had chosen the e-commerce industry, he had 2 options for building this company he wanted: 1. Partnering with sellers and providing support for their working capital needs 2. Make direct investment into brands
Ricardo decided to move to the credit side because the client pool is much wider.
The cash flow gap problem [19:00] is in essence the problem that SellersFunding solves:
Between the purchase order and the moment the product is available for sale is this gap which — if your products are sourced from abroad — can take up to 100 days for that first sale to happen.
In order to bridge this gap, SellersFunding offers an interest only grace period of about 60 days from the moment the order has been placed. In this manner, the business retains control over as much money as possible and the loan payment can theoretically come out of the profit margin.
Braingasm [21:54] e-commerce businesses are essentially recession-proof.
Qualifying for the capital [22:10] is a slightly different process. You will be evaluated on the traditional business metrics, cash flow metrics, structure costs and inventory levels but — and here’s where it gets interesting — also on Amazon business reviews, customer feedback and account health.
Those metrics are actually more important to SellersFunding because they are a better indicator of your commitment to your customer and ultimately your future performance.
Getting the capital [25:10] SBA loans take many months before funding is received, Amazon lending requires a year’s track record, how does SellersFunding compare?
SellersFunding only needs 6 months of track record. The application form takes about 5 minutes and is then run into the pre-qualification model of 3 million sellers. Depending on the length of your track record, running the model takes a few minutes to an hour. Within the day you will get your answer and within 48 hours, your money.
[28:00] Ryan asks Ricardo where do the funds come from, what his biggest loan cheque to date has been and what the terms look like for a loan.
The biggest sellers get about a year to pay off the loan and the average interest only period is about 60 days, the amortization schedule is matched to the marketplace payment cycle.
Theoretically, you could manage to pay off your loan faster than the term and not pay any more interest, and once you’ve paid off 50% of the outstanding transaction, you’re eligible to apply for a new loan.
[34:54] There is no one specialised in e-commerce! SellersFunding wants to become the leader in e-commerce lending and is looking to partner with clients for the long run.
[39:44] Ryan climbs on his soap box and reminds all physical products entrepreneurs to break out of their cash restraints and go fund their inventories with other people’s money: keep your own money to invest and build up your business!
[44:52] Ryan thanks Ricardo for coming on the podcast, recaps some key elements to remember and encourages listeners looking for funding to follow this link: www.capitalism.com/sellersfunding.
Mentioned in this episode
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Fri, 10 May 2019
Today Ryan shares some tips on staying motivated, even when entrepreneurship becomes hard, lonely business. Tune in for 3 practical things you can do to keep yourself on track as well as some down-to-earth real life examples of how those practices helped Ryan through some tougher moments.
Key Takeaways [:28] Dopamine floods your brain when you start a new business, you are full of energy and drive, but it doesn’t stay there long term so today is going to be about sustaining momentum.
[1:42] First things first, entrepreneurship is very hard and it will demand more of you than you could ever imagine. So it’s virtually impossible to sustain momentum and stay motivated when you’re building a business that you don’t like or building it with someone you don’t like, there’s really no fixing that.
But if you do love your business, here are 3 practical things you can do to keep momentum (there’s a bonus at the end, too!)
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Thu, 9 May 2019
Ryan talks with Hal Elrod about what life after cancer taught him and how we can all adopt these learnings, ensuring we focus on what’s important to us. Key Takeaways [:43] Ryan introduces his guest, Hal Elrod as well as why he thinks it’s important to hear his insights on life, success, money and how his battle with Cancer taught him.
[4:27] A year ago, Hal Elrod was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a rare cancer with a 10% survival rate. He emerged on the other side of his worst and best year with a clean bill of health, and a fresh perspective on what is important. [11:00] Hal shares a key aspect of what his brushes with death have taught him: if you cannot change something, there is no sense in wishing you could, or laying blame. The only thing you can do when you encounter a tragedy is to grieve but never to extend that to where it becomes detrimental to your mental and physical well being. Only you have power over your emotional states. [13:10] Hal’s perception of life has changed through this experience with Cancer and the things you have to do to live your best life are as follows:
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Wed, 8 May 2019
Today’s episode tackles the question why is Capitalism the #1 solution to the world’s problems? Tune in for what drives people to the marketplace, what happens when governments intervene and the white was better than the moldy red this week, or was it… Key Takeaways [:40] JP asks Ryan and Clement permission to ask Ryan a question, it is granted. [1:04] Capitalism is the #1 solution to the world’s problems, explain. [2:07] The scale of incentive is important for generating desired outcomes. [3:10] Force incentive vs choice incentive. [4:27] Let’s agree to agree.
Mentioned in this episode |
Tue, 7 May 2019
Today’s episode is a presentation Max did on how to increase your pricing by focussing on your ideal customer and serving them the way they are looking to be served. Tune in to learn about the story building process that works across every single industry, how to push past some of Amazon’s restrictions, and why going from product to people will open up a world of marketing opportunities.
Key Takeaways [4:30] Parental advisory: Max will be poking fun at Amazon despite it being the best place to launch products profitably, acquire cash flow and scale a new business, sensitive ears beware.
[6:20] Creating a consistent customer experience and making sure that that every touch point with your customer tells your brand story is the only way to ensure success at the same level as major brands.
[8:33] The very first step of any good brand building process is to target and attract your ideal customer, the one that will ensure your future success. And in order to do that you have to get to know everything about them. Everything.
[14:15] So you have your archetype human, now you have to understand how they will look at your product: they will put it in a pyramid reminiscent of the Maslow’s pyramid of needs.
Pyramid base: Basic product requirements. In every product category there is an ante to be paid, a set of basic requirements your product has to have in order to be considered acceptable as such — wheels and a chassis for a car for example.
Pyramid middle: Product features. Once those basic requirements are met, you may add value — product features, customer service, options packages, etc. — keep in mind that this added value is not your brand and you should never build around them: they can be copied.
Pyramid top: Brand story. This is where the good stuff is and it’s where the right brand story can take you: higher prices, customer loyalty and positive word of mouth.
[17:12] Amazon lets you compete at the product feature level — middle of the pyramid — with keywords. But they keep control over the emotional drive to purchase with ratings and reviews: how your product makes customers feel is the brand. In essence, Amazon lets you sell products that ultimately strengthen their brand, and Jeff Bezos is laughing all the way to the bank with your money.
[18:35] Customers use products and brands to tell stories about themselves to others. You need to participate to that in a meaningful way, and at every opportunity: customer relationship are built on consistent experience delivered over time.
[21:35] So how do you get to the top of the pyramid?
Direct download: How_To_Charge_Higher_Prices__Attract_Your_Best_Buyers_w_Max_Kerwick_BrandBuilderPodcast_1.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 3:00am EDT |
Mon, 6 May 2019
Gary Vaynerchuk: How To Buy A Sports Team (Plus Thoughts On Politics, Marriage, and Marketing #TheOnePercent
Ryan Danger Moran welcomes you to The One Percent! Today’s episode is very special, and features the much anticipated interview with none other than Gary Vaynerchuk — the other half, along with Brian Lee, of who Ryan wants to be when he grows up. Don’t miss this one for some rare insight into Gary’s bubbling strategic mind, how he only ever plans for the long game, a surprisingly sharp lightning round, and the way this conversation has updated Ryan’s mindset about ho to best approach the next decade.
Key takeaways [:39] Despite still reeling from the depth of the experience interviewing Gary Vee, Ryan introduces today’s episode and shares a bit about how this discussion altered the way he will plan for the future. [7:30] Gary often says “You have to learn to love your losses” and being a staunch Indians fan offered Ryan a singular opportunity to finally understand what that means. This leads Gary and Ryan to nerd out on sports. [11:30] What is this incredible Rosé? Ethical Wine, Gary’s 40$ wine for 20$. [12:58] Ryan shares a vulnerable moment in his life when he began to question weather the actions he was taking were truly reflective of the man he wanted to be and if those goals even still made sense. [14:58] Gary gives insight into his own moments of doubt, highlights that these mind shifts are required for growth and a vision for the future — and he thinks Ryan is cooler than him. [17:08] Adversity is foundational to success and Gary was raised in a way that fostered huge amounts of self-esteem and zero entitlement. His mother never fostered delusion, an enormous pitfall parents seem to fall into nowadays — which scares him : he explains how delusion creates entitlement. [20:02] Hustle porn and overworking yourself is absolutely delusional and contrary to what some people seem to think, Gary is not about that… He’s about finding happiness, being self-aware and dominating life. [21:00] Successful people are special in a very straightforward way: they obsess over the work but it’s because they love it and are happy doing it. If you work at something you don’t love, somebody else will love it, they will work harder and have an advantage. [22:00] Ryan tries his hand at explaining Gary’s strategy: his audience and the free content he puts out give him connections, leverage and exposure. [23:49] Gary interjects with a very important nuance: hustlers are killing him in the short term, but in the long term the play is always building Vaynermedia to sell the brands he has and will have in the future. Give to your audience without expecting any returns — be grateful if there are any at all — and ask people you have no idea who you are to buy your product. The person who can build a framework that doesn’t look to monetize their audience, wins. [27:14] Braingasm: You want to be happy? Give without expectation. You want to be unhappy? Think you’re getting something for your actions. You want to be really unhappy? Do shit for the sake of something else happening. Which is what everybody does. [27:43] Ryan has a humbling moment as he realises that he believed there may be something off about his own strategy when in fact he had been hanging on to expectations — when he so often gets recognised by people in the streets who say his content has helped them build 7 or 8 figure businesses. [30:00] Braigasm: Gary Vee may or may not be an influencer on his brands, it doesn’t matter at all… Do Vaynermedia clients signing million dollar cheques give a shit how many followers he has on instagram? [32:47] Ryan touches on something that really struck him in one of his previous interactions with Gary, his lack of ego. Gary explains that even though he may seem like he IS ego, his actions in the last 20 years attest to the fact that he is predicated on humility. [37:30] Gary often says he is doing for everybody what his mother did for him — but today, on this interview, he has a realisation and for the first time ever, voices the way his father shaped him and that influence is helping him shape the world. [41:29] 10 years ago Ryan decided to follow Gary. Today, he feels ready, whispers away from where Gary was 10 years ago. So he asks Gary to poke some holes in his strategy. [43:00] If you keep giving to entrepreneurs in a way that addresses their short term wants and needs and helps them achieve 7-8 figures, you will give yourself disproportionate leverage to own a significant percentage of their business. And don’t make your audience the source of your livelihood. [44:40] Because time is short, Ryan invites Gary into a lightning round of trend predictions:
Direct download: Gary_Vaynerchuk_How_To_Buy_A_Sports_Team_Plus_Thoughts_On_Politics_Marriage_and_Marketing_TheOnePercent_1.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 3:00am EDT |
Fri, 3 May 2019
Freedom is not money, freedom is doing the things that make you happy. The purpose of money, the only reason money matters, is to sustain the life you want. If you want to be free, then you have to know what you want. But asking the questions that will lead you to figuring out what it is you want is a very hard job. Like Ryan did, most people will go after the money believing that once they have that, they can make a grab for freedom. The troublesome thing that happens when you do that though is that the money itself becomes the purpose, and your life has none. Ryan has boiled financial freedom into 5 steps to follow so tune in to learn the way — but do be careful, these steps need to happen in this exact order for the system not to break.
Key Takeaways
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Thu, 2 May 2019
Ryan talks with James Altucher, a successful hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, bestselling author, venture capitalist, and podcaster. Key Takeaways [2:46] James talks about where he started out. How after he sold his first company building websites for a lot of money, he figured “if I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere!”. He was wrong, he lost every penny. And then he was wrong several times again. [4:04] So what was the problem? Why was he having such wild success and such brutal failures? He explains how he set out to find and rectify the cause of this uneven keel and what he managed to distill from this research. The 4 pillars of health
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Wed, 1 May 2019
The Path To An 8-Figure Exit: Thinking Like An Investor, Broker, and Brand Builder #WednesdayWithWyan
Today, Ryan drinks along side Dr. Clement Wan, Coran Woodmass and Max Kerwick and touches on the difference between the manager and investor mindsets, what is required for a brand to be attractive to buyers, how to drag yourself out of a funk, and why you should focus all your business energy on an archetype. Key Takeaways [1:04] Making decisions from an investor’s standpoint versus a manager’s standpoint will be lucrative but benefit both positions! Dr. Clement Wan explains that when you start thinking as an investor you will strive for making your business a more valuable asset, and as a result alleviate some of the management workload.
[2:38] What do we say instead of generating sales? Build assets!
[2:59] Ryan taps into the law of attraction — does a bit of voodoo really — to call on someone who can comment on the current state of physical products on the marketplace: Coran Woodmass! resident Acquisitions Specialist and brand new American! [4:00] Coran Woodmass talks about a recently launched deal and the reason so much money is flocking to it. It’s a real niche brand that can be scaled outside of Amazon, and it’s got a huge amount of user-generated content to boot!
[5:44] What do we say? Instead of being a content creator, be a content curator!
[7:05] The market is evolving and growing, but growing at the top end — the 8 figure exit is the entry point now — and the guys at that level are really need to spend the capital. So would you please build something worth buying, I would really like to buy your asset!
[8:50] Feeling down on your luck? This is the model to use to turn everything around.
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