SFR 52: The Tools I Hate...

The Pianist Makes The Music. Not The Brand Of Piano...

Hey, how's it going everyone? This is Steve Larsen, and you're listening to Sales Funnel Radio.

Welcome to Sales Funnel Radio, where you'll learn marketing strategies to grow your online business using today's best internet sales funnels. And now, here's your host, Steve Larson.

All right, all right, so about what was this, probably, three or four years ago, a lot of you guys know I was in the Army and a lot of my stories come from the Army.

I'm so sorry that it's just that way, it's just that was a lot life altering things that happen when you're in that kind of situation.

Anyway, there was this guy who was, he was kind of a hotshot to be honest. He thought he was anyway, right. He gets out there and he always tries to take charge and he's trying to be the man, which is cool, there's nothing wrong with wanting to be the man and a lot of people want to be the man and that's fine if you know what I'm saying, but this guy he put his uniform on and he'd go out there and he would try and start barking orders around and stuff like that. Well one day we decided we got to go practice shooting, so we go and we get our M16s and we practice shooting and we're sitting out there at the range and it's freezing out.

There's snow everywhere, so we're laying tarps on the ground and we're basically kind of laying in water again ... I've done that a lot. If you listened to my last episode at all, I talked about that a little bit.

There's a point to this story that's very strong, by the way. He lays down right next to me and he starts, they're like okay ready, fires ready, take your aim, fire. We start shooting and we're practicing shooting at different distances, you know 300 meters, 200 meters, different distances and you've got to lob the bullet after 150 meters so you start aiming up just a little bit.

I'm a pretty good shot, I got what was it 36 out of 40 hits, which is awesome. It's really good. I actually won a phone call home in the middle of basic training cuz of that, which is really cool. I'm a pretty good shot, I've really liked it. It's funny my mom was like, and my wife and everyone, was like "why are you such a good shot" and I was like "Honestly, halo and call of duty." I think that's, I don't why besides that.

I actually did shoot quite a lot growing up...

Anyway, so we're shooting and this guy he's laying down right next to me and he thinks he somewhat of a hotshot, right, and he kind of rubbed me the wrong way a little bit. I learned to become really good friends with him. I'm shooting and I'm having really tight groupings, and I'm doing really, really well I can tell.

The guys next to me has still not even fired a single round, okay ... Some of you guys are probably thinking, Steven, what does that have to do with sales funnels, I promise you that there is a huge lesson because I keep getting asked this. Okay.

Anyway, he goes out there and he, he's like "Larsen, dude, my weapons not firing, man, what the heck's going on with this thing?" I turn over and I look and his magazine, which is what holds the bullets holds the rounds, his magazine is in upside down. I was like what the heck, it wasn't just upside down it was also backwards.

The bullets were literally facing him...

I was like "Was that a joke, are you kidding me?" He's like, "No, sorry I've never really done this before. I've never really done this before." I was like okay that's kind of weird, and he turns around and he puts his magazine in the right way. He lays down and the next round of firing comes up.

I've gotten really tight groupings, I start shooting again. I'm doing all the correct, you know there's five different senses and you think through all your senses. You think through different breathing patterns. There's a natural pause in your breath when you're about exhale and inhale, that break in between is when you fire.

All these things are running through my head...

I really do like to shoot, and again there's nothing going. The kid next to me is not shooting. I was like "Dude, what's wrong? Are you okay?" He goes, he didn't even like pull the action back and actually put a bullet in or something like that, and that round stops or whatever. I'm looking at my shots and I'm like man that's a really tight grouping. I was getting better. I was really exciting.

We do this again and he starts shooting but he literally has nothing on the paper at all. He's not even ... not just on the target, his rounds are not even hitting the paper. I was like "Dude, what's wrong?" He was like "I don't know what's going on, man. I'm putting the front sight on the target."

He didn't have his rear sight up and then he didn't have it set to 300 meters, he had it set to 500 meters.

Anyway, it was like a ton of iterations over and over and over again that I had to coach this kid who thought he was a hot shot in the most basic function of being a solider, right, shooting. He didn't even know how to, ugh, it was so frustrating to me. From that very moment on he stopped acting like a hotshot. He stopped acting like this kid who knew everything and he became real after that.

Why do I bring that up?

What's the whole point of that?

You can hand me pretty much any weapon and I'm going to be able to shoot it pretty consistently over and over and over again, because I have practiced the talent of shooting. We'd lay on the floor and we'd smack our elbows, bam, bam, bam, smack our elbows on concrete as hard as we could over and over and over again because it helps build up stability if you're laying the in the prone for a long time, so your arms don't start shaking.

Bam, bam, bam, I'd smack my elbows into the concrete and it hurt like crazy at the beginning, then pretty much I got a whole bunch of resistance that built up inside of my elbows. I'd bam, bam, bam, smack it up. There's all these different things, these breathing patterns, all the things you do with your body, mentally what you're doing, the state you'd go into when he was about to shoot.

It's very different than if you're actually in a war zone, but the same principles apply no matter what weapon you hand me.

What does this have to do with building sales funnels? Everything! It has everything to do with everything. Why does this have everything to do with everything? Because, you guys, the point I'm trying to make right here, maybe I should go ... Here we go.

I played piano for a very long time...

This one should bring it home. I played piano for a long time. When I was eight years old, my mom started teaching me piano lessons. She taught piano lessons out of our home for a long time. I hated it. I hated the fact that it was my mom. I hated the fact that she made me practice all the time. It drove me nuts. So from ages 8 to 14 she pretty much forced me to do piano lessons and I thank her like crazy although I hated it.

Well when I turned 16, 17 years old, I was like crap the ladies really like this, so I re-taught myself and I got pretty good. I haven't played for like eight years since then, but ... Now I can sit down at any piano, it didn't matter on the brand, it didn't matter on who was around me. It didn't matter if it was even completely in tune, I could still make a really cool song from the piano.

Same with the drums. I play the drums, full kit, for about four or five years. It did not matter on the brand. It did not matter what kind of drumsticks I was using. I could still make really cool beats. I still keep beats. I play in a band for a little bit. I sang in a band and it was awesome. It did not matter.

Now, okay, the question that I'm trying to address here is that I get asked like crazy, okay, we just finished this campaign and I get asked like crazy, can we have like, what was it 2400 people watching live this webinar that Russell was doing.

I was moderating. I was reading all the comments. I was trying to answer as many questions as people had. The questions that continue to pop up and that still can pop up all the time, I still get them. I've been getting them for a long time.

What webinar software should I use?

What's the best, who's the best copywriter?

What's the best color for my button?

It's stuff like that where you're like, okay stop focusing so much on the tools. Stop it. The tools, talent is not in the tools. There's been a whole bunch of people coming to say "Okay, if I only had this kind of equipment, I would be successful. If I only had the top brand of computer or MacBook, or whatever then I would be allowed to go out and get my actual funnel done."

If I only had ... the best car then I would be the best racer. It's like that's so backwards you guys. That's not true at all.

Today I heard Russell ... Russell sat back and he said "hey, you know what, I'm not trying to brag, but I'm just trying to tell you that it has nothing to do with the tools." It's funny he said that because I've been thinking about this before he even brought it up.

I've had this podcast planned, and I was like hey, it's cool he's talking about it. He said, "Look you could take away click funnels. You could take away any of my branding. You could put me in a market where I don't even know the product. You could put me in a spot where nobody knows me.

Take away all these elements and I still would be able to make a million dollars really quickly because of the principles, because of the talent, because of the person growth that I've had in this certain area" right, this is him speaking. I was like yeah, that's really cool. It's super true.

That's the way, a lot of you guys though, what I've been noticing is hey I'm going to go build a sales floor, I'm going to go build this business, I'm going to go do this, but I would actually be successful at it if I just had this. Now, the tools matter a little bit to a degree, right. Going back to the shooting thing, if I was going to shoot with something that was super rusty versus something that was nice and clean, I mean that matters like 10%, 90% of it though is seriously the talent inside of you. 90% of the time the tool really doesn't matter.

Stop making the tool an excuse to not act.

Now, like I said sometimes the tool really matters, like no one else does what Click Funnels does. I mean you should use Click Funnels, but what webinar software should I use? Man, just use freaking webinar software. What chat box should I use? Google chat box and click on the first one and get it.

You know what I mean? Like there's this whole part that it really doesn't matter but people get caught up in it like crazy. It drives me nuts. Just choose one.

A musician makes a crappy piano sound good. It has nothing to do with the brand.

It could even be a little bit out of tune, and it would still sound amazing. You see what I'm, do you guys get the point?

Stop blaming the tool.

Stop saying, the tool is what it is.

The musician makes the crappy piano sound good because he is the talent, because the person is the talent, not the piano. Not the brand, not the tool. The tool really doesn't matter that much. You can't obsess over tools. What you need to do is personally obsess over being good, being the best. Being amazing.

It will just distract yourself to death with these tools.

Focus on being the best.

Guys one of the reasons I sit next to Russell, the reason I am Russell Brunson's funnel builder, the reason why, is because three years ago when I saw Click Funnels come out, it just barely left beta. I had been building funnels and other businesses and stuff on word press and other things like that and I was hustling, and I still am hustling, right.

I slowed down a little bit to just catch my breath. I went like eight months with barely sleeping. These last few months have been awesome, but I can feel myself trying to get into another hustle mode again. I'm trying to figure whether or not I should. I know how to hustle.

The reason why I sit next to Russell, is because three years ago when Click Funnels came out and left beta there was this really powerful moment for me where I was like okay, I'm going to learn this or I'm going to fail. Meaning there was this whole, I got, it's not that I wasn't serious before, but I put my pride, I put my name on the line.

I decided to go out and start building funnels...

What I would do is I would go stand in front of the mirror, you guys might think I'm weird for this but whatever, like it worked. I would stand in front of the mirror and I'd look myself dead in the eye and I'd get kind of psyched up and stuff like that, and I would just take my fist and I would start like punching the counter as hard as I could. Boom, boom, boom, and I'd be like I WILL BE THE BEST FUNNEL BUILDER IN THE WORLD! And I would yell at myself.

The only reason I'm not yelling now is cuz it's like 1:30 in the morning and I just had to get this off my chest and my kids are sleeping like two rooms over.

I would start slapping the counter as hard as I could. I would look myself dead in the ... and it's not that pain and pleasure are the only things that should motivate you, that's not true at all, but I was just trying to capture this feeling that I just needed to be the best.

Now, I'm not saying I'm the best funnel builder, but I will say that I've built probably more funnels than 99% of the people on the planet. 170 in the last year.

Like holy crap, man, that's a lot of funnels. Collectively they have brought millions and millions and millions of dollars. Even by themselves, there's several funnels that have brought in a million bucks just on their own. It's amazing. Super, super cool.

The reason why is because I stopped blaming the freaking tool. Okay? I stopped blaming something else. I looked at myself and I started obsessing over me. My expertise. Was I the best? If someone handed me a microphone and said you have 20 minutes on stage, what would I say.

Okay. Sometimes that's hard to do. Don't point the finger out. Point it back in and go okay what am I not good at yet? That is literally the reason I went and did door-to-door sales was to get better at sales and to take a crap ton of objections. That's why I did it.

I didn't necessarily like, I really hated it to be honest, but that's why I did it. Look at yourself and craft your life. When you start doing that and you actually get really clear on your goals amazing things happen, you guys. It's nuts. Two things are going to happen.

Number one, you're going to get a dump load of opposition. You'll get it from family, unfortunately.

You'll get it from friends. You'll get a whole bunch of, unfortunate on that as well, you'll get it from people who you didn't even know. People will come out of the woodwork and just tell you that you're going to flat out fall on your face. I don't even know who you were before I started going down this path and trying to do it. They'll just, anyway they'll just run right at you and just tell you, you can't do it. Because they can't, or they've go excuses and they think that they also apply to you.

The second thing that's going to happen, though, is you're going to start carving this line in the sand. You're going to draw a line in the sand, and you're going to start getting people coming over to your side saying yeah, Steven, you can do it. You can go pursue being the best funnel builder on the planet. Try it. Just go for it. See what happens. Am I? Nope.

But I know I'm really good. Amazing things has happened because of that, right.

Very intense, very focused, all the way through as much as I could. Studying, I mean, I can honestly say I earned where I am. I'm very proud of that. I'm very proud of that. But for a while it was, I mean I went through the same thing I'm tell you right now. It's not that I didn't go through it either. For a while I blamed the tool.

Oh the market was bad. When I did real estate and I was trying to flip contracts in the closing period for ten grand more than I got them under contract for, and it worked. I got seven houses under contract, a couple multimillion dollar pieces of real estate and just, I wasn't experienced enough. I didn't know what I was doing. I had no idea. I didn't even know the vernacular of that industry. I was just taking massive action and I had tons of these people come in and try to help me and all these things going on, and it failed.

I did not succeed in that...

For a long time I blamed, oh it was the market.

Oh it's because of this guy, because of that guy, and it was really, really easy for me to go blame and put the finger outward.

All I'm trying to do is tell you guys stop blaming the tool, stop obsessing over which tools you use, and just start obsessing over you. Are you good? Be the best version you can be of your own self. To do that, you need to see, yeah, focus on my strengths, but there's also a few weaknesses that I can't progress without overcoming as well.

It's like that Robert Key Saki 00 quote I was just talking about a few episodes ago, like as soon as you start down the path of entrepreneurship, there are character flaws that will blow up straight in your face and you are not going to be able to progress in business until you address them.

That doesn't mean you've got to fix everything in your life, but it might mean you need to outsource, and go okay, you know what I'm not good at taking picture, let me go find some guy who's good at taking a picture. You overcame that. Does that make sense? It's the same thing.

Anyways that's all I wanted to do in this podcast was just tell you guys, I hope you see, it's like ... The tool barely matters you guys. It is so much about you. Are you good? Are you passionate? What's the thing that gets you excited? Are you really, really good at it? You can either be the first or you can be the best, which one are you? Lots of time I'm not very good at being the first so I try to be the best, and you know what?

If I'm number two, like I'm trying to be number one, but there's a lot of great things that come as number two also, not that I'm settling at all, cuz I'm not, but man really, really cool, anyway, I hope that makes sense, what I'm trying to say here guys. Don't distract yourself with the tool. Don't obsess over tools.

They matter like 10%, the rest of you is the other 90%. You've got to personally obsess over getting good. You get to sit down and ... Anyway just don't distract yourself with tools, that's all I'm trying to say.

Anyway, guys I hope you're doing well. Sorry I had to talk a little bit quiet on a few of these. It's super late. I just had this on my mind. All right, guys, I will talk to you later.

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