Ep130 James Wedmore on Building an 8-figure Digital Empire

The latest episode of Her Empire Builder podcast with the awesome James Wedmore is here!! 

This session was recorded live with my members inside of the Her Empire Builder Mastermind so that they could be the ones asking questions and getting put in the hot seat. It was so good and there are SO MANY fabulous business and life lessons from James as he shares how he's built his digital empire to over $10 million a year and helped tens of thousands of people around the world grow their businesses!

In this episode, you will learn:

  • How James Wedmore built his 8-figure digital empire
  • What his core values are for his business
  • And James' secret to success
Placeholder Image

Show notes:  

Find James here: jameswedmoretraining.com

Business-Building Training:  Click Here

Instagram: @jameswedmore

Facebook: facebook.com/jameswedmore2

 

Resources:

Pre-order the book Million Dollar Micro Business

 

Enjoying the podcast?

tag me @tina_tower on instagram and let me know what you're listening to! 

Join our communities

Her Empire Builder facebook group

Connect with Tina on instagram 

Subscribe & Review in Apple Podcast!

Are you subscribed to my podcast?

If not, today's the day! I'm sharing valuable tools to grow your business twice a week and I don't want you to miss an episode.  Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they also make me so happy to read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favourite part of the podcast is. You're awesome! Thank you!

REVIEW HER EMPIRE BUILDER PODCAST

Show Transcription: 

James Wedmore was the first person that I looked up when I wanted to get started in online courses. I started Googling and I was like, You know what? The service based thing, saying people one on one, I'm going to get into online business. And so started down the Google Rabbit Hole and of course, the person that I saw was James Wedmore. Started reading his stuff, started watching his videos, and we're just like, Oh, my gosh, this guy's got it sorted out, hey. Anyway, didn't know him then. Because, you know, he's James Wedmore. saw him at the Kajabi conference in 2018. And, you know, just fell in love going this guy's business mind is absolutely amazing. And I want more of it. So I have been learning from James for a couple of years and then when I was putting my book together Million Dollar Micro Business, I wanted him in there as a success story and nearly fell off my chair when he said yes. And I got to interview him for hours to get the success story in there, which is going to help so many people as they're starting their online programs in book form. So if you haven't pre ordered it already, you guys, get to Amazon, get to Booktopia find Million Dollar Micro Business. It comes out in two short weeks. So today's conversation with James, I mean, I probably don't have to tell you, you know who he is! You know, it's gonna be amazing! 

This episode is a little bit different to a lot of my episodes, well to any episode that I've ever done, and probably will ever do. So because getting James and he's so short on time, we had him. I interviewed him with my Empire Builders. So with my high level mastermind group or Empire Builder, we had him in as a guest expert for a bonus session where I interview him like I do normally for a podcast. But then my members also got to ask him questions and get them answered right there on the spot too. So such an incredible opportunity for them to be nice and close in there with James as I was talking with him. And so a bit of a different setup today, and you will hear my members asking questions in there as well. But it means that it's such a beautiful, far-reaching conversation with both the things that interest me and then also my members at all different parts of their journey as well. So if you don't know James, I'm confused. But a bit of background, he was born and raised in sunny Laguna Beach, California, and now resides and runs his business in the beautiful red rocks of Sedona, Arizona. For the last 15 years, James has leveraged his expertise to help teach digital CEOs how to build and scale their online businesses through courses and trainings, like his signature program Business by Design, which is what I did right at the beginning. Other programs such as Sales Page by design, and Nail your Niche, as well as many other business building trainings inside of James's abundant course library. Along with being notorious in the online space for his unrivaled online courses and content, James also facilitates next level, a strategic group coaching experience as well as the high level mastermind the inner circle. When James isn't working, he can be found hiking, flipping homes for Airbnb or off roading through the rocky terrain of Sedona. His model motto is simple, Work hard, play harder. Mr. Wedmore. Good morning. It's great to have you on her Empire. 

James

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Tina

It's so exciting. Now. You've got BBD launch coming up. I've been through BBD and BBD plus and love it. You talk a lot about digital CEOs. How do you define digital CEOs and why does that matter? What's the difference between someone starting an online course and getting defined as that digital CEO?

James

Yeah, there's a big, big answer, I'm gonna try and go get the most concise. So Tina, you got to reel me in sometimes, you know, because I'll just keep going. Because a lot of this started when I realized, at least in the public education system that I experienced in the US. It didn't really teach me what I needed to be a successful business owner or entrepreneur. So what we discovered, especially when I was like, doing business for several years, and it was not giving me freedom, a lot of people say business is gonna give you freedom, and they're like, more trapped, right than they ever were before. And working longer hours and not seeing the revenue that you want. So what I realized is really simple thing, which I said, I say often, which is the role that you fill in your business determines the results that you receive. So when you work for somebody else, you most likely fill one role like I am, I just got a job as a, at the retail desk at such and such store. That's my role. You know, I check out people when they come to the cash register, I close the drawer, at the end of the night, I do some cleaning and a few other things in inventory, maybe. And that's your role. That's your job. That's your role. But when we say I'm going to start a business, or I have a business now, it's an entity where several roles exist. And if it's just you, you're all of a sudden filling all of them, filling all of those roles. And that's why we're so overwhelmed, exhausted, overworked is that you're trying to do the job of like 10 people. But you don't see it that way until you hear this distinction. You just see it as one, I'm just a business owner as if that's a role. That's one role. But the business has sales, and marketing departments, customer support, and tech, and copywriter, and assistant and all these other things. And it's like, wow, no wonder. So these are all things that need to get done. But they don't all need to get done by you. And the most important thing I just invite everyone to be doing is spending more time in the most valuable role that your company needs. It's gonna be hard to spend all of our time there. Today, a lot of my time is there. But if we can begin to spend more of our time there, then you're going to see more results in the business. Problem is Oh, go ahead. 

Tina

Yeah, yeah, we, I have this debate a lot. So all of our lovely ladies, most of them are solopreneurs, or have one person in their team. So we're kind of around that level, where it's about a half a million a year growing towards seven figures. Now, my view is always that you can't outsource everything at the start. Because when you don't have the revenue, and you also need to understand how the moving parts work in the business. Where do you, where's your line for, for going? How how much you need to understand of all those moving parts, how much you should outsource when to become that CEO role? And when to just do all the things yourself?

James

Great question. So the first is the the answer isn't to me isn't as simple as just we'll just outsource it, and you hear a lot of people just outsource it. The answer is we have to, we have to get clear on what are the 5% activities in your business? What are the things that are the few that have the biggest impact of 5% activities that are responsible for 95% of the results. And you have to start there, even if it's just you, I don't care. You have to start your day there, you have to start your week there. That has to be the first thing that you get done, then go do stuff. The problem is that there's always so much to do. And the 5% activities are always the things that are going to scare you the most. So when there's always a lot to do, and the things that you need to be doing that the highest value activities are the scariest, most confronting most puts you at risk, or at least your ego, then we will always choose to do those other things. And say, Oh, I need to do this first. Oh, I need to do this first. I watch people do this all the time. And that takes a level of discipline and courage. And doesn't even we're not even talking about outsourcing. You know, we have a client. Her name is Beverly, and she took her business from 10,000 to 120,000 in one year. That's like 12x in your business. That's an extraordinary, right? And what the difference there for that was she said you said one thing. One simple thing, which is if you're not making your number one priority in your business, and your focus and responsibility about how you're going to generate sales. Don't be surprised or upset when you don't get very many sales. And she just flipped it. And she made that her priority. So you have to be clear. And we can go into specifics about what my 5% activities are, what we see for our clients are their 5% activities. And starting there, 

Tina

I would love to know now what your 5% activities are and how that has changed over the years. How long have you been doing BBD? Now? Like, five, seven years?

James

Since 2016? So five years? Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah. So the 5% activities? Remember, these are the mean of the things that grow your business? The most? And what do we mean by grow your business? What we should be meaning is sales customers, right? So for me, it's a few things, okay. There's an inward one that you guys will never see. Inward is like, but in within the company, that is vision and values. I, whether you have a team of one. And we can get into that, well, we can talk about that all you guys want. You have a team, if you have, if you have a part time, assistant, you have a team now. And that's different. It's a different way of doing things. So my number one priority in the company, the number one, the 5% of the 5% is being the leader to my team. And that's vision and values. So the vision is, where are we going? So you always have a vision, everyone hears it all. I'm not ready, my company's ready for a vision yet, or that's just something Corporate America has of like, Oh, your vision and your mission statement? No, no, the vision is just where are we going? And why are we going there. And when it was just you, you had that one day you got up and you're like, Oh, I get to do this thing. And you had this image in your mind of like, more money, more impact more living life on your terms. That was your vision. And then the reality is, and this is I think one reason why people don't bring on a team is that that vision doesn't attract A players. And that's hard for people to like, swallow that pill. Because great people don't want to work for someone that just wants to get themselves rich, great, people want to be a part of something great, pretty simple. And so over time, because it's a moving target, your vision evolves, and ours did. And it's about who we can help and the difference we make and who we are as a function. And that legacy and that lasting impact and that change in someone's life. And everyone on my team knows that, gets that. And it's my job. It's my responsibility to communicate that to convey that, to demonstrate that, to show them that to get them to embody that every Monday meeting on my team, we spend 15 minutes, cheering and celebrating the wins that our customers and clients had just from the week before. And we don't move on. We don't start the week until everyone is grounded, present, and in absolute, like, we'll never forget that this is why we do what we do, this is who we do it for. And every single one of us plays that part.

Tina

Like me, I remember I would only attract a B team because my vision was too small.

James

I said that to you. What a jerk. I didn't say it in that mean way. I was way nicer. Here's what I said. And this is one of those talk..

Tina

I said I'm having trouble with staffing. This is before my current A team. And you said if you’re only getting B people, it's because Tina you’re a B leader.

James

Yeah, I did say that. I said A players don’t work for B leaders. Yeah. So if you have that silly thought that I used to have, which is there's no great people out there. It's so hard to find great people. They just don't go out there. All the great people went out and started their own business. That is hogwash. That is baloney. A players such as who we all deserve and want, okay, don't don't don't be in your head with these little silly thoughts. We've had a lot of silly thoughts that we say to ourselves, you can't believe everything you think. But these thoughts like Well, I don't know if I deserve that is nonsense. It's not about what you deserve. It's about the people you're helping. So even if you have 10 clients out there, do they deserve crappy, crappy team and a crappy organization to help them or do they deserve the best? And that's what changed for me. So A players, they have interviewed you before you ever get a chance to interview them. Which is why if you don't see any now you know why, because A players won't work for B leaders. So you want to know with a 10 figure company and we took it from three to 10 million or three to nine point something million in one year. That's massive quantum leap and growth is I spent. This is not what everyone wants to hear, okay? Because they like, Well, can I just like, isn't there some secret formula funnel thing that will just rain cash down out of my computer?

Tina

It's magical. 

James

It's just, you know, press this button. And here, wait, hold on, okay, go refresh your bank account I’ve done that for you. So these are not these are not the sexy like, flashy things, I come to be more like a doctor giving you your like vitamins, you know, and saying, Oh, that's what I need, but not what I want. But it is what it is. When we double down, when I double down, quadruple down, on being a leader, because I think that we all have to have that conversation because you hear people talking about entrepreneurs, but you don't hear the word leader or leadership us very, very often in this world. It's more like, let me prove to the world I can do it by myself. And I was like, I've been there. Who do you need to prove this to? Well, myself? Why just just go out and do and create something extraordinary. And we're all co creating anyway. So you know, the people that I think one of the greatest things that we should always have is a skill, which I'm very good at. Prob brag about this one is always be looking out for great people, and spot great talent. And I'm always doing I love building teams today. Because it's, it's just a, it allows for so much opportunity to unfold. So why quadruple down how to be a better leader, how to create and craft a better vision and enroll the people in that vision and how to create a culture. That's the values where people love doing the work. They're self sufficient. They don't need me. I'm not managing. See, this is the thing is some of you guys are hearing what I have to say, and you're hearing it as if I'm talking about management. I don't manage at all. I don't manage anyone, maybe myself. But when you get into leadership,

 

Tina

I still find that a lot of people you know, our industry is still quite new in finding someone with the skill sets to not have to manage them and someone's self directed like it is. I'm not gonna say they don't exist, because they do. But it's a rarity like, how did you did you attract them? I mean, now I know why people would go and work for James Wedmore because you're James Wedmore. So of course you're gonna attract those people. 

James

I'm gonna blow your mind right now, Tina.

Tina

Okay. Yes. 

James

Are you sitting down? 

Tina

In my mind? I am.

James

Just kidding. I know she's sitting down. 

Tina

It better be good. 

James

Every... I built it up too much. Okay, so so we have we've built a 10 plus million dollar a year company with seven people. And I like to say that if you could play the Olympic sport of business productivity we would win gold medal. My team is is the best they can run circles around others. Not a single one of them, not a single one of them comes with any experience in this world whatsoever. Not a single one Jillie was an insurance insurance sales. Josh was a pickup sticks delivery driver. And he worked at a pet store. I can go on and on. And that's it. So I look for talent, I look for attitude, personality, I look for potential. And everything is trained with in house, in house. So there's things that you guys are doing that you shouldn't be doing anymore. And with a little bit of time is a very powerful important simple phrase, You got to slow down to speed up and when you find that great person see them what people do is they just they just kind of throw money at the problem and go oh just outsource it. Here here just just build my business now here just market me or or just give me more leads or give me more Instagram followers just figure it out. That's you throwing money at the problem. That's why I said the answer isn't just outsource. But when you sit there and look at what it is that you're working on doing yourself that you shouldn't be doing anymore and you attract the right person. You didn't Yeah, I don't put job posts out like online marketing director of sales for webinars there anything you know, no, I do very generic. Things like project manager or here's a more common one, social media marketing assistant. And we put several different job posts out, we use upcycledindie.com. Here's we're also going to blow your mind is that I refuse to hire anybody who knows me. See? So when you said Tina like well, you're James Wedmore, you know, all these people want to work with you. I don't want to work with those people. I don't mean any disrespect or to be rude. But those people that you're insinuating would want to work for me for the wrong reasons. I'm not trying to build an entrepreneur's business, so they can come get six months of experience, and then leave. I'm building a team, I'm building a family, building a close knit group of people that are going to go through it with me through thick and thin, you know, and not, not ready to leave.

Tina

So you started hiring those people because you know all the parts of the business, right. So you started training them, they weren't part of the business that you didn't know how all those cogs turned, huh? Yeah. Yeah,

James

It's as simple as that. I mean, it really was, like, start with the thing that you're already doing. I mean, that's the thing. And you know, if people don't like it, and because, you know, I teach this in my mastermind, and we walk through all of this, you know, and, and step by step. And the thing is like I love learning. And I think that's very important for all of us to have a learner, and or a beginner mindset with everything. And so, even just going back to, you know, to the 5%, activity conversation, that's one piece, the other 5%, my ability to craft a message for a launch, whether I'm creating a new webinar, a live launch video series. And my ability to craft an irresistible offer, are at the pinnacle, the most important. So if I were to ask each of those of you who are here live on a scale of one to 10, how would you rate your ability to write copy and messaging for your next launch? 10 level of mastery, which means you could probably sell all of us here, if we're in your ideal market, one being, ooh, boy, what's messaging? Right? And so everywhere in between. And then if I asked you to rate on a scale of one to 10, 10 being the level of mastery, one being no experience whatsoever, your ability to craft and communicate an irresistible offer where would you put yourself? And so this is really great, because there's just a few skills that you really need to learn in practice. And I spent more of my time there. So I was either focused on being the leader to my team. Hands down to the most valuable, because I think a lot of people are in like, the ego of like, no one can do it like me. That's all ego. 

Tina

I have been known to say that. Truly everyone have said that right at some point, 

James

Oh I said it. I said it. But that doesn't impress me. No, that doesn't impress me if you say I'm the only one who can do this. 

Tina

Oh, yeah,

James

I believe the true sign of mastery is that when you can, you can get someone else to do it as good or better than you. That's mastery, because now you can teach it, replicate it. And that's all what we do. We're all teachers, coaches, mentors, guides, etc. So why can't we do that with other things as well, as we're learning them? So,  I'm being the leader, and the coach to my team first. I'm their mentor, I'm their guide, I'm their coach, building them up, investing in them, making them better leaders. And then within the business, on the growth side, the emphasis on the message and the offer is everything. Because your words are powerful. And it's through words, that we have the ability to influence and impact other human beings. And if you can't put into words what it is that you frickin do? Because you're like, in your head, like, I know what I have is amazing. Of course you do. But you're like the world's best kept secret. How do I put into words what it is that I do, so other people can go, I get it, and it didn't take five hours to explain it. That is a very powerful skill to learn. And I've been practicing that for like a decade, and I can still get so much better. But when you notice that you're spending more time getting better, how do I communicate more concisely, more clearly, more effectively. And I'm communicating that message from me and I offer, you see that the business grows. You see that more sales, more people coming in. But that's not what people are doing, Tina, more people are focused on being popular. If I just get more people to like me, then they'll do what I call like a sympathy buy. I don't like that. That's not a strategy. Like if I just get popular enough and if I just get people to like me, then people will start buying from me. That is not a strategy. That's very dangerous. Okay? That's a very dangerous strategy and approach to marketing. Why? Because now, instead of you creating products, you are the product created by your audience. You have to do whatever they tell you to do to make them happy. And guess what? That's not what leaders do. Leaders take a stand and share what they believe in, their perspective, their truth. And people follow leaders who think oh, wow, I don't know what it is about her. But Tina is just, she owns it. She's just so she doesn't care what anyone thinks. People don't go, Wow, I'm so inspired by this person. Because I just love how concerned they are about everyone's opinion. I just love about how much they pander to their audience, just to get the like, I love that about them. Now, 

Tina

Being famous, I think would be the worst thing ever. 

James

I think it is the worst thing ever. 

Tina

Oh, yes. Yes, absolutely. 

James

I think it's so overrated. I think people are chasing that. Because they're, they're still operating from a lot of core beliefs like that. I had like that. I'm not enough, I'm not good enough. I'm not lovable, I'm not worthy. And they think if I get all these people out there, on the internet to love me, then I'll be lovable. That'll be enough. And you take your stuff with you wherever you go, Tina. So it just amplifies and it gets worse. And you have to. I mean, like, we always joke about this in the most serious way. But if you're a personal brand, you're an online expert, you're hearing authority, this is personal growth on frickin steroids. Because people are gonna have their opinions of you, they're gonna have their judgments, they're gonna say their things, and now it's all on megaphones. So you know, if everything you're doing is to get people to like you, you're gonna be in big trouble. Because there, I guarantee you, if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing out there, and you're, you're in the arena, as Renee brown would say, you're gonna have someone that doesn't like you. If you if the game is to have a flawless record of everyone, let me know you're not playing the game. Because what you're probably doing is trying to be vanilla. And vanilla is boring. And the biggest sin in marketing is to be boring, don't do that.

Tina

We touch on that actually, with what you were saying before with the office and how you communicate your copy. So this is something that comes up a lot for everybody and going whether to make it clear and concise over like clever and cryptic or go obvious, like go. But a lot of people's fear is always well, if I'm super obvious for this group, then I've lost to this whole audience. How do you get clear on what your offer is actually going to be and figure out hang on to? Because it also well, because I know, once I finished my question, you'll just keep going. So I'm gonna like have you in there as well. When you're doing that, how do you come up with the packages, because I find a lot of people will over deliver for what they're charging as well. And that comes down to that, you know, wanting your audience to like you well above providing an exceptional customer service experience. Go James.

James

Oh, my gosh, okay. All right. All right. Okay. So that concise thing is huge. This is my number one, I think I'm pretty good at writing effective copy words that move people. The most effective strategy I have, and you can write this down specificity. So Tina already said it specificity. How specifically, what exactly. So people always say these things like I help people get unstuck. You can't get more broad than that because we are all in the problem removal business. No matter what niche you're in, you're solving a problem. And 99% of people describe the problem they're in universally as what? I'm stuck. So you can get a little bit more specific than that. When you're trying to be everything no to everyone, you end up being nothing to no one. Okay? I first saw… learn this example when someone hired me to do marketing for them. Locally, he brought me in to introduce me to the team. He goes, tell the team what it is you do, and I thought I would be so impressive and braggadocious and awesome if I started spouting off all the things I well, I can write your copy, I can do social media, I can do your Twitter, I can do your ads, I can do your boo, boo boo boo boo, and I watched. So good. I noticed that a long time ago. I watched his brain kind of get scrambled like a gear kind of was like what and I caught it and I said this is back when I was teaching YouTube. I said but what I'm really known for is building your presence using YouTube. And sure enough, it clicked again. Oh, you're the video guy. And that's what he needed. Okay? If you had a heart problem, a brain problem, some severe, serious issue, health wise, do you go to your general practitioner? Or do you go to the country or the world's best heart doctor, brain surgeon? Right? 

Specialization creates instantly inherently more authority, more clarity, more understanding, more that universality of she was made for me. This is exactly, this is it! This is for me. So I tell people, you want to get to a level of specificity, where you just felt like uncomfortable. Like, when it's uncomfortable, you're there. Oh, I don't know this is too, I'm just isolating everyone else. Good. Do with that one. Okay. Try to be broad, it's not going to work. it's going to be very hard for you, you'll probably make it work to some degree, but it's going to be hard. So here's the thing, we have a free course that we offer that helps people get started building their list of leads, more specifically, their first 100 leads. Any guess what the name of the program is? Your first 100 leads. I'm always going to be more of a fan of clarity, specificity and tangibility. So if I call it something like list building extravaganza secrets, or, you know, lead, lead getting lead building Academy, or your first 100 leads, which one gets your attention more, which one inherently has a little bit more desire, demand for you? And then we get to the topic that you asked about, well, what am I isolating people, the amount of people we've had 30,000 people go through this mystery program. And people have said, it's, it's better than 997 dollar courses out there. And I've had so many people say, James, I went through this program, even though I have a big email list, I have my first 5000 emails, and it was so darn good. So what we don't consider is that when you target your primary audiences, there's still going to be other audiences that say, I still want that. We have a program. It's called Nail your Niche. Any idea on what the promises sounded nail your niche, very specific. I just like what Tina said, clarity over creativity. Every day of the week, we are not Coca Cola, and Apple, we are not big brands. We are small and we are very, very small in the grand scheme of things. But 8 billion or however many people on the planet. And like we get a couple like 100 people investing in our stuff and we're doing great. We're very small. So be specific, and nail your niche. Very, very specific. And even the promise, identify and nail your niche in 48 hours or your money back. That's an irresistible offer. It's very specific. Okay, that was the first part. What was your second question? It's been so long. I don't remember. 

Tina

I love that answer. That's perfect. Packaging you're offering, going okay, once you've got your transformation promise, and you've got it there, and it's all very clear. How do you know when to call time on the customer service delivery?

James

Okay, I'm a huge fan of creating an irresistible offer. If you're going to ask for money, which all of you have to do to get money. You know, no one really told you like, Oh, you have to sell when you have a business. Yeah, that's one of the roles. I'm all about crafting an irresistible offer. I teach seven ingredients. And if I'm going to do anything out there, I want to make sure it's absolutely irresistible. Look at the word irresistible. They can't resist it. And I actually do a way over deliver. I don't underprice. Have premium prices. But I always massively over deliver. So there is a different energy between and Tina would between like that fear of oh my gosh, am I doing enough? Yeah. That’s not presumingly as it used to be. But I always say okay, I charge a premium price. And then I'm going to so massively over deliver to that, that they still will feel like they ripped me off. And that is the weird, bizarre secret that I tell people is like when you're making your offer and you're selling you, you want to feel like people are ripping you off, you want to feel like they got the better deal. Always. So here's how we do it. I'm going to get the abridged version here just to keep this short. And if you'd like to go deeper, we can. But when you figure out your price, you put a zero on the end of it. So let's say you're selling something for 10 or 1000 bucks, right? You put a zero on it's 10,000. I create my offer from there. What is the $10,000 offer look like? What would the $10,000 offer include? How would we get them to their transformation quicker, easier, more fun, less stress, less work? What other resources, tools, support, community do they need all that and I create the $10,000 offer? Then I take the zero back off. Now I've got an irresistible offer. Here's why. If I had a $20 bill, and I asked anyone who's here alive, who wants this $20 bill? Some people say Yeah, right, you want to $20 bill, but then I said, Okay, I'll give you this $20 bill, but you got to give me 20 bucks. And you're gonna have to mail me that $20. So you're gonna have to write an envelope. Oh, who still does that? Go to the post office, get one of the stamps and put it on there and off. And when I get it, then I'll send you the $20. Who would do that? I've asked this at events, virtual calls. This like one person goes, I'll still do it. Like, okay, all right. Most people say no, not worth my time. But think about what I did. I said I'll trade you $20 for $20. We both agreed that if we're talking US dollars, but if we're you know, remove currencies for a moment, if we both agreed 20 US dollars is worth 20 US dollars, then there's an equal exchange. And you still don't want to do it. But if I said this, when you give me that $20 I will give you this $20 bill. And I'm going to give you a one day VIP with me in person, I'll fly you out, we'll put you up in the hotel room, fancy meals, you name it, and a whole VIP day with me. We're gonna map out the next 12 months of your business, Tina's gonna be there too. And we're gonna, we're just gonna give you everything you need to set you up for success. And we've also got you two tickets to your favorite concert. backstage passes. Oh, but I'm only taking the first person to give me 20 bucks. who's who's gonna do and that's when all the hands go up. And Rosalyn gets it. So Rosalyn is in for the wind. So there's the difference between this is the moral of the story in this exercise. There's a difference between trying to justify your price, which is what most people are doing. Let me convince you that it's worth this much. Versus already creating and delivering something that's clearly more valuable than the price you're asking for. When you do that, and only when does making the offer become easy, fun and favorite word, effective. Does that make sense? Does that help? Was that too much? Tina? Did I talk too much? You didn't interrupt me at all.

Tina

Just keep going. I love it. It's fantastic. Now I have two more questions. And then I'm gonna hand it over to our empire builders to ask them but I want to ask you, because obviously, throughout your Korea, there are so many new ideas and so many dreams. I mean, I listen to your podcast and you hear you have new ideas even in the podcasts you like, there's ideas galore. And I think for us as entrepreneurs, especially digital entrepreneurs, there are so many dreams to chase. How do you decide with our finite amount of time what you're going to go for next? And do you go for multiple things at once? Or do you go for one at a time asking for a friend with big dreams? 

James

Oh, yeah. What's her name? That's great. Okay, here's my answer. You can no one's gonna like my answer. You're gonna hate it. You're gonna love it. So here's the thing. I'm just get real for a moment. So I've made a million dollars from 9am until 4pm, I woke up one day, open the cart at 9am. And by 4pm, we had made a million dollars. That's a lot of money in less than a full day. We've, you know, built a $10 million plus a year business. And that's amazing. And one of the things I had to learn a long time ago, and the hard way, is, money isn't gonna change anything. Now, you know, it's gonna change like, you don't worry about bills, and some people still worry about other things. But you know, like, yeah, you can have nicer dinners and, and stuff like that. But a lot of people actually take their money stuff with them. Right? They just, they just, they increase the stakes with them. They have higher bills, higher payments and stuff like that. They're no more happier, they're no more feeling significant. They're no more feeling of worth or deserving you take yourself with you wherever you go. So to answer your question, Tina, is how do we choose which dream to chase and follow is I have stopped ever looking at what the destination is or what I believe it will give me. And instead I look at what is the process like, and if I don't fall in love with the process. I don't want anything to do with it. In other words, if you don't love what you're doing right now, you shouldn't be doing it. Even if the rewards and riches are that are promised to you are beyond your wildest dreams, you're doing the wrong thing. If you're only doing it because you think one day, it'll make you a certain amount of money, you're doing the wrong thing, and you'll never get there. I effing love what I do. I love teaching. I love getting on, this is pure joy to me. Really, if I can offer something work as someone earlier was like, lightbulb, my day is made. Okay. So if I don't love the doing is the destination. And then you're there. And then the rest is just great. 

So I'm doing three crazy things in my life right now. The first thing is this, I've been doing this a lot. 15 years people say what's the secret to like, stay in cars, like just keep doing what you love doing? What I love. That's really simple. And even if it made 1/10 of them, I'd still want enough money to like, you know, I actually just a little side note $10 million of your company, my salary is like 120,000 a year. I don't pay myself that much. I don't need that much. 

Tina

What do you do with all of your dollars?

James

A lot of investments you know, we've bought a big amount of real estate, which brings me to the other crazy thing I brought I'm doing now which is I started a whole Airbnb business. We have like an entire vacation rental company now with several properties. And you know what, I hate, I hate I never want to like manage guests or being the customer service world. I'm just you wouldn't want me there. But you know what I love. I love, and this is so bizarre, but I love home improvement. I watched for hours videos on YouTube of these, like fix it guys like carpentry and like plumbing and how to fix your dryer. I love that stuff. I get such a kick out of it. So that was part of the vision was and my dad was in real estate for 40 years. And I love so I love homes, I love properties of real estate, I love you know, the whole flipping shows and design. I love all of that. So we started that business. And then the third thing I'm doing is I'm building this camper van from scratch to it's just a gutted Mercedes Sprinter van huge. I mean, you get stand up in this thing. And it's like 15 16 feet long. It's huge. And I'm building a tiny home in it. And that's more of me loving building and but I wanted to push myself. So I love that learner growing mindset. This is pushing me like you wouldn't believe my hands are all cut up. Like long days are sweaty, and you're just like, some days you're really frustrated was pushing.

Tina

It’s so funny to watch.

James

And it's not going as fast as I want it to go. But I also love nature. So I love nature. So now when I'm living in Sedona, Arizona, so much just like open land. And so I just started getting these desires of like to go camping. But you know, you can't do everything like ordinary camping like everyone used to with a tent. Boring. So I had to get a guy to get a camper van. So these are like my crazy passions, but I'm looking at the process. What is the process like I love doing that. So I love writing. I love tea. I love coaching. I love speaking. I love putting together a curriculum. I was made for this type of business. And that's why I do well at it. Not because I'm smarter and more talented anyone else, but because I love doing this myself. I mean, I'm really is my secret. And there's the beautiful thing is like there is a way, if you just get really clear, you know, something my mentor said 17 inches from the heart to the head. And that's the longest journey we'll ever take. Because our entire life, we were trained to live up here in our head. Everything has to be logical, and make sense. And be safe. And security and safety. You know, all that stuff. And yeah, that's important. That's obviously like, I don't want you guys to just be reckless or crazy or whatever. But if you're ignoring your heart, then I think that's the riskiest thing you could ever be doing with your life. Because you will wake up one day and be like, what have I been doing? I'm not even happy. What's was the point then? Well, I was told and promise that one day, you can't, you can't go from on the path to unhappiness doesn't get you to happy. So the doing is the destination. And if it makes you happy doing it, then what else matters?

Tina

Yeah. And I think that's the best thing about having online business too, is there's so many variables that you can learn the things that light you up and the parts that you're really passionate about, and then just forget the rest.

James

Yeah, I got some clients right now that are like really fed up and like over social media. So I said, then don't do it. 

Tina

Do you think though, you can build this sort of business with no social media?

James

Absolutely. You can absolutely oh my goodness,

Tina

How? I'm like, Okay, yeah, James? How?

James

No, it's really not. It's really not, um, it. First of all, yes, I could say well have someone on your team that does it for you, and, and stay the heck off of it, and just take some of your content and post it on there. You know, it's the, it's the people like, oh, feeling like, I have to be on there every day. And if I miss a day, and like, that's not the business by design, that's not you being happy, you're doing something, you know, we all got to pay taxes, and you know, go to the dentist and stuff like that. We have to do a few things for maintenance and stuff like that, that we don't want to do. We got to take our vitamins and stuff like that. But if by and large, the predominant amount of your effort energy is spent doing something you hate, it's not going to go well anyways. Yeah. So the thing is, you're asking how, but to my rebattle question would be how do you think hating social media and putting that energy into it, whatever, make it successful? It's not. It's just, it's just not right. So no, I mean, we can get into the specific strategical side of it. But we even talked about I was like, what happens if we just took like a three month hiatus off of Instagram? Like, what would we do instead? And, you know, we spend a lot of money on paid advertising. I'm a huge advocate for paid ads, Facebook, and YouTube and Google ads. And we spend a lot. And we spend a lot on there, because we're making a lot from there. And so I have a funnel that's running that will do over a million dollars a year from a single Facebook app. Now, that's not what I mean. When I say being on social media, use it, but that's Facebook. What I mean when I say get off social media, I mean, like, you know, if someone didn't want to post five times a day, and respond to every comment, and create all these like engaging things that don't feel great. Now I got a dance on tik tok. I always look, I knock everything, I'll make fun of all of it. But I'm not, you know, like, it doesn't mean don't do it. It's like, what I make fun of is like, people that are like reactive to like, I'm supposed to be doing this now. Okay. I'm not happy. This isn't what I signed up for. But my point is, like, build my business. Like, if you're like a dancer, or you love making videos, like Go, go be doing these reels and Tick Tock Tick, what are you doing on this call? Go and do that right now. Like, because that's what you love. But when you see the people that are like, I'm doing it because I'm supposed to like,

Tina

Yes, yeah. Okay, I sort of retract my bullshit, then. I get that. Well, I do think you need to have you need to have presence, you know, you need to tell the world that you're there and be able to sell and there are so absolutely, that we have to

James

Let's look at other ways that you can create presence. Let's look at all the ways you can get first of all, you can be a guest on Tina towers, podcast and mastermind group. Yeah, I love podcasting. Yeah, boom. Right. There's a guest. There's events in person when you can and virtual otherwise. Again, huge paid ads. And I think, sadly, email is still in this day and age because I'm old school, I've been around a long time, is undervalued and underappreciated. I think email is one of the most intimate phases when you build a relationship right? With your, with your email subscribers, they'll read your emails from the people that I want to who get great emails, boom, you know, I'm reading them. So the options is there. Yeah. And podcasts always on YouTube, it did not as a social media. So here's the thing, okay, I look at it like this. The first place to start is a platform where you're producing content. And I think that's very important. So for me, it used to be YouTube. That's where I posted my content. Because when you have a platform, you're on that platform, which means you have an audience inherently, I think there's a lot of people that are just not producing their own content. I doubt that anybody here, but they're just like part of the noise and the conversation and the buzz. That doesn't establish you as an authority. The brain of a buyer needs to see you perceived as the authority before they buy from you. People don't buy from people that they don't perceive as an expert, law of preeminence. And one of the ways in which we display convey, show that expertise is your own unique content on your own platform. So where is that? Do you have that? And I look at that as a little different than just being on social media. Like, there's a lot of people that are like, I really feel for that. And I don't want them thinking that where they're like, oh, if I don't go on Facebook? Yeah. Or if I don't respond when someone's housing is like, I'm worried it's gonna make me irrelevant. That's fear. Yeah, I'm worried that my business will go down, fear. And I don't think I've posted something on Facebook in 14 months.

Tina

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so my last question for me, I want to ask you about launch energy, because I love the way you talk about maintaining energy and the outcome, and you've done so many different launches. And what I found both through my own launches and through clients of mine, that your mood and your energy and everything that's going on affects the outcome hugely. How do you maintain that buzz and that performance, so to speak while launching?

James

Yeah, cuz it is a performance? Yeah. I don't want people I see this a lot. And I call it out alcohol. Oh, that's well said. Just done. There we go. alcohol. Oh, my goodness, that's amazing. Okay. Okay, so beyond that, to elaborate on that a little bit, it is a performance. However, what I hear or how people I think misinterpret that is, there's a lot of people that just crank up this force, high energy that feels very forced, who knows what I'm talking about, where it's like, oh, my God, I'm happy and excited all the time. And this is my highest note, and I have to keep this 10 for the next 10 days. And if I yell enough, and I'm excited enough, you'll buy and it says push, I'm feeling I'm pushing you. Right, pushing you. And I see that and pushes that can push people away. And then on the other side of that, is when you get out there and you're you have a lot of attachment, attachment, whatever you're attaching to is what you give your power to. And that's, that's what's draining your power. And so when they show up, they're desperate, they're needy, they're worried they're scared. And if you've ever seen anyone make an offer or be on a webinar or sell something and you felt that needy desperate energy, did you want to buy from them? So the way I want to flip this first thing is to say it's that negative energy of either like pushing, forcing or like needy, desperate, that's just pushing away sales. Okay, so those affect it negatively. 

So I'll tell you, what I focus on is really simple. It's so simple. It's not gonna be easy, but it's so simple, but I want to remind people That the advice I'm about to give you is super important. But if you have a bad offer and bad messaging, it really doesn't matter how great your energy is. And I'm going to say that again, if you have a bad offer, and bad messaging, and great, but great energy, you're, you're probably not going to make a lot of sales. So there has to be alignment of those has to be all of them. Okay, but yeah, a great energy will compensate a little bit for a little like, you know, offer and messaging that isn't as great as it could be. Okay, so it's very simple. You are where your attention is. Your feelings follow thoughts. So where are you placing your attention? When when the lights go down, and the curtain opens at the performance of your launch? Whether it's a webinar challenge, Facebook Lives, whatever it is, where's your attention? And where is it at all times? Is it on? What will they think? What will they say? What would they do, will they buy? Or are we going to make our money back? We spent too much on ads? What if this doesn't convert? I shouldn't have raised my prices? Well, what emotional state? Is that gonna put you in? Fear, worry, doubt, concern, constricted, right? The only thing at this point in time when that when the curtain goes up, that your work is done, you've already done the planning, you're already got everything. It's just, it's just showing up at this point, if you've, you know, following the process was really, who can I serve? Who can I help? Can make a difference for somebody to stay is someone out there that needs to hear what I have to say, let that come through me. And that's it. That's all it is. Because no matter where you are, no matter who you are, there's some there's someone out there that you can get, you can get behind the idea that you can make a difference in someone's life, you can help someone, even if just a word of encouragement, or new way to look at something is that one time is all you can do.

Tina

And it's exactly what you said, so much simpler said than done. Like I know the irony behind when you're first starting. And you know, you've got to pay a mortgage and you've got to pay your bills, and it's got that level of desperation. And you're working so hard for everyone. But then once you get over that hurdle, and you don't need it, you want it because you want to serve people, but you don't need it anymore. It just comes flowing in so beautifully. Like when was that when I needed it? Yeah, it's much easier said than done.

James

Can we answer Megan's question? This is a really great question. Yes. Question. Megan. What I don't is up to you. Okay. I don't want to tell you what

Tina

I'm going over. I tell. I told Lauren, she was next in line. But we can jump to Megan and come back. 

James

Oh, sorry. Sorry, Lauren. Can we do Megan and then Lauren. 

Tina

Yeah, Megan, ask away. 

Megan

Hi, James. How are you? Sorry, Lauren.

James

I know. Sorry about that. 

Megan

Sorry. So when people say give away your best content, like give to the point where it feels uncomfortable. And then you know, you're giving your best stuff. And I feel like I do too much of that. And then I don't get people buying and they just hang around forever. Because, hey, we can

James

Oh its simply because you know what that is, is because you simply didn't, you didn't give enough. If you give five times as much, maybe they'll buy? I know, it's so silly. Right? That is not the answer. I think that advice is some of the worst advice out there. Look at her face as soon as I said that. I’m messing with you. She's like, what? No, I mean, people are going out there and saying give your best stuff. And people will buy from you. And Megan did. And so what Oh, so you still have more to give? You know, it's still wasn't good enough. Is that? Is that what we have to conclude with this? This fallacy? No, absolutely not. So here's what we want to do instead. So what's your natural program in one sentence?

Megan

So I've got a health marketing Academy for GP specialists and allied health to help them reach more patients increase their booking.

James

Cool. I didn't know like half of those terms. But yeah, helping health people get more clients. So that's some promise. Yeah, that's a promise. And is it like a course or a coaching program or something? 

Megan

six month course, that's got coaching, coaching and learning. 

James

Cool. So first off, when I buy that program, you're going to teach me how to do all the things that you do, right? Yeah. Good. So save it for the program. Right. That's the first thing, right? This is what's happening is like, Oh, wait, so I taught him. I gave my best stuff. There's no reason to even buy it. Right. Yeah. So here's what your free stuff needs to be. This is the right way to have great messaging because this is Megan's real question is, how do I have great messaging? Great messaging does really two things: it creates demand and desire for your offer. So if you're giving your best stuff away, and they don't want to buy from you, you didn't create demand and desire It's like, it's like going to the food court at the mall. And instead of someone giving you a sample, they just gave you a whole meal. And then you ate it. And they said, Would you like to come and buy something? You're like, we're on full now. You know, right. That's what most people are doing. We can't do that. So the first thing is, I want to try and give my messaging framework in the most, like, concise way. There's, there's really, oh, the second thing, it does have a totally No, it's going to talk about sales, demand and desire for the message increased demand a desire for what it is you're selling, while eliminating the objections. Okay? So if you're not eliminating all the objections that they have, an objection is just a belief that a potential buyer has that's preventing them from buying. So if you're not, and by the way, all objections are rooted from fear. Right? So they're in fear, I don't know if I have what it takes. I don't have the time. I don't know if this is gonna work for me. I don't know if this is for me. doubt, worry, fear. Those are 99.99% objections are fear based, people aren't going to invest in themselves and make a change in their life, from fear. So our messaging needs to do that. So here's the number one biggest, most powerful thing and I call it the Domino Belief. The Domino Belief is, well, let me let me phrase it like this. Every great personal development, business. Nonfiction book has an ingredient in those books. And that ingredient is called a core premise. Every great book has a core premise. Core premise is that one sentence like when a scientist has a hypothesis. It's your hypothesis. It's your statement of fact that you have to prove. Okay, it's the one it's like Lord of the Rings, it's the one sentence to rule them all. Okay. And so what what a core premise, I'm going to go over this really fast. The Domino belief is what I call it, because it's called the dominant belief because if you get people to believe this, it knocks over all the other dominoes. And if you don't do this, then you could just teach, teach, teach, give, give, give, give, given no reason about the core premise is, the vehicle. This is going to be a little complicated is not it's simple, not easy. This takes work this takes time is a big piece of what we go over is the vehicle of an oxygen with. It’s the vehicle is the vehicle plus superlative equals transformation. So the transformation is get fully booked to get clients, premium prices fully booked. The vehicle is the number one thing that's going to get them there. And that's either going to be a framework that you created. Or some specific tool, like let's say you said, like, I'm just gonna give a bad example this because we're talking about social media, Instagram. So then your core premise would be Instagram is the most effective way to get clients. That's a bad example. Okay, so it's either your framework, you know, it's like the five step method, whatever. It's not you and it's not your course. My online Academy is the most effective way to get fully booked and get clients. That's not it. It's a vehicle, it's what they're going to learn in it. So what are they going to learn in the program? 

Megan

Yeah, there's a four step process attract, convert repeat referrals. 

James

Okay, what is the number one way to get clients? Do you have a specific strategy that you use? 

Megan

Relationship marketing, it's all about referrals. 

James

Okay. Okay, relationship marketing or referrals. That's your vehicle. Relationship marketing, so that's your core premise. Relationship marketing is the most effective, most important, most whatever superlative way to get fully booked by your ideal clients at your ideal prices. Now, that's dumb. I'm only gonna teach two things in here for you. Okay. So here's the thing. Is someone gonna buy your stuff if they don't believe that? 

Megan

No

James

Exactly. So guess what the whole rest of your messaging is. You are going to put on your attorney pantsuit. And you have to make a case for this. This is your client. And you have to make a case for that statement. Everything you do, everything you say, is to back up that one statement. And if you can't convince me, prove to me, demonstrate to me, show me that this is the most effective way, then I ain't buying it. But we're so busy teaching something that I'm not sold on yet. So one of the things you're going to have to do is begin to discredit the alternatives. You got to show them why this is better than Facebook. Or why it's better than bah bah bah bah. And then the light bulbs come off, or they come out or whatever, I don't know, however they sat, but then the light bulbs, then oh my goodness, oh my goodness, and it will lead them to clarity.

Tina

Just as you said that January light bulbs are having a dance party in my head.

James

So here's the thing is we want to stuff people like go back to our food court example. We want to stuff people full of something, so they're full. And then we say, Okay, now you want to pay for more, and they're like Armstrong's render doc justice. This is Thanksgiving. That's an American holiday. I'm so irrelevant. Gosh. And instead, please don't discredit the fact that giving somebody clarity is so incredibly valuable. Yeah, I now know what I need to do. And I now know what's possible. You've just removed the objections and created more demand and desire for exactly what you sell. Megan. That's what you need to do first. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Cool. 

Tina

Lauren. Over to you. 

James

Sorry, Lauren.

Lauren

That was amazing. Thank you so much. I am on this call. I've actually gained more specificity around my message, because I was always struggling feeling out of alignment. And I wanted to know, my question was, what are your values? And how did you come up with them to hire based on values?

James

Love it. Unfortunately, we're out of time. I don't think we have time to answer this one. I'm sorry. I'm so getting great question. Wow. Okay. Wait, so can I ask, um, team wise? Do you have a team right now? 

Lauren

No, me. 

James

Okay. Yeah, great. shows me a little harder without a team. Because this won't be you'll see what I say. But it's still possible. So here's the thing. Here's what core values. Are you familiar with the concept ways of being? Yes. Okay. Right. So like, a way of being is like to be loving. Like, there's been times in your life when you've just been nothing but pure, unconditional love. And then there's been times when, like, you're probably the opposite. You know, we all have bad days and road rage and stuff like that, right? So I wasn't, I wasn't being love, in the moment that I honked and gave them the bird, right? That's humans. So moment by moment, we have ways of being some they're very predominant and habitual and unconscious. Others that we like, never really access, but they're always there. So the core values are not some like ideal, like, virtue. Their choices of ways of being that you get to step into right now. Yeah, so I'm going to show you the short version of how to do this. If you needed to 10 extra company, I want you to think of three imaginary people that you would need to hire right now that would take your company to 10x growth. If you had to guess because right now it's again, if you already have a team, you look at who already are your A players are, and you clone them. And you use who they have been how they've been showing up. But since we don't have that you can use yourself. But if you had to, if you had to take three imaginary people and plug them into your team and take in 10 exit to in order to 10 exit, if you had to guess what do you think some of the qualities characteristics and ways of being they would need to possess to be that A player to take you to victory.

Lauren

They need to be dedicated, committed, organized. I'm operating out of a place of calm love out the passion that I have. Yet back back? Like I've made an events manager, I could put it down to roles like marketing, sales, events, management.

James

Yeah. Okay. So you get you started giving me a few really great ones committed, dedicated like that, like love and caring? Yeah, passionate. Okay, so what you do is in this assignment, that's the question you're asking. And you want to write down as many as you can. And then you want to find a way to narrow it down to five is a really good number six, is pretty good. Seven is like the most, you're gonna start to forget it at seven. So five is a really strong number. So we have five, I'll tell you what ours are, but that's how we created them. We cloned our A players, and we said what qualities characteristics and ways of being that these individuals possess, and we started there. And then you can make your own names. So like, if one of them is like passionate, it could be like, lives on fire. You know what I mean? Like, you get to name on what you want. So here's mine. Am I allowed to cuss, Tina?

Tina

Yeah. 

James

Okay. The first one is integrity. And you guys want to million dollar Game Changer thing. So I gave a lot of these things that don't seem to have nothing to do with like extracting money like money and funnels and stuff that are like super valuable, but people can't draw a connection, how valuable they are. But you want to be a total game changer in business. If there's even just one more person on your team, you make your number one core value is integrity. Integrity, we're not talking about morals or ethics, although that's important to integrity is about honoring and being your word. It's as simple as doing what you said you were going to do, crazy concept. But the reality is, most of us don't do what we say we're going to do. Some of you guys are still promising to call your friend back and do lunch from like two years ago. Well, we got to catch up. Well, they want to call you tomorrow, right? Tomorrow still hasn't come. I'm guilty of that, too. Okay. So we all are, it's fine. But that's out of integrity. We're not being who we said we're going to be, we're not doing what we said we're going to do. So when you make integrity, there's studies on this. There's a company in Tucson Arizona steel company, I believe. It was steel manufacturing company in Tucson, Arizona, they did this for three years. so fascinating study, they measured promises made and promises kept by every single employee in the company. The revenue exploded, the profits exploded, they evaluated the company before this exercise, and afterwards, and they three acts, the evaluation of the organization, three acts, the evaluation in three years. Unbelievable. I mean, it's the number one prerequisite for productivity. That's why I said my team can run circles around others, we all operate from an impeccable level of integrity. So that's our first one. The second one is called get shit done. Get shit done is a value around risk producing results. It's not about being busy. It's about getting results. So that's one of our ways that means are you are you getting shit done this week? Or are you being lazy? Are you getting shit done this week? Or are you just staying busy? So that's notice it's a choice, right? The third one is what we call Uncommon Sense. Uncommon Sense, is the whole idea that common sense is uncommon, right? So it's the intuitive ability to think beyond your role and what's required of you to anticipate the future. That's a big one. A Swiss Army Knife is our next one. Swiss Army Knife means everyone on my team can play multiple roles. One day they're writing copy, the next day, they're answering an email, and then they're working on an event. That's how my team rolls. We're like transformers. So a Swiss Army Knife is a required characteristic. They need to be able to be not someone that just sits in a box or cubicle and pushes a button 10 hours a day. Right? Yeah. So varieties that you could call that anything multifaceted, dynamic. We call it a Swiss Army knife. That's what I call it. And the last one is lives on purpose. I tell my teams like especially when new people I said this isn't Starbucks. If you're coming here to clock in, clock out, or you think this is just a job. I don't want you. Go work at Starbucks. If part of your purpose and your heart isn't tethered to the work that we do, I don't want you. So everyone plays a role in fulfilling on the vision which means their heart is in everything. They love our customers, they care about what we do. It's a part of them. They have a life doesn't mean they're workaholics. But it's meaningful, and it gives them something. Those are my five core values. And they all came by doing the exercise I gave you I cloned. I said if I could clone my top three people what qualities characteristics and we had 40 and we spent like two days narrowed it down to those five. 

Lauren

Nice, thank you. Thank you very much.

Tina

We got one last one. Julie. 

Julie

Oh, hello. Hello, James. Thank you so much. Hi, Julie. Yeah. Hi. great value. You just pouring it pouring the level on tonight. And we're loving it. Question. Yeah. Yeah. Quick question. Um, you obviously have quite a large community. And how do you keep them engaged? What do you do? How do you kind of touched on it before with, you know, just adding extra value, but I'd love to know you know how you do community and keeping them engaged?

James

Sure. Yeah, that's a great question. I love my community. We just attract amazing people. I don't make a focus. It's really interesting. I don't make any focus or attempt for engagement. And here's why this is really bizarre. This isn't me like whoa, what is Oh, he's saying something against the grain and here's why. What I found a long time ago is that my most successful students tend to be the quietest. They're out there doing what we're putting together for them. And I realized that, in fact, I remember bumping into people at conferences, and they'd be telling me these amazing results. And I'm like, what, where have you been? I've never met you, you've never posted in the group or anything like, yeah, I'm just because I just get in and get what I need. And I go. So I'm very careful not to waste too much time measuring the wrong metrics. In other words, if you guys have like, if everyone, if you had an online course, and you had like a Facebook group attached to it, are you measuring the success of your program based on how many comments are coming in or how much they post, because I don't think that's a true measurement of success. You know, and instead, I think there's, there's other ways, you know, one could be course completion. One could be the results that you do come in, and some people don't share the results, and they're getting amazing results. So it's something to consider, and I know that's a little against the grain is, is all about community, and I am too, but um, you know, I think for me, like I put a strong emphasis on teaching and curriculum first, and then put it out there. And then my coaching is to help them get through the curriculum and put it into action. Coaching is the application of knowledge. That's how I look at coaching. So beyond that, I'm not I'm not too concerned with how engaged people are in a group or anything like that. I just want them to apply what they're getting. And a lot of times people are quiet about that. Now, that being said, we still do things, you know, I have I've coaches that work for me today. That was the scariest thing I'd ever pulled the trigger on. I don't know why. Fear is irrational handing it and it's handing it over. It's letting go. You want what you guys want all know, the secret to success. I got it. I figured it out. And it's letting go of the thing that you've been unwilling to let go. Figure that out. What are you still holding on to and just let it go. And you'll be just fine. So go do that you got the secret to success. But I was really afraid to do that. And it was like one of the best decisions I ever made. And my coaches are extraordinary humans. Everyone likes him more than me, and rightfully so. And that's awesome is I've never made this well I have at times I'm not I want to be staggered, but not anymore. Where it's like the James show, or it's about me. Like if you come into my program and one of my coaches, you know, blows your mind and transforms your life. And I don't I don't need it, give me credit. Tell me I'm amazing. I don't need that. I'm just like, yes, that's awesome. We helped her, she got help, like, you know, that's all that matters to me. So now it's a lot easier but I had a harder time with it back then. And the coaches are just so amazing. So that helps in our higher programs like I have a 12 month coaching program. We do a lot of things in there, we do like quarterly contests and giveaways like right now we did a here's just one can give you a specific thing that's really fun. This is actually a great strategy. Tina, I hope I'm not going over too much like he was supposed to be done 17 minutes ago.

Tina

I love it. Keep going. You know that's even worse like hold your thought from a customer point of view. This is one amazing thing that you do so well is from being a customer of yours through BBD and BBD class and going through all of that. You get on calls with people and you're never seeming to be in a hurry. You're always there and always going I've got all the time in the world for you to solve this problem for you today. That's what I think. 

James

Yeah, cuz I don't have to get off the call and do 1000 other things in my business. I told ya. The secret to success, let it go. Alright, now I forgot a couple. Oh, the 30 day FOMO promo. Okay, Julie, you're gonna love this. When someone joins your stuff. When do you think their interest is at its height? 

Julie

Right at the beginning, 

James

Right at the beginning. Right. So the question I have for everyone here is what are you doing? As soon as someone joins your stuff to get them results. The reason they haven't getting results is probably because they've been confused, uncomfortable, afraid, scared, you know. And now there's a little window an opening where a new version of them to shine through. So we have something called the 30 day FOMO promo, I only give this to my hand clients, but I'm going to walk you guys through this really quickly, when someone joins our program, our 12 month coaching program, here's what I do, I say, who wants to start the next 12 months together with a brand new laptop. And a lot of hands go up. And I said, I have created a list of 12 ways that you can make money in your business right now. For every one of these things that you do in the next 30 days, and just show proof of them, I'm going to enter your name into a drawing for a free laptop, and I'm giving away three. So what am I doing? I'm gonna carry it, I'll do whatever it takes to motivate someone to get out of fear and into action, out of the comfort zone, push them into the deep end. And for a lot of people, that's it. So it's actually the deadline is today. So it's been 30 days. And I would say about 70% of people have but it's not overnight, some people submit right at midnight, you know, because that's how people are. But vast majority of people have done at least one thing to produce revenue in their business. And now they're and so I'm incentivizing them, they want free stock, that's awesome. But it's also there to make them money. And for a lot of people, the thing that they're doing in the first 30 days, is getting to pay for the program, which is awesome, too. Because then they don't have this kind of like, Oh, I need to get this to pay off or whatever. It's like, let's just, we've took care of that now, how else can we help you. And I really like that. But here's where the promo comes in. This is the really fun part that that got your people into action. So you can do kind of giveaways and contests and fun things like that. But here's where this gets to help you make more money, the 30 day FOMO promo is when you go back to everyone who didn't join your program. And you do a 30 day check in. And you say, hey, it's been 30 days since our launch promotion, webinar, free content, whatever. And I wanted to check in with you and see how far you've progressed or grown. And for me, it's what you've gotten accomplished in your business. And I just want to as a little way to inspire possibility for you. I want to show you what our newest members have been doing in their first 30 days. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. So here's the thing. If I'm still writing this copy, if you're looking at these results, and you're starting to feel a little frustrated, confused, because it's been 30 days, and you don't have anything to share, or you haven't got made any progress, then maybe that's the indicator that an environment and a group and a program like this is exactly what you do need. So even though we've closed the doors, I want to give one last opportunity to come and join us. For the next 48 hours I'm reopening, just for people that feel like maybe I made the wrong decision. And I need to be in this program. And then maybe your next 30 days can look like their last 30 days. That's a 30 day FOMO promo. I'm always looking for ways to win win win win win, how can I make my customers wins, and then that gets other people excited to want to join and work with me as well. Win Win win. Yeah, real simple. Like anyone here could do that. 30 days or 60 days or two weeks, but it doesn't matter. You pick your day, but you know, I like 30 days.

Tina

That’s an amazing idea. I saw everybody writing that one that one down. What percentage have you been able to pick up in that 30 days? 

James

Well, I can remember one specifically. So we did it after we did it after BBD live. So with a live event and our 12 month, group coaching is 12,000. And I think we got about 10 other people. Yeah, that's $120,000 with two emails. Yeah, you know, with a 300 person event like that's, that's worth it even if it was just one it's worth it. You know that one person? Has it? Have you guys ever had that experience where you chose not to invest in something and you kind of like, your mind starts to play tricks on you. Like, I wonder I should have, Did I make a mistake. And so your audience is doing that too. And sometimes they just need a little bit more time. And a little bit more perspective. You'd be like, man, I really should have been in this program as I was thinking and then you give them that opportunity. We love little stuff like that. So people out there in the world always see James with these big launches. And then there's people that like are for and against launches as if it's like one or the other. And what they don't see is that I always have and I do mean always have some little light, fun promo running that most people will never see. And that's, that's bringing in a good percentage of our revenue. So to put that in perspective, last year we did 10,000,000 and 6 came from BBD. So 4 million coming from other lighter promotions, a lot of times just a couple of emails. Here's another one. We just promoted somebody else recently. We offered bonuses. If they purchase their program, we have some bonuses for you. That launch ended. And everyone who didn't buy, we made an offer to buy the bonuses. Boom. It all adds up. You know, I didn't want to get that program already have the broom, but I really want this. Yeah, here you go. And it's an email. And I like things simple. I like things like I like to do it all. But you know, that things like that are just a couple emails and you're done.

Tina

That's fantastic. James, you're such a legend. And you've got free video training, hitting out on June 17?

James

Yeah. And you're doing this one live. 

Tina

Oh, fun. Nice. Yeah, I love it. It is the best. It was such a good program to go through. And you are also featured in what is going to be one of the world's most best selling books that's coming out in July million dollar micro business by what Tina Tower being part of that you've shared your origin story in that which I really, really love. Because I think it's one thing you know, you're in such a stratosphere now, but I love the beginning because of how you actually got there and how you haven't changed that much.

James

I try not to. It was a rough many years. Yes. But you got to go through that stuff. That's the thing. I mean, that's how your experience is where you're going to create so much growth, so much wisdom, and that's what you have to pass on to others. You know, it's like trying to teach someone a goal setting workshop when you've never accomplished a goal before. You know, but when you work from experience, and offer so much more. So anytime I'm talking to anybody. I can go back in my mind in my memories to when I was in that exact same situation. And I can I know what that was like I was there. And I'm so grateful for that. Yeah, but yeah, it was a long, it was a long, brutal four and a half years of just nothing worked. Almost giving up many times. 

Tina

That was pretty good. Mine was like 10 years. 

James

Oh, wow. Yeah, you got me deep

Tina

A while to cotton on. 

James

I guess we're both slow starters. 

Tina

Big finishers. 

James

I mean, you have all these like you have all these overnight successes today. They're like, yeah, I started three. I mean, like so my students. It's embarrassing to me. Like, I'm embarrassed because like, I have a student who went from like, COVID shut down her brick and mortar. And she took her online business from zero to a million in nine months. And I'm like, I could never I never did that. I mean, I could do that today. But like, like I didn't do it that that. Wow, that's so impressive. And you have those. That's great. I love it. I love it. But yeah, I struggle a lot longer.

Tina

Yes. James Wedmore. Thank you so much. It's always dripping in solid gold. I appreciate your time. I know how valuable and precious it is and how much you protect it. And it makes us feel so special. 

James

Oh, yeah, my van is calling me. I hurry up, James. 

Tina

I can't imagine I enjoy the Instagram Stories later today. Thanks so much.

LET'S STAY CONNECTED

JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP

WANT TO BOOK TINA AS A SPEAKER?

Get Tina to your next event and be inspired to really live this One Life. 

Call To Get More Info