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JOHN LEE DUMAS: “This is one thing that I shared a couple times, and people just really can understand it because it paints such a good picture about how you, Amy, are willing to do things that other people aren't willing to do. I am, as well, in different areas, too. And when you are willing, as an individual, as an entrepreneur, to set your barrier so high, your competition is going to be low as a result. Me doing a seven–day-a-week podcast was setting a barrier so high that for years and years and years I had no competition, not even low competition. I literally was able to build a moat around my business, Amy, because nobody could or would do a daily podcast. So I was the only person doing that, and that's why I won.”
“So how can you do that in your business? How can you build a barrier that’s high and a moat around your business so that you can win? because I'll tell you, Amy, you see this as much as I do, if not more: people have good ideas all the time. They launch businesses. But they're easily replicated, and so when they have success, because they're easily replicated, the masses pour in, and then everybody loses. Everybody loses because they get replicated and then they get washed out. You have to have a high barrier. You have to build a moat around your business. That's how you win.”
INTRO: I’m Amy Porterfield, ex-corporate girl turned CEO of a multi-million-dollar business. But it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, money, and time to focus on growing my small–but–mighty business. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned, and you'll see the business I have today, one that changes lives and gives me more freedom than I ever thought possible, one that used to only exist as a daydream. I created the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast to give you simple, actionable, step–by–step strategies to help you do the same. If you're an ambitious entrepreneur, or one in the making, who's looking to create a business that makes an impact and helps you create a life you love, you're in the right place. Let's get started.
AMY PORTERFIELD: There are three things in my life that are extremely important drivers of why I do what I do, even when things are tough. One, time freedom. Ever since leaving my corporate days, this has been a priority. It's important to me because I want to be the one in charge of my time and how I spend it. I want to be able to spend time with the people I love when I want, doing the things that I want to do with them. My family’s important to me, and although I have let work be a priority many times over Hobie—and I regret that very much—I always was able to come back to him. I always had the freedom to say, “No. I'm working too much. I need to spend more time with Hobie and with Cade and, of course, with Scout.” I love that I have that freedom. So I've never done it perfectly, but I have that opportunity. I didn't have that when I was in corporate.
The second, fulfillment or impact. The longer I've been an entrepreneur, the more this has become a driving force for me: I believe we are all on this earth to do big things and to make an impact. So being able to make an impact in the lives of others, helping them achieve freedom in their own lives, this fulfills me deeply.
And the third, financial freedom. Breaking the glass ceiling and being able to give back with my finances has been a dream come true in my life. I realize that my privilege has supported this goal, and I don't take that lightly. I'm grateful every day for the opportunity to give back financially.
But where is all of this going? Well, I believe many of us have goals similar to these, and many of us become an entrepreneur to reach these goals. I have a friend who has built a very successful business by helping entrepreneurs reach goals just like these. And I wanted to bring him on to share some of his secrets to creating a successful business.
His name is John Lee Dumas. You might know him as JLD. And he’s not a first timer on the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast. In fact, this is his fourth appearance.
Now, JLD is best known for his award–winning podcast, Entrepreneurs on Fire, where he's interviewed thousands of the world's most–successful entrepreneurs. Oh, and he also just wrote a book called The Common Path to Uncommon Success, which we'll get to in the details at the end.
But today, he's sharing some of the most–effective strategies for accomplishing your big, bold goals, whether that's time freedom, financial freedom, location freedom, fulfillment, or anything else that you've been dreaming of. He's talking about how to create a content–production plan, how to diversify your revenue streams, and how to increase traffic. Those are the three topics I really wanted him to drill down in this episode. Again, how to create a content–production plan, how to diversify your revenue streams, and how to increase traffic. You're going to love this episode, I just know it. So let's go ahead and bring on JLD.
Well, well, well. Welcome back to the show, JLD.
JOHN: Amy, it is so great to be back. I always love being in the same space–time continuum as you.
AMY: It's always fun. And, you know, we go way, way back. I was talking to Pat Flynn the other day, and I was saying, “Do you remember this? Do you remember that?” In all these different things, you were there. Like, when we went to Vegas, and we stayed up all night and went to the craps table. Do you remember that?
JOHN: Yes. And then, Pat and I had a dance off, which you filmed on Instagram, and he won. And I’m still bitter about that.
AMY: He did win. We were such babies back then. Doesn’t it feel like a lifetime ago?
JOHN: It feels like a lifetime ago. [unclear 05:58] have my driver's license.
AMY: I know. And now look at you. You're engaged. Congratulations.
JOHN: I am all grown up. I'm in my forties, living in Puerto Rico. Life is good.
AMY: I mean, you're an adult now. You're an adult.
JOHN: Finally. Let’s be honest.
AMY: Well, congratulations to you and Kate. You know how much I love her. And I've been waiting for this day, so I'm excited for you both.
JOHN: It's awesome.
AMY: Yeah.
So I'm very excited to have you back on the show, and we're going to cover a lot. Now, I hinted at the step by steps for achieving entrepreneurial success in the intro, as well as your new book. So congratulations. That's very exciting.
JOHN: Thank you. Can't wait.
AMY: Can't wait. So with that, I want to jump right into it. Are you good with that?
JOHN: Let's dive in.
AMY: Okay. First, bring us through your content–production plan. Let's get into the steps, and talk about how my listeners can start using this approach right away.
JOHN: So, listen. When it comes to content production, there's only certain things that you as the content producer can be doing and should be doing. It’s what I call your zone of fire. Like, right now, Amy's in her zone of fire. Nobody else can be doing this podcast interview for this podcast, except for Amy. And guess what. I'm in my zone of fire right now. Like, I want to be doing this interview as a guest on Amy’s show. Like, you need to be very specific about the content that you are producing when you're creating this content-production plan, and, of course, building your team around you to do the other things that don't involve that.
So when it comes to content production, this is where so many people get things wrong, and this is where I think that we at Entrepreneurs on Fire have done things right for so long. We batch like ballers. If I had to wake up every single day for 2,000 days and record a podcast episode, set up my studio, get everything, mic check up, get my prep ready, get this, get in the zone, get the person to come and be ready to be interviewed by me and do all these different things for two thousand days in a row, I would have failed in my goal of doing a daily podcast.
But instead, for five and a half years I did one day per week. That was every Tuesday. I did eight interviews for Entrepreneurs on Fire. So I woke up, and that day was my Super Bowl, Amy. That was my Super Bowl day. Like, boom, I was going to get up, I was going to crush eight interviews, and then I was going to go to bed, and that was my batching–like–a–baller day.
And then guess what Wednesday was. Wednesday was a day that I went through and did all the editing and all the uploading and all the scheduling. So every single one of my days had a plan. My Monday's, my Tuesdays, my Wednesdays, my Thursdays, they all had specific things that I was doing specifically to produce the right content that only I could be producing.
And that's where so many people go wrong when it comes to the content–production plan. They’re doing all the things all the time. And you mentioned the book. I'll say real quick, this is by far the longest chapter in the book. It's 13,500 words.
AMY: What?!
JOHN: Yeah. It‘s a small business book alone, just that chapter.
AMY: Right.
JOHN: It’s titled “Creating Your Content–Production Plan.” When I stepped back, Amy, and I said, “Wow, every chapter in my book is, like, 3,000 words. This one’s 13,500 words,” it's so obvious as to why we've won at such a high level at Entrepreneurs on Fire, not for one year, not for two years, but for now going into our ninth year. We just published, Amy, our ninetieth—that's nine zero—our ninetieth monthly income report in a row where we've netted—not made. We've made way more—but netted over $100,000 ninety months in a row.
AMY: Wow!
JOHN: That's after all expenses. That's after all taxes. After everything, netted that. It's because of this one thing, Amy: our content–production plan is fantastic. Was it always fantastic? Not even in the least. But we've built it over time, and it really revolves around that one theme of batching like a baller.
AMY: Okay. So, first of all, I believe that that one chapter alone is worth grabbing the book right now. I believe that the one thing that has allowed me to put myself on the map is my consistency with content. And it's not, like, the most–fun thing I do in my business. I enjoy it, but it's not the most fun. It takes discipline. It takes habit. It takes a process, like you outlined in the book. But it's that one thing that most people won't do consistently. Do you agree?
JOHN: I agree 100 percent.
AMY: Yeah. So it's definitely worth the book with that one chapter alone, although the entire book is incredible.
Okay. So, I want to ask you a few more quick questions about this. So when you say if we're in our zone of fire—that's what you call it, right? Our zone of fire?
JOHN: Yep.
JOHN: —then you're going to suggest in a content–production plan that there's a lot of things you need to do, but you don't need to do them yourself, right?
JOHN: Exactly.
AMY: Give me two or three things that definitely people should be outsourcing.
JOHN: So this is actually really cool because this was such an amazing part of the contribution for you in the book, because you come in and you talk all about building the team. And I loved how you broke down how you have different departments and how you interact with the department heads, and you really focus in on that. And then they go off, and they do all the things they should be doing.
Now, on a much smaller scale, because I have a much smaller team, we do that exact same thing in Entrepreneurs on Fire. I have a very, very specific part of the process that I do when it comes to my content creation. When I do my content creation, I'm the person that's recording the interview, that’s interviewing the guest, of course. But guess what. After I'm done with that and I edit the interview—because I do personally still love to edit the interviews. Don't ask me why. It’s just something I really do enjoy doing. And I have it down to a system, where it takes me less than three minutes to edit each interview, so it’s not super consuming.
AMY: What?
JOHN: Yeah.
AMY: I don’t even know what you’re talking about.
JOHN: It took me thousands of episodes to get to that point, believe me. Like, it wasn’t overnight. It used to take me thirty minutes plus. But now I'm at that point where it's, like, three minutes on average to edit an interview. Then, I'm literally done at that point with the podcast episode. It automatically gets uploaded into my Dropbox folder, which alerts my virtual assistant who's based out of Pakistan—he's my audio engineer, and he's been with me for six years now—and then he has a step–by–step process where he does all the things. He tags the mp3. He uploads it to our media hosts. He has the title. He has the description. He has all the links that we do. He brings it over to WordPress. He has the RSS link that’s embedded there. He does all of the things that take up a decent amount of time in the post-production side of things so that I'm already ten minutes into my next interview.
So while I'm ten minutes into my second interview of the day, the first interview that I just did is being worked on simultaneously by my virtual assistant, by the person that's on my team, because that content production—listen. When you're doing a show that's being released, now, as we're speaking, five days per week, you have to have a plan in place. Otherwise, things are going to happen.
I mean, back in 2017, Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico. The reason why I was able to keep my podcast going during that time is that I had my content-production plan in place. We had forty-five episodes in storage, in the can, so to speak. So by the time we were able to flee the island, get to a new place and set up shop, nothing had really been affected because our team, working remotely, was doing what they needed to do in the content-production plan to make things happen.
So I know exactly what the best attributes my audio engineer out of Pakistan does. And then we have two virtual assistants in the Philippines who also have very important pieces of this content-production plan that they pick up as soon as my virtual assistant in Pakistan ends what he's doing. And that is just kind of how this waterfall happens. One thing is tripping the other, tripping the other, and it all happens simultaneously.
And one thing that we do really well, Amy, that I'll end on here is we also have redundancies, and then we also have checks. So we have everything that happens is getting checked by at least one set of eyes, if not two sets of eyes, because, listen, something can always go wrong. One word’s misspelled, one link is misattributed, all these things can happen if you don't have these redundancies and these double, and sometimes triple, checks.
AMY: Yes, 100 percent. We have that on our team as well. So I'm so glad you gave us a glimpse into this content–production plan. It's one of the questions I get asked probably the most. What does that look like on your team? And I think it's really cool that you fully spell it out and people know what tasks need to get done in order to create content consistently.
Okay. So we're going to keep moving on. Let's get into diversifying revenue streams. Let's talk some money, because I love your approach to this, and I think that with what we experienced in 2020, this is a really smart way to secure your business and finances. Also, you've done this really successfully. So can you share your secrets with my listeners around diversifying revenue streams?
JOHN: We've always heard the phrase “Don't put all of your eggs into one basket.” Like, that’s not a new phrase for all of us. But still, there's a lot of people who have gotten away with this for a really, really long time, because, hey, it's only every now and then that that disaster’s going to strike. But guess what. I mean, 2020 brought that home for a lot of people. A lot of people that didn't have flexible businesses, that didn't have diversified revenue streams, some of them got hit, and that one revenue stream that they had dried up and their business suffered as a result.
So for us, I've always had in my business—literally written my business plan—I will have a minimum of five diversified revenue streams—
AMY: Whoa. Okay.
JOHN: —in my business at all times. And if you actually go and look at our income reports, which again, we published ninety of them now, we have four income streams that have over 15 percent of our total revenue. So the fact that we have over 60 percent of our revenue is spread across over at least four revenue streams, that's very diverse. It’s not like we have eight revenue streams, but one of them makes up 96.8 percent of our revenue. It's not like that. It's actual diversified revenue, which is super key.
And a lot of people will say, “John, but how do I diversify my revenue stream? I don't even know how to do that.” It's very simple. I'm not saying it's easy, but it's very simple. I literally came up with the idea, Amy, Entrepreneurs on Fire. That was my idea. Since then, I haven't come up with a single idea for my business that generates revenue.
AMY: What?
JOHN: It’s true. Not a single one. I launched a podcast. It’s a daily podcast. I interview entrepreneurs. I grew an audience. I went to that audience and I asked them, “Listen. You're my audience. You are my best listeners. You are the people that are actually in my world. What are you struggling with right now?” And then I just listened to them, Amy, and they told me what their struggles were, their obstacles, their pain points. I listened to them. They told me. And then over the years, guess what things they told me. “Well, I want to learn how to launch my own podcast.” Boom. That led to Podcasters’ Paradise. “I'm struggling with goals. I'm struggling with productivity.” Boom, the Freedom Journal. Boom, the Mastery Journal. “I'm struggling because I don't have people around me that I'm inspired by.” Boom, Fire Nation Elite, my mastermind. All of these things that we've done over the years have not come from my head.
And a lot of people are just like, “I never thought of it that way.” You really aren’t going to have to be the person that comes up with all these ideas in your business. In fact, you shouldn't be, because your audience is there. You're creating this free, valuable, consistent content for them. You're doing an amazing thing. Now, ask them the one question that they want to tell you, because everybody wants to tell you what they're struggling with, what their obstacles are. And those answers, those responses, they're handing you what your next revenue stream is going to be.
Because, Amy, one thing that I found, and you've done this more beautifully than most people ever, is if you can provide the best solution to a real problem, you are going to win. And so I've been able to provide the best solution to my audience’s real problems in diversified areas, time over time over time. And you've been able to do that over and over again. And that's why we're winning, not on a five–figure level, not on a six–figure level, but on a seven–figure–a–year level. Like, that's the key. And when you diversify the revenue streams, yeah, there's going to be ups and downs on all of those. But a lot of times, I found that when one of my revenue streams starts to kind of go down a little bit, another one in a diversified area is actually going up because of how the economy's working and how different factors of our world works. And that's the beauty of diversifying your revenue streams.
AMY: Okay. I have nothing to add to that. That was so good. I was going to ask the question, like, tell me how you diversify, and you already got into that.
And I guess I will add one thing. My students typically struggle with validating their ideas. Like, how do I validate? How deep do I go into validation? What strategy should I use for validation? Well, validation isn't as important anymore when your audience is coming together saying, “This is what we want. We know how you add value. Here's what we want to buy from you.” That's validation in and of itself in the easiest kind. So you're almost sidestepping one of the big obstacles a lot of people face. That was brilliant.
JOHN: Thank you.
AMY: We could end the interview there, but we're not going to, because the last strategy that I want you to get into, because there's tons that I could have chosen from the book, but I chose the three that I feel like my audience really wants to hear about the most. And this last one is increasing traffic. And I want you to dive into some strategies around generating more traffic, traffic that is truly your ideal community. Talk to me about that one.
JOHN: Okay. There's so much I want to say around this topic, but first off, I brought in Billy Gene to talk about this specific topic, because this guy knows how to generate traffic. And anybody that lives in San Diego, you probably know of Billy Gene because—
AMY: Yes.
JOHN: —he’s rented billboards, he's driving around in crazy cars, his videos. They're out of control. Like, he is just, he's a different person than I am. I'm not going to be doing a lot of things that he's doing, but it’s so fascinating to watch other people and see what they do, because, man, you can just learn so much. And he has a great quote that I love, which is “Boring will put you out of business.”
AMY: Ooh.
JOHN: Literally, “Boring will put you out of business.” And it's so true. Nobody wants boring. We don't want boring. We don't get Netflix because it's boring. We get it because it's entertaining. I love that Russell Crowe quote, “Are you not entertained?” It’s like even back in B.C., before the Christian era, that was a quote. That was what people wanted. They wanted to be entertained. And that is true today. People want to be entertained. And Billy Gene has become a master at traffic because he entertains people, and they want to watch the whole video because they're having fun watching it, not because their eyeballs are drying because of how boring it is. They're literally being entertained.
So I wanted to start there, but I want to move in a different direction now. When it comes to increasing traffic, it's not just about increasing traffic and generating more traffic. It's about increasing the right traffic. It's about generating the right traffic. And so I want to give you an example specifically in my area of expertise, but this pertains to every single area that you could possibly have and you could possibly be in as a listener right now.
So, I'm a podcaster. So what do I do? I convert the converted. That's a key phrase I really want you to understand right now. I convert the converted. When I am trying to grow my podcast audience, I don't go to places like Facebook and Instagram and other platforms that aren't super relevant or similar to podcasting and try to drag people out of there and listen to my podcast. I convert the converted. Amy, for literally eight years now, I have been, on average, on twenty other podcasts every single month.
AMY: What?! Wait. I did not know that.
JOHN: Every single month. I do screenshots of this all the time. Like, people that follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen my crazy day. And by day, I mean day. Like, I do it in one day. I do fifteen–minute back-to-back interviews for six hours. It is a six–hour blitz, fifteen-minute shows, and they sound, like, well is that even long enough? It is long enough because you just jump into it, and you really just talk about the content, and then you get out. Boom, onto the next one.
And I do this, and I commit to this even though, again, as I shared my income numbers, I've never not made less than $100,000 a month net profit. My hourly rate, if I was to break that down, is incredibly high. But I still feel like it's worth my time going on big–, small-, and medium–sized podcasts. Of course I do, because I'm trying to grow my podcast audience. I'm converting the converted.
So I make it my mission to be a podcast guest on as many podcasts as I possibly can, up to a maximum of twenty, every single month, because every single time I'm on another podcast, I am speaking to the converted. These people, Amy, listen to podcasts. That's already part of their day. The podcast app is downloaded onto their phone. They are already listening to podcasts. And guess what. The average podcast listener listens to seven podcasts. I just need to become one of their seven. So that's my goal is to drop so much value that I become one of the seven podcasts they listen to. I'm converting the converted. And that's why, like, about a year ago, I crossed one hundred million listens for my podcast. As you and I are speaking right now, I get 1.4 million listens every single month because I am going out and I am fishing and I am converting the converted podcast listeners. I'm getting in front of more podcast listeners than just about anybody else on that consistent of a basis.
And so how can you do that in your niche? How can you do that in your vertical? How can you actually convert the converted instead of spending all of your time trying to drag people in that are probably not the ideal traffic or probably not the ideal individuals that you want to be speaking to anyways? That's how you increase traffic the right way, the meaningful way, that's going to grow your business.
AMY: I want you to talk a little bit more about what you mean, that they're already converted, when you're converting the converted. I need you to drill down a little bit more.
JOHN: These are podcast listeners. They already have the podcast app on their phone. They've already carved out times in the day. Maybe it's when they're driving to work or they're at the gym or they're walking their dog or they’re folding laundry, they have specific times. They're already listening to podcasts. I don't need to go to them on quora.com when they're asking a question about who knows what. It'd be like, “Oh, you should also listen to my podcast.” And they’re just like, “What's a podcast?”
Like, people are literally doing that every single day in all these different platforms. And you don't want to have to be educating somebody on how to use your platform, on how to consume your content. You want people that are already consuming your content or at least consuming content on the platform of your choice, of your focus. And now it's just a matter of insuring them and showing them and convincing them that you are worth their time as well.
Again, and for podcasts, they listen to seven podcasts on average. They subscribe to seven podcasts. I'm just looking to become one of those seven. So when you are speaking to the right people, you're making it happen. Like, what, Amy, do you go and speak at Social Media Marketing World every single year, because when you get up in front of that packed room—and I've been in your rooms. They're always packed—you are speaking to people who are all about social media, and then you're speaking about social media. That is your market. You are converting the converted. And that's what we all need to be doing when we're looking to increase traffic the right way.
AMY: I love that you explained this at a deeper level, because I think a lot of people listening, where they get stuck in a bit of a trap is saying yes to everything—and I used to do this in the very beginning—and then realizing I'm speaking to an audience that would never buy what I eventually will be selling. Like, they are not a good fit. Now, in the beginning, just to get the experience, I'm not against it. But once you start getting your business going, you've got to spend the time where your ideal community is spending their time. And that's exactly what JLD does.
I don't know anybody who does things the way you do. You are always so fun to talk to you because you do—this is why you're a success—you do the things that other people are unwilling to do. I am not willing to do twenty interviews a month. Now, I do other things that I'm willing to do that maybe you're not, so I get that. But this is part of your magic. And I really, I love your work ethic, and I love your commitment. And I also know you don't work tons and tons of hours. Is that fair to say?
JOHN: That is so fair to say. I work hard five days per month, like real hard.
AMY: Oh, god. I thought you were going to say five days a week. What are you talking about, five days per month?
JOHN: That’s it. That's my life. Five days per month, I am working really, really hard. And then the other twenty–plus days, I'm really not. There's nothing on my calendar, and that is strictly by choice. Again, one day per month, twenty interviews on other shows. Two days per month, I'm doing interviews for Entrepreneurs on Fire. Two other days per month, I have business meetings scheduled and planned. The other twenty–five days per month, there is almost never anything on my calendar.
Now, mind you, I'm in book–promo mode right now. Like this, a different ballgame and a different story. But as soon as April comes and I go back into normal JLD schedule, that's how it's going to be.
And it was not always that way, by the way. I had to grind and work my booty off for literally four years before I started taking my foot off the pedal in the manner that you now hear me almost into my tenth year here now. So that was not day one by any stretch.
But, Amy, before you go on to the next thing, there's just one thing I have to say, because you brought this up, and I love it so much. And this is one thing that I shared a couple times, and people just really can understand it because it paints such a good picture about how you, Amy, are willing to do things that other people aren't willing to do. I am, as well, in different areas, too. And when you are willing, as an individual, as an entrepreneur, to set your barrier so high, your competition is going to be low as a result. Me doing a seven–day-a-week podcast was setting a barrier so high that for years and years and years I had no competition, not even low competition. I literally was able to build a moat around my business, Amy, because nobody could or would do a daily podcast. So I was the only person doing that, and that's why I won.
So how can you do that in your business? How can you build a barrier that’s high and a moat around your business so that you can win? because I'll tell you, Amy, you see this as much as I do, if not more: people have good ideas all the time. They launch businesses. But they're easily replicated, and so when they have success, because they're easily replicated, the masses pour in, and then everybody loses. Everybody loses because they get replicated and then they get washed out. You have to have a high barrier. You have to build a moat around your business. That's how you win.”
AMY: Yes. And something you said really stuck with me there in that you don't have to do all the things. You just need to find the one, two, or very few things that you're willing to go all in with.
JOHN: Truth.
AMY: It's not like JLD is doing everything that all Internet marketers do to make his business work. You heard what he's doing. He's just doing a few things really well, and he's fully going all in, total commitment. I think that makes such a huge difference.
So, yeah, this has been incredible. Here's the deal. If you're listening right now, obviously JLD is unique. He does things differently. He's cracked the code in different areas that others have not. And he said, “Look, I was grinding.” You're in your tenth year now, you said, in your business?
JOHN: Yeah.
AMY: Okay. But here's the great thing about your book. It's going to share some strategies that you know now that you didn't know back then, so that it won't take people ten years to get to a place that maybe they're just working five days a month. Would you agree with that?
JOHN: That is the exact plan of the book.
AMY: Okay. So talk to me about this book. It's called The Common Path to Uncommon Success. So good. Let me repeat it. The Common Path to Uncommon Success. And I want you to tell people, what is this book about? We just gave them a little teaser, but why do they need to get their hands on this book?
JOHN: Amy, you could not be more right. I wish, with every wish that I have, that I could have had this roadmap when I first started. It would have helped. It would have helped so much. I mean, I did a lot of things right in the beginning. I got a mentor, our mutual friend Jaime Masters. I joined a mastermind. I did a lot of great things, but, man, having a roadmap like this would have been priceless.
And this book is not me. This isn't, like, my book, my journey. This is the culmination of 3,000 interviews that I've done over the past decade with the world's most–successful entrepreneurs—Amy, by the way, being one of my power twenty, one of my first twenty dream guests. I was thrilled when she said yes. And, man, I still get a little chills thinking about that. It was such a great interview and such a great win for me for that. And it was those 3,000 interviews, me, as a mentee on the other side of the mic, listening to these 3,000-plus mentors, learning from every single one of them, and then finally saying, “It's time. Like, I'm going to boil down the fundamental principles that successful entrepreneurs all have in common.” And I sat down, and over weeks I did just that.
And when I looked down at what I had, there were seventeen core foundational principles that every entrepreneur who has been successful that I've had on my show all shared in common. And that was what I was looking at. I was looking at the common path to uncommon success. I was looking at a seventeen-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment.
So I sat down—and I'm going to be transparent because I love being transparent—I sat down and did the pros and cons. Should I write this book? Should I get a ghostwriter? And I had a hard time deciding. I interviewed a few ghostwriters because I knew this book was going to be a lot of work.
AMY: Yeah.
JOHN: Decided, “Hey, you know what? This is a book that I have to write. I want to write it.” And 480 writing hours later, Amy—this is a true stat. I keep track of this stuff—480 writing hours later, 71,000 words, 273 pages, of this seventeen-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment. And one reason I'm really excited about this is that every one of those seventeen steps, I sat down and I said, “What entrepreneur, of the 3,000 entrepreneurs that I've interviewed, best would represent this step?” And I asked them to contribute their genius to that step of the process. Amy contributes to building a team, which is one of the steps, and does, obviously, an amazing job, which is so exciting.
AMY: I feel so honored. So thank you for including me. Who else? Actually, I don't even know all—
JOHN: Really?
AMY: —the contributors yet. Who else?
JOHN: We got ballers. Obviously, Pat Flynn’s up in the house. We got—
AMY: Oh, yeah.
JOHN: —Jeff Walker, Russell Brunson, Ramit Sethi. Jill and Josh Stanton are up in there.
AMY: Fantastic. I was, like, where are the ladies? Jill—I love that she’s representing.
JOHN: We’ve got Selena Soo in there—
AMY: Nice.
JOHN: —as a lady. Yep. Impacting millions. And so, yeah, we just really went all out on this process. And again, it's 71,000, 273 pages. I am convinced that this book is the seventeen–step roadmap to people that want financial freedom and fulfillment. So that's my book, and I'm sticking to it.
AMY: Congratulations. Seriously, I'm so excited for you. And, you guys, go get this book. Get your hands on this book. You will find it as, like, a playbook. This is your playbook that you can literally apply to your business instantly. Where do they go to get the book?
JOHN: Uncommonsuccessbook.com. If you’re listening to this before March 23, five amazing bonuses await.
We also have unbelievable endorsements from Dorie Clark, Erica Mandy, Neil Patel. Seth Godin personally read and endorsed this book. Gary Vaynerchuk. Awesome stuff there. We give away the first chapter on that page as well, so you can kind of see my writing style and what's going on. Uncommonsuccessbook.com.
AMY: Fantastic. Thank you so much for being on the show. And congrats on your book.
JOHN: Thank you.
AMY: So there you have it. I hope you love JLD as much as I do. And it's really fun to know that we go way, way back. I tell this story all the time when he's on the show, and this is his fourth time, so this is the fourth time I've told it on the podcast. But for my new listeners, I want to tell you that when I first met him, we were at some kind of function. This had to have been, like, ten years ago because he did not have his podcast, Entrepreneurs on Fire. And he told me about the idea of doing a podcast seven days a week. And I said he was crazy. I looked at him. I'm like, “You're not going to do that. That's crazy. That is insane.” And look at him now. So I never tell anybody they're crazy anymore, because I was dead wrong. But I just love the way his mind thinks and what he focuses on and how he's built his life around making sure he has the time to do what he wants to do.
If this episode has inspired you at all, I hope you do pick up his book, because I'm telling you, it is fantastic. And I love that I get to share about how I've built my team, what we do in order to create the culture we have, and what I've done along the years in order to build up to where we are today. So I give all of the insights around the team I have today in JLD’s book.
Okay. So, I cannot wait to connect with you again next week, same time, same place. Until then, go grab that book. Let me know what you think. All right. I'll talk to you soon. Bye for now.
