Short Summary:

In this episode of Business Coaching Secrets, Karl Bryan and RodeDog delve into various topics that are essential for coaches and entrepreneurs to consider. From discussing a new offer for a campaign management service with a 30-day guarantee to beat clients’ KPIs, to exploring the concept of risk reversal and the power it holds in making customers feel comfortable and confident. Karl shares his own experiences and insights, highlighting the importance of staying positive and maintaining a forward-thinking mindset. The conversation also touches upon leveraging AI to increase value and the significance of collaboration. As the episode concludes, Karl reminds coaches to focus on opportunities, take care of their well-being, and remain open to the endless possibilities that await them. With the right attitude and approach, success can be achieved at any stage of the entrepreneurial journey.Business Coaching Secrets: Increase Risk Reversals + Leveraging AI

Long Summary:

In this episode of the Business Coaching Secrets, Karl Bryan together with RodeDog discuss a new offer they are considering for a campaign management service for Facebook ads. The offer involves a 30-day guarantee to beat the client’s key performance indicators (KPIs) or refund their money. If successful, the client can apply the payment to a monthly fee of $2,000, with a three-month minimum commitment resulting in a balance of $5,500. Paying in full today also offers a $500 discount. They discuss the need to test the offer and ensure it is not overly complicated. 

The conversation also touches on risk reversal and the importance of being comfortable with expectations and having the capacity to handle increased demand. The topic of adjusting pricing during recessionary times is brought up, and instead of lowering coaching fees, Karl’s suggestion is to adjust the intake process gradually, starting with a lower initial fee and increasing it over time. Karl also mentioned his own experience with risk reversal, including offering a money-back guarantee and having clients fulfill obligations before exercising it, and the use of a check as a symbolic gesture to assure hesitant clients. Karl expounds on the topic of the importance of risk reversal in business and how it makes customers feel more comfortable, leading to their willingness to move forward. 

The discussion then shifts to the topic of leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) in coaching. Karl suggests that instead of using AI to reduce prices or time spent per client, coaches should focus on using AI to increase their value and the services they provide. He believes that integrating AI into coaching can allow coaches to do much more for their clients, ultimately enabling them to charge higher fees. The conversation also touches on the significance of thinking big and solving significant problems, as well as the value of acquiring existing businesses or assets rather than starting from scratch. Karl encourages entrepreneurs to surround themselves with people who are smarter and more talented, emphasizing that success often comes through collaboration.

Before ending the episode of the Business Coaching Secrets, Karl Bryan discusses the importance of staying positive in business and offers tips for maintaining a positive mindset. He emphasizes the need to manage one’s vantage point and focus on opportunities rather than problems. Karl shares examples of successful entrepreneurs who started late in life, such as Ray Kroc and Colonel Sanders, to inspire coaches who may feel they are too late to make a significant impact. He also highlights the potential of artificial intelligence as a promising opportunity. Karl advises coaches to concentrate on their successes and not get fixated on the negatives, as well as to take care of their mental and physical health to maintain a positive state of mind. Ultimately, he encourages coaches to stay optimistic and be open to the possibilities that lie ahead.

In conclusion, In this episode of Business Coaching Secrets, Karl Bryan and RodeDog delve into various topics that are essential for coaches and entrepreneurs to consider. From discussing a new offer for a campaign management service with a 30-day guarantee to beat clients’ KPIs, to exploring the concept of risk reversal and the power it holds in making customers feel comfortable and confident. Karl shares his own experiences and insights, highlighting the importance of staying positive and maintaining a forward-thinking mindset. The conversation also touches upon leveraging AI to increase value and the significance of collaboration. As the episode concludes, Karl reminds coaches to focus on opportunities, take care of their well-being, and remain open to the endless possibilities that await them. With the right attitude and approach, success can be achieved at any stage of the entrepreneurial journey.

Transcription:

[00:00:02.440] – Intro

Welcome to Business Coaching Secrets with Karl Bryan. If you want to attract new high end coaching clients, fill live events, and build a widely profitable coaching practice where business owners pay, stay, and refer, you’ve come to the right place. In this podcast, Karl provides his keys to the kingdom for finding and signing high paying clients and building the coaching business of your dreams. Here we go.

[00:00:42.530] – RodeDog

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, coaches around the world, welcome to another episode of Business Coaching Secrets. It’s your boy, the RodeDog with none other than the man, the myth, the king of the Caribbean himself, Dr. Karl Bryan is back in the house practicing in your business today. How’s that?

[00:01:01.110] – Karl Bryan

Shoots. Not to say that. Not a doctor, by the way, folks.

[00:01:05.680] – RodeDog

Not officially. But you are a surgeon of nothing. How am I going to string in the fact that you suck at hockey playoff picks? I got to figure that piece out. I didn’t think that through. So I apologize to our listeners for that. That’s a fail right there.

[00:01:23.270] – Karl Bryan

Hurt my feelings.

[00:01:26.290] – RodeDog

I do love it when now it’s like, you’ve got, Hunsey, who’s taking it very easy on you. I don’t know why he got so soft, but I am in full assault mode pretty much every comment you make. And it’s just because I love you, bud. That’s how it works, right?

[00:01:44.960] – Karl Bryan

Buddy, I wouldn’t have it any other way, shoots.

[00:01:49.850] – RodeDog

Hey, listen, I want to get into this right away. Before I get to the questions that I got here, there’s three that I want to ask you because we just talked to Joe in the pre show here. And again, folks, if you’re not in the pre show, hello, you might want to subscribe to Karl’s daily emails and stuff, Focused. com. Anyways, real quick, we were talking about creating an offer, and he made a good point of charging people before they actually show up for a call. I wanted to run something by you because we are launching a new front end this week. We’re going to test it out. Wanted to just get your quick thoughts on it. And this is just for campaign management for Facebook ads. And it’s about risk reversal. So we want to do a $500, or as Karl Bryan likes to hear, $497. And we’ll beat your KPIs over the next 30 days guaranteed. And if we don’t, we’re going to refund you your money. But if we do, you can then apply it to our monthly fee of $2,000. Now, mind you, there is a three-month minimum commitment, so that balance will be $5,500.

[00:02:58.460] – RodeDog

But if you pay in full today, we’re going to knock off another $500. What do you think is something like that as an upfront offer?

[00:03:07.700] – Karl Bryan

Like anything, it’s got a few moving parts. So this is one of those ones that you want to test. And then if you’re finding that you’re going to do A B split testing, and if you’re finding that the testing is not going in the favor that you want, I’m going to encourage you to make that less complicated. I don’t know that that was overly complicated because you explained it well and I think I get it. But keep in mind that I’m not going to be your market. Anyway, that’s what I feel like there’s a few moving parts in there. It’s going to be $5,500 and if you’re not satisfied, you’re going to get your money back. It’s just so much.

[00:03:44.690] – RodeDog

That’s after the 30 days. I jumped too far ahead. Really, it’s 500 bucks in the first 30 days. We either beat your KPIs or not. If we don’t, you get your money back. If we do, now we’re going to make you our secondary offer.

[00:03:59.330] – Karl Bryan

But look, you got a.. Bottom line, you got to A B split test that. But are you comfortable? At the end of the day, are you comfortable that you’re going to be able to follow through? You know the answer to that. So there’s not really any risk because sometimes, again, risk reversal is about risk to you. You know what I mean? Because it’s 100 %. If you really think about it. Risk reversal can become a Ponzi scheme if you’re any good at it, where you’ve got all these risks, all these money back guarantees, money back guarantees, money back guarantees. Well, they all get to 90 days, 120 days. You know what I mean? And all of a sudden it starts coming back at you. Not that we both.. Risk reversal. Is it all going to come back? And are they all going to be asking for their money and they’re going to be taking advantage of you. Realistically, that’s not going to happen. It’s not the way the world works generally. Sure, there’ll be a few people that would take advantage, but it’s just next, hand them back their dough and keep moving. But anyway, just make sure you’re really comfortable at the expectations that you’ve set that if you get a really good..

[00:05:06.710] – Karl Bryan

You know what I mean? If it really starts to work, you got to have the people in place and the processes in place to be able to handle that so you don’t create a bit of a bottleneck at day 90.

[00:05:16.090] – RodeDog

Again, the risk reversal stuff. As we head into what looks to be a recessionary period, do you see the need to increase risk reversal offers? And then just to follow up on that, do you think that coaches need to reduce their entry point pricing?

[00:05:38.770] – Karl Bryan

The answer is who am I talking to? If you remember, if you’re a high end, like 20 clients at two grand a month is 480 grand. We were just talking to Joe earlier. Guy’s got tons of experience. Frank Kern was his mentor. I think he might still be working with Frank Kern. Clearly, the guy knew his stuff after speaking to him for five short minutes. He doesn’t need to adjust anything because he’s not in the sandbox and he’s only going to companies doing $5 million plus, etc. So I’m going to give him a completely different answer in a different… It’s a little red arrow, you are here. So for Joe and somebody with a lot of experience, I’m going to give a different answer. For somebody that’s in the sandbox and just trying to get going, look, what I would never suggest, I don’t think that anybody really needs to lower their coaching fees. Let’s just say that the coaching fees are two grand a month and that’s 24 grand a year. Instead of lowering your $24,000 coaching, which so many do because they suck at sales, so they go to a grand a month or $1500 a month and take 24 grand and turn it into 18 or to 12.

[00:06:46.020] – Karl Bryan

That’s a bad roadmap. What I’d do is say, look, it’s $24,000, two grand a month. And remember, you got to get 20 of those folks to get the 480 grand a year with 80 % margins, and you’re doing real well. It’s not as easy as I’m making that sound as we both know, RodeDog, but it’s also not that complicated. If you create the machine to generate the leads, convert the clients, and then fulfill on the coaching, look, 20 clients, two grand a month is falling off a log style. Really genuinely is. If you find it hard, I promise it’s all in between your ears or in your skill set and that you’re not very good. Again, a coach with a lack of leads is a coach with a lack of confidence. Back to what I was saying a minute ago, instead of lowering my coaching fees, I would just lower my intake. So I would make it… Let’s just hypothetically say 500 month one, 1,000 month two, 1,500 month three, and then 1997, as in two grand a month, ongoing. So I just closed a $24,000 client and I only had to get a $500 credit card up front.

[00:07:54.970] – Karl Bryan

So recessionary times, when times are challenging, I would go to that model before I would go and lower my lifetime value because I think that’s a dramatic… Because we talk to successful coaches all the time and they’re like, Here’s my gripe. Is that I helped this guy franchise or I helped this guy build. When I met them, they were doing 2.5 million and I built them up to 5 million or 7.5 million. I 2x their business, 3x  their business and I’m still making two grand a month and it feels a little bit at a canter. I feel like I should have… And this is where we have, again, with the software, there’s contingency. You know what I mean? You could work out 2.5 % contingencies, etc. So that’s a gripe of a lot of successful coaches that have really helped their clients make monumental shifts is that, why the heck am I only charging this amount? Imagine if they’re only charging $1,000 a month, 12 grand a year, which is often the case. So my answer shoots is that no recessionary times. Again, if you’re in the sandbox, maybe you got to do that because it’s a 101.

[00:09:01.760] – Karl Bryan

But really what I would be doing is I’d be adjusting the way that I intake my clients and scaling up.

[00:09:07.800] – RodeDog

But real quick, though, the one thing that I think… Risk reversal, back when you started coaching was at 45 years ago, you literally had a check in your pocket. Can you just talk… Because we got a bunch of new people I can see that are on our call from the insiders right now. Can you just talk about what you did as your own risk reversal? Because I think it’s super important because this isn’t anything new. This isn’t something that came out when online offers came out. People have been doing risk reversal forever and a day. Can you talk about what it was like when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth?

[00:09:45.050] – Karl Bryan

What you were talking about there, look, we pulled this out when I had to pull this out. It wasn’t necessary to do with every time. We just offered a money back guarantee. It was just that simple. But the X factor is, and if you work with us, you’re going to see a standard agreement built into the software where you’re going to see that they have to fulfill their obligations in order to exercise the money back guarantee, which, by the way, it’s a 12-month agreement. So that means they need to pay you. First of all, they need to pay you for 12 months in order to exercise the money back guarantee. So they’re not going to wait 12 months and then say, Hey, give me all that money back. Keep paying after. Let’s say that they get a little bit disgruntled at the six month mark and they’re just not showing up. They don’t have the capacity to follow through. They’re not your relationship guzzling, going in the direction that they were hoping and they want to exit stage left. They’re not, do you know what I mean? They’re not going to continue to pay for the 12 months if they can exercise the money back guarantee.

[00:10:45.480] – Karl Bryan

I’ll give you the red hot tip. So that’s a little fine print thing that the average bear would never be able to notice, but it’s right there in the language. Look, and by the way, if you’re working with somebody, though, and you’re not doing a bang up job, quite frankly, you should give their money back. If you have not honored your terms of the agreement, the ethical thing to do, if you want to stay in integrity, you would give their money back. That is designed to protect you, not from incompetence and lack of effort on your behalf. It’s designed to protect you from the person that’s taking advantage of you in the case where you actually did deliver. They got results. This was a positive thing for them, but whatever. Their wife left them, their husband left them. They’re going through a tough time. You know what I mean? So it’s designed to keep you from taking advantage. The other part of it is that they had to have done their workbook every single month. Again, guess what? There’s never been a client in the history of coaching, I’m going to bet. And of course, that’s an exaggeration.

[00:11:45.520] – Karl Bryan

But if they actually go and fill in the workbook every single month for 12 months, what are the chances of them not actually getting a great result from the coaching? And the answer is slim to none. The reason the relationships don’t work is because what? The client doesn’t darn well do anything. So that’s where your challenge is. So that’s what we had in place. And that was the guarantee that we had.

[00:12:13.060] – RodeDog

But talk about the check.

[00:12:14.990] – Karl Bryan

Real quick, Doug, let me just close that loop where I would also just for anybody hasn’t heard this, I would have a check in my pocket. This is back in 2004, 2005, 2006, a long time ago. I would have a check and a check aren’t even a thing nowadays, right? So make sure you’re going to frame this up. But I would have a check in my pocket and we would sign you up. And just for the sake of the argument, let’s call it a $10,000 package a long time ago. But I would have a check and then you’d be humming and howling. And again, your husband would be there. Your wife would be there. I just say, Look, do you want to do.. Do you know what I mean?

[00:12:47.780] – Karl Bryan

I might have it framed up. I mean, if I’m there, I knew how to create a dynamic where they said, “Will you help us, please?” right? So keep in mind that I was always just, you know what I mean? One step away from everything being signed. But sometimes that, again, the husband was there, the wife was there, somebody who was just a little bit like, Oh, scratching their head, Is this going to be a good experience? The last three weren’t, and that’s where I had to push it. I would just sign. I would just say, Look, does this make you feel better? I’d whip a check. They weren’t expecting this. I would just reach into my pocket, pull out a check. I would just write it out, make it $10,000. I would date it today, but 12 months from now, and I would turn it around and slide it across the table and say, Does this make you feel better? And today I would just do it on Zoom, and I would just… They’d be like, What are you doing? Just give me a second here. And then I would just hold it up to the Zoom and say, Look, here’s a check that I’m going to mail you dated 12 months from today.

[00:13:43.890] – Karl Bryan

Just make you feel a little bit better. And it was more, again, just to push it over the line to say, Look, I’m all in here. I am going to deliver. I know that you’re nervous. I know that it’s a lot of money, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Look, if this doesn’t make you feel better, I don’t know what to do, and it would always work. There you go, shoots. That’s my answer.

[00:14:06.940] – RodeDog

Love it. I love that. Again, I just want people to really understand, risk reversal is a great thing. You’re making people feel a lot more comfortable, and then they move forward. The other thing I just want to touch on real quick. I feel like we’re completely sidetracked here today, but it’s all good stuff. You just did a thing on AI a couple of weeks ago, I think it was. I’ve really been diving into AI and wow, dude, it’s crazy the evolution of AI that’s out there, right? So my question that I have for you when it comes to AI, do you think coaches should be leveraging AI to reduce their prices or just to simply reduce their time spent per client? There is the ethical part of me that’s like, Well, dude, if you’re spending less time, you should be spending, you should be charging less. I don’t know. And again, that’s sort of a story in and of itself. But how do you think coaches should be leveraging AI properly?

[00:15:07.780] – Karl Bryan

Yeah, no and again, lowering your prices I don’t think that.. And again, little red arrow you are here. You went in the specifics of that dynamic. That might be where we’d end up, but I would need to know far more, if that makes sense. But yeah, the idea is that you are going to use AI. Look, if anything, I’m going to use it to dramatically increase my fees because I’m going to be able to do so much more with my client. You know what I mean? I’m just going to be able to create. You know what I mean? I’m going to be able to do so much more with my client. We integrated AI into the software. Again, as you’re working with your client, when you’re looking for market dominating positions, if you’re looking for easy doable ways to cut costs immediately for a landscape, or if you’re looking for… You know what I mean? We’re building a database that would just blow your mind. We’ve got these interns all working night and day. We’re just building this massive, massive, massive database. Again, it makes my eyes water. But the bottom line is that all of these solutions are going to be built right there, ready to go on tap.

[00:16:24.120] – Karl Bryan

You’ll scroll down on the different industries and you go landscaping, you go HVAC, you go hospitality, you go auto repair, you go whatever, and there’s going to be all of these custom solutions sitting there staring at you. I’m going to be saying that artificial intelligence is going to allow you to charge significantly more in the future. That’s the magic.

[00:16:45.770] – RodeDog

Can I just say, folks, right there, if you didn’t catch that little nugget, it’s not even little, this is massive. I come in because I’ve been hearing a lot of people talking about, man, AI is going to reduce the cost of things. You’re going to leverage it and reduce your time so you can maybe take on some more clients. And Karl goes, hang on a sec. How much more can I not just charge but deliver to my client as a result of it? Flipping that entire thought on its head. Appreciate that. That’s really good. I really like that.

[00:17:22.440] – Karl Bryan

Yeah, there you go.

[00:17:23.840] – RodeDog

Speaking of AI, I know that’s been on your mind lately. What else have you been thinking about lately? Is there anything else that’s rummaging around that huge noggin of yours?

[00:17:35.690] – Karl Bryan

There’s lots of rummaging around this small noggin, by the way, according to my hat size. Well, I’ll tell you, okay, so here’s… Well, did I say this on the podcast? You were… RodeDog’s got a wrist injury and a reasonably impressive one. We’re here last week that I say this, but a real founder is someone who keeps the organization focused on product and not focused on the organization. I think I might have said that last week, but I think it’s worth saying 10 weeks in a row. Because like, Job’s quote is, if you want to build a great company, build great products. And again, what I have found is that internally, as we grow, management’s changing and expanding, just spending a lot of time talking about organization and titles and this and that and responsibilities, which are all important in the systemization of that is going to allow us to grow and in many areas scale. Again, growth and scale, two very different things. People don’t realize that. Growth is when you grow and your expenses come with you. Scale is when you grow and the expenses stay relatively the same. So you can put 1,000 people in the software tomorrow.

[00:18:52.440] – Karl Bryan

And again, we wouldn’t need to go hire some people. Facebook can put a million people into Facebook today. And again, they don’t need to hire a bunch of people. That is scale. But anyway, I think that’s really important for me as I’m sitting here with my little private thoughts thinking product, product, product, product, product, product, product. It’s like 75… What is the number? I think it’s 77, whatever the number is. But I’m going to say 77 % that they quit after doing something once. So they do one webinar, they do one live event, they do one ad campaign, they do one X. And then, by the way, 90 % quit after three. So they do three events, they do three webinars, or three ad campaigns, and they’re done. Beginners are many and finishers are a few. I’ve got like a quote that I’ve said for a long, long time. You’ll be remembered in life for what you refuse to give up on. And then I always capitalize REFUSE. Think of all the realtors. How many people do you know that have gone into real estate in your lifetime, right? And there’s going to be a lot.

[00:20:02.290] – Karl Bryan

And then I’m going to say that it’s going to be 95 %, where 95 % made borderline no money and it was an experience. And then 5 % really crushed it. The difference between the 5 % and the 95 % is the 5 % stuck with it. That’s it. They all have challenges at year 3, year 5, year 7, but it’s the ones that bail that don’t get anywhere and the ones that stick with it that do really well. So I said, you know what you refuse to give up on? It’s like business coaching. I’ve been doing this for the better part of two decades. If I’m not good at this, I’m not going to be good at anything. It’s one of those things where you refuse to give up. And even if you were to frame it up, shoots, you just go like, I’m going to throw some percentages out there. Don’t hold me to these. I don’t know they’re going to be right. But entrepreneurship is like 5 % idea, 5 % team, 5 % timing. Let’s say like 5 % talent. I’m sure there’s one or two that I’m forgetting in there.

[00:20:59.960] – Karl Bryan

But 80 % looking for an 80 20 was what I was just trying to do. But 80 % is not bloody, and you could use a word that starts with F there, stopping. 80 % of it is just not stopping. People like in coaching, I’ve been doing this for the better part of two decades and I’ve managed to do pretty well financially out of it. Again, it’s the fact that I didn’t stop when others… I would not be able… If you gave me a word document and I just pounded out all of the people that I have known that have come into coaching and then out of coaching. Again, I wouldn’t be able to… The word document would be too long, it would crash my computer. That’s a stupid thing to say. But you know what I mean? It’s just like there’s a lot of them. So if you’re going to come in and out of things, you’re just not going to be successful. So I don’t know. That’s just something that maybe I’m thinking about, shoots. The one thing that you’re most afraid of doing is the one thing that’s going to set you free.

[00:21:58.880] – Karl Bryan

It’ll allow you that… What are you looking for? That jump or that monumental step forward that you’ve been looking for, that you’ve been waiting for. And speaking of jumps and moving forward and product being… Again, a real founder keeps everybody focused on product as opposed to focused on the organization. Your greatest successes will come through other people. So take that to the bank. Your greatest successes will come through other people. And I’ve said this for years and I’ll continue to say it, you have to hire people that are what? Smarter and more talented than who? And that would be you. Now, as I say that, you’ve heard it before. You’ve possibly heard me say it. You’ve heard RodeDog say it. You’ve heard us go back and forth on it. So you know it as a frame. But here’s my question that you probably know what’s coming because you heard me say it last time I mentioned this. How many people are working for you that are smarter and more talented than you? So people know it, but they very seldom do it. And then, by the way, so you’re like, Yeah, but I don’t have deep pockets and I’m bootstrapping this thing and making it work.

[00:23:10.580] – Karl Bryan

My wife’s going to kill me. My husband’s going to kill me if I spend any more money. Okay, so you got to go partner with people that are smarter and more talented than you. That is the accountant. Maybe it’s the local business broker. Although you’ll start… Apologies to the business broker. Not smash the IQ test as a general rule, apologies, but that is what I have found. But anyway, there’s a business broker and there’s many of them that are out there killing it and leave my IQ for dead, and that’s fine. But you know what I mean? Go partner with those folks if that’s what I’m making. You know what I mean? Find people that are smarter and more talented than you and go. So, shoots, that’s what I actually… There’s one other thing, and again, apologies. I think I might have said this last week, and I’m quite sure I did, but this is just something. Literally, again, this morning, I was talking to somebody about the real founder thing. And then the greatest hack.. the greatest hack is not a tactic, it’s not a strategy, it’s not a tool, it’s not a piece of software.

[00:24:21.900] – Karl Bryan

The greatest business/life hack is a level of thinking. This is what I was saying this morning. Elon Musk thinks in multi billions. Okay and you know what it became to him with your little software play or your little thing. What he’s doing is he’s solving really, really, really, really big problems. Again, 75 % of the world does not have the Internet. That sometimes blows people away when I say that, but it’s absolutely true. So he’s working on solving that problem. He’s obviously you know, electric cars, pretty big problem. The battery for the electric cars and to heat homes, etc. Really, really big problem. That’s what he’s working on. Bought Twitter. This is the… You know what I mean? He’s just thinking at a significantly higher level. So forget Musk, forget RodeDog, forget me. What about you? If you’re honest with yourself, what is the level of your thinking? How big are you thinking? Are you thinking in problems and solutions, problems and solutions? If you’re thinking in ideas, you’re probably still in the sandbox. You don’t want to think… It’s not ideas that’s not going to get you there. You want to be thinking problems, looking for problems, change your spidey senses from the new revolutionary mouse trap to problems, problems, problems, problems.

[00:25:49.530] – Karl Bryan

And you will find that I think you’re going to have a significantly more financial, prosperous business career. By the way, that’s people a million times smarter than I will ever be like Musk and Bezos and Zuckerberg who are out there solving problems. And by the way, I mentioned something really important there a second ago. Musk thinks in acquisition. He doesn’t think in starting something and bootstrapping. He doesn’t think in what can I get going? Remember, he bought PayPal. People don’t know, he bought Tesla. Tesla was already a going concern and he came in and bought it. Guess what he just did with Twitter? He bought it. He doesn’t start things, he acquires them. Then no doubt, there’s a few things that he started. So take this as a frame. The question is, what are you acquiring? Are you acquiring databases? Are you acquiring relationships? Are you in the business? Are you actively looking to acquire things? And as you do, you’re going to find you might be inexperienced with it and you’ll get a little bit better, a little bit better, a little bit better, a little bit better. Remember, you double a penny for 31 days and you end up with 10 million bucks.

[00:27:01.670] – Karl Bryan

But it takes day 27, 28, 29, etc. Where the action is, it’s day 15, 16, 17, what feels forever. And I know I say that all the time, but I believe that to be… That’s why the realtor quit because he was on day 15, 16, 17, 18 and didn’t realize that he just needed to keep going, keep going, keep going. And eventually it would be day 27. And the same thing happens for coaches. That’s why when you do live events, RodeDog, we always talk, right? You got to do 10. Don’t do 1, 2, 3 and then come back and tell me how it went. And remember, 90 % quit after what? Three. Well, you know what I mean? That’s just can’t. And by the way, Amazon bought Zappos. You know what I mean? So acquiring, it’s not something new. It’s not something by any stretch unique to Musk. This is what Apple and the big boys do. And my question, are you thinking about it?

[00:27:56.270] – Karl Bryan

You don’t have the deep pockets, the wallet, the bank balance, the cash to go and buy much right now. But if you start sending your Spidey senses out and you start looking at different things, like domain names. I haven’t bought domain name in a while, but I bought, like I own hundreds of domain names and lots of one. Well, I don’t know, lots, but a number of one word domain names. And a lot of them are like marketingplan.com. I own that domain name and I also own marketingplan.com. I also bought marketingpl.. I knew I was going to buy it and I bought marketingplan.net the day before because I knew as soon as I bought the .com, the guy with the .net was paying any attention, that price was about to spike. So I bought .net, .com and I think I own .org as well. But anyways, the bottom line is that is something that I acquired. And it wasn’t. I didn’t create the domain name, clearly. This is something that was out there. It was. I can’t remember what was on it. Nothing exciting. But in the days, that’s maybe an example.

[00:28:56.640] – Karl Bryan

Maybe you could be acquiring domain names. Good example.. And by the way, that would also be seen as an appreciating asset. You could cash flow it. That could absolutely lease out marketingplan.com for a decent penny on a month by month basis. You ask, Why don’t I? Because I don’t want to because I plan to do something with it. But I’ve been planning that for a while. I’ve owned it for a long time. But anyways, friend, forget me, it’s acquiring. Are you thinking along those lines? Are you going to Flippa? I bought it on Flippa, right? So go to flippa.com and are you having a look at businesses that are for sale? Small businesses, most of them just closed down. And I think that you’re going to see a shift over the next decade in a very real and tangible way where small businesses are not going to be just closing down and shutting the doors and turning the phones and the website off. It’s going to become significantly more popular to be acquired. Anyway, shoots. That’s my… I don’t even know where I started there. But a real founder is somebody dialed in on product, product, product is like a…

[00:30:00.550] – Karl Bryan

The power of that is really, really… If you’re a business coach, that is you not spending time generating leads and clever ways to acquire clients and whatnot. That is becoming the absolute positively best business coach the city, the state, the country can ever get their hands on. And by the way, you will have to generate some leads and we’ll have to convert some deals. But I will tell you, if you are legit that good, word will get out and referrals will take over, word of mouth will take over, and you will be doing very, very well. Hopefully, you won’t stop there and you’ll look to expand. But anyway, shoots, that’s all I got.

[00:30:38.840] – RodeDog

I was just going to say it’s real easy, dude, for me to be sitting there going, you know what? If I was like Elon and I sold my shares in PayPal in 2000 and whatever it was, too, and I got paid just shy of 176 million, right? I now got that, it’s pretty easy to be pretty positive about what you’re going to go ahead and acquire and whatever. That’s easy, in my opinion. It’s not.. At all, but it’s easi-er sometimes because you have the mental strength and the mental fortitude. I just want it real quick because we got coaches that are probably brand new to the game listening that are just like, That’s great. This is all great advice. And it’s real easy when you’ve got piles and piles of money in the bank. But what about the people that don’t and they have this propensity to go negative. You know what I mean? You’ve been there, dude. I know you have. Any tips for staying positive and just to… And also, maybe their clients are in the same boat. How do you get not just yourself, but also your clients to stay positive?

[00:31:47.200] – Karl Bryan

Nice. I like that, by the way. And for sure, it’s imp… You know what I mean? Business is lonely. You know what I mean? It’s lonely. So you got to make sure that you’re looking at it. I don’t know. I don’t get cheap. Well, mental health, you know what I mean? Looking after your mental health is absolutely something that should be on your to do list because, again, it can be lonely. And I can tell you, when you’re highly successful, highly successful people have far less friends than the people who are not as successful. I can tell you that. It’s a weird dynamic of going into it. That’s just.. So staying positive. Look, shoots. It’s your vantage point. You know what? On the weekend, here’s a good one. Shoots, did you ever play punch buggy when you were a kid?

[00:32:38.230] – RodeDog

Of course. Everybody did.

[00:32:39.610] – Karl Bryan

Nice. I live on an island and there are no… I’m sure there’s a punch buggy somewhere, but I have not seen one. By the way, I used to drive one, red one convertible. It was a lot of fun and I loved it. But anyway, so my daughter’s friend is in the back and she grew up on the island and she’s playing pink and yellow car. And I hear it and I instinctively knew immediately what it was. But I just felt like, what? I had to ask her, What’s the deal? And she said, Yeah, you’re pointing out pink and yellow cars. Well, my first instinct are, Are there pink cars on this island? Is that actually a thing? Well, guess what? By the time we got home, we had seen two pink cars. We’d seen a few yellow cars, but I was just blown away at the fact that they were actually pink cars. Your vantage point, if you’re looking for red Toyotas, you’re going to find them. If you’re looking for pink cars, you’re going to find them. If you’re looking for Harleys, you’ll find them. But if you’re looking for things to distract you from working, you’re going to find them.

[00:33:36.090] – Karl Bryan

If you’re looking for problems, especially personal problems or family issues, you’re going to find them. If you’re looking for reasons to get angry, they’re going to be right there provided for you on a silver platter. But if you’re looking for opportunities, bingo, bango, bongo, guess what? They’re going to be there. So you got to help your clients help yourself get excited about leaving the comfort zone and maybe thinking outside the box. Here’s a great example, shoots. I’m going to probably make a meal of this. But in the 1900s, I’m going to say early 1900s, I can’t remember when it is. But there’s the California Fruit Growers Exchange, something to that effect, were losing money and they’re selling oranges. They hired this sales guy with basically zero experience, as I understand it. His last name was Lasker. I think his name was Albert Lasker. Anyway, so whatever. Let’s assume his name is Albert Lasker. May or may not be correct about that. But his task was to sell oranges and capture market share for this company, this California fruit company. A month into the job, he said, we should start selling orange juice. Sell it on the benefits of being healthy and encourage others to do the same.

[00:34:49.260] – Karl Bryan

And then think about how many oranges it takes to fill one glass. Well, lo and behold, guess what happened? Orange sales increased, I don’t know, but over 1,000 %, like 14, 15, 100 %. And then this guy, Albert Lasker, which may or may not be his name, went down as the man who invented orange juice. And by the way, ice cream was around for 100 years before the invention of the ice cream cone. What do you think the ice cream cone did for the sales of ice cream? Most of the ice cream that is sold… I don’t know that most of the ice cream that’s sold is sold through ice cream shops, but certainly a good percentage of it is. Well, they didn’t exist before that invention, the ice cream cone. Roll on deoderant was inspired by a ballpoint pen. The Dollar Shave Club, super successful. It’s lots of textbooks and university courses. It’s taken a little bit of a hit, but it’s still going strong. I don’t know what they are, but they have literally multiple millions of monthly members. This Dollar Shave Club, every month they’re sending you out the razors and they’re upselling you.

[00:36:03.290] – Karl Bryan

Don’t think it’s not dollar a month. Obviously, they got a business model in place where they’re widely increasing the unit of sale. What is it that Nike’s original soul, Phil Knight, he poured rubber on a Waffle Iron? Well, that was the original Nike… Not the original one, but the unique sole that Nike created that I think you’ll see that as an infliction point where they went from X to significantly greater. It was right there because people really liked it. People running found it gave them unbelievable traction. Uber started a limo service. People don’t know that Uber was actually in San Francisco for two years before they ventured out. They weren’t some company, who just got started and just absolutely blew up that eople tend to think it was. At the end of the day, it was a limo service. Again, it was insane friend in the sandbox for a long time. At the end of the day, they were looking for problems. They were looking for opportunities. These guys had their spidey senses out and they ended up disrupting the entire taxi industry. Like, Google. Wasn’t Google like a college assignment, right? Obviously, it went insanely well by the tune of trillion dollars.

[00:37:19.150] – Karl Bryan

Nothing serious. Even the movie The Founder, which RodeDog, you and I have talked about at different times. I love the movie The Founder. I have watched it literally countless. I’m embarrassed to tell you how many times I have watched that movie. I can tell you that there’s some really monumental business advice in it. But at the end of the day, these guys were selling burgers and had this speedy food system, whatever they called it, right? The McDonald’s Brothers. But he saw something different. He was looking for a big opportunity. He was looking for something really special. And if you know Ray Kroc’s history, he had a number of, which is in the movie, but a bunch of failed experiments in his past that people made fun of him. But guess what? He was there, man, and he didn’t quit. He just kept pounding and he cracked it. You only need to be right once. Absolutely magic in that. Then, of course, you can’t say Ray Kroc without saying Colonel Sanders. Again, so Ray Kroc was 52, and I believe Colonel Sanders was 61 when he started KFC and went pretty well. I guess you could use those as inspiration that the trick is one foot in front of the other.

[00:38:33.590] – Karl Bryan

And again, you double a penny for 31 days, you end up with 10 million bucks. But the problem is it’s 15, 16, 17 for so damn long. But the best idea shoots. RodeDog, we’re going to meet back here in 10 years. The best ideas, the iPhone, the Uber, the next Facebook, the next Apple, the next Disney, they haven’t even been thought of. They’re still in between someone’s ears, they might not even be there yet. And it might be yours. So you’re not too late. It’s very common that we’ll speak to a business coach and they won’t necessarily use those exact words. But the frame is that I feel like I’m a bit late. I’m not going to be the guy that’s going to start the next X, Y, Z. And then I go, Okay, well, Ray Kroc was 52 when he started his first McDonald’s. Managed to make a little bit of a dent. Colonel Sanders was 61 when he started KFC. So I don’t know. The Red Bull guy, I got no idea how to say his name, but again, he was in his 60s. That’s what I would… Look, okay, frame AI, you talked about it here, shoots right?

[00:39:43.510] – Karl Bryan

Like AI is… To say that that’s an opportunity is absolutely scary. Obviously, we’re jumping in early. Absolutely, we integrate it into the software already. What we’ve got the guys working on is going to be big. But artificial intelligence is an absolute opportunity. You don’t need to go and recreate chat GPT. There’s so many opportunities in and around AI that should be mind boggling. Anyway, that’s.. you know.. shoots.. You want to stay positive, you want your clients to stay positive. You got to manage your vantage point. You’re looking at this, if you look at it from the point of view that I’m too late, then you’re going to be too late. You’re going to get what you’re looking for. If you’re going to be looking for negatives, if you’re going to be looking… Here’s what coaches do, shoots, right? You know this, we talked about it. They take on 10 clients. Five cancel, five stay. Three are doing well, two are are doing, you know what I mean, mediocre. And then five have canceled. And what do they do? They’re completely fixated on the five that quit and they completely disregard the five that are staying. And by the way, maybe those numbers are even worse.

[00:40:58.830] – Karl Bryan

Maybe you signed up 10 clients and seven got canceled, and then three stay. I’m like, These three stay. You got to concentrate on the three, the glass half full, or you can concentrate on the fact that the glass is half empty with the seven. And by the way, you’re in this. And if that’s happening, I dare say that you’re in the sandbox. So guess what? If you refuse to give up, if you stick with it, you’re going to get a little bit better, a little bit better, a little bit better, a little bit better, a little bit better. Remember, it’s day 15, 16, 17, and what feels like forever. So you will get there. Bottom line shoots, yes, if you look for negatives and what’s not working, you’re going to find it. Money is made in identifying trends and getting behind them. When you’re scared, you feel anxious, tight chest, sweaty palms, nervousness and overall tenseness, those are the exact same feelings that you have when you’re excited. I said last week that my daughter, we went on a roller coaster. She’s nine, by the way. The roller coaster went like 70 odd miles an hour at the Universal…

[00:41:58.930] – Karl Bryan

What’s it called? The Jurassic Park one. Very proud of her, by the way. Very proud. But she was getting a bit nervous. And that’s the conversation we had. Excited and scared. It’s the same, you know what I mean? Tight chest, sweaty palms, nervousness, and overall tenseness. But it’s the same. Are you scared or are you excited? One person is walking on stage and they’re scared, poopless and want to just run away. And the other person is like, Oh, my gosh, this is exciting. I can’t wait to be able to try and move and influence and positively engage in this room of entrepreneurs. So your vantage point, shoots, that’s what you got to do. And that’s what I would say. I don’t know if that’s overly simplistic, but lots of opportunities out there, man. I would be getting real excited about them.

[00:42:45.840] – RodeDog

I would also add to that, Karl, because, again, you and I being big fans of Tony Robbins, it’s just all state control, and your state is controlled by your body. So you know what? If you find yourself in a funk, which I found myself in many, many, many funks, and I recently have just gotten myself out of a massive funk mentally. You know what? Sometimes just go for a walk. Just do the deep breathing, do whatever it’s going to take. We take a lot of that stuff for granted, but it’s like, just get your body moving and it’s amazing what will happen. So I just think that’s also a big piece of it. Just trying to stay positive, it comes down to how are you feeling physically and what are you doing? You’re just laying around. That’s not going to do anything for you.

[00:43:25.900] – Karl Bryan

Shoots, I have found, first of all, nobody’s ever gone for a walk and then came back and said, I wish I didn’t go for a walk. I love that saying, by the way. But it’s like when I look back at my life with 100 % certainty, I have found that the real, let’s just the dominoes that knocked over the other dominoes are those real big wins, they happened when I was going to the gym. I’m going to say consistently, but I would use religiously, you know what I mean? I was really going to the gym, really putting in the work. In other words, physically, I was feeling great, which obviously mentally made me feel great. And that’s where when I look back, it actually surprises me how black and white it is that when I went to the gym like a madman, that’s when I felt that’s when my big dominoes, the small hinge that waived the big door, that’s where I see them. So maybe somebody could benefit from that, judge shoots.

[00:44:23.270] – RodeDog

Oh, 100 %. And just again, if you’re down and out, we’ve all been there before. It’s pretty predictable exactly what we’ll do when we’re there. And it’s also very predictable what we need to do to get out of it. So I just wanted to add two quick points here, talk about AI. And you talked about Dollar Shave Club, by the way. Dollar Shave Club. Now, again, not sexy. They didn’t reinvent the wheel. So I don’t know why a lot of us continue to think I got to reinvent the wheel. In 2016, never mind inflation and where that’s gone over the past few years, they sold in 2016, Dollar Shave Club to Unilever for a reported $1 billion cash. A billion with a B.

[00:45:05.970] – RodeDog

That’s big time. And we have a lot of opportunity with AI. And I got two quotes here from Mark Cuban, by the way. You’re going to love one of them. It will go from being perceived as difficult to being recognized as being fundamental and used by everyone. That is so true.

[00:45:27.040] – RodeDog

It’s crazy. And the other quote that I..

[00:45:31.250] – Karl Bryan

But shoots, can I just.. I wanna hear the other one.

[00:45:31.250] – Karl Bryan

That’s either exciting or scary. It just depends on how you look at it.

[00:45:38.210] – RodeDog

 Times a million, right? Think about that.

[00:45:41.150] – Karl Bryan

Shoots, nice! Times a million. That’s it. I agree, man.

[00:45:46.700] – RodeDog

Oh, my God, dude. I’ve been using that more lately, and I’m like, Oh God, if Karl can only hear me now. Anyways, on that note, it’s not on steroids, though. But hey, as Cuban also said, get in on the AI game or risk becoming a dinosaur. Think about dinosaurs and when Karl started coaching, they coincide so well together. But on that note, before he can get a word in Edgewise, I just want to thank everybody for tuning into another episode of Business Coaching Secrets with the great dinosaur tamer. Would you be taming dinosaurs? Much like the Lions? I don’t know. We’ll find out in the next episode when Caveman Karl comes back for the next episode. I like where that’s going. And again, folks, if you’re not on the inside and getting access to the pre show or you aren’t getting Karl’s daily email or just want to learn more about AI, you want to learn more about business coaching, you want to learn more about profit acceleration software, visit Focused.com. Subscribe today. If you enjoy the podcast, please share, like, do all the things that you know that you can do to help us get higher in the ratings.

[00:46:50.700] – RodeDog

And that is it for this episode and we’ll see you in the next one. Remember, folks, progress equals happiness. Take care, everybody.

 

Karl Bryan built profit acceleration software 2.0 to train business coaches how to find any small business owner more than 100 percent $100,000 in 45 minutes without them spending an extra dollar on marketing or advertising. This becomes a business coach’s superpower. So as a business coach, you’ll never again have to worry about working with business owners that can’t afford your high-end coaching fees. Check us out at Focused.com.