In this episode of the Best Passive Income Model Podcast, listen in as Mark Podolsky chats with digital marketer, Eric Siu. Eric Siu is the CEO of the digital marketing agency called Single Grain and has worked with Fortune 500 Companies such as Sales Force, Yahoo, and Intuit. He is also the founder of the podcast, Growth Everywhere.

In this episode, Mark and Eric talk about how he got started. Eric graduated from college and was doing data entry at a cubicle somewhere when a friend suggested he try out digital marketing. Instead of rotting away doing the same job every single day, Eric decided to go for it. From there, Eric got an internship and never looked back.

Eric worked with his mentor, Neil Patel, as the Vice President of Marketing online, an educational marketing company called Treehouse when Neil asked him to help his cousin out and run the company. Eric eventually took over the company two years ago, paying $2 out of his pocket from the company profit. He then brought it to where it is today.

When asked about digital marketing, Eric said that it never ends. Social media has blown it up to a point where everything can be measured. It is important to have the ability to look at the numbers to see whether they’re working or not. 95% of the people start with something that you can draw conclusions from and this is a good start.

Eric started Growth Everywhere because he saw that there were no marketing podcasts out there. It also allowed him to talk to founders and pay it forward. It was a chance to put people together. It has grown by itself and Eric humbly says it gets nice comments. He has since started a training course behind the podcast. He believes that it is a complement to Single Grain and it’s also free branding for them.

For entrepreneurs, those doing a side hustle, want to increase their passive income, or are new to marketing, Eric advises the listeners to choose a path. Choose something and stick with that. Get good at it. Neil Patel at QuickSprout.com did just that. He came out with content every week for years. It’s about going an inch wide and a mile deep.

Eric advises having a budget of about $20,000 to $40,000 to get a funnel working. However, not a lot of people who are starting out have this kind of budget. He suggests that everyone can learn content marketing. He says it’s free to learn and be the expert. You can also eventually learn to articulate your message into words. When you do it consistently, you’ll get better at it, it will start compounding over time, and it’ll eventually get noticed. Building an audience is the hardest thing to do, according to Eric. If we’re not collecting email addresses or creating one-to-one relationships with our prospects, the platforms own us. Perry Marshall says that the goal of each email is to entice your customers to open the next email.

As a marketer, your job is to bring people to the point of sale. It’s all a game. Every single marketing tweak you make can add to or decrease your bottom line. To be a great marketer, you need a growth mindset. Keep pounding away at it. When you’re starting out, you have to learn a couple of times a day. If you say it’s too hard for you, you shouldn’t be in business.

On hiring a copywriter if you have a low budget, Eric suggests going through a Facebook Group called Cult of Copy. Siphon off as much information as you can. Educate yourself first. As a rule of thumb, ask yourself if your content is interesting to you. Is it something that makes you proud to share it with people? That would be a good parameter, according to Eric. To know who to trust and who not to trust, you can take in as much information as you can but it’s on you to determine signal from the noise. Look at consistency. How do you feel after listening to a podcast? Do you feel like you’re being dumped into a marketing funnel? 99% of the time, your gut will tell you when you’re getting the value or the runaround. Check out Frank Kern, Seth Godin, Eric Siu, Ryan Lee, Ryan Deiss, and Neil Patel. They all show up everyday. They are prolific and you get a sense that they really care. You get a sense that they love what they’re doing and that they just want to give.

When writing email, differentiate yourself with others by writing as if you’re writing to your mom. Have a long-term view of it. Build a relationship over time, as suggested by Gary Vaynerchuck. You can’t keep throwing right hooks because people will start to hate you. A good ratio agreed upon by Mark and Eric is 4 to 1 or 5 to 1 in terms of sending content before the promotion. The basic idea is to send 4 or 5 good pieces of content before you do the promotion. On Keyword Searches, Eric suggests that it’s something you don’t need to pay attention to. The more important question to ask whether or not you’re adding value to the world.

It is important to practice your writing every day. It’s like going to the gym and exercising. It helps you get better at it. Eventually, you start seeing the fruits of your labor. Eric set a goal of writing 500 words per day and inputting this into a spreadsheet that tracks the number of words he’s written in a year. When you get into the habit of doing that, you are able to automate the process. Keep going.

When asked about newbie mistakes that make him cringe, Eric talked about giving up too early. In terms of content, it takes about 12 to 24 months for things to compound and for you to see the machine giving your returns. You just have to play the long game. In the beginning you’re gonna suck. You just have to embrace it. You have to suck first to get good. However, when you no longer feel passionate about your work, maybe it is time to let go. 36 months is a perfect time to let go. As Seth Gold says, when you fail, you’re done. Move on to the next thing.

The strategy that’s working right now for digital marketing is Gmail Advertising. He says that it was something Google wasn’t consistent in implementing it. Not a lot of people are hitting it. Now is a good time to get in before it becomes saturated.

Eric also talks about playing a bigger game. He says he already has something that’s giving him a good cash flow. The next step is to figure out what he can do next to make him happy or how he can make an impact on the world. This is a game people optimize and play until their lives end.

When asked about Marks Best Passive Income Model, Eric said it sounds sexy. He also says that he can’t say much about it but at a high level, it’s interesting and he can’t really put fault in it.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Eric: Long form content with 2,000 words or so are important to have out there. There are over 2 Million blog posts produced every single day. 300 to 500 word articles are not enough. Visit www.growtheverywhere.com and read “21 EPIC 10x Content Marketing Examples We Can All Learn From.” Read those and learn why they’re good.

Use a dashboard tool called Cyfe that helps you monitor your business data from one place and would cost $20 a month. It’s a steal and you can make as many dashboards as you want. Ahrefs allows Eric to see how many links he’s acquiring for SEO services. However, it’s fairly expensive.

Mark: Subscribe to Growth Everywhere Podcast and check out www.growtheverywhere.com. There are tons of resources on that website. My favorite tool out there is the Bad Hire Calculator.

Thank you for listening to the Best Passive Income Model podcast. Your support helps me to invite guests who share their knowledge that you can use to grow your business.

 

In this episode of the Best Passive Income Model Podcast, Mark chats with reluctant entrepreneur, Dan Lok. Listen in as Mark and Dan talk about his journey from a penniless immigrant to a multi-millionaire who owns 21 companies, tinkers around on Facebook making $150,000 a month in income, having a mentor who gave him the million dollar year of his life, online marketing, writing books and being the guy behind the guy.

Dan Lok talks about how he was an immigrant who didn’t speak a word of English and going to North America at the age of 14. By the time he was 17, his father’s business went bankrupt and he had to grow up and be a man. His journey from rags to riches began because he had no choice. He needed to take care of his mother.

Dan’s journey to success had many more failures than successes. He attributes part of it to the timing. He came into the business during its heyday. As a result, he got invited to speak in many different conferences and was making a ton of money as a speaker and information marketer. He took all that money and invested in businesses outside of information marketing.

Today, Dan has 21 companies, which he either owns or has a stake in. These companies include real estate education, software, and financial planning. When asked how he had the time to mentor people, he said that every deal is different. Usually, the mentoring happens at the initial starting phase of the business. He either puts in his time, money, or expertise, depending on what his partners need. His philosophy is instead of having 100% of a big pie, he would rather have 25% to 75% of many small pies.

For Dan, freedom is having the luxury not to do something you don’t want to. It’s being able to walk away from any deal. It is about being in control of your time. Currently, he runs his companies from his home because he chooses to.

When asked what kind of advice he would give a 25 year old, he said (1) try to be the best version of yourself and (2) don’t go out there and start your own business. He introduced the concept of the wealth triangle that’s made up of high-income skills, scalable business, and high returning investment. He suggests you focus first on the high-income skills. That will ensure there is a steady cash flow coming in. It also allows you to start a business from a place of strength. The worst place you can be in is when you’re desperate.

Dan has invested money in real estate all over the world. He likes Hong Kong because it’s not rent controlled and you can double your rent if the market can sustain it. He also has investments in Taiwan. He prefers investing in commercial properties. As long as you buy in the right location, he says it’s a passive commercial business.

On Mark’s business model, Dan says that you’ve got to know your stuff. What’s best for Mark may not be best for others and vice versa. What’s more important is that you find your niche. It’s not what you do but it’s how you do it that matters.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Dan : Watch “How to Generate Massive Passive Income” on YouTube, and get a copy of my book, F.U. Money from Amazon.

Mark: Learn more about Dan Lok and his books at Danlok.com.

Thank you for listening to the Best Passive Income Model podcast. Your support helps me to invite guests who share their knowledge that you can use to grow your business.

[Tweet “The worst place you can be in is when you’re desperate.”]

 

 

Listen in as Mark and Damion talk about living on the beach, Damion’s journey to building an 8 Figure real estate empire, taking risks, making mistakes, putting systems in, and investing in QRPs. In this episode of the Best Passive Income Model, Mark chats with Damion Lupo, owner of an 8 figure real estate empire, multiple black belter, a renaissance man of life. Damion left home at 17, made his mistakes along the way, but made it by the time he was in his 20’s.

Damion mentions that when he left home at 17, he was moving fast, not listening to the rule, making his own rules, and just going for it. He did something unorthodox and brought what he learned from the experience of having his first big mess and stumbling around and learned what he didn’t know. Now, he has more than 30 businesses and companies.

When asked about Damion Lupo’s Tony Stark-ish lifestyle, Damion says that when he moved to the beach in California, he started getting up between 4 to 5 in the morning and doing whatever it is he was going to do including conquer the world and create stuff.

The journey to having 30 companies started in the late 1990s, when Damion owned an insurance agency at the age of 20. His friend, who later abandoned him, brought the deal to him. On December 30, 1999, he went to the closing and paid with his Visa Card. He remodeled that house and learned about electrical work by electrocuting himself. He says he also learned about roofing by falling off the roof. He then ended up buying 80 houses in the next 18 months.

On building a system, Damion says that it’s important to set up a system because you can’t do everything yourself. As you manage more houses, things will get exponentially more complicated. However, you need to have a balance. You should be setting systems up from the get-go but not to the detriment of people getting started so they don’t get stuck.

Mark mentions the Ready, Fire, Aim Approach where you take massive action, stretch yourself to the point of breaking, and make the adjustments later. Damion believes that making mistakes allow you to succeed. Go ahead and throw mud, move fast, learn, and expand because you don’t want to go to death’s door safely. He thinks that if you’re going to think big you’re going to trip and fall. The question is how fast you get up. When you think big, you don’t bring the past with you. You have a blank slate in your thinking.

Damion and Mark also discuss the Qualified Retirement Plan (QRP) as a way to use tax deferred money. Damion describes it as a big trust document. Basically, you can take the money and buy things like real estate and precious metals. Compared to an IRA, which has a lot of restrictions, the QRP is a much better alternative because you can put 10 times more money into a QRP than a Self-Directed IRA. At the same time, you can defer over $50,000 a year. The best part is being able to buy real estate, notes, and precious metals with your money. The best part of it is that you don’t have to deal with a third party and constantly having to pay fees. You just pay an upfront fee of $2,500 to set it up. Using a firm may be good because they can tell you which transactions are allowed. There’s a chapter in Damion’s QRP book that lists all these things.

QRP’s have a downside. Since you have direct control of the money, you might do some dumb stuff like self-deal or engage in a disqualified transaction. You have to be competent and responsible. If you’re irresponsible, don’t do it.

According to Damion, the coolest thing about the QRP is when it’s inherited. You can create a subaccount for a parent and hire them as an employee. If the parent/grandparent dies and leaves the asset to you, you can tap into that asset, grow it, and spend it no matter what age you are.

The QRP however, might go away. Congress has been discussing the possibility of abolishing it right now. This is something you need to do before it does because these will be grandfathered in.

When asked about Mark’s Best Passive Income Model, Damion says that it’s an awesome model, which he would have preferred to do when he started in the real estate business. However, he was moving so fast and didn’t think of another option.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Damion: I want to give people a shortcut. My third book, Reinvented Life talks about the process of building my life back up. It’s an intimate encounter and story that is told on those pages that will help remove the pain and suffering of melting down. [Tweet “Be charitable now and not when you’re a billionaire.”]

Mark: Go to TheQRP.org and download Damion’s free book and set up your Qualified Retirement Plan (QRP) and start building your empire, tax-deferred and tax free. Avoid fees and get all these benefits.

Thank you for listening to the Best Passive Income Model podcast. Your support helps me to invite guests who share their knowledge that you can use to grow your business.

 

In this episode of the Best Passive Income Model, Mark chats with Jordan Harbinger, the co-founder of the Art of Charm podcasts, which hit $2,000,000 a month with 440+ podcasts. Jordan Harbinger’s Art of Charm has been featured in magazines such as Men’s Health, Detail, and Cosmopolitan. It has also been featured by NBC.

Listen in as Mark interviews Jordan on the Art of Charm:

• how he got started
• how he found his niche in the market, introversion and extroversion, acquiring social skills, and leveraging the power of social dynamics in applied psychology.

Jordan simplifies the tools we need to succeed in life through his Art of Charm program. Jordan mentions it’s about unlearning years of negative thoughts and putting them under intellectual or rational scrutiny. Focusing on social skills rather than personality, Jordan has been able to successfully change peoples lives using a formula that has worked for most of his 800+ clients.

Jordan shares how he and his partner got his start through meeting successful people and belonging to their inner circles. He says it’s all about who you know.

Go-getters will tend to see this as a learning opportunity and a way to get ahead. He tells of a dramatic success story of how a client went from being overweight and lacking in confidence to the smart and successful executive he is now at Facebook. When asked about how long this program takes, Jordan mentions that there’s 6 months of preparation, a week of residency, and years of follow-ups.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Jordan: Download iCal, that comes with the Mac OSx, BusyCal or similar programs and put reminders in 15-minute blocks. This will allow you to put reminders for yourself and will put focus on the things you need to pay attention to in all areas of your life.

Mark: Go to the Art of Charm or listen to their podcast.

Thank you for listening to the Best Passive Income Model podcast. Your support helps me to invite guests who share their knowledge that you can use to grow your business.

In this episode of the Best Passive Income Model, Mark chats with Erlend Bakke, owner of 3sixty, 3sixtyfactory, and Mr. Outsource. Erlend, a serial entrepreneur, speaker, and #1 international bestselling author, has been in the business for about 8 years and made his money doing product photography and outsourcing it in Norway. He has also been successful with his 3sixtyfactory, which creates product communications to clients worldwide. Mr. Outsource, an offshoot of these companies, has also contributed to his success by giving him a steady income stream from providing entrepreneurs with passionate virtual assistants. Erlend has written a #1 best-selling book called Never Work Again.

Listen in as Mark and Erlend talk about:

• Managing your business, travelling, working smarter
• Knowing how to handle and motivate employees, his 90 minute morning routine, and;
• Avoiding the trap of being a business prisoner.

Unlike most of his colleagues in the US and worldwide, Erlend focuses on honing down on tasks he should be doing and spending time on work that motivates him.

On finding the right Virtual Assistants to help him with his business, Erlend’s philosophy is to know what drives them, aligning them with what they want to achieve, and being emotionally involved with them.

Erlend also suggests we ask three important questions of VAs: what kind of experiences do you want to have, how do you want to grow as a person and how you want to contribute, to find out if they are a perfect fit in your business.

Tip of the Week:

Erlend: Two must-have books: Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Letters from Stoic by Lucius Annaeus Seneca. For productivity tools, use Simple Mind to plot key influencers in your industry.

Mark: Get to know more about Erlend and hiring your virtual assistants here: www.mroutsource.com

Thank you for listening to The Best Passive Income Model podcast. Your support helps me attract great guests who share knowledge that you can use to grow your business.

If you’d like to help out the Land Geek Community, please rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.