Ever wondered how a college dropout morphed into a marketing virtuoso with webinar wizardry at his fingertips? Andy Odette's tale is a testament to the fact that the road less traveled can indeed lead to remarkable destinations. Join us as we pick the brain of this marketing maven, whose groundbreaking strategies have given small businesses a new lease on life. Our conversation traverses Andy's audacious leap from academia to entrepreneurship, his hard-earned insights into the myth of overnight success, and the relentless hustle required to make a mark in the business landscape.
The entrepreneurial odyssey doesn't stop there; we share the powerful narratives of individuals who've climbed out of the trenches to achieve their business dreams. Picture this: a young ambitious T-Mobile store manager evolving into a cell phone store magnate and motivational speaker, using setbacks as stepping stones. Then, we track the transformative arc of a speaker who leverages his spiritual renewal and storytelling to carve out a niche in the competitive world of sales. These stories aren't just chronicles of success; they're blueprints for resilience, mentorship, and the relentless pursuit of growth.
Lastly, we peel back the curtain on the tactical plays that can catapult a business from obscurity to prominence. Discover how a strategic grasp of product-market fit and a niche-focused approach can fuel your business engine. We also unveil the game-changing potential of automated messaging systems, a tool that can revolutionize customer engagement and skyrocket your sales. And for those who are willing to face their fears head-on, we share wisdom on how massive action can not only transform your business but also create a ripple effect that uplifts those around you. So buckle up for an episode filled with entrepreneurial gold, and get ready to charge at your business dreams with renewed vigor!
Join the What if it Did Work movement on Facebook
Get the Book!
www.omarmedrano.com
www.calendly.com/omarmedrano/15min
Ever wondered how a college dropout morphed into a marketing virtuoso with webinar wizardry at his fingertips? Andy Odette's tale is a testament to the fact that the road less traveled can indeed lead to remarkable destinations. Join us as we pick the brain of this marketing maven, whose groundbreaking strategies have given small businesses a new lease on life. Our conversation traverses Andy's audacious leap from academia to entrepreneurship, his hard-earned insights into the myth of overnight success, and the relentless hustle required to make a mark in the business landscape.
The entrepreneurial odyssey doesn't stop there; we share the powerful narratives of individuals who've climbed out of the trenches to achieve their business dreams. Picture this: a young ambitious T-Mobile store manager evolving into a cell phone store magnate and motivational speaker, using setbacks as stepping stones. Then, we track the transformative arc of a speaker who leverages his spiritual renewal and storytelling to carve out a niche in the competitive world of sales. These stories aren't just chronicles of success; they're blueprints for resilience, mentorship, and the relentless pursuit of growth.
Lastly, we peel back the curtain on the tactical plays that can catapult a business from obscurity to prominence. Discover how a strategic grasp of product-market fit and a niche-focused approach can fuel your business engine. We also unveil the game-changing potential of automated messaging systems, a tool that can revolutionize customer engagement and skyrocket your sales. And for those who are willing to face their fears head-on, we share wisdom on how massive action can not only transform your business but also create a ripple effect that uplifts those around you. So buckle up for an episode filled with entrepreneurial gold, and get ready to charge at your business dreams with renewed vigor!
Join the What if it Did Work movement on Facebook
Get the Book!
www.omarmedrano.com
www.calendly.com/omarmedrano/15min
I never told no one that my whole life I've been holding back. Every time I load my gun up so I can shoot for the star, I hear a voice like who do you?
Speaker 2:think you are All right. Another day, another dollar. Another one of my favorite episodes. Yes, I'm biased, it's my own podcast. I've got with me a man. The myth alleged this guy His publicist. He's got so many he had to ask me which one. He said I had to have you on this show. Andy Odette is a renowned small business marketing expert and the founder of Progrera. With a probe who approving track record, he specializes in assisting small businesses and effectively marketing their high ticket services through webinars that have attracted over 9500 entrepreneurs. And these Sass is that? How do you pronounce it, dude? Yes, that's software as a service. Yeah, you see, I do that, just mastered the word processor. I'm an old fossil brother has achieved seven figure run rate and his guidance has empowered thousands of small businesses To create marketing campaigns have collectively generated 20 million in revenue. How's it going, bro?
Speaker 3:I'm well, my friend, I'm glad to be on here with you, omar.
Speaker 2:So, dude, this is something that's always been. I've always, even on a personal and a business level. Congratulations, man, because you dropped out of college, dude yeah, you had. Your parents probably wanted to beat your ass, right.
Speaker 3:Oh hell, yeah, man, yeah, for a good six years they were still like are you gonna go back? Are you gonna? But but at this point they recognize that that's not, that's not part of my journey. I mean, I might go back to college, but but I at in 2014, I dropped out of college. Man, so that's a little over 10 years ago.
Speaker 2:My mom always had like this she. She always told me I would be like homeless Living under a bridge if I didn't get that college degree, or she'd be like she. She doesn't listen, so don't worry, omar. You don't like manual labor, so I would recommend you get in a college degree. Now she's, she's got a college degree. The mom, my mom even snookered me, scammed me into getting a master's degree. Which, dude, you don't need either one. So congratulations for having the courage and the belief in yourself, man.
Speaker 3:So well, I acknowledge you for what you're creating, brother, because I mean to do it, to do with a college degree. I think that you have to break through a lot of mental challenges. So I hear not that I know from experience that, but a lot of people tell me. So I hear, and look what you've created so far, man, with or without a brother, you are creating such a tremendous amount of success.
Speaker 2:So were you always like real tech savvy? Because, man, I I keep on wanting to do a webinar, but it's like reading algebra, which I'm horrible at math that. So that's why I had to say algebra.
Speaker 3:So I've done over 300 webinars and I remember my first one, man. I got zero sales on my first one and when I think about the technology it freaks me out. But if you're committed, man, I, like I've been committed. If you're committed, I think you're gonna create whatever you want to create.
Speaker 2:But it's just it's. It's all about the hustle man, yeah, about the grind. That's why. That's why I loved reading about your bio. It's none of that crap that, hey man, just hire us what we'll do? A funnel and before you know it, you're gonna have 10 commas. Yeah, you're gonna be flying on Grand Pardons jet, you're gonna be living the high life. No, where does that say that in any of your notes?
Speaker 3:No, and I'm not.
Speaker 3:I'm not trying to claim that, for claim that, hey, by working with me and I and I think that actually I just had a thought a couple days ago when some people who promote that way, where they're like, hey, if you buy my course, you're gonna lie in a private jet in six months. Actually, the Federal Trade Commission is cracking down a lot on those and and I remember I had a spiritual moment when God was like, hey, man, there are people who are bigger than you, but they gonna be taken down really soon and it didn't make sense to me. But the Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on people who sell programs like that, that are talking like you're gonna have a private jet If you just buy my course and give me 997 bucks. I never talk about stuff like that. I'm just like hey, I'll give you the systems that has worked for me in my business and I own a marketing agency. I'll give you the systems that work for other people and it's been very lucrative for many well, andy, I'm gonna, you're gonna laugh at this.
Speaker 2:They had me talking that was invited to talk on that young hustlers. It was like not the young hustlers, that Grant Cardone's podcast. This was a seminar. They stole the name young hustlers and it was scamming young people into a. Within two months, three months, you can be a millionaire. And that's never been my story. Whether it's my books, whether it's it's always about yeah, man, it's a hustle, but if you get there, no matter what it is, and when, when, when the found, when the organizer found out friggin Goon ruined me, man, I wasn't allowed to go on stage. Instead, they, they had me Like a Q&A with like an accountant just asking trivial questions for like 10 minutes. I'm like, and I felt disparate it. But then that wasn't my place. That wasn't my place because in my spirit I can't. You know, there's people and then it gives a bad word for the word selling, because we're all selling. But this is what people picture when it comes to sales either timeshare, use, car or a downright scamming people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm not. I'm not really interested in that world where if you're Claiming some type of false claim or false reality, such as, hey, if you give me money for our program, I'm gonna get you into a private jet, or you're gonna be living in a private jet and a lot of people may be attracted to that and they're, they're hoping that actually takes place. But I mean, it just ultimately doesn't work in the long run. And, man, I have a bright future ahead of me. I know a lot of those guys who are doing terrible things like that in the marketplace. But, man, I'm got to be on here with you, man, to creating value for your audience.
Speaker 2:Well, here's my question to you.
Speaker 3:Your story takes place in In Rhode Island, in Providence right, Rhode Island so I was born in Boston but but I was raised in, I was raised in In Rhode Island.
Speaker 3:I was actually raised that the provinces of the capital, and I was raised in the smallest state in the country, which is Rhode Island, and I was raised in a small city in that state, one square mile from the other end. It's called Central Falls, and the whole city is one gas station, one high school, very small city with drug dealers, game bringers, so on and so forth, and and spending time around this violence man. At 19 years old, I became the youngest T-Mobile franchise dealer, where I opened up four locations with T-Mobile and I scaled my business pretty quickly. I exited that business and then I moved to the West Coast and that's when I started my marketing agency, because I recognized that the world was going digital and, you know, generating leads online and doing business online was the way to go for me, so that's where I started in the digital market space in 2016 now, andy, you and I, we didn't.
Speaker 2:We didn't have the best upbringing, like you know, we weren't raised in mansions. I was raised in a blue collar neighborhood. Did you have like friends trying to bring you down and go aunt? Well, bro, come on now, man, start your own business. Hey, that's for other people, that's not for, that's not for guys like us.
Speaker 3:Actually, actually, I had, um, I had started separating myself from people like that around, you know, around 17, 16 years old. I just felt like my life wasn't gonna be with them anyway. However, one of my friends ended up believing in me and I was the one that was pulling myself away. So we were going to the gym one day and I was working for a T-Mobile location, essentially and we were going to the gym was me, my buddy of mine. We both worked at the same location and he said to me and you're so good at what you do in selling cell phones. You know how to greet, you know how to qualify, you know how to present, you know how to close, you know how to manage your store. I was a. I was a T-Mobile store manager and he said why don't you open up your own? There's opportunity franchise. T-mobile just bought a company called Metro PCS as an opportunity to franchise. Why don't you come a franchise? And Sometimes you got to take on someone else's belief before yours kicks in and in that moment, on our way as we're walking into the gym, I have such a tremendous amount of fear of opening up my own location.
Speaker 3:I have to put up all the money. I had to risk losing it all. I had to risk the my reputation of whatever reputation I had as a recently college graduate I mean a college dropout. But I dropped out and I started my cell phone store with his belief man. And then, next thing, you know, within six months, we, we made it happen. We had our first location and then, a couple years after that, I was able to exit out.
Speaker 2:You know you're mature, way beyond your years, brother. You started a business at 19. You're successful. You're married. You're not popping champagne, you're not. You're not running with with the wrong crowd. Yeah, I Don't know whether your parents ever told you this, but, man, they should be very proud of you. You're a great example.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Oh, my man, I've had some great mentors and I think that's one of the keys that creates success for anyone, and it when you look at someone's life, it's the mentorship and the people that surround them. You.
Speaker 2:Andy, so you had that in Providence right, the T-Mobile locations.
Speaker 3:One of my locations was in. I had two locations in Providence. I had one in Coventry and one in South Attabora, massachusetts.
Speaker 2:Well, here's my question to you You're successful. A lot of people, when they hit a little bit of success, they go Hollywood. They're like, ah, I made it. They take the pedal off the gas. They think they're the second coming of Warren Buffett. They think they're all that. What made you? I'm assuming you sold out and said there's more for me, there's more success coming my way.
Speaker 3:No, you're right. I went Hollywood my friend actually because I was living on the East Coast, man and so I exited. I banked In that company, I did a million dollars, I exited that business and I moved to LA and I retired for 18 months. I was 21 years old. I had enough money where I just didn't have to work for 18 months and I thought that I was able to retire and live a life and that was the pinnacle of life. And I'm like, after 18 months, man, I was looking at the bank account.
Speaker 3:I was flying around the country frivolously One day I'm in LA, the next day I'm in Miami, florida, one day I'm in New York. So I'm traveling all over the country, not making any money, just spending money. And then one day my car declines and that's when I hit rock bottom. And then so I realized quickly I need to start creating income. And the way I decided to create income at that time was I started speaking.
Speaker 3:I traveled around the country with the motivational speaker, les Brown. So part of my investment when I had the money was I invested in Les Brown's program, which was to learn how to speak, and I built a relationship with him and his team and then I went around the country filling up the seminars for him. So before he would go into an event we would fill up. I would fill up the seminars and put a couple hundred people in the seminar rooms. So I learned how to speak and get in front of people and present.
Speaker 3:So I wish I would say I was diligent and organized, but for a solid 18 months I went through this journey, hit rock bottom, learned about God in Los Angeles, I left the East Coast, moved to LA and in that time that I was retired I was having fun and when I hit rock bottom, that's when I met God and I learned more about God and learned about my faith and being a Christian and so on and so forth. And God brought me through this path that I'm on now, which is being an entrepreneur, helping other people in their businesses.
Speaker 2:You know what? It took me two years to go through $1 million. So hey, believe it or not, that's actually a gift. Rock bottom adversity Me. I was partying like that and then, with a lot of the money, I became an angel investor, which is, I mean, shit I wish.
Speaker 3:I was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, literally gambling. The other, I got scammed into becoming partners of a company and the guy runs off with my money. And yeah, man, I mean it sucks because you don't think the money will ever end. You also think, well, I'm so wise, I can do this Again, again, yeah, and yeah, you have to have courage, because it takes courage one to go. Yeah, man, that was a stupid move. But it takes even more courage to get up and dust yourself off, because you could have been spending the rest of your life going. Man, you know what? I was flying everywhere, I was popping bottles. Yeah, I got to meet Les Brown, which I've seen. This program, great program, great guy. So here's my question to you you hit rock bottom in LA, the city of angels, man. Yeah, you found God in this city of angels. That's why it's called that, that's right. So when you hit rock bottom, you found God. Was that when you're like, hey, I'm young, I'm smart, I'm wise? What was the next step?
Speaker 3:No, it was. I messed up, what do I do? And I went back down to my roots. And my roots was my mom was go to God, go to God. My mom couldn't get me out of a financial hole, right. So I was like go to God.
Speaker 3:And so I found a church, the closest church near me. So I typed in churches and I found one on Yelp, went to that church and when I went to that church I started hearing this message. Actually, when I walked in, there was a black pastor on the pulpit and he was talking about when he was smoking weed one time and how he was hustling the streets and so on and so forth. And I'm like this is a pastor talking about this. This is crazy man. But I resonated with him because my experience with church was with somebody who is of a different complexion than I am white guy, that is much older, decades upon decades older, from a different era, and he's telling me how to have a relationship with God by reciting this word-for-word poem on a piece of paper and that's how you have a relationship with God. And my response my relationship was a lot different and I couldn't find anyone who could support me with that. But when I walked into this church that one day there's a black guy on the pulpit telling me that he was in the streets. He was in the hood having fun smoking weed with his friends.
Speaker 3:And then his journey. That's what attracted me to learning more about God and I would share with people my experience. And one of the groups that I got part of my church was called Kingdom Builders, which ultimately was helping people build a kingdom-like business, like build a business for God. So during that journey I laid down on my bed and I said God, what do you want me to do with my life? He said I want you to speak. I want you to speak to people. I want you to share a message. I was like what's the message? I want you to share? A message for people to overcome fear and progress daily. That was it.
Speaker 3:I was like all right, whatever that means. I don't know how to make money in that, but I took a leap of faith by going to my pastor the next day and I said let me speak for your audience. And he said this is a crazy thing, but I feel compelled to let you do it because I never do it. So I ended up speaking for his audience. It's actually on YouTube that I recorded and put on YouTube, but I spoke for his audience. And then, next thing, you know, the opportunity with Les Ron came about and I'm traveling around the country speaking, making money and sharing with people and I would go from a location to location where I was working with car dealerships and I was just motivating, I was just sharing different stories and I was selling tickets to come and see Les Ron. But I built a skill set that it lives with me still to this day.
Speaker 2:Do you still have a relationship with Les Ron?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, he'll call me. I'll call him yeah.
Speaker 2:So there again, you could have stayed as a speaker, a motivational, inspirational speaker. You could have stuck with Les Ron. You could have gone all over the country, you could have inspired, you could have stayed safe, but you didn't. You got out, and I'm assuming that's when you moved to Vegas.
Speaker 3:So the Vegas thing. So I was in LA doing that for many years. So I held many seminars, and with less than other speakers. However, in some of the speakers that were coming to my stage now, les Ron is a celebrity different motivational speakers, they're celebrities. So I remember I would be in the car. So when Les Ron would come to a city, I would. I was already in that city. So, for example, let's say it's New York and when he gets in New York, I was already in the city for four to six weeks ahead of time filling up the seminar to get people in there. And then when Les will come in, I would go to the airport, pick him up, bring him to the hotel that we're staying at, bring him up to his room. Think of that. That was our journey many times in whatever city that we were in. So I learned a lot from him and I noticed that him as a speaker there was a tremendous amount of value that he was given to the world and he would get paid a lot of money $70,000. I remember this. One time there was a contract for $70,000 just for an hour speaking engagement.
Speaker 3:Now Les Ron is the main speaker, but I would also see other speakers who are speaking at these seminars and I would be behind the scenes asking them questions about their business and like, hey, how do you make money? Like I know that Les Ron, for example, is making $70,000, but how do you make money on this? And then they would tell me about this back end and running an actual business on the back end, not just speaking, but speaking to selling. And why they were speaking was not to motivate people, but they were speaking to get people into their product, which was a different, mind blowing experience. I was used to speaking to just inspire. That's what I noticed, that's what I saw.
Speaker 3:But they were speaking to sell people to their products. So, like when you see Grant Cardone speak on the stage and then he says, hey, I help people in real estate, go to his web page and then you put in your name, email, phone number and you go through this journey of buying his real estate program, I was mind blown. I was mind blown in this experience and that's what opened my mind to this other avenue, which is speaking to selling, which is what I do today, which I speak to sell my different products. And that all came about, like you said, progressing through my journey, which was, yeah, I could have stayed as a motivational speaker, but the reality is there's no money in motivational speaking. The money's at when you speak to selling. You have a product on the back end.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, clearly I learned that lesson by watching Grant Cardone and Russell Brunson in less than one hour sell $3 million dollars worth of ClickFunnels. So I mean now that's a frigging mic drop, because most of us expand your mind, expand your vision. I could never picture unless I was playing baseball or acting to make $3 million just with one offer.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, dude, and it's an amazing experience. If you know what you're doing, I was part of this Grant Cardone's event 10X Grilton. I was part of the first one. I was part of the FSR team, so I was selling tickets to that event, so I was behind the scenes of this whole entire experience. Let's round spoke in that event as well, so I was behind the scenes of this experience.
Speaker 3:Now, remember Russell Brunson selling ClickFunnels? It didn't dawn on me then, but in hindsight, hindsight is 2020. So what happens in the industry and why I started our software company, progretta? Well, not why, but the business model behind ProGretta is that if I go on a webinar or if I go inside of a seminar and I sell our software and someone buys it let's say, for example, for $997 today they get a six-month trial and then they're paying $297 a month, every single month. After I spoke on that stage one time and then that speaking engagement has me having a customer who's paying $297 every single month. So there are still people from that event. In 2017, when I was promoting Tennis Growth Con, there are still people who are still paying. Russell Brunson.
Speaker 3:Now, my job was to sell tickets. I was just selling tickets. I was looking at the front cash. The cash are like oh, the ticket's $1,000. I get $300. Woo-hoo, I get $300. That one is gone. But when I see a speaker like Russell Brunson, in hindsight now, what I understood was taking place is they sold an offer on the front end, but then what happens is you're paying Russell Brunson $297 or $197 every single month since 2017. And there's a large group of people who have been doing that. So for the last five, six years, they've been paying Russell Brunson for a ClickFunnels to have access to that software, and I love the business of it.
Speaker 2:So that's what inspired you, because you saw the back end offer, because so many of us believe you know me until very recently. Hey, get up on stage, okay, and you're right. You get paid to speak in engagement. Get off the stage, whatnot? The real money is when you sell an offer, but subscription-based, hey, pay me $69 every month or $299 or whatever the offer is, and that's monthly income.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that was a game changer for me, man, but I had to have mentors who had to open my eyes from a hustling mentality to a building business mentality. There was a scenario I was, so I know how to fill up the event. So I was hosting these events and I was bringing in these celebrities to speak at my seminars. This evening in 2018, we had Tony Robbins and Los Angeles. We've had Les Brown. We've had Ewan Ariyave from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. We had Ali Zemani he's close to a billion dollars in door-to-door sales. Sam Bactair owns 110 Fitness franchise. Jim sees the owner of that company. So I've had these people who are my friends and I'm understanding the business.
Speaker 3:In 2018, I held a seminar in Houston and I spoke on stage and the product that I was selling was a speaker training program. So I went from just speaking to inspired to teaching people how to speak, and then I would sell my program. And I remember I went on stage one day and I was speaking and I said you know what? I'm going to try to sell my own program instead of I know how to fill up the seminars, but I'm going to fill up, I'm going to sell my own program. So I went on stage and I was like, hey, this is Andy. And I told them my background, I told them some stories and then at the end I said, hey, do you want to buy my course? And then no one bought my course.
Speaker 3:And there was a woman who was very successful. She flew in, for example, she flew into the event on a private jet. Am I going to say her name? But I'll say a couple of attributes she flew into the event on a private jet, she's on TV, she's on the move with the secret. So if you want to do your research, if any of you guys want to do your research, you can find out who she is.
Speaker 3:But I spoke at my seminar and I spoke and I tried to sell my $3,000 program. And then we took a break for lunch. After lunch I went up to her frustrated and I said look, I don't know what the hell happened. Like, no one bought my program. And she told me step by step this is what you didn't correct, this is where your body placement was off, this is what you got to do different. So I'm in Dallas.
Speaker 3:This event was in Dallas, not Houston. This event was in Dallas. We did a two city tour. At that time it was both my event. So the first event in Dallas this was on August 2018, I think, but the first day was in Dallas. The next day was in Houston. So she gave me some tips and some tricks on what I got to do different. The next day, I did the same seminar, took the same presentation. I just added her tips on there and then we ended up selling out of our program and I share that with you because the idea is that I saw people doing it. I wanted to replicate it, but I didn't know that the end all be all and I got a coach. I got someone who essentially guided me, who happened to mentor me in that moment and correct all my wrongdoings and how in my presentation to create a different result, and that's what helps people win and be successful.
Speaker 2:That's a winning mindset man. You are completely determined, though so many people if they to me, there's no failure, there's a learning experience. A lot of times, though that setback, there would be zero comeback. You are, though, analyzing yourself and saying what could I have done different? What can I do next time? What do I need to tweak? So when you tweaked the offer and all was that, when you decided to go into your own business and create your own process to sell high ticket items, so I knew I wanted to.
Speaker 3:I went on this journey. So in my journey between 2018, so on the back end, like I was selling courses, I did very well in courses, in the high six figures in courses per year. However, I was determined to create something reoccurring, because every month was a new hustle. Every month I had to figure out how to create new revenue. So I took what I did to sell my courses and I created a marketing agency where I just essentially what I was doing to help sell my courses. I just helped people other people sell their products and courses. So I taught them how to. I ran their Facebook ads, I ran their market or created their marketing funnels and I built out their marketing systems. Now there were a group of people who couldn't afford their service, but what they could afford and what they wanted was the knowledge. So then I started coaching people on how to run their own campaigns and build out their own marketing campaigns. So I put my course dormant because the service of the services took a lot of my time and although I was doing all that, what I recognized that was missing was mostly recurring revenue.
Speaker 3:I had income coming in whether I worked or not, and that's when I got into software. So three years ago I committed and I went and all in on software was helping small businesses. What I found was if a small business uses software, the average turn for a small business using software is four years. Their itch is four years. The average itch for a customer who buys a car, like a lease, is two years. So after two years of driving the same car there's a book by Tom Hopkins that he explains this but the itch for a car is two years. So within 700 and something days that there's an itch to get something new.
Speaker 3:For a customer on software, the average itch is four years. So that means they're going to, they're interested in staying on the software for four years. So what I found was if I went into the industry that allowed people to stay, or inspire people to stay, for four years at a time, that I can have a small business using, using our technology and they'll spend 200, 400 bucks every single month for the next four years If I support them to onboard and utilize our technology. And that's where I started doing, where I started helping. That's what progress. I started helping small business owners with the right technology. So that way they love our tools because it helps them make more money, and because they're making more money, they end up staying with us for a long period of time. So all these small businesses.
Speaker 2:They, they can, they can pretty much sell any item using using your webinars and using using your funnels. Right, for the most part. Yeah, so it has nothing to do with a I'm a speaker, I've got a course or whatnot, but you have that as well, correct?
Speaker 3:I mean, I have courses in. The course is just recordings that helps people implement our technologies inside of their business. But it's not one of those courses that's kind of like hey, I'm going to teach you how to get rich. It's a. It's a program on step by step tutorial on how to use something Use our tech, use our software.
Speaker 2:What I've noticed is there's there's two camps. Either everybody's gone home and they think you know I can do it because I've seen people do it on stage, or to this limiting belief, I can't do that. I can't do that. My product's not strong enough. Or who am I to be in a webinar? Who am I to sell? Who am I to do videos? Who am I to do anything like that?
Speaker 3:You know, what I'll say to that person is you're not doing it for the person you're looking up to. You're looking for the person that's looking up to you, and we all have people who are that. We are just a few chapters ahead. So I'm not doing my course. I'm not creating my systems for Warren Buffett. That's not who I'm creating my course for. That's not who I'm creating my system for.
Speaker 3:I'm creating my course, my system, for the person who has been in business for the last 15 years and they're making a lot of money but they're struggling on keeping the leads and the customers coming in. They have a problem. The world has shifted. They're in the pandemic. People used to walk into their business. Now the pandemic has shifted to. Their customers are not online. How do I attract those customers online? How do I bring them back to doing business with me? That's who my customers and because my customer is doing that and they're trying to figure out how to either A create monthly recurring revenue or B they're just trying to keep a lead flow of customers they need the right tools and the right systems. So we give them the right tools and then we also educate them and instead of me doing on a one-on-one call in person. I do it on a video. That's where the course comes in.
Speaker 3:So if you have information that can help somebody just advance just a little bit, whether it's to make more money or lose weight or whatever their goal is, if you have information like, for example, there are some of you who are listening and what you're really good at is doing hair, like you're really great at cutting hair or braiding hair and there are people in the world who are interested in braiding hair, you can teach them through a program on how to cut hair and you can teach them through a program on how to braid hair.
Speaker 3:And what speaking is you're just building relationships with hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are already interested in your service and product, but they're the ones learning from you. It's actually a service to keep that information and retain and not share information. If you have a solution to help someone make more money, change their life, progress their business, move them forward in their life and you're over here holding that information in, it's a service to that individual because you're like I'm going to keep the secret sauce as if it's something special for you. I think if you're a course creator, you're so special If you're someone who's a speaker. You're so special because you're providing value to other people's lives.
Speaker 2:Now, andy, establish businesses. You said it best. Hey, I can help you. Keep going, keep the funnel going, keep your funnel with prospects and whatnot. How about the new business, the newbie, the guy that's like? He wants to start being a business coach, or he wants to sell soap, or he wants to sell whatever product.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what about them?
Speaker 2:Your program can definitely help those out. Right the newbie, the rookie.
Speaker 3:Maybe I mean so someone who wants to sell soap. I mean you got to sell it, for I help people scale, so I help people make more and get in front of more people. So if you're selling soap and you never sold it before, it's not going to be as effective for you because you got to start selling your product in the first place.
Speaker 2:You have to add that muscle of hustling, of having some sales, having some demand. Then just hey, yeah.
Speaker 3:I sell soap. So like, for example, running ads. Now I own a company that runs ads, so I own a few companies, but I own a company that runs ads or a marketing agency and I've seen people who have a brand new idea and they're like hey, if I run ads, I'm going to get people to come in and buy my product, if I just run ads.
Speaker 3:If you have a shitty product or a shitty offer and you're going to launch an ad, you can end up having a shitty ad in the first place because you don't know how to communicate your product or your service to your customer, right? So you don't know how to communicate your product or the value of your product to your customer. So what you got to do is you got to start selling your product, even if it's to local friends, so on and so forth. You got to start selling your product so that way you know how to communicate the value of your product to your customer. And then, once you get enough deals and you get enough customers and you want to expand and get new customers, that's when you start running ads. But you got to have that muscle first. Man, you can't just come up with something out of your shoebox and say, hey man, let's run ads and that's what's going to create success. That's not it.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's the problem with a lot of people is they want to do that. They don't understand the process of any business, the ABCD. They just want to get hey, let's monetize. I've never spoken on stage, I've never written a book, I've never done this, I've never done that. But I took a course on whatever coaching service and I want to be the next Grant Cardone, I want to be the next Anthony Robbins. And the problem is what you said best get some sales, go out there, see if there's a demand for you and then let's scale after you have some sales. Instead, it's the other way around. A lot of people are like let's scale, and people are going to be knocking down my door, calling me up, dming me, saying please, I want to hire you.
Speaker 3:That's not how it works, man. That's not how it works. There's a value proposition that you discover on what people are going to buy when you choose your product. You may have the same product as someone else, but they communicate it completely different. They communicate it completely different. So you've got to figure that out by actually presenting your product. So there's so many people who I've seen I remember actually I've worked with hundreds of different speakers over the years because, think about it, when I'm hosting a seminar, I'm going by myself.
Speaker 3:The business model itself back in the day was that I would speak, but then I would also bring in other people who would pay to speak and that helps fund the cost of the event and fund the cost of the marketing. So those speakers when you see the big events, it's many times they're paying to speak, and so I would see someone who would have their first speaking engagement. That's one of the mistakes I made early on was I allowed people who had money but no experience so it was their first speaking engagement and then they would pay a lot of money to speak, thinking that, hey, if I'm getting in front of 200 people 10% close rate I'm going to get 20 people to buy my $100,000 product, I'm going to make $2 million, let's do it. And it's kind of like when they go on Shark Tank and they're like the market size is 1 billion people and if I just get 1%, I'm going to change my life and everyone's going to win and we're all going to make a ton of money If I just get 1%.
Speaker 3:And Damon John made a comment on one of his one of the interviews that he got is when someone comes to me with a mindset, nine times out of 10, we're not taking the offer, because they already don't understand product market fit. They don't understand how to sell the offer. They probably never sold the offer. The idea of 1%, of 1% I would still make a billion dollars. So the same thing happens when you're speaking Look, if you've never sold your product one-on-one, if you never sold your product one-on-one, I don't understand what makes you think you could sell one-on-many. But you got to start being able to sell it one-on-one and then you'll be able to grow and scale your business.
Speaker 2:Also, though, have a niche. So many people like what you said well, what's your target? Well, everybody and anybody. There's 8 billion people and it's like hey, if Apple computers, if Disney World doesn't have 100% market share, why do you? I know a consulting firm that wanted to. I'm like okay, so what type of business do you want to consult with? And they're like real philatars pharmaceutical, the wellness industry, construction. They had a whole list, and it's like you're supposed to niche now. Well, if you breathe and you have a business, then we can consult you. That's business one-on-one. At least have a target and stick with it. It's like the woman congratulations, the woman, that's only a woman coach for middle-aged women. Instead of hey, I can coach everybody and anybody. I can coach kids, I can coach toddlers all the way up to 99 years old, male, female, whatever, I'm their coach.
Speaker 3:Man, if you're living, if you've got a heartbeat, I'll coach you that idea. Man, you end up losing so much income because if you're marketing to everybody, you're marketing to nobody.
Speaker 2:Well, man, even in social media, when people tell you, oh, those ads don't work, and you ask them well, what is it? Do you have a target, Mark? No, I just give Mark Zuckerberg everything. I call him, everybody's, my audience and my ad spend and it goes to 500 or whatever a month. Money just disappears. You get nothing because social media is like, hey man, this guy's a sucker, let's take his money.
Speaker 3:Yeah, dude, it's going to cost you billions upon billions upon billions of dollars. If you would look to do a lead marketing campaign on Facebook and try to get everyone on Facebook, it's going to cost you billions of dollars. So if you don't have a market, man, you know we ran Facebook ads. So if you don't have a market and you're like, hey, I'm a coach and you're not very specific, it's going to say okay, let's put this in front of the 13 year old girl or the 13 year old boy and you're like a fitness coach, and then a 13 year old boy and you're marketing to a 13 year old boy and, unconscious, like you, don't even know that your marketing campaign is going to a 13 year old person.
Speaker 3:Right, but who's your target? Who can do business with you? Well, I mean, they technically had to be in there over 20 years old, have a discretionary income of at least $50,000 a year if you're a high ticket coach or whatever. So now you're getting specific outside of the marketing campaign. So you're 100% right, man. You got to be able to market effectively and get straight to the point with your customers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have a software program. Are you very were you always very tech driven, or was this something you just had that idea and you're like, let me find a way, let me create this.
Speaker 3:I'm one of those men. Let me find the way and let me create this Like, like if I'm like, there has to be the ability to do this, like if I have a problem, I would say, man, there has to be the ability to do X right and whatever X is from a technology standpoint. So I'll give you a scenario Like in 2012,. I was saying to myself I was like man, I go on MySpace, I go on, you know, social media. There has to be a way that I can just like, sell my product, and at the time it was my sneakers. I had sneakers, and that's where I discovered eBay. Right, I discovered what eBaycom was at that time and I became one of their sellers, resellers on eBay.
Speaker 3:And so I'm in 12th grade, but I'm selling cell phones and products, and sneakers, and gadgets and laptops on eBay. So I'm buying it from my people around me. Then I'm reselling it online. So the type of guy that I've always been is like there has to be a way. I ask myself and I just figure it out, and if I can't find it and it's really valuable to me, it's probably very valuable to other people. I'll build it and then help other people who have the same need.
Speaker 2:Now did you get any naysayers, even though you have a history of success? That's like Andy You're going to start a company that helps entrepreneurs with funnels and webinars. That's over saturated man You're going to be eating alive.
Speaker 3:I probably did, man. I don't remember. I handle it, brother. I don't remember, man, because I block out naysayers, I block out the haters and one of the things that I at least in my coaching program. So I coach people who want to create, and now I have a coaching program where I coach people who want to create monthly recurring revenue selling software. So you can take our progress software technology and you can put your logo on it, put your domain and you can resell it and keep 100% of the revenue. So you pay a small fee to us. However, monthly you can resell your software to your customers and so you can have 100 software, 100 people paying you, for example, 199 bucks a month, and you're making 20 grand a month in your pocket using our software.
Speaker 3:And so I'm coaching a few hundred different software entrepreneurs that are doing this today and a lot of the times when I present this idea, many of them may doubt, but for the most part, many of them adopt the idea and they're creating successful revenue. They're creating great income in their business. However, in my journey, man, every single time that I've created a new venture or I've created some level of direction, if someone was a hater man, I just stopped the relationship, I just kept them moving, because if you're not aligned with my vision, then you're not aligned with me. If you're not aligned with me, man, there's no reason for us to communicate, and that's it. And I keep moving forward.
Speaker 2:You have courses, you have webinars. I've just you do masterminds. You even wrote two books. Talk to me about the second book. The second book's about marketing. It just says you wrote a second book. Man, yeah, I got to promote it because I in the notes I got I got a lot of money. It just says you wrote a second book.
Speaker 3:So my first book is called no More Average, and no More Average is about getting a different mentor man. It's getting around the right type of people, getting around people who are going to elevate you, and so it's. When I say average, I'm talking about being, or just changing your new norm, like your new average and whatever that means to you. So if you're let's put it in monetary terms If you're making 50 grand and you're around other people making 50 grand, that's the average. No More Average is essentially just leveling up and getting around different people. So now I'm going to go spend some time with people who are making six figures, and if I go make go spend some time with someone who's making six figures, then I'm going to end up spending time. I want to. My goal is to now spend time with people I'm making seven figures. So no More Average is constantly up leveling. So I wrote that book. It details how to how I made my first million bucks. So people can get that book at NoMoreAverageBookcom.
Speaker 3:However, the second book is called Mass Awareness Marketing and what I found was over the years is that many small business owners were spending time on the business and not most of their time. Many small businesses were spending time in the business, not on the business. And the problem with spending time in the business is you're doing everything. You're doing operations, you're doing sales, you're doing everything. How do you get into a position where you can spend time out of the business, make recurring revenue, have fun, spend time with your family, like, for example, two weeks ago I was in the Philippines with some of my staff members and we were in the resort and we were in the resort and my office was closed and then I went to my developer and I said hey, man, look at the Stripe account, we're still getting new sales and we're still getting monthly recurring revenue coming in. How cool is that? We're literally on a beach and we're making income. And he says, like this is the most amazing thing to have monthly recurring revenue.
Speaker 3:Now, in order to create that man, you got to have systems and get out processes, but there's one thing that's most important than anything else is your ability to market. Because if you can market, you can hire the right salespeople, you can hire the right operations managers, you can hire the right everything else in the business to have your business run. But you got to market. So we wrote a book called Master Awareness Marketing and you can get that on my website and the othercom. But Master Awareness Marketing is all about educating you to market to the masses and generate thousands of leads Using this process, omar, using this process.
Speaker 3:I've generated over one million leads using this process. So all I do is I just tell people on ads, hey, message me the word success or message me the word webinar on Instagram or to my cell phone, and our software automatically kicks in and asked that person their name, email and phone number to capture their information and to bring them to my webinar. And I've generated over a million leads doing this specific process where I give my book away, I give my webinar away, or I give a trial to my software, and so on and so forth. So we help other people do that through our software.
Speaker 2:Dude, that's amazing because, being a small business owner, it took me many years to realize that because I'll, just like so many, I was working in the business and you know to be an entrepreneur. People need to realize you didn't buy yourself a job, you want to be an entrepreneur, you want to be out there marketing. Marketing is the blood, is the lifeline of any small business. So I mean, dude, if I had that book years ago, it would have cut out the process, because that was one of the biggest lessons was my sweet spot was out there, marketing and creating more business instead of just working inside the business.
Speaker 3:That's the difference, man.
Speaker 3:Even if I did that when I did that in my cell phone days, if I did that from the very, very beginning, I would have been much more successful If I'd said because, for example, today we have different local retail stores, we have smoothie shops, we have hair salons, we have coaching, that we have different coaches who have actual brick and mortar businesses and what they do in front of their location is that they have people text a keyword and that keyword comes in life insurance agencies, insurance, all state users are system.
Speaker 3:You can text a word quote to their phone number in Georgia and what they do is they put right in front of their location, text this word to this phone number to get X it could be, get a quote, get a discount, so on and so forth. And when a customer who's driving by text that specific keyword, our software, progretta, will kick in and ask that person what's your name, what's your email, what's your phone number, and let's schedule you an appointment or a demonstration or a reservation. And the person never had to walk in, they literally walked by billboard, which was your storefront, or they saw you online on a Facebook ad, or they saw you online. They message you and then now they're inside of your marketing campaign, your marketing funnel, and that's how you got the lead and that's how you're generating new business. So if you have that type of technology, the rest follows up, because you now have a system to generate leads which allows you to generate sales, which that sales puts you in a position to be able to run your entire business.
Speaker 2:Andy how user friendly is ProGretta? It got me that, just mastered the advocates, the word processor, I can turn on a computer.
Speaker 3:Well, I'll, I'll. I'll. Give you an example. So before this podcast, I got an email from a customer who's been on our software for maybe 18 months now and she came to a webinar that I held and she was so excited. She's now doing a follow up campaign on a previous campaign that she built and she's eight years old.
Speaker 2:Dude, you just embarrass me. So it's very user friendly. So how affordable is it though?
Speaker 3:$109 bucks man A month. That's it $109 bucks a month. You go to progrettacom. You can actually start a 30 day free trial Progretta P-R-O-G-R-E-D-Acom.
Speaker 2:So somebody like me? I wanted to. I want to blow up. I want to finally quit playing games. I want a guy who has a TEDx talk, two books, podcasts, etc. I can easily go get progretta, create webinars and say this is my offer. Hey, I'm sorry it took me so long, but I'm an idiot and throw that webinar up.
Speaker 3:You can throw up your webinar and you can generate leads from your podcast. One of the things is, for example, on a podcast, you can tell them to give them your phone number and have them text you. So, for example, here's how it would look like. So I'm on a podcast with you. I would say, hey, if you're interested in getting that book that I wrote, mass Awareness Marketing, I will give it to you. Now, what I've seen consistently is that the people who utilize the system add an additional six figures in their business. So you can download my book, mass Awareness Marketing. I'll give it to you for free. Just text my phone number. Text the word 6SIX. Text the word 6, because I'm helping you build your six figure business. Text the word 6 to 702-930-3716. So this is a live phone number. You can text my cell phone number 702-930-3716. Text the word 6 to my cell phone and then you'll be able to download my book. Get my ebook for free. So when a listener texts the word 6 to my cell phone 702-930-3716, our softball, which is actually connected to my cell phone so I get the alerts I'm aware will automatically ask for your name email and send you the ebook automatically to you.
Speaker 3:So when I did a webinar yesterday, we had 180 people on the webinar and I sent the text message out. 178 responded and put in their name, their email, their phone number, generated 178 leads and I just all I did was take a swig of water and our system did the rest of the work. So if you're a brick and mortar business, you can put it in front of your location. You can put it in front of your location, give discounts, and that allows you to capture information so that way you can follow up and send discount calls and get people back into your location. If you're an online business, you can post it online and it connects to Facebook and Instagram. So that way, I'm sure maybe you've seen the brands who are like hey, I have a free webinar coming up. If you're interested, direct message me the word webinar and when you message them the word webinar, they automatically respond, they capture the information, they book you. That's our software in the back end that's doing all that work for them.
Speaker 2:Dude. I think you got yourself a future client, man. Look at that. This is like an infomercial dude. So go to wwwvoteblogcom. It's user-friendly, it's a no-brainer, because you're in Vegas, so you know how expensive going out to a nice place Anything here in South Florida. So for the price of a nice meal you can really monetize and blow up your business, create that funnel and get a lot of leads if you work it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we were just in our company. We were just celebrating our client success. We're all about client wins and client success. We actually have a group chat inside of our internal chat system where it's called client wins.
Speaker 3:This client came to us in April 2022 and had zero contacts, just started her coaching business and we just celebrated that. She just crossed 15,000 contacts using that system, where all she does on Instagram and she tells people is message me this keyword, message me the word ebook. So she wrote an ebook and she tells everyone hey, this, message me the word ebook, and when you message me the word ebook, I'll give you the ebook automatically. 15,000 people went through that whole process, but she only has 10,000 followers. What that tells us is that there are people who downloaded the ebook. She captured their name, email, phone number. They were interested in our product, but they don't follow her. So she was able to follow up with those people and they're not even social media followers of her. So that's what happens with a lot of people are missing opportunities on social media and they think like, well, don't they got to be my follower? The answer is no. You just got to capture their information their name, email and phone number so that we can follow up and build a relationship with them.
Speaker 2:Dude. That's all selling. This is you have to build a relationship, you have to communicate. That's something that is lacking so much. I want to sell, I want to be a salesman, but how do you? Are you a good listener? Do you communicate? So you monetize? You have multiple businesses. You help out To me, dude. You are in service because right now you're helping people create a lifestyle, helping people change the trajectory of their legacy. You're helping people that could have possibly had a brick and mortar go under, go bankrupt. Man, that is the American dream, that is the American story, dude.
Speaker 3:One of the things I did differently with Team Mobile man is that I got the contact information of my customers who didn't buy and who walked by. So what we would do is we would just tell people hey, come on over and we will show them a case, and so on and so forth. And if they don't buy, we'll just say hey, can I get your contact information? I'll send you an email with a discount code if you ever want to come back in the future. And then when I would come back and the store is empty, for example, I would say hey guys, it's time to do callbacks. And a callback is when everyone in the team is picking up calls and they're calling customers to come in and giving them special offers to come back to the store. So the only reason I was able to do that was because I had their phone number. If I just allowed someone to come in and that person left, then I never had the opportunity to contact them.
Speaker 3:And that's where a lot of most businesses fail. Well, no matter what you're selling I mean, we just set up the system for a restaurant, you're selling bread, you're selling food, and so on a happy birthday on their birthday text message, send them a happy birthday. Watch how your store fills up or your restaurant fills up by utilizing this technology right on their birthday. And you can automate that, by the way, without technology.
Speaker 2:Andy, you're speaking my language, dude. You're an amazing man. You want to help see people grow. You live in abundance. I can talk to you for hours, but I know you're a busy guy. This is the time to promote. How do we find you? How do we get your books and, more importantly, how do we sign up for ProGretta?
Speaker 3:If you want to sign up for ProGretta, go to P-R-O-G-R-E-D-Acom and you can do a free 30-day trial. Just try it in your business, Set up the text system and I'll give you unlimited one-on-one onboarding as soon as you sign up. So before you even pay for ProGretta, I'll put an onboarding specialist to guide you and work with you on setting this up inside of your business. So that way you see the value of it and if you love it then you continue. It's only 199 bucks a month. If you don't love it, you can cancel it anytime. P-r-o-g-r-e-d-acom ProGrettacom.
Speaker 2:And how do they find you, follow you and, more importantly, just buy the book or the Mario man?
Speaker 3:I'll give you the book for free if you text my cell phone so 702-930-3716. Text the word 6S-I-X to my cell phone and I'll give it to you for free. And I'm Andy Audate A-N-D-Y-A-U-D-A-T-E on all social media platforms.
Speaker 2:Andy, here's my final question to you. What words of wisdom do you have for that person that lied? I said it was New Year, New Me, but they're still on the sideline. They're waiting to life to happen. They're waiting. They're afraid to take action. They're just stuck. They're fearful. Do you have any words?
Speaker 3:of wisdom for that person? No more. I would tell them fear is a direction. Take advantage of an opportunity of a lifetime If you're experiencing fear, if you're nervous. Fear is the direction, that nervousness that you have in your gut and you're like, how should I do this? That's the direction. If anything. For me, that's been my telltale sign, that nervousness. Some people may look at it as a bad thing. Sometimes I look at it as God is nudging me, and that's how it feels when God nudges you to make a move. So fear is the direction. So if you're nervous, take advantage of it in the lifetime of the opportunity.
Speaker 2:So then, andy, you believe with me that if we were all created in God's image, he wanted us to thrive. He didn't want us to suffer, he didn't want us to just get by. He wanted us to create and live and love an amazing life.
Speaker 3:For sure, man, I don't think my God said hey, man, I'm going to put you on earth, I'm going to go through all this trouble just for you to waste time and then ultimately end it. I want you to create. I want you to create a lot of success and help a lot of people on the way, and that's what I'm here to do. And I see you, omar, that's what you're creating, my friend.
Speaker 2:Dude, thank you for giving me your time, thank you for giving me the opportunity of interviewing you, and you know what I'd say I am going to take you up on the offer because enough, I've got all this product just given for free, doing absolutely nothing. It's either shit or get off the pot, and I guess it's time to take massive action and do is what I say, instead of just telling people hey, just do it. Alrighty, brother, I love you man, thank you.
Speaker 3:Dude, thank you so much for having me on and it's been a pleasure and I'm excited to have you be on Progreda. All right, brother.
Speaker 1:What if it did work? What if you took action and made it happen? It's gonna live in the side of your pro. What if it did work? Right now, you can make your choice to never listen to the negative voice. No more. Your heart is prison. To escape is our own mind. I was trapped inside that prison all for a long time. To make it happen, you gotta take action. Just imagine what if it did work. It did work.