Rich Schefren
Key takeaways:
1. The power of high-quality content: The success of Rich Schefren’s manifesto highlights the impact of creating high-quality content that resonates with the audience. A well-researched and compelling piece can have significant influence.
2. Dependence on Big Tech platforms: Small businesses need to be cautious of their reliance on big tech platforms like Google and Facebook. These platforms have been monetizing their services and tightening their control, potentially posing challenges for small businesses.
Diversifying marketing efforts and exploring alternative channels can help mitigate the risks associated with this dependence.
3. Importance of Owning the Racecourse: Building an independent online presence and owning the platforms where businesses connect with their audience is crucial.
Establishing direct relationships with customers through email lists, podcasts, and other channels provides more control and resilience against potential platform changes or disruptions. Being proactive in safeguarding data and exploring partnerships can further strengthen business sustainability.
Stay on top of industry developments with help from James
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
3. The Impact of Great Content
4. Work-Life Balance and The Mindset Model for Happiness
5. The Changing Landscape and Adaptation Strategies
6. Listen to the full podcast episode
Introduction
While searching for Jay Abraham resources in the early 2000s, James stumbled upon a webpage that promised free reports signed by Rich Schefren and Stephen Pierce.
Intrigued, he eagerly signed up and was introduced to the concept of ClickBank, a platform offering commissions for promoting products. James embarked on his affiliate marketing adventure, placing his links on his website hosting provider’s account.
Unfortunately, he didn’t make any sales, but this encounter marked his initial exposure to the power of copywriting, name capture, and free reports, and affiliate marketing. Rich Schefren, the person behind those reports, had unknowingly laid the foundation for James’ online endeavors.
Throughout the years, James remained grateful for Rich’s influential role, studying his manifestos and utilizing the materials from Rich’s previous businesses, such as a clothing store and a hypnosis center, to drive growth and train his team at a Mercedes-Benz dealership.
Rich had a pivotal impact on James’ online journey, and his work continues to resonate even in the present day.
Changes in the Industry
Over the past 15 years, Rich observed the growing dominance of major companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon, which has had both positive and negative implications.
While these platforms have provided immense power and reach, they have also favored larger brands over smaller businesses, creating challenges for the latter.
The industry itself has undergone cycles, transitioning from a focus on individual efforts to a more collaborative approach with joint ventures and affiliates, and now potentially returning to a balance between the two.
Rich predicts that the future will involve businesses forming partnerships with customers to achieve desired results, leveraging the potential of the internet of things.
He envisions a shift away from traditional ownership models. Imagine for example, a mattress company charging customers based on the quality of their sleep rather than selling mattresses outright!
Despite these changes, Rich notes a decrease in innovation within the internet marketing space, attributing it to the dominant influence of the Big Three (Google, Facebook, and Amazon).
However, he identifies YouTube as the current hot platform for advertising. Overall, while there have been advancements and opportunities for promotion, the landscape remains more similar than different, albeit with new avenues for businesses to explore.
The Impact of Great Content
It is important to create impactful content and to prioritize quality over quantity.Many entrepreneurs and content marketers often focus on being prolific rather than producing great content, resulting in mediocrity saturating the internet.
However, exceptional content that stands out and resonates with the audience remains unchanged as a powerful asset.
Documentaries that show that social media manipulation can influence political campaigns because of tailored messaging based on audience segmentation, highlight the power of relevancy.
There also seems to be less variety on social media feeds. If it’s on one platform, it will be shared on the other major platforms.
When it comes to major platforms, Google, Facebook, and Twitter can often best small marketers because they have a bigger ad budget.
James emphasizes the importance of striving for independence from these platforms, utilizing them while they work but being prepared for the possibility of being pushed off the platform if it no longer aligns with their agenda.
Speaking of another piece of great content: Rich’s book: the Internet Business Manifesto. The manifesto changed Rich’s life in a significant way. Initially, he wrote it with the expectation of getting a dozen clients. However, he was incredibly surprised by the results it generated.
The manifesto resonated deeply with his target market, which consisted of people who believed that marketing was everything. Rich realized that he possessed valuable insights and knowledge about the importance of understanding business alongside marketing.
This understanding set him apart from the standard way of thinking in the industry at that time. The manifesto became a vehicle for sharing these ideas and attracting attention to his expertise.
The success of the manifesto led Rich to further explore and write additional reports to understand the reasons behind its impact. Writing those 30 pages proved to be a game-changer, completely transforming Rich’s life.
It opened up new opportunities, generated significant results, and positioned him as an authority in his field. The manifesto helped him establish a unique positioning and connect with clients on a deeper level, ultimately shaping the trajectory of his career.
Work-Life Balance and The Mindset Model for Happiness
It’s important to have a work-life balance and to understand personal limitations.Rich shares his perspective on his work style, describing himself as a sprinter rather than a marathon runner.
He prefers to work intensely for a period and then retreat, focusing on short bursts of high productivity rather than maintaining a constant pace. Rich’s approach to managing his workload is working until the task is completed.
There was a period in Rich’s life when he temporarily stepped away from his meteoric success.
He had achieved his goals at a younger age than expected and found himself uncertain about his next steps. This led to a period of self-reflection and introspection, during which he gained valuable self-knowledge and a clearer understanding of his personal desires and happiness.
He found that the things he thought would make him happy, did not.
Someone once described a model to Rich, which involved these 3 things: to be, to do and to have.
These 3 things could be placed in different order, such as:
1. To have, to do, to be. A lot of opportunity-seekers and dreamers believe that if they had something, they’d be able to do something, and then they’d be something.
2. To do, to have, to be. Rich considers this for the doers such as himself. “I’m going to do these things, I’m going to get known [have fame], and I’m going to be happy.” He found that this did not necessarily make him happy, but it helped him get things done.
3. To be, to do, to have. True happiness and fulfillment come from aligning one’s being, actions, and possessions. You can’t simply become the thing, so this mindset can’t help you make money right now. That is why this realization required deep reflection and took several years for Rich to fully understand.
James relates to the concept and shares his own podcast called “Think Act Get,” which focuses on the connection between thoughts, actions, and outcomes. He suggests that it aligns with the “to be, to do, to have” approach, emphasizing the significance of mindset and personal development in achieving desired results.
The Changing Landscape and Adaptation Strategies
Rich believes that big tech platforms will become increasingly hostile toward small businesses and monetize their services in ways that hinder small business growth. The control they exert over user data makes it difficult for small businesses to leverage AI tools and own their first-party data.
There are also many individuals claiming expertise in online marketing without substantial experience or real growth strategies.
5 Things small businesses can do to adapt to these challenges:
1. Reduce independence on major platforms
2. Partner with other companies to protect and grow their customer base
3. Regularly download data from analytics accounts and storing retargeting lists in a secondary Facebook account.
4. Exploring alternative advertising channels and moving people from platform to platform to diversify reach.
5. Own The Racecourse: Nurture a multi-channel presence, leveraging platforms like email lists, Youtube, and podcasts to guarantee access to your audience.
Listen to the full podcast episode
Podcast: Download (Duration: 27:53 — 25.7MB)
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