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Amanda Abella: Make Money Your Honey
Episode 2178th December 2023 • The Guy Who Knows A Guy Podcast • Michael Whitehouse
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Join Michael Whitehouse on The Guy Who Knows A Guy Podcast as he interviews Amanda Abella, an award-winning content creator and business coach. Amanda reveals how she slashed her workload by 84% through sales task automation and offers insights on cutting marketing and labor costs by 50% with improved systems. With networking expertise that led to a network of 130 referral partners, Amanda shares valuable tips on sales, communication, and leveraging technology for business success.


Mentioned in this episode:

JV Connect, December 12-13, 2023

Join us for JV Connect, the dedicated networking event December 12th and 13th, 2023 https://www.jv-connect.com

Transcripts

Michael Whitehouse:

Welcome back to the guy who knows a guy podcast.

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We're so excited to be back with you.

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And this season we are counting

down to J V connect the first of its

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kind, December 12th to 14th, 2023.

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This is going to be an incredible

dedicated networking event, and you

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are going to want to be part of it.

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And this podcast here to help

prepare you to get the most

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out of this incredible event.

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I'm Michael Whitehouse,

the guy who knows a guy.

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And over the next few weeks, you're going

to get to hear from some of the best

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people in the industry about networking.

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As well as some solo training from me.

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So be sure to join us on December

12th to 14th for JB Connect.

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And now, let's get to the interview.

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Welcome once again to the

guy who knows a guy podcast.

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I, as always, I'm your host, Michael

Whitehouse, the guy who knows a guy.

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And our guest today is Amanda Abea.

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Amanda is an award winning content

creator, keynote speaker and business

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coach who specializes in helping

business owners activate their

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persuasion prowess so they can make more

money and live a more affluent life.

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Her clients go from hating sales

and marketing to achieving 90.

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Is that right?

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That's not a typo.

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It's 90%.

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Amanda Abella: It's 90%.

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Yes.

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Michael Whitehouse: Wow.

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90 percent close rates and closing

multiple five figure deals.

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Her work has been featured in

Forbes, Huffington Post, Business

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Insider, Univision, and many more.

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Prior to teaching marketing and

sales, Amanda spent a decade as a

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financial writer and wrote content

for companies like Wells Fargo,

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Discover, Credit Karma, Santander.

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It's not Sant Sant Santanday.

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I think depends on what country you're in.

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Okay, Santander, you know which bank

I'm talking about the red one and more.

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She's also partnered with companies

like Capital One and TransUnion

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and financial education campaigns.

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So welcome to the show.

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Thank you for giving me a bio that gave

us something to talk about already.

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And how are you doing today?

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Amanda Abella: I'm doing super well.

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I mean, I was like, Oh dang, I got

to add to the bio, which is now, you

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know, I'm living in Mexico, which

I found the Santander thing funny.

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Cause that's literally the bank I have to

go to, to withdraw cash with the lowest,

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um, fee for American dollar to pay.

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So, so I was like, Oh yeah, that

bank, I used to write for them and

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I literally go there every week.

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Michael Whitehouse: There you go.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I work with a credit union that I've.

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I've done some work for them.

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Um, not the level you have, but

I've done some networking coaching

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for them and speaking, uh, and

like, I know most of their staff.

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So I figure I'll bank with

the people who I know everyone

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from the manager up to the CEO.

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That seems like the, the way a

networker should be doing is banking.

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Amanda Abella: Yeah, and actually

in that 1st business where I was

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working with a lot of banks, it was

mostly networking that got me those

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deals because none of those banks

were going to go through a funnel.

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You know, now it's a little bit different

because I have digital programs.

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Um, and there was a reason

for that because that business

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model was more scalable.

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Whereas my 1st business was not,

but in my 1st business, when I was

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doing content marketing for financial

companies, or I would get hired as a

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Spokesperson for campaigns like for

trans union, which you could find

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the videos on YouTube somewhere.

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Um, then most of that was

like, who do you know?

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Networking.

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There was a big event.

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We would go to every year for money

and media and I book myself out

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for a year, but a lot of it was

networking cold pitching good old

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fashioned sales and relationships.

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Michael Whitehouse: Yep.

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So, so you didn't start

with a network, right?

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You didn't like go to Harvard

and meet everyone you know,

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and that, that puts you in.

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Amanda Abella: No, I went to like some

tiny Catholic school in Southwest Florida.

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No one's ever heard of.

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There were 80 people

in my graduating class.

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Michael Whitehouse: Wow.

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So let's start from there.

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How did you go from tiny school to

networking your way to jobs with

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Wells Fargo and Discover and Credit

Karma and the one I can't pronounce?

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Amanda Abella: Yeah, so funny story.

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I graduated in 2010 and

couldn't find a job.

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So I hear a lot of the people complaining

now about all the economic stuff

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going on in the United States, very

different hearing it when you're living

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in another country, but I digress.

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But I'm hearing all those stories.

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I'm like, dang, this sounds

like:

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again, different circumstances,

but people still struggling.

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Um, and I, I was one of those,

like, I went six months without

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being able to find a job.

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I had a literature degree.

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I'd gone to like this.

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I, I grew up Catholic, so I got

basically sent to a Catholic school.

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Um, and it was a liberal arts degree,

which I now realize gave me the

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foundation to do the things that I do now.

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Mm-Hmm.

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But back then, right, I was like,

what the hell am I supposed to do

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with this ? Um, so I couldn't find

a job, but what I essentially did is

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I Googled how to make money writing.

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That's literally how this all started.

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It started with a Google search how to

oney writing in the summer of:

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And it was literally just

clawing my way and like, 12 hours

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reading everything on Google.

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I could get my hands on and I was just

so determined to make something work

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that, you know, 1 thing led to another.

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I experimented for a few years,

eventually really nailed down on the

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financial niche because I was interested.

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In money because I sucked at it.

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Um, and I figured, well, if I get paid to

learn about it, that sounds pretty smart.

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So why don't I just go do that?

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Um, and none of us knew at the time that

the financial blogging and the financial

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writing niche was going to like take off.

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So here's something interesting.

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Whenever financial issues start happening

in the United States, people become

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a lot more interested in finance.

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So it was just kind of

a good timing thing.

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That now I can see opportunity, but

back then I had no idea how to do that.

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I just got lucky, I guess.

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Um, and you know, it was just like one

and I started making friends on Twitter.

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Twitter was like the place to be if you

were a financial blogger back in the day.

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And then, you know, we all started

getting together, putting on

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networking events because geeking

out over money and blogging about it.

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And then that turned into a massive

conference that turned into, um,

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not that I put on, but that the

community put on that turned into

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a lot of us who had started early.

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Literally banks were our clients.

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I mean, it was to the point where they

would like, throw parties for us once a

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year and then that we would like, mingle

with all the financial companies and

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then they needed content because people

were searching for financial information.

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And then that's how I kind of also

started learning about marketing was.

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By doing it.

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And what I didn't realize was

that I was doing sales, right?

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So I was like pitching ideas.

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I was meeting people at events.

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I was going to every event.

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I could get my hands

on every Twitter chat.

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Do you remember Twitter chats?

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Are they even still a thing?

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Right?

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Twitter chats.

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Back in the day and finance were

like, you know, you would follow it.

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It was like a certain time you would get

on Twitter and it was a certain topic and

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then everyone would follow the hashtag and

then you would be able to follow the chat.

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Yeah, I'm dating myself right now.

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Right.

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So we would do like these Twitter chats,

and I would make sure to get on every

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Twitter chat I could get my hands on.

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Back in the day and I made

a lot of friends, um, many

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of which are still friends.

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I just interviewed one of them on my

podcast and we've known each other

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for 10 years since our finance days.

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Um, and that's how I

built my first business.

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It was, you know, learning content

marketing from the ground up.

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It was sales and not knowing that I

was selling and it was networking.

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Michael Whitehouse: Yeah.

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And I think there's a couple

of things I hear in that.

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The first is you, you knew

what you were trying to do.

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So you didn't say, Oh, there's no jobs.

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I'll just go on monster and deed again

and send out some more applications.

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Amanda Abella: Oh, I tried that, you

know, and I did eventually get jobs

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because I got the typical immigrant

to America story, you know, you go to

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school and you go get a steady job.

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I didn't know that I could

like make a whole business.

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Michael Whitehouse: Yep.

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Um, but yeah, obviously that didn't

get you where you were going, but, but

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you know, you're focused on, I want to.

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Right.

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I want to do finance and you weren't

thinking about, okay, where can I

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make a million dollars or where can

I, it's just, I want to do this thing.

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You networked, you weren't

trying to sell them.

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You weren't trying to

get something from them.

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You're just, I'm into finance writing.

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You're into finance, right?

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And let's hang out and talk

about finance and writing.

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Amanda Abella: And pretty much

that's exactly what it was.

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Michael Whitehouse: Yep.

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And that's, and that, that's

really powerful networking.

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Cause you're not, you know, that's

where networking goes wrong.

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If people come in, they're like,

buy my thing, promote my thing,

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buy my thing, promote my thing.

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Instead of we have this and

that in common, you know, the

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higher levels of networking,

which is often those masterminds.

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That's the, they're not selling to each

other and asking each other to promote.

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They're sharing ideas.

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They're sharing experience and knowledge.

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And that's what you were doing.

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Um, and, and obviously that led to a

lot more and a lot more success, but I

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think that's a great story for anyone

listening saying, you know, well, how

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can I network if I'm not starting with

the right, the right thing now, one

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of the dimensions, you know, Twitter

chats, which is no longer a thing.

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Um, so that's one of the challenges,

the, the Internet shifting.

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So the places where

the connections happen.

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aren't the same.

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Um, for, for someone up and coming, do you

have an idea of where, where they might be

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able to find connections and opportunity?

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Amanda Abella: Well, I'd say for up

and coming, it's the same, right?

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It's social media and it's content.

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It's just the way in which we're using

social media and content has changed

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dramatically since, you know, I'm

talking, I think, seven, eight years ago.

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Yeah.

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But the concepts are still the same.

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Um, in fact, I would venture to say it's

probably easier now in a lot of ways,

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because we have a lot of tools now that

can help us that we didn't have back then.

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Um, my partner and I are in the process.

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We're starting a 2nd brand

called entrepreneur expat.

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Um, because we are expats and there's

been a lot of interest for my community

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on being an expat, but we're smart

business people and we're like, oh, okay.

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Well, only a small

portion of our community.

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Current community is into that.

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We're going to make a

whole separate brand.

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For them, that's what we're going to do.

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Um, so we're in the process of starting

the second one and we were both noting

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because he's been in digital marketing

as long as I have, and we were both

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noting like how much easier it is now

in a lot of ways because you have tools

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that can tell you what keywords to use.

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There's tons of experts that you can

follow on Instagram that tell you how

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to put together a good performing reel.

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To get attention.

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None of that stuff existed back

then because it was like the wild,

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wild West and it was a new thing and

no one knew what they were doing.

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Yes.

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Michael Whitehouse: Yep.

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Yeah.

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And as a, as a thing about it, like

you were saying, you're finding

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these, these interest chats.

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I feel like some of it now is in the

comments of different people's posts.

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So if you find people or the

influencers in the space, you engage

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in the comments and reply to people's

comments in the comments and there's no

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Twitter chats anymore, but there are.

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Posts with comment threads where

you can connect people there.

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Uh, whether it's LinkedIn or Facebook

or, uh, TikTok's not quite as good

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with 80 characters, but LinkedIn

and Facebook are pretty good for

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those, those kinds of exchanges.

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Amanda Abella: Yeah, I would,

I would absolutely agree.

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I mean, a lot of the networking I've

done, you know, during the pandemic and

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things like that, it was interesting.

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I noticed it was like all on Facebook.

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It was all in Facebook groups.

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It was all in the Facebook DMs.

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Um, even now, to a certain

degree, it is Facebook.

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Now that I'm getting back on my

content game because I just am able to

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breathe after this house renovation,

um, craziness going on over here.

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Um, but I'm able to get back into

it and I'm focusing really on video.

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So, you know, Facebook, Instagram.

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YouTube and TikTok is my main focus

right now while we're doing video.

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And it's to your point now, you know,

what used to be a Twitter chat is

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now going on in comment sections.

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Michael Whitehouse: Yeah,

that's, that's a key thing.

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And of course you need to, you

know, sort of step over the muddy

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puddles of the social media.

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Um, because, you know, there's, it's

like if you're at a rowdy bar, you know,

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having a good conversation over here and

someone has a fist fight over there and

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someone's throwing a chair over there, but

if you just duck and the chair goes over.

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Amanda Abella: That's a really

great way of putting it.

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I've never heard anyone describe it

that way, but it's very accurate.

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Michael Whitehouse: Yep.

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Um, yeah, something else I wanted

to ask you about in the, in the

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notes you sent ahead of time.

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Um, when I asked you what's your best

networking tip, you said learn sales

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and communication skills because you

calls in:

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and 250 of them needed that advice.

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Amanda Abella: Yeah, so one of the

things that I decided to do, um, you

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know, after the first business, I moved

into the second business and the second

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business, I started teaching people,

you know, how I basically how I built

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the first one, because they were asking.

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So I'm like, great, I'm going to start

teaching marketing and, and sales.

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And I started becoming known as.

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Teaching actual sales

and communication skills.

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So a lot of people teach online

marketing and it's great, but

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marketers don't know how to sell.

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Um, they don't know how to have that

people conversation part of things,

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which a lot of people are struggling

with now because they're dealing

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with more challenges in the economy.

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Or maybe a more jaded marketplace

or buyers in general are feeling

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more apprehensive because they're

hearing all the world news and

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they're realizing, oh, snap.

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I don't know how to sell.

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I don't know how to have a

conversation with another human being.

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So, I became known for helping people with

that and our clients get insane results,

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even just in the last group that we ran

of that sales training, they generated an

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extra 6 figures in sales in a few weeks.

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And it was, and it was from

very simple things, right?

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Like learning how to ask the right

questions in a sales conversation.

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Um, so that business started blowing

up like in:

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crashed and burned and realized that

I needed to build more leverage.

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So I had been networking and doing

the one on one stuff for a long time.

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And I realized that it was time to

scale and kind of transition out of

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that, um, you know, number one to

have a more sustainable business.

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I'd gone through a lot of like

family health crisis and issues and

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life, you know, life is life things.

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So I was like, great.

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I need to build in more sustainability.

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I'm going to have to start moving toward,

you know, selling to groups or having

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other people promote for me or using

social media more strategically instead

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of these one on one conversations,

but there's a transition period.

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That occurs when you're

going through that.

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And my transition period was I want to

build a network of referral partners.

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I want to build a network of people

who that I can rely on to promote

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my business to their people.

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And then it's going to

bring business over my way.

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So, I have these advocates basically,

um, and the reason I wanted to do that

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is number 1, you could have a bunch of

people promoting you at the same time.

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Uh, number 2.

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You, they can promote you over and

over and over again throughout time.

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Number three, I don't have

to pay money in Facebook ads.

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Number four, those guys can turn into

clients based on the conversations.

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So there were lots of benefits to this.

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The problem was I had to find them.

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Um, and, uh, Really funny story.

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Um, I was going through

a challenging time.

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I went to dinner with a friend and, um,

he had mentioned he runs like an eight

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figure publishing company and he mentioned

to me, hey, anything that you need,

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just shoot me a text and I'll help you.

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Networking.

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Right.

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Like you meet people like

that who want to help you.

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So I had been approached with this

idea of doing like a joint venture with

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somebody from back from my finance days.

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Like, Hey, if you promote this

and we do this, I'll give you

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a cut and we can do vice versa.

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So I sent to this friend of mine,

a text message, the new friend.

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And I was like, Hey, have you heard of

like referral partners or joint ventures?

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Like, I'm not sure how to do this.

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I don't know how to put this together.

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And he's like, Oh, not only

do I know how to do that.

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I built a 20 million company.

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Just based on referral partners.

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Here's my course, right?

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And you just gave it to me for free.

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Out of, like, the goodness and generosity

of his heart in that course, right?

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He basically said, hey, you know, I was

doing, like, 100 meetings a week now.

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I was like, okay, so I sort of cold.

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It's like, if you've got a 20Million

dollar company, I'm just going to go

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all in and see what this is about.

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Like, I'm a big experimenter.

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I wasn't getting to 100 calls a week.

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Maybe I was getting to about 50 a week.

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Um, and I, and I would find, yes,

um, referral partner calls, right?

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So basically getting to know them

and being like, hey, I think we

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could make good referral partners.

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I had no freaking idea what I was

doing, but I did know how to at least

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have a conversation with people.

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And I realized that if other

people really had no idea.

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What they were doing because

I would go into these calls.

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I mean, I was doing up to 10 a day and I

would go into these calls and I would ask

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people like, Hey, you know, I think we

can make really great referral partners.

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Here's what I do in my business.

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You know, I think this is

how we can collaborate.

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Tell me what you've got going

on in your business and they

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couldn't answer the damn question.

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Yep.

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And I was like, how do people make money?

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They have no idea how to talk to people.

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They don't know how to talk

about their businesses.

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They don't know how to

talk about what they do.

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They don't know how to talk

about their client results.

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They don't know how to talk about

how they collaborate with others.

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They literally have no idea.

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So in realizing that, I ended up

doing 400 calls, but that one of those

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calls led to a group of joint venture

partners, and that led to another

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group, and that led to another group.

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I just had to go through

like 200 to find them first.

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Um, but I got a lot of data and what

I ended up realizing, um, again, to

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your point is that most people do not

know how to have conversations with

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other human beings about what they do

for a living or what they do for work

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or what makes them stand out or how

they collaborate with other people.

372

:

And I was really flabbergasted because

I was like, how do you all make money?

373

:

I don't understand.

374

:

Like, I don't understand like

how you make, like you must

375

:

make money by accident because.

376

:

Like, I'm trying to have a conversation

and you can't so what ended up

377

:

happening was in that process.

378

:

I ended up creating, like, I

started kind of figuring out my own

379

:

little process for finding referral

partners and things like that.

380

:

And I put that into an 8 step

guide, everything from finding them.

381

:

To how do we do this in a more leveraged

way other than DMing people on LinkedIn.

382

:

To here's how you have that conversation.

383

:

Here is sentence one.

384

:

Here is sentence two.

385

:

Here is sentence three.

386

:

I mean, I broke it down to that degree.

387

:

And then here's what

you do after the call.

388

:

Because that was another thing.

389

:

They sucked at the follow up after.

390

:

So I ended up putting everything

into a guide, which everybody

391

:

listening can get for free.

392

:

Um, and I started experimenting

and tweaking the guide.

393

:

And what I ended up, I eventually

did end up finding the right people.

394

:

I built a network of about 100 referral

partners, uh, has literally kept my

395

:

business doubling, uh, between that

and the automations we've built while

396

:

I've been in the process of moving to

another country and renovating a house,

397

:

maybe working at 10 percent capacity.

398

:

The business has kept going and it's been

because of that referral partner process.

399

:

And also a lot of the marketing

and sales automations.

400

:

We spent a couple of years

building on the back end.

401

:

Thank you.

402

:

But, you know, once you finally nail

it, which my hope with that guide

403

:

is that people avoid the painful

conversations I needed to have first

404

:

before I found my people, before

I found the referral partners.

405

:

Um, that's my hope is that you avoid all

of that and that you actually get results.

406

:

But once you nail it, I mean, one of

our partners sent us 300 leads in a day.

407

:

Michael Whitehouse: Wow.

408

:

So, yeah.

409

:

So, uh, you said you have, you have

over a hundred partners and one

410

:

thing, when people get into the jv,

the joint venture space, they often

411

:

hear a lot about reciprocation.

412

:

You know, you Mm-Hmm, , I'll

promote you if you promote me.

413

:

And, um, I assume you're not

promoting back a hundred partners.

414

:

Amanda Abella: Yeah.

415

:

So it's interesting that you bring that

up because I had no idea what I was doing.

416

:

I went, number one, I used sales

brain, and number two, I was

417

:

like, all right, I guess 2023 is

gonna be the data collection year.

418

:

Because I guess because I have a

sales background, I just approach

419

:

everything with sales statistics, right?

420

:

So I'd already done like 200

calls and most of them sucked.

421

:

So I just assumed going into these groups

that it was going to be the same thing.

422

:

So what I ended up doing was I

booked like 50 calls in two days.

423

:

Assuming half of them were going to suck.

424

:

Um, and that's actually not what happened

because once you get into the higher

425

:

level, I was literally shocked within two

weeks, I got booked out for like a year,

426

:

but I was not expecting that to happen.

427

:

So 2023 was like definitely the

experimentation year of what

428

:

works and what doesn't, which

we've now put into that guide.

429

:

Hey, this leads to a lot of leads,

but maybe not enough sales or this

430

:

leads to less leads, but more sales.

431

:

Now I have that data because I've promoted

so many people and I've also, and they've

432

:

also promoted for me, or I know, hey,

this type of referral partnership works.

433

:

This one does not.

434

:

Now I have the data.

435

:

Right.

436

:

So going into 2024, we're just

going to be more scalable about it.

437

:

We're literally just making the

calendar of like, all right, this works.

438

:

Right.

439

:

And instead of maybe doing 1 webinar

a month for a referral partner or 1 a

440

:

week for 4 different referral partners.

441

:

We're going to have 15 people promoting

the same event at the same time.

442

:

Yeah, that and we know exactly who

those people are going to be and it just

443

:

requires more planning ahead of time.

444

:

I didn't know that going into 2023

because I just didn't have the data,

445

:

but now going into 2024, I have

the data and I can make it more

446

:

sustainable and scalable over time.

447

:

Michael Whitehouse: Okay, so, so do

you promote, um, do you promote all

448

:

your referral partners or is it?

449

:

Amanda Abella: We try to, yeah,

we, we, Yeah, we try our best.

450

:

Um, and again, I just

use sales brain, right?

451

:

So I might overbook myself knowing

that like half of them are going to

452

:

fall through because some emergency

happens or somebody had to push

453

:

their launch back or, or something.

454

:

1 thing I've noticed about when

people try and use referral partners

455

:

is they don't have enough of them.

456

:

Right?

457

:

So they will rearrange their whole

schedule for like 1 partner, but then

458

:

that 1 partner has an emergency and

your business is screwed that month.

459

:

Okay.

460

:

That's why I wanted over a hundred because

that's life and that's what happens.

461

:

It's the same way that

you're in sales, right?

462

:

You're not going to bank on one deal.

463

:

You're going to have a

hundred people in a pipeline.

464

:

Michael Whitehouse: But, but

how are you able to, I mean,

465

:

there's 365 days in a year.

466

:

So, and you obviously need to

promote your own stuff, I assume.

467

:

Yeah.

468

:

So how are you promoting

just by sheer volume?

469

:

How are you?

470

:

Promoting them.

471

:

Yeah.

472

:

Amanda Abella: So we've tested

different ways of doing things.

473

:

One of the things that we've done, for

example, is like a joint webinar, right?

474

:

So, for example, we're promoting

each other at the same time,

475

:

or now going into 2024, we have

like a schedule we can follow.

476

:

We didn't have that in 2023 because

again, it was experimentation year.

477

:

In 2023.

478

:

So now we have an actual schedule

where we can plug people in or

479

:

another thing that we've tested is

maybe we'll mention five different

480

:

referral partners in a newsletter

or we'll have them on the podcast.

481

:

Like there's so many different

ways that we've learned to do this.

482

:

But that's after, you know, a

year, 18 months of experimentation.

483

:

And then once we experiment, now

we can create more of a process

484

:

to make sure everybody is getting

handled to the best of their ability.

485

:

And again, Knowing that not all 100 of

them are going to be able to do their

486

:

launch next year because life happens.

487

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah, well,

and I, I think what you just shared

488

:

there, some people listening may be

like, wait, you can, that's possible.

489

:

Like you could promote a

hundred partners in a year.

490

:

Cause, cause the, the old, the old

model kind of what seems like the

491

:

tradition, the traditional model.

492

:

I mean, Nothing in the industry

is more than 20 years old, but the

493

:

traditional model seems to be, you

know, this launch, it's 18 days long.

494

:

It takes up your, your list for a month.

495

:

And you can't possibly promote more

than nine people a year because, um,

496

:

because, you know, one of the conventional

wisdoms I've heard is if you promote

497

:

someone, you will lose between six and

8 percent of your list on subscribe

498

:

every time you promote someone.

499

:

Amanda Abella: Which it did jack up

my list in the first six months of

500

:

the year until my partner and that's

part of what we figured out until

501

:

we were like, okay, there's got to

be other ways that we can do this.

502

:

So we found those other ways.

503

:

Right.

504

:

And I think that goes to your point

where people, people suck at networking.

505

:

They also suck at creativity.

506

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yep.

507

:

Yeah.

508

:

Well, and that's, that's

one thing I looked at.

509

:

I'm like, I, I don't want to lose.

510

:

A 12th of my list because

I promoted someone else.

511

:

Maybe if someone says I'm leaving

your list, I don't like you.

512

:

That's no big deal.

513

:

I call that an authentic unsubscribe.

514

:

I authentically don't like you, Michael.

515

:

I don't want to be on your list.

516

:

The inauthentic unsubscribe is I

don't want to hear about Amanda again.

517

:

I'm out.

518

:

I'm like, but you see the, uh, my, cause

if they got on your list, they want you.

519

:

They got on my list.

520

:

They want me.

521

:

And so, yeah, I.

522

:

I got creative to how can I promote people

and not have them fly out the door because

523

:

they're tired of all these promotions.

524

:

Amanda Abella: Or maybe you put

an event together or something.

525

:

There's so many ways that you can

do this, but you know, people,

526

:

people lack creativity because

they're trying to follow like

527

:

this one set pattern of things.

528

:

Um, but that's why I'm a big

fan of experimentation to see

529

:

what works and what doesn't.

530

:

And then you can make a plan from there.

531

:

And also like.

532

:

I know I'm going to drop

the ball at some point.

533

:

I don't just don't make myself feel

horrible for it because that's life.

534

:

Yep.

535

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah.

536

:

That that's huge.

537

:

Yeah.

538

:

I think that's that creativity

and experimentation thing is, is

539

:

key because some people are like,

Oh, I'm going to follow them.

540

:

And especially the way the economy has

changed, the way markets changing, the

541

:

way technology is changing, just because

someone has an eight figure business

542

:

doesn't mean there you can emulate them

because you know, maybe they made all

543

:

their contacts on Twitter chats and yeah.

544

:

So yeah, let's go out and

Twitter chats and, uh, and.

545

:

Replicate that.

546

:

Oh, you can't, you can't anymore.

547

:

Huh?

548

:

That's crazy.

549

:

Yeah.

550

:

You know, I, I used to meet all my,

uh, I used to meet everyone at Kaldor.

551

:

Oh, Kaldor's closed.

552

:

Amanda Abella: Yeah, and also to your

point, one of the things that we've

553

:

noticed, because a part of what we

teach our clients now is how to sell

554

:

one to many instead of one to one,

because once you nail it one to one,

555

:

now we got to start talking one to

many, or there's only so many hours in

556

:

a day and you only have so much energy.

557

:

Yep.

558

:

So we have to start having that

conversation and 1 of the things that

559

:

we've realized we have sent over 100,

000 emails this year between ourselves,

560

:

our referral partners and for clients

and we've noticed right that when it

561

:

comes to the referral partner thing, uh,

people tend to screw up in a few ways.

562

:

Right?

563

:

So number 1, your copy sounds

like freaking everybody else.

564

:

There's nothing special about this.

565

:

There's nothing that exciting.

566

:

You sound like every other JV.

567

:

I've had.

568

:

You need to go repack these emails.

569

:

That's number one.

570

:

Number two, there's no personal story.

571

:

There's no personal like

connection really with the people.

572

:

So we've noticed that's a problem.

573

:

Um, and we've also noticed that the

systems on the backend just kind of

574

:

suck and no one knows what's going on.

575

:

No one's tracking anything.

576

:

Um, and also just like the maintaining

of the relationship, people

577

:

are generally not very good at.

578

:

So one of the things that I love to

do, um, and this is something we're

579

:

taking more seriously now in 2024

is having JB partners on my podcast.

580

:

And then they can promote me to

their list that way and drive traffic

581

:

to a podcast and I can promote

them to my list that way, right?

582

:

And then they get odd

eyeballs and things like that.

583

:

And then number one, it's a

little bit more evergreen.

584

:

And number two, it's not as assaulting.

585

:

Yeah.

586

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah, no,

that makes a lot of sense.

587

:

Um, and, and yeah, those are definitely

very real, real challenge with the, with

588

:

the tracking and the, I mean, I'm always

amazed by when I have to chase people

589

:

down, um, for, for copy, for links, for.

590

:

Amanda Abella: It's amazing how often you

have to chase people down for copy, right?

591

:

And then they get mad at you when, you

know, it's like insane how like not

592

:

organized people are on the backend,

but that's why I created that guide.

593

:

Because that people can get for free by

listening to this because those were all

594

:

the problems that I kept running into.

595

:

Well,

596

:

Michael Whitehouse: and even if

you have all that getting data, so

597

:

I'll vote someone and did it work?

598

:

I don't know.

599

:

Did anyone look on it?

600

:

I've, I've started using pretty links

for all of my affiliate partners,

601

:

so I can check my own data and

say, how many clicks did I get?

602

:

But that doesn't tell me how many

opt ins or, or anything else.

603

:

Yeah.

604

:

So

605

:

Amanda Abella: we can help you with that.

606

:

Yeah.

607

:

So one of the things we've even

started suggesting to our podcast

608

:

guests is like, Hey, we suggest having

like a specific link just for us.

609

:

Here's some tools you can use,

and then you can track what's

610

:

working and what's not working.

611

:

And then you can.

612

:

Double and triple down on what's working.

613

:

So one of the things I've had to learn

how to do, cause I'm definitely more

614

:

of a creative person is to get more

into the data and the analytics and

615

:

then learning how to combine the two.

616

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yep.

617

:

But even if I can track the clicks,

that doesn't tell me what converted.

618

:

So they may click on it cause I

told them to, but that doesn't

619

:

mean they signed up for it.

620

:

Cause that's one.

621

:

Amanda Abella: I've got

you at the end of this.

622

:

There's there's tools for that.

623

:

I got you.

624

:

Michael Whitehouse: So when I

promote a summit or when I, when

625

:

I run a summit, I should say.

626

:

Uh, I send updates to my speakers every

day for the 14 days leading up to it, and

627

:

every one of them contains a link to the

document with the swipe copy and their

628

:

affiliate links, because I used to do

like, I don't want to send it every day.

629

:

So I'll send it every few days,

invariably, if I sent every three

630

:

days on one of the two off days,

like, what's my affiliate link again?

631

:

I sent it Monday.

632

:

I sent it Saturday.

633

:

I sent it Thursday, but now

I said it every single day.

634

:

Because I understand, when I speak

on a summit, the summit's one of the

635

:

things I'm doing, it's not a priority,

it's not a main focus, it's one of the

636

:

things I'm doing, and I understand that

my speakers, they're not living for my

637

:

summit, they're, they are, I'm giving

them exposure, they're certainly an equal

638

:

exchange, but it is barely on their list

of priorities, because it's one of the

639

:

things they're doing, and so I need to

send them 17 emails, To say, Hey, 17 days

640

:

of the summit, 16 days of the summit,

15 days of the summit as my job to keep

641

:

them engaged and keep them informed.

642

:

And yeah, most when I promote people,

I regularly, I will get to a day before

643

:

the thing's supposed to happen and get

that even be like, so how are you doing?

644

:

Like.

645

:

Who are you?

646

:

What are we talking about?

647

:

Amanda Abella: Yeah, exactly.

648

:

You've already forgotten who they are.

649

:

You've moved on.

650

:

It's like a whole thing.

651

:

And you could do the best that you

can to get them on the calendar.

652

:

And even still, you got to go

follow up with people, right?

653

:

Because they're not.

654

:

And that was one of the big

issues, um, I would run into

655

:

with promoting other people.

656

:

And again, it's why I

put this guy together.

657

:

So people don't run into those problems.

658

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah.

659

:

Yeah.

660

:

You got to remember your

partner, your people promoting

661

:

you, it's not their business.

662

:

It's your business.

663

:

You care about your business every

day, all the time, day and night.

664

:

They care about your business when you

remind them for a few minutes afterwards.

665

:

Like, I'm happy to promote partners, but

I got a lot of people to keep in my head.

666

:

Amanda Abella: Exactly, right?

667

:

There's a lot of things going

on, and there's just, with life,

668

:

with business, with everything.

669

:

Right?

670

:

So, yeah, you know, it is a

little complicated sometimes

671

:

to keep it all organized.

672

:

But, you know, if you know how to

do it for sales, and you know how

673

:

to stay organized with leads for

sales and CRMs and things like

674

:

that, JB's is not much different.

675

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yep.

676

:

That's if you know how to do that,

of course, and that's that's a

677

:

big if yes, but but you mentioned

organization and we mentioned the

678

:

frail limitations of the human brain.

679

:

Um, one thing we haven't talked

much about is automation.

680

:

Modern technology.

681

:

And, uh, and you know,

we have robots for this.

682

:

So talk a little bit about how you use

automation to, um, see, I believe in the

683

:

notes, you said you cut 84 percent of

your workload by automating sales tasks.

684

:

Amanda Abella: I did.

685

:

So yes, I'm a big, I'm

a big fan of the robots.

686

:

So, um, when I hit my big burnout, um,

after my business started skyrocketing,

687

:

doing the sales training, Um, you know,

it was, my business was exploding.

688

:

My dad was in and out of the hospital.

689

:

Like it just wasn't a sustainable model.

690

:

I had not built in a lot of

the systems and automations and

691

:

support that I really needed.

692

:

So of course, Amanda crashed and burned,

um, after a six figure sales month.

693

:

And, um, what I realized

I had this idea, right.

694

:

And I was like, well, what if I could

just create an automated salesperson?

695

:

Right, like, what would it look like

if I just took these 15 years of sales

696

:

experience where I know how to pick

up the phone where I know how to have

697

:

a conversation where I know how to

talk to someone in the DMS qualify

698

:

them and get them booked on a call.

699

:

I know all this stuff like the back of

my hand because I've done so much of it.

700

:

But what if I could do that?

701

:

Right.

702

:

And somehow automate most of it, because

one of the things that I started to

703

:

realize in teaching a lot of my client

sales is that most people just don't

704

:

do enough to get the sale, right?

705

:

So they'll get an email from

somebody, a bunch of automated emails,

706

:

but you should be calling them.

707

:

You should be texting them, right?

708

:

You should be doing a lot more

than just sending a generic email

709

:

campaign that everybody has.

710

:

Right?

711

:

So that's what I would do.

712

:

I would send a DM, right?

713

:

I would make a phone call.

714

:

I would do a text, but I

started running into a problem.

715

:

And the problem is if you get 300

leads in a day, you're not about to

716

:

bang out 300 phone calls the next day.

717

:

So I started running into a capacity

again, story of my life, so I had

718

:

been in this process where I was

trying to figure out how to create

719

:

this automated salesperson, right?

720

:

Where I was like, here's all the

manual stuff that I know how to do in

721

:

sales that a good salesperson would.

722

:

So worth their salt should be doing to get

a deal across the table, which most people

723

:

don't in the online marketing space.

724

:

But I'm going to figure out a way

to automate as much of this as I

725

:

can and make it sound like a person.

726

:

Now, it was easier for me to make it

sound like a person because I've done

727

:

so many sales calls for a decade.

728

:

So I want to be clear.

729

:

Do not skip that part of business.

730

:

I see so many people skipping

that and then when they try to

731

:

automate and scale, it doesn't work.

732

:

You don't have enough data.

733

:

I had a decade of data to make this work.

734

:

So, um, I'd kind of tried to

figure this out on my own.

735

:

And then a year ago, I met my now

partner who I'm with in Mexico

736

:

through one of those 400 JV calls.

737

:

Right, and we started off as, you

know, work colleagues and it turned

738

:

into friends, then it turned into more

because, well, that's a whole other story.

739

:

Right?

740

:

But 1 of the things that

I had said to him, right?

741

:

Was like, I'm really trying to build,

like, this automated salesperson

742

:

and nobody seems to understand what

the hell I'm trying to do because.

743

:

Online marketers don't know

sales and I come from a sales

744

:

background for crying out loud.

745

:

I came from finance, very traditional

sales background, and he did exactly what

746

:

I was trying to do because he used to

build out CRMs as a software engineer.

747

:

So I was like, um, okay, well,

there needs to be emails.

748

:

And so it was a

collaborative effort, right?

749

:

Where he's like, all right, well, here are

the kinds of emails that work really well.

750

:

They are me, you know, 10xing

the businesses of people with

751

:

100, 000 people on an email list.

752

:

Here's what works really well.

753

:

Let's create that.

754

:

Then I was like, okay, but we

got to add in a text message, or

755

:

we have to add in some sort of a

voicemail or something like that.

756

:

And the beauty is that now in 2023,

we have tools to automate all of that.

757

:

So the robots are doing the

work, but people think it's you.

758

:

So if I get 300 leads in one day over

the course of the next week, they're

759

:

going to get an email campaign.

760

:

They will get a text

message within two hours.

761

:

They will get a voicemail

drop to call us back.

762

:

We can now do campaigns with text messages

and voicemail drops to, for example, get

763

:

people, um, A conversion event, uh, our

current effortless sales engine program,

764

:

which is where we teach all of these

things got filled up because of all the

765

:

automations where people maybe found us

on YouTube four months ago and have been

766

:

going through all these automations.

767

:

Then they saw us with all

these JVs and then they were

768

:

like, here's my credit card.

769

:

Michael Whitehouse: Oh, okay.

770

:

Yeah.

771

:

And, and, well, like one thing you

mentioned there sort of almost in

772

:

passing, um, is one of the things

I really believe is integrity.

773

:

The fact that you use the system

to sell the system that you're,

774

:

you're, you know, nowadays people

DM me and say, I'm going to teach

775

:

you an amazing Facebook ad method.

776

:

Amanda Abella: We eat our

own dog food around here.

777

:

Huh?

778

:

That's what we call it.

779

:

We call it eating our own dog food.

780

:

Yes.

781

:

Yep.

782

:

Around here.

783

:

Yeah.

784

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yep.

785

:

Yep.

786

:

The best ones is the people who DM me

to tell me that they have an amazing

787

:

methods you never need to DM again.

788

:

Like, yeah, can't work that well.

789

:

Amanda Abella: Yeah, exactly.

790

:

Can't work that well.

791

:

But you know, this current, I mean,

to give you an idea of how effective

792

:

this system is behind the scenes,

we're about to sell this thing out.

793

:

And in the last three months, I moved to

another country was traveling because we

794

:

didn't know where we were going to live.

795

:

Then we had to find a house.

796

:

Then we find a house.

797

:

Then we have to renovate the house.

798

:

We've barely been able to work.

799

:

In the last three months and this thing,

I've barely been on social media and

800

:

definitely not in a strategic way.

801

:

And this thing is still about to sell out.

802

:

And that's because of the JB partners.

803

:

Like I mentioned, we're sending

traffic our way and we plan that

804

:

ahead of time and the YouTube.

805

:

So being very strategic with search

engine optimization and things like that

806

:

and all the automations on the backend.

807

:

Wow.

808

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah.

809

:

Yes.

810

:

Yeah.

811

:

The, the army of robots

are marching along for you.

812

:

Amanda Abella: Yeah, and

that's the goal, right?

813

:

Um, a lot of people talk about

ease and flow in business and, you

814

:

know, just being able to relax.

815

:

Well, you, it doesn't mean you got to

build the thing first and put the work

816

:

up front and it's hard and it sucks.

817

:

I mean, there were some moments

where we were up until, I don't know.

818

:

14, 15, 16 hours trying to figure this

thing out with all the tech issues or just

819

:

me experimenting with 400 calls, right?

820

:

So I did all the experimenting.

821

:

So our clients wouldn't have to, to

find what works and what doesn't.

822

:

We have the data to prove that

this business, we're eating our

823

:

own dog food has doubled month

over month in the last quarter.

824

:

And we've only been able to work

at 10 percent capacity while

825

:

we moved to another country.

826

:

Michael Whitehouse: That is a pretty

good, uh, pretty good case study.

827

:

Amanda Abella: Yeah.

828

:

And, you know, now we're ready to

start sharing that stuff on social

829

:

because now is when we have the time.

830

:

Yep.

831

:

We don't have to rewire a whole house now.

832

:

It's all good.

833

:

We can get back to social media.

834

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

835

:

What else?

836

:

I liked, um, one thing you

mentioned about talking about

837

:

the copy, uh, was Was a personal

stories that, yeah, a lot of copy.

838

:

Um, and I, I never know exactly what

I figure on exactly what is, but it's

839

:

like the, the, the sales story, if

you know what I mean, it happened to

840

:

someone at some time, but it could be

anyone, but it's really no one, you

841

:

know, where they say, you know, when I

was younger, this challenge happened.

842

:

And then I overcame the challenge

with this amazing solution.

843

:

And now you should come to my program.

844

:

Like younger, like.

845

:

Last week, last month,

last year, last century?

846

:

I don't know.

847

:

As opposed to when I see a story

that says, Last Tuesday, I was

848

:

out with my dog, and, like, that's

something I try to do on my emails.

849

:

Is I'll be like, here's a picture of

my dog and this thing happened with

850

:

the dog and people like, oh my God,

he's a real person with a real dog.

851

:

Look at that.

852

:

Amanda Abella: Yeah, a real person

with a real dog, like literally one

853

:

of our biggest irritations this year.

854

:

And again, we've tested this with over

here's we go with the data and eating our

855

:

own dog food tested over 100, 000 emails.

856

:

This year alone.

857

:

And that was the common issue is

everybody sounds like everybody else.

858

:

And before we started recording,

you had mentioned that, um,

859

:

what was it that you said?

860

:

You'd mentioned that being authentic

is, um, it's like the most valuable

861

:

thing people can do, but it's

not an easy, what was it that

862

:

you said about being authentic?

863

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah.

864

:

So, so it was really good.

865

:

Yeah.

866

:

Cause you were talking about how

marketers have ruined everything.

867

:

They ruined SEO and then they

ruined blogging and they ruined,

868

:

and, and that's why authenticity

is becoming more and more powerful.

869

:

Cause as you have more and more tools

to help you find, especially things

870

:

like Tik TOK, there, there's no, you

can't game the Tik TOK algorithm cause

871

:

it's AI based and it keeps moving.

872

:

So it's built around.

873

:

If you're authentically sharing a

message, it will find your audience.

874

:

Um, and so more and more people

are sniffing through all the,

875

:

all the BS and all the copy

and all the, the, the formulas.

876

:

And once they see the same formula

for the third time, it's like if they

877

:

went to, you know, if they went to

one Burger King and didn't like it.

878

:

And they see a second Burger King, they're

like, no, I don't like Burger King.

879

:

They, they read the same type of copy.

880

:

They're like, Oh, I've

seen this kind of copy.

881

:

I don't like that.

882

:

And so, but if you're you, there's only

one of you that ever seen you before.

883

:

And then back, Oh, this is new.

884

:

This is interesting.

885

:

Amanda Abella: It's interesting

that you bring that up because

886

:

I'm like hacking Instagram right

now, because this is my, my fun.

887

:

I used to be a blogger.

888

:

Now I get to do this again, era.

889

:

And it's interesting that you say that

because I was doing some research, right?

890

:

I'm like, Hey, what's performing

well on Instagram reels.

891

:

What's working, what's

trending that just studying.

892

:

Right.

893

:

And I saw like in three

different instances, right?

894

:

So with three different kinds

of reels, I saw the same exact

895

:

thing, seven or eight times from

seven or eight different people.

896

:

Where were they performing?

897

:

I mean, it seems that they

were performing, right?

898

:

Because that's something that was

trending and it was really valuable

899

:

content, but I would go to the caption.

900

:

Like, this caption is literally exactly

like the caption I just read from this

901

:

other person, like, five minutes ago.

902

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yep.

903

:

Yeah.

904

:

And then it fails to, well, so that, that

thing, that's part of why people do it.

905

:

Like if it's working, if, if a platform

rewards inauthenticity, which is,

906

:

that's why I've, I've leaned towards

a tick tock over Instagram because

907

:

Instagram rewards, um, you know,

paying the praying to the Zuckerberg

908

:

God and tick tock rewards, unique,

nothing uniqueness and authenticity.

909

:

Amanda Abella: Yeah, I mean I haven't

like so i've been on instagram for

910

:

a while So i'm testing that one.

911

:

I seem to have a rhythm going on

youtube Right, and then now, you know

912

:

tiktok will be the next foray Yeah,

but to your point like literally

913

:

this week while i'm creating the

marketing calendar for the next month.

914

:

I ran into that very problem on instagram

915

:

Michael Whitehouse: Interesting,

but I think especially with emails.

916

:

Um, you know if when I open my my email

box I mean I end up on all kinds of

917

:

people's lists because I meet all kinds

of people and I'm like, yeah, sure.

918

:

I'll get a new list.

919

:

Let's see what you're up to.

920

:

And then I discovered their list

is nothing but generic, bland,

921

:

sanitized marketing content.

922

:

And you know, they have no opinions.

923

:

They have no story.

924

:

I don't learn anything about them.

925

:

Um, I I've encountered partners who

you could get on this for six months

926

:

and learn nothing about them because

all they did was promote partners.

927

:

Because they're entirely in this

reciprocity like other people

928

:

promoted them and they promote

out so there was no value content.

929

:

It was just by this, by this,

by this, by this, by this.

930

:

Amanda Abella: And again, that goes

back to that lack of creativity.

931

:

So I'll give a little behind

the scenes if you're up for it.

932

:

Sure.

933

:

Of the conversation we had before we even

got here because of course you're going to

934

:

be one of our referral partners in 2024.

935

:

We already talked about that, but what

did I say before we started recording?

936

:

I said, Hey, and this is a very

simple thing people can do and

937

:

they do not do, but I learned this

back from my blogging media days.

938

:

I was like, Hey, is it okay if I

record this locally on my end and I can

939

:

turn this into a bunch of short form

videos and we'll promote it for you.

940

:

I'll send you the folder.

941

:

You can do whatever you want

with the short form videos.

942

:

I'm promoting you to my people

without necessarily, you know,

943

:

burning through my email list.

944

:

Yep.

945

:

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah.

946

:

Well, that's the thing is

it doesn't burn your list.

947

:

You can provide value.

948

:

I promote I promote, uh, an

average of seven partners a day.

949

:

So there are, I send daily emails and

in almost every one of them, there's

950

:

at least seven links you could click

on that would go to some kind of opt

951

:

in page, sales page, registration page.

952

:

Amanda Abella: That's

another way you can do it.

953

:

Right.

954

:

And if that works for you, cool, because

there's a lot of email marketers out

955

:

here who will say, don't do that.

956

:

Don't send seven links in an email.

957

:

And I'm like, do you whatever

experiment testing, whatever works

958

:

for you is what works for you.

959

:

Michael Whitehouse: The

crazy thing is that.

960

:

One offer is a pitch,

seven offers is a catalog.

961

:

So if I have seven offers there, you know,

if I come to you and I say, Hey, I've

962

:

got a shirt, do you want to buy a shirt?

963

:

You're like, why are

you selling me a shirt?

964

:

But if I put a thousand shirts in

a building and I put a sign on the

965

:

front of the building, you walk

in and say, show me your shirts.

966

:

Amanda Abella: Oh, that's really smart.

967

:

That's very creative.

968

:

I like that.

969

:

Michael Whitehouse: I learned

it from Ellen Finkelstein.

970

:

So it's not original, but Oh yeah.

971

:

Yeah.

972

:

Nothing's original.

973

:

Everything's learned from someone else.

974

:

Um, but yeah, that's what I discovered.

975

:

And so she teaches that method.

976

:

And when I started doing it,

I called the resource letter.

977

:

I can't remember if she calls it

that or something else, but when I

978

:

started doing that, um, I'd send out

an email and like, Hey, let's try it.

979

:

I'm promoting seven partners at once.

980

:

And I got emails back saying, thank

you for providing all this value.

981

:

And I'm thinking these

are all affiliate links.

982

:

I'm not doing anything generous here.

983

:

I'm promoting seven partners.

984

:

You know, they're seeing it as this

is on seven things that might interest

985

:

me, seven things that might benefit me.

986

:

And also it's because it's, it's value.

987

:

If you send that generic email,

that's, uh, that's, you know,

988

:

You know, George had a problem.

989

:

George doesn't exist, of course.

990

:

George had a problem, and that problem was

really bad, but he used our system, and

991

:

now he doesn't have the problem anymore.

992

:

Amanda Abella: Tom makes

six figures your first year.

993

:

Okay, well, that's overdone.

994

:

Michael Whitehouse: Like,

there's no value in that.

995

:

That's completely overdone.

996

:

Yeah, that's, even when I propose

something directly, I'll share a story.

997

:

I'll be like, you know, um, last

Tuesday, I was talking to Amanda,

998

:

and she was telling me about her

program, and what I liked about it

999

:

was, And then we talked in the podcast.

:

00:45:15,175 --> 00:45:16,075

There's a link to the podcast.

:

00:45:16,125 --> 00:45:18,065

And now there's a masterclass

coming up next week.

:

00:45:18,245 --> 00:45:19,735

And you should check it out.

:

00:45:19,915 --> 00:45:21,415

So it feels like you under

:

00:45:21,485 --> 00:45:23,285

Amanda Abella: you understand

how to people though.

:

00:45:23,375 --> 00:45:23,585

Yeah.

:

00:45:23,605 --> 00:45:23,825

Right.

:

00:45:25,535 --> 00:45:25,825

Right.

:

00:45:25,835 --> 00:45:28,975

People who understand how to

people know how to do this.

:

00:45:28,995 --> 00:45:32,455

They think of those little details in

order to maintain the relationship,

:

00:45:32,465 --> 00:45:35,905

not in a way you're trying to

take from me by no means, right.

:

00:45:36,155 --> 00:45:37,675

Or exploit me or anything.

:

00:45:37,685 --> 00:45:39,225

Cause I know people are afraid of that.

:

00:45:39,455 --> 00:45:41,435

It's just very simple, basic things.

:

00:45:41,445 --> 00:45:43,785

The same way that I was like,

Hey, my team and I can turn

:

00:45:43,785 --> 00:45:44,985

this into short form videos.

:

00:45:45,125 --> 00:45:46,435

You can use it on your social media.

:

00:45:46,745 --> 00:45:47,235

Here you go.

:

00:45:47,245 --> 00:45:47,755

Have fun.

:

00:45:47,985 --> 00:45:48,225

Right.

:

00:45:48,225 --> 00:45:51,985

But it's these little things that

people do not think about because

:

00:45:51,985 --> 00:45:54,015

they do not know how to people.

:

00:45:54,205 --> 00:45:54,375

Yep.

:

00:45:55,715 --> 00:45:58,065

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah, that was the

first thing I learned of the first thing,

:

00:45:58,155 --> 00:46:02,465

but the thing that changed everything

with email was a shift from I'm emailing a

:

00:46:02,465 --> 00:46:06,065

market to I'm emailing a list of friends.

:

00:46:06,775 --> 00:46:08,795

And the fact that I built my list

through networking, like most of

:

00:46:08,795 --> 00:46:12,745

those people I'd done one to ones with

who opted in that also affect like,

:

00:46:12,745 --> 00:46:13,875

I don't want to burn these people.

:

00:46:13,875 --> 00:46:14,565

I've met them.

:

00:46:14,645 --> 00:46:16,144

Like these are real people.

:

00:46:16,145 --> 00:46:19,185

So I thought, okay, I'm sending

an email to hundreds of people.

:

00:46:19,215 --> 00:46:21,285

I know it's not an audience.

:

00:46:21,755 --> 00:46:22,675

It's a community.

:

00:46:22,685 --> 00:46:26,665

It's like, I'm sending it out to

hundreds or thousands of my friends.

:

00:46:26,915 --> 00:46:27,945

How am I going to talk to them?

:

00:46:28,195 --> 00:46:29,775

Well, I'm not going to

send them generic content.

:

00:46:29,775 --> 00:46:31,245

I'm not going to cut and paste.

:

00:46:31,485 --> 00:46:34,105

I'd never use swipe copy

because it feels plagiarism.

:

00:46:34,525 --> 00:46:38,615

If I copy your text and put my

name under it, that's plagiarism.

:

00:46:39,215 --> 00:46:39,495

Right?

:

00:46:39,495 --> 00:46:40,615

Like it's inauthentic.

:

00:46:40,665 --> 00:46:44,295

And if it's a launch and seven

other people do the same thing,

:

00:46:44,335 --> 00:46:45,605

now we all look like schmucks.

:

00:46:47,035 --> 00:46:49,765

Um, but even if it's by itself, you

still like, that's not what you say.

:

00:46:49,805 --> 00:46:50,965

Is that what you sound like?

:

00:46:51,415 --> 00:46:53,165

So now they're thinking that's my writing.

:

00:46:53,635 --> 00:46:54,905

And that's how I'm talking to them.

:

00:46:55,345 --> 00:46:56,575

And I'm like, that's not my writing.

:

00:46:56,595 --> 00:47:00,595

Now, what I will do is that what I call

a JV guest letter, I will sometimes

:

00:47:00,595 --> 00:47:05,035

take, I will quote it and I'll, I'll put

their headshot next to it and their copy.

:

00:47:05,815 --> 00:47:07,975

And I'll say, you know, let

me share with you what, what

:

00:47:07,975 --> 00:47:10,085

Amanda's doing in her own words.

:

00:47:10,405 --> 00:47:12,395

And then there's four paragraphs

next to your headshot.

:

00:47:12,915 --> 00:47:15,395

And then afterwards I'd be like, and

now you'll see why I'm so excited

:

00:47:15,395 --> 00:47:16,635

about sharing this, go check it out.

:

00:47:17,745 --> 00:47:18,055

So

:

00:47:18,095 --> 00:47:20,135

Amanda Abella: yeah, see,

but that's, that makes sense.

:

00:47:20,175 --> 00:47:20,955

That's creative.

:

00:47:20,955 --> 00:47:22,575

There's some sort of personal story.

:

00:47:22,845 --> 00:47:24,275

Most people are copying pasting.

:

00:47:24,285 --> 00:47:25,895

Granted, I will call myself out.

:

00:47:25,895 --> 00:47:29,075

I did it in the beginning of:

but I was also experimenting.

:

00:47:29,085 --> 00:47:30,945

Remember I had no data, right?

:

00:47:30,945 --> 00:47:32,114

So I was like, let me experiment.

:

00:47:32,114 --> 00:47:32,955

So maybe it works.

:

00:47:33,755 --> 00:47:34,045

Right.

:

00:47:34,075 --> 00:47:36,775

I was like, I have no data, so

I'm going to test this and see

:

00:47:36,775 --> 00:47:37,825

what works and what doesn't.

:

00:47:37,825 --> 00:47:40,165

And after sending those

hundred thousand emails, now

:

00:47:40,165 --> 00:47:41,745

we have some pretty solid data.

:

00:47:42,095 --> 00:47:45,975

That we can teach to our clients

based on us experimenting and being

:

00:47:45,975 --> 00:47:50,185

the guinea pig and eating our own dog

food as we like to say around here.

:

00:47:50,465 --> 00:47:54,315

But, um, to your point, yes, those

personal stories are everything.

:

00:47:54,315 --> 00:47:58,895

I mean, 1 of the reasons we're starting

another brand called entrepreneur expat is

:

00:47:58,925 --> 00:48:03,855

because when I started sharing that I had

moved to Mexico, I haven't even shared the

:

00:48:03,855 --> 00:48:09,615

full on house renovation yet, but I will,

um, I will because it's a story, right?

:

00:48:09,615 --> 00:48:14,625

It's a story and I can, and I can turn

that life story into marketing and that's

:

00:48:14,625 --> 00:48:18,925

a whole other skill that requires a lot

of creativity and every, I feel like

:

00:48:18,925 --> 00:48:22,395

everything that we've talked about in

this podcast episode are just skills and

:

00:48:22,395 --> 00:48:24,255

it's skills that people need to practice.

:

00:48:24,255 --> 00:48:26,565

It's skills that people

need to invest in learning.

:

00:48:26,565 --> 00:48:29,635

It's skills people need to

experiment with and they just,

:

00:48:29,815 --> 00:48:31,005

they just got to put in the reps.

:

00:48:32,145 --> 00:48:32,895

Michael Whitehouse: Yeah, absolutely.

:

00:48:33,195 --> 00:48:35,545

Um, so I think we've been talking

for like three and a half hours.

:

00:48:35,715 --> 00:48:37,285

Uh, so feels like it.

:

00:48:37,745 --> 00:48:39,815

We should probably wrap

up but but in a good way.

:

00:48:40,115 --> 00:48:41,695

Um, we can certainly talk longer.

:

00:48:41,695 --> 00:48:43,905

But as we record this, it's Halloween

and my daughter wants to go trick

:

00:48:43,905 --> 00:48:45,305

or treating as people listen to it.

:

00:48:45,355 --> 00:48:46,095

It's not Halloween.

:

00:48:46,245 --> 00:48:47,665

So they'll be all confused.

:

00:48:47,855 --> 00:48:49,395

Amanda Abella: But it's the mortals here.

:

00:48:49,395 --> 00:48:50,215

They don't do Halloween.

:

00:48:50,225 --> 00:48:50,915

They do the other.

:

00:48:50,955 --> 00:48:53,075

Well, they kind of sort

of do Halloween in Mexico.

:

00:48:53,075 --> 00:48:54,905

But the other was more those

is more of a thing here.

:

00:48:54,905 --> 00:48:57,502

Michael Whitehouse: Okay,

go to Mexico someday for it.

:

00:48:57,502 --> 00:48:58,614

Anyway, but yeah.

:

00:48:59,405 --> 00:49:00,365

No time for that now.

:

00:49:00,525 --> 00:49:05,305

Um, so you said, so I believe that you

have a link, which is definitely in the

:

00:49:05,325 --> 00:49:08,355

description, although I don't have it in

my hands at this second, but it will be

:

00:49:08,355 --> 00:49:09,635

by the time someone's listening to this.

:

00:49:09,915 --> 00:49:11,745

Amanda Abella: And it will be

a referral partner link, so

:

00:49:11,745 --> 00:49:12,895

you can track all the data.

:

00:49:14,045 --> 00:49:15,895

Michael Whitehouse: So what will

people get if they go to that

:

00:49:15,895 --> 00:49:16,885

link down in the description?

:

00:49:17,295 --> 00:49:20,405

Amanda Abella: So, you're going to

get my free guide that explains the 8

:

00:49:20,415 --> 00:49:26,255

steps that I use to not just find a 100

referral partners, but also manage them

:

00:49:26,265 --> 00:49:32,355

on the back end, which has led to days

where we get up to 300 leads in a day.

:

00:49:32,635 --> 00:49:36,355

And it's a big part of the reason why

this business is doubled month over month,

:

00:49:36,355 --> 00:49:38,975

even while we've been barely able to work.

:

00:49:39,225 --> 00:49:42,455

While we're in the middle of a house

renovation, so it's the 8 step process.

:

00:49:42,745 --> 00:49:45,125

I did the 400 horrible calls.

:

00:49:45,135 --> 00:49:48,495

So you don't have to and

gathered all the data for you.

:

00:49:48,495 --> 00:49:50,765

So you don't have to go

through the torture that I did.

:

00:49:51,085 --> 00:49:51,865

Michael Whitehouse: That's awesome.

:

00:49:51,865 --> 00:49:53,695

And that's the freebie you're offering.

:

00:49:54,265 --> 00:49:56,764

Amanda Abella: That's the

freebie I'm offering, yes.

:

00:49:56,765 --> 00:49:57,825

Michael Whitehouse: Your

program must be amazing.

:

00:49:59,105 --> 00:50:02,134

I assume it's taking that to the next

level and going through it with people.

:

00:50:02,135 --> 00:50:04,795

Amanda Abella: Yeah, actually, the

woman who built Deepak Chopra's

:

00:50:04,795 --> 00:50:06,745

sales team got her hands on it.

:

00:50:06,745 --> 00:50:10,275

And she's like, if people followed this

guide, they would never have a lead

:

00:50:10,275 --> 00:50:12,409

flow problem ever in their business.

:

00:50:12,850 --> 00:50:13,280

Michael Whitehouse: Awesome.

:

00:50:13,290 --> 00:50:16,600

Well, so definitely, and I'll probably

be sharing that out to my list as

:

00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:19,450

well because that seems like something

my community might be interested in.

:

00:50:19,770 --> 00:50:20,130

So

:

00:50:20,140 --> 00:50:21,690

Amanda Abella: yeah, you do a lot of JVs.

:

00:50:21,730 --> 00:50:22,390

They might want it.

:

00:50:23,730 --> 00:50:25,430

Michael Whitehouse: So

that's, that is awesome.

:

00:50:25,430 --> 00:50:26,610

So thank you very much to go.

:

00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:31,860

So you listeners go look in the, the

description down below or wherever it is

:

00:50:31,890 --> 00:50:34,130

on whatever platform you're watching on.

:

00:50:34,720 --> 00:50:38,110

And if you're somehow watching this in a

platform that doesn't have it, then just.

:

00:50:38,275 --> 00:50:41,395

comment or email me and

I'll make sure you get it.

:

00:50:41,815 --> 00:50:43,825

So thank you so much

for being on the show.

:

00:50:43,825 --> 00:50:44,975

Any final comments?

:

00:50:46,555 --> 00:50:47,605

Amanda Abella: Just have fun with it.

:

00:50:47,805 --> 00:50:51,115

I think people just take themselves

too damn seriously and then that's

:

00:50:51,135 --> 00:50:54,285

where you have the lit lack of

creativity and the lack of people

:

00:50:54,285 --> 00:50:55,915

and just like have some freaking fun.

:

00:50:55,915 --> 00:50:57,083

It's not that serious.

:

00:50:57,083 --> 00:50:57,825

Michael Whitehouse: Have fun.

:

00:50:57,875 --> 00:50:59,935

That is a, if it's not fun, why do it?

:

00:51:00,565 --> 00:51:01,235

Exactly.

:

00:51:01,655 --> 00:51:02,525

Well, thanks for being on.

:

00:51:02,535 --> 00:51:03,415

This has been fun.

:

00:51:04,220 --> 00:51:05,290

Amanda Abella: It definitely has.

:

00:51:05,290 --> 00:51:09,290

I look forward to your event, uh,

in December and also where this

:

00:51:09,290 --> 00:51:12,430

partnership goes and having you

on my podcast for the part too.

:

00:51:12,700 --> 00:51:12,810

Oh,

:

00:51:13,100 --> 00:51:14,020

Michael Whitehouse: I

love being on podcasts.

:

00:51:14,080 --> 00:51:14,870

That way I can talk a lot.

:

00:51:15,580 --> 00:51:16,190

Exactly.

:

00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:18,189

I'll see you there.

:

00:51:18,970 --> 00:51:20,720

for joining us for the guy

who knows a guy podcast.

:

00:51:20,810 --> 00:51:22,920

I'm Michael Whitehouse, the guy

who knows the guy, and I hope

:

00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:26,820

you'll join us in December for the

12th and the 14th for JV Connect.

:

00:51:27,080 --> 00:51:28,770

Go to guy who knows a guy.

:

00:51:30,010 --> 00:51:33,470

For more details now, if it's after

December:

:

00:51:33,470 --> 00:51:37,410

this, it's okay, because we're going

to be doing this event every quarter

:

00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:39,180

to go to guy knows a guy dot com.

:

00:51:39,380 --> 00:51:40,220

See what's new.

:

00:51:40,570 --> 00:51:41,480

See what's happening.

:

00:51:41,670 --> 00:51:43,750

And of course, check the show

notes, learn about our guests and

:

00:51:43,750 --> 00:51:45,330

how you get in touch with them.

:

00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:48,770

Check out our next episode for

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:

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and networking tips from Michael

Whitehouse, the guy who knows a guy.

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