Marc's Blog

E108: Use SnapChat To Take Your Business To The Next Level With Virginia Salas Kastilio

March 6, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Virginia Salas Kastilio is a Snapchat expert who is helping the world’s largest brands figure out how to use the platform to generate more engagement around their content. BBC, Nasdaq, Universal, and Yelp are some top clients on the long list. Today’s guest has been featured in places like Forbes and Inc Magazine for her expertise in the rising social network. She also runs online classes you can sign up for to learn how to maximize Snapchat!

Quotes To Remember:

“Be transparent and as real as possible.”

“First of all, you have to surrender to the fact that you won’t be comfortable.”

“We have to realize that Snapchat is a closed room.”

“You have to play outside of the platform in order to bring people inside the platform.”

“In order to go viral, you have to have opposing opinions.”

“If you don’t have the balls to go to union square and strip down to your underwear in order to represent your brand, then maybe you shouldn’t be in business.”

What You’ll Learn:

Things you should be posting on Snapchat
How to be more comfortable with being vulnerable
How to grow your Snapchat audience
Get more engagement in your Snapchat audience
How to benefit your business through Snapchat Geofilters

Key Links From The Show:

Recommended Books:

The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Surrender Experiment by Michael A. Singer

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Support Breakthrough Success On Patreon

Please consider supporting Breakthrough Success on Patreon. I publish five episodes per week which I carefully prepare for, and I choose to not run ads in my podcast to enhance the listener experience.

I offer my patrons various perks, and even a donation as small as $1/mo would make a big difference for growing and maintaining Breakthrough Success.

You can support Breakthrough Success by going here.

E108: Use SnapChat To Take Your Business To The Next Level With Virginia Salas Kastilio

March 6, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Quotes To Remember:

“Be transparent and as real as possible.”

“First of all, you have to surrender to the fact that you won’t be comfortable.”

“We have to realize that Snapchat is a closed room.”

“You have to play outside of the platform in order to bring people inside the platform.”

“In order to go viral, you have to have opposing opinions.”

“If you don’t have the balls to go to union square and strip down to your underwear in order to represent your brand, then maybe you shouldn’t be in business.”

What You’ll Learn:

Things you should be posting on Snapchat
How to be more comfortable with being vulnerable
How to grow your Snapchat audience
Get more engagement in your Snapchat audience
How to benefit your business through Snapchat Geofilters

Key Links From The Show:

Recommended Books:

The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Surrender Experiment by Michael A. Singer

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Support Breakthrough Success On Patreon

I offer my patrons various perks, and even a donation as small as $1/mo would make a big difference for growing and maintaining Breakthrough Success.

You can support Breakthrough Success by going here.

E107: Stop Waiting And Start Writing! Rob Archangel Reveals How We Can Publish Our Own Books

March 5, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Rob Archangel is the owner and co-founder of Archangel Ink. His goal is to help authors and entrepreneurs everywhere easily reach their audience, share their message, and build their brand. Archangel Ink assists authors in various stages of the process such as cover design, editing, audiobook production, formatting, ghostwriting, and more.

Quotes To Remember:

“One of the important questions to ask when you are working on your book is ‘why are you writing your book?’”

“Get in the habit of writing everyday.”

“It is a lot easier to edit than it is to create.”

“Writing your book is the first 90%. The next 90% is anything that happens afterwards.”

“Make sure that you understand the basics of keyword and category selection.”

What You’ll Learn:

Tips on finishing your first draft
How to determine which task you should delegate during book writing process
Publishing your first book
Optimizing your book to drive sales

Key Links From The Show:

Rob’s Site

FREE Self Publishing Report

Recommended Books:

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams

Internet Business Insights by Chris Naish

Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg

Support Breakthrough Success On Patreon

I offer my patrons various perks, and even a donation as small as $1/mo would make a big difference for growing and maintaining Breakthrough Success.

You can support Breakthrough Success by going here.

E107: Stop Waiting And Start Writing! Rob Archangel Reveals How We Can Publish Our Own Books

March 5, 2018 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

Quotes To Remember:

“One of the important questions to ask when you are working on your book is ‘why are you writing your book?'”

“Get in the habit of writing everyday.”

“It is a lot easier to edit than it is to create.”

“Make sure that you understand the basics of keyword and category selection.”

What You’ll Learn:

Tips on finishing your first draft
How to determine which task you should delegate during book writing process
Publishing your first book
Optimizing your book to drive sales

Key Links From The Show:

Rob’s Site

FREE Self Publishing Report

Recommended Books:

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams

Internet Business Insights by Chris Naish

Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg

Support Breakthrough Success On Patreon

I offer my patrons various perks, and even a donation as small as $1/mo would make a big difference for growing and maintaining Breakthrough Success.

You can support Breakthrough Success by going here.

How To Focus On Revenue Generating Activities

March 5, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

The amount of time and effort you put towards revenue generating activities determines how much revenue you make.

It’s common knowledge now that not all tasks are created equal. Some lead to a small payoff if any at all while others result in a big ROI.

For instance, mastering Facebook ads is a better use of your time than scheduling social media posts. Both may be necessary for your success, but one has a significantly higher payoff than the other.

So how do we focus on revenue generating activities? That’s what we’ll cover in this post.

Identify Revenue Generating Activities

The first step to focusing on revenue generating activities is to clearly identify them. I know this sounds obvious, but it can get complicated.

Some will argue that all of their actions are revenue generating since they help you in some way whether it be direct or indirect. You can argue that when you schedule your social media posts, you’re scheduling posts that lead people to your landing page.

Traffic to the landing page means more money, right?

That’s a big yes if your landing page is optimized and you bring people into a sequence that promotes a product. But you can make much more money in the long-term by mastering Facebook ads.

Now the question is if you sacrifice scheduling social media posts to pursue the FB ads. The answer to that is no, but before I explain…

I know you may not face the choice between scheduling social media posts or mastering FB ads. However, you may face a similar situation with different choices. Do you continue to create content or market what you have? Do you write the book or promote your training course? Do you spend less time interacting with your social media audience or less time getting interviewed on other podcasts?

That brings me to my next point.

Automate, Delegate, Or Eliminate

All of these activities I mentioned help to move the needle forward. You can’t make money with a content brand unless you create content. However, if you keep creating but never take the time to market, your content brand won’t get any visibility.

Some tasks move the the needle further than others in a shorter period of time. These are the tasks you need to focus on.

Going back to FB ads VS social media post scheduling, FB ads is the clear winner. What happens to scheduling social media posts then? The answer is that you automate, delegate or eliminate that task.

I wouldn’t recommend eliminating vital tasks like scheduling your social media posts. However, you can very easily automate this process.

I use a service called ViralTag to create an evergreen posting schedule for all of my tweets. I send over 100 tweets every day that are in a continuous cycle with hundreds of other tweets. If I had to manually schedule all of those tweets, it would take me several hours every day.

Since I have automated my tweets, it doesn’t take a single second. All of the tweets go out automatically, and I add more tweets to the cycle every quarter.

If you can set it and forget it while achieving desirable results, do it.

With that said, you can’t automate everything. You can’t automate the creation of Instagram pictures. That’s why one person on my team is responsible for creating pictures based on the inspirational quotes I provide him with. This same person is also responsible for growing my Instagram and Twitter audiences.

I give that level of trust to people who have earned it. Other people on my team are responsible for keeping the Breakthrough Success Podcast going whether that be by editing episodes or writing show notes. Everyone on my team tackles important areas that my brand needs to survive.

With these tasks not taking up space on my to-do list, I can pursue bigger projects that generate more income.

Generate More Revenue Than You Spend Automating & Delegating

Automating and delegating are not free. You either have to pay a monthly fee to use a tool or a salary to add a new person to your team. If you spend more than you make, you’ll find yourself spiral towards debt and eventually deep into it.

That’s not where you or anyone wants to go. To avoid that fate, you need to stay on top of your finances and see how everything is paying off.

Since I’ve monetized Twitter and know that social network very well, I know that my team member’s actions generate more revenue for my business. This is based on the big blog traffic boost and landing page sign-ups which lead to product sales.

My podcast is different, and I didn’t know this until recently. I have two incredible people on my team who make Breakthrough Success possible. I decided to not use sponsored ads in my episodes so I could provide a better experience for my listeners.

That means my podcast isn’t monetized. While I have had no problem paying off my expenses with affiliate commissions, I realized how big my expenses have gotten. I spend over $1,000/mo maintaining Breakthrough Success.

If I end my show, I save all of that money which I can put into other parts of my business. However, I’m not doing that. I’ve connected with so many awesome people because of my podcast, and it’s a big passion of mine.

But I still need to recoup the $1,000/mo.

That’s why I started my own Patreon Page to help cover expenses. For as little as $1/mo, you can help keep Breakthrough Success going. If you are interested, you can become a patron here.

I’m building the Patreon Page to over $1,000/mo so the Patreon Page pays off the podcasting expenses. Someday, I see the page exceeding $1,000/mo in which I’ll get to do more exciting things with the show in the future.

I only noticed this problem when I looked deep into my finances. I have a spreadsheet that keeps track of all of my income and expenses. I have no intentions to stop my podcast or cut down on production. However, I couldn’t let this situation be completely ignored.

And the end result was Patreon.

If you aren’t at least breaking even by automating or delegating, you need to figure out why. Then, either eliminate that task to save money or make a greater effort to break even and eventually make a profit.

In Conclusion

What you focus on expands. By focusing on revenue generating activities, you’ll put yourself in a position to accumulate more revenue that you can invest back into your business.

Continue to automate, delegate, or eliminate everything in your business that prevents you from moving the needle as far and quickly as possible.

Don’t forget to remember why you want to generate revenue. Maybe you want to achieve financial freedom, support your family, or surprise someone with a special gift.

Keeping your why in mind will drive you as you pursue the activities that generate the most revenue.

How do you make the time for revenue generating activities? Do you have any tactics for us? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

February 2018 Performance Report

March 3, 2018 by Marc Guberti 6 Comments

February, just like all months, was interesting. I gleaned over some of my Performance Reports and realized that I dramatize each month a little bit.

They feel dramatic in the moment, and this one certainly fits the bill too. However, a few months later, this month, just like the others, won’t feel as dramatic.

But since I’m writing this in the end of February, we’re about to get dramatic.

Copywriting Academy

One of my favorite training courses to promote is the Copywriting Academy. My audience responds the strongest to Ray’s training and gets a lot out of it which is why I continue promoting it each year.

Anyone who bought Copywriting Academy will get more details about the bonuses soon.

The launch timing for Copywriting Academy was critical because I went down with a stomach virus for an entire week. If I went down with that stomach virus on the week I ran one of my virtual summits, it would have been a disaster.

But as an affiliate, the timing couldn’t be better. All I really had to do was take Ray’s swipe copy, slightly modify it, and share that message with my audience. That meant I could still communicate with everyone and provide value even though I wasn’t at my full capacity.

The stomach virus is an important part of February. I literally did nothing productive for an entire week other than promote Copywriting Academy. I learned a lot during that stomach virus (more details in the report) and came across a startling realization to finish strong.

My Business Didn’t Get Sick

If I got that stomach virus two years ago, then I wouldn’t have been the only sick one. My business would have also had several off days.

Flash forward to the recent stomach virus. Parts of my business were still inactive. Blog posts weren’t scheduled (my fault) and I didn’t publish a new SkillShare course during that stretch.

But some things were still happening.

My show notes writer continued writing notes and my podcast editor continued editing episodes. Here’s the important lesson…

Even though I did NOTHING for my business, SOME THINGS were still happening.

This is why you need to delegate some tasks within your business. If you get sick, that’s not an excuse for your business to temporarily pause.

Trimming Expenses

This month, I made a very conscious effort to trim down my expenses. While I know this before, I relearned that there are two ways to make an extra $1,000.

Everyone knows the first way. The first way is to earn an additional $1,000 from your work. The second way to make an extra $1,000 is to spend $1,000 less than what you’re already spending.

I made two decisions that will save me a considerable amount of money every year. The first decision was to replace my audio editor with an editor I could more readily afford.

The second decision was using ThriveCart instead of SamCart. ThriveCart was a one-time cost of $595 while SamCart is a consistent $197/mo. ThriveCart also has more capabilities than SamCart including the (for me) very desirable ability to incorporate multiple Optimize Member websites in the same ThriveCart account.

This alone saved me a lot of frustration from SamCart which only allows you to use one website with an Optimize Member integration. I literally created the Guberti Academy portal with all of my courses and summits in it just to accommodate SamCart’s limitation.

ThriveCart’s capabilities and my new knowledge on running evergreen events is now making me float the idea of hosting another virtual summit. Hosting virtual summits isn’t easy, but ThriveCart makes it very easy to host multiple summits without creating a mega portal with all of the logins.

Books I Read

As I promised in the previous report, I finally tracked my books again. You’ll notice that this Performance Report is different as there will be asterisks next to some of the book titles. An asterisk indicates I already read the book but re-read what I underlined in those books.

I also got a few free books from people who will be guests on some of the Breakthrough Success episodes. #PodcastPerks

Ditch Your Inner Critic At Work by Susan Peppercorn

How Successful People Think by John C. Maxwell

The Other Kind of Smart by Harvey Deutschendorf

5,000 Words Per Hour by Chris Fox

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

Shortchanged by Shortcuts? by Aaron Hendon

500 Social Media Marketing Tips by Andrew Macarthy

Tribe Of Mentors by Timothy Ferriss–I always find that reading one of Tim’s mammoths of a book puts me back on a streak of reading more books.

Rise And Grind by Daymond John*

The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy*

Quantum Success by Sandra Anne Taylor*

Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker*

No Excuses! by Brian Tracy*

The Science Of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles*

Millionaire Success Habits by Dean Graziosi*

At least three additional books*

Review Of February 2018 Goals

#1: Contact 50 Podcast Hosts: I did not contact that many hosts, but I have been a guest on more podcasts. I also made a summit appearance.

#2: Delegate Scheduling Content: I am right at that stage. I wrote this report on February 25th, but by the end of February, this will be done. My assistant handles scheduling content right now but one small tweak needs to be made for me to consider this complete.

#3: Publish At Least 20 SkillShare Courses: My stomach virus put me off track from this goal, but I did publish 10 new courses in February. Right now, I’m hesitant to create more courses because one of my courses gets 90% of the minutes watched. I need to get more courses at the level of my top course before I consider creating 20 new SkillShare courses every month.

#4: Get At Least 10 Patrons: I did not get any patrons this month. I promoted my Patreon Page to my audience but it didn’t happen. I managed to significantly cut expenses which makes up for me not getting 10 patrons this month.

#5: Hire A Coach: I really thought I’d accomplish this goal in February. I know I need a coach eventually. However, February was filled with such change that I want to ensure I have the right objectives and am in a better position to get a better ROI.

March 2018 Goals

#1: Run FB Ads For The Content Marketing Success Summit: The summit is a proven concept. I am finalizing the evergreen side and then using FB ads to promote it. This is part of my initiative to have over 100,000 email subscribers by the end of the year.

#2: Get Involved With 4 Cross Promotions: One strategy I’m experimenting with is partnering up with other people who have similar audiences and email list sizes. I promote one of their landing pages and they promote one of my landing pages. I anticipate getting an extra 200-500 subscribers in March by implementing this approach.

#3: Plan Out A CMP Promotion: The Content Marketing Plaza is my flagship course. Since I’m not going all-in with other people’s courses for a while, I want to promote the Plaza. That means setting up a new funnel, landing pages, free offers, and a webinar.

#4: Write The Draft For My Next Book: My next book will be about content marketing. It will be similar to Content Marketing Secrets but explore new areas that I didn’t cover in the previous book. I’m working with a publisher for this one and will keep you all updated. The first draft of my book must be 50,000 words.

#5: Delegate More Tasks: I’ll have to get creative with this because I feel like I’ve delegated a lot. However, the more I delegate, the more things I realize I need to delegate. I’m sure I’ll have a list of things to delegate by the first week of March. I intentionally delegate much of the tasks around me so I can focus more of my time on my priorities.

In Conclusion

After a bump in the middle of the road, I finished strong and came across new ideas. I attribute the strong turnaround to Tom Morkes’ 100K Launch School.

I was one of the speakers during this virtual summit, but I watched some of the other sessions. Those sessions empowered and inspired me to try new objectives and pursue goals I had forgotten about.

I am very excited about delegating some of the content creation for my brand. The plan is for me to provide a macro outline and my assistant writes the complete blog post. This is still in progress.

What were your thoughts on this month’s performance report? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.