[Transcript starts at 0:40]
Hello, hello, hello, my podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite online business podcast. If you are tuning in, if you are listening, if you are watching, if you are Rupert, you're scratching me right now. If you're doing any of those things on the day that this episode drops, it is Monday, August 24th.
Welcome to the last week of August. As per always, the time is flying. Today, we are going to zoom out.
I think we did this last week as well, but we're going to zoom out again and chat about online business in general and the fact that there is nothing new, and this is not a bad thing. This is not a nihilistic approach, not a fatalistic thought, but rather an observation that I'm making after being in this game for almost 12 years and seeing a bunch of stuff. So the inspo for this episode, a few things.
One, I had a recent Mafia dinner last week, this is the time I'm recording this, and I reviewed the different launch types and discussed what I saw, quote unquote, working in the space. And my girl, Kristen, rolled through. It's been a while since she's been able to make it to a dinner, and she's been in the online business space for a minute, but like I said, life been life and she hasn't been at dinner in a bit.
At the end of the meeting, she goes, you know, this is great. It's great to know that it's the same shit, it's still the same shit. And she's right.
If you've been doing this for a bit, there is nothing new. If you've been learning from the right people, there's nothing new. And I say that because Kristen is also in Jill's ecosystem, and you know, she does strategy lab and things like that, and she's like, yeah, okay, this is a good reminder, great reminder of the stuff that I know, and it's the same shit, and I'm like, yes, it's the same shit.
So where I think people perhaps get things mixed up is that there can be some new strategies, depending on what stage of online business you're in. You know who's here with me? Is Rupert. We're not going to, we're going to keep rolling.
We're going to grab him. We're going to move him over there. Okay.
Depending on what stage of business that you're in, whether you're a beginner, intermediate, advanced, and even with this, like what stage you're in, it's more so techniques, right? Things like order bumps and tripwires and expiring bonuses and self-liquidating offers and deadline funnels, right? And a lot of those things are honestly just largely dependent on technology, but there is not some super secret strategy out there that you only have access to if you pay someone, you know, some business guru, $11 billion, right? This is just, that's not true, right? The strategies of selling things, of launching offers, of making money, there's nothing new, right? But foundationally, when it comes to selling, right, you have organic traffic, you got paid traffic. How are you getting these people? Where are they coming from? All right. When it comes to launching things, you got an open, open and closed cart model, you got, or whenever you got an evergreen model, right? Opening closed cart, meaning you can only buy this thing between this day and this day, and then you can't buy it again until the next time it's open.
Or evergreen, it's always available, right? But those are the two main buckets. That's it. You know, they think about launch types.
I think there's probably like three big launch types. There's a waitlist launch, right? You get people on a list, or interest list, whatever the fuck you call it, get people on a list and you sell to them, sell to the people on the list. You have a lead magnet launch, where you have some sort of experience up front, whether it's live or recorded or whatever that experience is, it can be a challenge, whatever, it could be an email.
That's fine. An email, an email course, that's fine. You have that experience.
And then you sell to those people that have gone through that experience. Lead magnet launch. Or you have the direct sell, which is, here's this thing, buy it.
And you can, of course, you can combine those things, you can do them all at once, but like, that's it. Nothing else. There's no other way to launch besides that.
And then when it comes to making money, I've said this on multiple episodes, you got three ways. Sell new stuff to old customers, sell old stuff to new customers, or sell new stuff to new customers. That's it.
There's no other way. You can mix and match all those things and combine them however you want, but that's it. There's nothing new.
All right. So for those of you that are listening and you're like, oh, but what about the tech? Yeah, I mentioned the tech earlier. Again, this is largely dependent on where you're at in your business, but at its most foundational, you need an email service.
I recommend Kit, email marketing service. You need a payment processor. I recommend Stripe.
And you need a calendar, scheduler, acuity, boom, you're done. That's it. I had a call, I was on the other day, and I was teaching about sales pages.
And one of the women was like, yeah, talking, she's like, I never made one. And I was like, that's dope. I was like, how have you been selling? She's like, I just have a link in an email.
And I'm like, great. That is all you need. You can start off with that.
That's fine. Totally. And then we can layer things.
But the reason that she's, you know, that someone's not selling is not because they don't have access to this super high tech or anything like that. Strategies remain the same. All right.
So we have that foundational tech stack. You want to up-level a little bit, you go to Zoom. We all have that anyway, right? You can have your, if you want to host a webinar, workshop, or you want to do your client calls, cool, you got Zoom.
You need a website. I'm going to recommend Squarespace. I use WordPress, but I would recommend using Squarespace.
You want to have courses, and that's down the road, Kajabi, easy, right? Simple foundational things, right? I'm going to plug actually a free resource that I have for those of you that are thinking about diving into the online business space, online business game, and you're like wanting to learn more about this foundation. The resource, it's 100% free. There is no upsell at the end.
It's literally just a free 90 minute training. It's called Foundations and Fundamentals of Online Business. I made this because I was like, I got to get this shit out of my head, and also like, I don't like seeing people get duped.
I don't want people, and I don't want to coach people that are just kind of trying to figure things out. Like, go watch this. Decide if you want help.
But like, here's the foundation. Here's all the things that you need, right? So we will drop that link in the show notes. Thank you, Courtney.
Thank you, Jojo. But you know, when it comes to foundations and fundamentals, when it comes to coaching, and one of the things that I make the most emphasis on in this course, or in that training rather, and the thing that I see so many of these online courses or these like online business coaches, the thing that I see them leaving out is that if you want to launch something and have it be successful, you need an audience and you need demand. That's the most important thing.
You need demand, right? I think that some of these marketers that kind of have you believe that there's something else out there, I think they kind of make it seem like they're going to teach you or sell you some sort of tech that will create demand. And that's just not the case, right? I think there's like three big things that contribute to demand. One is the topic.
So like, what is the thing that you're selling, teaching? What is your thing, your niche, right? Second is the timing. When are you selling this thing? Is it something that is popular? And tying into that, is it trending? Are other people doing it, right? So within the like topic umbrella, something that you may see, you know, because it does matter like what is the thing that you are talking about? Some things like they just have, you know, more population size that wants this, that desires that thing, right? So those are the three main things that I think most contribute to demand, right? And speaking of, another inspiration for this episode was this woman, Jessie Jean. She just did two launches and I haven't followed them closely.
I just, you know, seen them on threads and kind of peripherally. So if you don't know who she is, that's fine because I don't really know who she is either. I don't have nothing bad to say about her.
But she created the Yap Challenge and she just did two like massive launches. The first one was like a million dollars or two million dollars. And now the second one was like seven million dollars.
I don't know. It's like massive at this point, multi-million dollar launches. And I promise you that there's nothing new about what she did.
It was an open and closed launch. You can buy this course. You can enroll in this challenge between this and this date.
She had a wait list launch. I think maybe she didn't lead magnet. I'm not actually a hundred percent sure about that, but I would contend that this, the fact that there was nothing new to how she launched is actually part of why it worked.
Familiarity reduces friction. If you try to sell them some crazy way, people are like, what the fuck is happening right now? Less sales, right? Confusion. In reality, when we see people have these massive launches and Hormozy, and here's another example.
The biggest differentiator are the circumstances surrounding the actual launch, right? The circumstances surrounding the situation. Jessie Jean, she's unassuming. She's making this thing, you know, she's unassuming.
Number one. Number two, she's teaching B2B, right? She's helping people make money. Anytime you see like a massive launch or anything, you can assume it's probably helping people make money in some way, shape, or form.
So that speaks to that necessity of having a topic and like, what is that topic? And how desirable is that topic? Within that, there's a thing called capability unlock. And when the thing you're selling makes something way easier and suddenly there's like, people are like, oh, I can do this. That can increase demand.
And that's what she did, right? She's like, I'm going to teach you how to build an audience online so you can make money online. And I'm going to put a name to it called yapping. I'm going to make this very like approachable and make it easier.
Nothing new here. But the circumstances around the launch really greatly helping and contributing to the success of the launch. Hormozy, how he looks, he has muscles that appeals to men.
A lot of people that if men are going to buy it, they're like, yeah, I want to be like that guy. He has the David Goggins vibe of like, nobody cares, work harder. And that appeals to folks who have this desire to, you know, have their effort directly influence the outcome, which is not the fucking case in online business.
It's not true. Your effort is your effort. And the outcome is the outcome.
You hope that they're, you know, somewhat correlated, but good luck, right? He's also teaching B2B. He's helping people make money. There's a third launch that you may or may not have heard of.
And this woman named Callan, and I only heard about her because of Jill. Jill went to a mastermind and the person who runs the launch was there. And so like, but like Callan was not there as a person who helped run her launch.
But either way, it was a $17 million launch. And it teaches owners and founders and individuals how to use AI to run their businesses. Right.
And so when we think about what was this, why was this so successful? There was no new strategy in doing it. There's a lot, it was a shit ton of demand. She's the first to market, right? The timing is great.
It's a, it's, we are in a time when, you know, the narrative is get on board with AI or get left behind. Right? She's going B2B. She's teaching people how to make money.
All of these things around the topic and the demand that is there, that is what contributes the most to the success of the launch. And don't get me wrong, like they all likely have a good product and I'm not cheating on them or their product, right? The price of entry is having a good product, but none of them did some crazy new, never before heard of launch and some crazy new, never before heard of launch style. And part of the reason I'm saying this because Callan uses a software called, um, I don't know, FG.
I don't know. FG Funnels. I don't even know what it is, but I know she uses something else.
And, you know, I can see things on threads and I'm like, this is about to be the next thing of people being like, Oh, this is the thing that made her a bazillion. I'm just like, it's not at all the thing. And apparently it is just a white label version of, um, I'm blanking on the name of the software, but software that folks be using in the clinic, um, as well.
Uh, I am totally blanking on it, but either way, it is not some brand new thing that's never been heard of. It's never been done. It's not the reason for the success, right? There is nothing new.
There's nothing that you're missing that is like, you've never heard of it. And this is the reason that you're not, you know, that you're not succeeding. And honestly, I think the majority of you that are watching this, you are experienced.
You've been in the online space. You're, you're super intelligent and you likely know everything that I'm saying. Um, but I also don't know everyone in this audience.
I don't know everyone who listens or watches. And maybe there's a possibility that, that some of you are either new to the online business game or you're thinking about it. And honestly, I don't want you to get got.
It comes down to that, right? There's nothing new. There are no magic bullets. There's no secret sauce that someone is hiding behind a million, million dollar mastermind, right? It feels very much like, like lifting and bodybuilding.
You know, my brain always goes to sport and things like that. Right. And it's been really cool watching my guy, Aaron Straker.
You, you folks know, I like watch slash listen to one podcast and it's ETP, E-Train Prosper. Aaron is one of the hosts. And he's been on a very serious bodybuilding journey.
He turned pro. Um, and he also built out a gym in Bali, um, seemingly the best gym in Bali. And he's been in charge of sourcing equipment and, you know, speaking to the equipment side of things, we have all these new gadgets and all this new type of equipment and these new machines.
And he stays saying how the old stuff is just so fucking good and it'd be hard to find, but it's just so good. I similarly, when it comes to the actual programming and you watch people experiment with weight training programs and bodybuilding approaches, right. I did all of these, like you super young evidence-based guys and they're like only doing isometrics and like immediately know from me, but you do you boo.
Right. But at the end of the day, it is the, you know, the traditional approaches that continue to come out on top, work really fucking hard, be consistent and get your nutrition. Right.
You know, there's no like magic bullet, no silver bullet, like whatever, you know, whatever the, the phrase is. Right. But bringing it back to online business.
Again, I don't want to come off as nihilistic or fatalistic, like, especially for those of you who have been at it and you're like, maybe this thing is why, you know, this online business thing isn't working for me. And I just want to, again, reiterate that the number one fundamental and foundational thing that needs to be there for traditional business success, be it online or in person is demand, right? Not all niches are created equal and social media where the audience is going to be, where you're going to looking to like establish that demand, right? It is a game of luck. It's a game of aesthetics.
It's a game of timing and topic popularity. Right. And when I say aesthetics, I mean, it's how you look, right? That definitely plays a role in the things, right? What you're talking about, how you look, the timing of these things.
Right. So, you know, why even bother paying a coach? That's the great question. You don't have to, you absolutely do not have to.
But I think for those of you that are like thinking about it, and this is not at all like a pitch for any coaching services, but just to like bring the episode full circle here, you know, you pay for a coach for implementation, to teach you those basics and hold you accountable to them, to make you do the foundational things that you don't want to do. It's why I pay Steven, you know, above all to play volleyball, because I'm like, I'm not going to fucking drill this things. The coach highlights your blind spots.
The coach makes you do the things that you don't want to do. Like, I don't want to work on passing, but you fucking need to. The coach will make that approach specific to you.
What do you actually need for volleyball? It's like, I don't need to work on that. So I need to actually work on these few things. Okay, cool.
Same, same for online business, right? The coach will make it specific to your niche, your values, your capacity. Maybe you do it, you pay for a coach to be in a group of other people. That's part of the reason I pay for a volleyball coach.
There's other people there. Perhaps you pay for a coach, I see this a lot in the online space, to manage expectations because it's like so unknown and it's like secretive and like people just be fucking lying. And you're like, what should I be expecting? Like, am I doing well? Am I not doing well? Maybe you need someone to cheer for you.
You pay for a coach to lay out the steps for you in an achievable, in an achievable order and a sustainable cadence, right? But again, this is not a push for you to get coached by all means. Don't get one. I don't care.
I have that free training. Start there. I just, this episode is simply my contribution to the Don't Get Got Fund.
And if you've been in the online space, if you've been listening to Jill, why she's my, my number one rec, right? If you listen to Jill, we can drop her podcast. FitB is you in here. If you folks don't know who I'm talking about, I don't know.
I don't know who I'm talking about. My best friend, but we'll drop her stuff in there. Thank you, Courtney.
Thank you, Jojo. Fun fact, Courtney also edits her podcast, Jill's podcast. But if you've been listening to Jill, if you've been listening to me, I promise you, there is not some super secret approach that we haven't taught you, that we haven't talked about, and it's going to magically skyrocket your business.
All right. Pick the foundational thing, things, and double down, right? There's nothing new out there. And the most important factor is, and always will simply be demand.
All right. Looking at the time, looking at the camera. That is all for today.
You got questions, comments, concerns, additions, subtractions, thoughts, requests, shoot me a message. It's such a unidirectional platform. I was talking to the BDI of the camera.
Hit me up on Instagram. Move it, Maestro. Shoot me a text 310-737-2345.
Would love to hear from you. All right. Officially going to wrap it up there.
As always, endlessly, endlessly. One more time. Endlessly appreciative for every single one of you.
Until next time, friends. Maestro, out.
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