Marc's Blog

January 2018 Performance Report

February 7, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

This was a special month for me. Not only is the start of a New Year very exciting, but I also celebrated my 20th birthday.

I’m no longer a teen entrepreneur, and that doesn’t bother me. In fact, I’m more excited than ever about my potential.

I established a few new key habits in my life and optimized what already worked.

My New Book Reading Habits

Yes, I forgot to track the books I read again. However, to make up for it, I will track them in the future and leave you with some new reading habits.

The first reading habit I developed is to read 5-10 books when I wake up. These 5-10 books are all the same books that I’ve already read. I’ll read 5-10 pages of each of these books and only read the parts that I underlined.

I choose high impact books that are easy for me to read at the start of the day. For example, The Compound Effect is one of these books, but I couldn’t stick with a social media based book because my mind isn’t ready for that at 4 am.

I’ve considered reading 5-10 different books to conclude my day which would be a guaranteed 10-20 books every month.

But how do I then read new books each month? As I originally did, I find time in my day to make it happen. However, I’m incorporating audiobooks into more parts of my life. I finally decided to listen to audiobooks during commutes. That’s had a big effect on my learning.

40 minutes each day. At the 1.5 speed rate, that’s an hour of audiobook content every day. With 30 hours of new audiobook content every month, I can get through 5-10 audiobooks each month depending on the average length of the audiobooks.

My Favorite Way To Learn

Knowledge acquisition is one of my top priorities. I know that if I expand my knowledge, I expand my potential.

Of all of the ways to learn, my favorite way to learn is by interviewing people on the Breakthrough Success Podcast. I interview at least five people each week. Since each interview is 30-45 minutes long (lately closer to the 45 minute side), I learn anywhere from 2.5 hours to 3 hours and 45 minutes every week.

From a content production standpoint, I have no need to boost this number right now. I have interviews done at least two months in advance. However, I want to continue learning new things and eventually turn Breakthrough Success into a daily podcast.

Also from that content production standpoint, I’d choose not to conduct any interviews during a two week vacation.

Podcasting is the best way to create a new piece of content. I can go on and on about podcasting, but I choose to stop here for now.

SkillShare Courses

Lately I’ve been creating more courses on SkillShare. This was inspired by one of my Thinking Sessions where I determined that I could easily generate more revenue by creating courses on SkillShare.

For me, this was an underutilized opportunity that didn’t take much time. My SkillShare courses are very short (10-30 minutes) which makes it possible for me to complete multiple courses in some days.

I’m in the process of choosing 2-3 days where I complete at least seven training courses. The goal is to eventually launch one new SkillShare course every day.

I’m focusing more of my time on SkillShare for a few reasons:

The Content Marketing Plaza has been fully buffed. I don’t need to add another update until a few weeks out.

SkillShare is the Netflix of learning. For $9.99/mo, you get unlimited access to the courses SkillShare provides. This makes binge learning possible. If you want to get your first two months free of charge, join SkillShare with this link.

The payment structure is a per minute basis. This payment structure gives me a greater incentive to create courses. The more minutes watched, the more money I make. SkillShare’s binge learning set-up also makes it beneficial to create more courses as one student may decide to watch all of your courses.

These aren’t as long as the Udemy courses I create. Right now, my plan for incorporating these courses into Udemy is to create a few themed mini courses on SkillShare and group them into one big Udemy course. However, this is yet to happen.

By the way, since I aim to eventually publish one new SkillShare course every day, what do you want to see? Please share in the comments after you read this month’s Performance Report.

I Will Be On More Podcasts In 2018

I can’t count the number of reasons why I enjoy interviewing people. At the same time, I couldn’t the number of reasons why I enjoy getting interviewed on other people’s shows. The big ones for me are the added exposure, reconnecting with myself, and reminding myself of my knowledge.

The first one is obvious so I won’t talk about that one. That’s why I’ll skip to the other two.

When I get interviewed, I almost always have to talk about my story. Sometimes we forget where we began, but getting interviewed reminds me of my roots. As we get deeper into the interview, I have to fully display my knowledge.

I know I also have to do this with every blog post I write, but interviews feel different. I get very specific questions and need to tailor my answer to the question and the host’s listeners.

I saw the impact of these interviews and my work in comments like these.

testimonial

Each time I’m interviewed, I take it very seriously. I want to create that level of impact with every interview. Obviously, some interviews are better than others. The host and guest need to flow, and in this case, Caitlin and I were absolutely jamming.

But to create the impact, I need to get on more podcasts. I’ll have a goal for that in February which I’ll talk about very soon.

Review Of January 2018 Goals

Here are my thoughts and progress on the goals I set for this month.

#1: Get Consistent CMP Sales: I am working hard to optimize the sales page. I have temporary discounts in play and will add more videos to the sales page soon. I’m using Chandler Bolt’s SPS sales page as a guide.

#2: Plan A Meet-Up: I recently learned that I can simply contact some local libraries and get my book in there. I learned this from one of the guests I had on my show. Instead of planning a meet-up, I sent several pitches to places I could speak at over the summer. My fingers are crossed.

#3: Schedule All Content Past March: My blog posts are done past February and my podcast episodes are done past March. The only challenge is scheduling them, but I am working to delegate this task soon.

February 2018 Goals

Now that I’ve reviewed my goals for February, I’ll provide the list of goals I have for February 2018:

#1: Contact 50 Podcast Hosts

Instead of setting a goal for the number of interviews I get in February, I will set a goal for the number of podcast hosts I contact.

I know that as I land on more podcasts, I’ll get more requests to be on other people’s podcasts. The initial work I do will pay great dividends later on.

#2: Delegate Scheduling Content

I have no problem with creating content, but scheduling content has been the problem. I am actually close to delegating this part. I have a Google Doc in place with set instructions for my blog posts. All I need to do now is finalize it and create a Google Doc for my podcast episodes.

This will be the easiest task to delegate, but I’ll need to boost my revenue with the extra time.

#3: Publish At Least 20 SkillShare Courses

This is one of my strategies for boosting revenue based on what I previously discussed. I will give SkillShare a month to see if this is a revenue generating activity I should continue pursuing.

The eventual goal is to make thousands of dollars of passive income through SkillShare each month. Other creators have achieved this milestone and I believe I can get there as well.

Plus, I no longer find it difficult to start doing videos. It’s become much easier for me to create videos ever since I took SkillShare seriously again.

#4: Get At Least 10 Patrons

While I can’t say enough great things about being the host of the Breakthrough Success Podcast, it costs me over $1,000 each month to keep the show running and expenses continue to grow.

To provide you with a better experience, I don’t include any ads within my shows. The problem is that this requires me to sacrifice a lot of revenue. That’s why I’m asking you and the rest of my community for help.

I recently started a Patreon Page to ensure I can run the show and keep it ad free. If you want to help me reach my goal of 10 patrons for this month, please consider leaving a small contribution on my Patreon Page.

Even $1/mo makes a big difference, and if you’re one of the patrons before we reach $100/mo, I will audit your website and give you personal recommendations on how you can boost your traffic and conversions.

This is a goal that I can only achieve with your help. Please consider becoming a patron and asking others to help support the show.

#5: Hire A Coach

My research is done. I don’t have a list of five coaches or even a list of three coaches. I have a list with one coach and one coach only. This individual has coached several of the guests on my show and some of the top influencers in my niche.

I don’t want to say this individual’s name until I’ve officially hired him and we’re getting started, but I have one coach in mind.

The more successful I am with SkillShare and my other ventures, the earlier in the month I can hire him. This is something that I know needs to happen.

In Conclusion

I started off the year strong. I’ve acquired much knowledge, established some new habits, and am excited about what February brings. Hiring my coach will represent a big investment for my success, but I know it will be well worth it.

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

E89: 80/20 Sales & Marketing With Perry Marshall

February 7, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Perry Marshall is one of the world’s most expensive and sought-after business consultants, endorsed by FORBES, INC Magazine, and the most respected entrepreneurs in the world. His works include the world’s most popular book on web advertising, Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords, 80/20 Sales & Marketing; Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising and Ultimate Guide to Local Business Marketing.

Quotes To Remember:

“A part of 80/20 is everything is exponential.”

“You have to say NO to a lot of things.”

“Start by outsourcing the most basic tasks in your life.”

“You would actually make more money if you fired the right customers”

“You need to schedule time to do nothing.”

What You’ll Learn:

How to find time to pursue 80/20 rule in sales & marketing
Advantages of riding an Uber that can benefit your business
How to make more while working less
Insights about the 80/20 Sales & Marketing

Key Links From The Show:

Perry’s Site

Recommended Books:

80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall

The Star Principle by Richard Koch

Book of Proverbs

How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis

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.

E88: Generating Over $35M In Leads With Alex Berman

February 6, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Alex Berman is the co-founder and CEO of Experiment 27. Alex is responsible for generating over $6.5 million in B2B sales and over $35+ million in leads for his clients. He also creates weekly videos to help agency owners grow their businesses and bring in more revenue. He teaches them how to optimize B2B sales cycles and put inbound marketing strategies in place.

Quotes To Remember:

“There’s nothing a business wants more than more business.”

“The key to get them to pay more is to understand the problem.”

“Talk to people in the industry and generalize them out.”

“Sales strategies just evolves and gets very intricate for each company.”

“It is not really needing to nurture them. It’s making that big of an impression.”

“It really is just trying your hardest to deliver value, not trying your best to sell them.”

What You’ll Learn:

How to find qualified leads
How to get leads to pay higher prices for products and services
Nurturing relationships with potential customers
What to do to get more leads

Key Links From The Show:

Alex’s Site

Alex’s YouTube Channel

Recommended Books:

Those Guys Have All the Fun by James A. Miller and Tom Shales

Shoedog by Phil Knight

Onwards by Howard Schultz

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 Use Facebook Groups To Grow Your Business

February 6, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Facebook advertising is one of the best forms of advertising ever available to business owners. It’s no wonder that most business owners think about growing on Facebook as nothing more than optimizing Facebook ads.

Yes, ads are powerful, but they are not the only viable way to grow your business on Facebook.

Enter Facebook Groups, a very old but seriously underrated feature on Facebook. In a group, you can interact with people who share specific interests. Get in the right groups, and great things happen.

But before we can approach using Facebook Groups to grow our businesses, we need to plan our approach.

Set Goals

The first step to approaching Facebook Groups is to set goals. What do you wish to gain from your experience? How do you wish to help others?

Getting clear on what you want will allow you to spot more groups that would be a good fit. I want to join groups that help me land guests for my podcast, get on more podcasts, and land speaking gigs.

I don’t just join any random Facebook Group. I join groups that help me achieve at least one of those three key objectives.

You need to set your goals before you consider joining a Facebook Group. Action without clear goals leads to misdirection and untapped potential.

Find The Right Groups

Once you set clear goals, the next step is to find the right groups. Search for groups on Facebook and look for active groups in your desired area.

Let’s say you want to become a better blogger. In that case, you’d look for blogger groups on Facebook and join them. However, you don’t want to join the inactive groups.

Facebook makes it very easy to determine the level of activity within each group. You’ll ideally want to join groups where new posts get published every day. Daily posts indicates an active group.

Participate

Once you find the right group, it’s time to participate. While lurking around in some groups will help you achieve your goals, putting yourself out there is more powerful…100% of the time.

You can ask your own questions and answer other people’s questions. You can get immediate feedback on what you should and shouldn’t do. You can test out your ideas to a small group to determine which ideas would work well with your targeted audience.

Make it a goal to post at least once per day in any of the groups that you are in. Chances are you use Facebook every day. Make some of that time productive.

Create Your Own Group

Joining other Facebook groups and participating in them will give you a better feel for the process. When you’re ready, you should start your own Facebook Group.

Facebook Groups are one of the most underrated features available to Facebook. While their ads work really well, you can optimize a group to work just as well if not better than Facebook ads.

It’s difficult in the beginning to grow the group. But once you show some effort on your side, Facebook will use its leverage to promote your group to more people.

Promote your Facebook Group to any of your existing audiences. Tweet about it, tell your Instagram followers, email your list about it, and promote it through any other means. Getting friends to help spread the word is another important promotional tactic.

They know people you don’t, and growing your Facebook Group through virtually any means will put you on Facebook’s radar in a positive way.

Managing Your Group

Success is not final and failure is not fatal. To rise above failure, you must change your input so you get different outputs.

To preserve a successful Facebook Group, you need to manage it well. Managing the group means the following:

#1: Ensure Members Follow The Rules

Every Facebook Group has a set of rules. These rules are designed to provide a better experience and dissuade spammers from joining the group.

If someone does break the rules, you must take swift action. If someone promotes their Facebook Group in your group, and that’s against the rules, you need to delete that post within 24 hours and issue a stern warning to that person. If you clearly stated this was a rule, you can issue the ban right then and there.

#2: Engage With Members In The Group

There’s more to managing your Facebook Group than policing your members. Members enjoy it when the group owner takes some time to engage with their posts.

If your members are actively posting, reward this behavior by jumping into the conversation. Whether it’s something as easy as a like or slightly more detailed as a comment, your members will feel appreciated if you initiate this level of engagement.

#3: Post In The Group

You constantly set the example for all members in your group. If you don’t post often, your members won’t post often. In the beginning, you need to post once per day to make other members realize they can do the same.

Turn some of your posts into questions. Ask for a tactic or recommendation. Get more members more comfortable with contributing more activity in the group.

If you stick with it long enough, this high level of activity will soon generate itself. Remember that you set the culture within the group. If you become inconsistent before the group takes off, you’ll rarely see another member post in the group.

#4: Encourage People To Post

Each of your posts is designed to get more people to post in the group. People will fill in the gaps if they see a benefit.

In other words, why would someone want to post in your group in the first place?

I joined the Podcast Movement Facebook Group to learn more about podcasting, find guests, and land more interviews. When I asked my first question, past members were quick to respond with very useful information.

Their responses cut my episode storage costs in half. Now I post something into the group every week.

Providing more benefits like those will encourage more interaction within the group. Even if you’re the only person answering questions in the beginning, you’ll encourage more people to post questions and share their answers.

In Conclusion

Facebook Groups are one of the most underrated features on social media at large. Utilizing them will take time, but once you generate the initial momentum, Facebook will start generating more momentum.

As long as you continue to drive engagement within the group, Facebook’s momentum will seem to continue forever.

What are your thoughts on leveraging Facebook Groups? Do you have any tactics for us? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

E87: Creating Content For The Buyer’s Journey With Kyle Gray

February 5, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Kyle Gray has helped dozens of startups and small businesses succeed in content marketing. He writes content that educates entrepreneurs on how to grow their businesses with content marketing, manage remote teams, and scale up their businesses. Kyle got his start as the content manager for WP Curve. He helped the startup grow to nearly 1 million in annual recurring revenue.

Quotes To Remember:

“People aren’t aware that you exist and they need to know that you exist.”

“You can’t just create one piece of content that’s going to do all of the jobs.”

“We got to understand the different goals at the different stages and be able to create content that is appropriate for all of those goals.”

“There is a kind of journey on figuring out who the best customer is.”

“Storytelling impacts every level of your life.”

What You’ll Learn: