How To Turn Your Passion Into An Impactful Online Business: Interview with Carolina Millan

This week we’re sitting down with Carolina Millan, an International Speaker, Business Coach and Content Creator. 

 

From time to time, I love to interview coaches who have figured some things out…

 

Because it’s true, it’s not easy to build a viable business, but it’s possible.

 

And I know I’m telling you it’s possible all the time, but sometimes you just have to get proof from more than one source, right?

 

Now, when I’m looking for folks to interview for this show, I’m looking for a few things that I know were important to me when I was building my coaching biz:

 

1. They have to actually be successful, not talk the game, but actually walk it
2. They have demonstrated that success over time, not just did that one super successful launch and that’s it
3. The strategies they used are replicable by you and me… if they did it with resources that most of us don’t have access to, that’s not gonna be as useful, is it??

 

Our guest this week fit the bill in so many ways, I can’t wait for you to listen in!

 

Carolina and I met by the pool in Puerto Rico while both of us were attending a multi-day mastermind event with about 200 other high performers, and we immediately hit it off…

 

She’s different. In a delightful way.

 

For one thing, she’s been in business, online, for over a decade. Which isn’t common!

 

Here at The CRUSH Method we love interviewing successful coaches to show you… it’s possible.

 

When you tune into this discussion, you’ll be blown away by how humble Carolina is, but she’s done some really amazing things things…

 

Like interviewing Gary Vee, and Grant Cardone, just to name a couple of the big names she’s hosted on her podcast.

 

She’s also never declared a niche. Yup. Here’s someone who joined the 2 Comma Club (an award through ClickFunnels for generating over a million dollars through her online funnels) without needing to narrow her niche down.

 

When I found this out, I just had to invite her for an interview, to show you, dear CRUSH Coach, that success is very much possible when you have the tenacity to learn, to test, and to try new things.

 

Carolina has developed a successful podcast, and a following, without living in the center of the Personal Development world, too… She lives in a smaller city in Chile. 

 

She’s a walking contradiction of “what everybody says”, and yet is successful, happy, and a servant leader, and so I just had to introduce her to you.

 

You’ll love this interview. :)

 

About Carolina Millan

 

Through her videos, podcasts workshops, online courses, and coaching programs, Carolina teaches entrepreneurs the necessary marketing skills to position their Personal Brands to create their own online courses and coaching programs. Through her training, she teaches people to be able to live from their passion and to design their lives. 

 

Some of Carolina’s clients have reached their first million dollars thanks to her digital marketing strategies. Carolina speaks on stages around the globe and has helped thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs in their online journey.  

 

Carolina has generously offered a free copy of her eBook to The CRUSH Method Subscribers, download 7 Steps to Online Profits & Social Media Success at personalbrandingsecrets.me/ebook

 

She’s also invited you to follow her on Instagram at instagram.com/carolinamillan 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How To Turn Your Passion Into An Impactful Online Business: Interview with Carolina Millan

Transcript of Vlog - May 2, 2020

 

How, how are you Carolina? Welcome. Thank you. I'm doing great. How are you? So good. So good. So Carrie, Lena and I met very, um, I don't know, kismet E serendipitously. Um, we were both part of a mastermind, uh, high performance kind of mastermind. Uh, that's actually huge. There's like hundreds of members and, uh, we, we happen to cross paths in Puerto Rico most recently and we just kind of shared a little bit of lounge time by the pool and found out that we have so much that's in common but very different from our backgrounds.

 

And I recently did a podcast for you and I said, would you, would you come back and do it for me too? Because I feel like the crush map editors need to know Carolina. So I'm really excited to talk to you about a lot of things today. Are you ready? I'm ready. Okay, well let, let's, let's get to know you a little bit first. So we're, where are we? Cha? We're, you know, I'm not really in a coffee shop. I'm actually in my,

 

uh, in my, in our makeshift studio, um, which is also known as, uh, one of the kid's rooms made over. But where, where are you tuning in from? Well, um, I'm home, I'm at my office until I love America. For those, for those who don't know where that is, Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. And see, this is why I joined masterminds. Right. It's as you get to form relationships with people all around the world doing amazing,

 

crazy things. So one of the things that really, uh, really caught my attention is when you sit up in the mastermind and you were talking about about how giving you can be and how, how you can be very successful with online campaigns just by giving a little bit of yourself. And it just, it really caught my attention cause I feel like whenever we were talking about online marketing or we're talking about like how to sell courses, how to, you know, do things, it, it always becomes about like the technology,

 

doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. And like what, what are the landing pages and what are the magic words that I need to put in my copy in? And you just really impressed me because you stood up and you're like, maybe you could just give a little bit of your time as a bonus. So, so just so people have a little bit of context. Mm. What is your business experience? Yes. So I, well I started my first attempt at a business about 12 years ago.

 

Really long time ago, 2008. Oh my God, I'm a dinosaur. I was at my job and human resources at the time and one colleague approaches me about a business opportunity with a network marketing company. And so I took it, like I looked at it, she made it look really appealing. They do that, they do that. She did the whole projections three. So in three years you'll be pretty much retired and um, be able to afford an apartment, blah, blah, blah. And I was like,

 

really? Yeah. And all you have to do is recruit one person per month and that person has to recruit one person and that person has to recruit. Right? Seems simple enough. Right? Well it wasn't. Yeah it wasn't. So, and this was September, 2008 by the way, if you guys remember what happened then I literally invested and a week later the economy crashed. So, and you know, a lot of the people in our community are coaches and they've, they've maybe really recently finished wrapping up like a coaching certification or maybe they're just starting a coaching certification.

 

Um, you know, the coaching schools that I'm, I'm really familiar with, they all move to like virtual experiences instead of traveling to them and all of this kind of thing. And so this is like a tough time to be starting something new, but I couldn't help but notice you're still here, you're still in business. Of course. I'm still here. So and so are you. Exactly. Exactly. Cause you really want to do something you don't give up. So, of course the world was,

 

you know, the economy was crumbling down and I had just invested a whole salary into this. It was, it was a thousand dollars, which was my salary at the time, which over here is an okay salary for a professional, but you don't do that much anymore with that kind of money. So I, instead of freaking out, I went online, I went to mr Google and I did my research. How do I generate leads? What is a lead? Cause I didn't know what a lead was.

 

What is, what does the word lead mean? It's not a clue. No, it's not a clue. It's something else. So that's how I learned. Like that's how I started learning digital marketing. Because at university, of course when I went to university, digital marketing was not a thing yet. So we've been teach me that. So I had to self educate myself. I started following some gurus and most people from the U S like 12 years ago, South America was not as advanced in terms of what they do marketing.

 

So every guru I found talking about network marketing and digital marketing, we're in the U S so I started learning, implementing step by step and I discovered, I was really passionate about. So the media, suddenly I, I joined Twitter, I joined everything they said and you need to be here, you need to be here, you need to be on YouTube. Okay. I joined everything and then a couple of years later, um, I kind of gave up on that one marketing thing cause it really wasn't for me.

 

So I only recruited like two people in three years. You're a little off the spreadsheet. Well yeah, a little the three year projection not happening. So, but started working when I started doing was a freelance social media, like between consultant and manager. So I quit my job in 2010, 10 years ago. Oh my God. And from there I started slowly gaining some clients first locally here in Chile. Then I started branching out to us and other countries. Uh, and then I started getting into affiliate marketing as another income stream.

 

Then I started to do coaching, mentoring, speaking. And so today I do like all those things, like a lot of stuff, right between a marketing speaking, uh, my courses, coaching, affiliate marketing, those are probably the main things that you do and basically helping other entrepreneurs and coaches and people who are looking to generate leads. Cause I finally got how to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Because I think that's like every new coach or every new consultant, every new business owner really, you know,

 

that's the first thing is like who could be a perspective client? Where do I find prospective clients? And you know, there's a lot of mindset shift involved in that because it turns out that fully half of the world's population is connected on social media right now. So your problem is not finding leads in however it's a little different. It's actually the connection isn't it? It's the connection. Yeah. It's figuring out how to convert those leads. Of course, that's, that's the harder part. And it's generating that trust,

 

building that brand so that people get to know you, like you and trust you because traffic is never scars. Like there's an abundance of traffic. Like you can get all the traffic and leads you want, but what are you going to do with them? Are you going to serve them properly or what? So that's the key and it all takes learning, right? It all, I think we've all been enticed by that little blue button that Facebook has. You know, where you like you, you hit the base of like,

 

maybe I'll just boost my project or my workshop or my event or my webinar or whatever. I'll just boost my post about that. Then I'll, you know, it'll, it'll make it rain or I'll get a lead or something like that. And right. All it does is show you how easy it is to spend money. No. And the worst thing about that little boost button on Facebook is it's, it's such a liar when it tells you that, Ooh, this post is doing 95% better than most of your posts.

 

You should boost it. That's not true. I know. It's like, it's like candy for an entrepreneur. It's like, Ooh, maybe, maybe I might be cracking that code. And, you know, it turns out everybody's getting the same message. Right. And it's relative to now we know a little better. We know a little better. It's so true. I think one of the things that really stood out, um, Carolina, like when you, when you invited me to your podcast and it was like hard.

 

Yes, absolutely. I would love to do that. Um, is, is that you have been online for 10 years. Like that's, that's kind of weird. You know, I think a lot of people are, are, you know, especially, um, a lot of people especially that are like going to masterminds and joining programs and everything. They're in their first year, they're in their first like six months. Like that's way more common. And what I noticed is you have so much staying power,

 

like you've stayed in the game and you've been really diligent with that and you know, so I'm just really curious, what advice would you have to someone who's in their first six months or in their first three months or in their first year or even their first three years that they're feeling like maybe they're not getting the traction or they're not, you know, they're not putting themselves out there in the right way, or maybe there's something wrong with them that they're not where you are. Cause like I think the thing is is you mentioned you do a lot of things.

 

You do the affiliate marketing, you do the coaching, you do the courses, you do the speaking. But that's on the back of a 10 year career of doing this. Right. So what would you say to someone who's looking at everything that you're doing and thinking, Oh my gosh, I could never do that? Well, first of all, like I said, like I started in 2008. It's first it took me two and a half years to actually quit my job. So the first few years it was just working on the side,

 

you know, doing the side hustle thing, uh, spending my free time, the weekends, learning, learning. I wasn't generating any money the first two years. Uh, except those two people I enroll in that I made like 200 bucks, three years. Right. And how much to make your 200. Right. Oh well yeah. So the first two years, like I, I really struggled, you know. Um, but I wasn't just sitting there like, okay, I had my job eight to six,

 

it's not nine to five here it's eight to six. So I had less time. Um, and what I did during that time was work on my own building that trust, that credibility. Cause I knew if I wanted to do this for the long term, why would people do business with me if they didn't know who I was? So the first two years I was on social media generating connections, I started getting some opportunities here and there. Like if I had a friend who was journalist and he was writing an article about social media,

 

it's like, Hey, I'm happy to talk about my experience. So I got a few mentions on some local newspapers over here and that's how I slowly like slowly started to make a name for myself, even though I wasn't making any money yet, but people were noticing me. So content, content, like that's what you need to do. And then there's the next two years after I quit my job, um, I was still struggling. Like I got a couple of clients, but it was barely enough to replace my salary.

 

Like I wasn't making a killing or anything. Um, so it really, it took me like four years to get to a result that I could be proud of, you know? Uh, of course I was happy with everything I was accomplishing, but steadily. But it really was two, four years to really take off. So, and that was like I said a long time ago there, there's way more opportunity now than back then. That's the question I had on my mind as I was like,

 

does it have to take four years? Knowing what you know, does it have to take four years? Like if you go back and like tap yourself on the shoulder, what would you tell yourself to just hurry up and do because you know that it would have accelerated your timeline. What is that? Well, first thing I, the first couple of years, even though I was learning a lot, I was really scared of investing, like putting actual money into courses or coaching. So I was only like relying on free quote unquote free sources like YouTube video or,

 

or reading blogs, you know, I wasn't putting any money. Also, I wasn't doing any paid traffic either. I mean, imagine if when Facebook ads launched in 2010 you know, I was re I was right there and I didn't dare invest in it. Like if I had invested, I'm scared to lose the money. I was scared. Like I was scared of investing in advertising. I was scared of investing courses or mentors. So I was, I was friend to get all the free stuff and that's why it took so long.

 

Like if I could go back, I would be like, Hey, Facebook is really cheap right now. And it's very easy to do. They don't shut down accounts. They let you see whatever you want on your ads, like put their money in it. That's one of the first things I would do. And also it took me so long because I was very shy as well. Like I'm very introverted, so it took me a little while to really get to create content on a regular basis and all of that hang up to the camera,

 

warming the process, very shy, very shy. So those are two things. Like if I had invested more money in myself, I didn't really have much debt at the time. I think I didn't even have a mortgage yet. So you know, that's, that's the whole key is, is that I think part of why we don't do that, I have the same exact experience. Like, I resisted doing ads for 18 months. Oh, in my business after I really got seriously started. You know,

 

cause you know, you've got kind of the fits and the starts for the year or two before you actually really get serious. So I kind of have like these different starting lines, right? But when, when I got like, no, but I'm really doing this about my business. I still resisted spending money on any kind of advertising for a full 18 months. And what's bananas is that I would continue to invest in coaches and mentors and courses who were literally telling me to invest in those ads and I just wouldn't allow myself to do it.

 

And you know, what changed everything for me was a book called profit first. And also that mastermind, uh, Ethan Willis, uh, one of the guys in the mastermind, you know, talking about investing on the basis of the percentage of what you would earn.

 

And I was like<inaudible>, you know, whenever you could do with a hundred bucks, you could probably do with 80 bucks.

 

So why not take 20% or even 10%? Like, whatever you could do with a hundred bucks, you could probably do with 90 bucks.

 

But if you took 10 bucks, right, and you said, okay, that's going in my experimentation fund.

 

And combine that with learning from real life coaches and mentors that help you do stuff. What was so hilarious is that by the time I actually got out there,

 

you know, I was consistently doing 10 X on my ad spend. Even like nowadays, like in the,

 

in the recent past, in the last couple of years, and it's because of all of the organic stuff that we learn how to do that I'm able to do that.

 

But the, uh, the fear of ads, man, like that just, I kept a small,

 

it's crazy. The struggle is real when it comes to, to the paid ads. Now of course we are also very blessed now because we can do a lot of organic stuff,

 

but it takes longer. I was trying to do it all organic and that's why, that's why it took me so long.

 

Like, I don't want you guys listening to this and thinking, Oh, so I got four years to go.

 

No, that's just me. That was just me. You have to have some patience for the process,

 

you know, too. It doesn't mean that you're going to be successful either. Like, no. Got it.

 

Yeah. I mean, yeah, but what I wanted to show people is that you, if you're patient,

 

like if it's your first year, your second year, like keep going. Because if you keep going and you're persistent,

 

you will get there. And for some people it happens way sooner. I know a lot of people who,

 

five years ago we're broken car and now they're moving tiny millionaires and I'm like, wow. It took them a lot less time and I'm not there yet.

 

But that's amazing. Like everybody has their different timing. Everybody is going at a different pace and everybody has different goals too.

 

So darn resources, different risk tolerances. Like everybody is super different. So yeah, having patience for your own process and comparing you to you.

 

Right? Like, I think that's, that's a big, um, that's really hard actually with every,

 

with everything so available on social media and like you see that say, Oh, don't do it this way,

 

do it this way. And you're like, okay. And you go and you do it that way and then you see another ad that's like,

 

don't do it that way. Do it this way. And you're like, okay, from so many different directions.

 

Yeah, exactly. It is kind of crazy. Well, and you know, I can't help so sorry on podcasts,

 

but, uh, on video, you know, there's that little year on the wall behind you tell,

 

tell us a little bit about that. What is that? The ClickFunnels thing? How'd you earn it?

 

And uh, and like what, what is the signify, cause you see it everywhere, but I'm not sure everybody knows like exactly what that is.

 

So what is that? Yeah, so that's, that's the, the two common club, um, which is like a,

 

an award that click funnels came up with, for those people who don't know, click funnels is a platform to build sales funnels online without any big technical knowledge.

 

So I really liked them and I've been, well, I've been using that platform for the past over five years,

 

actually, like five and a half years or so. I started using it to build my funnels and I also got to meet Russell Brunson,

 

the founder about five years ago. So I started building a relationship with him and I became an affiliated of course for the blog,

 

that form and everything. It's been really cool. Um, but for you to get this award, you have to,

 

uh, generate a million dollars in revenue in sales through one of your funnels using the click funnels platform to build it.

 

Uh, so I got that in, I think it was the end of 2017 so since I started using the platform,

 

so it took me like three years probably. I'm hearing a theme. It took me time to figure it out.

 

Like, yeah, I'm really slow with everything it seems. Oh my gosh. You know how many people would love to have that on the,

 

on their wall, right? Like that's a major, major accomplishment because you were patient. I was patient.

 

Yes, yes. And I got it at the time when I, when I qualified for it, they were a little more flexible in terms of like it could be more than one funnel.

 

You could combine more than one funnel and get to 1 million in sales. So at the time it was a mix between stuff I was doing as an affiliate and my coaching,

 

like my one line, my private coaching, so I put all the numbers together like, Oh, it's a little over a million.

 

So I sent them that information and I qualified. But now it has to be one funnel. So whether it's just your coaching or just your affiliate or just like one,

 

one product, one funnel that generates a million in sales and they send you that, uh, that award.

 

And not only they send it to you through your home, but if you go to their live events,

 

you get to like receive it on stage and everybody's watching. And so it's kind of a big deal.

 

Yeah, it's really exciting though. I mean like how did it feel to realize that you won one,

 

you qualified for the award and, and like what was that like? Well it was, it was really cool actually.

 

I, I think I qualified a little before I noticed. Hmm. Cause I, I wasn't sure I could put two funnels and then this friend tells me,

 

Hey, I just submitted my application for the two comma club award. You should too. And I'm like,

 

Oh but I don't have one funnel there yet. No, but it doesn't have to be one me.

 

Okay. So I did it and, and then they got back to me and said, Hey, congratulations.

 

You know, so I send them all the proof and everything and, and then they sent it to me,

 

uh, via mail. It was really cool cause I didn't the thing they would send it all the way here.

 

And also I was scared with break cause it's, it's an on frame and I live far. Yeah.

 

It was amazing that I think that, that's another thing that I hear a lot in our community. Sometimes people say,

 

Oh, you know, I don't live in California or I don't live in a big city or you know,

 

there's some reason that I can't be successful as a coach or a consultant because of where I live. Or maybe I live in a rural location.

 

And you know, you're shaking your head violently here. So what would you say to somebody who thinks that like,

 

cause they're not in the middle of the hub, that they can't be successful? I'm clearly not in the middle of the hub.

 

If there is a hub in my country, I also don't live there. Like I don't live in the capital.

 

I don't live in the big city. So let's start there. And second, I don't live in the U S um,

 

and I have clients there. I have clients in Europe, I have clients in Australia. Like it doesn't matter where you live,

 

assert English is not even my first language. It's my second. I get one like I get, I get clients who are native English speakers who could go work with a native English speaker,

 

you know, but they pick me because they don't pick you because of where you live. They don't pick you away because of where you come from,

 

what you look like. Of course there are some people who are racist, but I'm not attracting those.

 

There you go. You got a diverse, a diverse audience. Diverse crowd. Yeah. So I mean most people like it really depends on how you,

 

how you position yourself and never think that where you live, where you come from is a disability or a disadvantage.

 

Actually you can use that to your advantage a lot. Like I've had a lot of people who come to me like because I'm a woman.

 

Okay. And so many women feel like, cause I'm a woman, I'm in, it's a disadvantage in my case.

 

Men seem to trust me more than other men. Yeah. I have, I have this similar kind of effect in my private practice.

 

In our inner group programs, it's a little different. It kind of flips. Um, but in our group programs,

 

Chris is there. So I don't know, like it's really hard to say what the connection could be.

 

Um, so you know, I think another thing that kind of gets in the way for a lot of people,

 

um, over time is just focus. So what would you have to say about that? You screamed,

 

you scratched your face a little bit with what do you have to, what, what do you think about that idea?

 

Like if you were to just focus on one thing versus like trying to be lots of different places, your strategy is very diversified,

 

right? Like you are doing a lot of things kind of intentionally, so how can you kind of like have it all but not get pulled into so many different directions at one time that,

 

that you don't get anything done? Cause I think that's where most people kind of fall apart. Yeah.

 

Well, uh, in my personal experience, focus has been and still is a big problem. Like,

 

that's why you asked me whether you do, and I do like five different things, which, you know,

 

it's, it's fun for me to do a lot of things, but, um, I recognize that if I had focused on just one saying five years ago,

 

I probably be way ahead of where I am. And that's, you know, that's, that will be great.

 

Uh, but also at the same time it's like, it's my nature. Like I like doing several things.

 

Like I don't think I could do the same thing all day, every day. Just one thing. But it is true that the fewer things you focused on,

 

the better because otherwise you spread yourself too thin, your branding is going to be unclear. So, okay,

 

so you do five things, but then what are you known for? Like people want to know, what is that one thing you're known for?

 

And I was talking to you like, I don't know, a couple months ago when we had our first followup call and you asked me that and I was like,

 

I don't have an answer because I do like five things. Um, it has worked out for me,

 

but I think if, if I positioned myself for just one thing, I would probably have more, you know,

 

a larger firm following, it would be easier for people to understand what I do. Um, so that said,

 

well said. Yeah, you are still doing very well. Right? Like you, you, you've stayed in business,

 

uh, you know, longer than most businesses stay in business. That's why I'm here. Yeah. And I,

 

I mean, you've persevered and you continue to persevere and you continue to figure things out. And I mean like it obviously took a certain amount of focus to be able to win a two comma club award,

 

right? Like that is a very significant achievement. So totally acknowledged that if you had had pulled all of that into one singular direction,

 

you may have gone further. And I think sometimes people also give themselves a really hard time for not being focused or not being focused enough and they say,

 

well, I can't even be a little bit successful. I don't like, look at Carolina, she's actually quite successful.

 

Um, and you know, I think, I think sometimes we got to catch a little bit of a break.

 

Plus, I mean, you look at somebody like a Gary V, right? And I have a question about him soon.

 

Yeah. Um, and, and people kind of like, they go like the one thing, the one thing,

 

and it's simple for them to think about that, but you look at what the dude actually does and it's a verse like he's everywhere doing all kinds of things.

 

And I think the key is, is that he's, he's also incredibly good at, um, like team.

 

And if you don't know who Gary V is and you're sensitive about swear words, don't look them up.

 

But he's just, he's a prolific marketer and he's, he's been, um, I think prolific is honestly the best word to describe the dude.

 

He's just everywhere, you know, and he moves so fast. But his genius, his real genius besides his conviction is that he ha he does team really well,

 

so he doesn't personally do very much other than speak and just kinda like delegate down and make sure that things are happening right and wildly,

 

wildly successful but very diverse. Again, you know, not just that one hit wonder. No. Yeah,

 

no, I think, I mean if you, if you've been around for a while and you've heard people say that the most dangerous number in business is one,

 

like you shouldn't have one income source, you shouldn't have it, you know, one source of traffic,

 

you shouldn't have one anything. But then there are other people telling you you should only have one thing.

 

So again, you get okay, who's right. It's probably somewhere in between. Right? Exactly. And you've got to find your mix.

 

Yes. So I think it's good to have a healthy balance. So I don't want people to be doing 10 15 things,

 

but you can do like me where I do like two or three or two on four. And then there are other things you're going to do on the side that people are not going to even know about.

 

Like you could have your investments and you're not known as an investor, but you are diversifying your cashflow and putting it in into investments.

 

But then when it comes to your branding, to your message, that's where you should be. That's where there should be a little bit of focus and congruency.

 

And so the different ventures that you get involved in should somehow converge into that same message. So if you can keep focused there,

 

then you can have three, four different things that you're doing as long as there's some alignment. Right?

 

So I don't have a cooking show on YouTube and then a business podcast and then talking about pets somewhere else.

 

Right? That's where you really going to confuse your audience. So right there, that's, no, that makes so much sense.

 

So, so I do have to ask. So one of the things that I noticed is, is you've gotten some incredible guests on your podcast and I know you're,

 

you're, you're very humble about this, but I really, I have to ask, you know, her very first podcast,

 

uh, has Gary V as an interview and it's great. I mean, I listened to it and I was like,

 

Hmm. You know, it was, yeah, it was really good. And I was looking down the lineup and I'm like,

 

Oh, does she get these very successful business people to give her 20 minutes and do authentic podcast? And like they're so patient with each I,

 

okay. I listened to a few of them. They're so patient and they're so willing to give you that time.

 

So dish. How'd you do it? Okay. All right. I'll start with the Gary V one cause that's,

 

here's the thing. And Russell Brunson talks about this a lot. If you get one of the quote unquote big players or whoever in your industry to say yes,

 

it'll be a lot easier to get the second year as the third. Yes. Oh, that's so funny.

 

It was like, how do I get that first one big person? And with Gary, I had been building that relationship for a few years.

 

Like I, I started following him on Twitter and like 2011 or something. Um, he wasn't even that big yet.

 

I said, he is now. Right. So I started following him then and I remember one time when I finally had enough money to travel and go to seminars,

 

um, I saw this one seminar he was speaking at in San Diego, in the U S and I was like,

 

Oh, Gary speaking and this other guy's speaking, I need to go. And I think I tweeted that and he noticed my tweet,

 

this was 2015 he noticed my tweet, he liked my tweet and he followed me back. Ooh, circles just follow me.

 

Yeah, that's exciting. Very exciting. Like he follows me back and I was like, Oh my God.

 

And obviously before that I was one of those people that, you know, liking what he tweeted, retweeting him again,

 

making sure they notice you like you're there, you're not just how to get something, but you're a real fan.

 

Like, that's the first thing, show these people that you're a real fan. And I was and and then they,

 

I remember I tweeted him like it was a couple of months after the event took place in 2016 and I tweeted him like the same day of the seminar,

 

Hey Gary, I'm at the seminar. I know you're speaking, I'd love to meet you. And he replied and he said sure,

 

I'll be a salami. So again fingerling he was like, yeah, meet me at the lobby at 4:00 PM something like that.

 

When he replied though I was inside one of the seminar rooms. And you've been to seminars, you know,

 

sometimes reception is not great in there. No. Oh yeah. So suddenly I go out for a little break and I checked my phone and I see his reply and I was 10 minutes,

 

10 minutes late. Oh 10 minutes late for Gary V. O. M. G. Yeah shoot.

 

I start running, running, running to the lobbies and he was still there. He was still there.

 

It was really funny cause I get there, there were like maybe six people around him. Like I'm telling you,

 

this was four years ago, he was already big, but not that big yet. I get there and people,

 

he was talking to someone else and people turn around and they're like, are you the one he's waiting for?

 

Oh my gosh. That was so embarrassing to me. I talked to him a little bit, took a selfie.

 

I was so star struck. I didn't even do a video with him or anything, whether it's just the selfie or not,

 

it wasn't even a selfie. Someone else took it. Um, but yeah, that was how I met him.

 

And then from there I kept building that relationship. Then I did my first interview with you with him,

 

which is not yet on my podcast. I never published that one on the podcast. It's fun. YouTube only.

 

So you have to year 16. I have two interviews with Gary and the second one was for the podcast.

 

Yeah. For when he launched the crushing book. So that's the Gary V story. And then with the other guests I have,

 

they're not such, they're not that exciting. The stories are not that exciting. Um, but it was a similar pattern where I just,

 

okay I really love this person and I'm going to show them that I care. I'm going to follow them on Instagram.

 

Comment on their posts. Like their posts retweet them cause they follow them on every platform. They, they do see it.

 

Trust me. Even those, even the ones who have a team handling their social cause cause for example they,

 

a lot of them check their own Instagram messages. A lot of them do their own Instagram stories. So at some point the post to do but anyway,

 

check, you know they look at the comments even if someone else is replying for them, they are aware of the top fans.

 

So you show them you're a top fan and then once you get that first yes it's easier cause you can just okay I have to email here to get this person said Oh okay this is your system.

 

And you're like hi. You know I have this podcast. I don't even mention how many downloads I have cause it's really sad.

 

It's not that many. So I, I mentioned I dropped, I name drop. You know I've interviewed Gary,

 

I've interviewed grant Cardone. Grant Cardone was also another big name that I got early on on the podcast and that's how I've done it.

 

Just be, be present in their social feeds. If you make it to a seminar and they're a speaker,

 

figured if you can meet them, uh, like really show those people that you care and don't start the conversation with,

 

hi, I want to interview you. If you've never show them that you exist, that's the worst you can see.

 

I mean you're so funny cause you know you've had a longer journey. It's true. Like it's taken time.

 

But I almost wonder like how much of that is your secret sauce, right? Because most people wouldn't stick with having the relationship with someone for so long and chance being rejected and chance being,

 

you know, ignored and all of this kind of thing. Like people, people don't have that kind of patience I don't think in general.

 

And I've gotten ignored and I've gotten a bunch of nos, but I keep going. Yeah. Well,

 

you know, we like to say around here, yes it lives in the land of no. Right.

 

You do have to be willing to put yourself out there. Now I'm really curious, I'm on the affiliate marketing path cause cause one of the things that we wanted to,

 

one of the reasons we wanted to do this podcast for coaches is you know, you set, as you said,

 

you know, the worst number in business is one. And I'm always, you know, encouraging people to start with private coaching because it has very high margins.

 

Um, people like having that personalized attention. Oh yeah. Focus, you know, the relationship like we were just talking about even Gary V likes relationships.

 

Right. Um, the thing is is that there are a lot of opportunities to kind of set it up once and it's done kind of smaller passive kind of income stream opportunities.

 

And I was really curious about affiliate marketing because I haven't had a lot of training in that. I haven't,

 

I haven't gone super deep. And that's, that is one area that you've really passionate in a big way.

 

Yeah. So someone was looking at maybe potentially including affiliate marketing as part of what they do. What are some of the things that you would say about that?

 

You know, given that Amanda is kind of dumb on the subject, what would you say? Yeah,

 

absolutely. I mean I love affiliate marketing. I've had, let's just start there. Why do you love affiliate marketing?

 

That's a strong word. I know. Okay. I like, I feel it now. You do love it.

 

That's cool. I love coaching. So I mean that's why I love it. A normal amount, I promise.

 

I uh, I like it a lot. I love it because it's, it's got so much leverage where,

 

okay, if there's one thing you're already a customer of like, okay, I'm already a customer of this software.

 

I'm already a customer of this. Um, coach, you know, somebody who may have an online course or something.

 

Um, so I already know the product. I already know that it works. I already know the owner and I trust them,

 

you know? Um, those are all writer downers guys. Right? You don't want to just put,

 

cause like you could burn people if you promote a bad product. Right? Or like a shady company or something like that.

 

So yeah. And I've had my fair share of, you know, where I promoted something that I wasn't a part of or I didn't believe in or the company shut down or the company closed down.

 

Um, so I've, I've been through all the bad stuff that can happen with affiliate marketing has happened to me.

 

So now I'm a lot more careful than before. So I only promote stuff that I either bought them myself or I know the owner very well.

 

Like I know the owner in person if I'm not a client, otherwise I have to be a client.

 

Um, and the leverage of the of it, right? First of all, you believe in second,

 

you don't have to take care of processing payments. You don't have to take care of customer service. You don't have to take care of,

 

you know, if there's a refund, well sure you might lose your commission, but you don't have to be issuing refunds or worrying about charges.

 

Bags are all, all the negative stuff, somebody else is taking care of it. You don't have to deliver the product either.

 

Like you are not the owner of the product. So you are, you don't have to worry about fulfillment.

 

Right? So all of those things are a huge leverage point for just about anybody. Um, and again,

 

if you do your due diligence, you know the product, you know the owners, you know the,

 

the team, the leadership behind it. Sometimes you'll get invited by people promote stuff that is brand new.

 

I get that all the time. People pitch me all the time, Hey Carlin, I have this great JV opportunity for you.

 

So now like alumni, more careful. I don't just, Oh yeah, sure. Let me look at how much money they pay.

 

No, I don't look at just how much money I'm going to make. I need to look at everything else.

 

Like is this a viable product? Who are these people? Are there any testimonials? Track record something.

 

Yeah, that will tell me that it's safe to promote. Right? Um, because sure you don't take care of the fulfillment or everything.

 

Right? But if you're attaching your brand to it, your credibility is also at stake. So yeah,

 

absolutely. And of course there are two types of affiliate marketing for me at least the affiliate marketing that you actively promote with your face,

 

with your own image, and then you can do affiliate marketing silently, strictly with paid traffic. And a lot of people do that one,

 

it's very profitable, it's very scalable, but a lot of times they don't do their due diligence and just promote something because it's profitable.

 

So that one I don't like. Yeah, there's like a dark side to the affiliate marketing. Yeah,

 

and I've tried it, but I couldn't keep going. I was like, I don't know if this product even works.

 

I'm sorry I can't, and it didn't really work out well for me. So I'm sticking with the one where I'm promoting stuff that I use and where I can attach my image to them and be sure that it's going to be fine.

 

I think a lot of the people in our community as well really resonate with this idea that you want to be above board.

 

You want to be high impact, you net. Like if there's one thing that, you know, the people who follow us for sure they're not into achy sales,

 

they're not into like scammy tactics and you know, I think in the coaching industry as well, there's a lot of people that are just kind of out to make a buck really fast and you know,

 

we see it every day and that's not who we are at the crush method. And that's not, that's not who's who our community is.

 

So like, how can you add affiliate marketing to what you're doing and be like super above board with all of it.

 

What would you say to a, maybe a newer coach or someone who doesn't have 10 of experience? Uh,

 

what are some things they should be thinking about if they're considering adding that revenue stream? Well, like they said,

 

right, if you're going to follow the light and not the dark path lights on the forest around here.

 

Yeah. Uh, the force, which side of the forest, right? Um, only offer offer products that you're already buying that you're already using.

 

So figure out if the online courses that you have bought, have an affiliate program. Figure out if the software that you're using on a daily basis for your business has an affiliate program.

 

Sometimes it'll call it a referral program. Um, but it's pretty much the same thing where you get commissions or some kind of reward for referring somebody else.

 

And the way that I do it is if I'm going into per promote, for example, good ClickFunnels,

 

I'll create content around that product or service showing people how to use it or offering a review, um,

 

where I can show people that, Hey, I'm using it. It works. It could work for you too.

 

Right? And on top of that, I usually offer people some bonuses to incentivize them to buy it from my affiliate link.

 

So, Hey, if you get this book from me, uh, I'm going to give you the straining,

 

I'm going to give you a consulting, I'm going to give you this or that. And how many bonuses you offer.

 

Depends on, um, Oh, so the commission that you're going to get. So it is important to see the payment structure obviously.

 

Hmm. So the only thing you want to look at, but if there's an affiliate marketing program that is going to pay you $500 for a sale or a thousand dollars for a sale,

 

Hey, it might be worth it to offer people some of your time if they buy it right? Or two out of your way to create a really cool bonus to go along with it because just one sale,

 

you're making this much money. So that would be the first thing. And then if you look at programs that you aren't already using yet,

 

figure out if you could like, okay, this program here has a very good affiliate program attached to it.

 

Um, could I use it? Could I buy it too? Could I figure out if it's good for me and my audience?

 

Is it a fit? Does it go with my message? Right? So those are a few things that I look at before getting involved with,

 

with, with the program. And if you already have an audience, it doesn't matter if you have five followers or 5,000 or you could make sales like from a group,

 

and you know this Amanda, because you've done that, you've done a lot of money from a small group of people.

 

So if you can refer one or two people to something, um, it could immediately pay off. Uh,

 

you're on expense. Like you're on cost, like with<inaudible>, right? Like if you had, let's say you had your eye on a,

 

on a course or a program and you, and like, I hear this all the time with our program,

 

it's like, Oh, I just, I can't afford to enroll in, in a course. Um,

 

you gave me an idea. It'd be like, you know, all right, but you know, we have an affiliate programs,

 

so if you recruit five other people, then yours is free, right? Like, um, those kinds,

 

that's such a great idea. Like for, if you want to take a program or a course, but you don't feel like you have the money personally,

 

you could use your, your marketing kind of a way to kind of save up that piggy bank. Yeah.

 

Like most of the software I use, not all of it, but for example, click funnels, in my case it pays itself every month and I make a profit.

 

So it's like awesome thing, my membership and I'm making some extra money. So yeah. And there's lots of things like that that you can do to kind of,

 

I love your word leverage, like to kind of leverage into, um, a position that you want to be in.

 

And you know, if you know, for example, that you want to be doing a lot of travel,

 

well choose a business card that gives you points and miles and things like that. If you know you're going to be using certain kinds of software or things like that,

 

you know, look at what they have to offer. And if you're a super fan of, of somebody,

 

um, you know, reach out to their customer service and say, Hey, like how could I,

 

how could I affiliate and promote? I actually got an email like that just like three days ago. I got an email from somebody and they were like,

 

Hey, I hear you've got this really good program. Is it cool if I tell my audience about it?

 

And P S do you have an affiliate referral program? And I'm like, yes, there you go.

 

So all you people listening right now, she has an affiliate program. I do, I do, I do.

 

And that, and that's kind of another thing to kind of a good takeaway is it's like you can also be an affiliate.

 

So, you know, I'm a big Kajabi user and so, you know, like I love giving my community like a 28 day trial for Kajabi cause it's like bomb.

 

You know, you can really, really give it a good test run with that. Um, but so that's an example of like getting an affiliate commission if people do sign up for it.

 

But you can also create your own affiliate thing. And I think ClickFunnels has that ability too. If you have a certain level of the products,

 

you can actually have affiliate, um, set up so that you are affiliating. You're not just an affiliate.

 

Well, there you go. Affiliate tea. No, that's not a word. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

 

But I'm saying like both sides. You could, you could have, you have word people for selling your products and you could receive rewards for promoting other products.

 

And then you've got like this kind of cool win-win situations. How can people follow you and find you?

 

Like what, what's next? Oh yeah, absolutely. So, uh, you, you can find me on Instagram or Twitter at Catalina.

 

So my full name, my last name is spelled M, I. L. L. A. N.

 

Like Millan. We've been through this, but if anybody listens to this podcast and they want to connect,

 

I'd love to hear from you and see if you've got value. Uh, of course, I also have a podcast,

 

it's called beyond the hustle. You'll find it on all the main podcast platforms. Amanda did an entry with me,

 

which you should listen to. And of course my, my blog, which is not very good date it right now,

 

but if you want to check it out and learn a little bit more about what I do, it's carolinamillan.net that's my English website.

 

Have a Spanish too with.com Oh my goodness. Yeah, it was just more diversity, more diversity. I love it and no,

 

we didn't even get to that, but I have, I do content in both languages, so more diversity.

 

My goodness. Well, you know, I really appreciate you taking the time to get to know us and to share,

 

you know, some, some shining examples. You know, you really have been in business for a while and successful even if you did it differently,

 

even if you took different paths and you've had some really incredible results as a result. So thank you for taking the time and thank you guys for listening.

 

And don't forget to subscribe via cool friend. Share this with someone. We just like busted so many paradigms and myths in this conversation.

 

So do share it with your friends. We'll see you later. Yep. Hey, Amanda here. Be sure to tune in for our next crush method show by following us on www.amandakaufman.net/blog or you can look up the crush method at the YouTube that the Facebooks of the Instagram and even on Twitter.

 

We'll see you next time.