Episode 69Apr 4, 2025· 41:45
Replay - Using PLR in Blogging with Justin Popovic
About this episode
Want content for your blog, but don't have time to write it? This episode might help! Pulled from the archives, in this episode, I'm chatting with the king of motivation – Justin Popovic – all about using PLR in blogging.
PLR stands for private label rights, and it can help you take your blogging game to the next level. We jam on using it for creating courses, generating newsletter content, how to level up your…
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Full transcript
00:02
Welcome to the Bloggy Friends Show. What's up,
00:25
my Bloggy Friends? Famous Ashley Grant here,
00:26
and I just want to welcome you to the Bloggy
00:28
Friends Show. We're so excited to have you join
00:30
us on this journey of sharing our knowledge and
00:32
experiences with you. Whether you're a blogger,
00:35
a content creator, or just someone who's interested
00:37
in learning more about the digital world, we've
00:39
got something for you. So grab your notebook
00:41
and a pen to take some notes, or just sit back
00:43
and take in all the amazing information and ideas
00:45
we're about to share with you. Let's get into
00:47
it. So Justin, welcome to the show. I am so excited
00:51
you could be here. Like I told you before we
00:53
hit record, I'm kind of fangirling a little bit.
00:56
Can you do us a favor and tell us what it is
00:58
you do? Yeah, absolutely. So thanks for having
01:00
me on. First of all, Justin Popovich, I'm from
01:03
a website called toolsformotivation .com. So
01:06
you might hear these kinds of products that we
01:08
sell referred to as private label rights or PLR.
01:11
It's essentially just licensed content. So we
01:13
make products in the self -improvement, self
01:15
-help space that other business owners, bloggers,
01:18
authors, whoever can purchase a license and then
01:21
basically treat it like they created it themselves.
01:23
So it's really cool because somebody else's like
01:26
our team has already done all the heavy lifting
01:27
for you've got a digital product or you've got
01:29
content that you can share on social media or
01:31
blogs. And you haven't had to write it from scratch,
01:34
but you also have the permission to change it,
01:36
edit it, customize it. So it does sound like
01:38
you, but it just saves you an incredible amount
01:41
of time and a lot of frustration because when
01:42
you sit down to write content on a blank page,
01:45
it's a lot harder. And so we give people a kind
01:47
of a headstart. But you can also just take our
01:50
stuff and publish it right as is. It's completely
01:52
up to you how you want to go ahead with it with
01:54
your brand. That's what we've been doing here
01:56
at Tools Motivation for about 10 years. We actually
02:00
had another private label rights business before
02:02
that as well. So my business partner, Ted Payne,
02:04
and myself have been at this for quite some time.
02:07
And we just keep evolving and growing with it
02:10
and have a lot of fun. And it seems to be something
02:11
that people really like using. So we're still
02:13
doing it as long as people see value. Now, I'm
02:17
curious, what on earth made you suddenly decide
02:19
we're going to start selling white label content?
02:22
Yeah, that's a good question. Like a lot of people,
02:25
I was an entrepreneur doing services -based revenue
02:30
generation. So we were building websites for
02:32
people at the time, doing a lot of tech kind
02:35
of work. It was kind of a weird backstory. I
02:38
was actually in the corporate world way back
02:40
in the day, from 2000 to 2008. I was a corporate
02:45
guy and I worked at IBM and I did a lot of just
02:47
corporate stuff and I just really couldn't stand
02:50
it. I didn't like the feeling of being in a big
02:52
company. I didn't like feeling like I was a number.
02:54
I didn't like that I wasn't in control of my
02:56
schedule. And so I really got into just my own
02:59
mindset and kind of realizing what got me here.
03:02
And I kind of really started investigating the
03:05
philosophy of success and how people set their
03:08
assumptions and beliefs and all those kind of
03:10
things. A lot of the self -help books, the classical
03:12
stuff. And once I got into it, I realized I really
03:15
like this. I'd love to be able to do this kind
03:17
of stuff and share these messages with other
03:19
people as a business. So I originally got into
03:22
entrepreneurship to be a coach and a speaker
03:24
and couldn't really get that many clients, but
03:27
built up a great website. So and we ranked really
03:30
high on Google and all this stuff. So people
03:32
started hiring us, asking us to build websites
03:34
for them. And so we did that for a couple of
03:36
years because that was the only way I was making
03:38
money as an entrepreneur. And I got really tired
03:40
of it. So one day. I was on this marketing forum
03:44
and I saw that people were selling their own
03:48
content, but with a license attached to it. And
03:50
I thought I could do that. So I literally just
03:52
went to a coffee shop one morning when I was
03:54
in between client work and wrote a book, a mini
03:58
ebook on how to get out of your comfort zone
04:00
because it's something I'd been doing for two
04:01
years as an entrepreneur and decided instead
04:04
of just selling it as an ebook, I'd sell it as
04:06
a licensed piece of content. And it worked. I
04:09
started making these $17 sales. same day not
04:12
a ton of money a few hundred bucks but it made
04:14
it gave me that belief like oh i can actually
04:16
make money selling a digital product that i spent
04:21
the time creating once but kept making money
04:23
over and over and over again so i had a little
04:25
sale that ended made a few hundred bucks but
04:27
then i kept using that product in other projects
04:30
and i made thousands of dollars off of that one
04:32
unit of work about three hours that morning and
04:35
it blew my mind so i was like i want to do more
04:36
of this and we just kept offering similar kind
04:39
of products to that same audience. It kept selling
04:42
and it eventually grew into a membership site
04:44
that it grew into a brand. And here we are many
04:46
years later and we just kept evolving it. So
04:49
it's like a lot of digital businesses start with
04:51
one little idea where something just worked a
04:53
bit and we just kept going at it, innovating
04:56
and getting better and better and better. And
04:58
yeah, here we are today. Okay. So you said that
05:01
one of the reasons that it was like self -help
05:04
stuff is because you were wanting to be a speaker
05:07
and a coach. So do you think the fact that you
05:09
guys have reached down in the PLR business has
05:11
been beneficial to you or does it kind of hold
05:13
you back a little bit from making more money?
05:15
Great question. No, it definitely helped out
05:17
a lot in the sense that it gave us a very clear
05:21
talking point to our perfect customers, right?
05:24
So if you, and that's another good lesson in
05:26
business in general, if you try to spread yourself
05:27
too thin and have too many messages and too wide
05:30
of an audience, you're not really speaking to
05:31
anybody. And so. And that's what we originally
05:35
did in our first PLR company was we were just
05:37
creating whatever our customers asked for. So
05:39
do something on anti -aging, do something on
05:41
home workouts and do all these. So we did it.
05:44
We were hiring content creators to do it, but
05:47
then we would only sell little pockets of licenses
05:50
because there was only so many people that wanted
05:52
each one. And we found when we laser focused
05:55
on self -help, which is the niche we called it
05:58
at the time, there's a number of different names
05:59
for it. Was there was a huge audience. So that
06:02
was important. It was still a big enough market
06:04
that we could niche down into the self -help
06:07
space. And so it just gave us a clear mess, basically
06:12
message to market. And it gave us a consistent
06:15
audience that kept coming back because they need
06:17
a lot of content in that space. So I think that
06:20
to answer your question in kind of a longer winded
06:23
way is that it did help us because we picked
06:26
a niche that did have. a market and had a lot
06:29
of people in it and there was money being made.
06:31
And we didn't niche it down too much to kind
06:33
of rule out being able to scale a business. So
06:35
I think there's a fine line there. I don't think
06:37
you want to niche it down too much because then
06:39
you'd only, you maybe only have a hundred people
06:41
in the world that want this thing. But then again,
06:43
if you go too far the other way, you'll, you'll
06:45
be speaking to too many people. So you have to
06:47
find that kind of careful balance. I think if
06:49
you, if you, you can't really go wrong in the
06:51
self -help or wellness or finance world's business,
06:54
those kinds of things seem to sell. And as long
06:56
as you can create a brand in those, you should
06:58
do fine. Well, one of the things that fascinates
07:01
me about y 'all's marketplace is it's not just
07:04
blog posts. It's not just e -books. You also
07:07
have courses. You have podcasts. You have videos.
07:10
So tell me a little bit about that and how you
07:12
kind of expanded to more than just, I guess,
07:14
the written word. Yeah, absolutely. Like anything
07:18
else, we kind of evolved. It started off as we
07:21
were just creating blog posts and mini e -books
07:23
and little reports so people could use either
07:25
as, you know, think something they could sell
07:27
or something they could use as a lead magnet
07:29
to build their list or something like that. And
07:31
then, like any good company, we talked to our
07:35
customers a lot. You know, we sent direct emails
07:37
to people. We did follow -up campaigns, literally
07:40
thanking people for buying our product. It was
07:42
one -to -one conversations. In those conversations,
07:45
there was a lot of themes coming out. Oh, do
07:47
you have something to help me build up my Twitter
07:49
profile? Do you have something to help me get
07:52
my LinkedIn profile going? Or do you have anything
07:54
to help me either brainstorm or publish to YouTube
07:56
or do audio or whatever? And as these questions
07:59
came in and they became more and more common,
08:02
we just started to think, well, yeah, we could
08:04
totally do that. Would you be willing to pay
08:06
a premium for those kind of things? And more
08:08
people that said yes, we just took it as an indication
08:10
to do it. Yeah, so now we're doing, we do audios,
08:15
we do video, do a lot of graphics -related content,
08:17
makes it very easy to share on Instagram, Pinterest,
08:20
those kind of things. But it all, yeah, it all
08:23
basically all came down to what the audience,
08:26
what the customers wanted, and then what made
08:28
sense for their marketing. Now, for digital marketers,
08:30
anybody selling online, there's basically three
08:33
buckets, right? You're either publishing things
08:36
that you're going to monetize, so sellable content,
08:39
lead generation content to build your list or
08:42
your influence, And then traffic in general,
08:44
content to just get the word out there that you
08:46
exist and that you have good things to share
08:48
and that you have a website that people should
08:50
visit and all that good stuff. So those three
08:52
buckets need lots of content poured into them
08:55
all the time if you want to do really well in
08:57
an online business. So we just started innovating
08:59
and figuring out as many as we could build in
09:01
each one of those three buckets. So that's how
09:03
our platform sort of evolved. Okay. Well, so.
09:07
Basically, I started researching PLR a while
09:10
back because I was writing an article for GoDaddy
09:12
about using PLR to kind of make more money from
09:15
the blog content you're already creating. Now,
09:17
one of the pushbacks that I kept getting from
09:20
people whenever I was trying to discuss it as
09:24
a plausible thing to use for a blog is they're
09:26
like, okay, well, that means I'm going to have
09:27
the same content as everybody else. So what do
09:30
you say to those people who are scared to buy
09:32
it for that reason? It's a great point. It really
09:36
comes down to the target of your content publishing.
09:39
Where is this going to go? So if you if your
09:42
goal is to create a blog post for your brand
09:45
that will be ranked highly high in the search
09:47
engines and get you all kinds of clicks organically,
09:50
then you need to have a fairly unique piece of
09:54
content because search engines these days are
09:55
very advanced and they can see if this piece
09:58
of content has been published in 100 other places.
10:00
It may not give you the search engine juice that
10:02
you want. It still may rank because there isn't
10:05
a rule against duplicate content, so to speak.
10:07
I'm not a search engine optimization expert,
10:09
but I think, again, it comes down to what is
10:12
your goal. So if your goal is to just get somebody
10:16
to join your list by giving them a really cool
10:18
gift, I'd like you to sign up for my list today.
10:20
I'm going to send you my four -part mini course
10:22
on whatever. Well, that mini course, you don't
10:25
have to write it from scratch. You could use
10:26
a piece of PLR content where it's already been
10:29
written for you. And maybe just take five, 10
10:32
minutes to inject a little creativity or a little
10:35
bit of your own voice at the beginning, at the
10:36
end, so that people, your readers or whoever
10:39
can see that it's coming from you. That whole
10:41
middle section can just be generic lessons that
10:43
come from a piece of private label rights content.
10:45
As long as what's being shared in there resonates
10:47
with you and what you want to share with the
10:49
world. Do you think people are really going to
10:51
remember? Oh, I read this passage in another
10:53
book on another website four years ago. It just
10:55
doesn't happen, right? These kinds of things
10:57
don't happen. I've read thousands of books. They
11:00
could have had identical chapters in them. I
11:02
wouldn't have recalled that. So it's very often
11:05
an unfounded worry that really has no basis in
11:08
reality. But again, it comes down to your intentions.
11:11
So yeah, if you are trying to rank on Google
11:13
with like 100 different blog posts, then yeah,
11:16
you're going to want to tear that piece of PLR
11:18
article down, break it into sections, add some
11:21
of your own voice into it or your messages into
11:24
it so that in the end, it is a unique piece of
11:26
content. Nowadays, we've got all these AI tools
11:28
out there that can do. A friend of mine just
11:31
released a rewriting tool based on AI. So you
11:33
could plug in a PLR article and it'll literally
11:35
rewrite it. Same concept, different output. And
11:39
that guarantees that it's unique. So again, it
11:42
comes down to how you want to use it. Nine times
11:44
out of 10, you could use it out of box and it
11:45
would be perfectly acceptable and nobody would
11:47
have a clue that you're doing it. Again, make
11:50
sure that it resonates with you, your voice,
11:52
the message that you want to put out there. But
11:54
most of the PLR, if it's good quality, Probably
11:56
will. A lot of these lessons are, you know, universal
11:59
life lessons, right? If you're talking about
12:01
confidence or how to build yourself a team or
12:04
leadership principles, what we put in our product
12:06
is probably going to be similar to what you would
12:08
put in yours. If you wrote it from scratch, you
12:09
just made to make a few tweaks. That's such a
12:12
good point. And the reality is, you know, there
12:15
are 80 million plus WordPress blogs alone. So
12:18
what are the odds that, you know, if you purchase
12:20
this particular product that you're going to
12:21
be competing with someone else that is like in
12:24
your niche? Yeah, exactly. I mean, the odds are
12:27
low. Yes. And one of the things that I found
12:29
kind of fascinating, you mentioned duplicate
12:31
content, and that's been like a buzzword that
12:33
freaks people out. But in the research I've done,
12:36
the big thing that I have found is that duplicate
12:38
content was really written as like a thing to
12:41
be concerned about if you were putting it on
12:43
your own website multiple times. Because, you
12:46
know, in the black hat SEO days when people were
12:48
doing things they weren't supposed to be doing,
12:50
they were putting the same content over and over
12:52
again on their own website. Yeah. So if you're
12:55
if you're creating content with PLR, I don't
12:58
see I don't see how it could really hurt you.
13:01
No, absolutely. And you can you can test it quite
13:04
easily. If you go if you run a search for any
13:06
kind of popular news story, a lot of these like
13:09
news websites will just syndicate an article
13:11
from a source like like AP or Reuters or whatever.
13:14
But they're literally just. syndicating that
13:16
article on their blog and it ranks so you can
13:19
see with your own eyes proof that duplicate content
13:22
doesn't hurt search engine rankings at least
13:24
for some websites so uh i don't really worry
13:27
about that kind of thing if i kind of just focus
13:29
on does this message that i'm putting out whether
13:32
it's publicly whether it's behind a paywall whether
13:34
it's privately to my email list does it reflect
13:37
the kind of message that I want to share with
13:39
my audience? And does it reflect our brand in
13:42
general? And if it does, I'll put it out there
13:44
as long as they're inherent value for the reader.
13:46
So would you say the big thing is to make sure
13:48
that your brand overall is what's being put out
13:53
there and just use the PLR to kind of help enhance
13:55
it? Absolutely. You still have to have a brand.
13:58
You still have to have a unique message or a
14:00
unique product or something that you're bringing
14:01
to the world. You are the unique thing. It doesn't
14:04
have to be your personal brand, but your creativity,
14:07
your team work that goes into whatever product
14:09
or service you're creating here, that has to
14:12
be there. The PLR is just helping you get your
14:14
messages out there more quickly in a more creative,
14:17
unique way. And really, for a lot of people,
14:20
it just helps them overcome the writer's block
14:22
or the worry that goes into what the heck am
14:24
I going to write today? Well, don't start with
14:26
a blank piece of paper. Start with a word doc
14:27
that already has an article. And if you like
14:29
what the article says, roll with it. If you disagree
14:32
with one of the points, pull it out, rewrite
14:33
that one point. But you've just saved yourself
14:35
still probably 90 % of the work time. And now
14:38
you're pumping out 10 times more content than
14:40
your competitor. So I'd roll with that because
14:42
content is king. That's not going away. So the
14:45
more content you can put out, the better. Wait,
14:47
so you mean I can't just buy everything that
14:49
you posted and just post it myself? I mean, you
14:52
could. Technically, it's not against the rules.
14:54
But I would definitely add a little bit of your
14:56
flair to it. Make sure that your crew know that
14:59
it's you. Yes. That way, if you actually want
15:01
to build a brand that people can know, like and
15:04
trust, it will just be regurgitated. Exactly.
15:07
Exactly right. Well, I kind of want to switch
15:09
gears for just a second because, you know, you've
15:11
mentioned AI and we've been we've kind of been
15:14
talking in the in the background. My husband
15:16
and I, he's my partner. We've been talking about
15:19
blogging and how things are shifting and changing.
15:21
So people are starting to look for ways that
15:23
they can earn more income and kind of bust that
15:26
income gap that are not income gap, but that
15:28
income ceiling. of trading dollars for hours.
15:31
So let's say I'm a blogger and I'm producing
15:34
all kinds of content on my own. Can I sell my
15:36
own PLR, my own white label content? Absolutely.
15:41
Yeah. There's really no stopping anyone from
15:44
getting into this space or into this market.
15:47
In my experience, the best way to do it would
15:50
be as long as you have some points of contact.
15:53
So you and I are chatting right now. I'm connected
15:55
to most of the PLR sellers. That's pretty much
15:57
it. You just need to know somebody that's in
15:58
that world And even then, if you don't, there's
16:00
nothing stopping you from putting out a piece
16:02
of or a package basically saying, you know, here
16:05
are 10 of my best pieces that I've written. It's
16:07
published in my works or in my blog or whatever.
16:09
I'm giving you a license to, you know, use it
16:12
or publish it as your own. And then your license
16:14
just stipulates whatever you want it to say.
16:16
Your customers can do with that content what
16:19
you specify in your license. So you could tell
16:23
them. you're not allowed to use this on your
16:25
blog you can only use it internally for your
16:28
email list to nurture that list and create engagement
16:31
so if you send an email newsletter to your list
16:35
that uses my written content that's fine but
16:37
please don't publish it on my blog i'm just giving
16:39
examples here so um yeah you could totally do
16:43
something like that and you could totally make
16:44
it run the way you want it to run so that you
16:46
feel comfortable with it as well uh it's still
16:49
i mean PLR is still a fairly unknown term, private
16:53
label rights, in the grand scheme of things.
16:55
Most people that I talk to in my day -to -day
16:57
life have no clue what it is. Online marketers
17:00
tend to know, but even then, if they do know,
17:01
there's only a handful of providers that they
17:03
trust or would even consider buying from. So
17:06
I still think it's a market right for getting
17:08
into. I'd certainly endorse somebody getting
17:12
into it if it's good quality and there's a market
17:14
for it. I'd say go for it, yeah. I completely
17:16
agree. Whenever I was researching this a couple
17:18
of years ago for that GoDaddy piece, one of the
17:21
big things that some of the PLR providers that
17:23
I spoke to said is the best way to get into it
17:26
is to start being an affiliate first for PLR
17:29
providers that already exist. Would you agree
17:30
with that? I don't know if that would be the
17:34
only or the best way to do it. I think if you
17:37
had a really good piece of content or offer that
17:40
you brought to the market and you just were.
17:42
transparent, at least among the other PLR sellers,
17:45
if you wanted them to help share it or promote
17:47
it. Because doing it with advertising or doing
17:49
it without a list would be very hard. You would
17:51
really need someone who has a name in that space
17:54
to at least a few people to recommend them over
17:57
your product. But if it's a good product, I've
17:59
had people come into it and I've never heard
18:00
of them before. And they say, hey, I'm entering,
18:02
I've got this health package. I take a look,
18:04
the content's really good. I consider promoting
18:06
it if it makes sense for my list. Getting started
18:11
as an affiliate would certainly work. I would
18:14
probably do it the other way around. I'd create
18:16
a really good product and try to get in front
18:19
of some PLR sellers with some influence and make
18:23
it really super, super appealing for them to
18:25
promote it. You know, huge commissions, make
18:27
sure you have a good funnel in place so they
18:29
could earn decent amount of money, make them
18:31
look good to their list. So make sure the content's
18:33
really well written and well supported. All those,
18:35
you know, standard things that any business owner,
18:37
if they're going to refer their hard earned customers
18:39
over to you. that they can feel confident in
18:41
doing it. I would actually, yeah. So I would
18:43
start the other way around. Now you've got a
18:45
bit of influence in a list, then get into the
18:46
affiliate side of things and then kind of keep
18:48
doing both of those. Now you have an affiliate
18:51
program yourself. Would you say that that has
18:53
helped you like reach more people or is it kind
18:56
of inhibiting how much income you can make? I'm
18:58
very curious. So no, it definitely helps all
19:02
of our original traffic. So to give you a bit
19:04
of history, when I talked about my original PLR
19:07
company. That was called Best Quality PLR. We
19:09
sold that business. I don't even think the website
19:11
runs anymore. But at the time, we were publishing
19:15
self -help content under that brand. Then we
19:18
decided to create Tools Motivation as its own
19:21
brand to just sell the PLR or the self -help
19:24
PLR content. And we didn't really have a traffic
19:28
source for this new website other than our list
19:30
from that first business. But that list was fairly
19:33
small at the time. It was a pretty small company.
19:35
How we built Tools for Motivation, how we got
19:37
our first thousand orders basically was all through
19:39
affiliates, through people we had met at conferences
19:42
and done business with over the years, telling
19:44
them, hey, we're launching this new brand. We've
19:46
got these new suite of products coming out. If
19:48
you're interested, we offer really healthy commissions,
19:50
in some cases like 100 % front end commission
19:53
because it was like a loss leader for us. And
19:56
so our top 20 or 30 referral partners were basically
19:59
the reason we were able to build Tools for Motivation
20:02
at the beginning. before we had cash flow and
20:05
other ways to get traffic. So it's been huge
20:08
for us and we still run it to this day. We've
20:10
put many hundreds of affiliates through that
20:13
affiliate program. They promote us all the time
20:14
now. That's awesome. I mean, and like I said,
20:17
I'm a customer myself and the content you guys
20:21
produce is pretty awesome. I mean, you can tell
20:23
a lot of work and energy goes into it. So do
20:26
you ever find yourself getting stuck for what
20:28
you're going to create or what kind of products
20:30
you're going to put out next? Good question.
20:33
Sometimes it's actually funny you ask. Today
20:35
we're doing, my business partner and I are doing
20:36
a brainstorming session on basically going through,
20:39
we get a lot of requests right now. So we're
20:41
at the point now where we have fairly large customer
20:44
base. We're getting requests for content all
20:46
the time. So we go through those requests and
20:48
we also go through older products that we maybe
20:51
need some updating as well. But to answer your
20:53
question, yeah, it can get a bit tricky to come
20:55
up with new angles and new slants on products,
20:58
but at the same time. We've never run out of
21:00
ideas in doing this for a decade now with eight
21:03
new products coming out a month. That's a lot
21:05
of content. And I think the reason that we'll
21:08
never run out of ideas is just the world changes
21:11
and topics and concepts change and new leaders
21:14
emerge, new speakers and books come out. And
21:17
now it's like podcasts everywhere. So there's
21:20
podcasters that talk about certain things and
21:22
they come up with their own culture. You know,
21:26
before, you know, when we first started, you
21:28
might just have a product on meditation. Well,
21:31
now meditation could be like five subtopics when
21:33
you get into things like mindfulness and cold
21:36
plunges and deep breathing and all these different
21:38
things. They could be their own subtopics that
21:40
have a whole product built around them now. So
21:42
what we're finding is that as the self -help
21:45
niche itself grows and expands, which it's just,
21:48
it's exploding now with podcasts and courses
21:51
and things like that, that we'd never really.
21:55
run out we just get maybe a little bit more uh
21:57
we can go deeper on subjects and we could create
22:00
more products that go deep really okay so i'm
22:03
gonna shift gears again on you i'm say i'm purchasing
22:06
plr how can i tell what's crap plr versus really
22:11
good stuff it can be tough because you know people
22:15
are really good at creating fancy sales pages
22:17
and really nice splashy graphics and you can
22:19
go to fiverr and have a You know, for 15, 20
22:23
bucks, get a really cool sales video built only
22:26
to find out after all of that, the product is
22:29
a piece of junk. It's horribly written or whatever.
22:31
So there really isn't any way to know other than
22:35
testing it out. So if you're first getting into
22:38
buying PLR, I would say, see if anybody else
22:42
is already recommending them that you already
22:43
trust. That's the easiest one. If you can't do
22:46
that, let's say you come across something that
22:47
looks great and you just don't know what their
22:49
reputation is in the space. Nobody's heard of
22:50
them. Can you purchase something on the lower
22:53
end? Can you get onto their list for free and
22:56
get some samples and just kind of see how they
22:58
run their business? So, you know, how do even
23:02
on a first glance, do they have a support page?
23:04
What's their contact page look like? Who's behind
23:07
the company? Do they hide? Do they have like
23:09
a face and a name? Is there a CEO? Is there somebody
23:11
that's willing to put their name out there? Do
23:13
they have a phone number? Those kinds of things
23:15
are pretty good place to start before I would
23:18
give anybody too much of my money, not just in
23:20
the PLR space, but. Period. So am I am I going
23:23
to be taken care of as a customer is is a good
23:28
indication whether or not they put the if they
23:30
put quality into that, they're probably put some
23:32
quality into their actual products as well. But
23:34
usually you can get some kind of feel through
23:36
cheap or free means by getting some samples and
23:39
just seeing how that looks. And if you get a
23:42
few samples and it looks good, it's probably
23:43
worth investing a little bit more into maybe
23:45
a middle ticket product. And if that looks good,
23:47
I think you're fine at that point. That's awesome.
23:49
So what would be your advice for taking the products
23:52
that people are purchasing and kind of repurposing
23:54
them to make it more unique for their own brand?
23:57
I know you have an awesome class that you often
23:59
will put out there to your email list teaching
24:01
how to take a piece, but just kind of give me
24:04
the Reader's Digest version for our listeners.
24:06
Sure. So again, similar to your question about
24:09
duplicate content or the confidence to publish.
24:12
It really depends on what you're trying to do,
24:14
right? So earlier we talked about the three buckets.
24:16
I'll say them again. So you need content that's
24:18
premium that you're going to sell or monetize.
24:20
You need content that's going to help you grow
24:22
your list or engage that list. And you need content
24:25
that's going to drive traffic to your website
24:26
or to your offers. So what is your current project
24:30
or your initiative? Are you creating a product
24:32
or a course that you intend to monetize? Maybe
24:34
it's a coaching program or a mastermind group
24:36
you're going to charge an annual fee for. Right.
24:38
So let's take that example. Let's say it's a
24:40
course. That's a big thing. A lot of people are
24:42
trying to create courses around their knowledge
24:43
and their skills and expertise. So what goes
24:46
into a course? Well, usually it's, you know,
24:47
three, four, five, six modules where you're going
24:49
to go through top to bottom your topic, whatever
24:52
it may be. And in each one of those modules,
24:56
you're going to need lessons, maybe some handouts
24:58
and checklists of things they need to be doing.
25:01
Maybe there's breakouts that they do with students
25:03
and they share their ideas. They're going to
25:04
need a form to fill in for that. So there's all
25:07
this kind of content you need to keep your students
25:09
engaged if you're publishing a course. So if
25:12
you're using PLR, let's say it is a four -module
25:15
course on, let's pick a common topic I see, you
25:20
know, building self -esteem. It could be as an
25:22
entrepreneur, it could be as a middle -aged woman,
25:24
middle -aged man, it could be building self -esteem
25:26
for teenagers and leaving high school and entering
25:28
university, something like that, right? all the
25:31
principles and concepts and ideas behind developing
25:34
self -esteem and confidence are pretty much going
25:36
to be the same regardless of where you are in
25:38
life right you know you know who you are create
25:41
habits that make you feel successful there's
25:42
going to be a lot of things common lessons that
25:44
go into developing confidence so if you go to
25:47
tools for motivation we have several different
25:49
products and packages that get into how to have
25:52
a confident mindset how to present yourself confidently
25:54
we have a product on speaking with confidence
25:57
so it gets into like You know, speaking in boardrooms,
26:00
speaking at the front of the room, speaking one
26:02
-to -one like you and I are right now on a live
26:03
stream or a podcast. That may be four, five,
26:07
six different PLR products that talk about confidence,
26:10
self -esteem, and the mindset behind it from
26:13
four, five, six different angles. Each one of
26:15
those would have enough content to pull into
26:17
a module. Again, you're still doing the work.
26:20
You're the course creator. You're crafting this
26:22
to look like a presentable piece of content that
26:24
you sell, but you don't have to write it. All
26:27
of those lessons. are already in that PLR product.
26:30
You just pull that text out, or maybe there's
26:32
worksheets that already have the tables and the
26:34
fillable sections, and you're just putting your
26:36
branding or your logo on it. And then you're
26:38
plugging it into your course delivery platform,
26:41
whether it's teachable or whatever you're using.
26:43
And then you have your course built. So that
26:46
would be a really good example. If you want to
26:47
go into like monetizing your content through
26:50
a course, pulling pieces out of different PLR,
26:52
there's only have to be from one vendor, right?
26:54
You can find four or five, six different vendors
26:56
that all have great stuff. And you're pulling,
26:59
you know, uh, an ebook from tools for motivation.
27:02
And I have a friend, uh, Sharon Sheldon content
27:04
sparks. Maybe you're pulling one of her, uh,
27:06
guidebooks. She has like these really cool, like,
27:09
uh, like workbooks that people can actually fill
27:11
out to learn the topic. So maybe you pull her
27:13
content for that and you go to a third vendor
27:15
for their graphics. And that's really cool because
27:19
now you're like an artist. You've got like this,
27:20
uh, this canvas and then the PLR becomes your
27:23
paint and you're just kind of putting it all
27:24
together. Wow. I mean, that all sounds amazing,
27:27
but you did mention Teachable and I'm curious,
27:29
have you ever had any issues with your clients
27:31
not being able to post their content into a course
27:34
for like any rules that they may be violating?
27:39
We haven't had anybody come to us explicitly
27:41
saying that. There are people that come and ask
27:43
us, you know, am I allowed to take your, we have
27:46
audio, for example, can I take your audio and
27:49
publish that to Audible? And my answer is always,
27:51
well, you have to ask Audible because you go
27:53
to their terms of service and read it. But I've
27:54
read it. Most of those sites say you're not allowed
27:56
to use PLR. So if you're going to do that, you
28:00
will need to make significant customizations
28:02
so that the end product is unique work by you.
28:05
You can still use the PLR, but again, you have
28:08
to look at the platform that you're looking to
28:10
distribute on and make sure that you're abiding
28:12
by their terms of service. So you don't get your
28:13
account closed or banned or paused or whatever.
28:16
And most of them are fairly flexible, but at
28:19
the same time, they won't. They don't want you
28:22
just taking PLR out of box and publishing it.
28:24
So I think if you do enough work to make it unique,
28:27
it'll pass sort of that uniqueness test and you'll
28:30
be fine. So from the teachable side of things,
28:32
no, I haven't had anybody say, I tried to plug
28:34
this in verbatim and it didn't work. I haven't
28:37
had that happen yet. Well, that's at least good
28:39
news. Well, before I let you go, is there anything
28:43
else that you want to tell people about either
28:45
selling, creating, or buying PLR? I think the
28:49
biggest thing is just, it's a recurring thing
28:50
that I see both in our membership and even just
28:52
customers that come to us and buy one -offs or
28:54
even we have freebies we do every week as well.
28:57
It often comes down to, you got to use the stuff.
29:00
Like we put out a lot of content, a lot of good
29:02
ideas and people get all excited. You know, I'm
29:04
going to create my first course this year. I'm
29:06
going to finally launch my coaching program or
29:07
I'm going to do my membership site because I
29:10
really want that recurring revenue. And I'm excited.
29:12
I'm like, that sounds awesome. Like, let me know
29:14
how I can help or let us, you know, let me know
29:16
if there's some training I can send you. And
29:17
then I just don't see anything happening. You
29:19
really, PLR or otherwise, action is the key.
29:23
And you can't really be in action if you don't
29:27
have an offer out there. So yeah, you can do
29:29
blogging and create short form content, long
29:31
form content, do podcasting, and you can build
29:33
your list and have cool emails that like engage
29:36
your list and tell great stories and build a
29:38
brand. But where are you sending them? What's
29:40
your offer? Where's the buy button? Can I actually
29:42
physically click on it and try to order it for
29:45
you? That's the thing that I feel like a lot
29:46
of people are maybe imposter syndrome or I don't
29:49
know what it is. They're putting it off till
29:50
the end. Put it first. What is your offer going
29:52
to be? You need something that people can purchase
29:55
from you in order to have an online business.
29:57
Could be a digital download. Could be a course.
29:59
Could be some service or specialty that you're
30:02
offering one -to -one in like a coaching or a
30:04
consulting fashion. Whatever it may be for you
30:07
and whatever feels right to you at your current
30:09
level of business. That offer needs to be out
30:12
there for other people like myself to evaluate
30:13
and go, that looks great. I'd buy it. Or I wouldn't
30:16
buy it. Here's why. You need a better headline.
30:19
You need a sales video. You need your buy button
30:21
doesn't stand out. You don't have a good enough
30:22
guarantee, right? So if you're kind of stuck
30:25
at that point, my final piece of advice would
30:27
be work on your offer so that other people like
30:29
Ashley or like myself could take a look and say,
30:31
hey, that looks cool. I'd love to share it. Or
30:34
I know people that could use something like that.
30:36
Or I would never buy that. Here's why. And now
30:39
you can change your approach. Until you get that,
30:41
really, there isn't any point in doing any of
30:43
the other stuff, the content marketing, all these
30:45
different things. You've got to have some offers
30:47
in place. God, that sounds so good. My money
30:50
mentor, Denise Steffield -Thomas, of the Lucky
30:53
Bitch Money Manifestation stuff, she always has
30:56
this thing that she says that all roads lead
30:58
to boot camp. That's her thing. That's her big
31:00
offer that she sells is her boot camp. And so
31:03
every bit of her offerings of everything that
31:05
she's doing, whatever it is, whether it's a challenge
31:07
or a blog post or whatever, all roads lead to
31:09
boot camp. So it sounds like what you're saying
31:11
is we need to figure out what our bootcamp is,
31:14
what our main offer is, and have that be the
31:16
end of the funnel, and then take everything else
31:18
we're creating and make it all go there. Absolutely.
31:21
And for many people, it's not even just the product
31:26
or the offer. It's a mindset thing. They don't
31:29
have the belief, or they're afraid, or again,
31:32
I talked about imposter syndrome, or they're
31:34
confused. So it's very often... an inner issue
31:38
that needs to be resolved here is like why you
31:40
don't have that offer out here. Maybe you're
31:42
worried about getting it right. Your first offer
31:44
is probably not going to be the offer you roll
31:46
with for years and years and years. So you need
31:48
to have a couple of bad offers or offers that
31:51
don't go amazing to know what you want to do.
31:53
But until you do that, so I love that message,
31:56
you know, all roads lead to bootcamp. All roads
31:58
need to lead to your first offer so that you
32:00
can figure out where it is you're going to go
32:01
next in the evolution of your business. So until
32:03
you're at that point. I'd say put everything
32:05
else aside, nail that down, and then you'll be
32:07
rocking and rolling. Well, it sounds like with
32:09
you, it's all roads lead to your membership.
32:11
Our membership or even just getting on our list
32:13
so I can give you free stuff. And then eventually
32:15
you'll probably want to buy something from us
32:17
and then we can talk at that point. And I can
32:19
attest to it. Even your free stuff's amazing.
32:22
Like it's not like you put out just blah, blah,
32:24
blah content. You put out really good stuff for
32:26
the freebies. Thank you. Yeah, we do. We definitely
32:28
put it. We invest a lot of time, a lot of money
32:30
into it. It's like I talked about earlier. It's
32:33
an investment into the brand. You can't cheap
32:35
out at any level of your business from how you
32:38
support people. How do they get in touch with
32:39
you on your website? We have an 800 number. You
32:41
can text us. You can call us on the phone. Don't
32:44
be shy. The more you are transparent and make
32:47
people feel like real people when they buy from
32:49
you, the better off you'll be. And again, once
32:52
you get them into your ecosystem, they have lots
32:54
of good offers that are good quality that improve
32:56
the lives or the businesses of the people. that
32:59
are interacting with you. And yeah, do that consistently
33:01
for a long period of time. Can't go wrong. Okay.
33:04
Well, there's one more question I have for you.
33:05
And if I need to cut it out, I totally will.
33:07
Cause I'm just very curious. And this could just
33:09
be for my own knowledge. I'm curious if you outsource
33:11
and I'm curious if, oh goodness, if you outsource
33:15
and I had another one, but I'll, I'll, I'll ask
33:17
that one first. Yeah. So yeah, so the amount
33:20
of, we put out eight PLR packages a month. We
33:23
have three different styles of products. So four
33:25
times a month, we're doing tips reports. Two
33:28
times a month, we do content bundles, which is
33:29
very much geared around blogging and public content.
33:32
And then twice a month, we do what's called a
33:33
full product, which has everything, e -book,
33:35
audio book, workbook, things you can sell. And
33:38
so each one of those, just to give you an example,
33:40
each one of those full product packages that
33:42
come out twice a month take several dozen man
33:47
hours or woman hours or person hours. uh and
33:51
many thousands of dollars in outsourcing costs
33:53
so yeah these are very very in -depth products
33:56
think about what it takes for you as a person
33:57
to sit down and write a six seven eight thousand
34:00
word ebook then edit that then rewrite it again
34:03
and then do all the graphics for it then do a
34:04
workbook for it then record it in your own voice
34:06
with high quality audio it's you know it's many
34:09
weeks of work from it for what happens later
34:12
right so so definitely outsource um My business
34:16
partner, Ted, runs the whole side of the business
34:18
in terms of content production. That's a full
34:20
-time job for him. He just runs that whole team.
34:23
And we have writers, editors, designers, voiceover
34:25
actors, and he just runs that whole team. And
34:27
on my side of the business, I do these kind of
34:29
things. I get the word out about what we do.
34:31
I run the sales team and all that. So we have
34:34
many different people working for us to run this
34:37
operation. It took many years to get here. I'd
34:42
like to say the margins are huge. They're not
34:43
because we do spend a lot of money on, like you
34:45
mentioned, you said the quality was good. It's
34:47
for a purpose. We hire good quality workers to
34:51
put the work in. But in my opinion, that's the
34:54
only way to run a business. You can't really
34:55
cut any corners if you want to be in business
34:57
for the long run because your customers will
35:00
see it, then they'll stop doing business with
35:01
you. So take smaller margins if you need to and
35:04
dig in for the long run and just work on the
35:07
relationship side of things. A hundred percent.
35:10
Lots of outsourcing. And, uh, we have people
35:13
that count. We have one guy that's been doing,
35:14
we're working for us for 10 years and, uh, he
35:17
was able to, you know, he, you know, he's his
35:20
family and, uh, he doesn't, he's the only one
35:22
working for them. So I feel great about it. It's,
35:24
uh, you know, we have a lot of people that work
35:25
for us and do well. So. Awesome. So is it okay
35:27
if I keep that in? Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Very
35:30
cool. And I remembered the other question. The
35:32
other question I had for you is, do you guys
35:33
ever use your own content on your own websites?
35:37
Oh, like a tool, some motivation content on our
35:40
websites. Yeah. So yeah, for quite a while, my
35:43
sales manager, Trevor was doing some social media
35:45
content, just taking the poster and images that
35:48
we have in our packages and just sharing it out
35:51
on Facebook and Instagram and stuff like that.
35:53
Sometimes if I'm doing, if I'm doing webinars
35:56
or training content, and I want to add a little
35:59
bit of, you know, you know, personal skill stuff,
36:01
mindset, talk a little bit about, you know, the
36:03
thinking behind success as an entrepreneur. I'll
36:06
go right into some of our products and even if
36:09
I'm just reading it for inspiration, I'll do
36:12
it because I need that. I don't always have the
36:15
ideas off the top of my head. I might need to
36:17
borrow some inspiration from a written word,
36:20
let's say. And so, yeah, I'll go right to our
36:22
products to do that as well as external sources
36:25
as well. So we definitely use our own material,
36:28
not as often as our customers do because our
36:30
customers are selling a self -help. Whereas we're
36:35
selling the content. So there is a bit of a disconnect
36:37
in some of it, but for branding, absolutely.
36:39
That's awesome. I think that's just amazing.
36:42
I really do. Where can people find you online?
36:45
The easiest spot is just go to tools for motivation
36:47
.com. And if you click around the website or
36:49
in the homepage, I'd suggest you join our mailing
36:51
list so you can get some free samples and see
36:54
for your own eyes what we've been talking about
36:56
here today. Every week we send out some free
36:58
content. So even if you don't like the idea of
37:00
paying for content. Get on the list and try it
37:03
out for a few weeks. You might get annoyed. I
37:05
send a lot of emails out, but they're pretty
37:06
good value in my humble opinion. And you can
37:09
download and try some of these concepts out.
37:11
Plus, we have some great training as well. So
37:12
I would just stick to toolsmotivation .com and
37:15
click around on all the free training, the lists
37:17
and all that. And if you want to learn more,
37:19
then just dive in from there. Honestly, in my
37:22
opinion, even if you're just getting it just
37:23
to read the content, the content's really good.
37:26
I've said that like 4 ,000 times in this episode,
37:28
I think, but it's just, it's really good and
37:31
I enjoy reading it. Yeah, well, the preview we
37:33
have coming out today is called Seven Ways to
37:36
Attack Fear with Mindfulness. It's like, well,
37:38
that's a good lesson. That's a good lesson. Yeah,
37:41
everybody needs to remind themselves how to overcome
37:44
their fears. Maybe if this was my first time
37:47
ever appearing on a podcast, which I remember
37:49
back in the day, I was nervous. So, you know,
37:52
the attacking fear of mindfulness would have
37:54
come in handy, right? So yeah, there's always
37:57
great little life lessons in all the material
37:59
we share, plus the added bonus of you can keep
38:01
it and publish it as your own. So that's a nice
38:03
little second layer of value there. I like that.
38:07
I think what I'll have to do is I'll dig through
38:08
some of my archives and like plug in some of
38:10
y 'all's stuff so that people can hear just how
38:12
awesome it is. Cool. Thank you. I'd love, I'd
38:14
love if you did that. Thanks. Well, Justin, I
38:16
just want to say. Thank you so much for being
38:18
here today. I think everything you shared is
38:20
really awesome. And I hope people will take this
38:22
and just kind of open their minds a little bit
38:25
to possibilities. Yeah, no, thanks so much for
38:27
having me on. It's been a blast. And let me know
38:29
when you want me back. I definitely will. Absolutely.
38:33
To close out this episode, here's an example
38:35
of what the audio sounds like from the Tools
38:37
for Motivation PLR library. Having a creative
38:47
mindset can propel you forward in both your career
38:50
and your personal life. This reason is why it
38:53
can be so disheartening when you struggle to
38:55
develop your creativity. Below are six ways you
38:58
can develop your creativity to be more successful
39:00
in life. 1. Build your confidence. Often, creativity
39:05
is stifled when you're afraid or embarrassed
39:07
to tell others what you're thinking. A huge part
39:10
of creativity is sharing and further developing
39:12
your ideas with others. This is why you should
39:15
work to build your self -confidence if you want
39:17
to develop your creativity. 2. Have creative
39:21
time. If your schedule is so full of activities
39:24
that you don't have time to sit and think or
39:26
time to create, of course you won't be creative.
39:29
Help develop your creativity by setting aside
39:31
time each day to be creative. 3. Brainstorm.
39:38
Brainstorming is a great idea to get your creative
39:40
juices flowing. You can brainstorm anything from
39:43
new ideas for your free time, new date ideas,
39:46
or even how you want your dream home to look.
39:48
The sky is the limit. Sit down and start filling
39:51
that paper with ideas. 4. Try new things. Nothing
39:57
gets creative juices flowing quite like trying
39:59
something new. Is there a class at the gym you've
40:02
always wanted to take? Go for it. Or maybe you
40:05
want a vacation somewhere new. That's an idea
40:07
too. Anything that'll make you step out of your
40:10
comfort zone is great for your creativity. 5.
40:14
Spend time in nature. Nature is one of the best
40:17
ways to get inspired and start feeling creative
40:19
for free. Take some time each week and sit in
40:22
nature or go for a walk after work each day.
40:25
You'll be surprised at the ideas you come up
40:27
with just while being outside. 6. Journal. If
40:33
you want to develop your creativity, you should
40:34
consider journaling regularly. Keeping a journal
40:37
helps your thoughts to flow and helps you overcome
40:39
problems and think more creatively. Try to journal
40:43
for 5 -10 minutes each day. Wherever you may
40:46
be in life with your creative journey, there's
40:48
bound to be something on this list that sparks
40:50
your creativity. You don't have to use all these
40:53
things to help your creativity develop, but if
40:55
you manage to incorporate them all into your
40:57
life, you may just be surprised at how easy being
41:00
creative is. So don't hesitate and start developing
41:04
your creativity today. Well, my bloggy friends,
41:10
I hope you enjoyed all the insights our guests
41:11
had to share with you. To get the show notes
41:13
for this and all episodes, go over to famousashleygrant
41:16
.com backslash podcast. And until next time,
41:19
may your page views be high and your bounce rate
41:21
be low.
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