Episode 215: Life & Business Advice from World Class Internet Marketer – Mike Koenigs

[INTERVIEW]

 

Hal: Mike, what’s going on, buddy? So, what’s new and exciting? You mentioned this email that you sent that got the best response of any email you’ve ever sent. Tell me about that.

 

Mike: Sure. Well, here’s what happened. Just to frame this, I was away for a week with my son who’s 15 years old as of right now and we went on a father-son trip together. We went out to Utah to fly fish, horseback ride, ski, and we stayed at Robert Redford’s Sundance Hotel Ranch getaway and in fact, we even saw Robert Redford when we went out for dinner together and it isn’t a fancy crazy place but it’s where the legendary Sundance Film Festival takes place.

 

Hal: And Robert was at the restaurant you were at?

 

Mike: He was there. It was so crazy. We walk in and there he is. He’s talking. Now he’s with family. It was not appropriate for me to interrupt and ask for a picture or a selfie, although I did take away from the table a little shot. It’s not a good photo. You barely see him.

 

Hal: Pretending you’re text messaging?

 

Mike: Yeah. Totally. It was like, “Oh, I got to be able to tell the story at least,” but it was a wonderful time and then after that I went and visited my parents who are aging now and suffering from early-stage Alzheimer’s and it’s like how is this going to tie together with the story? Well, here’s the basic deal. I sent out this email. I was very touched emotionally, spiritually and physically from this trip. Because I was spending those precious moments, anyone who has children knows how precious these moments are and if you watch your child, it seems like yesterday they’re babies and then suddenly he’s 15, he’s 6’3 now. He’s got a mind of his own and his own opinions and what he wants to do with his life. And on the other spectrum, I’m watching my parents as they fade and it’s extremely emotional as they are now I’m taking care of them and the whole conversation is what are we going to do to maintain the highest quality of life.

 

So, I was writing an email to my entire list and I titled it The Cats in The Cradle. And anyone who knows that song by Harry Chapin knows it’s basically about a man who he had a little boy and their whole life his son is saying, “Let’s play daddy. Let’s play football. Let’s play. Let’s play,” and he’s always, “I don’t have time. I don’t have time. I don’t have time.” And finally, at the end of the song here, he’s an old man, he has a son, if he can spend some time together and he says, “Sorry, dad. I don’t have time. The kids, the wife’s a wreck. The kids have the flu. I’m really, really busy and it’s been nice talking to you,” but then it fades. And you can wake up one day and your whole life can go by. It’ll be like what happened? Or you can decide to make time for the things and the people that matter most and realize that all of these little pursuits don’t really matter.

 

So, what matters most and who matters most is a huge part where I spend my conscious time now and what I invest in whether it’s business and the things that I value now are considerably different now than they were a week ago, a month ago, a year ago, a decade ago or 25 years ago. So, it’s been a really intense spiritual business and personal journey over the past couple of weeks in particular. So, it’s fun to be talking to you, Hal, because you’ve been on an amazing journey. Your audience has been in an amazing journey with you and I think to a degree you and I have been on a journey together over the past couple of years that we got to know each other.

 

Hal: Yeah. Absolutely and for anybody listening, this is Mike Koenigs and he is a recent stage 3 colorectal – how do you say that?

 

Mike: Colorectal cancer survivor.

 

Hal: Colorectal cancer. Right. That’s a word I don’t use every day in my language but he’s a cancer survivor and a cancer survivor who reached out to me when I was diagnosed with cancer and jumped on the phone and basically said as a survivor and he’s a survivor five years in remission, he said that, “As a survivor, I feel that it’s my duty and responsibility to help other people that are going through cancer in any way that I can.” And so, Mike, you were there for me a ton and a big support. It’s funny. My dad references you all the time whenever – he’s like, “Well, remember Mike said…” I’m like, “Okay, dad. If Mike said, you’re right.” It’s law.

 

Mike: “Listen to that guy. He knows what he’s talking about.” It’s funny.

 

Hal: I first not even met you because we didn’t meet but I first saw you online from afar watching you as a very successful individual who’d interviewed the likes of Tony Robbins. Who were some of the people that you’ve interviewed over the years? You’ve interviewed some really prominent names.

 

Mike: Sure. Well, some of the fun ones that I’ve had in my life would be like Richard Dreyfuss, the actor, the Academy Award-winning actor. I have a fun story how I met him on a plane. One that people will find controversial will be like Jordan Belfort, the Wolf of Wall Street. He’s a guy I’ve known for a long time. Of course, Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield. Let’s see. Phil Town. Another multiple best-selling author and good friend of mine, of course, is JJ Virgin and Dave Asprey from Bulletproof Coffee but holy cow. I’d have to look at my – I have a wall of fame that I have a lot of photos.

 

Hal: You left out Hal Elrod and I know you interviewed Hal Elrod.

 

Mike: Hal Elrod. That guy is a freaking rock star. If you could even get him on the phone, he’s so hard to reach these days.

 

Hal: That’s true.

 

Mike: But, yeah, it’s been a whirlwind. It’s really been exciting. All I know, let’s see, Paula Abdul is a fascinating character. I’ve had a good chance to work with her and coach and consult with her as well.

 

Hal: For our listeners too, if you don’t know who Mike is, he’s a 13-time number one best-selling author, speaker, interactive online personality, entertainer. He has 54,000 customers in 121 countries and, Mike, you’re kind of a vet in the Internet space. You’ve been doing this a long time. This is the first time I saw you. He was actually at an event. You were hosting one of your Promote & Profit events which I’m sure we’ll probably get to that because I’m speaking at your Promote & Profit event here in next month in May. But I was attending, I mean, this was five years ago when I was just starting my journey. I was writing the Miracle Morning and all of that and learning from everybody out there the best people in the industry like good and you were and are one of those individuals that I was attending your event and modeling and learning from. So, thank you, brother. Thank you for teaching me early on, on how to do this the right way.

 

Mike: It’s always a pleasure, man. It really is, and I think I feel deep responsibility. You spend some time in business, you have a responsibility to the younger folks who are coming along because you can imagine that you’re high and holy and things are going to stay that way but like anything in life, you go through these cycles where there are uptimes, there are downtimes, and who do you make time for on your way up are the ones who are going to give you that extra boost when you’re on your way down or when you’re going to be the ebb and the flow in the cycles. And there’s one big lesson that I live by is don’t get cocky. Don’t start believing your own stuff because that’s when you wake up one day you’re like, “Holy cow. The stuff I was preaching isn’t working.” I got comfortable. I got lazy. I got complacent or I quit focusing on the thing that matters most which is constant and total reinvention and keeping an eye on what the trends are in the cycles and always remembering that if you aren’t hungry every single day, someone hungrier than you is going to show up and fill any gaps and that old saying that nature abhors a vacuum, something will fill a hole that you leave if you’re not fulfilling it.

Hal: Yeah. So, stay hungry and stay humble. As they say, the same people you meet on the way up are the same people you meet on the way down. So, hopefully, you treat everybody with kindness on the way up so that they extend their hand, extend the olive branch if you are going down and keeping you from falling too far. Beautiful, man. Well, this is the Achieve Your Goals Podcast and I try to target all of our content and our interviews around helping our listeners to achieve their goals and it’s one universal thing that any achiever has in common is we’ve got goals that we’re working towards and you’re somebody that’s achieved really extraordinary goals across the board and personally and professionally.

 

One of the things you had mentioned, years so ago is that you and your son who is 15, 6’3, you said he’s taller than you, he towers over you, but you guys are still super close. You still hold hands when you walk, and you sent me a couple of pictures of you guys holding hands and I show that to my son who is five and he’s already sometimes not wanting to hold dad’s hand. I’m like, “Son, this is my dream for us. Look, this is my friend Mike. His son’s 15. They still hold hands, buddy. We can hold hands.” In fact, last night was one of the sweetest things. I was getting ready for bed and he was as well. I already had given him a hug at night and my son Hal he comes in. He goes, “Dad, I want to say goodnight to you one more time.” I said, “Oh, thanks, buddy.” Then he gave me a hug. He said, “I want to give you a kiss,” and he gave me a kiss on the lips which a lot of times he does. He turns away or says, “Your beard is scratching me.” Anyway, it was just the fact that he came out of his way to give me a kiss last night just melted my heart. It was the greatest thing. So, you’ve been an inspiration.

 

Mike: Those are sweet precious moments. They’re sweet precious moments. That’s for sure.

 

Hal: Absolutely. So, let’s start. There’s a story that I’ve never heard but you’ve like teased me with and it’s your – I don’t know. I’ll call it your million-dollar story. You can set it up and it’s how you made your first million or your second million. I don’t exactly know but I’d love to hear it myself and I’d love to share it with the listeners.

 

Mike: Sure. Well, here’s the setup. Growing up and after just being home, this is very near and dear to me because I was just at home and my parents still live in the same home I grew up in which is 50 some years later and my dad grew up very poor on a little farm in Iowa. My mother is the daughter of basically a philandering alcoholic and a crazy person, so she did not have security growing up. My dad had very, very little growing up and I mean they literally got running water when he was still growing up and they had outhouses. Dad’s 81 right now so this isn’t that long ago. And as a barber and with four kids, there wasn’t a lot to go around so I got used to a saying around the house which was, “We can’t afford it,” because my dad, I was oldest of four kids, we were late and last for just about everything. Dad worked four jobs at any given time. Not only was he the barber. He was a building inspector, the city clerk, and he’s also a very talented musician and vocalist so he always donated his time to events and organizations to sing and entertain.

 

So, the great news is he was very well loved and very well liked but he wasn’t around that much, and he was out there hustling and making money to feed the family. So, in addition to we can’t afford it, the other thing that happened is we were late and last for almost everything. So, when we showed up somewhere and probably where we were late and last if there was like a potluck dinner, some sort of a dinner going on, it was often we’re getting the scraps that were left behind. I can remember when someone asked me, “What do you want when you grow up someday?” I’d say I want to be rich, warm, and first. And the part of this that I left out is I grew up in a very cold part of Minnesota and it was not uncommon for it to be 30 below zero for a long part of the year. I mean, cold, cold, painfully cold. And I am not a fan of the cold, I never have been. That’s why I live in San Diego now.

 

Hal: There you go.

 

Mike: So, I wanted to be rich first and warm. And I started working full-time when I was 16 years old. I started my first business when I was 14. I wasn’t good at school. I wasn’t good at anything growing up. Severe ADHD. The classic entrepreneurial story. And I taught myself how to program when I was about 14 years old and I started computer consulting shortly after because my dad’s a good talker. I mean, there’s someone in the barber chair. It’d be like an insurance salesman. He’d say, “Yeah. We just got one of the new computers and our secretary doesn’t know how to use it.” My dad would turn on him and say, “Well, you know what, my son likes computer. Why don’t we give him a call and see if he can help you out here?” You know, dad would get this guy on the phone and he’d say, “You think you can help out Earnest here with his secretary at the insurance place and teach his secretary how to use a computer?” and I go, “Yeah. I think I can do that.” Having absolutely no idea how to do it or what to do but the guy said, “Well, why don’t you come down here?”

 

It beat the heck out of flipping burgers or some menial job and within a couple of months, not only did I have one client, one insurance salesman, I talked with another one. He’d say, “Well, why don’t you come over and teach mine how to do the same thing?” and pretty soon it snowballed. So, you fast forward a few years. Not only did I teach myself how to code and consult and work with business owners, I had started an interactive advertising agency which then when I sold that, and I didn’t make big money or anything like that. I wasn’t a good business person, but I knew how to help people. That’s really what happened but fast forward, ended up learning internet marketing and product creation and we had reached a point where our business was starting to take off. We still weren’t making a lot of money, but we were doing okay, and I noticed, and this is a company called Traffic Geyser at the time which was one of the first marketing platforms you could put your video inside this tool and press a button and it would distribute it online and you get traffic from Google and the other search engines.

 

So, started studying, paying attention to what my clients and customers were doing and we put together an offer and we did a product launch and it made some okay money and then I ended up meeting people like Frank Kern and Andy Jenkins and Jeff Walker and Eben Pagan, some of the earlier guys and became good friends with them and we soon started working together and finally did a product launch. And what wound up happening next is I can remember I got a call from one of my bookkeepers at the time. He says, “Mike, I got some good news for you,” and I said, “What’s that?” And he told me what the good news was, and I was like, “Oh my God.”

 

So, I picked up the phone. I called up my mom and my mom says, “Honey, what is it?” I go, “Well, mom,” and I actually started to cry. I mean, uncontrollable sobs where I was crying, and I said, “Do you remember how I used to say I want to make a million dollars someday?” She said, “Yeah, I do.” And I said, “Well mom, I just made a million dollars in a month.” And she goes, “That’s great, honey. You know what, your dad’s out right now.  He’s shoveling the driveway. Why don’t you – I’ll go get him and you can tell him the good news.” So, I could hear my mom kind of turn and she said, “Bernie, Mike’s got something that he wants to tell you.” So, my dad got on my phone and he goes, “What is it, son?” I told him. I said, “Dad, I made a million dollars,” and he goes, “That’s great, son. Well, the grandkids are coming over in a little while and we’re going to have lunch over here and we’re really happy for you. What is it exactly that you do again?”

 

So, my parents don’t care about money. I grew up thinking about it all the time worried about scarcity and I was always in the state of fear and I didn’t understand just how valuable and important and incredible that I just had a good family with good parents and they didn’t care about stuff. That’s why they didn’t focus on it but me, I was in this place a lot. I didn’t get it but anyway, what wound up happening next was they went off and it was like I’m wondering and I kind of felt weird because like my parents don’t get, they don’t understand really what I do. They know I do stuff with computers and kind about marketing, but it just isn’t their world but one thing I left out here is when I told my mom that I made a million dollars I said, “The best thing is I know how to do it again. I figured out.” She said, “Wow. That’s really great. Really proud of you.” So, anyway, fast forward. It was four months later, we had put together a new product launch, a new marketing program.

 

Hal: What year was this by the way? What year is this?

 

Mike: The first one was in 2007. It was 2007 or 2008 and then it was four months later so that was in November and if you fast forward to it was either March or May. I can’t remember exactly what it was. We had done what became one of the largest launches in internet marketing history with something called Main Street Marketing Machines. It was one of the first consulting businesses in a box basically and put together this launch. Again, a lot of great people and we pushed basically the start button on the launch, got it all promoting. We had all these people lined up to start promoting us and get this thing going. And what happened next is we got in so many sales that in 44 minutes I got a call or a text actually from my bookkeeper and he says, “Great news,” and what came across my phone was amazing.

 

So, again, I picked up the phone, called up my mom and I said, “Hey, mom.” And she says, “What is it, honey?” I said, “Remember how I called the other day I told you we had made a million dollars?” Well, it turned out it was a week at a time that the whole period took over, but it was over a period of a month. I said, “Well, I just got a text message. We just made a million dollars in 44 minutes.” And my mom said, “Wow. Honey, that’s really great. This is a lot better than a week isn’t it?” I said, “Yes, it is. Remember I told you we figured out how to do it? Well, I did it again.” And so same thing my mom said, “Well, your dad’s out in the garden. Let me go get him and you could tell him the good news.” My dad got on the phone and he said, “What is it, son?” I told him, “Well, I made a million dollars in 44 minutes,” and he goes, “That’s great. We’re really proud of you. Grandkids are coming over for lunch in a little while. We’re going to take care of them,” but anyway we’re talking a little bit small talk.

 

And I got another text message just like 20 something minutes later. It was an hour and 14 minutes in the call or a minute and 14 seconds rather or it was an hour and 14 minutes after the launch happened we’d hit $2 million in sales and that launch went on to generate $9 million and it was amazing. It was not only a record breaker but it became a legend in our business for a long time, the whole idea that people at the time didn’t think that internet marketing was a real business, capable of generating real income and revenue but it was kind of like what Bitcoin is today but it rocked the world and it changed my life but it also set a bunch of other things in motion that would show up for years later in my life as well. It’s just again what do you value? It’s during that time I was so busy pursuing the money and the speaking and the fame and the fortune that went along with it. I wasn’t present with my little boy or my wife.

 

And so, there were parts of my life that were falling apart or at least just I wasn’t paying attention to the minutes that go by. I wasn’t living that cats in the cradle consciously, but I certainly feel I do now. So, that’s the best way of summing this up and setting up the story is great news is I figured out a formula and it was repeatable. I think looking back it’s not that I have regrets but I didn’t see things through the lens that I do now and see the beauty and the love and understand what I have and what I had to lose until it’s starting to fade. And that’s the transitional time I’ve been in lately where I’m rethinking every part where I spend my time and what matters most and who matters most.

 

Hal: Yeah. Well, and that’s the question that for me, for my cancer journey was what matters most and I ask that every day. What matters most in life, what matters most in my business, what matters most in this conversation, what matters most to be the best dad, the best husband and I think that we’re a cautionary tale for we’re not the only ones but a cautionary tale for entrepreneurs out there that are workaholics and that are putting the business before their rest, their rejuvenation, their health, their family because it seems to be that if you don’t slow down and prioritize what matters most, life seems to throw cancer at you or some other whether it’s a physical ailment or something to teach you the lesson.

 

It’s like if you’re not going to learn the lesson in a healthy proactive way, life seems to force it on you and so I feel like we have an opportunity to inspire other people especially entrepreneurs or just anybody to really to look at what matters most and look at your schedule and make sure that you are living in alignment with what matters most because it’s one thing to say, “Well, yeah, I have a family of course. Yeah. I have a family. Of course.” But then you look at your schedule if it doesn’t line up, well, it’s like, “Well, your schedule doesn’t reflect that priority. It doesn’t seem to be – there’s no truth there.” So, yeah, man. So, you helped teach me that and I’m thankful for that and thank you for teaching other people.

 

Mike: Appreciate it. That’s very kind of you and, yeah, again it’s part of this journey and that itself may not be incredibly profound but what I can tell you is there have been times as a business owner when I didn’t feel it was important to talk about this kind of thing transparently and openly and I found that the more I do, the more intimate the connection becomes with my clients, my customers, the more likely they are to trust and follow me and want to be a part of my world. And also, they’re willing to pay more money as well. So, there is something to the more heart you show, the more trust you create, the more connection you create, and like I said, that itself might not be profound to a lot of people but it’s like just don’t be afraid to show that vulnerable side of yourself especially in your business.

 

Hal: Well, I agree. There are two quotes that I’ll point to that I think this is one of the most valuable lessons that I’ve learned really in business although it applies to life. So, Robin Sharma said, “When you’re vulnerable, people fall in love with you.” And most of us are afraid to be vulnerable because we misinterpret how other people we think they’re going to respond which is, “Oh, if I’m vulnerable then I look weak or if I’m vulnerable I feel embarrassed or if I’m vulnerable then other people are going to – they’re not going to think that I’m worthy.” So, I think that’s our human nature is to look through that lens but when Robin Sharma said that when you’re vulnerable people they fall in love with you and I translated that in my own little quote which is give up being perfect for being authentic and then the other one is Tim Sanders, the author of Love is the Killer App and many other books.

 

So, that’s the one where I’m about to share. He said, “Those of us who use love as a point of differentiation in business will separate ourselves from the competition,” and I think that’s one thing that you’ve done, and I read that book, gosh, 13 years ago and I was like, “Wow, yeah. I’m going to come from a place of authenticity and love in everything that I do including business.” I’m just going to live my life the same in all facets and I think that’s something that you don’t always see. You see people out there that they market themselves in one way to appear one way and then behind closed doors, they’re jerks or whatever and I think I resonate with that about you is that you’re the same behind closed doors and you’re just as inappropriate and goofy behind closed doors as you are on the internet.

 

Mike: Thank you for that. Ladies and gentlemen, you’re going to be here all day. I like that. I try to be a little bit squirrely and inappropriate just to keep things mixed up and at the same time, I’ve been very sensitive to it lately because again when you’ve got a 15-year-old son he is very conscious and very sensitive of what you say and how you say it. It’s just like any teenager would be. So, my respect to him, I do my best to be brand representative as a father in and around with my boy too. Yeah.

 

Hal: That’s a good point is that – you and I are both pretty kind of funny, sarcastic folks but that works when you’re with other people that are other sarcastic and funny and then I’ve learned the hard way that that could really offend or send the wrong message to people that are not like that. So, what are your – I think that what we just talked about and that authenticity and that vulnerability, I think that’s one of the most important lessons that people can take away but I’d love for you to share before we conclude today, I’d love for you to share a few more, what are your best strategies and/or strategies, wrapped up the stories regarding goal achievement and then what it takes to earn your first million dollars or if somebody to be the best father or whatever like the most universal goal achieving strategies that you found effective in your life and your business?

 

Mike: Sure. Well, the biggest thing that consistently worked so I can give you a couple of recent ones and also long-term because I think the more tactical the better. I’ve been teaching a strategy now for a while that I think it encapsulates very much who I am as a business person and that really comes down to, well, let me put it in practical tactical terms. I have been doing a really fascinating campaign. In fact, you participated in it, Hal, with the Promote & Profit which is we did a free ticket offer and the basic idea was I reached out to speakers and people I knew and if you break this down like one of the hardest things to do as you know is put butts in seats. You fill up events.

 

Hal: It’s the most stressful thing I ever do in business.

 

Mike: It is. It’s incredibly stressful. It’s incredibly risky. It’s incredibly expensive. And keeping that machine going on an ongoing basis is it’s incredibly challenging and no one’s going to give you a break. Hotels are going to get their dime out of you any way they can. They’re going to squeeze you dry and they’re going to find a lot of ways and I can’t say anything nice about dealing with hotels from an event perspective. In fact, the reason we moved into this new studio space we have so we can actually do our own events without hotels. That’s how animate I am about it but you’ve got to find creative ways to put, to fill up events because the events are one of the most intimate ways you can start and conduct and create business as well because if you can spend a couple of days with good people, not only do you create this sense of community but this trust as well and this movement so you can make and create a movement and you can serve people so much better and also from a sales perspective they’re very, very efficient or they can be when they are properly run.

 

So, with that in mind, what we did this time is I went out and as a gift to our speakers who said, “Hey, well, you can give away a certain number of seats to people who you think are right fits,” and this way the email and the promotion doesn’t feel sales-y or smoochy and it’s a gift and what was crazy is it’s been one of the most successful marketing campaigns in my professional career. That was the referrals you get as a result which is just like our people whether it’s me or someone on my team will actually call up people as they register and say, “Is there someone you know who would be a right fit and who would also be a good candidate to come to this event?” It’s amazing how many referrals you get if you just ask. And so, it’s so low tech. There’s nothing fancy or breathtaking or breakthrough about that in itself except what I did a couple of years ago. It’s just start paying attention to how I build my own relationships, how I can connect with people, and imagine to get people comfortable with the idea of promoting me or my products and services and not necessarily even wanting anything as a result of that. In other words, doing it as a gift.

 

And it evolved into one of my most recent books and also a strategy, I call it Money Phone, and the whole idea is any time you connect with someone, what you do is you create a little tickler file meaning you write down a list of all the people that you’ve connected with and what it is what value you know you can provide it then and also how you feel you could engage them to help you grow your business. And what I do is I just create a list of those people periodically and all you do is you just go through your phone, you go through all your past text messages, people that you may have connected with, you haven’t in a while, but you know there was something there and you make a list, you prioritize it and then all at once you send each person a little text message which is, “Hi, so and so name, is there something you need from me today?” It’s open-ended and it’s purely a message designed to engage with someone. And again, it doesn’t have to come from a place of I want something from you. It needs to be a genuine I want to support you and help you but it’s a way of just saying, “Hey, I’m here and I’m thinking about you today.”

 

And it’s so fascinating because that little tickle if it’s done to 10 or 20 people you’d be amazed at how many opportunities you can create within about 10 or 15 minutes and there’s a big concern a lot of people have especially if they’re starting out with business which is, “Oh man, I have to have a big list or I can’t make any money,” and that nothing could be further from the truth because getting 20 people’s attention all at once and knowing they’re actually there which you can have with a text message versus sending out an email to even 10,000 people, you’re lucky if you get a 5% to 10% open rate these days with most emails. You’re lucky if you get a 10% to 20% clickthrough rate which means a list of 10,000 can actually produce fewer results than an audience of 20 people with a carefully crafted mobile text message and an opportunity to just start serving each other. And the whole point is I’ve had more impact with my most recent events by just connecting with a few people and asking them how I can serve and letting them know what I’m doing and seeing if they have any room to support or help, and you get higher quality customers.

 

So, the focus that I give people right now is don’t worry about volume. Worry about getting the right people who have more money, who are looking for more impact and they will gladly pay you a lot more. It’s fewer people for more money is the best business formula I have ever seen and I’m focusing 90% of my energy on that myself in addition to teaching it. But bringing this all back around to this Money Phone strategy, what I wound up doing is I created like a mini-documentary of exactly how I rustle up and wrangle business myself. I turned it into a manual and then I turned it into a book and I start giving it away and it has become one of the best lead generators for me but it’s also one of the best social proof tools I have because I give that thing away and people start copying and pasting the scripts I give them and, boom, they’re closing deals and I’m getting these great, great messages like, “I just closed a $10,000 deal and I just used Money Phone to do it.” Or, “I closed a $25,000 deal and I’ve never closed anything that big before.” It’s just like it created a little movement. So, it’s something I’m super proud of and the whole point of this is don’t be afraid to focus on fewer people, make it more personal, and connect with value and you’ve got to have a system to make that work but that’s basically the little system that I developed and it works like crazy hell so I don’t know if that was useful to you or not but great little tool.

 

Hal: Yeah. No, I mean, I think a couple of the lessons that I draw from that is, number one, is adding value first. You mentioned that like you’re giving away the free tickets and I know you made that offer to me to give tickets to our Miracle Morning Community and we gave out at least a handful of free tickets to the event which is cool so we’ll see some of our members will be there in May and so that’s the first thing is to lead with value. And for whether you’re in internet marketing or any type of business I think that often we have that scarcity mindset that you grew up with, right, which is how can I need to extract every possible penny from every penny and it’s just this really like this fear of never being able to have enough so you always are thinking of how can I get, how can I get, how can I get?

 

And when you shift that and you kind of shift an abundant mindset you go, “How can I give?” And knowing that when you give value first, you build loyalty with people, you build trust with people and you all of a sudden build credibility with people. They go, “Wow, your free thing was awesome. What else do you have?” And then they go further with you. And for me, when before I wrote Miracle Morning or when I first wrote the first two chapters, I had for the first couple of chapters up online and it was like people could download them for free and people were – it was three years later that I finally wrote the book but I had 10,000 people that had downloaded the two chapters and now they’re like, “We want the book,” like we’re practicing the Miracle Morning but we don’t fully have it so you’re giving that value first. And then the second lesson that I got was with your Money Phone strategy which is like you said less people and really quality connection over quantity of connection. Yeah. Really, really great. So, let’s wrap up with just your event is coming up, Promote & Profit. I will be speaking there on I believe I’m there, am I there May 7 or May 9? May 9 I think.

 

Mike: On the 9th, on the third day.

 

Hal: Speaking on the 9th on the third day. Take a minute to tell our listeners if they’re in San Diego or going to make a flight at San Diego and they want to see me, and I saw you got a bunch of killer speakers on the program. Or was it JJ Virgin? Our girl JJ Virgin is there and it’s Ben Hardy, author of Willpower Doesn’t Work which I love his new book.  He’ll be there. Go ahead.

 

Mike: Yeah. Well, I’ll do that and might as well give everyone Money Phone. As long as I talk about it, I can give that away too. Everyone can have a copy of it for free because otherwise, I don’t want to leave that out there. So, here’s the quick pitch with Promote & Profit. What it really revolves around I think the best way to sum this up is after working with now 54,000 customers in 121 different countries, there’s one thing that when you understand this big concept which you understand really, really well, your life changes forever which is ultimately everyone’s looking for a way to work less and make more and be valued for what they do or if you’re going to work less, it means work with it not feeling like work. We all want to feel like we’re making an impact without happening to just be part of a grind. So, the big idea is something we call platform.  

 

So, one of the things we’re doing, and this is actually new, Hal. I ended up really thinking about what would I have the most value to see, then I created something I called a Platform Profit Playbook which is a step-by-step fill-in-the-blanks roadmap to help you figure out how to build what we call your platform which a lot of people use books or they speak but if you look at people like JJ Virgin or Dave Asprey or Tony Robbins or Tim Ferriss or Brendon Burchard, for example, they all have a really powerful platform and there are just six steps to that. It’s getting authority, boosting your influence, charging more, working less, building and growing an audience but the sixth one is really learning how to give back and you’re great at that. It’s how do you create a connection with your audience through philanthropy and charitable giving. So, Promote & Profit is all about building your platform, focusing on those six steps and one of the reasons you’re there is to talk about how you’ve used books to do that. Dave is there talking about how he uses authentic messages to create brands. This is Dave Asprey. JJ is going to talk about how to create a hook and Hardy’s going to talk about how he writes articles on free platforms to generate lots of traffic.

 

And we’ve got other amazing, amazing speakers there too and then from there, we’re going to show you how to do it yourself, how to build your platform so that you can ultimately work less, make more, and have a lot more impact in the world. So, it’s pretty easy to find details on that and that is at YouEverwhereNow.com/PromotandProfit. And anyone who followed your messages when we did the free ticket promo can find out some more information that way. So, that’s the first one and then if they want a copy of Money Phone, the book. You just go to www.GoMoneyPhone.com. It’s free. I give the book away just because I found that it’s a great way to get introduced to folks and the best gift I can give someone or get a return is someone saying, “Hey, Mike, I use the strategy and I closed to $10,000 deal this week. Thanks for that.” It’s a great way to build trust and connection.

 

Hal: Yeah and it’s win-win. It’s like you talked about adding value first and then you build loyalty, you build trust, you build a fan, you build credibility, and then if that works, if the free gift works and they get value from that and they go, “Shoot, I wonder if I went to his event. If the free stuff is good, the event has got to be amazing.” So, cool. Now well for anybody listening, that is YouEverywhereNow.com/PromoteandProfit. Is that right, Mike?

 

Mike: That is correct.

 

Hal: I got that right. YouEverywhereNow.com/PromoteandProfit. I will be there speaking on May 9 and before that on the 7th and the 8th in San Diego you heard Dave Asprey of Bulletproof Coffee JJ Virgin. Who else? Benjamin Hardy who his new book Will Power Doesn’t Work is phenomenal and he’s the number one writer in the world on Medium.com since 2015 and his articles has been viewed over 50 million times. So, yeah, these are people that you want to learn from. And Shawn Stevenson. You even got Shawn there.

 

Mike: Shawn. We’ve got Roland Frasier from War Room and Digital Marketer. Bedros Keuilian is there.

 

Hal: Ed Rush. Dana Malstaff.

 

Mike: Dana Malstaff, Ed Rush. Yeah. Michael Bernoff. My wife is speaking, Vivian Glyck about nonprofits and charitable. I got Donna Fox from WebinarJam, EverWebinar, Jon Benson, the copywriter, Per Bristow who is a vocal trainer and coach and then Jesse Doubek is a Facebook expert. He actually helped build Brendon Burchard’s light campaign. It’s over 5 million people so rock star speaker presenters and they’re just there to add value.

 

Hal: Great lineup, man.

 

Mike: I’m really looking forward to, yeah. It’s where I really called in a lot of favors from really smart, good friends and I said, “Can you come speak at this, add some value? And you know I’m there for you when you want to,” and that’s what we did. So, if you had to pay any of these people to get them to either coach you or consult with you, they charge a lot of money so you’re getting them for, I mean, it’s such a good deal and the curriculum what we put together in terms of curriculum for this. I’m super proud of. I surely believe it’ll be the best event that I have ever produced.

 

Hal: Cool. Well, thank you for inviting me to speak there, man. I’m looking forward to it.

 

Mike: It’s my pleasure and thank you.

 

Hal: Achieve Your Goals Podcast listeners, you have been listening to my conversation with Mike Koenigs, good friend of mine, cancer survivor, and one of the founders of online internet marketing before it was a thing, before anybody else was doing it. He was one of the like the first, blazing the trail, and now he’s blazing the trail, still doing that the business side but I really where I love Mike is how he really as a dad, as a husband, as a human really that’s where it’s like you shine, Mr. Koenig, so love you, brother.

 

Mike: Love you too, man. Thank you. It’s been a pleasure.

 

Hal: All right, everybody. Take care, Achieve Your Goals podcast listeners. We will talk to you next week.

 

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