16 - From High School Teacher to $16 Million in Online Sales w/ Mike Auton

Welcome back to the Instant Impact podcast with your host, Elyse Archer. Today’s guest is Mike Auton. Mike left his teaching job 11 years ago and now runs an online marketing business—he’s made over $16 million dollars doing so. He uses a seemingly counterintuitive strategy to gain strategic partnerships and to build his brand by adding value for those around him. Like a flip of a switch, Mike decided it was time for him to get rich. His first thought, the internet and social media, despite knowing next to nothing about it. His first Google search was ‘how to make money online.’ This lead him to direct linking from Google to Amazon for every product under the sun. But before he could get rich, he needed to build a brand that would help him get there. He shares with Elyse his mindset—do what feels right. Often times, we are told to always put in a call to action in our content—Mike isn’t so sure about that. Mike explains that he knows his audience—high value partners that don’t need that call to action or a button to link them to get in touch. He shares that his philosophy is to attract these partners to him instead of seeking them out. He mentions that while a call to action in the copy of the content you’re putting out is totally fine, but his aim is to help people first. So, what about his content? Elyse and Mike talk about his unorthodox technique when it comes to content creation. Mike sells without selling. He says that if you want to build a long-term, healthy business, you need to be the content creator, not the advertiser. He says he focuses on putting out genuine, authentic content that’s primary goal is to help those around him. He tells Elyse that the production quality of the content comes secondary to the message. No one opens their social media feeds to see a Vogue advertisement. Instead of being interesting, he says, be helpful. There is a lot of pressure we put on ourselves when we try to be interesting. However, if we’re being helpful, if one person gets something valuable out of the content, you’ve achieved that goal. Finally, he adds to add value without expectation. It’s important to remember that this is a slow process, and take patience once the practicality is sorted. With practicality in mind, Mike chats with Elyse about ways to keep your head above water while being patient. He suggests the 80/20 concept, where 20% of your content includes a call to action. He also mentions that it’s okay to have an outside job to pay the bills while you build your brand. His strategy was to regulate money. If he had $2,000, half goes to his life and the other to his advertisements. What you’ll learn in this podcast In today’s episode, you’ll learn some unorthodox ways to build a brand and establish strategic partnerships. Mike shares with us his mentality and technique when it comes to creating content in a meaningful, genuine way that connects with your audience and creates value through authenticity. He also gives some practical tips on how to balance patience and growth. Links Mike’s Website: https://mikeauton.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MikeAutonMarketing Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikeauton/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/autonmike LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-auton/
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