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Normally, this episode would be a quick tip but in this episode of Art of Online Business, I’m doing something a little different. We just finished up a live Accelerator Coaching retreat, and it was honestly one of the best live events I have ever done. I left it feeling so inspired.
So I’m going to be giving you a behind-the-scenes look at this retreat and share my perspectives, lessons learned, and main takeaways.
One of the biggest takeaways from this retreat is that it’s all about the basics. As they say, what’s old is new. Those tried and true business strategies are still what’s working best. Don’t spend time with shiny object syndrome. Your business will thrive if you simplify and stick to the basics.
There are many other takeaways that really stuck with me at this retreat and I’m sharing them all in this episode.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why this event was so successful
- What’s important to be doing in your business right now
- How to differentiate and simplify your business
- Tips for creating leverage in your business
- How to overcome hiring challenges
- The people that get the most from these experiences
- The importance of trusting yourself
- Why you need to be leveraging your team
- The exercises we did at the end of the retreat
- The importance of tried and true business strategies
- My biggest regret
Links & Resources:
- Check out Kleq
- The Art of Online Business website
- DM me on Instagram
- Visit my YouTube channel
- The Art of Online Business clips on YouTube
- Full episodes of The Art of Online Business Podcast on YouTube
- The Art of Online Business Podcast website
- Check out my Accelerator coaching program
*Disclosure: I only recommend products I use and love and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.
Please support the podcast by giving an honest Rating/Review for the show on iTunes!
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What I’m Doing to INCREASE Email Opt-Outs During Promotions
How to Use Ethical Affiliate Marketing to Grow Your Revenue
It’s not my friend. Rick. I’m already here. Welcome to the Art of Online Business podcast. Thanks so much for. Hanging out with me today. Got a really I have a.
Different.
Episode for.
You today. Normally, today.
Is a Friday quick tip episode, but I wanted to do.
Something a little bit different.
Here because about two weeks ago.
From when this episode comes out.
We just wrapped up.
One.
Of our live accelerator coaching retreats.
And it took place here in San Diego on Thursday and Friday.
October.
13th and.
14th. So we finished.
Up on on Friday night. And over the next few days. So that Saturday.
Sunday and Monday.
I started.
Getting.
Messages.
Started seeing messages from.
The accelerators who attended the retreat.
And they were saying things.
Like, Hey, Rick, hope your trip.
Back home went as well as.
Possible.
I just wanted to say thanks again for an awesome two days. I feel so.
Aligned with my next.
Steps in life.
Thank you. Another person said, Oh my God, guys, I’m. So grateful.
To have met you.
All this past couple of days.
So a lot of people are meeting for the first time in person. I had the best time ever.
I had so many great.
Takeaways.
But the most helpful one was realizing that none of us.
Really have our shit totally dialed. We’re all just.
Figuring it out.
I feel.
So much.
Less.
Alone. Thanks for being so awesome. Another person said Monday morning here in the UK and my body can’t even do. Jetlag because.
I’m buzzing with ideas. I enjoyed spending time with all you immensely. The two retreats I’ve spent with you have absolutely been highlights in 2022. Can’t wait for the next one.
Another person said I had the best time.
You’re also incredibly amazing.
Worth the ten hour flight.
Jetlag and frizzy hair. Thank you. Humidity.
Another person said, I miss you guys already.
Then they listed out.
Some takeaways.
From their treat and they said.
Oh yeah.
I’m not alone in my journey.
That was so.
Liberating. And these.
Messages.
Continued.
All weekend.
Long and then into Monday.
And I started.
Seeing these messages.
While.
I was in New Hampshire visiting my.
Mom. And I was really inspired by.
All these.
Messages and they really lit me up because.
I finished the.
Retreat around, let’s see.
5:00 on that Friday and literally the next day, the next afternoon. I hopped a flight back to.
New Hampshire.
To.
See my mom. And my mom’s been really.
Really sick for.
A while now. And it’s at a point now where I honestly don’t. Know.
How many more times I’m going to see her.
So that trip was very last minute. I had booked the flight. Earlier in the week.
Actually.
And so I knew it was going to be a.
Lot.
You know, because when I.
Do retreats, I go.
All in, I.
Give everything I’ve.
Got and and I’m an introvert.
And so.
By the time I’m done with the.
Retreat.
I normally am super drained. And it.
Takes me a.
While. I just want to, like.
Sit in a dark room for a while. But after this retreat, I was super energized. And and.
Again, I was so inspired by what everybody was.
Saying.
About this, about this retreat.
And it, hands down, was the.
Best live.
Event that I’ve ever done in nine years of doing my online business. And I’ve done. A lot of live.
Events.
And so today what I thought I would do is give you a.
Behind the scenes of.
The retreat.
And share some things with.
You from the retreat. From my perspective, like some big takeaways, some ahas. And some.
Lessons that that I observed and also took away. So first of all, a lot of people are. Asking me what made the events so great?
Why was this the best.
Event so that I’ve ever done?
And why are people.
Saying, you know, all these all these amazing things? Well.
And I thought a lot about that.
Here’s the number one reason and this is a big.
Takeaway for.
This is going to be helpful.
For you, too, whether.
You’re doing.
Group.
Coaching or a mastermind or a membership.
Or.
Some any kind of community.
Right. The event was.
So amazing.
Because of the.
People in the room. There were 25.
People there and they gel so well together.
This is very intentional.
Accelerator is.
Application only.
Right?
So if you are interested in joining.
Accelerator, you have to apply fill out a few.
Questions there. And then I get on I get on a Zoom call with you personally, and I only. Allow 32.
People in accelerator.
So it is.
A very small group and I’m.
Very particular about who I accept.
In terms.
Of values.
And in terms of level of the business. And so.
That is very all.
Very intentional.
And it really is because of that that.
When we.
Get together as a group, it’s just.
I mean.
It’s magical. It really is a magical experience.
And I just kept hearing that from from the members.
So it just.
Cements.
What we’re.
Building here and what we’re creating within the accelerator experience. And so.
If you are if.
You’ve got a membership.
If you’ve.
Got a group coaching program or a mastermind or.
Whatever it might be.
In your business.
Really look at the.
Members.
That you are.
Allowing to come in.
Or who are.
Are signing up. What are the commonalities that you’re going for? Now, as I as I’m going to.
Talk to talk to you about.
Here in in just a second. Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income.
Pat’s one of my very best friends. He spoke.
On.
Friday and he talked about.
Community and.
For his SPI.
Pro community, it’s for, you know, for newer business owners, it’s application only. And so that’s kind of unheard of for memberships. But yet.
The reason that Pat.
Does that is for the exact reason.
I’m talking about.
Here is.
Being very intentional about the community.
That they are creating.
And so hands down, that’s what I think.
Was the reason that this was the best event I’ve ever.
Done.
Is because the group just gels so well together and they’re so supportive. Of one another.
Etc.. And so let’s go to.
The first morning of the.
Retreat. I always like.
To kick things off with a kind of a State of the Union teaching session. Where I talk about what’s.
Working now with online business and then.
Also what is.
Coming up.
And I do this whether it’s.
At.
The.
Beginning of the.
Year or middle of the year or what have you.
And the presentation that I.
Delivered was called.
Simplified Scaling in 2023 and beyond. How the online landscape. Is.
Is changing.
Because.
It is changing, my friend. It has been changing.
And as I.
Was preparing for this presentation, I was doing some research. I wanted to get some. Data and a big AHA that I had as I was.
Preparing this presentation in terms of numbers.
Anyway, was.
The number of new business.
Statistics.
From 2022 from.
This year show that over.
Two and one half million new business applications were filed in the first six months of. 2022. That is up.
44% during the same time in 2020.
So just two years ago.
44% more new business applications in 2022.
And the first half.
Of 2022, then in the same time period.
Of.
And I shared this with the.
Group and what.
I was what I was.
Trying to really cement home here with this.
With these stats is.
If you were not iterating.
What you.
Were doing.
Two years ago.
What you were doing last.
Year.
Then.
You’ve got a.
Disconnect. And I did an.
Episode I did a quick tip.
Episode recently here on the.
Show where I talked all about this.
Because just a side note here and I also talked about it during the my presentation was that 2020 and 2021, that was a. Gold rush.
For so many online.
Businesses.
And I mean, you could.
Just create.
Something.
Put it up and you’d sell a lot of it. It was very.
Easy going for so many online businesses. It is not the same anymore. Things have like so much. Has has shifted.
Right. And I talked more about it in that episode. And so the point here I was I was making and the point I want to. To drive home for you is like if you’re.
Iterating what you were doing in your business, there’s a disconnect and your customers. Will go.
Find someone.
Else who is.
Iterating and.
Who.
Is on top.
Of the.
Changing landscape.
So with that said, how.
Do you simplify things in your business.
While also.
Differentiate.
Yourself.
From the.
Flood of people.
Coming into the online space with online.
Businesses?
You know, it seems.
Like these days everybody is.
Like, Oh, I can create an online course.
And I think that’s really hurt.
The.
Industry, by the way.
And I mean, that’s a whole other topic.
But like my point here for for.
You and in my presentation there.
Is that there is a.
Whole bunch of new.
People.
In the online space and it’s not slowing down, creating businesses and so forth. And so. How do.
We differentiate?
How do.
We simplify.
So that we are.
Iterating and attracting new.
People to our.
Business and serving our existing members and students and customers. At the highest level possible.
And in this presentation.
I talked a lot about leverage.
In terms of your time as the.
Ceo, meaning are you prioritizing.
The things that.
You do in.
Your business in terms of.
Leverage? Right. Like the highest leverage activities.
That you can do as.
A CEO? Are you.
Looking at doing those first and foremost in your day during the.
Week, etc.? So for example.
Doing this.
Podcast episode, it’s a very high leverage activity, right?
And because.
I create this episode for.
You and I get tens of thousands of people listening to it. And so that’s high leverage. This is just a.
Simple example, right? And then I can there’s leverage in terms of content and what we can do with it. Which I’ll talk.
About here in a minute.
But leverage.
In terms of your time, in terms of your team’s.
Priorities.
In terms of fulfillment.
With whatever it is.
That you’re selling, in terms of your marketing, your offers.
Etc.. So that was really that first part of the day. I talked a lot about like.
Optimizing your.
Offer. We talked about we talked a lot. This was probably a big AHA for a.
Lot of the members.
Where we talked about.
Leverage in terms.
Of.
Content marketing, organic marketing, starting with and this is nothing new. Again, this is nothing new, but taking a, you know, a. Core piece.
Of content that you’re creating. So for example.
This podcast, whether.
You’re listening to it right now on whatever app that you’re listening on or watching it on, on.
Youtube, it’s.
Creating that core piece of content and then you can.
Create multiple pieces of.
Content from that.
Core piece. And I broke.
It down.
Step by step. I broke.
Down a content repurposing plan.
With with everybody there. And what I said.
To them and this I think this.
Was a big aha for.
For them.
Very few people outside of like.
Quote unquote the big names, if.
You will. Very few people.
Are getting this.
Right.
And doing it in a.
Scalable way.
Meaning we’ve got one piece of pillar content.
Now, how can I create a blog post out of this?
How can I.
Create five tik-tok videos out of this? How can I create five YouTube.
Shorts or five Instagram reels or emails from this.
Or whatever? You know, that’s very, very possible. But so few people are actually. Doing this in an efficient and effective and a scalable.
Way. You know, I could list off a.
Whole bunch of quote unquote big names who are doing it.
Really, really well. But they have, you know, big resources, big teams. This is possible for, you know, without. A ton of financial.
Resources. And so I think that was a big takeaway. Like you have such.
An amazing opportunity.
You know, talk about.
Differentiating.
Yourself. This is huge. This is a huge way to.
Differentiate.
Yourself.
Because we have to remember, too, when it comes to organic marketing.
The.
Customer journey is not as linear.
As it as it used to be. It used to be like, okay, step one.
They go here, then they move right.
To step.
Two and then they move right to step three and so on. Well, now people need lots of touchpoints before making a decision. They might hear a podcast, right?
Then they might.
Go Google.
You and they might.
Read. I don’t know. They might go to your.
Website and then they might.
See an.
Ad on Instagram, or then they might come over.
To Tik.
Tok and they might start consuming some of your content. There’s all kinds of different ways. You know, consuming content across multiple platforms is something that so many people are doing before they make any kind of decision.
So it’s our.
Opportunity.
As.
Online.
Businesses to.
Meet them where.
They are.
And again.
Like most people.
Are not leveraging their content yet.
Yet consumer behavior is telling us otherwise to do this. And again.
We have the.
Opportunity.
For really leverage.
Content marketing with.
Our.
Organic content that we’re creating, like this. Podcast episode for, for example.
To be more.
Effective.
Than sometimes paid.
Ads.
Right? In terms.
Of.
Reach and effectiveness and.
Exposure.
Versus a CPM that we.
Would that we would pay for.
The same amount.
Of exposure with our with our ads. And again, not a lot of people.
Are doing it really.
Well. You want a business idea, do that. I’m serious. I said this to the to the group. I said, you want a side business idea, create this type.
Of agency and do.
It really, really well.
And. I don’t know anybody doing this.
Really, really well right now.
And anyway.
There’s there’s a business idea for.
You.
And so that we had a break.
So moving on.
To the later part of the morning after after a break, we.
Heard from Erica.
Mccauley. Erica is.
Has been on the podcast.
Here before.
She’s my OB.
And she talked about.
Hiring and interviewing best practices and what top candidates want from.
You.
As a business owner like this is.
Invaluable.
Intel.
Basically, it’s almost.
Like insider information.
That.
What candidates want from.
You.
When you’re putting.
Together a job.
Description, when you’re doing the hiring process, when you’re doing the interviewing. Etc.. And you know, a big.
Lesson here and this wasn’t new because.
I see this all.
The time, but I want to share it.
With you because.
I think it.
Might help you feel better about what’s actually.
Going on.
Is.
That when it comes to hiring, while these challenges.
Exist, like.
The challenges that come with hiring, like doing a really.
Good job.
With hiring.
They exist, my friend.
Whether you’re doing 300,000.
A year or.
$3 million.
A year, I see it all the time. It is the exact.
Same.
Types of.
Hiring challenges.
That people have at all different levels of the business. So if you are somebody who is.
Still in the earlier.
Stages of your.
Business, if.
You will, but you’re still.
Established, you’re doing extremely well, right? And you’re thinking, Oh man, like I’m tired of having all these hiring issues and challenges with my team and stuff like that. My friend, you are not alone. And it is not just.
You, it is universal. I see it.
All the time.
I go through it.
I’ve been.
Through it. I still go through it. And it’s also extremely.
Common.
With multiple seven figure businesses. It’s a very common thing.
So you’re not alone, my friends. You’re not alone. But the presentation that.
Erika did.
She’s a genius in this. And people had so many good takeaways when it came to that.
So before I talk about after.
After lunch.
If by the way, if you’d like.
To be in the room at our next.
Live retreat, which.
Is going to be in April 2023.
By the way, and also you’d like me to coach you.
And.
Also get help.
From.
30 other really.
Special online business.
Owners to help you.
Grow and scale your business. If you’re an.
Established.
All my course or membership.
Creator or you’re a coach.
Then I want to invite.
You to apply for.
Accelerator. As I’ve been sharing with you, we have limited number.
Of people that.
We allow in the program. 32 And so if you want to check it out, if you want to go learn more about it and hear from current and past members also over on the.
Page, just go to Rick Moretti’s.
Forward slash.
Accelerator. So after.
Lunch we did one of my favorite things that I.
Do at these live retreats. We broke.
Out into.
Two smaller groups where each.
Person in each of the.
Groups has.
An individual.
Hot seat.
So one of the groups went into the room.
We did this at a hotel, by the.
Way, here in San Diego, right down on the harbor, right in the.
Water. It’s really cool.
And so one person went in one of the rooms and another person stayed in the room where we were doing the presentations and so forth.
So each person has an individual hot seat.
And.
They.
Have the chance to get help from from their group on.
Whatever.
Problem or challenge that they’re bringing to.
The group. And my.
Observation.
Here, big takeaway.
Here, and again, this isn’t new.
But the people who.
Get the.
Most out of these hot seat.
Experiences are the ones that are open to listening to.
Ideas.
From people who are in.
Completely.
Different niches. These are often the best ideas.
Right?
So if you’re in the gardening niche, niche niche, I call it niche. If you’re in the gardening niche. Right, what often.
Happens.
Is.
You might completely tune what somebody else is saying.
Out.
If they’re in.
The.
Teaching space.
If they’re a.
Teacher entrepreneur.
Or if.
They’re in the business space or they’re in the music.
Space or whatever it might be, you’re doing.
Yourself a massive.
Disservice because.
Some of.
The best ideas.
That we can get.
Is.
From people who are in.
Completely.
Different niches, completely different. Oftentimes what’s happening over in that niche isn’t happening in your. Niche, so it’s the people.
Who are open to those.
Ideas that.
Win the most in these types of experiences. It’s something I.
Always tell accelerators.
When they first joined the programs, like.
Be.
Open to hearing ideas from other.
Niches.
Because again, those are some of.
The best ideas. That was an.
Observation, just watching.
People. But it’s.
Also something that we.
Always talk about. After that we finished.
That, we went to dinner. I took them.
To.
A really nice restaurant.
That was literally like a.
Half mile walk down the.
Water. It’s a sight like a pathway.
Along the water and.
To.
A really nice restaurant that over there was right in the water. Overlooked.
Downtown San.
Diego. And we had two tables out on a private patio. And it was just it was. So much fun. And again.
Goes back to the how well the group gets along, how well they gel. Together. Again, very intentional. Those are and you’ve. Heard this before, right? Like when you go.
To an event or something like that, some of the.
Best.
What you get the most out.
Of is these.
Side conversations that are happening in the.
Hall or.
At lunch or breakfast.
Or or.
Dinner. And that was no that was no different.
And I had a blast. It was just.
So much fun. Everybody loved.
It. One of the big takeaways for me. One of the big ahas was.
When one of the members asked me.
About Are you.
Still donating.
To such and such charity? And I was like, Oh, yeah, we for.
Every one of you who join Accelerator.
We make.
We make a donation.
To a charity like the Trevor Project or.
Feeding.
America or to write.
Love and or Arms. And they.
Were like, Oh, that’s.
Awesome. Like, that’s amazing. I didn’t know that.
And I said, Yeah, we’ve actually been doing it for two years now. And this person said, If I knew that. And it’s funny because this person didn’t even when when.
They.
Showed interest in accelerated, they.
Applied like.
They were like, I’m in. Just show me where to sign up. But this person said. I would.
Have signed up even quicker if I knew that. And so a.
Big.
Aha and takeaway for me.
Is that because I don’t really talk about.
Hey, we’re donating to.
This charity, you know, I just feel like it’s, you know, kind of. Posturing.
But yet people want like, people want to hear this.
And again, we’ve been doing it.
For two years.
Every every new person who comes into.
Accelerator.
We we make a donation on their.
Behalf to.
One of the charities that I just mentioned. And we have like five. And so.
I told them, I said, you know, one thing we’re changing. Is that.
We are now going to.
Allow.
People, when people join Accelerator.
To to pick the charity.
And they will make a donation on their.
Behalf to whatever that charity is.
And so the next morning, before we kind of got going, we have a new. Accelerator page.
Coming out.
Very.
Soon. If it’s not up right now. And at the bottom we.
Actually put on that page of.
We said something like spreading the love. And then we talked.
About what we do with.
Donations and so forth. We put some of the logos.
Of some of the charities there. So anyway, I just shared this because it’s an AHA. For.
Me to like not be afraid to share the fact that there is a charitable, charitable part of accelerator. When people join. So that was a big aha for me, like not.
Be afraid, don’t be afraid to like I’m not posturing or anything like that. This is, this is part of our values. Very much part of our values. And scream it from screaming from the rooftops. All right. So that was day. That was.
Day one.
That was.
All day one and day.
Two.
We had even more amazing speakers.
The first speaker that we had was.
Neil Williams.
Who.
Has been on the.
Podcast here a lot.
She’s one of our coaches and accelerator. She’s a.
Master life coach and she specializes.
In business mindset and.
Productivity. And she talked.
About becoming an extraordinary.
Ceo through self trust, discipline.
And accountability and.
This is really like Neil and I have talked a lot about this because. Not too long ago.
I’ll say like I used to.
Run whenever I had an idea or I was thinking about doing something. I would.
Run.
That idea past like five different people.
And.
Before actually.
Taking any kind of action, because I didn’t trust myself, I needed to get their opinion. And that was a huge mistake because if all five people had.
Different things to say and it messed me up even more, right? Because I’d listen to. Five different people.
And each person had something different. I’m like.
Oh, wait, where do I go from here? And it was.
All because I didn’t trust myself.
And I see this a lot.
And Neil.
Took the group through different exercises to help build that self trust, that discipline.
And accountability.
With yourself. And a lot of the.
Coaching that.
I do.
In accelerator.
Is is.
Being a is being a sounding board, if you will, and listening. As the person is talking, talking out something. And so.
Often.
They work out, they.
Work things out themselves as they’re talking, and then they’ll.
Say, Oh.
All right, I know what I’m going to do now. I guess I just wanted permission to move forward. And my friend, you don’t. Need anybody’s.
Permission.
So if you are if you do what I used to do.
And if.
You do what a lot of what I see.
Our members.
Do, where they have an idea.
And then they look to other people to kind of like, What do you think about this? What do you think about this? My friend. Just trust yourself.
You know what you’re doing. And and.
Move forward. Right.
Because if it doesn’t work, you learn something and then you keep moving forward from that. You learn like. You do an.
Assessment what worked, what didn’t work? Why didn’t it.
Work? Why did it work really well?
And you keep moving forward.
And this is really where the self.
Trust and discipline. It comes in. So after another break.
Then it was Pat.
Flynn. How to incorporate Community into your business model.
And I got to say.
Pat’s presentation absolutely blew their mind.
Because he gave.
A behind the scenes.
Of how.
He runs his communities in his business. And as.
Pat was talking and I.
Actually spent a lot of time.
It was funny because I the whole idea was for Pat to.
Start talking. And then for me, for he and I to have a conversation at the front where I was asking him some questions. Well, I sit at.
The front and it never.
Got to that point because Pat was just.
Off and running and everybody was asking questions. And it was just amazing. As I watch people.
Listen to.
Pat, everybody was glued to everything.
That he was saying and showing on the screen because he was showing inside his communities. And so forth. Pat has very low.
Churn rates in his.
Memberships, and that is all because of the.
Focus and attention that he and his team put into.
Their.
Members in their member experience. So for me, I had two.
Big takeaways.
From Pat’s presentation. Number one, I mean, this is actually not one of the two. Pat’s a brilliant speaker presenter.
He’s very engaging.
And I.
Always learn from amazing.
Speakers because I.
Always feel like I can always be.
A better speaker, too. So the two big takeaways outside of that is number one. Pat and his team do a.
Great job of.
Leveraging the team.
So using the.
Team to ensure.
A top quality.
Best in class experience for their members from the time somebody becomes a member. How he uses the.
Team and the team is.
Deployed, if you will.
At different areas of the membership.
Was a huge.
Takeaway and I learned a lot from that. I mean, always.
You know, Pat and I fish, we go bass fishing all.
The time and I’m always.
We’re always talking about stuff. So but that was a big takeaway during that. The other one was circle.
You’ve likely heard of Circle Circle that.
So it’s a community platform.
We are going to be.
Funny because I’m going to make an announcement. I don’t know if you. Know, I honestly, as of.
Right now as I’m recording.
This, I.
Haven’t announced.
This to our accelerators, but.
I will announce it.
Before this.
Episode comes out. We’re going to be moving the.
Accelerator.
Community, the.
Group out of Facebook.
Into.
Circle.
And I think this is going to open up. This is something I’ve been wanting.
To do for a while because Facebook’s great, right?
Because it’s.
Everybody’s.
There and it’s.
Very easy to access and all this other stuff.
But again.
I hate.
Building a community.
I hate.
Building something on rented.
Space. Right. Facebook decides.
Like, oh, I don’t you know, I want to change.
That. There goes the whole community.
You know what I mean? That’s that’s a huge thing. The other thing is like the organization is. Is, I think, very challenging. And so we’re going to do it upright, we’re going to change it. And I have mentioned.
To a couple of people that.
I’ve been on calls with and they’re like, Oh, thank you for doing that. It’s so awesome.
So anyway.
We’re moving a circle. I’m very.
Impressed with circle, but it does.
Come down.
To how. Simply you set up.
The members area because I’m in, I have another course. It’s a YouTube course that they use circle in.
Oh my gosh. I go in there and like my.
Eyes glaze over because there’s so much stuff and it is so. Difficult to navigate.
So that’s a big lesson there.
But anyway.
Those.
Are my lessons from Pat’s presentation. All right. We’re in the home stretch. Here after lunch day two.
My good friend.
Jude. Charles talked.
He came in from.
Florida to speak.
I brought him in and he talked about changing the story that’s in your head. How to lead with dramatic clarity. And it was a.
Presentation, but also very much a.
Workshop that he took everybody through.
And if the name Jude Charles sounds familiar.
By the way, that’s.
Because he’s been on the podcast.
Here twice, episodes 602.
And.
And I also have another episode coming up with Jude about burnout. Which is.
A great conversation.
And my big aha while.
Watching.
Jude is just.
Watching how he presents. I mean, he is a.
Master storyteller, by the way. Storytelling was what we talked. About on episode 602 and 603.
And he just.
Sucks you into.
What’s what he’s.
Presenting.
And it’s so good. You just like.
Again, I was looking around the room and just watching. People.
Listen to his.
Stories and how the stories relate to what he’s teaching, which is a huge. Lesson there. And I can always.
Improve.
My presentations and tell.
Better stories.
And Jude is awesome and I always learn a lot from him. So that’s kind of my big. Takeaway.
From that. And also.
He just delivers.
An amazing.
Workshop.
We then finished off the.
Retreat with two exercises. And this is.
Really this is going to be a.
Huge aha. Hopefully for you.
And the.
Two exercises.
Number one is.
What is.
One thing.
I asked the group, what is.
One thing that’s working for each one of you right now in your business? Does it matter what it was? Marketing, sales.
Team operations, whatever. And then the other one was.
Is we finished off with, okay, what’s.
One thing they’re going to implement in the following week based on your experience at the. Retreat?
Because I think that’s really important. If you are doing any kind of live event, I think it’s really important to do. That exercise right there. As far as.
What they’re going to implement at the end, because, you know.
We do these.
Live events and so forth as an attendee and we’ve taken 17 pages of notes right near our head is spinning and we’re all. Energized.
And then.
We get back to.
Home or wherever.
It is that we work, we open up our laptop.
And it’s.
Like.
Where do I even start?
You know, you like Freeze because you have.
Ideas and takeaways.
From the.
Event.
And so.
I like to have people.
Focus on one thing. What is one action.
That.
You’re going to take? That’s what I asked them. What’s one action you’re going to take next week? What are you going to implement? And so I’m going.
To share a couple.
Of the things.
From what people.
Said here in just a second. But I want to go back.
To.
When I asked them, what is one thing that’s working for you. Right now.
In your business? And again, it can be.
Anything. Here’s the big aha. Here’s the big lesson. Here’s the big takeaway. Again, this isn’t.
New because I’m I talk about this a lot.
Here in the.
Podcast. It was just further proof of.
What I’m always trying to share with you.
And that is of.
All 25 responses from people about what’s working right now in their business. The observation.
With this.
Exercise is.
That not one of them shared some.
Secret.
Advanced cutting.
Edge funnel or strategy or tactic. My friend.
Every single thing that.
That that everybody shared.
Centered on tried and.
True.
Foundational business.
Strategy. That’s what was tried and true basic stuff. It’s been around forever.
For example, if somebody was selling a high ticket coaching program.
They would see a.
Huge spike in sales when they had direct conversations.
With people over.
Dm or getting on Zoom with them. This is simply a human connection and taking the time to answer. People’s.
Individual questions to see if your program is a good fit for them. And we’ve been doing this. Forever for years.
And years and years. And I’m not making.
Light of this example here.
I’m just pointing.
Out that this.
Is not.
Cutting edge. Everybody’s always looking for.
The most cutting.
Edge thing. Right. And just a real quick story. I recently heard that there were a few people who were interested, who. Were not interested.
Who.
Discounted.
Accelerator.
Because I wasn’t.
Currently selling a course.
Or selling a membership. Right that I’m only doing this one offer.
And I feel like I just when I heard that, I was like.
I just found that to be.
So funny.
You have to remember my friend, like, and again, I’m always talking about this.
What worked.
In.
It’s the basic foundational things. That allow you to have a successful business.
It’s connection with your audience.
It’s listening to your audience.
It’s a messaging based on how well you know your audience.
It’s reverse.
Engineering, an amazing experience that one of your members is having.
Why is that happening? How did they join? How did they figure out? How do they find out about your your business? How do they find your podcast? How do they find your YouTube channel? How long were they on your email list? None of that’s cutting edge. That’s just basic, basic stuff, right? It’s about simplicity. It’s leverage. These are. All things. And I think it’s.
Incredibly.
And I’m going to do an episode.
Here, by.
The way, coming up in a couple.
Of weeks about what to look for.
In.
A coach. And I’ve this.
Is going to sound.
Super like I hate talking like.
I’ve sold millions of.
Dollars worth of courses.
I’ve had two memberships.
Over the years.
Group coaching programs, mastermind, you name it. I do revenue share partnership deals right now in the business. And again, I feel.
Like someone’s saying, Oh, they’re not currently selling a.
Course so.
I can’t learn from them or I don’t want to learn from them because they’re not.
On what’s the latest thing.
I just think the lesson for you here, my friend, is.
Like as as somebody said, what’s.
Old is new. One of the members said that. One of the.
Accelerator said What’s old.
Is new. I’ve written You don’t need shiny objects and some fancy complexity, some super advanced, complex funnel to help a ton of people in your business and have an amazing business.
That’s very successful.
Depending on whatever success means.
To you. Right.
You know, another example, if someone was seeing a big reduction in churn in their membership.
They were like.
Yeah, we’ve improved our onboarding experience. Nothing cutting edge about that, my friends. It’s about.
Focusing on creating the.
Best.
Experience.
Possible.
For new customers.
Are there different ways to do that? Of course. But it’s not like.
Something nobody’s ever done.
Before. Right. If somebody was.
Seeing improved performance from their.
Team.
And it was.
Because.
They were taking the time to give context.
To.
Team members and ownership.
To different.
To different team members. Right here, again, nothing new. Sometimes we just need coaching on how. To be a better leader.
And.
A CEO.
And again.
Everything.
That people mentioned that they’re doing is through the lens.
Of their values. That’s how we.
Roll an.
Accelerator.
So again, I just want to.
Reiterate to you what’s old is.
New, my friend. You don’t need some.
Fancy.
You know, fancy funnel.
Or.
Some complex thing or chasing shiny objects to in order to.
Be uber successful.
In your business.
And so that’s a big takeaway that.
It’s not new. I don’t mean that. It’s not.
New. Right.
And so.
Hopefully that helps from the perspective of maybe takes the pressure off that you have to. Have some fancy complex thing or you have to be funnel stacking and or.
Whatever, all this stuff, you know. Sure. You could be doing that stuff. Of course it all works. It all works. That’s the. Thing. But it comes down to.
The basics.
Connecting, understanding your target audience. How can you serve them best?
It’s about simplicity.
It’s about connection, it’s about messaging.
It’s about leverage.
It’s about having a marketing system, a sales system, a fulfillment system, operations system. In your business, which I talk about here in the podcast a lot, and what can.
Help you save.
Time. Shameless plug.
Here.
What can help you save time, money and energy, right? In growing and scaling your.
Business more quickly is.
Having a.
Coach.
Who has been there.
Whether they’re doing it currently.
Right now.
That specific.
Thing that you’re doing right now or has done it in the.
Past.
Who could be a sounding.
Board for you.
Who can steer you around the pitfalls.
And also to surround yourself with.
Other inspiring and amazingly helpful online businesses, business owners who.
Are also up.
To big things in their business. And that’s.
What we do.
In.
Accelerator. So I want to finish.
And if again, I’ll just Rick already dot com forward.
Slash accelerator.
If you want to learn more about that program and apply. And I want to finish off with. When I ask.
Them what’s one thing they’re going to implement in the following week based on their experience at the. Retreat?
And they all shared their thing. I had so many people sharing.
That they’d already.
Taken action about.
What like conversations that they had.
Or from their from their hot seat in the small.
Group breakouts or what have you.
Like one person I talked about and I would talk about this more on a.
Podcast.
Episode coming.
Up here.
But, you know, one person said, Yeah.
I already booked a I already reached out to this podcast.
And asked them if I could be a sponsor.
Of their show for a couple of.
Episodes. And they were like.
I already booked it. I already paid. It’s happening like next week.
And.
Like, I love it.
It’s action taking, right? Another person posted.
Like this was after the retreat. They posted. I booked a flight. For the holidays to go overseas. They switch their podcast hosting provider. And I also talked a lot.
About talking about.
Leverage.
Dynamic ad insertion, meaning I can dynamically.
Add.
An add and add put an ad in.
To.
At the beginning of a podcast or at the end of a.
Podcast, and I.
Can put it on all of my entire.
Back catalog of of episodes.
And I can do.
It for three episodes. I can do it for every.
Episode so I can change them out.
There are some podcast platforms that. Allow you to do this, but it’s really expensive. And there’s others like Buzz Sprout. For example, and I’m not an adviser or anything like that.
I just started.
Using them and it’s super.
Cheap and they’re great.
They’re really simple. And so anyway, this person was like.
Yeah, I switched over today.
Doing that ended, ended, you know.
Previous relationships started new relationships with service.
Providers and, you know, and they said, I’m truly I’m working on.
Truly.
Identifying what I want to do for the next five years first versus taking all the opportunities that that do come my way. Another person. Was talking about the clarity that.
They now.
Have. They talked about.
You know, one thing is like, oh, I have complete clarity now on a revenue model where I’m going to add a back end. Membership to.
My course. Another person said, I’m so excited about growing my business.
With all these.
Ideas and renewed boldness that I’ve gained the.
Last few days. So all of these.
Things.
It’s about moving forward.
And doing it in.
Such a way.
Remember, number one.
Through your through your values. Right? And remembering it’s about the basics.
It’s not about some fancy, you know, do the fancy things work?
Sure. Yeah. It all works, my friend.
So why not simplify it and get down to basics and just have an amazing business in the process?
So I hope this was helpful for you.
I kind of wanted.
To do it sort.
Of documentary style, if you will, and kind of take.
You through.
That event.
I will say the biggest regret that I have.
Personally.
Of the entire two days was.
Not staying around.
For.
Friday night dinner. So we ended the retreat.
At like 5:00.
And.
A lot of the.
People were staying, you know, until the next day or through the weekend. So most of the group got.
Together for an impromptu dinner.
At the hotel.
And from what I heard, it continued.
Like just the.
Energy and people sharing and breaking out and talking strategy and. Like, oh, like I, I do wish I was there for that.
However, I want to get home and.
See.
My my daughter and my wife.
Of course.
Amy, I want to get home and see Mya.
I was away for.
Two and a half days essentially because I came down early on Wednesday. I stayed down at.
The hotel.
And then I was leaving the next day to go to New Hampshire.
For a couple more days.
So I wasn’t going to see I haven’t been seeing her, so I wanted to get home and spend some time with her before she went to sleep that night. And but next time, I will not not plan a.
Trip, hopefully right after.
The retreat. And I’m definitely going to stick around that night.
Because it’s just.
Let’s continue the amazingness that’s happening with.
That. So that’s a big.
Takeaway for me and.
Also for you as well.
If you’re doing any kind of live event in your business.
Take advantage of those.
Opportunities.
Where sort.
Of the impromptu meetups.
If you will.
Encourage those and take part in it.
So hopefully this was helpful for you to hear it kind.
Of behind the scenes.
Of our retreat is amazing and I had huge takeaways.
I learned a lot. I always learn a lot and our next one’s coming up in April. So again, if you’re interested in being a part. Of this, if.
You’re being a.
Part of accelerator.
This is not some false.
Scarcity.
Literally, when I am releasing this.
Episode.
At the time recording.
This, I have five spots that are.
Open. And so if you’re interested in chatting with me about it, just shoot me an email. You can go to. The accelerator.
Page if you want, or you can just shoot me an email. Rick at Rick Mule Radio.com. That is my personal email. Shoot me an email and let’s chat.
See if your.
Cv might be a good fit and see if I’m.
A good fit for you and we’re a good fit for you.
Thanks so much for listening, my friend. I appreciate you. And until next time, be well.
Talk to you soon.
