Barcelona + More Inspiration at Dynamite Circle – Mike’s Vlog 020

This Dynamite Circle group of digital nomads (“location independent entrepreneurs”) always motivate me to make moves and push myself harder and in business. Inspired me to start a podcast Global From Asia which is my main gig now, thanks guys. Haven’t been to Europe for years, so what better reason than to come to this amazing event!

What I learned at DC Barcelona

Information overload! As always, another amazing Dynamite Circle event. A bit out of my comfort zone, first time to Barcelona, staying out in an Airbnb on my own, kind of feeling solo this trip – normally have more friends I know and sharing a hotel, etc etc. This one is much more “straight up” conference.

As always, I want to write up what I have learned and help share it with those who read the blog. Also it helps me to solidify the knowledge I gained and document it.

Saturday Session 1 – Tim Conley on Consulting

Tim is amazing, always sharing the goods. I liked that he shared that consulting is scalable. He gave a few new product ideas for me to sell, such as

* Group consulting – the idea of having a group of people who all want the same assistance and help and are willing to work it out together as a group.

* Membership sites – a few different angles on how it can be structured. He went back to Joe Polish days of carpet cleaners membership sites who paid $15,000 USD a year to be able to attend a meetup 4 times a year in Phoenix, Arizona. And Tim reminded us carpet cleaners make an average of $55,000 USD a year. So these people paid to be able to attend a conference 4 times a year, near Joe’s home. There were about 150 members in the community the price was $10,000 USD a year and just was increased to $15,000 USD a year.

* Paid masterminds – masterminds don’t have to be free! There is a ton of value in hosting a mastermind themed around a common trend or problem. Getting like minded people together on a regular call.

I think my biggest takeaway from Tim’s talk is to be confident you are adding value. To find value add services to go up the food chain. To find the real problems people are willing to pay for.

Youtube Marketing

Gabby Wallace, making six figures a year on Youtube for English learning. She shared that an average video should be 5 minutes long, that the average view time is 2.5 minutes, and that Youtube watches the stats of videos and if people watch less than half of the video it will negatively affect your ranking.

Focus on a theme. Probably something I’m not doing at Mikesblog – but this is more for brand building and fun.

Also to perk up your energy when doing video – its entertainment – people want to be entertained (makes me think of the Gladiator movie).

She monetizes from info products and says don’t fully rely on youtube ads. She was answering tons of questions.

Keep the viewers hungry! Tease them. Break down the videos into multiple series.

My takeaway, if I want to be serious about Youtube, I should probably start a different Youtube channel that is more focused. Some people say they like to see that I am an American dad in Asia – that perspective on life. The Hong Kong business stuff is so niche, would it be able to get enough viewership?

Then there is also Enter China – which has a decently built up Youtube channel. Lots of ideas on how to improve it and grow it even more.

Taking Your Ecommerce From 0 to 1 Million in 18 Months

Allen Walton from Dallas shared on this one. He does spy products – hidden cameras. So he didn’t even use Amazon – this was all on his own website. Mainly used Google Adwords PPC to build it up, but is heavily investing in getting media coverage for backlinks to grow his SEO and ranking in Google.

Allen is very analytical. Throughout his presentation he shared spreadsheets and reports he did to analyze his customer service, his PPC stats, basically everything seemed to be tracked. Think that is really what it takes to grow and improve. That saying “you can’t improve what you don’t measure”.

Then there was the idea he had worked in a store selling these products for over 2 years. He had known the industry for years. He lived and breathed these products. Which makes me realize that knowing your product is critical. Felt good, because a lot of people always ask me what kinds of products they should sell online. I always tell them that it should be a product they are passionate and knowledgable about. That as your business grows, you will need to keep researching the market, knowing what people are up to and doing. Then you will have to answer questions from customers.

He mentioned that he still answers customer service questions. On the phone. That this is what sets him apart from his competitors. His competitors have a phone number, but it is just a voicemail. That he answers within the first few seconds of when the call comes in.

Allen is a very hard working guy, up till 4am many nights, reading tons of PPC books, ad copy books, etc. He really deserves all the success he is getting. Makes me want to find a product line I am passionate about and get it rocking!

Day 2 – Content Marketing, Retargeting, + Info Products

Really pumped for this second day. As I write this it is the morning of the second day, and I have my notebook open and ready to take notes. Also been taking some video recordings, but not too much.

Anxious to put a lot of this knowledge into action. Life is really short, got to maximize it.

This was a three session day. Lucky I got a lot of rest the night before.

Session 1: Content Marketing

Interesting just to hear others in the room having the same problems as I am. Thinking of new content, getting people to engage with it. Till Carlos and Paul Campillo shared a ton of value bombs. I learned some new frameworks from Paul on blog posts, will try to implement those immediately in my writing structure. Also got some ideas on doing more (well, any) outreach on the blog posts I write. Honestly, I am doing zero outreach, just hate to push. But realize there is no other way than to push a bit to get it out there.

Session 2: Retargeting Funnels

This was an amazing one, and much different than listed as “Facebook PPC”. So glad it was different than listed, Michael from Search Scientists shared a ton on using retargeting within your funnel. Not to use the same re-targeting series for everyone who visits your website, but instead to use it for different cases – such as those who visit and only see one page and leave, versus those who subscribed to your email list but didn’t buy versus those who added to cart but didn’t complete. Very action packed with ideas such as time delayed retargeting so if you sell pills, after 45 days start to remind them that they need to reorder, with a coupon code as well.

Pretty advanced stuff, and will try to test it with at least one sequence.

Session 3: Information Products Panel

Another topic I am trying to learn more from – selling information. A women panel (maybe they are better at selling info products?) with Sophia, Gabby, and Olivia who went through a lot of common questions and mindset issues people getting started face.

They made me feel good when they explained even their older info products still sold, and they used evergreen type launches. Also made me feel good that they aren’t too “hype” pushing and pushing their audience to buy, but seem to have a good balance of free and paid content in their own business models.

Big takeaway there is I need to be less afraid to sell my knowledge. And also to make it into smaller chunks and just get it out there into the market. I have launched a couple now and have a whole series of other courses I want to launch so I will keep on pushing.

Event wrapped up about 5pm with the award ceremony. Matt Kowalak, Jamon, and I won the “travelled the furthest” award- sweet! Coming over from China is a big trip for sure!

After party on the rooftop of a swank hotel. Tons of amazing people to talk to and just eavesdropping on a couple conversations you can feel the energy there.

The event isn’t over. I’ll be hosting a meetup on HK business Tuesday afternoon. There is other events these few days I’ll be stopping by. Then onwards to Prague for the Dcx Prague event – another cool excuse to visit a city in Europe I haven’t been to before.

Jeez my brain is still full and digesting all of this. I am going to go through all my notes again and make an action item list. Just got to keep pushing forward step by step and make it happen. Every day you should be a little bit better than yesterday and you’ll be in good shape. Overwhelm is stressful, but take it piece by piece.

Thanks everyone at Dynamite Circle – been great being involved since the early days.