by: AskPat 148 Episode Transcript
Pat Flynn: Hey, Hey, what's up everybody? Pay Flynn here and welcome to Episode 148 of AskPat. Approaching the 150 mark: How crazy is that? Thank you so much for listening in on today's episode.
I have a great question from David, a friend who I met in New York a couple years ago. Before we get to the question, I want to thank Flippa.com for being today's sponsor. Flippa.com/pat will take you to an awesome site where you could check to see what sites are for sale and you can actually sell your site there as well. It's the number one market place to buy and sell websites. Over $125 million has been traded on the marketplace and two of those sites were from me, actually. Not my sites, but I purchased a couple sites from Flippa—it's a very fun experience. I didn't do so well with those sites, but I know a lot of people who do very well with their Flippa sites. They pick up where other people left off and they don't have to start from scratch, and they use their knowledge to take what is there and make it even better and make even more money. It's pretty awesome. Again, Flippa.com/pat to go and check out that website where you can buy and sell your website. Now, let's get to today's question from David.
David: Hey, Pat. How are you? My name's David Hamilton. I met you back in 2011 at the NYC Blogging Conference at the party that you and Derek had. I was in some session with you and I really . . . You were one of my favorite people I saw speak because you're so open, honest, and had so much integrity for what you do and,I can see, that you still do. Recently, I watched a online webinar by a big-time internet marketer by the name . . . I guess you can choose to use his name or not. It looks like they have some really good stuff. I'm a coach and product creator, and I focus on delivering a lot of value, and marketing is my weak spot. I definitely need help and I get it, and I get that there's good stuff out there.
What irks me is when these guys do things like really emphasize the point that this webinar is going to be live only and you've got to show up for it. “It's for you guys, show up and we're going to give you a special price, and we're not going to record a replay,” and all that kind of stuff. I'm like, “Oh, okay. Cool. This guy means what he says and this stuff is going to be good.” It looks good, it is good, it makes sense to me, it's good stuff. Then I get an email yesterday saying, “Hey, here's the webinar we played if you missed it.” I don't get it. You guys said that it would only be live, there would be no replay, and here's a replay.
Then, I also noticed that they said they were going to do a Q&A and they conveniently ran out of time for the Q&A, and they went way over and said, “I'm sorry.” Then I'm starting to think, “Well, this thing is probably pre-recorded,” even though it sounded live. Then, I'm just left perplexed and I'm left perplexed with like, what's real and what's not. Like, what of this information is good and what's not? If I implement this information—because I'm seeing a lack of integrity of what they're saying that they're going to do, and then what they're actually doing. Is some of this stuff false? How do I know what stuff is actually going to be good or not or is going to lead me down the wrong path?
I just wanted to know what your thoughts are on this. Look, I'm a human being. I make-up, I make integrity slips, but that seems like a pretty big one, man. That's something I'd never do. I would never make a claim, not only make a claim but really emphasize it to get people to come, then all of a sudden send a webinar replay, for in case people missed it. It doesn't make any sense to me. As a guy with integrity that you are, I was wondering what your thoughts would be on this kind of situation. What do you think about these kind of marketers that do this? How do we know what stuff's good and what stuff isn't? Is it just a case of what I call “Bruce Lee-ing it?” Bruce Lee had the phrase, take what's useful and discard the rest. Take what's useful to you, absorb that, and discard the rest. Maybe it's a case of that, but I'd just love to hear your thoughts on it. That's my question, and I'm complete, and I hope to hear you answer it. Take care, buddy. Bye.
Pat Flynn: Hey, David. Thanks for your question and it's awesome to hear from you. I hope you're doing well and this is a fantastic question because when I got into this business, this was all I was seeing. This type of marketing—and I know everybody out there, you heard us bleep the name of the person that David was talking about. I actually know this person; I've met him once. I don't think he remembers me but it's just best to not have it be about the person but be about this topic, and the topic is authenticity, and transparency, and just being completely honest. If somebody is not, what can you trust about what they say? What of that information is actually true and what is not true? That's what makes it difficult and that's why I feel that just 100 percent authenticity and transparency is the way to go. Because that's what I would want as a consumer of information, that's what I would want or I know that we would all want as consumers and customers of information and products.
It's tough because a lot of the times, these marketers have amazing information and a lot of it does work, and a lot of it is very helpful. But then—I just hate that they use these tactics. There's a lot of slimy tactics out there. I know a lot of people use automated webinars: The idea of prerecording a webinar, speaking to an audience as if it was live, and having other people who are on watching live feel as if they were there. Actually, some systems and software go so far as to allow people to type in questions as well. Some even go further and show people how many people are actually on that webinar—it's just a made up number. This helps people create a sort of endless webinar, is what they call it, or forever-launch sequence. Meaning, when people subscribe to their email list they might say, “Hey, we have a webinar coming up this Thursday. It's live and you can watch it.” What happens is every week, it just resets that time in the email. It resets the time on the landing page and it's just the same webinar over and over and over again. Now, I think the idea of automated-webinar software can be used in a great way; I think telling people one thing and it being something completely different is not okay. Because it's just, you know—karma always comes back to bite you. I know these things work sometimes, especially when you have large numbers like these marketers do. I mean, they're making millions, which is just insane, but so have I. I've made a couple million online and I've been doing it in a very completely honest way. A: Don't feel like you have to go down this route. B: It makes me feel very icky and slimy and scummy and it's just a little bit weird being in the same industry as these people.
I don't want to say I like that they're there because I don't. I do and I have pulled information from them, actually. I've watched those presentations, I've watched those webinars, I've tried to learn from them, and there is a lot of good information there. I'm not going to lie, they're fantastic marketers but they also go this far to make as much as they can, which is just not in my blood. I can't do that. Some of you might be able to do that, but me, personally, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. For you, if you want to feel good about it and be able to get some sleep, I wouldn't recommend being dishonest, pulling a bait and switch with people and things like that. Like I said, there's great information I've learned from them but because they're there and they're doing what they do, it actually makes it easier for me to stand out. That's how I've been able to stand out in this industry, was just being myself, being honest, and it's sad: It's sad that being honest is being different.
I'm lucky to be at the sort of front of this movement of transparency and authenticity and I think a lot of people are getting it now that this is what people want online. I don't know, I just can't imagine earning it all from being dishonest like that. I just can't. I know, for example, John Lee Dumas does webinars but all of them are completely live and he works his butt off and that's the opposite. These people create these webinars that seem live—and not John, but these other guys—they create these webinars that seem live and they just do it once and then it's sort of set it and forget it. I get the benefit of doing that but at the expense of the honesty and . . . I mean, David, you called them out on it. I mean, now you're questioning his trust. You never want your audience to question your trust because then it questions your intention. Obviously, the intention is to make as much money from these people.
When I sat with John and I talked to him about what he does and when he tells me and . . . He and I are in the mastermind group together here in San Diego and he tells us how much work he puts into it. It's obvious that he cares; it's obvious that he's doing it for the right reasons. This is John Lee Dumas from Entrepreneur on Fire. I mean, he's doing many webinars and they're doing really well for him. Obviously, a lot of people are coming into his program, Podcasters' Paradise. I think that's a testament to how much he actually cares and how much he actually works to put in and communicate directly with each of his customers or potential customers in each of those different webinars. They're all different.
Now David, to talk finally about how can you tell what information is actually useful. Now that you've discovered what this person's intentions are, how can you actually understand what's working, what's not? A lot of the tactics they talk about do work. A lot of the tactics, they do also work. You have to take a lot of those with a grain of salt, but you also have to understand why they work, if those reasons align with why you would want things to work. Now, for instance, some of the content that you might have seen in that webinar could be very useful. I've watched videos of this person talk at presentations and a lot of that content was extremely useful and very, very exciting, actually. I think the best thing to do is to take that content that you think might be useful that aligns with how you like and envision doing your business, and test it. That's the only way to know for sure. Even if it's somebody you trust, I would take it so far as to take that content and test it.
Everybody who listens to this show: I know a lot of you trust me and I'm so thankful for that. The worse thing in the world would be for me to break that trust with you because that's the most important and the hardest thing to earn. I think even with this information that you hear on this episode or on this show everyday, or five days a week, or on The Smart Passive Income Podcast, or what you read on the Smart Passive Income blog—I'm there and I'm testing it, and I'm experimenting with it, and I'm talking about it like here on this episode, but take it and test it and see if it works for you. A lot of the times it does and sometimes, it might not. Because everybody's case is different. David, that's what I would recommend. Take the information just like Bruce Lee says: “Take what's useful to you and discard the rest.” I think that's very sound advice.
As much as we don't want to align ourselves with these internet marketers that are out there using these very scammy, scummy sort of tactics, they do have great information to share. Try to be smart and cautious about the type of information you're pulling from them and think about it from your customers' or your audiences' point of view, too. That's what I would say.
David, I hope that answers your question and gives you some insight on my thoughts about this. For those of you out there, I hope you align with what I say; I'd love to hear what you think about it. If you want to tweet about this, just use #AskPat148 and I'll have a thing set up so I can check that every once and a while every day. We could have a small conversation about that. Again, #AskPat148, if you'd like to discuss this particular topic.
David, thank you so much again. An AskPat teeshirt is headed your way. For those of you listening, if you have a question you'd like potentially featured here on the show, just head on over to AskPat.com—you can ask right there on that page using the little widget from SpeakPipe, which is awesome. I also want to thank today's sponsor which is Flippa.com. Again, the number one marketplace online to buy and sell websites. A lot of amazing businesses have come out of people who have just picked up where other people left off. I know a number of people who have: That's what they do, they just buy used sites and take them to the next level. They sort of flip them. Some of them actually flip them: They buy them, change them, and then sell them back on the site. A lot of people, that's their main business now. Check it out. I've purchased sites from Flippa.com as well. Flippa.com/pat, check it out.
Now, as always, I like to end it with a quote and today's quote is from somebody named Jess3. I found this online. I don't know if this is, like, a Twitter handle or what, but Jess3, or it could be like Jesse but the last letter is three just to be cool, which is pretty cool but . . . Jesse or Jess3, this is a great quote. “I love being marketed to, said no one ever.” Like who wakes up and says, “I want to be marketed to today.” Or, “I want to see advertisements today.” Nobody says that, so think about that. Cheers. Thanks so much and I'll see you in the next episode of AskPat. Peace.