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SNM238: From Martial Arts Gym Owner to International Financial Growth Expert with Paul Halme

• Jonathan Green : Bestselling Author, Tropical Island Entrepreneur, 7-Figure Blogger

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Welcome to the Serve No Master Podcast! This podcast is aimed at helping you find ways to create new revenue streams or make money online without dealing with an underpaid or underappreciated job. Our host is best-selling author, Jonathan Green.

Today's guest is Paul Halme, a Martial Arts Gym Owner turned International Financial Growth Expert. Paul has helped entrepreneurs grow their businesses to new heights. His expertise in both offline and online marketing has led to clients experiencing increased financial freedom. Paul only works with highly committed individuals and his proven track record speaks for itself.

In this episode, Paul Halme unleashes the Journey from Martial Arts to Financial Mastery.

Notable Quotes

-       "Yeah, open your gym next door. I don't care." - [Paul Halme]    

-       "We could have done this better." - [Paul Halme]

-       "We all got used to it being on Zoom all the time." - [Paul Halme]

-       "But then on Saturdays, Sundays, I'm always working because that's just how we're wired." - [Paul Halme]

-       “You can create a side hustle with anything.” – [Paul Halme]

-       "Everyone joins in January, quits in February."  - [Jonathan Green]

-       "So anyone who follows you, if you don't follow them back, there's nothing they can do." - [Jonathan Green]

-       “People will only drive a certain distance to go to a gym.” - [Jonathan Green]

Connect with Paul Halme

Connect with Jonathan Green

Jonathan Green: From Martial Arts gym owner to international financial growth expert with Paul Halme on today's very special episode. 

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Announcer: Are you tired of dealing with your boss? Do you feel underpaid and under appreciated? If you want to make it online, fire your boss and start living your retirement dreams now. Then you've come to the right place. Welcome to Serve No Master Podcast, where you'll learn how to open new revenue streams and make money while you sleep.

Presented live from a Tropical island in the South Pacific by best selling author Jonathan Green. Now, here's your host. 

Jonathan Green: I'm so excited to have you here today, Paul, because I've been in the martial arts world for most of my life. I'm one of the few peoples that's watching UFC 1, 2, 3 back when there were no rules and my kids are really into martial arts, so it's always been something my family's very passionate about and I'm really interested about your journey cuz a lot of um, It's interesting cause a lot of times when people talk about examples, when I was first starting out, when people were talking about the example of the perfect business, that help with online marketing, martial arts school and chiropractor were the two most common ones.

So there's like a lot of interesting intersections and rules about how far away from our gym people will join. I'm very interested, so I'd love to know how your journey started and how you transitioned into some other areas of online business. 

Paul Halme: Yeah, it was kind of a crazy journey. I started off just being a small town kid from South Dakota and my best friend was like, this is back in 1997 he was like, Hey, I'm gonna move to Dallas. I'm gonna train and fight the UFC. And I'm like, okay, that's a pretty big goal. All right, sounds cool. And I was like, I can go down there for a year and if I don't like it, I'll come back. And came down here ended up falling in love with Jujitsu. He ended up actually making the UFC.

His name's Travis Luter won the Ultimate Fighter for you know bought some crazy, crazy amazing fights. Had a really good time with that. And then I was working a job as a stock broker and thought I had everything I wanted. Then I was watching his life. I'm like, man, he gets a lot more freedom than I have. He has a lot more fun.

And then I started helping out with his gym and I'm like, oh, I can do this. This is pretty cool. And then opened up my gym, fell in love with it. And that was 19 years ago. . So I've had gym for a long time. 

Jonathan Green: A lot of, um, gym owners, especially over the last few years, have had a lot of hurdles. So what are some of the kind of mistakes that small business owners make, especially when it comes to the transition to online, trying to figure out how do I, can I get clients online? Cuz I know people will only drive a certain distance to go to a gym or even a martial arts student outside of that distance it's gonna be so hard to get new clients. So it's really about your region. 

What are some of like the really core online tactics that a lot of people are missing that are foundational.

Paul Halme: And they're missing one of the most simple things I tell people, and it's like we call it in our company being five mile famous. It's like you said, there's a rate of people are gonna drive. It might be seven miles, it might be 10, but the average seems to be around that five mile mark. You know, depending on your area, you're gonna draw the majority of people from there.

So you need to be the only choice within that five miles. If you were a gym owner, chiropractor, dentist, whatever it is, doesn't matter. You need to be the one where they're like, Hey, I'm thinking about putting little Johnny in Juujitsu or kickboxing or whatever, and they like, oh yeah, that guy that I always see on Facebook and Instagram and TikTok, I see him all the time let me go check out that gym. 

So I tell people it doesn't even cost that much money cuz the reach is so amazing. It's a little bit of paid advertising. You can become the only choice in your area. 

Jonathan Green: It's really interesting cuz where I live there's a couple of gyms. There's one Muay Thai gym for kids and one TaeKwonDo and both of them, we had to be really proactive. We actually walked up and down the street knocking on every door saying, Hey, we heard there's a gym around here. And someone standing nearby goes, oh, I'm the trainer of that gym. And he was just standing next to a tree near where we're standing. And the other gym, they use the, um, they use the spot in the mall and they have two signs up with no contact information.

Paul Halme: It's insane. 

Jonathan Green: There's no phone number, there's no website. And they make, get really, really, and it doesn't say what time the classes are. 

Paul Halme: Yeah. 

Jonathan Green: So they don't even tell you what time to show up at the mall and look for them. And it's really interesting, these small mistakes, people are so excited. I, I remember it's all, it's happened to some people, they get so excited about their new website or their new posters and they forget the most important information is to be reachable.

Paul Halme: Yeah, and it's, I tell people, it, it's so easy to be the leader in your industry. It's like my gym isn't a successful gym in a, in a, I call it a nicer area, like upper middle class area where everybody moves here to put their kids in school. So I moved, I moved my gym here on purpose when I moved it, because I was like, man, this is where people have money and so now everybody and their mom wants to open a gym next to me cuz I see my gym successful. And then I just laugh cause I'm like, you guys don't market, you don't do anything. It's like, cool. Yeah, open your gym next door. I don't care. There's like five gyms on the same street as me and, but mine's the most well known because I'm the only one out there putting out content, creating, you know, basic ads just little things like that. 

So people listen to this, it's like you have such a huge advantage with social media. Even if you hate social media. Like, I don't like Facebook, but it's a necessary evil. But you know, learning how to do a little bit of Facebook advertising, Google Advertising, little bit of Instagram videos, things like that just gives you such a huge edge.

Jonathan Green: And when you're targeting like a small region, you can have so much cost control. 

Paul Halme: Oh, it's insane. 

Jonathan Green: So much lower and it's interesting cuz I've really seen very few gyms or martial arts gyms kind of modify their marketing. The way I found my first TaeKwonDo gym is that it was above the place my parents used to order takeout and we, there was a new sign and all it said was TaeKwonDo.

Paul Halme: Yup.

Jonathan Green: No phone number, no name of the style, none of that stuff. And I, my parents go, let's go see what's up these stairs. And it's always up like a rickety staircase or like there's wet, or it's like wet carpet on the stairs. It's, it's interesting that you talk about choosing location strategically. I think most people when they, it seems to me open a gym just near where they live, or based on convenience, rather than thinking, oh, where's the best market because that is a really important factor. And where I live, there's no competition. There's only one private school. There's only every single kid from the private school goes to the TaeKwonDo class once they figure out what time it is. But parents, all the time, I meet them at school and they go, oh, there's TaeKwonDo here and it's, that shouldn't be, it shouldn't, that shouldn't be the conversation. It shouldn't be, oh, where is the, or the next question is, where is it? Or what time does it start? Cuz you can't find the inform. I think that it's really important lesson. This is the same thing I work with a lot of people on TikTok they go, oh, no one's reaching out to me to hire me to make videos. And I go, well, there's no contact information in your bio. 

Paul Halme: They don't know where you are to find you. 

Jonathan Green: You're, you're not allowed to DM people on TikTok unless you follow each other. So anyone who follows you, if you don't follow them back, there's nothing they can do. They literally can't hire you. , this is such, so interesting that it's a mistake people are still making, 

Paul Halme: still, 

Jonathan Green: I guess 30 years into this industry. What are some other things when someone's thinking about their small business that you, that like were decisions you made that really made a difference for growing that part of your business?

Paul Halme: And once you get the marketing dialed in and you know what you're doing, there is. Understanding basic business financials. When I talk to clients and help people out, that's a huge problem. Cause people are like, oh, you know, there's money in my checking. I'm good. And I'm like, you know, you know you need a bookkeeper and p and ls.

And people are listening to what that is. A basic profit and loss statement. Just learning how to understand those things. Guide your business in such a solid direction because I always joke around, I said, numbers are black and white. There's no gray. Like you're like, oh, I think we had a good quarter. And you look at your numbers and you're like, oh no we didn't.

Or Oh, we spent too much on this, or we, or we did this. We could have done this better. And then you can make decisions. Cause people are always like, oh, I'm gonna open a second location. I'm like, well, the numbers make sense. And they're like, what numbers? And I'm like, okay. Exactly. Yeah, no, don't open a second location.

It's like, so just basic, knowing your basic business numbers is just gigantic thing. Everybody needs to understand. 

Jonathan Green: One of the things a lot of gym struggle with is getting people to stay. Like everyone joins in January, quits in February, right? And there's all these different strategies. I thought one of the things really interesting that martial arts in America came up with, doesn't exist in Japan, or you lived there for a few years, is the colored belt system.

So there's always this small goal in front of you that's usually about two months away. Like my children have already tested for their yellow, but they've already competed in their first tournament. And every one of those things, it's like a little extra, a little extra. They're like, oh, your daughter's ready to spar now she's gotta buy the armor.

Now you've gotta buy the mouth cards and you've gotta buy another uniform, right? There's all and the belt. Oh, the test costs money and the belt costs money. Those belts are expensive. It's like, I don't know who's making 'em, but it's like most expensive belts we have in the house but that's one of the smart things I think that martial arts gyms came up with cuz a lot of it is how do you get people to stay with a recurring revenue business model?

Either you try to charge people a year in advance, which is a nightmare at the 365th day when they go, I don't remember joining if all those refunds and chargebacks or , like the getting people to have like a small goal in front 'em. I thought that was one of the really smart things really, cuz everyone's like, oh, what belt are you?

I'm closer and closer to my black belt and there's like this goal in front of you. And of course every time you test there's more money. Every time you need a new belt, there's more money. Every time you change uniforms, there's more money. There's all these way points. Cuz when I ran a small business, my wife, we ran a hostel for two years.

We found that, oh cool, we were not a hostel, I said, we're not a hostle, we're a surfboard rental agency that has rooms. Because surfboard rentals are the most profit thing we could do. Motorcycle rentals. What a nightmare. Cuz there's so much to fix on a surfboard. There's only one moving part. There's the fin.

If someone can have something, then they buy a new one. I don't have to pull out a wrench. It's a yes no. Is it broken or not broken? And it's something you can buy for a very low price and reuse hundreds of times. That's what I really liked. So when one of the struggles with a lot of small businesses is that the clients disappear and they don't know what to do.

So what are some of the ways you kind of dealt with longevity or getting people to wanna come back? 

Paul Halme: Man, you really nailed it. There is, the belts are huge, especially in martial arts. And even if you know, you don't have something like that, it's community is the next biggest thing is you gotta build a strong community.

Actually, I tell people, it's like you have to actually care about your students. They're not just looking at 'em like, oh, This lifetime value of my students are this much blah, blah, blah. It's like, no, you actually have to care about the students and make it a fun place. Cuz a lot of people are looking for something different because the gym's boring or they, they tried everything under the sun, now they're 40 and they're overweight and they, they wanna be more confident and their clothes fit better.

It's like, it's like, offer those things, help people out, talk to 'em, have a, have a solid community. And that makes a huge difference. Cuz like you said, some people join one month or gone the next and some people stay for 10 years. I mean, it is just such a crazy dynamic. 

Jonathan Green: That's really interesting cuz I think about all the gyms I go to and some gyms you feel like really isolated.

Paul Halme: Yep. 

Jonathan Green: And we have two, there's two ends of gyms here. There's the super high engine, which is way over air conditioned, and every time you have to flip a token to say that it needs to be cleaned before another person uses it and, and they bring you like a water when you start working out, it's really uncomfortable for me.

I'm really not used to that. 

Paul Halme: Yeah. 

Jonathan Green: The other gym is like, you're only expected to clean it if there's blood on the mat. If you get blood on, there's blood. Yeah. And everyone there is way too big and it's, I think that I feel more comfortable in that one. I think that because people talk to you at least a little bit there, like there's a little bit of friendliness.

You go more often, people talk to you more and more. It's so important because gyms can feel really isolating. I know that there's a lot of like confusion of like if you talk to someone, do they think you're flirting with them? What is the etiquette about? What you do after you use a machine, there is a lot of confusion cause every gym has different rules.

But you're right, the community is so important cause we wanna go places where you feel comfortable or welcomed. And I've definitely walked into gyms where I did not feel welcome. And I've also walked into gyms. I used to train in Florida at a strong man gym. Everyone was competing for like some level of world's Strongest Man, and they, I was the only one who was in terrible shape.

I was like the worst one there. But they made me feel so welcome that I got super strong. Like I, I would going every day. It was like a 5:00 AM workout with these guys and because they made me feel welcome, I kept coming back. I think that makes, you're so right. It makes a huge difference. Every time I've been a member of a gym where there's a sense of community and I think.

That can apply to a lot of other smaller businesses is that people go where we feel welcomed. And sometimes if it's neutral, people assume they're not welcome. Like, you know, that's why the friendliness when you go to a restaurant or a coffee shop, we all know the restaurant we go to where the person who seats is like, oh, you're back.

It's so great to have you here. And like that friendliness does make a huge difference. 

Paul Halme: Yeah, it's a huge piece. 

Jonathan Green: Now you've transitioned into doing a lot more, you know, you did the Wall Street thing and now you're doing a lot more of traveling and kind of helping people to grow their businesses online. What was that transition like to where now a lot of your relationships are through the computer as opposed to face to face.

Paul Halme: Yeah, it's weird, especially the last couple years. We all got used to it being on Zoom all the time, but we were doing it even before then because we'd consult the people all over the country and we had some international clients and stuff, so, It's okay being online, but I love being face to face, you know?

So for the two years it wasn't a lot of fun. But so we do now is we'll have like meetups, you know, we try to meet up every quarter with clients or I'll go to different areas and meet up with clients because that face to face interaction is just so important. Like, you know, you, it's so different when you get to hang out and talk to people like online.

You can develop relationships and stuff like that, but when you can get face to face and just talk. Build that relationship then when you're online, it's just a continuation of that. Um, so that was a big challenge for us when you couldn't meet up with stuff and travel was hard, but now things are getting better and we're able to do a lot more of that.

So that's my favorite thing is just I love being in a room with other business owners and just, you know, going over different issues and problems and challenges and successes. And then building off of that. 

Jonathan Green: When I first switched in 2010 to moving online, working online, I go, I wanna work online so I never have to talk to another person in person, ever and what I discovered was that, what's interesting is all this business online, so much of it is handshakes and trust. 

Paul Halme: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Green: When you're sending customers to someone or doing a deal online, You. You know, it's so easy to fudge the numbers cuz it's all inside of technology. You're not there in the store watching people walk in that there is this huge amount of trust and a lot of it's handshake deals, A lot of it's reputation, especially in my sector of the world.

If once your reputation's damaged, you're outta business. If people don't think they can trust you or that you don't pay on time, all of that stuff can really affect your ability to stay open. And it's very interesting that the importance of the face-to-face meeting and definitely. The thing, a lot of people over the last few years like, oh, I can just do Zoom meetings, but it doesn't really feel like, you know, a person when you're just seeing them through the computer.

And maybe that's just my age. You know? I grew up when, back when people online, no one had a picture. Like if you had a digital photograph, it was like, wow, do you have a picture on your profile? It's like, wow. 

Paul Halme: Same way. 

Jonathan Green: It's like this idea that you can have. This deep, meaningful relationship like it is, it definitely helps I think, to meet in person.

Now I live really remotely. I live in the small aisle in the middle of nowhere, but I still travel to America once or twice a year. The conferences where almost everyone I do business is so I can kind of see everyone in person stay on top of their mind, and I can definitely tell you that there's a huge spike in all my relationships and in my profitability right after those events because, 

Paul Halme: oh yeah, 

Jonathan Green: I'm top of mind is if when people don't see you for a while, they kind of forget about you.

And it's natural. We all do that same thing. We all have front the friend from high school that we don't talk to for a long time. Then we run into to the grocery store and suddenly we're hanging out with em like twice a week for a few months. There's a lot to be said for the in-person connection, and there seems to be this thing now where people are trying to figure out, can I work from home full time?

And companies are seeing this drop in productivity huge from employer. I think that's, it's very interesting and they're trying to get everyone to come back to work. What's your thought on, especially for entrepreneurs? I think it's, for me, I've been always completely remote since I've always worked myself from home, but I also work seven days a week.

I'm like, because it's, it's this different thing I think when you're an employee working online. 

Paul Halme: Yep. 

Jonathan Green: Maybe there is a little, what can I get away with versus when you're a boss online, 

Paul Halme: oh my God. 

Jonathan Green: Like I gotta give 110% cuz I gotta make money. 

Paul Halme: I see it all the time in my, especially at my gym. I'll see people, I would literally see people bring in laptops and they'll have a mouse that with a little thing that moves the mouse.

I'm like, what are you doing? Like, oh, I'm working and I am like what, like, oh yeah, because I, they keep an eye on you, you know, if you're not doing stuff. So people sell things on how to manipulate and I'm like, so employees, they're always trying to figure out like, what's the least I can do for the most amount of money?

And then entrepreneurs are like us. It's like we work seven, I work seven days a week. You know, I might work the weirdest schedule ever. I might take a half a day off or go do something, but I make up for it the next morning. Or when everybody's off on Saturday, Sunday, I'm going through and updating emails and going through and checking on client accounts and things like that.

So you see a huge shift for entrepreneurs. It. We have to stay on top of things cuz we get paid for what we do not, you know, for the hour that we, we do it in. So that could be a big challenge for people is understand that. But once you, you understand it, it's the greatest thing ever because I don't think I can ever go back to working for somebody because I just love the flexibility of, you know, if I wanna take a day off, I take a day off.

But then on Saturdays, Sundays, I'm always working because that's just how we're wired. You get stuff done and then it just makes things so much more enjoyable I think. You know, because then you're in more control of your time. 

Jonathan Green: Yeah. A lot of my friends, when I was coming up, they quit their job, started building online business, and then they started renting office space and they have these large teams and they build agencies or other types of businesses.

And I, and I was like, that's not, that's not what I want at all. And I, and I started traveling the world. It's, I know these, all these pictures of people using a laptop on the beach, but it's so hard because it's so sunny. Or you get stand in the laptop. My kids, whatever I call the laptop, it doesn't work.

Like I wish it was really easy, but I can only do it if my kids are far away. So, but the fantasy, but the, I think the best thing for me is that you can choose how you wanna operate. If you wanna start working from an office or renting office space and do the WeWork thing or build a team, you can, or if you wann work from anywhere. I know there's, I know people are in large businesses just from their phone. Like I'm not at that level yet. I'm, I'm a typing kind of person. 

Paul Halme: Yep. 

Jonathan Green: I can't do it all with touch screens, but , I think the really important thing is the freedom and the real lesson for a lot of people the last few years is to realize that you can't really rely on someone else when you get sick or when you, you know your boss. If your boss is like, well, I can either pay for my wife's surgery or you can keep your job, you're gonna get fired every single time. 

Paul Halme: Yeah, yeah. 

Jonathan Green: Most of the time people lose their jobs. It's not their fault. There's always these mass downsizings, and so, I think it's very important for people to start to think of themselves as entrepreneurs.

Even if they're thinking of themselves as a job, they go, oh, my job is as an entrepreneur. Like you see these athletes who, some of whom are really very successful after they end their careers and some of whom are just broke right after the last contract ends because they don't see themselves as a brand or they don't see themselves as like an asset or start thinking about the future.

So how can people start to put some things in place for if they lose their job or if they need a secondary revenue stream, or even if just another lockdown type situation happens and they just need to kind of take control of their destiny. 

Paul Halme: And the biggest thing is find a side hustle you're passionate about.

It could be anything. I mean, it's, that's been proven, you know, over the last few years. Like, I've seen some of the craziest businesses and I'm like, you make money with Pokemon cards. It's like, I thought that was a kids thing. People do it. There's people making tons of money because they're a Pokemon expert or they're a, uh, Call of Duty expert.

I mean, there's so many things. Or a, you know, like for me, a jujitsu person, you know, it's like, You can create a side hustle with anything and then you know not to get in like the tax, all that craziness. But if you have a side hustle in America and you have an LLC and a good CPA, it's like you can really change your income level, you know, while you're working a job and then creating a side hustle that's actually making you money.

And then, It'll happen is what I did. Mine is like, I created it and it was like, wait a second, this side hustle is almost making as much money as my other job and I get to be the boss and nobody can tell me what to do. And then if I got fired, you know, so it, it's crazy now with the internet because you know, even five years ago you couldn't do some of the things you can do now.

It, it's nuts like the reach so many people have, especially with like TikTok and Instagram and reels and I know people getting paid, you know, it keeps changing all the time, but people are getting paid a lot of money just to make reels. I'm like, that's a thing, . It's like, you don't realize there's just, there's as, as more and more things come out, there's just more and more opportunity to create a side hustle really on anything.

Like, like one of the biggest ones in America that makes a ton of money, it's fantasy football. I'm like, I don't even understand this. It's like, I like football. I'm not gonna, as an entrepreneur, I don't have time to play fantasy football. It's like, I, I want to go work on my business. But some people are super in love with that stuff and it it's crazy. . 

Jonathan Green: I think the really important lesson, what you said was so great, is that you have to find one thing you're good at. A lot of people would go, oh, in order to be successful online, I have to be good at Facebook. I have to be good at TikTok. I have to learn how to do EL market. I have to build a website.

And it's not true. I work with these, a couple of young kids that do a TikTok, they only know how to do one thing. They, their website is terrible. , it's, it's Unfindable. It's almost unreadable. But they can build a TikTok account up to 60,000 followers in any market in like four days. They joined, they joined YouTube and got the YouTube Platinum Award in 30 days.

I go, that's supposed to take six years. And he goes, it is. 

Paul Halme: It is. They don't know, 

Jonathan Green: not good at anything else, but they're, you only have to be good at one thing and they're, they have a tiny lane, but they're so good at it. And that's the thing. You can be, this idea that you have to be kind of the jack of all trades is I think one of the big misnomers of where a lot of people get distracted cuz there's so many online business models.

I think the biggest problem is that they all. Like you can be the Pokemon card expert. You can be the TikTok expert. I know people that kill it on TikTok don't even know how to use reels. They wouldn't know how to upload one. They don't even know that Facebook has reels now because they have. But when you can find your one thing, that's all it really takes.

And I think that's what's really exciting now, is that you don't have to be good at everything. You can find your one thing and you can find your audience. There's also this idea that you need, sometimes I ask people like, how big of a following do you need to start making money? And they'll be like, oh, on TikTok you need a million.

And I'm like, oh, that's. Yeah, you need 10,000 and you can be doing really, really well with just 10,000 followers, which is like, everyone's like, oh, I already have that. I'm like, exactly. . It's this. There's this idea that you need a massive following in order to make money, but I think if you have a thousand super fans or 10,000 moderate fans, you can really start to build a business and kind of replace most incomes.

Paul Halme: Oh yeah. Easily. 

Jonathan Green: And for every hobby, whatever your hobby is, like there's a huge model train community on TikTok. Now you can finally connect with all those people that are all in these random places that watch you. One of the guys I watch every day, like once a week, he does a live where he cooks some vegan recipe.

I'm not vegan, I'll never, but he tells the best historical stories and it's just magnetic and it's like, oh, I didn't know you could make a living making vegan cookies and telling really, and he's amazing. He's so engaging, but he is good at one thing, like telling these stories and, and it's like, that's it. Like once you find your thing, that's what gets me so excited is that whatever you're good at or passionate about, there's a thousand other people that are interested in it that never wanna make their own content, but will watch yours.

And so I think we're kind of seeing this really cool revolution where you can find amazing people and amazing things that you like that nobody else likes. But there's enough of you that you can have a community and start to build a business on almost anything. 

Paul Halme: Yeah, almost anything. And the reach is insane, like you said, like who would've thought that, you know, you have a model trained community on TikTok, you know, and they're out there.

I mean, there's so many different things out there that. Back in the day, it would be so hard to start a business on because you'd have to have a business and a store. And then how, how do you advertise Model trains. Now you go on TikTok, you find it, you like model trains, and we're seeing this crazy change in things.

Like my wife, I laughed like instead of, she doesn't Google things anymore, she TikTok things. And I'm like, what do you. I'm like, I'm like, I'm watching it happen and I'm like, oh my God, the whole world's changing. Cuz she's like, why would I google it? Cause it takes me to the website. If I TikTok, if I, if I search for it on TikTok, I can see the top videos and what people liked about it, and I can actually experience the restaurant.

So if we go to a restaurant or we go somewhere, she tick. I, I joke around, I'm like, you, you're ticking Instead of Googling, she's like, yeah, I just, you know, and she's 47. And I'm like, oh my God. So what are the, like my son, these ki the younger group, what are they doing? And so it's like, people are like, oh, TikTok is just for kids.

It's not, it's like, you know, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, people are going on there and they're searching for things and they wanna experience it like, oh, hey, this looks pretty good. You know? So it, it's wild to see because it's just, like you said, the reach is endless. Like you find something you're passionate about and you start putting out good content and learn how to tell story.

It's like, yeah, you can, you can replace your income. So fast.

Jonathan Green: I think that there's kind of two things, in my opinion that cause people to struggle. The first is too many ideas. They're trying to do everything. They're trying to start a podcast. They're trying to start a blog. They're trying to start a TikTok, and it's, there's, it takes a lot of focus to make, to master something.

And if you try to do 10 things, it takes you 10 times, as long as if you're trying to do one thing. But I think the second barrier is this belief. That is either no one wants to hear what I have to say, or I'm not technical enough, or there's not enough of a market for my thing. How can people kind of break through that belief barrier?

I'm always amazed, cuz it's usually one Google or TikTok search away to find out that community exists. If you just type that one phrase into a search engine, you'll see there's a whole world of opportunity. Why? What do you think holds people back and how can they break through that barrier? 

Paul Halme: I think you, you nailed it right there too again is like, People think they have to do everything and you can't do everything.

It's exhausting. I've tried to do things where it's like, you know, and instead of making the content, you're like, okay, I'm making a website, I'm creating a blog. I'm gonna have this, this, this, this. By the time you create all these accounts and do everything, you're like, okay, I'm, I'm exhausted this, this was not any fun, but get past that part and just start looking to see what's out there.

And find the accounts like, oh, hey, there's a group here, there's a community here. You can go on Facebook and search groups and you'll find like baseball card collecting groups, or like I said, Pokemon or vegan cooking or you know, uh, Italian food recipes, and you'll find communities. And then when you find that, then you look at it like, okay, hey, there's actually people that are interested in this.

Now I need to start making content. And then, like I said, pick one platform. That's one thing I tell people especially in our industry is like, just pick one and start there. Because if you try to do all of them, you're gonna get exhausted. You're gonna be putting out like a bunch of mediocre content versus like just dominate one channel and then you're like, okay, hey, we're really doing good on this one.

Now you can hire a VA, you can hire somebody to chop up content and put it on the other platforms that you don't wanna be on because we only have so much bandwidth. In our brains. And it's exhausting to try to do everything at once, especially when you're starting out. And now people, I see it a lot where they'll start off and then they'll do, you know, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter a vlog, YouTube, and then a couple weeks later they're like, yeah, no, this is exhausting.

It's not working. I can't make any money. And I'm like, well, yeah, you're exhausting. I'm exhausted watching you. 

Jonathan Green: Yeah. We all feel like we have to have a presence everywhere. Like, oh, every time there's a social network. And I hear about one like. Oh, you have to run this network. You have to be on network. And it's like, yeah, it's, it's not really true.

You just have to be good on one platform and build one audience, and then maybe you can start reposting your content on the next, and it's the linear thing. That's the path to success. So that's a really great piece of advice. This has been really amazing, Paul. I appreciate you giving us your time. I know your time's very precious. You're very, yeah. 

Paul Halme: It's been fun. 

Jonathan Green: Where can people see more of your stuff online and spend more time with you and see what you're all about. 

Paul Halme: Yeah, my website, paulhalme.com. I usually update my blog once or twice a week. Um, and then for social media, I love Instagram. Instagram's a happier place for me. Um, you know, I was like seeing people's stories, what they're doing on what I'm doing, traveling, things like that.

So instagram.com/paul.halme Is my Instagram. You can follow there. Um, usually post in different travel hacks or business ideas and investment stuff. So yeah, it's my favorite spot. 

Jonathan Green: Awesome. So we're gonna put that in the show notes. We'll put it below the video on YouTube, and we'll put it in the blog post as well.

Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate your time. 

Paul Halme: No, that was fun. Thanks for having me. 

Jonathan Green: I hope you love today's episode. I appreciate you listening. When I started my online business, I thought I could go completely alone. Turns out connections is the name of the game, and the faster you build contacts, the faster your income grows.

Let me accelerate your success and help you earn that networking black belt absolutely free at servenomaster.com/blackbelt. 

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