SHOW TRANSCRIPT

This transcript is automatically generated by Descript.  Any errors or omissions are unintentional.

[00:00:00]

Jeff Sieh: Hello folks, welcome to another edition of Social Media News Live. This is going to be a fun show, um, which just Conor and me, and we’re going to be talking all about our do overs. What we would do over. So, Conor Brown, how are you doing today, my friend?

Conor Brown: I’m great. I love a duo show. A duo do over show,

Jeff Sieh: right. Hopefully, we won’t have to do over this show. Um, but yeah, so, uh, we are excited to talk about, you know, what we would do over. We’d love to know what you would do. If you had to start over all from the beginning, what would you do? What would you change? Like, it’s really fascinating. I think we can learn from each other’s mistakes.

And, you know, as my kids are getting older, my daughter’s actually working for me. She’s kind of in this business. Like, she can learn stuff from this. So I’m really excited for you guys to chime in about this show. And you know what? If you would help us out. Oh, we got some people popping in already. Gary Stockton saying good morning and happy Friday, friends.

Good morning, Mr. Gary Stockton. He looks like he’s having some coffee. Uh, have some on me, [00:01:00] uh, Gary, that’s going to be awesome. And then we have my friend, um, Ask Ralph from, uh, Ask Ralph, uh, podcast. He goes, hello there. Looking forward to coming back in time. We promise we won’t get up to 88 miles per hour, uh, with our flux capacitor.

Uh, hopefully we’ll, we’ll be a little bit calmer than that, but yeah, so, um, if you guys, if you do me a favor, um, and would you share this out to other people, uh, on the interweb, somebody who maybe needs a dis, uh, do over, maybe disappointed, maybe struggling where to start if they’re starting a new business, this would be the show for them.

So call them in down below, and we’ll be talking all about that. Uh, what our top 10 do overs are. And look, the other Gary is in here as well. We’ve got Gary Ebbles was here. Ebbles, I can’t even see. If I could do over, I’d learn how to pronounce names better. That’s what I would do starting out. And, uh, Ralph says he is not about podcasting, but I could do anything over.

I would have more presents for my wife and kids. Oh, I’m saying, uh, Cubs, when they were younger. Oh, Ralph, I, I feel ya. My, our kids are out of that. My kids are out of the house [00:02:00] now. I’m sure we’ll talk about that a little bit. And, uh, uh, Jim Pugh says, good morning. How do we start over if we are not tall? I don’t know.

I don’t understand. Maybe. I don’t know. Uh, get on a stool, get on

Conor Brown: to even look at his opinion. He’s short. You know, I think that’s what he’s made of. Randy Newman, he wrote that song, Short People Have No Reason to Live. Insane that that’s an actual song in the world. And then he went on to write all the music for Toy Story. Weird. Weird.

Jeff Sieh: Before we get started, I want to do a big shout out to my pal, my co host, Mr. Conor Brown. Mr. Conor Brown, if you don’t know, owns Vacation Kingdoms. He’s an amazing travel agent. He does things all across the globe, sets up great travel for people. He’s helped me as well. So, if you, uh Have a hankering for some travel and who doesn’t because the kids are back in school.

This is the time to go, right? It’s not crowded. It’s not insane at the parks. Connor Brown, [00:03:00] vacationkingdoms. com. Make sure you go check him out. He’s got blog posts. He’s got guides. Check him out on his Instagrams and his, you do TikToks anymore, Connor?

Conor Brown: No, I mean, the TikTok is out there still. I gave it up for Lent two years ago and, uh,

Jeff Sieh: have to go back. Yeah.

Conor Brown: went back, never

Jeff Sieh: Yeah, so, but he’s got, he’s all over and You just went and did some, uh, like some research for some of this stuff, didn’t you? Like for this new FastPass thing that’s going on and some other stuff.

Conor Brown: Yeah. So there’s a brand new system in Walt Disney World called Lightning Lane, Single Pass, Lightning Lane, Multipass. It’s a paid fast pass service, brand new. I was in the parks testing it a lot. I put together a podcast episode, so you can check it out. vacationkingdoms. com slash podcast, or wherever you find podcasts, vacation kingdoms.

Thanks so much for that plug, Jeff. I appreciate you.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah, well, the thing is, is that podcast is really great because it’s not just about Disney. He rotates through the, you know, the Magic Kingdom stuff, the Disney stuff, the Disney Cruise Line, and also Universal. So you got everything, [00:04:00] everything you need for a vacation right there at vacationkingdoms. com.

So, uh, what I would love for you to do as we’re plugging I would love for you guys to sign up for my newsletter so you’ll know exactly what’s coming up. Our guests, I really kind of think it’s some of the best stuff that I do, uh, putting out there. You can find out more about that at jeffsieh. com forward slash news.

Uh, the two, two times a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, those are when those emails come out. And I would love for you guys to sign up and find out more about it. Never written by AI, it’s all my crazy weirdo mind. So, go check that out at

Conor Brown: You should have that as a tagline, by the way, never by AI, always by my crazy mind.

Jeff Sieh: Yes, that’s exactly what it should be.

Alright, so I’m gonna hit go on the podcast machine and we’ll get started. Are you ready, uh, Connor?

Conor Brown: Let’s do it.

Jeff Sieh: Alright, here we go. Let me get everything set up and Why isn’t things There we go. Hello, folks. Welcome to Social Media News Live. I’m Jeff Sieh, and you’re not.

Conor Brown: And I’m Conor Brown and this is the show that keeps you up to date on what’s happening in the [00:05:00] world of social media and more.

Jeff Sieh: Have you ever wished you could hit the reset button and start fresh? Maybe you’ve learned a few lessons the hard way and wondered what you’d do differently if you had the chance. Well, you are not alone. Conor Brown And I have been there, too, and we’ve got some stories to tell. In this episode, we’re diving into our top ten things we’d change if we had to start over from scratch, from avoiding those oops moments to making smarter choices up front.

We are spilling the beans on what we’ve learned. So, sit back, clear your schedule, clear your mind, and get ready for this week’s episode of Social Media News Live. Connor Brown, out. How many mistakes have you made? Can you count them up?

Conor Brown: Well, my mom says I’m perfect, so I don’t think any, ever.

Jeff Sieh: Exactly. So, uh, we have put together a list of top tens. We’re going to go through them today, discuss them with you. Feel free to chime in, like if you agree, disagree, or like, oh, but do this instead. Let us know. But I do want to do a shout out to our amazing sponsors, [00:06:00] Ecamm. You can find out more about them at ecamm.

com forward slash Jeff, that’s ecamm. com. Forward slash Jeff, use code jeff15 to save 15 percent on your first purchase. Uh, so, Ecamm’s amazing. They make no mistakes. But, I have. And we’re gonna talk about that. So, Connor, I want you to go first. Like, we’ve kind of each picked out five that we’re gonna kind of discuss back and forth.

But, what is your, like, you know, ranking them out? What’s your, your, the one that you would start at, number five?

Conor Brown: So I just did for my number five, monetize sooner than you think. And what I mean by that is, it doesn’t mean, you know, bringing in 100, 000 or something like that, but simply selling something a lot sooner than you think. It could be affiliate links, it could be advertisements, it could be selling a little digital product, something like that, but it’s getting in the mindset of actually selling, which is funny because this is what I’ll be presenting on at Momentum, which is coming up in just a few weeks.

Crazy! I’m going to be presenting on sales, and I [00:07:00] think for a lot of people that kind of start with a side hustle or start with something, you know, that they want to build into their full time gig, they’ll do a lot of it. Free, free, free, free. And it’s, you should, right? You should jab, jab, jab, and then hit them with the right hook as they always say.

But I think the earlier you start with even just some small little sales things or small ways to monetize, it’ll be so much easier over time to make those big significant gains when it comes to sales and actually start getting real valuable money coming in that can maybe make it your day job.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah, and we’re going to talk about that money as we go along. Um, I, I totally agree about, you know, monetizing your thing. And, and a lot of people are like, well, how do I do that? Like, I just started. Well, you know, you mentioned affiliate links and people think, well, affiliates are like, you have to have so many You can actually start, and a lot of podcasters I know have done this, they start like with Audible, and they just put that at the beginning of their show, like, hey, this is brought to you by Audible, you [00:08:00] know, if you want to get some great books, and, you know, they even tie it into what they’re talking about, like, this book is what really helped me with this, with, you know, finances, or, you know, scaling, or whatever, they can use Audible, and it It pays a decent thing, so a lot of those places, if you have those links, you can sign up and become an affiliate.

You know, I’m an affiliate for Ecamm, I’m an affiliate for a lot of things that are actually in my, in my toolbox, and one of the cool things about this JeffSieh. com forward slash toolbox is that there’s a checkmark with everything, so I’m disclosing that this is affiliate links because you want to make sure you do that.

And, but it also lets people know, hey, this is how you can help support me too. So, um, any of those things is great. Like how many people in the comments? I’m interested. We’ve got, uh, Gary in here. Gary says, um, if I could do it over, I could definitely buy more Apple stock. Yes, I think we all would. Oh my gosh.

Especially right after they had that. What was that next machine or the Lisa that just kind of bombed? That’s the time to buy.

Conor Brown: I think [00:09:00] Lisa bombed next was, that’s what Jobs other company was, right?

Jeff Sieh: right. Yeah.

Conor Brown: And they brought him back in. Yeah. I think the other thing about, you know, starting to sell something or, or monetizing sooner than you think, like with that audible idea, if you are a podcast or have a live show, it’s just getting into the practice makes perfect kind of space, right?

You’re creating ad reads, even if you’re not getting a whole lot. So then when a big advertiser or you have a product that you actually really want to sell. comes knocking. You’ve already done it so many times that it’s so much easier to make that sale and ask for that in your show.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah, that’s a great point. Uh, Kira says, Happy Friday, y’all. I definitely check out the podcast, Connor. Uh, I gotta figure out how those new lightning lanes work. And this is a great point from Ralph. He says that finding, I’m finding that managing and finding those affiliates is a full time job and hard work.

So, uh, Uh, we just talked about this a little bit in the mastermind, we’re having a whole, uh, monetization thing that Connor is a part of, and some [00:10:00] other people are in the comments here, Jim as well. Um, and one of the things is, it’s really tempting to go everywhere and spread yourself too thin. I was very, very blessed that when I first started, I already loved Ecamm, I was already using them, and so it was a natural fit.

So don’t do something that’s, you know, you’re, it’s a not fit for your company, and you just kind of see, oh, they’re big, they got some money. Find things that really matter and what would matter to your audience. Like, it makes no sense for me to advertise Casper mattresses. I’m Jeff Sieh, and I’m going to be talking to you about how to get started on this right now.

Really, I mean, because it, I mean, it may because I like to take naps, but it, it’s not, it doesn’t fit in really with what my audience sees me doing and talking about. So you got to be careful without that. One of the ways to manage it, Ralph, that I have found, find is I have a Notion database. I’ve, you’ve heard me talk about Notion before.

And so I’m able to put, plug those things in and track it and make sure I know where money’s coming in and all that stuff. But it can be overwhelming. I would stick with a couple like three that are really, really good and do really, really well for you and [00:11:00] just really focus on that to start. That’s

Conor Brown: And think things, you know, to write products that you’ve already used, that you really like, you think people will get benefits. What’s that old Gillette commercial? I love the product so much. I bought the company that’s sort of, you know,

Jeff Sieh: Or the hair club, you know, I’m not just the president. I’m also a member. Yeah. That kind of thing. So, um, yeah. And, and Megan Powers says I would have tried to get harder to get that job at Cisco in 1995. Yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s true. So I, I just was on, um, I was recording an episode for Michael Stelzner’s new, um, AI, uh, uh, Explored podcast and I had to go back and I was thinking like how long have I actually been doing this stuff and like my son is now going to be 25 and I was doing it before that so I’ve been in this industry for like, you know, it’s changed wildly but for over 25 years and so my number five Is this is don’t be afraid to collaborate.

I remember when I first started, I was so [00:12:00] freaky to put stuff out there because I thought everybody was going to copy me and steal my stuff and all this stuff. Like I wouldn’t put pricing on the websites and all this stuff. And that was probably the dumbest thing that I did for a couple of years. I was so paranoid that they’re going to take my content and, and do something with it or, or steal my idea.

I did this great video. They’re going to steal it. And. That is further from the truth. Being able to collaborate, like, you know, Connor and I collaborate on stuff. I have all these different people that I, you know, that we’re friends. Technically we would be competitors. Like I’ve had Ian and Anderson Gray on the show for a lot of times.

Technically he and I kind of do the same thing. Other people kind of do the same thing. But if you have that attitude, you, you limit yourself so much. So, having the, uh, look, being on the lookout for collaboration and how you can, you know, the, what is it, rising tide raises all boats kind of a thing. I mean, uh, that is so important and I wish I would have done that earlier instead of been so [00:13:00] paranoid about all the stuff that I thought I was putting out there and, you know, I had to hold everything really, really tightly.

So, that’s my number five,

Conor Brown: And it’s also being open to when somebody asks you to collaborate, right? So there’s that one side of looking for people to collaborate with, but then when someone approaches you, be open and receptive to that. Like when Jeff asked me to co host for the first time, I was like, Oh my God, are you sure? Me? Me?

But I was, I was so excited and, and I’ve gotten so much from, from being able to collaborate with people, not just for my own personal things, but being able to Even reach other people. Like I’ve met so many people through Jeff’s network who I really, really appreciate and admire now. So I, I love collaborating.

I think it’s great to get a second opinion too, and it helps you get your rut and out of your own headspace. So I think it’s super, super important.

Jeff Sieh: the coolest thing now is because I’ve been doing this for long, so long and I know so many people it’s so great to have this network where I can throw [00:14:00] something out there and say is this a good idea or did I word this right, am I gonna offend anybody, I mean those kind of things make a huge difference like just knowing that you have people who will help you when you, I mean I have Slack channels where I just can throw something in there and people will respond so those things are really really cool so, you know, Collaboration, networking, that’s all kind of the part of the same thing.

That’s what I would have done. And, uh, we got some more great comments. This is great from Rich. And he says, it’s pretty cool waking up to an affiliate deposit, even if those, uh, even with 50 bucks. Here’s the thing, and I love that, Rich, and, uh, Jim and Chris from the Dealcasters used to say this, because when you do Amazon Affiliates, you’ll get like 10 cents, you know.

My biggest seller right now is those goofy little, um, uh, apples that kill fruit flies, right? You know, you put them in your kitchen. You But the thing is, if you sell a gajillion of those, those nickels and dimes start stacking up, right? That’s what’s really cool. And so, uh, I think that’s great, Rich, for, for saying that.

[00:15:00] Uh, Gary says, from, like Sting says, if you love something, set it free. Uh, that’s great. And our friend Dustin Stout is back. Um, doing all the great things over at Magi. I just, uh, gave, somebody asked me for my Magi affiliate today, uh, Dustin, so you’re killing it out there, man. It’s awesome. Thank you for stopping by today.

So, we’ve done number five. Yours was monetized sooner than you think. Mine is don’t be afraid to collaborate. Um, number four, Connor, what’s your number four, uh, top ten do over that you would do?

Conor Brown: I would focus much more if I had to do it over again on chasing consistency and not chasing numbers. So I think. Especially when you’re creating something and it’s going to the internet, whether it’s on social media, whether it’s building a newsletter, whether it’s a live show or YouTube or video or some sort of content.

I think it’s so, so, so easy. And we’ve all fallen into the trap of seeing how many likes, views, comments we get. Right? And having that be the end all be all to determine if [00:16:00] it is successful. I think I’ve grown so much more as a person and I’ve understand so much more that you can only put in your work.

Everything else after that, it’s up to the fates. Right? You can do plenty of stuff to put things out there and, and whatnot, but you really need to focus on your input so that when you’re putting stuff out into the world, it’s It is what it is. Focusing on consistency, I think, can do that. So, you don’t get bogged down when you spend all this time making a video, and then two people watch it.

You think it’s a failure. No. The success was actually making the video and putting it out there. That was your mission. That was your goal following that. Jerry Seinfeld talks about a thing. He says your job as a comedian is to simply this, get up and write a joke. It doesn’t have to be good, it doesn’t have to be bad, you just have to get up every day and write a new joke.

And then what your job really becomes is to not break the chain. So you have a chain of every day, you have an X on your calendar, wrote a joke, [00:17:00] wrote a joke, wrote a joke, then your job is to don’t break the chain. Break the chain. That’s all you can focus on. So I would much more if I had to go back in time, just tell myself, just be consistent, be consistent, be consistent.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah. So one of the things, I can’t remember who said it, but like, what was something, uh, success is, uh, mostly just showing up. Like, and I mean, that’s, I mean, that, think about for this show, there’s, um, you know, we have a great community. People show up every week and we show up every week at the same time.

We missed like one or two or we pre record if we have to. But, I mean, I had to, I told somebody who wanted to come on the show this week, I said, he says, hey, I can’t do Fridays. I’m like. That’s when we do it. Like, that’s it. That’s when people show up. That’s when we do our show. I’m sorry. Uh, you know, anytime else, just let me know.

But, that consistency, when you think about most people, in our circles, you think about we’re all creators, most everybody in the chat is creators. We are doing something that, [00:18:00] 99 percent of the rest of the world is not doing, right? Like, if you go to your PTA or your church or whatever and you say, Hey, do you, do you do any sort of creative thing?

They’ll may say I knit or something, they don’t, but they’re not out like we are in public, social media, live video, whatever. So you’re already ahead. The other thing is, is most people stop though, that once they start trying it, like, I think podcasts last, most podcasts last seven episodes. And then they’re done.

And so, Connor, what you said is like, you know, telling yourself to be consistent, and a lot of times it’s a lot of, a lot of people have like, when I first started it was fits and stops, you know, I would go for a while, then I’d stop, I’d get a new client, and I couldn’t do it. Um, but having that one after another, and I know Kira has just started a great podcast that I was honored to be one of her first guests on, that, um, she’s being consistent.

She’s starting that path, and what really matters is continuing and not giving up, even when it stinks and it feels like nobody is listening. People are listening, you just don’t know it, and [00:19:00] being consistent is just, I would drill that into my podcast. So, uh, I am going to have to test my younger self over and over and over if I could because that’s a, that’s a big deal.

So

Conor Brown: every overnight success has years of hard work that you don’t actually see. I

Jeff Sieh: couple comments is, uh, Dustin, he’s talking about his affiliates. Cause he has a cool affiliate program over at Magi. He goes, I don’t love spending money, but I love paying out my affiliates every month. So partnering with, when you’re talking about affiliates, partnering with brands who have that vision and know that affiliates are a big deal.

That’s another thing you look for, Ralph. You had asked that question earlier. Um, so find those brands like Dustin’s that are really, really good. Gary says he would not focus as much on social channels and spend more time building an email community. We’re going to talk about that a little bit, but that is true, Gary.

Um, that email that you own, that is more and more, uh, it’s really, really important. And then Ask Ralph says, uh, well said it’s not about the numbers. It’s building relationships. [00:20:00] So speaking of this, I have my pal from Italy, Nazeem. He’s all, he’s the, an old Google plus friend from way back. Uh, so Nazeem, thank you so much for, uh, chiming in today.

It’s so very, very cool. And yeah, he’s part of the old school with Dustin and everybody. Uh, he’s on vacation. I think you just, you just had an anniversary, Nazeem, so congratulations with that. I saw a post. It looks like you were having breakfast in bed. I was a little jealous, but, uh, that’s pretty awesome.

Um, anyway, so, uh, it’s great. The community thing is worth so much more than 20, 000 followers, if you ask me. It just, it just really is. So, so, yours was, um, Chase Consistency, not numbers. And here’s mine. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would create a product from the very beginning. Like something, some sort of, you know, we had talked about this in Mastermind that I wish I would have created a lead magnet way before.

So I consider like even a [00:21:00] lead magnet a product because you’re giving something away to get an email address. So there, there is a kind of a transactional thing happening. So, uh, it took me forever to do that. It took me forever and I wish I would have done that earlier. If you don’t have a lead magnet or some sort of piece that you can give something, you need to, after this video, not, not now, later, but after we’re done, you need to go and start brainstorming some ideas.

So this is a great tool for creating a lead magnet. Then you could upsell later on and build that out and make it into a product. But that’s one of those who, um, that I wish I would’ve done a lot earlier. Does anybody else in the comments feel my pain? Because, uh, I, uh, I, I really, uh, wish I would have done that earlier.

So, um,

Conor Brown: You know, I, I think we’re going to keep talking about monetization, obviously, but the main difference is if you’re not making money from something, it’s a hobby, right? If you’re spending and putting more into it, it’s a hobby. And that’s totally fine. You [00:22:00] need to have hobbies. You need to do things.

Jeff whittles and does other very eccentric things like plays the banjo, uh, and, and beards. Um, is, would you say beard is a hobby for you?

Jeff Sieh: Not anymore. It may have been at one time but it is not anymore. It is full time, buddy. Yeah. Yeah.

Conor Brown: mean, I think that that’s super important is, is creating that product, whether it’s, you know, even if it is a quote unquote freebie, you’re still getting something in exchange and that’s taking you away from being a hobby to actually being something that can bring you in that money. Cause that’s what we need.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah, so, and like you said, I know a lot of great hobby podcasters that do great shows and do a lot of cool stuff. And if that’s what you want to do, that is totally fine. I get it. If you, there’s a couple, there’s even a guy in our mastermind who has a full time job, but he also has this side hustle that he’s building.

Perfectly fine. That’s smart, in my opinion. Like, you have a solid base and you can go and build your kind of dream job later. So that is really, really cool. So, um, so, [00:23:00] um, What’s the, so Creator Product was mine, so you’re up. So, number three for you, Connor.

Conor Brown: got it. Um, so my number three is focus on the content you own more from the start. And what I mean by that is, again, it all comes back to vanity metrics. When you start something, you say, I’m going to get huge on Instagram. I’m going to be the biggest, I’m going to be the biggest threader. Is that what we’re calling them?

Threader?

Jeff Sieh: maybe. You know.

Conor Brown: this side of the Mississippi, right? And that’s how I’m going to build everything. And then overnight an algorithm changes or your account violates some sort of issue and everything’s gone, right? Focus on the content you wholly, wholly own. We’ll talk about a little bit more when it comes to email in a little bit, but things like your podcast you still own.

Right? The, the PDF downloads, your website. Yeah, algorithm changes are this and that, but you still own it. It’s still yours. You still can take it [00:24:00] and put it elsewhere if you want as well. When you’re building a community on somebody else’s platform on that rented land, it can be taken away from you just as quickly, even quicker than it takes you to build it.

So invest your time and resources in things that are going to bring you what you want. Yeah. But also, things that are going to last and you can take with you from place to place to place. Um, I would focus on that so, so, so much more. I mean, every day I wake up and I’m like, what’s the point of, of this social media stuff, right?

Like, is it getting me to where I want or is it making me feel good about myself? Which, more often than not, I feel bad about myself on social media and I do it feeling good about myself.

Jeff Sieh: uh, back in the day, it was more social networking. There were circles, and you could do that. And now, there is this, all this, so much negative stuff that is associated with it. That’s one of the reasons we are changing the name to Creator News Live. Coming up because I think social media has a bad connotation, but you’re totally right.

Like you were on vacation last week, Conor, but we had [00:25:00] JP Hitech here and he had a hundred thousand, uh, subscriber YouTube channel taken away. And it was, and it wasn’t any, it was a must stake from YouTube. They had accidentally flagged his account, and he is still working on getting that fixed. He’s got a new YouTube channel, but once again, when you’re builded on rented land, this can really, uh, struggle.

I, I, I’ve really been enjoying, like, writing. I mentioned my newsletter earlier in the show, jeffsieh. com forward slash news. And, um, One of the things about it is I thought, Oh, I’ll just take it and put it on LinkedIn. But then, you know, because LinkedIn newsletters do well and all this stuff, but I’m like, I don’t know if I want to put that there.

Cause then it’s not mine anymore. And you know, those kinds of things, you really got to balance eyeballs versus ownership. And so, yeah, it’s, it’s a tough one to think about and having those spots that like your newsletter, your website. I would say your videos, like, you know, most people know that [00:26:00] not just to put them on YouTube, but also have a backup copy, because Once again, YouTube could take them away or delist them or something like that.

And I think video content is kind of the best bang for your bucks. And if you have those, I think you’d rebuild if you had to. So, um, uh, anyway, we’ve got some great comments. I want to pull this up and this is, uh, awesome. And I hear this all the time. And this is from Megan. She goes, I’ve never taken a sponsor for making a marketer, but I’ve been hired to host, produce other podcasts and events.

So it had beyond paid for itself in that way. I know, uh, I talk a lot with, uh, Chris Stone and Jim Fuse, who are the Dealcaster guys, and Chris is a great video editor. The reason he does such a good job and takes so much time on his shorts that he does or his repurposed content is because it gets him business.

Because other companies, other people see how great his stuff is. And then he goes, I want that for my stuff. And so that’s how he gets in. And that’s a great way. Like you, and we had Michael Alton on a [00:27:00] couple of, uh, oh gosh, it was a couple of months ago talking about zero listen podcasts and his whole thing is to get connection.

He’s using his podcast, um, episodes and interviews as a way to make connections with people he wants to connect with and do business with. So genius stuff out there. You don’t have to do it. Megan, for that. Um, and, uh, so Nazeem says, totally agree with that one, Connor. Third party dependency is not ideal.

And, uh, Gary says, oh, a Google Plus reference from Jeff’s circles. I miss Google Plus. The circles were fun. It was real, that was kind of the cool way to do that. And yeah, um, tech, it was, he was talking about it last week. So if you haven’t listened to that episode, Really, really good. Um, he had such a great attitude about it.

I would have been just like, I would still be devastated about, you know, having a hundred thousand plus, you know, cause you’re making some money off that too, so

Conor Brown: So there’s one, uh, there’s a comment from Jim when, uh, Jim Hughes, Fusion [00:28:00] Marketing. He says, you know, this is why I’m using Substack, which I think Substack is, is a lot of the, uh, the tech du jour, right? The tech of the day right now. So many people are using it. So many people are interested in it. And, uh, I feel a little bit of it is shiny object syndrome, like anything, but I’ve also seen so much success that people have gotten from it.

So what I want to know from Jim and anyone else that has dabbled or is thinking of dabbling in Substack is how do you differentiate that from other third party platforms, right? Like, A blogger that we used to have back in the day or, or whatever it might be. I know you kind of own your own products and it’s a way to get just money, like gated content sort of pieces.

But what’s the benefit of that versus just having it on your website or something like that?

Jeff Sieh: My issue with Substack and why, and I may be wrong. I know Guy uses it now. He switched some stuff over. I don’t like seeing these weird numbers and then Substack. com when it comes in my email [00:29:00] address. A lot of, I mean, when my email comes out, it says Jeff from JeffSieh. com. This is like branded with Substack.

And I don’t know if you could change that or I, maybe I’m not subscribed to the right people, but I don’t know, that just is like, eh, I want to have, and if, and there’s so many Stubstacks out there, like it’s almost grouping them together for me. And I’m like, which, which one’s Jim’s where, and maybe I’m wrong.

Maybe there’s something I need to do to change things. But I just thought that was interesting. So yeah, Tech Troublemaker says he posted a claim on Substack, but hasn’t pushed it yet. Uh, Jim says it allows you to paywall and also integrate video and you get email subscribers. Okay, that’s cool. Yeah, I mean,

Conor Brown: It’s simply a thing of, you still have to build your audience somewhere, right? It’s not like, you know, you’re going viral on, on, on X or, or whatever it is. It’s just a way to kind of gate your content.

Jeff Sieh: Abby says she likes the Substack chat, which I have not played with yet, so. That’s really [00:30:00] interesting. Um, so, this is great. Ralph says, there’s another thing I would do differently, find my passion and my voice in my show from the start and not worry so much about the editing. Your passion will grow with your show.

Those are just facts. That’s really smart, Ralph. You know, a lot of times, even with this show, if I go back to look at the first episodes, I was really not showing who I was. And same thing with my emails. I was, I was using AI too much. I was not, I was worried about not being professional enough. I think we all struggle with that when we first started out.

So that’s great, Ralph. Like going and telling people it’s okay to be you, like you’re unique, just like everybody else. So that’s what I would, I would say. Um, and Abby says a lot of the big news, uh, newsletters can get even more personal with people, uh, on there. And Jim’s talking about Substack and says it also allows community tools.

So that’s, that’s really, really, really good. So. Yeah, I just need to test it out. I don’t, I’m not to the point where I want to switch over anything. I’m really loving [00:31:00] ConvertKit. ConvertKit has a, like Substack, has a recommendation engine. When I see people coming in through that, um, it, you can upload video to that now too.

And there’s some other things that I really like from ConvertKit. So, um, Dustin, he probably, Dustin, you could probably do it. You build things. Yeah. He says something in me wants to build my own version of Google plus, gosh, what I need another thing to build. That’s right. But, uh, it, yeah, we all miss it because it was, it was more of just social networking.

It wasn’t a lot of the political stuff and we can talk and it was the wild west. Like it was with live video. It really was a lot of stuff. So. Okay, so. You just did number three, is that what you were on? The focus on the content, you know, more for the start. Here is mine, uh, Build your personal brand and don’t stop.

So when we first start out, a lot of us start out with service based things, right? I mentioned do some pro your products earlier to get away from some of that. [00:32:00] But a lot of us, just to pay the bills, we have to offer services. That’s what we do. Like, hey, we’re website designers, hey, we’re social media managers, we’ll do this for you, we’ll do that for you.

And that’s great. So you’re doing service based stuff and I think, I mean that just is the way it is. So you gotta pay the bills. It’s a way to pay the bills. The thing is, is a lot of times, and what happened for me, I went and worked for Social Media Examiner. They were, I didn’t, I wasn’t a 10 99, I was a contractor and, but they were my biggest client.

Right. They were, they were the ones. And then before that I had started on Manly Pincher tips and they kind of grew that, that’s how they noticed me. That’s how I got in, into that organization. What happened is because I was so busy and doing so much stuff for them, started with Pinterest, then went to Instagram.

Then I did start doing all their live shows and also, and then I spoke at all the conference, all that stuff. I let my personal brand kind of stagnate. I didn’t do stuff. I mean, my personal brand was, I was out there, but I was under another company. [00:33:00] And I was doing stuff for other companies too at the same time.

I was doing stuff for Tailwind, uh, all sorts of things. So, I, I kind of let my stuff die. And that’s what I wish I could go back and tell myself. Yes, you’re gonna have to work harder. It’s gonna, you know, the last thing when you’re, you know, Working for a client and you’re doing all this stuff is to come back and then have to work on your stuff, which is even harder in a way.

Like it’s like, uh, am I too, am I too salesy? Am I doing this? Am I, am I doing a humble brag? That sounds really gross, that kind of stuff. So I would tell myself, keep your personal brand growing. It’s okay to pivot. Like I could have pivoted from mainly Pinterest tips or something else, but don’t lose yourself in doing work for clients.

Now that’s easier said than done. But I wish I would have kept, like we talked about consistency earlier. I wish I would have kept going with my own show. If you watch mainly Pinterest, it’s when I started, it was great. Then it started like missing every other week. And then it was like every three weeks and then eventually just kind of died.[00:34:00]

So that’s the thing that I would do different.

Conor Brown: Yeah. I mean, I totally get that too. I’m I’ve definitely faced that in my own things as well. Um, You have to balance life. You have to balance what’s paying the bills. And at the same time, you know, where you want to get and you know, a personal brain can kind of get you there. I also think Jeff, it’s so important because today more than ever, when we talk about things we can trust, people like to buy from people, right?

And they like to buy from people that they think. They understand and know, like, and trust. And the best way to do that is to have a personal brand. Like, I know Jeff is the beard guy who talks about pooping his pants a lot, and I want to buy from him. I want to buy from him. Right?

Jeff Sieh: my depends. Yeah. My branded depends.

Conor Brown: But you’re, you’re making those connections with people.

And the easiest way to do that is through a personal brand, right? Personal is the key word there. When you’re being personal, you’re relating to other people and other people can relate back to [00:35:00] you. So you’ve already formed this connection. I mean, it happens all the time. You’ll be with Jeff, the big superstar that he is at one of these many events that we go to, whether it’s a podcast conference or something, and people come up and say, Oh, I feel like I know you cause I’ve watched you for so long.

And they’re meeting in person for the first time. It’s because he’s done such a great job at, you know, creating that personal brand that people can connect to, even it’s through just a camera and the chat.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah. The, the, and this goes back to building the product. Cause I want to talk about that. I really would encourage people just starting out. is yes, you have to, I mean, you have to do services because you have to pay the bills most times, or you’re working for a company as a contractor, like I did with Social Media Examiner, and try, I would just really say, like, keep, don’t forget about your product, right?

Don’t forget about, you know, if you’re doing training, trying to do training at scale, like, record, I tell everybody who, um, is presenting or speaking, whatever, always record everything. Everything you do, if you’re going on a [00:36:00] virtual, if you’re going on somebody’s virtual conference and giving a speech, record it so you can use it later, or you could put it in a, something that you’re going to like a, um, a membership or a, a course or something, always record everything that, where you’re speaking at, even if it’s just audio, that could be something for a special edition of a podcast, right?

It could be, you know, whatever it’s just, don’t let that content go away. If you’re putting the time in to putting a presentation together or speaking in a virtual conference or even at somebody else’s podcast, like those notes that you are hopefully preparing for and with, those you can turn into something else.

So, always think about product because the thing is, is, you know, a lot of times as solopreneurs and entrepreneurs, we’re like, yeah, we don’t have to talk to, you know, we don’t have to deal with the man and like, we don’t have a corporate job because those people could lose them at any time. Sadly, like, people can downsize or they can bring things internal.

I’ve done podcasts for, that I thought was going to [00:37:00] last for a couple, you know, at least a year. Then they decided, hey, you’re doing such a great job, we’re going to take it internal. And they don’t need me anymore. So you always run the risk of that. And the, the key is, is trying to diversify enough and find those things that you can do.

You can, like, if it’s just you, it’s you. Like, you’re killing what you eat. You know, you eat what you kill and so having those opportunities and thinking about, okay, I have to have to build, you know, I don’t want to rely on these services that I’m doing to go away. I want to be able to have people come to me and let me sell them my things and you know, that kind of stuff.

So. Um, anyway, some comments, and I’m very passionate about that, I hope you can tell, because I’m like, I’ve been through it. I have been through it. Uh, Kira says, This is a great point, Jeff. As a service based business, we definitely spend more time building client brands than their own. She’s really trying to shift this year, and I think a podcast is a great place to start.

[00:38:00] I think that having a pillar piece of content, and I think we’ve talked about this before, if you look at, like, people we look up to, like Lou Mangiello, His whole thing started with his, his podcast. Everything else comes from that. His live Wednesday show, his momentum conference, all those things flow out of that.

So what is your pillar piece of content that you’re creating, even if you have services that you’re offering? What are your

Conor Brown: And it’s, it’s about being consistent with that too, right? The reason that everything works for Lou is because he’s doing it for so many, so many, so many years. So the first pillar that you do, you have to get so good at being consistent at it, that it’s muscle memory. And when it’s muscle memory, then you have much more time.

Like when we first did our first podcast, we all remember that it probably was a 30 minute episode, right? And it took us, I don’t know, 10 and a half hours to figure out how we record. Oh my, edit, upload, but then it gets a [00:39:00] little bit shorter and the editing time gets a little bit quicker and you, you, you, you know, make things much more streamlined.

So consistently picking what you want to do first is that’s what’s going to make you be able to start doing the live more consistently. And that’s how you build your brand. I think, I think it’s just, it’s showing up being yourself, but consistency, consistency, consistency. Yeah.

Jeff Sieh: And this, I want to bring up this point from Megan. She goes, sometimes employers, clients don’t want you to have your own brand. I have, I have not, let me think. Have I ever had that? Maybe not, maybe way in the beginning, but not for a long time. So that I know people struggle with that though. I know like recently people who have had like, Hey, they didn’t like that.

You know, you going out there and doing that. So on those kinds of things, what I would tell you to do is know that you’re not going to keep that client for very long, like work on trying to replace that money. As quick as possible because all that’s going to do is going to keep you [00:40:00] from moving forward.

It’s like you’re pretty much in a holding pattern because of that if and it unless it’s really really really a lot of money and whatever but i’m like Most the time it’s not they’re just being selfish because they don’t they want you to be seen on your channel And not their other channel and if they want that then they need to pay more I mean, if, if, if they want you to be exclusive, it’s just like when I do an Amazon video and people say, Hey, uh, can we put that on your channel?

So I’m like, yeah, it’s going to be X amount of dollars because it’s no longer exclusive to me and I’m getting all the benefits and all that kind of thing. So I know it’s hard to do that and I’m not saying it’s easy and I’ve got it all figured out, but as long as you have those type of people in your life, you’re in a holding pattern until you move past it.

Conor Brown: it’s easy to think you’re going to be wedded to a client or something like that forever, but I think you need to go into everything with the mindset of, something’s going to go wrong, a breakup is going to happen,

Jeff Sieh: Right, it’s gonna go, yeah.[00:41:00]

Conor Brown: happen. That’s going to be, that’s great. If it doesn’t happen, that’s great.

But I think you need to set yourself up for the possibility that it could happen. So to Megan’s point, I think, you know, if someone is approaching you and they’re a new client and they’re laying out these terms, what’s Jeff, Jeff is saying is they’re either going to pay more for that, or you have to seriously consider not taking that as a client because you’re really limiting where you’re going to go after this contract or whatever it might

Jeff Sieh: Yeah, cause you’re, cause you need to, and this goes back to one of our other points, you know, like, starting from the beginning, building your brand, building your brand. Uh, Mark Schaefer has some great stuff about that in his books, like you’ve, that’s all you’ve got, and like, that’s, you know, if somebody’s trying to limit you, then they either gotta pay a lot of money, a lot of money to you, or, uh, that you’re just gonna have to pass on that one, or, Start looking for an exit strategy.

Um, so, uh, Nazeem says he’s got that problem with his Italian lifestyle blog. I love that, Nazeem. I need to go back and check that out. You’ve had it forever. Uh, he says, much to work, but we’ll back [00:42:00] in soon. I’m going to Italy, October, Nazeem, so we need to talk. Um, and he says also, love this top 10 do over.

So, yeah, uh, it, I think we need to talk more and be more transparent about this kind of stuff, because one, it helps people, and I wrote in my email, it keeps you from stepping in things that other people have stepped in before. Um, So, uh, Megan says, both shows I got hired to do took it in house after it made their podcast awesome.

Uh, Megan, I’ve been there. I have been there. Um, Uh, and then, Nazeem says, we lost Versace digital wise when a fund bought them and took the operation stateside. Yeah, the one thing, and I don’t have this on my list, but one thing is diversification. Diversification, diversifications, don’t put your eggs all in one basket.

And that goes for platforms, that goes for clients, that goes for services, that goes for your own products. Like, if you’re not diversified, you’re going to get burned, eventually, if you’re in it for any amount of time.

Conor Brown: and that’s something that, you know, people are doing for hundreds of years, [00:43:00] diversifying their portfolio. Right? Like it works in, in the stock world and they seem to know what’s going on. It’s got to work in other places. You know, you’re hedging your bets

Jeff Sieh: Yeah, so I grew up in a farming community and so you would always, like, you wouldn’t just plant one type of thing and you wouldn’t, you know, you try to diversify and like try it different things, different fertilizers on different crops and you know, you just have to have to do that to survive.

So it’s almost like, it is a lot like farming. You’ve gotta take the time, spreading the seed out. You gotta, you know, gotta cultivate your content and all the stuff that you’re doing. And then. You know, but you never know, COVID could come and wipe it out, like a lot of things happened that we weren’t expecting, but having diversification is what saved my business during that time, and being able to do this live stuff.

So, Gary says he would probably invest in better equipment like lighting earlier. The problem, Gary, I think a lot of people, they think that they have to have all this stuff to make good content, and really, I started with a Blue Yeti, and I know Chris [00:44:00] Stone, if he’s listening, is cringing. He hates the Blue Yeti, but I did it for you.

I had the Pro, uh, the Pro one, which actually plugged into soundboard, but it worked. Like, if you go way back to the YouTube videos, I didn’t have any background. I’m sitting in this, like, shed thing with, like, shells behind me, but I was consistent. And so, um, yes, I think having some better stuff early, but a lot of times I had no money.

Like, I had no money when I started. Like, uh, we talked about this in Mastermind. Like, I remember using Like whereas copies of like a Photoshop trying just to like, I need it. I got to get this stuff done and things would crash and I’m staying up all night. So yeah, it’s very important. Right,

Conor Brown: was going to add to my list. This might be a number six, but it’s your setup, whatever you’re creating. I would have made it. As easy as possible to create much sooner because I, I had tried YouTube for a little bit and this is my, this was my process. I would get my light kit out of my closet.

I would set it up. I [00:45:00] would position my stool ever so perfectly. I would make sure my back was well lit. I put the tripod up. I put the camera on. I made sure the sound was, I did all of that. And I would record one video, maybe two and put it all away. And I realized, I need so much time to do this, it’s, it’s not worth it.

So now what do I have? The mobile command center right here. It’s one desk, my soundboards here, two lights, a simple Insta360 4K webcam, right? I can click two buttons and I’m recording like that. That is something that I think I would want to do so much earlier because I would have been able to create so much more content so much more quicker.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah, that is totally a good piece of advice. Um, and I tell that when people were wanting to start a podcast or to start doing video, it’s like, you’ve got to have a station, even if it’s a corner, a little one. But have everything set up, because, like you said, Connor, having to set up, that just is another layer of friction that keeps you from creating content, and, creating content is hard, [00:46:00] like, listen, we talked about, like, 99 percent of people aren’t doing what you guys are doing, so, Reducing that level, like have your, like I have my mic on my, my boom pole where I can just pull it down and I have everything set up, nothing moves.

I don’t ever take this camera actually off of the, the tripod. One, it’s because it’s a pain in the butt to get to, but other than that, it, I mean, it’s just like, it’s there, it’s always on, click a button, go. Very, very, um, uh, yes, Jeff, that’s rich, I did say that. It’s, it’s a bad, don’t do it, kids. Don’t use cracked software.

Use, pay for Adobe Student Edition. Um, So, uh, Abby says, what about some time management or productivity routine do overs? I’m looking at you, Jeffrey. That’s, I’m your dad. Don’t call me Jeffrey. And finally, listening to your daughter and getting Notion. I did. So she was a big Notion fan before I had played with it.

But, um, yeah, I would have more, take the time to come to, to set up systems and processes before, I mean, for a long time, I was just throwing [00:47:00] stuff out there and forgetting things. And, you know, so having a system is very, very important. So. Um, and Kira says, um, uh, I love the idea of simplicity in the beginning.

It’s easy to feel like we need to have a complicated setup, which results in, uh, gas. Yeah. Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Yeah. Very true. I had gas a lot when I first started. I still have gas quite a bit.

Conor Brown: Just yesterday, I’d get,

Jeff Sieh: That’s cause you ate a bar taco. Um, um, And yeah, so Gary says also I do pretty much have a push button creation environment now.

Gary has a great like mobile rig he put together that he was sharing on Instagram. It’s pretty awesome. Like so you can, you know, think things through and make it easier for yourself as you keep going. Like Gary, Gary’s got it down. So, um, so what are we on? So I did number three. So number two, uh, Connor is you.

We gotta get going, man.

Conor Brown: thing I would have wanted to do earlier is, is attend more events and connect with as many different types of people as possible. When you’re first starting out attending an event, [00:48:00] it can be like a huge, And it is a huge cost, even when you’re not starting out. It’s always a huge cost, but I always think it pays dividends.

Not necessarily for, you know, the tracks that are going to be at the event, the sessions or whatever, but it’s the networking, it’s, and I hate networking. Like it’s the worst. It’s pulling teeth with me to meet new people and go out of my way, right? But it always, always, always pays dividends. One big thing for me is I wish I started going to a Momentum sooner.

And I think there was only a couple of months before I started attending, but that has opened me up to so many new people. It’s opened me up to Jeff, which has opened me up to other circles of incredible creators and entrepreneurs. It opened me up to When I’m talking about attending events and connecting with many different types of people, I mean, people that you might not share all the similar interests or backgrounds or, or things like that.

I met Paul Gowder, who’s been a co host on this show, Momentum. Paul runs powwows. com, which is all about finding your [00:49:00] Native American heritage and Native American powwows around the country. I don’t know anything about that, right? I don’t understand anything about that. But Paul has been one of the most incredible people to be connected with because I’ve learned so, so, so much from him because he’s so brilliant at doing what he does from an entrepreneurial and content creation standpoint.

The only way I was able to make these connections is by putting myself out there and going to events. And those events have also led to me being in some pretty incredible masterminds and connecting with people. Especially when you’re by yourself, having a sounding board, like Jeff talks about, having Slack channels, people that you can go out to that you’ve met at these events, or you’ve met through these masterminds.

It’s been a godsend and it’s really helped me in times where I’m like, forget it, blow it all up. Forget about it.

Jeff Sieh: I’m done.

Conor Brown: They can bring you back down to earth and help you with all that.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah, so I would echo that as well. I remember I drove across country. I think this is 20 is before this. It was [00:50:00] 2014 2013 to social media marketing world. It was a California trip. Took me a couple days, stayed with some buddies, but From that trip, I got to meet Ian Anderson Gray. I got to meet Eric Fischer and Anthony Witt at a pod, um, pod, podcast meetup, movement meetup after that.

And we have, ever since then, been meeting every Monday for our Mastermind. So it’s Eric, me, and Anthony. And that’s been amazing. Like, you gotta think about it. Every Monday for over seven years, maybe? And that led to another one where I do Tuesday with some other guys. And so Um, those groups, Social Media Marketing World, great event, Momentum, I love, uh, because it’s so small, I love also the Ecamm thing that they started last year, their Creator Camp, and Connor’s gonna be at this one this year as, as well as I’m gonna be there with, uh, doing a, a session, so those things are, I love the intimates, I mean, I love the big ones, I love the big stage, Social Media Marketing World, They’re fun.

It’s great. It’s like, it’s like you see all your friends, [00:51:00] but then the smaller ones like momentum, you have those friends, but you’re also, you have another level of intimacy where you’re getting in together and building your brand and your business. And there’s people, like you said, outside of like your normal channels.

That’s what’s, what we need to do more of is. Like if I go to social media marketing world, nobody really is going to buy my stuff because they’re all like me, right? They’re all marketers trying to figure out things. But at like places like Momentum, I’m getting somebody who runs, works at the Smithsonian.

I’m getting a guy who writes books full time. I mean all these cool entrepreneurs and that’s what I love about those small things. And also the power of masterminds. My business would not be where it’s at if I did not have those masterminds that I meet consistently. We talked about that earlier. So, uh, bunch of great stuff there, Connor.

I love, uh, attending events. I think that’s really, really, really great. So, uh, my number two, and we touched about products and stuff, but building an email list from day one. It’s your [00:52:00] own stuff. Uh, if you have a podcast, and I luckily lucked out for this, because I, I didn’t know what else to do. So I just had a call to action.

Join my newsletter on the end of my pod, mainly Pinterest’s podcast. And I, I always have had some, some sort of call to action, but it’s been just this year where I’ve really invested in my email, like really thought about what I want to do, how I go about it and like who I’m actually having a conversation with the people who subscribe.

So I would do that, like build your email list, start a, it’s a community, like they respond back to me right now. And so. It’s really, really hard. I think, um, email, doing an email newsletter is like blowing your nose without a Kleenex. You know something went out, but you’re not really sure where it lands, right?

So, that’s the thing, um, it’s, it’s hard because you don’t get that, that feedback right away, but it’s so worth it. And so, I would start an email list day [00:53:00] one.

Conor Brown: got it. So it’s a way to infect people with your disease. That’s what I’m

Jeff Sieh: Right, it is, it’s like, it is, it’s, it’s getting them, you know, inoculated to Jeff. Uh, and so Nazeem says, love your newsletter. Thank you, Nazeem, so much for that. I appreciate it. Uh,

Conor Brown: incredible is, you know, you know, that it hits someone’s, uh, uh, email inbox or at least the, the service provider tells you that. What’s been really cool for me is I just relaunched my newsletter and I had all these people that I hadn’t emailed in quite a while. And when I emailed them, I just said, Hey, respond to this.

Let me know if you’re excited. And I get dozens of responses. From people. So they knew me because I was showing up in their inbox and they know me. So I think it’s a great way to connect with people.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah, and Paul Gowder, who we’ve had on before, is, he’s got an email course. It’s amazing. Uh, Liz, uh, Wilcox, who we’ve had on before, her email marketing thing is so much, it’s helped so much because you don’t have a blank page. You can kind of get some inspiration from her templates. Um, so this is a great question from, yeah, and Gary says, social media marketing world was very, [00:54:00] very cool.

Um, Ask Ralph says, How do you find a mastermind to join? Great question. There’s a couple of ways to do it. Some masterminds are like the one, the two I do, Monday and Tuesday are free. They happen organically. We just said, Hey, let’s meet and let’s do this. And it’s been beneficial for that many years. So we have continued it.

Like, so when we meet, Together in a conference or whatever. It’s just like, we can continue the conversation, right? There’s paid masterminds, which I run one and Connor’s a part of that and some other people. Um, those are great too. Those are usually for a set amount of time. I think, ours is six months is what we’re doing.

And we, and then with an option to renew or whatever. Um, but if you’re having trouble finding a mastermind, Ralph, it’s just ask, like find people, And I, what I think with a mastermind is you don’t want to have somebody who’s like, like me getting underneath Pat Flynn’s mastermind. Like he is stratospheric, right?

Like he is like way up there. You want to get somebody who’s like two or three levels of where you [00:55:00] want to go and like ask them like, hey, can we get together? Or hey, would you mind mentoring me with some six other people who ever thought about a mastermind? Those are the things that I would try to help you find a mastermind.

The other thing would be a lot of that stuff can happen at conferences. You know, Connor mentioned getting together. Like there’s a lot of masterminds that came out of momentum. There’s a lot of things, you know, meetups and stuff that have come out of that. But just ask, like ask people, what do you think, Conor?

Conor Brown: I think it’s about, you know, understanding the people you follow as well. I mean, I think if you’re having trouble too, you know, uh, you can start one like what Jeff did, right? Try to find some people that you think are in the same spot. And then that one person or two people that are a little bit above beyond where you’re trying to go and just say, can we just hop on a call and kind of see where it goes from, from there?

I think people, Just because it can be new people, right? It can be a commitment, those sorts of things. So it’s kind of, you [00:56:00] get out what you put in sort of situation, but start small and, and, and go from there. And, um, yeah, I mean,

Jeff Sieh: And it’s okay to, yeah, it’s. Yeah, it’s okay to leave ones that aren’t working. Like, that is fine. Like, you don’t want to be, you’re not, I don’t think you should go in thinking like, you’re going to be stuck with these people. Um, like the ones we did, we had like, we wanted to have a commitment because there’s that awkward phase always as you’re getting to know each other and stuff and then, You know, give it some time, but then if it’s not working, it’s, it’s okay to leave.

Um, the reason I started mine with Eric and Anthony, we were, I was, I was trying to figure out how to do a podcast. That was way back in the day. And they both had great podcasts and I’m like, Hey, let’s, let’s meet. And so I, I just asked, and they shouldn’t have let me in, but they did, so, you know, you never know.

There’s a great question from Angel, says, What are some differences with an accountability group versus a mastermind? There’s a lot of times masterminds are, um, [00:57:00] there’s different ways. You can have hot seats, you can have some different things. I like to run masterminds like an accountability group. So there is like we do, um, hot seats in ours and, um, we bring people on each week and then we also, um, but we also hold people accountable.

Like, hey, you said last week you’re working on your lead magnet. Where you at? How’s it going? And that’s, I, I like those kinds of things. I like kind of a blend with Eric and Anthony. We’ve been doing it so long. We don’t really have hot seats. We’re like, Hey, can I take the time? Cause I got this, like, can you help me with this?

Or, Hey, you know, and I mean, we get into family stuff. It’s like, you know, it’s, it’s not just business. So we’ve been doing it for so long. And that’s what I love about it. So if you can get those kinds of things, that’s really awesome. Um, and let’s see here. Gary says I would do more engaging with smaller creator channels, leaving more comments.

Yeah, I need to do a better job of that as well. Um, and he says you can develop some [00:58:00] great relationships through engaging, uh, on in YouTube and Instagram. Yeah, that’s how I got started. Like I went, if you go trace all the path all the way back is I was in Google plus, um, and I had made a comment and I was making comments under Peg Fitzpatrick’s.

Uh, she’s just huge, uh, in Google Plus, and she kind of took me under my wing ’cause I was asked under her wing. ’cause I was asking smart questions and wasn’t spammy. I wasn’t like, Hey, can, since you replied, can you be on my show? I mean, I wasn’t doing that kind of stuff. It’s more like, why did you say that?

Does that really make a difference? And making those thoughtful comments, like Gary was saying, that’s that’s what, uh, what does it. Alright, so. That was building this. Yeah number one. So what’s your number one Connor?

Conor Brown: I don’t have many regrets in life, but one. is simply, I wish I would have started sooner. Whatever it is, I wish I would have started sooner. I think so back, I think back to when I was first starting out and [00:59:00] it was a lot of sitting and waiting for that perfect time, right? Waiting for something to be absolutely perfect before I started or dove all into it.

And I look back on that now and I think, man, if I just started sooner, how much further would I be right now? You have an idea that you want to execute. I think the number one thing is to just start right now and figure it out. Don’t worry about perfection, but I really wish I just would have started sooner.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah And what is that whole proverb like, you know The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. And the second best time is today. So Don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t done that but just go like, you know I’m starting today. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to do what I’ve said. It’s not going to be perfect.

It’s going to be ugly. It’s going to be messy and it’s going to make me feel uncomfortable, but you never go to the next level without going through being uncomfortable. So, uh, that’s what I, I think that’s great. Um, the, my big thing is this is I would hire an employee sooner. That’s my number one thing.

So I hired my daughter. I mean, I’ve had contractors and VAs and that kind of [01:00:00] things, but I hadn’t hired somebody to do stuff until Abby, my daughter, started and that has opened up so many things. And I know I’ve heard it. I’ve heard hire an employee hire before. It’s hard when it’s like money that you could be using for you or your company.

Don’t wait as long as I did. So think of it as an investment, move that direction, hire somebody who can do things that you really need done, but you can be your, your skills can be used better elsewhere. So Abby is helping me with that. She says, uh, this is why my daughter’s awesome. She goes, hair flip.

Right there. So yeah, she’s, she knows she’s great. So anyway, that is today’s show. Our top 10 do overs, um, for what we would do if we started over. And, uh, thank you guys so much. We have some great, uh, questions. I mean, comments, uh, Ralph, ask Ralph says, thank you gentlemen. Enjoy the show today. Nazeem as always, thank you so much.

Uh, Kira says, this was such a valuable show. Truly guys. Thank you. I’m writing all [01:01:00] these notes on sticky notes, putting on my desk. So I keep this wisdom top of mind. Thank you for watching over on LinkedIn. Um, Connor Brown, where can the people find the amazing Connor Brown if they want to get your stuff and services?

Conor Brown: You can find out more about me at vacationkingdoms. com and across the social medias at vacationkingdoms. com. Like Jeff was talking about, we have some great podcast episodes. Uh, so head over to whatever podcast player you got and search vacationkingdoms. com to find out all our stuff.

Jeff Sieh: Awesome, and don’t forget our show is sponsored by the amazing folks over at Ecamm. I would have started with them way long ago, too. Uh, ecamm. com forward slash Jeff, use code Jeff15 to save 15 percent on your first purchase. And also, don’t forget about my newsletter. Uh, we talked about it a little bit today, the email.

I would love to see you there. You guys join that. There’s a welcome sequence that can put you through and then you get into my newsletter. Shoot me a reply. I’d love to hear from you. JeffSieh. com forward slash news. And with that, we’ll see you guys next week. Thank you so much for watching everybody. [01:02:00] Bye, buddy.