Episode 64Dec 4, 2024· 1:03:55
Replay: Participating in Bundles to Grow Your Blogging Business with Dan R. Morris
About this episode
In this replay episode, Dan R Morris of Audience Industries discusses his BC Stack and why bloggers should participate in bundles to grow their blogging business. There are some killer truth bombs in this episode, and you will want to take notes if you're serious about making money as a blogger.
Get the BC Stack we talk about in the episode here:…
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Full transcript
00:00
Welcome to the bloggy friend show.
00:15
What's up my bloggy friends?
00:16
Famous Ashley Grant here and I am so excited for this episode.
00:20
I know that last time I said this episode was going to be featuring Cathy Dean of Healthy
00:24
Ambitions and we are still featuring her soon.
00:27
I did already get the chance to interview her but this episode is a little bit timely
00:30
so I had to jump on it.
00:32
I got the opportunity to interview Dan Morris of BC Stack and his stack is coming out this
00:37
month so I had to just go ahead and share this one.
00:41
Everything that he's sharing in this episode is actionable stuff that you can use to grow
00:45
a blogging business.
00:46
You're going to want to take notes on this one because he is dropping truth bombs left
00:50
and right so let's not wait any longer.
00:52
Let's dive right into this interview.
00:53
This is Dan Morris.
00:56
I think I go by Dan R Morris online because once I added the R I dominated Google images.
01:02
That's fantastic.
01:05
Before I added the R there was like many Dan Morris's around the world that I don't know
01:09
why they took my name but you know I guess it is what it is.
01:13
I can relate because my name Ashley Grant is just a very standard name but when I added
01:18
the famous that's when I finally started making full-time income as a writer.
01:22
So let's take it back to the old school.
01:23
How did BC Stack get started and what is BC Stack?
01:29
So like I said I'm Dan R Morris and I'm married to Rachel Marie Mark online.
01:36
She runs finallyjoy.net which is this giant blog.
01:39
It's got like a million followers on Facebook and we've got a Penguin Random House deal
01:45
or Penguin Deal?
01:47
Yeah Penguin Deal for her second book coming up.
01:52
She you know she does pretty good job on the blog.
01:54
There's a lot of moms that appreciate what she writes but together we also run audience
02:01
industries and for a long time pre-COVID we did we put together an eight-hour workshop.
02:09
We had maybe five different curriculum and we called it Vlogging Concentrated and we
02:16
traveled the world really doing workshops doing eight-hour workshops.
02:20
So I think we did 115 in Canada, United States, New Zealand, Europe and along the way I think
02:31
it was in New Zealand we did 14 we did two tours in New Zealand we did 14 workshops there.
02:38
Wow.
02:39
And some we mentioned Gary Vaynerchuk's name and some a couple people didn't know who that
02:45
was.
02:46
Gasp.
02:47
And I thought I really thought prior to that moment that Facebook and the internet were
02:54
kind of like the great equalizer.
02:56
If you were famous in our industry then it didn't really matter who you where you lived
03:03
you were probably in the same groups.
03:05
No you're you probably knew who the famous people in our industry were.
03:09
Well to me that was interesting like wow you don't know who they are.
03:14
So on the flight home we were thinking about that concept that we didn't because we didn't
03:21
know who their experts were.
03:23
We didn't know who their top people were like do you know who the top digital marketer in
03:26
New Zealand is?
03:27
You know probably not.
03:30
So we decided on the way back that maybe we should come up with some sort of a project
03:35
where we introduce all the people we met abroad to the people here and vice versa.
03:40
What if we could introduce our experts to them and their experts to our audience?
03:47
So we started a project that we now or we've called BC stack from the beginning it was
03:53
blogging concentrated but now it's kind of like business courses.
03:57
We called it BC stack and the idea was we would take 65 experts from around the world
04:06
we would put together one of their products and then we would sell them as one stack.
04:17
But just doing that wasn't didn't really solve the problem.
04:22
I'd like didn't introduce each other.
04:25
So what we did was we changed it so on the download page when you buy BC stack when you
04:33
get to the sales page you'll see like this year there's 65 products for one price and
04:40
this year it happens to be we're doing product launches.
04:44
So it's like the world's largest product launch.
04:46
So we have 65 brand new products launching the week of June 13th with BC stack all at
04:53
once.
04:54
So when you see that and you decide to buy it which you will hopefully fingers crossed
05:01
then you go to the what I guess you'd call the downloads page and normally there'd be
05:06
a bunch of downloads ebooks and you know stuff you could grab but that didn't solve the mission.
05:13
The mission was to introduce people to experts and experts to people.
05:18
So on the download page it's actually links instead of downloads and it's like private
05:25
secret links so who would like let's just say it was Tony Robbins if Tony Robbins had
05:33
a new product and he was selling the product for $400 and it was Tony Robbins product.com
05:39
then you could go to Tony Robbins product.com and you would see there's a $400 button but
05:44
if we get him inside of BC stack then that $400 goes away.
05:49
So when you go to the download page you go to a private secret landing page to get that
05:55
product for free because you bought the stack but what that does is that helps Tony Robbins
06:03
add you to his list.
06:05
So now he gets to talk to you.
06:07
He gets to meet a new audience.
06:09
You get a brand new product that's worth a lot of money and you can learn a lot from
06:12
but he also gets a new audience that he can teach.
06:17
So the real like magic of it is the filters and the filters are and let me explain filters
06:25
but filters are something that you need to know as a blog.
06:28
You need to really grasp the concept of filters.
06:32
A filter is what makes you authentic in my opinion.
06:36
So I'm going to explain filters and then we're going to come back to BC stack.
06:41
Let's just say that you're a running blogger.
06:44
You teach running how to run a marathon.
06:47
You know running techniques, eating while you run, nutrition for runners, all that stuff
06:52
that you if you're a running blogger you'd write.
06:55
And let's say that you want to grow your list and you decide to give away a $25 Amazon gift
07:01
card.
07:02
You know just sign up here and I'll do a drawing for everybody who signs it up and you get
07:06
a gift card.
07:08
So this would be becoming inauthentic.
07:13
You would no longer be an authentic running blogger because the $25 gift card isn't directly
07:22
aligned with the fact that you're a running blogger because now anybody is going to come
07:27
and sign up whether they have an interest in running or not.
07:33
So like if that happened on a menopause site like I would still sign up to win the $25
07:38
gift card but I'm probably not going to go to menopause.
07:41
So I probably don't need to be on your email list.
07:47
Like that's not right.
07:50
So what you need to do is you need to choose opt-ins.
07:54
You need to choose products.
07:56
You need to choose memes.
07:59
You choose Pinterest pins that are totally 100% related to the way you monetize.
08:07
So if you're going to be a running blogger then maybe you want to give away a 12 pack
08:13
of running goo which is this stuff that you ingest when you're doing a marathon to give
08:17
you extra energy.
08:20
But the only people who want goo are long distance runners.
08:24
So they're the only people who are going to sign up.
08:26
Like I don't want that.
08:28
So I'm not going to sign up.
08:30
Like if it was a 12 tips to overcoming menopause, like I'm not signing up for that.
08:37
Like that doesn't have the right draw.
08:38
It's not the right reason for me as a person to get that email into my inbox.
08:43
I don't need that 12 tips.
08:46
So the filter is what you put in place to push away all of the people who don't need
08:53
to be on your site and attract all the people that do.
08:57
So even go back to your Twitter description.
08:59
If your Twitter description says I'm married, I love pink and I have two dogs, like would
09:05
somebody read that?
09:06
Does that filter out the people who need to follow you and filter in the people who do?
09:12
So it has nothing to do with running.
09:14
So why would anyone follow you?
09:16
What you want to say is I run six miles a day and I teach people how to get the best
09:21
out of their legs or how to run the best mile or whatever.
09:25
Then when somebody reads it, they'll realize, oh, I should follow this person.
09:28
I'm going to run.
09:29
So at every point in your blogging journey, you have to make sure you've got the filters
09:33
in place so that you're only bringing in the people who matter.
09:37
Now,
09:38
Wow, that is solid advice.
09:39
I like that.
09:40
The way this manifests itself is if you go to my wife's Facebook page, which is finding
09:46
your blog, you'll see 700,000 fans.
09:50
Because you'll also see that every single post gets 100, 200, 300 comments because the
09:59
only people who are in that group are moms.
10:03
That's it.
10:04
Every single day we get 150 people who press, can I join the group or whatever.
10:10
I get rid of all the men.
10:13
I give it to everybody who signed up for Facebook in the last six months.
10:17
I give it to anybody who doesn't look like a mom and then I add everyone else.
10:22
So now the group is full of moms who totally champion each other because they all have
10:28
the same thing.
10:31
It's like going to a U2 concert and singing the U2 songs as loud as you can because everyone
10:37
around you is singing the U2 songs, which is very different than going to a bar and
10:42
singing the U2 songs as loud as you can that are coming over the jukebox and looking around
10:46
realizing no one is singing the U2 songs.
10:49
All of a sudden you feel out of place and then you no longer sing.
10:52
So if you have a running blog and all of a sudden 100,000 people are on your page and
10:58
they're not runners and you say something and it's crickets, you don't say anything
11:02
anymore.
11:03
It's the air that's feeling what you feel that has those kinds of feelings.
11:07
So now you're no longer as open and all of a sudden your page gets zero engagement because
11:12
no one feels like they're in the right place and it's all because you put them on Twitter
11:15
description.
11:16
I love that.
11:18
I love that.
11:19
I geek out on software as a service products and I follow a lot of blogs for software as
11:23
a service and one of them is Smarter Select.
11:25
They're an application software and one of the things I like about them is they have
11:29
this thing in their program called Prequalifiers which basically weeds out anybody who has
11:34
no business on that page and that totally just makes me think of what that is.
11:40
It's your prequalifying the people that should be there, the people that actually belong
11:45
in your audience.
11:46
I absolutely love that idea and it's funny the way that you put it makes so much more
11:49
sense than, oh, you've got a niche down.
11:52
It's like, okay, well, that sounds great but can you please explain to me what the heck
11:56
that means?
11:57
I love that description.
11:59
You definitely want to have a place.
12:03
Even running bloggers, there's a lot of running bloggers but then here's something interesting.
12:10
I used to run and then there was a point in time when I stopped running because my buddy
12:19
Paul and I wanted to start doing triathlons.
12:23
I ran but I was no longer a runner, now I'm a triathlete.
12:27
Then there was a point in time when my buddy Paul and I decided to do Ironman.
12:32
Now we're no longer triathletes, now we're Ironman triathletes.
12:39
We teach this in one of our blogging concentrated curriculums but the idea of the ladder of
12:43
value and that is that you will serve your audience for a specific segment of time in
12:50
their life.
12:52
They will go on as part of their ladder of getting better at life.
12:59
You need to prepare for that.
13:00
You need to have agreements in place and work with other people.
13:06
For instance, the running sites that I probably looked at back then, it would have been good
13:11
if they had agreements and joint ventures with triathlete blogs that say, hey, are you
13:19
interested in triathlon?
13:20
If you are, click this link and see what my buddy Dave writes about triathlon and then
13:25
all of a sudden you become an affiliate for that guy.
13:28
Now if you're buying anything over at that guy's site, then you still benefit from you
13:34
moving your traffic on to the next thing that they need to do in order to get even healthier.
13:42
You got to be prepared.
13:44
Even Woman's Day magazine, there's a particular period of life where you get that magazine,
13:49
you read it, you like it, and then you move on.
13:52
You get into gardening, you get a gardening magazine.
13:56
Losing that audience is not a bad thing.
13:58
It's kind of what you want.
13:59
You're helping people move from one place to the next.
14:04
Even photography, you could become the person who just teaches filters so that you're always
14:11
looking to find beginner photographer bloggers to say, hey, I teach filters.
14:14
Help me work out something so I can move your people to me and me to the next level or whatever
14:20
that is.
14:21
But make sure that when she says niche down, make sure you know where do your people come
14:27
from?
14:28
What part of life do they come from?
14:29
What were they doing before they met you?
14:31
What were they doing before they needed you?
14:33
Then think how long will they need me?
14:35
What is it they're moving towards?
14:36
Who are the people that do the thing that they're moving towards?
14:39
Who can I work with?
14:40
Which podcasts can I be on?
14:42
So that you're always filtering in the people that you need.
14:45
You're taking them from the places they should have been and moving to the places they should
14:49
go and making money on the way.
14:52
All these golden nuggets dropping truth bombs left and right.
14:56
So how do you even choose who gets to be part of the BC stack?
15:00
Was it hard in the beginning to convince bloggers to, or not even bloggers, but just experts
15:05
to be part of it?
15:06
Yes.
15:07
And I'll get to the back to the filters too on that.
15:12
Okay.
15:13
Good segue to that.
15:14
So we like to call it the snowball of awesome for everything we do is you have to start
15:22
with a small snowball.
15:24
So I was friends with Joel Calm and Rachel was friends with John Lee Gibbs.
15:30
So we asked Joel and John if they would participate in this thing that we had with this idea that
15:36
we had, and they said yes.
15:39
Now how you get to a big fish doesn't matter as long as that's kind of your idea and starting
15:46
out.
15:48
So then we told everyone else, John Lee Dumas and Joel Calm are helping us with this project.
15:52
Would you like to be part?
15:54
Well that just grows itself.
15:57
Yes, I'll do that.
15:59
They're involved.
16:00
I'll be part of that.
16:01
So when you're going to do a project like that, think of the biggest fish that you know.
16:07
And it doesn't matter whether that's as big as Tony Robbins or somebody smaller, but think
16:13
about the biggest fish that you know and go after that big fish first, because then you
16:17
can use that as the hook for everyone else.
16:20
Now, in my world, we have what we call a universe spreadsheet.
16:26
And we do this for every client in every niche.
16:28
And that is we create a spreadsheet of everyone in the universe in the niche, every top author
16:34
who writes books about this concept, everybody on Medium who writes about this concept, everybody
16:40
on LinkedIn, everybody on YouTube.
16:41
Like who is the niche?
16:43
Who are the people?
16:45
Who are the people making the movies, the making the documentaries that are all about
16:50
what I'm talking about?
16:52
So then you create this spreadsheet.
16:54
Here's the entire map of my niche.
16:57
Here's the people writing about this and writing about this and the people who fell and old
17:00
people and the past people and the has-beens and the coming ups.
17:06
And if you have that and you don't know the top people, then you know that you're not
17:08
in the top of the niche.
17:10
So like Oprah knows Tom Cruise for a reason.
17:15
So you got to work your way there.
17:16
You got to get to know the top players because how are they going to recommend your book
17:20
if you don't know them?
17:21
If they have the same audience, don't you want them talking about what you do?
17:25
That's kind of like kind of the idea.
17:27
So we have a niche spreadsheet and every year we add to it, all year, I see other projects.
17:35
I see affiliates for other bundles.
17:41
And I write them down.
17:42
I add them to the spreadsheet.
17:44
And then we pretty much just go after them.
17:47
And now in year seven, I don't need any snowball at this point.
17:52
We probably have 150 people who emailed me this year to ask if they could be part of
17:57
the stack.
17:58
So that's fantastic.
17:59
Yeah, yeah.
18:00
For me, that's fantastic.
18:01
And I say yes to everyone at first.
18:07
And then they filter themselves out a lot.
18:10
A lot say, I didn't have time.
18:12
Yeah, I'm aware.
18:13
That's why I said yes.
18:16
I know that you won't have time and a lot of people won't do it anyway.
18:20
And then when it gets closer, like we're a month away.
18:24
So starts on June 13th.
18:27
So now I actually have, I think right now I have 93 and I have to get to 65.
18:35
So now I'll go through the process of paring it down.
18:38
And I've been starting to send some emails out to say, hey, where are you in the process?
18:43
And I've already gotten a bunch of people said, oh, I just didn't get to it.
18:46
And then, you know, cross those people out.
18:49
And then we get down to, we'll probably get down to 90.
18:53
And then it's the process of actually looking at the products and anything that's not awesome.
18:58
We just toss it.
18:59
We just say, you know, maybe try again next year.
19:03
Right.
19:04
Just not quite there.
19:05
Yeah.
19:06
So that's kind of how that works.
19:08
But I was saying the filters concept, the best part about the stack is that it's run
19:16
by affiliates.
19:17
So while I do, you know, we have a big list because we've been doing this for seven years,
19:23
but I only really send a couple of emails to my list about the stack.
19:28
And then the rest is the affiliates.
19:33
And we have, I think around 700 affiliates.
19:35
Wow.
19:36
Who promote the stack.
19:38
That's amazing.
19:39
Yeah.
19:40
And last year we figured out, and this is reverse math, but we figured out based on
19:44
our conversion rate, like that 10,000 sales, right?
19:48
Then we figured out our conversion rate on the page of 10,000 sales was 12%.
19:53
So that means we had 86,000 people to the page.
19:57
And then we know that if 86,000 people went to the page and usually a click through rate,
20:03
an average click through rate on internet is 5%, then you know, three to 5%, then like
20:08
2.54 million people were emailed about the stack.
20:12
Wow.
20:13
And that's kind of like how normal numbers work.
20:15
And then, you know, 86,000 show up at the page and 10,000 by.
20:19
So having affiliates do it, it's a three pronged project.
20:27
So the first prong is, is the contributors, the contributors who provide the parks, they
20:35
get to grow their list.
20:37
That's like the big benefit for them.
20:39
This is like a list building experience, because for us, we want to connect them to a new audience.
20:44
That's kind of the entire idea.
20:46
And the way that it's perfect for them is the filters.
20:50
So an affiliate in New Zealand or Malawi sends an email out to their list and it says digital
20:57
marketing products or something in the subject line.
21:01
And then that's a filter, right?
21:02
You don't even open it if you don't care.
21:05
And then they open it, whoever likes that opens it.
21:09
And then it says, hey, you know, 65 new products will be in sold at BC stack, you know, for
21:13
one little price.
21:14
And if that appeals to you, then that's the second filter.
21:18
So that doesn't appeal to you.
21:20
I couldn't even show up at the page.
21:22
So then you make it to the sales page.
21:24
And then the sales page talks all about the products and the people and what's in it.
21:28
And if that doesn't appeal to you, then you leave, right?
21:31
Right.
21:32
If that doesn't appeal to you, then you click the buy button and then you see the price.
21:37
And if it's worth it to you to spend some money on your own, you know, on getting digital
21:44
marketing information, then you buy.
21:46
That's another filter.
21:47
Like now the list has been filtered three times.
21:50
Plus this is a group of people who are willing to pay for this information.
21:55
And then you may get to the download page.
21:58
Now it's just like a salad bar.
22:00
Like you go to a salad bar.
22:02
Everything on the salad bar, you've already paid for it, but I don't like beets.
22:05
So I don't put beets on my salad.
22:07
Never.
22:08
No, I don't.
22:09
So all of the buyers, when they go through the stuff, if they don't care about Instagram,
22:13
then they're not going to grab the Instagram product.
22:16
But if they do care about Pinterest, they might grab the two or three Pinterest products.
22:19
So now those two or three Pinterest people, those contributors have just grown their list
22:25
by somebody who passed five filters, agreed to pay for this information and chose Pinterest
22:30
over everything else.
22:32
So they end up with this great list.
22:33
So that's the first problem.
22:36
And then the second problem is the buyers.
22:39
They get 65 incredible products.
22:42
And this year brand new.
22:43
Like if you're thinking what's new in 2021 post COVID, post COVID mentality, like this
22:49
is the year to get it.
22:50
So that's the second problem.
22:52
And then the third is the affiliates.
22:54
Now the contributors are also affiliates, but the affiliates are people who promote the
22:59
product and they make the money because they're the ones who drive the boat.
23:04
They're the ones who bring the traffic, who introduce everyone to their audience.
23:09
And for them, it pays their bills, it buys their groceries, it pays the family.
23:13
Jennifer Maker last year, she got like $23,000 in affiliate income and ended up building
23:18
a new studio.
23:19
So that's amazing.
23:20
Yeah.
23:21
So, you know, there's a lot of people that make 15,000 or more in affiliate income just
23:28
from one week and not only that for the affiliates, it's one week of work, right?
23:34
June 13th to the 19th, you get a million dollar list talking about it and we pay on the 21st.
23:39
So it's like a huge summer thing and you can feel the money from the work that you just
23:46
did.
23:47
It's not like six weeks later or two months later, it's like two days later.
23:50
So every year it's kind of like, all I have to do is work this week and I'll make a big
23:55
paycheck on Saturday.
23:56
I mean, we like that idea.
23:58
I love that idea.
23:59
I guess the fourth prong is for me and that is I'm done that Saturday.
24:03
Then you go on vacation.
24:05
Yes.
24:06
I pay everyone and we're out.
24:08
It's over.
24:09
I love it.
24:10
Well, firstly, you said that you never put beets on your salad.
24:13
Try them grilled and then, you know, you might enjoy it.
24:16
I've been to beat buffets.
24:18
I've been to a beach party where they had this entire layout with all different colored
24:24
beets, red, white, some were grilled somewhere and they all taste like beets.
24:28
Oh no.
24:29
That's hilarious.
24:30
Do you remember in the nineties, uh, what was that show Doug where everybody had to
24:33
get beats?
24:34
They loved the beats.
24:35
I don't, I don't like beats.
24:36
I don't put it on my salad.
24:39
Okay.
24:40
Understood.
24:41
I didn't put peas on my salad either.
24:43
I mean, they're good, but they just take up extra space without a lot of flavor.
24:46
Love it.
24:47
Now what, what turned me on to the, to the BC stack, the reason I got it a couple of
24:52
years ago is there was a product that I was already looking at.
24:56
It was already on my radar and I was considering buying it, but I was kind of toying with the
25:01
idea of whether or not I had it in the budget.
25:03
And then I saw it show up in the BC stack and I was like, Oh my gosh, like this product
25:10
is normally $97 and I can get it and all these other products.
25:15
So what do you say to the people that are, that are like me who are, you know, looking
25:20
for, I don't want to say the lower price, but looking for value and you know, what do
25:27
you say to the people who are considering getting into these bundles?
25:30
And they're like, well, the only people that are ever going to sign up are the people who
25:33
are cheap.
25:34
What do you say to that?
25:37
You mean to the blogger or to the buyer?
25:39
To the blogger.
25:41
So like take it back to seven years ago, but like even pretend you didn't have JLD, John
25:47
Lee Dumas and you know, Joel on board, what would you say to the bloggers who you were
25:52
trying to convince there are benefits to participating who were just worried about giving their products
25:57
away cheap?
25:59
So I get this sometimes, you know, I reach out, I reach out to a lot of people to see
26:08
if they'd like to be part.
26:10
I pretty much cold call everyone.
26:13
And sometimes I get that response that their product is worth more than that.
26:19
You know, like they're worth more than putting their product in the stack.
26:25
And I don't, I don't disagree, but I also know that that building a business is not
26:32
simple.
26:33
There isn't anything easy about what we do.
26:37
And what we're giving is the opportunity to grow your list for one week.
26:42
And we're using your product as a carrot and your product should be the best representation
26:47
of you.
26:48
So the people who choose that actually get to see the real you.
26:51
And actually as a contributor for the 60 days following the purchase, we do interviews on
26:58
the Facebook page about your product.
27:00
So not only do you get, does your audience get the product, but they also get to meet
27:08
and hear what you have to say and realize what value that you're going to add to their
27:12
life.
27:13
Because it's really not, it's really not the exchange of value that we're concerned about
27:18
for this one week of 2021.
27:22
What we're interested in is how do I grow my list so that 2022 is productive and I make
27:29
a lot of money.
27:30
And if you think that this is the one and only product you're ever going to have, then
27:35
I think maybe you're just not thinking about your business the right way because your audience
27:43
needs more than the one product.
27:46
So hopefully not only do you have the one product, but you see another product in the
27:52
future and in your one product, you've teased the idea of that next product.
27:57
So if you have a beginner's photography book, hopefully you've mentioned filters, using
28:02
filters on your camera because you know that your filters product is going to be coming
28:06
out whenever.
28:07
Hopefully you've already started to tease that idea.
28:11
So putting your product in a bundle to me is a way to grow your world through filters,
28:21
making sure that you have the right people.
28:24
Now there are people who ask me, can I put my nutrition product in the stack?
28:30
And I don't, we don't, that's not the idea, right?
28:33
It'd be the wrong audience for that person because that person just doesn't grasp the
28:38
idea of what their business is.
28:40
So you need to make sure that it's in the right form.
28:44
But then the other thing you need to make sure of is that you're at the right spot in
28:50
your blogging journey to even participate.
28:53
So we talk about different levels of business, the first being kind of like the infrastructure
29:01
like, do you have your website up?
29:05
Do you have your social media profiles?
29:06
Do you have an email capture device?
29:09
And are you sending emails like basic stuff?
29:12
You have all that stuff in place.
29:15
And then the second level is, okay, now do you have opt-ins?
29:18
Do you have different things to get people to come to your email list?
29:22
Do you have ebook?
29:24
Do you have a webinar?
29:25
Do you have live calls?
29:26
Do you have things that get people on your email list?
29:28
And then also do you have an automated way to reply to them?
29:32
You already have those ready.
29:33
Now, if you don't have any of that stuff done, then I would say, don't participate until
29:39
you do.
29:40
Like make sure your infrastructure is right.
29:43
You don't want to give, somebody last year gave me an ebook and they just sent me the
29:47
ebook.
29:48
They're like, no, no, no, I don't need anyone to join my list.
29:51
You're just give this, just make it a PDF download.
29:54
I'm like, well, that's not the idea.
29:57
That's not the point.
29:58
Like anybody can go to the bookstore and read a book, but that doesn't mean you're been
30:02
added to that person's business.
30:06
Like that's the hardest thing for us selling on Amazon is that we don't grow the business.
30:10
We just make some money.
30:12
That doesn't help me next year.
30:14
I'll just order an extra burger with extra money.
30:18
Like I need a bigger business concept.
30:22
So I say definitely do the bundle idea.
30:28
And more than trying to join bundles, you think it would behoove you to consider starting
30:34
your own.
30:37
And when I say that, I think you should try something small.
30:42
So if you're going to, if you like this idea, I think you should try this.
30:46
On Rachel's site last year, before we started doing the brave basket for her site, we sent
30:55
out the question, can you describe motherhood?
30:59
Like in one paragraph to a hundred bloggers on our universe spreadsheet.
31:07
Now the universe spreadsheet is more than bloggers.
31:09
Let me say that.
31:10
It's like the editor of good housekeeping magazine.
31:15
It's like who has our audience is basically who it is.
31:21
So we ended up getting a reply from the editor of good housekeeping magazine.
31:24
Oh wow.
31:25
So and a bunch, a bunch of them.
31:27
I mean a bunch of huge people.
31:30
So on her site on the motherhood is blog post.
31:34
I mean some people call it a roundup, but I don't.
31:37
We basically took 75 top moms, top people in the motherhood niche, and we have their
31:44
definition of motherhood.
31:46
And I put their name, their picture, the link to where they are, and then their quote in
31:51
a long list.
31:52
And to me, this is the beginning of doing a bunk.
31:57
Because now I've got somewhat of a relationship with these people, even though it's shallow.
32:01
I did ask them to do something.
32:04
They said yes.
32:05
And I over delivered.
32:06
Like I made it really pretty.
32:08
I put their link on or their description, added a photo, made it great.
32:12
And I said, hey, appreciate that you being involved.
32:14
Here's what we did, which opens the door for the next question.
32:18
Right.
32:19
Which is like whatever.
32:20
Maybe you do another one of those.
32:23
Or maybe you ask, would you be willing to allow me to put this into an ebook with your
32:30
name on the cover?
32:31
Like questions.
32:32
So now you're basically adding even more value.
32:34
Now their name is in a book.
32:37
Even if it's the editor of good housekeeping magazine, everyone likes the idea that they're
32:40
in a book.
32:41
So work your way to the point where, hey, we're thinking about doing this bundle.
32:49
Would you be interested in putting together a product?
32:51
And a product can be as simple as, would you be interested in starting a Facebook group
32:56
and doing a one hour webinar on a topic in the group?
33:00
That could be the product if somebody doesn't have a product.
33:04
So then the editor of good housekeeping magazine, I haven't asked her yet, but I could come
33:09
up with an idea like, hey, would you like to talk about this topic?
33:13
And then if she does, then I will put her in the stack.
33:18
This person is going to talk about this thing and then I'll create the group four.
33:23
And that will be the page that people go to to go do that.
33:26
And the first post is going to be coming on September 6th at 9 PM.
33:31
Right here is going to be a Facebook live with this person talking about this topic,
33:34
which hopefully the audience wants to learn about.
33:38
So you can work your way up to that, but then you become the expert.
33:43
You become the person that's helping everyone else.
33:46
And then you also get helped in the meantime.
33:50
So think about that.
33:51
Don't always allow yourself to be subject to the whims of others.
33:56
Sometimes it makes sense to be the wind, to make the change.
34:00
What I really love about the bundles that you have done is, like I mentioned, I was
34:06
looking at a product and I was considering it.
34:08
I was debating and then I purchased the stack.
34:12
But then I went back to that person and I bought more of their products.
34:15
I got excited about who they were.
34:18
I learned more about them.
34:20
And what I love about the bundles is that it gives you an opportunity to build the relationship.
34:25
It gives you the, you know, we're always talking about in business that you got to build the
34:29
no like and trust factor.
34:31
And what's awesome about these bundles, in my opinion, is that, you know, people who
34:37
are teetering or on the fence or don't even know who you are, get an opportunity to see
34:42
what you do.
34:43
And they get to do it without feeling like, okay, I might put up this investment and I
34:49
might really regret it.
34:51
And it kind of takes away some of the barriers that they may have been having.
34:54
So they purchase the product and then they get to learn more about you and then they
34:58
want to buy more because they see how amazing you are.
35:02
So to that end, I will say that towards the maybe the sixth of June, like the week before
35:11
it goes live, I ask all the contributors that they have an affiliate program.
35:17
And if they do, then I turn the link to their product into an affiliate link so that I become
35:24
an affiliate link of theirs.
35:26
You know, I become an affiliate.
35:28
And for us over the last seven years, we now make quite a bit every month from recurring
35:37
income from people like you who bought the stack, but then you buy something else from
35:40
that person.
35:41
Like, we'll make a percentage of that every month going forward.
35:45
So that builds up over time.
35:49
So I know that when people buy the stack, they end up buying stuff from the contributors.
35:54
And that's kind of the idea, right?
35:56
Because they are part of the audience.
35:57
So that is like the second way that we end up monetizing the stack is, is we become affiliates
36:05
for everyone.
36:06
And then people who are better at me than selling an email will sell products and then
36:10
we'll make small commission.
36:11
And those add up, they add up pretty well over the course of a year.
36:14
I will say that.
36:15
That's fantastic.
36:16
Is that what made you branch out into another stack?
36:19
Because I purchased the podcasting stack as well.
36:22
No.
36:23
The thing that made me want to do the podcast was kid was the success of BC stack.
36:30
To me, to me, I would like to only do the stack once a year.
36:36
That's the only job I want once a year.
36:39
And we're close.
36:41
But from a money standpoint, I thought, well, what if I did two?
36:47
Because I'm not busy enough.
36:50
Yeah.
36:51
And so I worked two months on the stack.
36:53
What if I worked two months later in the year and I did a different niche?
36:57
And since I worked for podcast magazine and I have a podcast, you know, we go to conferences.
37:03
I thought, well, we have a podcasting audience.
37:05
So that's pretty different, pretty niche.
37:07
So we'll start a podcasting one in October.
37:09
So we'll do one in June and one in October.
37:11
And if I do that every year, then when both of them get big enough, then that's the only
37:18
thing we have to do.
37:19
We'll just do those two projects.
37:20
That'll be our only work.
37:21
And then we get, you know, when Rachel and I got married, we ended up Brady bunching
37:26
and we have 11 kids.
37:28
So if I only work four months a year, I could spend a lot of time with kids and we homeschool.
37:33
So that was my idea.
37:35
We'll do a second one.
37:37
We'll make, try to make it just as awesome, maybe more awesome over time because it's
37:41
niche and then we'll just work four months a year.
37:48
That's been, that's the goal.
37:49
I love it.
37:50
And the podcasting kit, I mean, the value in it was just amazing.
37:54
And you know, I've been working on different how to start a podcast, you know, stories
37:59
for different clients and, and the value in it.
38:02
I mean, it's just, I keep saying that because it's just, it's such amazing value for what
38:08
you're, for what you're getting and what you're getting access to, because some of the people
38:13
that are in these, these stacks, you know, the, the blogging concentrated and the podcasting
38:17
kit, I never even knew who they were.
38:20
And like you said, it totally puts you on their radar and you never might've known who
38:24
they were before.
38:26
And so it definitely fulfills the idea you guys had.
38:30
And I just, it's amazing how such a simple idea can just turn into what it is today.
38:37
I love it.
38:38
So we've done, we've done one for Rachel called the brave basket.
38:42
We do one for Spanish teachers for speakinglatino.com.
38:49
We do a few others and I'll tell you something about starting these.
38:54
You don't, they don't make a lot of money right away.
38:58
Some do, like BC stack is digital marketers.
39:01
Digital marketers have lists, but podcasters don't have lists.
39:07
Which is a problem.
39:09
Yeah.
39:10
So I was actually disappointed the first year in the amount of traffic it brought in because
39:17
I mentally overestimated how much reach podcasters have.
39:23
And I wrote this, I wrote a book to the contributors and I wrote all the positives and negatives.
39:28
Like what happened?
39:29
Here's the conversion.
39:30
Here's what happened.
39:31
We changed the sales page on Wednesday.
39:32
You know, here's what we had email wise.
39:35
Here's what we had affiliate wise and podcasters just don't have a big list.
39:40
And that same thing happened with Spanish teachers.
39:43
You know, we have an unbelievable Spanish teachers bundle, but if you're going to use
39:49
affiliates to grow it, then sometimes you almost have to spend a little time building,
39:55
teaching and creating affiliates.
39:56
Now teaching them how to do it.
39:58
And then so they can work on it all year growing their list and then you get to use them again
40:02
the next year.
40:04
So they're not immediate.
40:05
And if you're in a niche, that's not like digital marketing where everybody's got a
40:10
list, then they do take a little bit of extra effort, which is not bad.
40:14
And eventually you'll be the top dog because no one else is probably doing in your niche.
40:20
But I will say, you know, such your sites realistically.
40:24
I like that.
40:26
So you offer an affiliate program, but how does it work and how can bloggers get involved
40:31
to promote this amazing stack?
40:35
So if you want to be an affiliate, then tell famous Ashley that you want to be because
40:43
we have a two tier affiliate system.
40:46
So two tier means that if you come directly to me, then you make 50% of 50% commission
40:56
for every product.
40:58
But we give away $24,000 in bonus money.
41:02
So like 15 levels deep, so even really small affiliates end up getting some bonuses to
41:09
make it even better.
41:10
When you get 50% of the purchase price plus the upsell, which is pre-buy next year, plus
41:17
the upsell, which is joining the club where we help walk you through all the products
41:21
in case so you don't get overwhelmed.
41:24
So you could make $100 a sale or something.
41:30
And then our second tier is if anyone who buys the product from you, like they use your
41:36
link, they go to BC stack, they buy the product, and then they decide to become an affiliate
41:40
of their own, then they make 50% and all that stuff.
41:43
But you make an extra 10% of whatever they make.
41:46
It's like a little bonus, a little sugar on top.
41:49
And some people like Ricky Shetty, all he does is bring me affiliates.
41:54
He never promotes.
41:56
So I think he made like $5,000 or something last year in second tier commissions.
42:01
And he doesn't promote at all.
42:03
He just brings me affiliates who will promote.
42:05
Amazing.
42:06
I put them under his name.
42:08
He makes the 10% commission for bringing them to me, you know, to help us grow.
42:13
They make the 50%.
42:14
So if you're listening to this, tell Ashley you'd like to be an affiliate, and then she'll
42:19
tell me.
42:20
And I'll sign you up and I'll reach out to you, but then I'll know to give the 10% Ashley,
42:25
the extra commission for like putting this on.
42:29
Like she's taking time to create this moment, which you learn about it.
42:33
And then you want to be an affiliate.
42:35
So we're going to give her 10% on top of that.
42:37
It doesn't take away anything from you.
42:38
You still make 50%.
42:41
But she makes an extra 10% and it carries on from year to year.
42:45
So wow, I didn't know that part.
42:47
Yeah, yeah.
42:48
Whatever that person sells next year, you get 10% of it.
42:50
That's why Ricky makes a ton of money because he's been doing it from year one.
42:54
So he keeps bringing me affiliates and one year he brought me the affiliate who won.
42:59
So the big money.
43:00
So I mean, that pays for him pays every year.
43:04
And he's like, Whoa, where'd this come from?
43:06
I said, dude, it was stack week.
43:08
What were you doing sleeping?
43:11
It's like the one thing that every blogger wishes for is passive income.
43:15
And so it is true passive income.
43:17
There's only two types of passive income in my opinion.
43:20
One is I stock photo and one is this concept of, you know, recurring commissions.
43:26
I love it.
43:27
So it sounds like everybody who can get involved in some sort of a bundle should, or if they
43:31
can't, they should at least be an affiliate for it.
43:33
Oh, you should maybe.
43:36
So you only want to be an affiliate if it matches the ethos of your community.
43:42
Back to the filters.
43:43
Yes, absolutely.
43:44
Your community is digital marketers and you're teaching them something and they need to know
43:49
this other stuff as well.
43:50
Then yes, this makes you you're bringing something awesome to them.
43:54
But we have other people who are affiliates like they have an art blog.
43:59
It's all about art.
44:00
And then they send an email that says, Hey, are you also trying to start a side income?
44:04
You know, it's an interesting idea, but it doesn't make it really authentic to why you're
44:09
reaching out to your audience.
44:10
They should they should really be affiliates for art things.
44:14
You know, because when the plumber comes to your house, like you don't really need movie
44:19
advice.
44:20
You just need you seem to do the plumbing, right?
44:22
Right.
44:23
And if he says, Hey, well, if you're interested in movies, I have this VCR in the truck, you
44:27
know, like, um, do you just pump, you know, just do stay in your lane.
44:32
Yes, stay in your lane.
44:34
So I'm curious, what is your advice for bloggers trying to make it in this content creation
44:39
business?
44:40
Because there's so much content that goes into the stack alone.
44:44
But if they don't have a product yet, but they want to aspire to be part of a stack,
44:49
what is your advice for them?
44:51
If you don't know what product your audience needs, you're probably in the wrong niche.
44:56
That's my first thought.
44:57
There's a lot of people who will say, I want to start a podcast, but I don't know what
45:02
to talk about.
45:03
I'm like, that's backwards.
45:06
Like figure out what it is you're passionate about and then decide whether you're going
45:10
to start a blog or a podcast.
45:13
You don't start the other way around.
45:15
So first of all, you're either passionate about something or not.
45:20
And then if you are passionate about it and you are listening to your audience, then you
45:24
understand, you know, with finding joy.net with the mothers, we totally get, you know,
45:32
there's a group of women who are in a bad marriage or stuck in something.
45:37
They lost who they are.
45:38
They have lost some of their freedoms.
45:40
They are married to someone who is controlling.
45:43
Like we understand this concept and the fears that they have and the kinds of things that
45:50
they need to talk about.
45:51
And we have a group for those people that are in that situation.
45:56
If you don't really truly know your audience, then you might as well not do content creation.
46:03
But when you do understand the audience, then the content part should be pretty easy.
46:07
Like what is it they're frustrated about?
46:09
Like what do they hate?
46:10
Well, they're using a plugin, but what doesn't it do?
46:14
Why doesn't it do that?
46:15
Why do they ask you that?
46:17
They use the Yoast plugin, but they don't know how to use it.
46:21
That means they don't understand the SEO.
46:22
It doesn't mean they don't use it.
46:24
They don't get it.
46:25
So figure out all those things, you know, and then don't do content creation for content
46:32
creation sake.
46:35
Like figure out the journey that your audience needs to take.
46:39
Draw it on a graph if you have to and write at this point, they're going to need this
46:44
product.
46:45
Then they're going to need this part.
46:46
Then they're going to need this part.
46:47
So you have this like flow is funnel of where your people should go and they don't need
46:52
other people's products.
46:53
They could just stick with what it is that you're building for them.
46:58
But your mindset should be 100% about your audience.
47:03
What is it that they need?
47:04
Where do they go from here?
47:05
Where did they come from?
47:07
And if there's even cases like if you're a divorce attorney, then in your mind, everyone
47:15
should have been coming from a discussion with their husband that they're going to get
47:20
divorced.
47:21
Like that should be that's where they came from.
47:24
That discussion brought them to this meeting.
47:28
But are there exceptions to that?
47:31
Like if there are exceptions to that, then that could be a product, could be a book that
47:36
could be a thing.
47:37
Like if you didn't just have a conversation about divorce and there's another reason,
47:43
then read this.
47:45
Most people don't, but there's a segment of your society, your group who doesn't fit and
47:50
they know they don't fit.
47:51
They come from a different place.
47:52
Like who is that?
47:53
Why don't they fit?
47:54
It makes them fit later.
47:56
Like how does it that they melded in?
47:57
But why is it their starting point is different?
48:00
Somewhere in there is a product.
48:02
And then everyone goes from like running a 10K to American or a half marathon.
48:08
Like is that the case?
48:10
Or do some people go to that Titan event, these other adventure racing events?
48:16
Like where else do they go?
48:17
Shouldn't you not have a product transitioning to a adventure runner, transitioning to a
48:22
marathon?
48:23
Like those should be things that you talk about and you write about.
48:26
So you really just need to really think through your audience.
48:31
I mean, go to the bookstore, write down the title of every single book in your niche,
48:35
then go and look at a chapter.
48:36
What are the chapters about?
48:40
What are people writing about that you haven't?
48:41
Like why haven't you?
48:42
Why aren't you seeing those things?
48:44
And then you just come up with like everyone's writing a book about these 11 chapters, but
48:49
no one's got this, right?
48:51
There's your product.
48:53
You know, spend a day at the bookstore, like a whole day.
48:56
Go to the coffee shop like three times.
48:58
Every single book, read it around, read every chapter title.
49:02
Why do they write about this?
49:03
And then start making hash marks.
49:04
Everybody's writing this, this, this, this, but only one person has written about this.
49:08
Like that sounds like a product to me.
49:11
It gives you a great way to set yourself apart.
49:13
Yeah.
49:14
Because you, I mean, you can be, you have so many people who can be an expert, but if
49:19
you really want to, like I said, set yourself apart, then you need to find something that's
49:24
not being served and go find that audience for it.
49:27
But I really like what you said about, um, basically not just creating products for product
49:33
sake.
49:34
I mean, if you're going into it solely with the idea of making money, then you're probably
49:38
not going to make any money, but if you actually give your audience exactly what they need
49:41
or want, rather than assuming what they need or want, you might actually have some success.
49:46
I will say, um, when Rachel and I first met, she told me that people had been asking if
49:53
her blog posts were in a book.
49:56
And I said, what?
50:00
People ask me if they're in a book.
50:02
And I'm like, well, why don't we have the book done?
50:06
Where's the book?
50:07
And people are asking, why don't we have it?
50:09
So you know, two weeks later we had a book and it said everything in this book is blog
50:13
posts, but they're in a book and we sold 3000 for $9.00 because she refused to sell it for
50:21
15, which is what I wanted to do.
50:23
She wanted to sell it for seven.
50:25
3000 times nine.
50:29
So I mean, that was a lot of money and just turning blog posts into a book.
50:33
And now people ask for, they want her quotes.
50:37
Can I print this out?
50:38
They ask, can I print out your quote?
50:39
Do you have a printable?
50:41
So we actually, do I have it?
50:43
No, I don't have it.
50:45
We actually had her quote made into an actual framed print.
50:49
I love it.
50:50
So we sold it for $65 plus $15 shipping from China and we sold a hundred of those.
50:56
We only ordered a hundred, but we sold a hundred of those at Christmas time.
51:00
And now we put printables on the site or we have been and people buy the printables.
51:04
They just want to print it and hang it on the wall by their computer, but they don't
51:08
want to type it out.
51:09
They just want it to look pretty.
51:10
Yes.
51:11
99 cents for that.
51:12
So why not?
51:13
I love it.
51:14
Well, and I should put in the show notes.
51:16
I, for GoDaddy, I did a blog to book series where we literally, we interviewed bloggers
51:23
and talked to them about how they took their blogs and turn them into books.
51:27
So I should leave that in the show notes for sure.
51:30
So what is your advice for bloggers that are trying to, to come up with an idea?
51:36
I mean, where should they first go?
51:38
Like I know we said that we shouldn't just create products for product sake, but should
51:43
they actually ask their audience or should they just hang out with their audience?
51:47
What do you think?
51:48
What do you mean?
51:49
Come up with ideas.
51:51
Come up with ideas for, for, for products and, and ways to monetize.
51:57
I mean, I know there's, there's so much that can be done, but what's the, what's the first
52:02
place that they should even begin?
52:04
So for me, the bookstore is big.
52:06
Yeah.
52:07
Go to the bookstore and look at the chapters.
52:08
What are people writing about in your world?
52:12
What books are missing?
52:13
Really?
52:14
Yes.
52:15
You can do that on Amazon.
52:16
I don't know.
52:17
I like to go to the bookstore and get a coffee and hang out.
52:19
Okay.
52:20
I totally do that on Amazon.
52:21
I've been known to like read all the, the previews.
52:24
Yeah, yeah.
52:25
You can do it.
52:26
You can stay home.
52:27
I just like to go out.
52:31
Monetization.
52:35
One thing you have to remember is everyone in your audience has a bookshelf and it's
52:41
got stuff on it.
52:43
You know, when Rachel goes to Starbucks in a different city, she looks for the mug, the
52:47
Starbucks mug that has a city name.
52:52
When people look for shoes, they normally start with the brand that they like.
52:57
So you have to remember that your audience is proud and they put it willing to put money
53:02
behind the things that are proud about.
53:04
So if they're proud to be a runner, they're willing to have a bookshelf of running books.
53:09
They're willing to subscribe to Rona's World and have it on the desk.
53:13
So you have to remember that first thing is that they're proud of who they are.
53:20
And when they buy stuff, it makes them prouder.
53:24
Like Rachel loves to show people her Starbucks mug collection.
53:28
You know, think about that.
53:31
Rachel loves to show people when they come over her Starbucks mug collection.
53:36
Now rewind to the day that somebody at Starbucks said we should sell mugs with the Starbucks
53:41
logo on them.
53:43
In that conversation, like do you think people will buy them?
53:46
Like somebody is asking that.
53:48
Not only are people going to buy them, show them like she's proud.
53:52
So what kinds of things is your audience want to get better at?
53:58
I mean, do they want to play the ukulele?
54:00
They need a ukulele book.
54:01
They need a book about ukuleles to put on their coffee table.
54:05
Right?
54:06
So think about that.
54:07
Like go that direction.
54:08
What makes them proud and create something that would make you even prouder.
54:12
Like this is my podcast right here.
54:15
And for a long time, we had a blogging shirt of the month that we did through Teespring
54:21
and we sold, I don't know, 150 shirts every month.
54:26
And it was we came up with a, you know, we have one that says blog what you love, love
54:30
what you blog.
54:33
When you design it on Teespring and then Teespring will tell you, you know, this shirt, this
54:38
Hanes t-shirt, plus your two color print will cost $6.88 a shirt.
54:44
I'm like, great.
54:45
And then it says, how much do you want the price of it to be?
54:47
And I put in 17 bucks.
54:50
So then we just send everybody a link to the $17 shirt and Teespring sends us the difference.
54:55
So we don't have to do anything.
54:56
We just created a product and it makes people proud.
54:59
People are proud to wear around that.
55:00
I love blog.
55:01
We have one that says, I'm not a famous blogger across the front.
55:06
We've got social media shirts.
55:10
We've got one that says, look up while you're talking to me, because most people are on
55:14
the phone.
55:15
There's lots of shirts that make people proud.
55:18
So why not be a purveyor of shirts or mugs?
55:20
Like you can make them all at Teespring or CafePress.
55:24
People like to be proud and you're in the niche, so help them.
55:27
Put your logo on the back.
55:29
Yeah, right now I'm wearing my up my influence shirt.
55:33
I'm obsessed with Josh Elidge of up my influence and on the back it says media celebrity and
55:38
that makes me feel pretty cool.
55:39
And my other second favorite shirt is I love podcasts.
55:44
So I love that.
55:46
Yes.
55:47
So, so think about it.
55:49
I mean, there's products in there.
55:50
Don't just limit yourself to digital products.
55:52
Use Teespring, use CafePress.
55:55
And you make money that way too, while you're making people happy.
55:58
Yes.
55:59
So don't limit yourself.
56:02
Sponsorships are okay, in my opinion.
56:04
They're all right.
56:05
I'm not a huge fan of sponsorships because they sort of take away some of your authenticity.
56:13
Now you're a shill for a company.
56:17
But if Target wanted to, or Starbucks wanted to sponsor Rachel, we would do it in a heartbeat
56:24
because Rachel writes about Starbucks and Target all the time, all the time.
56:30
And I know that if they wanted to sponsor us, we could write about how excited they
56:33
are they finally want to sponsor her for a long time.
56:36
People are like, holy moly, I can't believe they finally reached out to you because that
56:40
wouldn't be a shield at all.
56:42
It'd be holy crap.
56:43
They already know that we're a hundred percent behind those.
56:45
Right.
56:46
So if you are going to take a sponsorship, at least make sure it's something that's authentic.
56:50
Yeah, very authentic.
56:52
And it's very hard when you're early and you're just following the money.
56:58
You really need the money.
56:59
Like sometimes, I mean, you don't have a choice, right?
57:02
You gotta pay the bills and nothing is overcomeable in the long run.
57:07
But definitely go after the people that make total sense to you.
57:13
And sometimes a sponsorship is almost like credibility too.
57:18
So you kind of waver in there a little bit, whether it hurts or helps your brand.
57:23
But just keep that in mind that your audience is still more important than the check, even
57:28
when the check is the most important thing.
57:30
Right.
57:31
I mean, that's honestly why I started doing the ghost blogging is because I wanted to
57:34
stay authentic with the things I was doing with my name on it.
57:38
But I also knew I needed to make the money.
57:40
So that's why I started ghost blogging.
57:41
Nice.
57:42
Nice.
57:43
That's a good idea.
57:44
Yeah.
57:45
So, all right.
57:46
You've covered a lot and speaking of like quotables and printables and things like that,
57:50
you've had a lot of really amazing quotes that you have said.
57:53
And I kind of can't wait to go back and listen to this again, because I know I've probably
57:57
missed a couple of things that I want to digest.
58:00
But is there anything I didn't ask you that you want to add?
58:05
You didn't ask me.
58:07
Well, BZ Stack is June 13th to the 19th.
58:12
It's one week.
58:14
And then podcasters kit will be in October.
58:17
This year, it's the world's largest product launch.
58:19
We're going to try to launch 65 new brand new products at once for the most part.
58:26
And I would love for you, if you're into digital marketing, I would love for you to not only
58:31
get the bundle from a consumer point of view, but I would like for you to get it from a
58:37
market point of view.
58:39
That is, if you have a chance to see the download pages that 65 experts have created for this
58:46
product, what do they look like?
58:48
What did they include?
58:49
What didn't they include?
58:51
What's the subject line of their first email?
58:53
How many emails did they get?
58:55
Like use it as a case study.
58:57
Oh, like start to write down.
59:00
Like I use a I mean, I hate to say this, but I created a new Hotmail account.
59:05
And I like Hotmail because you can sort by sender.
59:09
So what I like to do is sign up for stuff like this and then go back and sort by sender.
59:14
And then I can start to see campaigns, the headlines of different campaigns that people
59:19
sent, like what were what did they write?
59:21
How did they write it?
59:23
So it ends up becoming pretty good resource as well as you get the products.
59:28
So if you're really into digital marketing, use every part of it.
59:31
We change the sales page three or four times during the course of Stack Week because we're
59:36
trying to improve the conversions.
59:37
So I mean, take a screenshot on Friday or when it opens on Sunday.
59:42
On Sunday, take a screenshot on Wednesday.
59:44
What did we change?
59:46
And it's only going to be there for an hour.
59:48
If it didn't work, we change it back and then we try something else.
59:50
So see what we changed.
59:52
Why do you think that mattered?
59:53
And it will always, well, not always, but in theory, it will always improve the conversions,
59:59
you know, take one Friday.
1:00:01
The very last day, the conversions will be the highest they are all week every year because
1:00:05
we've tweaked enough stuff.
1:00:06
So see what it looks like on Friday compared to Monday.
1:00:09
I mean, really go into it from a digital marketing perspective.
1:00:14
And you know, don't just go in as a consumer.
1:00:17
You're trying to do this too.
1:00:18
So that's amazing.
1:00:20
Make it work for you.
1:00:22
So much good stuff.
1:00:23
Well, where can people find you on the interwebs?
1:00:26
I'm Dan R. Morris everywhere.
1:00:28
I'm on Facebook, on Twitter.
1:00:30
My podcast is called Tracing the Path and it is a passion project.
1:00:38
I grew up with Paul Harvey and Charles Carolt and Andy Rooney were these unbelievable storytellers.
1:00:45
And Paul Harvey's had this radio show.
1:00:49
I didn't care how important the meeting was.
1:00:51
If his story wasn't over, I would wait in the car before it was over.
1:00:55
I'd be late for the meeting to finish the story, finish listening to his story on the
1:00:59
radio.
1:01:00
So I decided I want to do that.
1:01:01
I want to create stories that you just have to listen to the whole thing.
1:01:06
And so that's what I've been doing in my other months where we're not working on the stack
1:01:10
is I've been creating, I guess you'd call it history, it's 20th century history, but
1:01:16
it's stuff you don't know about things you thought you did.
1:01:20
Like did you know that Francis Scott Key was once a slave owner of Frederick Douglass?
1:01:27
Did you know that?
1:01:28
Probably didn't.
1:01:29
No, I did not.
1:01:30
You probably didn't know that.
1:01:31
There's a lot I don't know though.
1:01:34
Know that it took two wars for M&Ms to create, be created.
1:01:38
If it wasn't for two different wars, there would be no M&Ms.
1:01:43
Did you know that the Oregon Trail game is what made Apple a famous company?
1:01:48
That's the tipping point for Apple is Oregon Trail.
1:01:51
So we tell these cool stories and I don't know, it's tracing the past.
1:01:56
So if you like podcasts and it's not a business podcast, but if you love that kind of thing,
1:02:01
come on.
1:02:02
It's like all that Jeopardy trivia.
1:02:03
All that stuff you could tell at cocktail parties.
1:02:06
Oh yeah.
1:02:07
Oh yeah.
1:02:08
Packed into right now it's so much research.
1:02:10
I only do one a month, but hoping to get to two a month.
1:02:14
Amazing.
1:02:15
Well, I really appreciate you taking the time.
1:02:17
I know you're very busy, but I just, I really appreciate you taking the time to do this
1:02:21
with me.
1:02:22
And I mean, everything you've said is just, it kind of makes me want to like go re-examine
1:02:27
how I'm doing things in my own blog.
1:02:29
And I think that that is a good thing.
1:02:31
It's awesome.
1:02:32
Awesome.
1:02:33
I actually, since we homeschool and 15 minutes, I teach Spanish.
1:02:36
Amazing.
1:02:37
Okay.
1:02:38
And let me tell you this.
1:02:39
There's a quote that we, my wife and I both like it's in the kingdom of the blind, the
1:02:45
one-eyed man is king.
1:02:47
So if I only know six more words in Spanish than the kids, I am the teacher.
1:02:54
That's fantastic.
1:02:55
Thank you so much.
1:02:57
Hey again, my bloggy friends.
1:03:00
I just wanted to thank you for listening to this episode with Dan Morris.
1:03:03
Did you pick up all that he was laying down?
1:03:06
My goodness.
1:03:07
He had so many good trick bombs and I can't wait to buy his BC stack so that I can do
1:03:11
exactly what he said and use it as a case study to grow my own blogging business.
1:03:15
I hope you enjoyed everything he had to share and I hope you took something away from it
1:03:20
until next time.
1:03:21
May your page views be high and your bounce rate below.
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