SFR 42: Crafting Your Own "Execution-Cycle" (Stop Bogging Down Progress)

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I'm a huge fan of books, but it's easy to get bogged down with it all. Here's how I learn AND execute...

Steve Larsen: Say 'Welcome'.

Baby: Welcome.

Steve Larsen: 'To sales' ...

Baby: 'To sales' ...

Steve Larsen: 'Funnel' ...

Baby: 'Funnel' ...

Steve Larsen: 'Radio' ...

Baby: 'Radio' ...

Steve Larsen: 'Oh yeah, baby.'

Baby: 'Oh yeah, baby.'

Welcome to Sales Funnel Radio where you'll learn Marketing strategies to grow your online business, using today's best internet sales funnels. Now, here's your host, Steve Larsen.

Wasn't that cute? That's one of my little girls, she's so awesome, we have a lot of fun together. She is one of my heroes.

Right now my wife as a Tony Robbins event, crazy cool, super awesome. I honestly wish I was with her, I wish that I could be there, but we have two little girls, little angels, so one of us has got to stay.

I love that stuff already, the stuff that Tony Robbins teaches, I already eat that stuff up. I already love that, you know what I mean? It's super, super fun. I kind of already am in a lot of the mentality of that.

I believe I can do anything, I think I can change my own destiny.

I think I can control everything around me. She, I was like, "You know what? You go. You go." It's really cool because she actually went with ... Maybe, I don't know if I'm supposed to say this or not, but she went with some of the wives from people at work. We got them like front row seats.

It was awesome, it's super cool. There's 9,000 people there and she's loved that.

She'll be back soon. I am four days with the little ones, it's been a long time since I dropped a podcast out to you guys. I was like, "Oh crap, I should probably send that on out." I thought I'd let the little one start us on out here.

A lot of cool stuff going on right now. My little campaign to end funnel building is over now, and if you didn't get the application in, I'm sorry. Like, I just, there's so much going on with Click Funnels right now, I cannot do anything else with that.

I'm trying to figure out how to say this. This has been on my mind a little bit lately.

When about three years ago, right? A lot of you guys have heard the story, if you had been following my podcast right? I would get up so early and just study and study and study and learn and learn and learn, do as much as I possibly could, right? I remember, I mean at first it's all I thought about. I stayed up until three, I had a notebook, I should find that notebook someday, it was really, really cool.

It's a full notebook, every single line, every single page, all the things I was learning I was drawing pictures of it, so I could understand it more.

I'd go find somebody else, be like, "Oh, I learned this on this podcast today and I read a book from this guy today." I thirsted, I did everything that I could to just learn marketing, right? I remember after about a year long period, I had tried a few things here and there, but I was more like in this deep just thirst state. You know what mean?

Where I was just drinking deeply, I was like, "Oh my gosh. I'm in this marketing degree but I'm not even getting the stuff in my marketing degree that I'm learning from these books and from these podcasts and from these, quote-unquote, gurus and stuff. The real cutting edge that's actually working, right?"

The stuff that's actually working in the marketplace...

I remember I was biking home one day, and I might have shared this with you before, but it was a big moment for me. I should say it was a big like three or four days, because it just hit me like a ton of bricks.

I was biking home and I was in Rexburg, Idaho, and for some reason there it's always 50 degree mile an hour winds, both ways, no matter what. In the winter, in the summer, all time, it's windy. I was biking home, right? I was pushing hard against the wind and I was breathing hard.

I loved that because I could listen to podcasts and stuff while I was biking all over the place. We only had one car and you know, I didn't want my wife to not have a car with a little baby. She always had the car and I just literally biked over the city there. It was really, really awesome actually, I love biking.

This is not motorcycle like I have now, like pedal bike. I remember I was biking, I was breathing hard, and I was listening, I actually think I was listening to Pat Flynn, Smart Passive Income podcast.

What's cool is that's actually the podcast that got me started online in general. That's when I wrote my first ebook and I got all the stuff together. But before I did all that, I was listening to Pat Flynn, I think I was just hearing who Russell Brunson was.

I was just hearing about some of these other guys, but I was drinking as deeply as I could, and about six months, eight months, I can't remember when, a while, right?

I had kept this pace up like crazy...

You could not get me to go that hard for my school work, for anything else, just this topic. I was learning and learning and learning. Sorry, I keep saying that, and getting right up to the point, but I just want you guys to know more the state I was in.

I was just so hungry for success...

I remember writing down, "If I can only make an extra $100 a month it will change my life." Because then I could pay for bills, then I could, my cell phone would be free. You know what I mean? That's where I was, right?

You guys have heard our story, where we were trying to figure how to even eat. That's not a joke, that was very real.

That challenges your manhood, right?

It's all I thought about...

It's not like I took a break, "Hey, what did you do over this weekend?"

"I freaking learned." You know?

"What did you do?" "I tried to make money."

"What did you do?" "I tried to be as successful as I could be." Right?

That's totally where it started and that's all I thought about. If you think you're in this game and you think you're pushing as hard as you can, but you're constantly thinking like, "Oh, I just can't wait to get home so I can do nothing."

Like, your heart may not be in it, you know what I mean? It's easy to see once you've gone through that path, it's easy to look back and see, you know what? That person's not giving themselves. I can tell that they are not in it. You know what I mean?

Then they come and they're like, "Well, how, why, when can I be successful?" It's like, ugh. It gets a little annoying, you know what I mean?

I know that you guys listening to this podcast know what I'm talking about. If you're listening to podcasts and you're doing all this stuff, you are most likely like me. We are probably very commonly, we probably think very similar thoughts. I was biking home and I was crazy skinny, but I was lifting as hard as I could also, because I knew that a lot of exercise meant a sharp mind, which means I can take in more stuff and stay up later.

Anyway, back to the story, okay. I was biking back and all of a sudden it hit me. Oh my gosh. I know what he's talking about in this podcast, and yes, I would do this, this, and this and this in that scenario, but dang it, I don't have a product.

Then I'd be listening to another section the next day, it would be like, "Oh, you know, check this out." Or I would be, I read a lot while I was walking, which sounds so stupid, so eventually I switched to audiobooks, but I would read in between classes, just as fast as I could, just getting principles down.

Then I'd turn to some random person and teach them what I learned in the book. That sounds stupid, but I know that when I learn for two that my learning is deeper, then it sticks longer.

I literally imagine myself standing on a stage teaching it to somebody...

I still do that, I do that to this day, I've done that for years. I think it's one of the reasons I've been able to capture things and keep them in my head so long.

I learn for two. Learn for two, learn for two. That's one of my mottos...

I just kept ... I had this huge realization, "Wow! I mean, I've been studying this stuff like crazy. I've been doing all this stuff, but I don't have a business to do it to." I was like, "Ugh, why did I not think about that? Oh my gosh. What on earth.

Like, that's, almost sounds stupid." You know?

It was good, because I call it 'the age of exploration', right? I tried all these different businesses. I learned like crazy, but I didn't really have a business that I was going both feet in on. I didn't really have a product, an area that I was going both feet in on.

I realized like, "Wow. This knowledge is great and the things that I'm learning is fantastic, and wow, I just learned how I can increase conversions over here by 15% and drop my cost on this part over here. And I learned how to set up fulfillment. I learned how to ... You know, here's a whole another marketing arm I could put out there."

I was like, "But for what?! I don't have a frigging business!" I got really, really frustrated. I was like, "Where do I start?" You know?

A lot of you guys listening to this are feeling that. Like, "Man, I've got all this knowledge, I've listened to all this stuff, I'm consuming as much content as I can." That's good, you should do that, you should feel overwhelmed. It means that you're basking in complete immersion.

Feel overwhelmed, get as much content in your brain as you possibly can, but I also get it. Where do you start? What do you do? How do you actually create something where someone is going to give you money?

You guys know that I have that asset that I've always talked about. It's just an MLM funnel, but it works really, really well. It still makes me $1,000 a week every week, it's been doing that for like seven months now, eight months now. It's awesome, I mean it's how we have the down payment on a house that we want to get soon.

We're thinking about it and it's how we want to do X, Y and Z over here. It's how we go on our cruises, how we're paying off debts. It's besides our other income, it's super awesome.

I know that you're thinking that, you're like, "How do I do this?" Or you might already be making that money and like, "How do I make it grow?" Right? I had, for some reason this whole memory came flying back into my head recently. I realized, because my wife and I were talking and she was like, "You almost seem stuck."

I said, we were laying in bed and we were talking, she's like, "You seem stuck." She's like, "You have lived at this obscene out of balance pace for like five years now." I was like, "Yeah, I know." I want to start taking care of my body a little bit better. It's easy to do that when you're an entrepreneur, you just give everything. It's easy to see why if someone is not giving themselves, it's really easy to see, you have someone who's not actually all in, because they're not giving of themselves.

They're not willing to risk sleep and a little help, they're not willing to risk missing a meal. They're not willing to, you know what I mean? It's really easy to see that.

We're laying there, she's like, "You seem stuck, you know? For the last month or two you just seem that way."

I was like, "You know, I'm trying to figure out," and I was trying to explain to her. I told her about the time going on the bike and realizing, "Oh my gosh, I don't have a product," then I threw myself in to trying to figure out a product to sell.

The idea did not come from me. You personally do not possess the creativity to create a marketable, amazing, cashflow machine on your own. It sucks to realize that, but you don't, you don't have that creativity.

I got my idea when I was in the throes of study, constantly trying to figure out cool stuff, looking at all the sellers, looking at competitors, buying products, trying to figure out where I could fit in the ecosystem of the business I was choosing.

That's when I got the idea. I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is crazy." I was explaining this all to her, this was like a couple of days ago. She's at the Tony Robbins thing right now, but anyway, we're talking and I was explaining to her like, "You know what? I had the realization, I don't have a product, but then I figured out a product, and then, oh my gosh, it works."

I was thinking $100 would change our life, but then it was like $500 a month, then it was like $1,000, then it was $2,000, it was up to $5,000.

I remember my first $11,000 day and it was like, "Oh my gosh!" It was so exciting and I'm so excited for you guys to have that, if you haven't had it already. If you have that, relish those, I mean those are huge moments. I'm striving for my six figure day now. I've had my five figure day, I'm looking for the six figure one.

Anyway, she was saying, "I think you're like you're stuck." I was telling her stuff, and I told her I am realizing right now that I purposefully, and I did this on purpose, I purposefully stopped studying. Remember I what I was like when I was on the bike and I was realizing, "Oh my gosh, all this stuff is going on. This stuff is cool, but I need a business to actually do this stuff to."

I made a decision to stop learning, all right?

That sounds stupid, it sounds ridiculous, but I started practicing what I called 'just in time learning'. Just in time learning is the type of learning where you're just sprinting until the lights go out. You're like, "Okay, how do I get do I get the lights back on? What's the next idea? What's the thing that's going to keep me going? Okay. I'm running into this specific problem, I can't even figure how to resize an image, okay?"

That's the next piece of knowledge you need to go for, right?

Just in time learning is so key, because there's so much stuff out there, and there are so many things out there that can keep you guys from keeping progress and keep you from moving forward.

You can get bogged down really, really easy...

I think I've said this before, but even Tim Ferriss in his book The 4-Hour Work Week' says that reading after a certain amount of time dissuades the mind from its creative pursuits. I think that's the exact quote maybe.

He says it dissuades you and the reason it's good to read deeply, drink deeply my friends, my gosh. I'm not telling you not to learn, I'm not telling you not to read, but there's a time for action and there's a time for learning. I stopped this whole big gulp of information and trying to figure out how to sort it and go figure out what I need and what I didn't.

I started practicing 'just in time learning'...

It was super, super powerful for me to do that, very, very powerful. The realization I had when my wife asked me that, you know we're laying in bed and she's asked me that question, and I was going through this whole thing. I said, "You know what, for a long time I practiced this just in time learning thing and it's worked for the last two years. You know, when I realized I needed to actually take ridiculous action and throw myself and give myself for the product and I did."

It's worked, and it's working and it still is, and it's sustainable and it's been fantastic.

I mean, it's like clockwork now, it's so cool. I just know what's going to happen, I'll be a few times where it's like Saturday and only $800 bucks is coming in, by the time it's midnight though I've got another four or $500, and like what the heck? It just works and it's been great.

I'm realizing that to scale it and to pull it to the next level is going to require a different type of knowledge. I need to start this deep learning thing again. I need to start this hardcore really, really deep intense knowledge, this big drink again. This big quench again, that I was doing before.

What got me, it's such a cliché thing to say but it's so true, and I'm realizing it right now. What got me here is not enough for me to get to where I'm trying to go. I got here and I've learned that stuff and learned the knowledge and I know how to build funnels, and I know how to get lots of traffic, I can make sweet products, I can tons of automation, I can find out what things in the marketplace will sell well.

I know how to sell now...

I know all this stuff and it's great, and it's a huge, I mean it's a massive asset, but in order for me to scale, that's a different problem set. I have not spent the time yet learning personally how to scale it. I can do it for Russell all day long, because he has the team, he's figured out that. Right? That's what I've realized sitting down, I was sitting down at my desk and he was right across my computer, sitting at his desk.

I was thinking about it, you know just kind of subconsciously I was going through, but it also hit me, I was like, "He has figured out this problem, because I know he doesn't like to do what this next problem set requires, so he hired someone out. He did this and he did this."

So I hired an assistant. I'm trying to train her to take care of these pieces and I'm running into problems. It's the next problem set. The big aha that I had, the thing that I'm trying to say to you guys right now is, realize that you need to drink deeply, but there are times for ... There's times for these really intense learning periods, but then there are times to just stop, because that creates noise, and just go take immense, ridiculous action and practice just in time learning. Okay?

That will get you through these big phases, that will speed up your progress like crazy because you're not focused on, "I've got to read this book in order to be successful."

Tell me you haven't thought that?...

"Well, I've got to read this book first so I know how to do it." It's like, that's bullcrap, 99% of the time that's not true, after a point. I mean, if you've never ever done anything ever, then yeah, probably read the books. Your mind starts to get opened.

You guys understand what I'm saying? Like, does this make sense? Does this make sense what I'm trying to say to you? You have to do big periods of drinking, big periods of execution.

I'm about to go back to a big period of learning...

I just spent like $300 on books and I looked at Russell's bookshelf and I looked at all these others, the bestsellers. I want to learn from the best, I want to learn from the best people on the planet, so that's what I'm doing.

What I thought would be kind of cool, and I know that it's been like two weeks since I've released this podcast, but I've been waiting for these applications to come in for me to build funnels. I've got a bunch of them and I'm going to start sifting through them and see which ones I can build for and see which ones aren't going to be a good fit and all that stuff.

I'm realizing, really, I could keep doing that the rest of my life and make a great living and make great money, but there's this extra problem set that is starting to emerge, that I didn't know was there. I wouldn't have known its there unless I was sitting in this position.

That's all I'm trying to say to you guys is that realize that wherever you are, there's another problem set that's starting to emerge. That doesn't mean you need to deal with it immediately, make sure that you're still systematizing as much as you can to get it out there, but it's literally ... Have you guys ever heard the book, it's funny, I'm asking like you're in front of me.

It's because I'm imagining I'm on stage, I do that all the time. I do that for my podcasts, I do it for everything...

When I'm about to tell something to Russell, I try and learn it as if I can teach in front of a stage and keep it more interesting for him. Anyway, do that. A lot of  little nuggets I'm dropping in this one, but I've got to stop it here soon. You ever heard of the book 'Ready, Fire, Aim'?

It's literally on a plaque above our door at the office. Ready, Fire, Aim is a book that talks about the problem sets and the skills that are required to go from zero to a million dollars, right? That's what I'm trying to do. I know I'm going to get close to it sometime soon, which is awesome, super cool.

This is what I'm talking about, it's a total different problem set, because in the book, the next part of the book is going, "Okay, and how do you take your business from one million to 10 million?"

This is a different problem set...

You don't really think about like that usually. Then from 10 million to 100 million. There's the problem set, those are the skills and the habits required to actually hit that level.

It's funny because those aren't things that I ever learned or was taught in a business degree. Why the heck not?

That's really, really powerful stuff...

Anyway, guys think where you are on this path. Be deliberate in where you're standing. If you are in a learning phase, be in a learning phase and give yourself for it. If you realize that you've been in the learning phase too long and not been executing, which is one of the pains a new entrepreneur needs to experience, then realize that that's where you are, own that place and take a step forward.

Stop learning!

I guarantee you could learn the rest of your life and never take any action. Stop learning, go take action, and while you're taking ridiculous action, you're giving yourself for the product. You're giving yourself for the customer, trying to make it as cool as it can be.

There will be little tiny problems that pop up. Okay? That's just in time learning time, that's when you just needed to go create little tiny pieces of learning, so that you can overcome the specific obstacle that you are in front of.

Anyway, I've been talking a long time and I hope that all makes sense. Realize where you are, own that place, move forward and start pointing out and naming and recognizing the problem set that's in front of you, and then just solve it.

There's a, I can't remember who said it, but he said that you can ... The quote is something like, "You can measure the success of a person by the number of problems they have solved."

If you haven't solved the problem of how to keep your house orderly, you're going to have a hard time running a business. You know what I mean?

Not that that's directly correlated, because sometimes I think that's crap, but you know what I mean though? It all kind of weaves together. If you can't feed yourself and wipe your own butt you're going to have a hard time being successful. You know what I mean? There's like certain problems that you've got to go solve.

Anyways, be problem solvers, my friends. Solve fast, that's how you fail fast and learn fast, it's all tied directly into it as well.

Anyways, super excited, missus is coming home very soon and can't wait to hear about how the Tony Robbins event went. Just been playing with the little kiddos here, I thought, "Man, I owe you guys a podcast." It's been a little while here so, so sorry about that, but so many cool things going on.

Oh my gosh, I cannot wait to tell you guys a little more about what's going on, so stayed tuned to the next one. I already know what it's going to be about because it is sick. Anyway, we'll talk to you guys later. Bye.

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