If you're an entrepreneur looking to scale your brand, we get it. It's hard to find the time to do everything that needs doing when you're running a business. You already have a high level of self-awareness as an ambitious entrepreneur wanting to scale your business. You've already achieved success, but you're well aware that there are likely still many things you've never done before. While you've demonstrated your ability to solve a variety of problems in the past, you're probably aware of the time it'll take to figure out what's next in the context of your ambitious growth ambitions. As a result, you recognize that the consequences of getting it wrong might be significant and far-reaching for both you and your company. By hiring a coach, you'll benefit from both strategic and operational knowledge with a demonstrated track record of success in scaling firms. You'll benefit from an expert who can provide practical, hands-on support and advice to help you design your scale-up plan, stay on track, and deliver the outcomes you're looking for. They'll see your potential and work with you to keep distractions to a minimum so that your personal and work performance is at its best. They'll have firsthand experience with the difficulties of running, scaling, and even quitting a business in an ever-changing commercial environment. They'll have firsthand experience of not only scaling a business to maximize profitability, but also scaling a business to increase asset value in preparation for a future sale. Working with a great coach who has a demonstrated track record of success will allow you to make use of all of their knowledge to guarantee that you're using the best methods, tools, and approaches to scale your business as quickly as possible. They'll be aware of the company's changing needs, and they'll have systems, processes, and reporting in place that support your innovation and growth goals, as well. Whatever stage of development your company is at, the operational needs of the company will rise as well. Connect with Taylor:https://focusfunnels.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-frame/ Connect with Cory and Ron: Head over to Https://profitswithpodcasts.com to find out more about how your can easily launch and monetize a podcast. Or maybe you would like to learn more by jumping on a call with the guys? Just book a time that works for you! Connect with the Guys - Hindsight HacKing Media And you can find Cory and Ron on a few social channels! Ron COOL Cory Carter Or you just want to check out their websites:Https://gethhm.com
If you're an entrepreneur looking to scale your brand, we get it.
It's hard to find the time to do everything that needs doing when you're running a business.
You already have a high level of self-awareness as an ambitious entrepreneur wanting to scale your business. You've already achieved success, but you're well aware that there are likely still many things you've never done before. While you've demonstrated your ability to solve a variety of problems in the past, you're probably aware of the time it'll take to figure out what's next in the context of your ambitious growth ambitions. As a result, you recognize that the consequences of getting it wrong might be significant and far-reaching for both you and your company.
By hiring a coach, you'll benefit from both strategic and operational knowledge with a demonstrated track record of success in scaling firms. You'll benefit from an expert who can provide practical, hands-on support and advice to help you design your scale-up plan, stay on track, and deliver the outcomes you're looking for.
They'll see your potential and work with you to keep distractions to a minimum so that your personal and work performance is at its best.
They'll have firsthand experience with the difficulties of running, scaling, and even quitting a business in an ever-changing commercial environment. They'll have firsthand experience of not only scaling a business to maximize profitability, but also scaling a business to increase asset value in preparation for a future sale.
Working with a great coach who has a demonstrated track record of success will allow you to make use of all of their knowledge to guarantee that you're using the best methods, tools, and approaches to scale your business as quickly as possible.
They'll be aware of the company's changing needs, and they'll have systems, processes, and reporting in place that support your innovation and growth goals, as well.
Whatever stage of development your company is at, the operational needs of the company will rise as well.
Connect with Taylor:
https://focusfunnels.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-frame/
Connect with Cory and Ron:
Head over to Https://profitswithpodcasts.com to find out more about how your can easily launch and monetize a podcast.
Or maybe you would like to learn more by jumping on a call with the guys? Just book a time that works for you!
Connect with the Guys - Hindsight HacKing Media
And you can find Cory and Ron on a few social channels!
Or you just want to check out their websites:
Https://gethhm.com
[00:00:00] TAYLOR: Everyone's standing on each other's shoulders simultaneously. Like there's just impossible to operate in a vacuum. And that's why I kind of get annoyed when founders are like, like I build this. I'm like, yeah, you built that. But there was also like 400 other people involved, right. There was your significant other that was willing to watch the kids. While you worked long hours, there was your team that came to the table for your customers that supported you. Like nothing happens in a vacuum. .
[00:00:27] CORY: Welcome to Hindsight Hacking, I'm Cory Carter
[00:00:44] RON: And I'm Ron Cool on this podcast we've packed. Hundreds of entrepreneurs. Hindsight tells you. With better foresight. Now, guys, if you want to know all about what we can do to help you focus on being you head over to get hhm.com, keep [00:01:00] pushing through those ups and downs that we all will have.
[00:01:03] CORY: We're still going to have amazing conversations with amazing people. Hindsight hacking boils down to amazing conversations with some amazing people
[00:01:21] what is going on, everybody. Welcome back to hindsight hacking and today's special guests. Another fellow marketing agency owner, but I'm guaranteeing he does things differently than we do. So this is why we get to have these great conversations. But Mr. Taylor Frame, the co-founder of focus funnels a six figure a year marketing agency, helping incredible entrepreneurs grow and monetize their community. And you know, most importantly, Taylor's a husband and a father committed to living a balanced and fulfilled life. So speaking to us, just from that Taylor a we, we definitely try to [00:02:00] practice that, try to preach that family is why we started this thing. And so, you know, we, we always want to be reminded of that and not work, you know, a hundred hours a week because then why do we do it? So, anyway, first and foremost, thank you so much for being here, Taylor.
[00:02:13] TAYLOR: Hey, my pleasure. Thank you so much Ron and Cory
[00:02:16] RON: we're superstoked to have you. And I know we've we spoke briefly before, but before we get into all of that fun stuff Why don't you take a moment and tell everyone a little bit more about.
[00:02:26] TAYLOR: Yeah, thank you. Excited to be here. So like I said, my name is Taylor. I'm one of the co-founders here at Focus Funnels. We really have two sides to our business? On one side, we have a full service digital marketing agency and we really specialize in e-commerce. So that's, that's the majority of our clientele there and we're servicing 40 to 50 clients a month on that. I'm about a million dollars a month in ad spend flows through our doors. And then the other side of my business, and this is relatively a new venture we've been doing this for about six months is we have a coaching and consulting program where we're teaching entrepreneurs, how to build [00:03:00] successful e-commerce business. And that's a program called community academy. It's super fun because it's all live coaching. We don't do any like prerecorded stuff. It's all live we're, we're in the weeds with everybody walking them through, essentially. How do you build a really successful e-commerce shop? Helping everyone avoid a lot of the pitfalls? So it's the two sides of my business. So excited to chat with you guys today because there's some, there's some interesting. Interesting things I'd love to share with your audience as well.
[00:03:26] CORY: Yeah, definitely. So first and foremost co-founder meaning you've got a partner or are more tell us about that experience because you know, Ron and I, we always look to model ourselves after good business partners, right? Like we're always watching people out in the world and you know, so many people do it by themselves. Others that have partners and we've watched people come and go and they're like, oh, these guys are working together. Oh, wait, no, they're not working together anymore. So I'd love to hear about that kind of whole relationship and how that got started with those people that you work with.
[00:03:58] TAYLOR: Yeah. So my partner's [00:04:00] name is Zach. We've been partners now for going into our seventh year together and we have actually outlasted, many of them. Of our client's marriages. So we feel, we feel pretty good of it. Honestly, I think approaching a partnership, almost like a marriage, if you have a good marriage is, is very similar. So a couple of things that we did from the very beginning to set the stage is one we anticipated, okay, where are we going to? Where are we going to butt heads? Like where like, so when we first started this partnership, We started to think about the end in mind would say, let's assume we really dislike each other. We can't come to any terms of agreements. How do we deal with that situation? And then we actually built our partnership agreement, like the contractual side of our business around that worst case Scenario and so we kind of worked it backwards. And by, by thinking about it that way, we had a lot of the difficult conversations really early on and were able to get a lot of that stuff out, [00:05:00] which anybody that's going into a partnership, you've got to have those, those tough conversations at the start not when everything is heated and like your revenue is on the line and the businesses on the line. That's the worst time to have those conversations
[00:05:13] RON: have a conversation when you like each other.
[00:05:16] TAYLOR: Exactly. Like when you're trying to get into this right. Where there's still that magic, you know, talk about that tough stuff. The second thing that has been absolutely crucial is. It is having really, really open conversations, you know, and, and both him and I, I am more on the sales revenue recruiting side of our business, and then he's on the marketing, like the technical backend, all that side. So we really play really well to each other's strengths, but sometimes we find each other, like trying to creep into the other person's area. Right. And you almost got to kind of like slap their hand, be like, no, dude, let me handle it. This is what I'm good at. You go over here and handle this. That's what your good at. And so having that [00:06:00] really open dialogue has, has been a recipe for success through our whole thing. So I think those two things is, you know, start with the end in mind, have an open dialogue. And then the last tip I'll leave anyone that's doing a partnership. Is it? You just gotta be patient with each other. You know, there's gonna be times when I'm on cloud nine, I'm super pumped on what we're doing. And my partner's really bummed. And then there's times when we switch, you know, and just being patient with each other through that. And sometimes like we give ourselves space where like, Hey dude, I'm going to talk to you. in like four days And we'll talk that and see where you're at. So that's the last thing.
[00:06:37] RON: Luckily, Cory and I never have any of those issues whatsoever. So it was funny. Cause you were like treat it like a marriage and start with the end in mind. I was like, oh, now, now let's not do that. Like that, that was hard. But, but yes, you're, you're a hundred percent, right? It is. It is like you're married, like. There was times that I saw Cory more than I saw anybody else. And I didn't even really see [00:07:00] Cory cause he was on the screen. Right. Like, so it's it's I spent most of my time just staring at a Cory image on my screen. So it's, it's very funny. But you said something that was that Cory and I had just recently started doing we're we're like, okay, well let's divide and conquer. Instead of both of us doing the exact same thing, which is now creating confusion for our team, Because what, what caught my attention? We had a team meeting and we always have, you know, team meetings on Monday. And then we have them throughout the week, but our main ones on Monday and they asked a question and Cory you could probably remember this and we both answered it different
[00:07:34] CORY: same time talked over each other with different answers.
[00:07:37] RON: And we put them in, normally we're Cory and I are very aligned on pretty much everything. So it kind of even took us back that we answered it differently. Do you want to like uh oh, now what? Right. And everyone, it was dead silence, right? And I remember, I think at that point I was like, yeah, whatever Cory just said, let's just go with that. [00:08:00] But it was something that we had to have the conversation like, okay, what, what is our strengths? How can we accelerate the buisness yeah, what don't we like doing? And then luckily what he liked doing, I liked doing what I didn't like doing. He liked doing it, so it worked out, but you know, sometimes it doesn't work out like that. Right. And your strengths don't play well together, but, you know, we were blessed that, that it did work out that way. So that was good. All right. So you, you started, you said there was two separate tracks to your business. Very similar to Cory and I, we have a digital marketing agency and we help people launch podcasts. And it's interesting because. And I'm going to see if you've noticed this. Like some of our clients that go through our coaching program will then want us to do their digital marketing stuff. So now we've kind of transitioned from, Hey, we're your coach to now they're telling us what they want to do. Right. Sometimes like, for me, it's like, I hate that transition. Like what just [00:09:00] happened? Like why, why is this happening? Like you trusted us in this right. A hundred percent and now we're telling you, Hey, this is where we think you should go. And you're like, no, do it this way. Okay. We've seen that happen. It doesn't work. Please stop it. You know, have you run into that?
[00:09:17] TAYLOR: We actually experienced the opposite. And I'll explain what I mean by that. We work with a lot of like early stage e-commerce shops and the agency model for early stage e-commerce shops doesn't really work. You know, even if you charge a pretty flat, low retainer and you've got ad spend on top of that. It's really hard if they're doing less than like 10 to 15 K a month to make those economics work out, no matter how good your ads are. Right. It's just really hard to get those economics to work. Yeah. And especially with the, with the lower reporting across Facebook, Google, you know what used to be a four or five X return on investment is now at one to three. right? And even if it's higher, like that's what Facebook's tracking. [00:10:00] So that's usually what most understand. Right. So what happened is we were, we were working with all these early stage startups in the traditional retainer ads bin model, and it just wasn't profitable enough for them to stick with. But we know they just needed like five to six months of support where their business would get to like 15, 20, 30 K a month. Boom. Then it makes sense to hire an agency, but we were too much on the front end of that. So everyone would leave the partnership frustrated after two or three months is the client's angry because we spent a bunch of money and didn't get them the ideal results they needed because their business wasn't right. We were frustrated because we're like, look, you just need to, like another two months of doing this, you're going to play through that threshold. Right. So we were in that and like, it was just so frustrating because our team is working really hard. We're doing great service, but it was like from the beginning it was destined to blow. So we did that for like a year and went through just a ton of clients. And it was so frustrating for us and for the clients that [00:11:00] went through that. So we said, there's gotta be a. So we actually started the coaching cyber saying, listen, if you come to us and you're like, In that entry-level stage. We're not going to take you on as a client. You have to go through this coaching thing. We're going to teach you how to get to 15, 20 K a month in revenue. And then it makes sense to hire us. And that has literally changed our business because one. People understand that we're not just trying to churn and burn clients, which anybody that's in the agency world knows that's a problem. And then two, when we come to the table and we start teaching them on the coaching and Colt consulting side, We're actually showing them a lot of what we do as an agency as well. Right. So when they are ready to hire us full-time as an agency, they have all the skills in place. They understand what we're doing. It's like, they're totally educated. So, so we actually flipped it. We, we started the hard way and now we're moving. You guys are a lot smarter than us and you kind of did
[00:11:59] RON: it [00:12:00] just happened. No, because it was funny because Cory and I had this conversation and I was like, Why, why are they flipped so drastically, right? When it's, it's the same conversations, it's the same people. And now it's so drastic on the flip. And so we've, we had to kind of navigate that piece.
[00:12:20] TAYLOR: Digital marketing is so interesting to me because on one hand, people will hire us for our expertise and I'm like, Hey, so like how, how many ads have you guys run? And they're like, oh, well we've never run ads. I'm like, okay. So like we're spending like roughly a million dollars a month on Facebook. Wouldn't you want our insight? Like, what do you want to see? What, like, that's a significant amount of money that's moving through my agency every single month. There's gotta be something we've learned from that. Right. And yet people still be like, no, I think we need to do it this way. And we're like, okay.
[00:12:53] CORY: Yeah. It's so funny. So our just our podcasting program is a 30 day launch. Your podcasts. [00:13:00] Every single person has hit the charts, but oh, cool. We talk about a lot. You got to follow the process. If you want to ask. Do super well in the charts, if you want to hit top 50, like have to follow our process to the T. And then we got people all the time. They're like, well, I went ahead and did it this way instead of your way. And I'm like, well, I can't guarantee you're going to be in top 50. So good luck
[00:13:21] RON: I didn't get that, but, well, and then, and sorry, Cory reminds me, it reminds me of one client where you can tell if someone goes through your program, right. Cause they'll ask you questions and it's like, it's on page four like, I know you didn't get even passed page four. Right? And this, we had this one person who wanted to launch a podcast and this person was a mindset coach and she wanted to coach us like in the the worst way. Right. And she's trying to give us advice on our program after she wants. And I said, I think that's valid. You can give us all the coaching you want about the program. You just went through. Once you get. Right. [00:14:00] Once you go through it, you can tell me what's wrong with it, but you have not gone through it. So you can't critique me. And she goes, yeah, that's fair. I said, I know it's fair because I know you went to page three and it's a 45 page book and you've got to page three based on your questions right then don't coach me on something, you know, nothing about,
[00:14:25] TAYLOR: oh my gosh. So good. There's so many times I love it.
[00:14:30] CORY: So, so walk us through Taylor, a little bit of that coaching transition, right? Like of, you know, what are you doing now to find those people? Or is it just kind of the same process that you were using? And then you're just determining, oh, they're not quite ready, but we have this coaching option for them now. Like what's, what's kind of that process as you build out
[00:14:48] TAYLOR: yeah, that's a good question. So we actually, with our coaching consulting program, you know, in, in digital marketing fashion, uh, have done a bunch of funnels, right? So we've created some lead gen [00:15:00] opportunities. We do live website audits, a couple of other opportunities for people to get a lot of exposure around what we do. Uh, so we start out with, with high value stuff that honestly, most people are charging. Right. So we're, we're bringing to the table right out of the gate, helping people that are, you know, either have a website and need to be audited or need some tips and tricks on their digital marketing. We bring a ton of value right. To the table. So whether people work with us or not in any capacity, we're bringing some stuff that, that took us seven years to learn, you know, and about $15 million in ad spend, like figure some of this stuff out. Right out of the gate, we leave with a ton of value. After that, it's a pretty traditional sales processes. We have our team reach out and we get on the phone with them. We understand where they're at. Like, you know, what's going on in your business. What are you struggling with? Where do you want to go? Uh, and then from there, based on their responses, their revenue, their, their willingness to be coached, we either put them in two tracks, either you're in our coaching and consulting program, you know, or you're an ideal fit to actually [00:16:00] start on our agency side and we're going to come in and help you. The cool thing about our coaching and consulting program is it's all live coaching. So we do four to five calls every single week. They're like group calls. People come to the table with very specific questions. And we actually solve these questions in real time. So like an example would be someone will come to the table and everyone wants to learn how to, how to run paid media. So that's like a big topic that we teach people how to do they'll come to the table and be like, okay, I'm going to run Facebook ads yeah. How do I do that? If I said, all right, we'll start here, you know, do these things and then come back tomorrow and tell us what you did. So it becomes this ongoing conversation where not only are they learning specifically what to do for their business, you know, cause if you're selling dresses online versus haircare, I was like very different funnels as you guys know. Right. So one of the, one of the downsides of like prerecorded trainings is it, it's, it's a very, it's much principles based and not really. And as you guys know, cause you guys spend a lot of [00:17:00] media, like everything is in the details when it comes to like running successful ads because this audience versus that audience, it's this section versus that section, like, are you feeding the content and reels? Are you feeding it in the feed? So we get really granular on the coaching with each class. And that's one of the reasons that the coaching program works. And then once they get to some point and we're like, listen, you know, you're ready to move over to the agency side where we can bring more sophistication and speed to the table. And then you, as the founder can focus on like he has more inventory or get us more skews. Right. So that's kind of the flow of how it's all structured
[00:17:33] RON: no, I love it. I love it. It's very similar to, to like, we'll help you launch the podcast. We'll teach you how to do it. Yeah. And then you can make a choice when your time is worth. If you want to do it, or do you want us to do it? And then if you want micro content, we do all of that pieces, but everything's around the podcast. So it's like the graduation from the program is the. Agency Yeah. Yeah. I love that. That's very similar to what, what you were just saying, but I loved how you put it, where you get your [00:18:00] clients coached up to where they actually need you. Totally. Right. And I think that's, that's invaluable. I might use that as a takeaway. So
[00:18:08] CORY: that's a win, like they're winning at that. Yeah. If they weren't ready and you've coached them up till then till the point that they do need you, like they're winning already. So of course they want to like that's genius.
[00:18:20] TAYLOR: Yeah. It's cool. And so there's this one coach that, um, that I absolutely love. And he says, inspect what you expect. Right. So inspect what you expect. So like, if you want a really good digital marketing program, you've got to know a little bit about digital marketing so that you're not getting the wool pulled over your eyes. Right. I guess similar to what you guys are doing. Like you teach someone how to, how to launch a really successful podcast, and then you get them to that point. You're like, all right, you've got a decision. Like, you know, how valuable our skillset and our expertise is and how much time this takes. Like you can go do something else and we'll run it for you type vibe. Right. One of the biggest problems with [00:19:00] early, early founders is they have no idea how marketing works, right? And so they hire some agency and they spent, you know, spending a lot of money on this. Like it's usually their biggest line item in their budget, aside from inventory and product. And they don't even know what to. Like as a one X, good is a 10 X good. Like, I don't even know what are these numbers mean? Like cost per acquisition or lifetime value. It's like, they're literally learning on the fly. Right. And so one of the things that we've, we've been working really hard on is like trying to enable people so they don't get trapped in that cycle.
[00:19:33] RON: Love it you know And it's, it's so important because. You know, for, for Cory and I, like, we have a podcast, we do our marketing, they see what we do. Like, so it's, it's very interesting. We've had so many people graduated that are like, no, I can do it. And then they come back and they're like, you guys make it look so easy. Right? 'cause that's what we like. That's our gig right? Like, of course, I'm not going to tell you, oh my God, it's the [00:20:00] hardest thing ever go do it. You know, that's just not ever going to happen. Right. But, but I think it's, I think it's important, but we want people to understand the ins and outs so they understand what they're getting and they see the value of it right out of. And we never say we're the most expensive. We're not the cheapest. We're fair. So people can continue to do what they're called to do, which is get their message out. Yeah. I love that. All right. So we talked a little bit about, about that piece. Let's talk about just focused funnels in general. Like what all do you guys work on in that part of your business and how do you help people after they've graduated? To get even further.
[00:20:37] TAYLOR: Yeah. Yeah. That's a really good question. So on the full-scale marketing side, I think there's two things that really set us apart from all the other agencies out there. And there's, there's just, it's a really crowded space. Like, and I always joke with, with prospective clients, I'm like, I bet your mom's uncles, cousin runs Facebook ads. Like everybody runs Facebook ads. What really separates us is, [00:21:00] is first we deeply understand the customer. We understand why people buy things. And that is something that you think an ad buyer would understand, but many don't so, so understanding what gets someone to click on an ad and then come to a website and actually make a purchase it's very different than just getting somebody entertained or get them interested in something for a second. Right. There'd be two different journeys. So the first thing we've we, we bring to the table. We deeply understand why people buy stuff. The second thing that we understand is we understand customer journeys. Facebook used to be so good, and this applies to all the platforms, not just Facebook, but Facebook algorithm used to be so good. You could put up a pretty picture. It would find the right buyer and you would get a person. Right. Even if your product was like subpar, I call this the golden age of Facebook marketing, which was like two to three years ago. You could literally, like, it was really hard to fail. Some of our clients were getting like 15, 30 ROI. Like it was [00:22:00] insane. It was like printing money. But what happened is a lot of people got started. Like they started an agency in that time and they didn't actually learn why people purchase stuff or the importance to a customer. So they're still doing that same stuff where they put up a pretty picture and hope it converts. And that's just not how it works. Like you have to take people on a journey now they need social proof. They need to understand why your product is actually going to impact their lives or solve a problem that they have. And then they want to buy from brands that they can connect with. Right. We're seeing a massive shift of these young direct to consumer brands that are starting to gobble up the market really, really quick. And it's because most of us are burned out on the big corporate entities. No, like we don't want to support them as much anymore. We want to support the little brands because we want to have that connection with like the owner or the brand or the story. And so where most media buyers fall flat is they don't talk about any of those. Right. They just put up a pretty picture and hope people click on it and come to the site and buy. So the linear [00:23:00] conversion I think, is dead and the data is starting to support that. And so you have to take people on a journey. So the two biggest things we bring to the table is one. We deeply understand why people buy and then. Uh, we understand the customer journey. And I think that's like when people hire us, they're really hiring us to figure that out for them and then do it cross platform, right? When you do it on Facebook, we need to do it on Google. We need to do it on Tik talk. We need to do it on Pinterest. And then at the end of the day, all this stuff has to equate out to profitable growth. Right. And so like, obviously the results are absolutely crucial, but it's how you get to the results that I think makes us different and why brands want to work with us
[00:23:40] CORY: Love it. And I mean, you're right. The, unless you are apple or Amazon, I mean, most of us are looking to, to know the person we're buying. Right. And one, what a better way to know that person is to see or hear them on a podcast or YouTube, or see, or hear them in their community, on a Facebook. [00:24:00] Right. And so I know you're all about building community, but let's talk about your podcast. And if I am reading this correctly, it is called building community. One piece of trash at a time I could be wrong, but that's what I found.
[00:24:15] TAYLOR: That's uh, that's one episode.
[00:24:18] CORY: Oh, title. So title. Okay. What's the show title.
[00:24:22] TAYLOR: Yeah. So our podcast is all about the customer journey. And so we, we talked specifically a lot about community. So that one episode you talked about building community. One piece of trash at a time is one of our, one of our clients, super cool brand called teat nature, wild. And essentially they enable people to go pick up trash on their local hikes and in common. Right. So they have a whole thing around building community. They bring people together, they go pick up trash and then, you know, obviously the brand sells t-shirts and stickers and stuff like that. So that's just one episode where we talked to one of the founders talking about community.
[00:24:58] CORY: What's the name? What's the name of the [00:25:00] show. And tell us about the show.
[00:25:02] TAYLOR: Yeah, so, so the podcast is really just it's my partner and I, we interview a bunch of founders. And talk about their journey. A lot, most of the people are our clients that we're talking about. Okay. How are you thinking about building your brand, sharing your story, the overarching theme of the podcast. And a lot of what we do inside of our marketing is about building commonalities, building a community of people that, that really get your. And resonate with what you're doing. So pretty much all of our podcasts are really around that idea of how do you build a community? How do you engage with the community? And then as a brand, like you have to sell some stuff. Like at the end of the day, that's like, you know, a pretty key part of keeping all the wheels in motion. So we talked about like, how do you monetize a community you know, But in a way that feels authentic in a way that people like, yes, I, I love this. I want to be a part of it. And so they vote with their dollars. So yeah, that's really the focus of the podcast. Just a fun way to talk and connect with people and then tell some cool stories.
[00:25:59] RON: Love it, [00:26:00] love it now. I mean, Cory and I, again, it's very similar to what we do on our show as well, and it's just funded. Right. Yeah. You'll learn about people. You learn about their stuff. You know, for a long time we used our show is like free coaching we're like, Hmm. What do we want to learn about? Let's go get an expert on our show and we're going to ask him everything we need to know and get coached up. Be. Right. So like the first 1, 20, 20 episodes, or so we're all over the place. We had so many different types of people on the show and it was so much fun. And then the show kind of got, you know, nailed down to what it is today. And it's, it's gotten to be just a lot of fun.
[00:26:39] TAYLOR: Yeah. Yeah. And, and honestly, one of the things that we use, I mean, our podcast is not huge. It's just a little podcast that, that my partner and I do on the side, but really one of the cool things is we're recording stuff that our clients and our community needs to hear. But some, a lot of times they're not hearing. So we're trying to like get through to people [00:27:00] and say, Hey, you know, this is some important stuff that you should be considering. And sometimes if you hear it in a podcast, you're more willing to listen than if I send you a slack message about it.
[00:27:08] RON: Right, right, right. Yeah. It's funny because we've shared. If you want to be an expert, don't talk to anyone you know because anybody, you know, knows in their mind, I've known this guy forever. You're not an expert. I can go talk to who I can go talk to that person and tell them everything. They're like, oh my gosh, he knows what he's talking about. Right, right. That is a true statement. They came, can you go talk to my mom? Here's her number? Like, let her know what you wanna talk about
[00:27:38] TAYLOR: yeah, that's so true. So true. I love it.
[00:27:41] CORY: And so on the show, it looks like you're doing a couple of short episodes getting those quick tips and then a couple of interviews that kind of how how it's working?
[00:27:50] TAYLOR: Yeah. Yeah. So both my partner and I will record like little eight to 10 minute tidbits. And it's really us. Like, as we experienced life as [00:28:00] marketers, we like share insights. You know, it's like one day I was out running and I live in Santa Cruz, California. It gets really foggy sometimes. And I was like, geez, like if I didn't know where I was, like, this would be really disorienting. And it kind of hit me as like, oh, like, this is why we hire coaches. You know? So I recorded an article about like the Harbor and Santa Cruz is, is filled with sand a lot. So getting in and out of the house. If you don't know, the Harbor is really hard. It's like, that's why you hire like a captain. If you got a boat, you get a captain. Right. So it's kinda like that. It's like, we're all in this thing. We're trying to learn stuff and grow. But sometimes we don't exactly know how to get there. There's still like, that's why we hire coaches. Like that's why we, you know, try to get educated on stuff. So there's a bunch of tips, tricks from our personal lives, things that we're learning. And then, yeah, we do interviews with a lot of founders just talking about their journey. Really about community.
[00:28:52] CORY: Love it, love it. So it's, it's so funny. We were talking about this yesterday with someone else on, on our show and it's basically, [00:29:00] you know, we as parents, right? You will pay anything like to have the kid go through baseball, be a coach, get a coach to be the best baseball player it can be. And then he's done by. Right. And, and that's the norm. And then, then there's as adults, there's so many people that don't see the value or, or don't see how they can pay to actually have a coach to do things. And you know, and Ron and I, you know, ever since we've been doing this thing together, we're firm believers, like as a coach, we need a coach and it's just a matter of. Knowing exactly what kind of coach you need at that point. So what's, what's kind of your take on that. And you know, now that you, especially that you've been in the coaching side of it, you know, do you have other people and mentors that you're, you guys are looking towards or do you have one and Zach has another, or do you guys have the same or what's that what's that look like?
[00:29:48] TAYLOR: Yeah. So I'm a huge fan. Just kind of going back to this idea of community. It is you, you can't do it alone. Right? Everyone's standing on each other's shoulders simultaneously. [00:30:00] Like there's just impossible to operate in a vacuum. And that's why I kind of get annoyed when founders are like, like I built this. Yeah, you built that, but there was also like 400 other people involved, right. There was your significant other that was willing to watch the kids. While you worked long hours, there was your team that came to the table for your customers that supported you. Like nothing happens in a vacuum, right? In our world, like both my partner and I are a part of this really cool mastermind group called baby bathwater. It's like the coolest mastermind is no one, no one has ever heard of. So we, they do a couple events every year. There's obviously a Facebook group. They do a lot of like remote stuff as well. And it's just crazy entrepreneurs all over the U S and they come together and it's, it's a really cool environment where everyone's sharing stuff. So it's not about like trying to like network market and be like, Hey, I'm going to sell you stuff but it's like, Hey, here's what I know. Here's what I'm really good at. How can I share this with you in a way that's going to help your business? So, uh, we're a part of that crew and it's just been just a game [00:31:00] changer for us. And then for people that are. Going on this journey, right? They want to start a new e-commerce brand. They want to start a coaching business. Maybe they're working in nine to five and they want to get out of it. The biggest thing that coaching solves for you is time invested. And this is what I tell everyone. It's like, okay, let's say you want to start a Facebook ad. You've got two routes. You can try to figure it out yourself. And it's going to take you, let's say a hundred hours or you can take one hour and talk with someone that really knows their stuff. And can save you that hundred hours of, of research and show you exactly how to do. And then you just, instead of spending a hundred hours, you just spent one. Yes. You reimburse that person with a little bit of cash, but now you're 99 hours ahead of the curve. And the cool thing about that, like, this is really why you hire a coach is like someone to guide you on that journey being like, okay, don't fall in that hole. Okay. Watch out for this tree or that plant's [00:32:00] poisonous. Don't touch that one. Like walking you through it so that you don't have to, you're going to learn those lessons no matter what to get from a to B, you've got to walk the path. So why not do it a little bit easier? Like have someone coach you through that? So that's really the biggest thing of why I think coaching is important. It just helps you avoid the pitfalls.
[00:32:19] RON: Absolutely. You're trying to you, I think one of our guests said, and I forget who it was, but I haven't forgotten. The statement was as a coach. Your ceiling is your client's floor right. You want to give them everything they possibly can to like springboard by learning what not to do. Here's all the things not to do now. Now go, right. It's like teaching your kids, like you're going to teach them all this stuff, not to do it, and they're not going to listen to anyway. So I don't know why we get so frustrated with clients, but it works out right. But, you know, so I think there was so much. I said that I love, I love that you're a part of a mastermind because we, you know, [00:33:00] I will speak from my experience. I didn't really understand masterminds. I didn't really get what they were about. I didn't even see why someone would pay to be involved. Cory loves them. He kind of changed my viewpoint because we had a mastermind because he wanted to have one. I went into as a person wanting to learn about them. And we had people that. Came in shared. And then all of a sudden, everyone started these joint ventures. Everyone started blowing up their businesses. Everyone started becoming successful. I was like, okay, now I see the value of masterminds.
[00:33:32] TAYLOR: Totally. Yeah. I think it really goes back to this idea and here's where masterminds and groups like that really get derailed because you get everybody in the scarcity mindset oh, yeah. Where there's like, I, you know, I got to get mine and that's all that matters. And, and the minute somebody comes to the table with that, whether they're hiring a coach or they're working with an agency that scarcity mindset just blows everything up. It's when we opened it up and we're saying, you know what? There is plenty to be had for [00:34:00] everybody. And I'm going to come to the table and I'm going to share what I'm really good at and what I'm passionate about. And if you're open to. There's going to be nuggets there. And then I'm in the same way where I'm like, I don't know everything. There's so many things that I don't understand. Like tell me about that. And then boom. It's like we're growing and progressing together. It just goes back to that community aspect. We can't do everything alone
[00:34:23] CORY: yeah. You know, it's funny as I, as I looked at our notes beforehand and Taylor, I saw baby bathwater and I was like, is that just a typo? Is he like thinking about his kid? Like, what was that? Right. And I didn't investigate further. I did. However, look up the pivot and scale with an Bentley. And that looks pretty killer. I'd love to just kind of get your take on that. Just, you know, again, as coaches, I believe. There's there's enough for all of us out there. I believe that we all need to keep improving and learning from each other and then teaching those that we have in our steward then. So yeah. I definitely tell us about the pivot and scale a little bit.
[00:34:57] TAYLOR: Yeah. So the pivot and scale is a pretty [00:35:00] cool, they run essentially a coaching and consulting program. It's a combination of prerecorded trainings and then some live coaching calls. We hired them because we really wanted to get into a pay per lead. We're essentially, instead of hiring an agency at a retainer and then you're having ad spend you pay per lead. It doesn't really work in the e-commerce space. So we actually tried to break into clinics. I guess there's like a huge emerging trend right now is more and more people are going to get IV drip therapy, you know, for like hangovers or sports, recovery, or immunity, especially with like the COVID thing. A lot of people are looking to like IV drip therapy. We hired ions team to come in and help us with that. And we ran that business for about six months doing pay per lead stuff. I, his team was amazing. Helped us a ton. We just hated the buisness so, so one of the things we learned in that six months, and it goes back to my whole idea of hiring a coach is he showed us exactly how [00:36:00] to run the business model and how to set it up. And we actually landed a couple clients and it was really starting to build, but it was just, it was not fun. We did not like it personally. And so what was cool is, you know, we paid, I, and we ran the whole thing, like learned really, really quickly and iterated. And then after six months we're like, you know, This isn't for us. So we shut that business down and moved back to like our traditional side was just running the agency and doing the coaching. And that's something more, just a little bit more passionate and, and focused on, but it was really cool going through that process. Cause we're like, oh, we actually really disliked this. This is not for us. So it was fun though, to learn like that lesson at a high level, instead of like, just trying to jump into that, figure it all out by ourselves. So anyways, that was, that was pivot and scale. Very cool. Crew love it.
[00:36:51] CORY: It's so funny. Sorry to interrupt Ron but you know, all of us, like in Ron and I too, we've gone through things and we're like, yeah, let's not do that again. Let's not do that [00:37:00] anymore. Uh, so, uh, it's, it's cool, but it's not like it's a failure. It's not like it's bad that you have. Because you did learn, you did learn that something that you're not doing. So, yeah, definitely. It's, it's so funny at the end of the day. Now you guys have been in business seven years. Yep. Our show hindsight hacking. And we want to hack your hindsight to give our listeners a little bit clear foresight. Of those seven years of that partnership of building the business of finding those other things that you definitely didn't want to do. You know, what's kind of been that biggest thing that you're like, oh, I wish that can, I knew this a little sooner. I wish we would've had the, this information at year one versus your five or whatever it would have been to catapult you guys where you are at?
[00:37:42] TAYLOR: I think the biggest thing, if I would just share with, with any entrepreneur, it goes back this idea of it's a combination of one, not living in scarcity, right. Lee realizing that there is plenty out there for everybody. And then when we help and collaborate and work [00:38:00] together, like amazing things happen. So that's the first thing is like live in abundance. I realize that that there's a lot out there and go get it. The second piece that I think builds onto that is provide value. If you're going to be running a business, especially one like ours, that's, service-based, you know, we're either running all your marketing or we're teaching you how to build a successful online shop. It's we try to say, all right, here's the price of the program we want to deliver. Right. You know, if the program seven K for the year, like we want to try to provide 14 to 30 K of value to you. Right. And so we really try to go above and beyond, and it goes back to that first point of we live in abundance. Where we're trying to share as much information from you and help you as, as much as possible. And what we found is as we've done that and delivered that, and then been open to, to helping others and open to partnerships, [00:39:00] open to collaborations, open to sharing. We've found that our business has grown faster in a lot less stressful way when we first started out. Right. You know, you're trying to get as many clients as you can to make your monthly bills. Both Zach and I were working corporate jobs that we'd left and started this agency. Right. He has a family, I've got a family. We now have like seven full-time employees that work for us. Like it's a whole situation. But when we first started out, it was really scary and it was really stressful. And I wouldn't say the first year. Like we were definitely deep in that scarcity mindset and it was hard to get out of that. And you know, every client that left or every client that we got, it was just this rollercoaster for all. We got a client everything's great. And then we lost a client. Like our lives are empty and meaningless. And so it was, it was like getting to the point where like, okay, we're going to be okay. We're going to, yeah, it was just like that. So anyways, that those would be my, my advice live in abundance provide value and it'll work out.
[00:39:59] RON: Love it, [00:40:00] love it. All right. So as I was taking notes and just trying to like put things together, I love the whole living abundance piece and I know there's people listening to, they're like, oh my gosh, I need, I need to get my self coach up to a point where I can use them to move my, my merchandise. How do they get involved with these. What's the best way to connect, to get, get them into your world to help them
[00:40:28] TAYLOR: oh yeah. I really appreciate that Ron so the best way is to go to focus, funnels.com. That's our website. We have a bunch of different ways to engage with us, but we have forms that you can just fill out. And that information goes to me and I reach out and set up calls with people. And so even if, even if nobody hires us. For anything that we do getting on calls with us, we always share tips, advice, tricks, roadmaps on like how to figure some of this stuff out. And then on our website, [00:41:00] we have a bunch of free trainings that people can take. One in specific. We've got this website mini workshop, that's three modules long. 10 minute modules to not a lot of time, there are absolute nuggets in there that literally you'd probably pay three, 400 bucks for that level of training. Totally free on our site. Open to anybody you download it. There's just so many nuggets in there teaching on it. What do you put on your homepage? What do you put on your product pages? What do you put on the about us story that actually gets people to convert? So that's the best way to get engaged with us, hit our website, find something that you're interested in and then reach out. We'll take care of you.
[00:41:35] CORY: I love it. Love it. And you know, one other piece I wanted to note from your site is you have a product on their Google ad audit or Facebook ad audit. So many people, you know, you kind of feel like you almost get locked in. To whoever's running your ads of, of whatever nature, right? Because of the time it takes to make sure they have your voice or your info, or they understand your journey. Right? Like there's just commitment in [00:42:00] there. I think that's a really cool and unique thing that you guys can go in there with that kind of unbiased mind and just take a look, right. And it's not, there's no commitments long-term and then you just give that information to give that feedback and then people can take with it, uh, as they will
[00:42:16] TAYLOR: yeah, that's cool. And there's a reason we charge for that. A lot of agencies will like give it for free. And the reason they do that is because it's a sales call, right? People like, I want an audit and you're like, okay, well, you're signing up for a sales call with ours is totally different. We're coming in. We're saying, listen, we're going to give you really unbiased feedback of exactly what we see your, your Facebook ad account could be crushing. It could be totally missing the mark. We record the whole thing. So the, in it usually it's like a 30 to 45 minute audit. It's very in-depth and it cost them a couple hundred bucks. They can literally take that and pass it to their other agency if they want. We don't care. Once again. It's about, it's about adding that value and it's just a great way to hear a different perspective without worrying about [00:43:00] like, okay, these guys are gonna spend the next 45 minutes pitching me this is literally, Hey, we're going to give you super unbiased feedback. So I love that you brought that up Cory
[00:43:08] RON: no, I think that's great. I think that's great. So just because I'm a branding person, focus funnels, how'd you come up with that?
[00:43:15] TAYLOR: Everything we do is around building funnels for people, and then what, what gets improved you've got to focus on. So it kind of came to the idea of like focused funnels. Like we're focusing on building marketing. Like we kind of thought it was a little cheesy at the beginning. And then the more we've, you know, now that we're seven years and we're like, that's kind of a badass name. I don't know if we've been like Stockholm syndrome. It's gotta be Stockholm syndrome.
[00:43:37] CORY: No, I think even three years ago, if somebody said funnel, what's a, what's a funnel like is in my kitchen. Right. And we, we all have to explain. What the funnel is that I know run. And I still explain all the time what a funnel is versus like traditional websites and whatnot. And so, you know, it's, it's, I think that the knowledge of education being [00:44:00] that you've been in the business now seven years is probably a lot less that you have to do day to day versus seven years ago
[00:44:06] TAYLOR: yeah, for sure people get, you know, I say this a lot and one of the reasons going back to my original point, like why Lead customer juries don't work as much. And what I mean by that is like, here's a pretty ad go to a product page, buy, right? People don't buy that way anymore. It's because the elevated consciousness of how people are marketed to we get it. Now everyone's seen the social dilemma. People understand pixels at some level. Like they understand the stuff that no one had any idea. Like we now, most people get it kind of at some level. Right. And so we, as marketers have to evolve passed that, like, it can't be trickery anymore. It's gotta be true value and authenticity. That's what converts.
[00:44:48] RON: Awesome. Well, we are so excited that you joined us today and we just thank you for the time. And I know this was an amazing interview. I had so much fun and learned a ton that I know our audience did as well. [00:45:00] And I'm assuming there's people that are gonna be reaching out to you left and right. So thank you so much for your time.
[00:45:04] TAYLOR: All right guys. Ron Cory, thank you again. This was amazing. You guys had just incredible questions. Thank you for hosting me. We'll be in touch.
[00:45:11] CORY: Thanks Taylor, talk to you soon
[00:45:13] Another fun interview and another like-minded individual working with a business partner had corporate jobs struggling through running an agency, very different than what we do, but definitely some similar steps and roadblocks along the way. And so it was a fun conversation, but can't let go the takeaways for the day.
[00:45:36] RON: No I've got a ton. I'm struggling between three, but I'm going to only, I'm going to bring it down to two. I'll make the second one. Cause I think it's more important. How bout that? All right. So, you know, we, we talked about this like in corporate world, right. And it's inspect what you expect. Like how many times when he said that I kind of chuckled and I was like, oh my gosh, like we used to say that all the [00:46:00] time.
[00:46:00] CORY: We used to say that All the time. We don't say it as much now, but we used to say,
[00:46:04] RON: we probably should bring it back. So I thought that was interesting. Right? So that was a good learning for me personally. So no one else got anything from it. I don't care because that was for me. The other one, this is for y'all is live in abundance. There is so many people out there and I'm telling you right now, all of our clients, we knew none of them, none of them, our next client. We're not going to know them either so guys there's enough out there for everybody. Just put your stuff out there. They will be attracted to you. The people that are supposed to be attracted to me do the right things, the right things, come back to you.
[00:46:39] CORY: Love it. Love it. I have, I have one specific to those other partners out there. Those, those other people trying to do business with someone else, or really have a relationship with someone.
[00:46:51] RON: When I say run I'm hanging up the phone.
[00:46:53] CORY: Yeah. But it's, it is start with the tough conversations, right? Like at the beginning, when things are all Peachy and happy, [00:47:00] like, you know, you got to understand, you know, what potentially could happen. You know, when things get, get tough and then being patient, right. And Taylor talked about how he and his partner would sometimes be one would be high, one would be low and it flip flop and you and I have gone through that all a ton of times. So, you know, it's just being patient with each other, whoever you're doing business with and, and really, you know, have those tough conversations when things are awesome. Because then you'll actually be able to reasonably come to an agreement
[00:47:30] RON: because you liked each other still and you don't want to piss each other up.
[00:47:35] CORY: Alrighty. Well, I hope you enjoyed and we will see you on the next episode.
[00:47:40] RON: Bye guys.
[00:47:41] CORY: did you know that hindsight acting media agency? We do all things podcasts from launch if you're already doing 10,000 downloads in a week, we handle everything. All you have to do is record it and forget it guys. If you're launching a podcast, get with these
[00:47:55] FEMALE: guys, I could not honestly hit the charts without them.
[00:47:58] MALE: I'm not getting paid for [00:48:00] this, but working with both of you, the professionalism and the system that you guys had for launch the podcast you guys killed it.
[00:48:08] RON: We want to help the impactors create an impact by just letting you be you and not worry about all this other crazy stuff. Connect with us. All the links will be in the. Do you next time go create an impact.