SFR 156: Crowd Creating Products...

I have a FaceBook group called The Science of Selling Online -  I hang out there daily (it’s a FREE group).  I do live funnel builds - and walkthroughs of my latest projects where sharing the reasons for what I'm doing. You can ask me questions, and I’ll answer them live.

 

One of my latest projects is a program called Affiliate Outrage. It's an amazing course. The cherry on the top is that I’ve managed to pull together some outstanding experts to share their skills in each module.

 

Last week, during one of my live funnel builds in The Science of Selling Online, someone asked me, "Steve, how did you build a product and get so many experts to contribute to it...  How do you crowd-create a product?”

 

So in this blog, I'm going to answer that question and reveal a skill that I see many Entrepreneurs utilize - that you may not be aware of.

 

I'm also going to share some of the secret self-improvement skills that have influenced me profoundly over the last few years. Stay with me; this is going to be juicy!

 

DODGEBALL - AND BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR

 

There was this one time in my life, where every Monday for months; a group of us would show up turn tables over in a gym and hurl tennis balls at each other as hard as we could.

 

There was about 30 of us, all in our late teens and early twenties - playing dodgeball and using tables as barriers.

 

People got hurt -  this was hardcore.

 

I remember one particular time - I was super excited to play that week. I tried to get everyone to start.  Man, I wanted to play so bad. I kept trying to get people ready, but nobody was taking any notice of me.

 

After about 10 - 15 minutes, I got frustrated and went over to this other guy.  He goes, "Oh, you're trying to start?" Then he lifts his head, and says, "Hey, guys, we're getting ready to start."

 

With that one sentence, everyone turned their heads, stopped their conversations, and started listening.

 

I watched the room in dismay. I couldn’t believe it, "Are you kidding me? - I've been trying ‘forever’ to get these people to do what I want!"

 

I remember right there, at that moment, I realized that I didn't need to be good at everything - in fact, it was better if I wasn’t.  

 

I realized that it was better for me to be an orchestrator rather than try to learn how to play every instrument...

 

That an entrepreneur is someone who has a vision and brings is to life.  An entrepreneur is a maestro.

MY LITTLE BLACK BOOK

 

For years, I kept a little black book in my pocket. Every time I had a business idea or an insight, I would write it down in that black book. It was chock full ideas - some great, and some dumb - but I carried it around with me at all times.

 

When I realized that I didn’t need to be “good at everything” to be an entrepreneur, I wrote it down in that book.

 

Even though I was in my early 20’s when I wrote that thought down - it was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn as an entrepreneur.

 

When I was at ClickFunnels, Russell drilled this lesson into me for eight solid months before it finally sunk in

 

Multiple times, I'd be, "Dude, I'm gonna go learn more CSS." Russell would look at me and say "Why? We have someone for that." He'd be dead serious.

 

I’d say, “Well, my major before marketing was CIT. I know I could understand it.” Again, Russell would look at me and say, "Oh, yeah, but who cares? We’ve got someone for that. Don't  learn that."

 

I struggled to take it on board because I’m curious and I like to know how thing work. However, when it finally sunk in, it was one of the best lessons EVER!

 

If you’re like me, it may not be an easy lesson to learn, but please learn it. Here it is:

 

Just because you know how to do something doesn't mean you should do it

 

Sure, I can pop open Photoshop, use Illustrator, do my video editing, write copy, film videos, build funnels. However, to scale and get the highest leverage for my business - I need to concentrate on doing the things that only I can do. It's hard, I get it - but it’s soooo worth it

DON’T BE A RENAISSANCE (WO)MAN

 

The reason I started affiliate marketing was to get the cash so that I could hire people to do all the things that I shouldn't be doing. I also learned to develop another skill that I see many successful entrepreneurs use get stuff done.

 

About 3 months ago, I had a brilliant person tell me,"Figure out how to hire people you can't afford." It's changed everything in my business!

 

If you’re reading this, then you’re an A-player - a weird breed of person with both vision and ability

 

 You can bring your vision to life. However, the worst mistake you can make is to be a renaissance man or woman and do “all the things” yourself. It’ll slow you down and burn you out.

 

So what do you do instead?

SHARING YOUR VISION

 

There’s one skill that I alluded to at the start of this article. A skill that I see so many successful entrepreneurs use to their advantage. A skill that can help you stay focused on your highest value tasks and get results at the same time. That skill is Influence.

 

If you have a vision and the ability to share that vision in a way that connects with people on an emotional level, then people will follow you and support you - even when the path is rocky or unchartered.

 

Let’s face it, as an entrepreneur; it’s likely that you’ll be laying a path rather than following one. So it’s vital that you can communicate your vision and tell your story effectively so that people will follow you.

 

USING INFLUENCE

 

Influence is what I’ve used to help bring my incredible content machine together. The caliber of people on my team would normally cost me 40 or 50 grand a month, but because they believe in the vision of where I'm taking the ship, it's way less than that. It's only 30 grand a month!

 

Granted, it's still 30 grand a month - but in hindsight, I'm getting a huge discount because everyone involved believes in what I'm doing.