SPI 93: How to Make Next Year the Best Year Ever! Goal Setting, Resistance, and Priorities with Michael Hyatt

#521 It's one thing to create an online course. But it's a whole other thing to figure out how to get people interested in it. How do you get people to find your course? How do you launch it? Do you do a fireworks launch, or a fireplace launch? What do those two terms even mean? Well, we're going to talk about all of that and more today with one of my favorite people in the world: Jess Catorc. Jess was actually on the podcast before, over five and a half years ago, in session 229. Back then, she was a blogger, writer, and brand strategist who helped people with their websites. Now she's become one of the top people over at Teachable, where she co-leads creator launch initiatives. She was head of partnerships for a while, and she's one of the smartest people I know. Jess and I talk about all things online courses, like how the landscape has changed in the past five years, how to launch a course successfully today, how to know if your course content is actually working, and why community is such an important element of the online course experience. We have so many tips, strategies, and resources to share with you in this episode, including a very special project called the Creators Guild. I'm so excited to share this conversation with Jess, because she's just amazing. So, sit back, buckle up, and enjoy. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session521.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

3 Nov 202138min

#520 This past Wednesday I interviewed Mike Pacchione, who is an amazing speaker and coach. Mike once worked with Nancy Duarte, whose organization helped people like Steve Jobs create presentations. And we all know how wonderful Steve Jobs's presentations were. And so Mike is super high caliber when it comes to helping people with their speaking. He even helped me with some of my first presentations back in 2012 and 2013, and he's completely influenced my entire speaking career. Mike and I had a great chat earlier this week about storytelling, so make sure to check out that episode if you haven't already. Because storytelling is absolutely key. It's one of the most valuable skills you can learn as a content creator. Great content, one that relates to people, one that people resonate with, one that people share, always has some sort of story at its core. That's why today I want to tell you a story. A few stories, in fact. Stories about the power of storytelling. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session520.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

29 Okt 202115min

#519 When I think back on my 13-year entrepreneurial career, I think about some of the skills I've learned to get here, and one of the most important skills is storytelling. But storytelling is not something I've always been good at. In fact, at one point I wasn't great at it at all. But it's a skill that can be learned. When I started sharing lots of content, I realized I needed to learn how to better engage people through stories, to keep them on the page, or screen, or on a podcast like this one. Then, when I started speaking live, I really started to hone my storytelling skills. And there's no other person I can thank more for this than Mike Pacchione, who was my speaking coach back in 2012. I started speaking in 2011, got really hooked on it, and like everything I do, I went and found an expert to help me get better faster and minimize the mistakes. We're going to tell lots of stories today, and break down how stories should be told. Because story is, like I said, what engages an audience. It's what brings emotion to the points you're making. It is what helps transport a person from, "Hmm, I wonder if this is something I should keep paying attention to?" To, "Whoa, what happens next?" This is what brings connection, and storytelling is the key to connection. That's what we're going to talk about today with my former speaking coach, Mike Pacchione. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session519.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

27 Okt 202149min

#518 “Audience driven.” It's a term that has become a part of our vocabulary here at Team SPI, and it's why we put on the Audience Driven Summit earlier this month. An audience-driven approach is the way we've always believed a business should be built, and it's the stance we're doubling down on today. It's how we believe all businesses should be created. And if you joined us in this Wednesday's episode, you heard how Arvid Kahl built his own business in the exact same way, where you spent some time to build an audience first, and then you understand, well, what does that audience need help with? What are the biggest struggles that they might be having? And then you figure out, well, how can I get a few of these people some results? What works best for them? When you take this approach, you're not going to know all the answers. But you'll find them out as you go along. It takes out the guesswork, because your path toward a sustainable business is driven by your audience. Now, this is a very opposite approach to how many people think about creating a business. But it's how we need to be thinking about building businesses today. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session518.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

22 Okt 202110min

#517 Many of the guests on this show are people I know personally. Today's guest, however, comes to me by way of crowdsourcing. Arvid Kahl is someone who was recommended by several of the members of Team SPI, and I couldn't be happier that they did. Arvid is one of the most fascinating people I've met in a long time. He's a software engineer and entrepreneur who's been building businesses the right way. What do I mean by that? Well, everything that I've talked about in terms of finding an audience you can serve and figuring out what they need? Arvid is doing it about as well as anybody out there, and he's going to tell us all about it today. This is going to be a really great episode because we're going to be going, almost from start to finish, from building an audience, to learning about that audience, and building something for that audience. You're going to learn a number of powerful principles and strategies that'll help you get started building a following, a community, and a business today. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session517.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

20 Okt 202158min

#516 We're going to talk some numbers today—and we're also going to go beyond the numbers. Here's one number: This podcast has gotten 65 million downloads and counting, which is awesome. And it's important to share numbers like that, because they represent social proof that the podcast is worth paying attention to. But there's something much more important than a number like 65 million: the people at the other end of it. On Wednesday, I spoke with Dustin Bakkie about accessibility and universal design. We talked about how creators and entrepreneurs can make our content more accessible to those who may be hearing or sight impaired, or have another disability. Everyone should have an equal ability to access the things we're creating. So, go ahead and listen to episode 515, if you haven't already. It's a great one, on a topic that's so important. That episode also got me thinking about numbers—big numbers like 65 million, and small numbers like ten. And how getting fixated on the numbers can cause us to make bad decisions, like not making our content accessible to everybody just because "enough" people can still access it. Most people who visit our websites and social channels are not going to need additional help to see or hear our content. So, does that mean we should ignore everybody else? No. If that were the case, then you wouldn't see handicap ramps or parking spaces anywhere. That's really what this is all about to me, serving the people in your audience, no matter who they are, no matter where they're from, no matter what challenges they might have. And that's why I still, every single month, love having direct conversations with people in my audience. That's where that number ten comes in, and it's what I want to talk about in today's follow-up Friday episode. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session516.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

15 Okt 202114min

#515 One of my favorite things that happens as a result of this podcast is when a listener or fan says, "You know what, Pat? I noticed that you haven't really talked about [topic] much, but it's so, so important. Is there anything you can do about it?" We get a lot of feedback like that, and we appreciate it. We're always trying to improve, and how would we know how to improve if it weren't for the people in our community who speak up? Today, I wanted to highlight one of those community members. His name is Dustin Bakkie. Dustin started his online journey focused on effective teaching and course design. He's helped a lot of teachers, especially through his YouTube channel (DustinBakkie1). He has a lot of really popular videos that have helped teachers, especially during COVID with how to effectively use Zoom, and how to create really good curriculums online, something that obviously bleeds over into entrepreneurship. But Dustin recently had an epiphany that he could serve his audience even better by helping creators like us create accessible online content. What does that mean? It refers to the ability of all people, regardless of ability or disability, to access what we create. Dustin is really focused on helping foster and normalize inclusive digital communities. I love that, and I'm so glad he's here today to talk about what that means and how you can start to implement it in your own business. I think a lot of us creators know how important accessibility should be, but we're worried that it's really complicated. Well, Dustin is here to break things down and show us that it's not as complicated as we might think. So sit back and listen in, because we're going to be learning something very important today that you may not have heard anywhere else. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session515.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

13 Okt 202136min

#514 I started my speaking career in 2011 at FinCon, the financial blogger conference. I got called onto the main stage at the last minute because the keynote speaker was unable to make it. I was kind of thrown into the deep end, and although I was nervous and scared, it was a life-changing moment. Flash-forward to 2018, when I decided to host my own conference. I pitched the idea to Team SPI, and we decided that in the summer of 2019 we'd put on an event in San Diego for 500 people who wanted to come. The very first FlynnCon was an amazing experience, a family-friendly event where entrepreneurs could come together and learn and connect (and even play some Mario Kart). Then of course in 2020, everything changed. We'd hoped to run back FlynnCon for a second year, but the pandemic had something to say about that. So we delayed it by a year. But soon we realized that hosting an in-person event in 2021 wasn't going to happen either. Long story short, FlynnCon was an incredible experience that may or may not happen again. But in the meantime, we're still moving forward on creating highly valuable experiences for entrepreneurs to come together and learn—like this month's Audience Driven Summit. Today, I'll share all the details about how FlynnCon came to be, how we tried to plan its sequel through the pandemic, and what you can look forward to in our upcoming summit. It may not be FlynnCon, but it'll still be a blast (and it's free!). Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session514.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

8 Okt 202113min