29 Sep Skyrocket Your Business Using FunnelHub | Interview w/ Founders Mike Schmidt & AJ Rivera
Is your sales funnel converting well? Or are you leaving tons of money off the table?
Well, you’re just one of the many who only convert 3% of their webinar registrants. But what about the 97%?
Whatever your answer is, even Russell Brunson of ClickFunnels was convinced right off the bat that FunnelHub is the next big thing – that it should be a part of ClickFunnels 2.0.
And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
Joining me in today’s episode of Performance Marketer are two of my good friends, Mike Schmidt & AJ Rivera.
Mike and AJ started a web design and digital marketing agency in 2003, which then evolved into the making of FunnelHub.
FunnelHub is a system for funnel-driven businesses and local businesses.
Its number one job is to accept traffic from sales funnel visitors’ searches and refer those visitors back into the proper funnel. It guides your potential customers into where they need to be regardless of where they’re in their buying cycle.
And that’s what we’ll deep dive into in today’s episode of the Performance Marketer.
Whether you’re already a sales funnel pro or looking into building your first funnel to grow your business, make sure to tune in and learn how FunnelHub works and why you need one.
Let’s get started!
Meet the Founders
Before FunnelHub was created, Mike Schmidt and AJ Rivera got their hands full in their web design and digital marketing agency business in 2003.
Their agency existed when Yahoo was still the top search engine, and the internet wasn’t that big yet.
Just imagine what digital agencies would have to go through during that time just to convince businesses why they needed a website in the first place.
But a lot has changed in 20 years since they had the agency.
They’re now teaching and coaching web and digital marketing agencies on managing their businesses. And in that process, Mike and AJ partnered with Russell Brunson to create FunnelHub.
What is FunnelHub?
So, just to make it clear for everyone, FunnelHub isn’t gonna replace ClickFunnels or Shopify. Okay?
FunnelHub is a content-driven strategy.
Its number one job is to accept visitors from search engines and get them back into the sales funnel as soon as possible. This process helps them overcome trust issues with you and turn them into paying customers.
And that’s what got Russell Brunson to invest in FunnelHub.
FunnelHub Success Story
You probably didn’t know this, but even with a decent sales funnel, researches indicate that million-dollar businesses only convert 3% of their webinar registrants.
Whaaat?
As you did, I also asked myself, what about the 97%?
That’s where FunnelHub comes in.
One of the many FunnelHub success stories is Steve Larson.
If you searched for Steve Larson, something about a psychologist and author would come up (and this applies to all top eight searches). This Steve is not the same Steve that we know.
With the launch of his FunnelHub, Steve quickly took over most of the top search results for everything. It allowed him to redirect those looking for him back into his funnel. And this made an incredible impact!
As a result, Steve saw a massive 500% increase in his traffic to his FunnelHub. And do you know what happens next once those customers are in your sales funnel?
Listen to the full episode to learn more about what FunnelHub could bring to your business and the latest update on ClickFunnels 2.0.
You don’t want to miss this!
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If you have any questions or you want to suggest a topic for the podcast, shoot me a message on social media or in my text community (917-636-1998) and let me know!
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I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
See you next time!
Listener Love…
- Warning! ⚠️by Boz46747 from United States
Wear a helmet when you listen to the podcast. Eric will leave you feeling like you can run through brick walls. In all seriousness, this podcast is the absolute best!
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Very interesting show.
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My life changed after I discovered this podcast, 100% the number one on the platform.
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I listen several days a week and am excited to have taken action with my first few steps. Thanks Eric!
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Thanks for everything. This show has been an amazing resource.
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This is my favorite podcast. I look forward to every episode and share it with everyone I know.
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Love this show
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Eric’s energy, wisdom and experience get me pumped up to do more.
- Eric changed my life, thank youby Nicole Aliba from United States
Anyone who has a chance to listen, do it. Subscribe, download and listen. Eric is authentic, he truly cares about the people he comes in contact with. I know eric, I’ve tried to be around him and learn from him any chance I get. He’s been successful in every stage of his life. Getting the opportunity to hear from him direct, how he thinks, how he goes about achieving his success, his strategies, his tactics, his outlook on life. I’m thankful he started this podcast and I’m thankful I get the chance to learn from him. I have no doubt the lessons he delivers each and every episode will help me continue to be succession my journey. Thank You Eric for making an impact on my life and making me realize I’m capable of so much more than I ever realized. Your support fuels my success. Good luck with the podcast!
- Wholly Cow!!! Eric Is The Real Deal!!by Supreme Dragon Slayer 69 from United States
Seriously.. Affiliate Marketing has been around for a LONG time.. However, it’s always been associated with scams, and fly by night marketing tactics that are shady l, illegal or unethical at best. Until now. Eric runs his entire business (which is ultra successful btw) the same way he runs his life.. On pure integrity. Finally, a podcast that is teaching Affiliate Marketing based on being.. Ethical and Transparent. But the best part? This podcast is soooo much more than just Affiliate Marketing.. it’s about running a successful business and successful life. So far Episode 3 is my favorite and I look fwd to each episode as soon as it comes out. Highly recommend this to anyone, regardless of where they are in their business!! Straight Gold Beb!
- Daveby Rothbone from United States
One of the best podcasts in a long time. Very insightful, had me at the first 2 minutes kept me for entire podcast. I am a entrepreneur myself and found it very interesting.
- Eric Beer is a genius.by Raera29 from United States
I've only briefly met Eric - but listening to his podcast (as well as his YouTube videos) - it's clear to me that he has an in depth understanding of how marketing should work. Brilliant podcast!!!
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So excited to get more info from Eric Beer to help further my career.
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I have been a business owner and entrepreneur for over 25 yrs. I found the information both interesting and informative. I am a fan! Dr Todd Askenas
- This dude is the real deal...by gossjoh1 from United States
I’m in the internet marketing space and have heard about Eric Beer from other entrepreneurs and it’s always about how much he crushes it. Over $100,000,000 in revenue... no joke. I had the good fortune to meet him this weekend at an event and he couldn’t be more humble and genuine. Just listened to the first episode and it is awesome! Can’t wait to learn and grow from you Eric and thanks for sharing your wisdom and experience with all of us!!
- Awesomeby Archmatic from United States
Thank you Eric for all your motivation and confidence! This is a must listen. Eric is always on his game and ready for a challenge!!!’
- Informative and relatableby srg1113 from United States
I've listened to the first two episodes and found them useful and entertaining. Eric gives a lot of background to how he got to where he is in his career and the challenges he encountered and overcame along the way. He also shares his knowledge in a way that's easy to understand and would be useful both to people new to Internet marketing, and to people like myself who have some experience but are looking to expand their knowledge. I'm subscribed and looking forward to future episodes.
- Outstanding!!!!by casino exec from United States
This is an excellent podcast for entrepreneurs in any industry. Hearing Eric interview and discuss proven success stories is like getting a motivational fix within 24 minutes. Can’t wait for the next episode!!!
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This is good! Guy is well known industry veteran. In the age where it's hard to get 15 minutes with someone like that on the phone, these episodes have a permanent placeholder on my calendar. Well done and keep up the good work!
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Walked into the office inspired and motivated! Great listen.
- Just discovered a GOLDMINE of information!by ericamerica from United States
This is next-level marketing that EVERYONE needs to know. SO much value here! This is information people would be willing to pay BIG $$$$$$ to have, and he’s just laying it all out here.
- Insightfulby lonestar1818 from United States
Incredible insights from one of the best!
- Entrepreneurial Goldby girlfriendwithnutallergy from United States
This podcast is amazing an a must have for anyone looking to take their entrepreneurial endeavors to the next level. Whether you are interested in becoming involved in affiliate marketing, or are just a student of life looking to learn about one of the largest and least discussed industries, this podcast is for you. Eric makes his passion for entrepreneurship available to all with this podcast, and for that reason it is a must listen.
- Knowledge bombs!by Sheree Trask from United States
Eric is a wealth of knowledge, not to mention, incredibly humble! He's got the proof to show that determination, grit and perseverance pay off... and I love that he's shedding light on the world of performance (affiliate) marketing with tangible tools anyone at any point in their online journey can apply. Thanks for all you do, Eric! Excited for more!!
- As Smart As they Comeby Lgoldberg1976 from United States
Eric Beer is a tremendous listen. His story telling and motivation have already driven me to work harder. Can’t wait to hear what he has to say next.
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Eric is a great guy, gives from the heart and is a wealth of powerful, profit-positive information. Rock on, brother!
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If you are serious about starting in this business this is the podcast to help kickstart your career. I highly recommend tuning in.
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Never realized how mich money performance marketers make without taking much risk. Get excited to learn more
- Eric Nailed It...by Mark Duke from United States
You do not want to miss out on this podcast. Eric is absolutely brilliant at his craft. A MUST listen or anyone who is wanting to ethically up their game in the business + affiliate marketing space. Cheers!
- I loved this podcast!by DPG...123 from United States
I just listened to this not knowing what to expect and it was FANTASTIC! I am hooked and can’t wait for more episodes. Looking forward to learning a ton from Eric 🙂
- Eric’s trainings will up-level your life!by SwayBuckley from United States
Eric’s level of transparency and REAL value is not only rare but transformative! Don’t sleep! He’s the real deal!
- Got me hooked from the startby Doc bus from United States
Hearing Eric’s story and why he is looking to share his knowledge of starting a business was so motivational. Looking forward to hear what he comes out with next. Hoping I can use his coaching to take my own life and business goals/ideas to the next level.
- Eric is a genius!by Golden Oracle Ministries from United States
I had the pleasure of meeting Eric Beer in a high level mastermind that we are both a part of. I must say that every time he opens his mouth marketing gold falls out! I’ve made millions both online and offline, so when I hear someone talking about marketing I’m not usually that impressed, but with Eric I’m beyond impressed. I’m blown away!!! Learn from Eric, do what he say and watch your business grow.
- Excellentby JLRPS22 from United States
Very motivational!
- Awesome contentby NickTheGreek83 from United States
I don’t normally write reviews but this is a must listen for anyone considering starting a business. Eric thank you for taking the time to give away some of your secrets! Look forward to future podcasts.
- Legend!by Daxy111 from United States
SO excited for your content to come. You're advice and results is authentic which is rare now a days!
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- The real dealby Erin_Verb7 from United States
Eric Beer is one of the smartest media buying minds I know. Take this chance to learn everything you can about affiliate marketing from him. He will teach you an ethical way to make your life and your family’s lives better through affiliate marketing. He’s the real deal.
- Genius marketing knowledgeby Nick349731 from United States
I can’t wait to continue to learn rom Eric! So skilled and such a genuinely good person too. Keep putting out the great information Eric!
- Great story and great infoby R-Rot from United States
This was a very interesting podcast. It was honest, informative and motivational. Eric has a great story that, everyone who is interested in starting a business, should listen to. Highly recommend!
- Amazingby Billion Dollar Cowboy from United States
I can’t wait to learn more!! So so good!!
- Awesomeby Eric X 2 from United States
Eric Really enjoyed listening to this. Keep up the great work!!!
- Let’s Market!by hjdvikes from United States
As someone who has networked and marketed more over the past 2 years than ever before in my career, this Podcast is an absolute MUST listen for me. Eric makes it easy to listen, learn and apply.
- Invaluable information!!by lpro1111 from United States
Invaluable information. Can’t wait to dive in.
- Great information, tons of useful tipsby jonnygal77 from United States
These are great, so much useful information that I can use immediately and effectively. Thanks Eric
- Great listenby Xtra Medium from United States
I love listening to Eric’s podcast on my way to work. Looking forward to applying some of these principles to my career.
- Definitely worth a listenby SBS776 from United States
I have had the pleasure of working with Eric and this podcast is a roadmap to success. He is a professional with years of experience and delivers results
- Game Changerby Jay Heydt from United States
Eric Beer is a game changer for your business. I had the privilege over the summer of taking an online marketing class with him. The daily interaction with Eric made me believe anything was possible as well as opened my eyes to an entire world that is online that I was missing. You will learn and earn with Beer. He is one of the best business coaches out there!
- Performance at its best!by Shm722 from United States
Eric has great ideas and insights!
- Listen to a visionary....by RobH60 from United States
Eric is a genius and visionary. Always looking to get ahead through hard work and drive to success yet he is super down to earth and willing to spend the time to share the secrets of his success with others.
- Finally, coming out to teach the worldby RogerSmith! from United States
I've known Eric for quite some time and he has been the guy who is quietly CRUSHING it. I'm glad he is coming out to the masses to share all his knowledge!
- Can’t wait to dive into these!by Arushi-315 from United States
I can’t wait to learn from Eric so I can level up my marketing!
Transcript…
Eric Beer 00:00 Mike Schmidt 00:07 Eric Beer 00:15 Mike Schmidt 00:20 Eric Beer 00:22 Eric Beer 01:06 Mike Schmidt 01:23 Eric Beer 02:48 AJ Rivera 02:49 Mike Schmidt 03:14 AJ Rivera 03:49 Eric Beer 04:17 AJ Rivera 05:03 Mike Schmidt 05:25 AJ Rivera 05:30 Eric Beer 07:07 Mike Schmidt 07:48 Eric Beer 08:44 Mike Schmidt 09:42 Eric Beer 11:43 AJ Rivera 12:05 Eric Beer 13:00 Mike Schmidt 13:20 Eric Beer 13:23 Mike Schmidt 14:32 Eric Beer 15:32 Mike Schmidt 16:10 Eric Beer 17:44 Mike Schmidt 17:50 Eric Beer 17:58 AJ Rivera 18:13 Eric Beer 18:32 Mike Schmidt 18:45 Eric Beer 20:28 Mike Schmidt 20:31 Eric Beer 20:39 AJ Rivera 20:43 Mike Schmidt 20:45 Eric Beer 21:36 Mike Schmidt 21:46 AJ Rivera 22:27 Mike Schmidt 22:34 Eric Beer 22:51 Mike Schmidt 22:55 AJ Rivera 23:16 Mike Schmidt 23:28 Eric Beer 25:45 Mike Schmidt 25:53 Eric Beer 27:43 Mike Schmidt 27:47 Eric Beer 28:26 AJ Rivera 28:43 Eric Beer 29:19 Mike Schmidt 29:24 Eric Beer 30:21 Mike Schmidt 30:35 Eric Beer 31:07 Mike Schmidt 31:25 Eric Beer 31:30 AJ Rivera 31:37 Eric Beer 31:39 Mike Schmidt 31:42 Eric Beer 32:24 AJ Rivera 32:32 Mike Schmidt 32:36 Eric Beer 32:40 Mike Schmidt 32:46 Eric Beer 32:47 Mike Schmidt 33:29 Eric Beer 34:43 Mike Schmidt 35:07 Eric Beer 35:08 Mike Schmidt 35:11 Eric Beer 35:33 Eric Beer 35:45
Sounds like I need a phone number. But I challenge you to get me to show up when someone types in beer. That's always been a bit of a challenge.
I guess I hadn't considered that. But once pretty, Yeah, I imagined cost per click on that on Pay Per Click might be a little.. little steep for that one's.
A little bit of competition. Although I tell everybody I invented it.. my whole family invented beer.
In a rich history, you've got your beers.
Yes, yes, we are. I spent the last 17 years building my eight-figure performance business without using any of my own money, working with some of the most brilliant direct response marketers in the world today. Now I'm looking for entrepreneurs to join my affiliate army, built on ethics, transparency, and good old hard work. Join me to change the perception of how people view the greatest business in the world, affiliate marketing, and follow along, as I learn, apply and share performance marketing strategies, working with some of the brightest people on the planet. My name is Eric Beer, and welcome to the Performance Marketer Podcast.
Welcome Mike and AJ to Performance Marketer. So psyched to finally get you on this show. It's been a while. I haven't seen you guys in, I don't know, like a few months now. So give us a little bit of like a background on you guys, both individually, and then how you guys got together?
Absolutely. So yeah. Great. Great to see, Eric. So AJ and I kind of got our start in the web design and digital marketing agency business, right, 2003? Like, can you imagine what was happening back then for digital agencies is like we basically really websites, and also trying to convince a lot of businesses, like why? Why they needed a website in the first place? You know, Yahoo was the top search engine. You know, Facebook wasn't even a thing yet. YouTube wasn't around, like the cost of doing video online was... was insane. So a lot of things have changed in the nearly 20 years that we've had our agency. But in that time, we've built a incredibly successful web design digital marketing agency based here in Tucson, Arizona, we've also had the privilege of creating a business where we get to teach and coach web and digital marketing agencies, a lot of the systems that process sales, managing teams actually help them own a business that really serves them. And in that process, we've also been able to partner with some of our mentors like Russell Brunson in creating something that we call the FunnelHub, which is a system for funnel-driven businesses and local businesses that really is a reinvention, a transformation of what the... what the traditional website was. So we've been around the block or when it comes to digital marketing and teaching. And it's, it's been... been really cool.
What about you, AJ?
I started in a corporate background. So I worked for Intuit for a number of 10 years, managing the online communities to like QuickBooks and TurboTax. And Quicken and, you know, just got kind of tired of being a very small cog in this big machine. I wanted to work more closely with the people that I was impacting. And, you know, having an agency working closely with small businesses like we did at Anchor Wave was a way that could scratch that itch for sure and instantly see the impact that we're having on people's businesses. And it was just awesome to be able to do that.
Yeah. So we met because I was looking for someone to help come into the agency to start selling. And I had tried to hire two different salespeople before I met AJ and failed horribly, did not work out at all. I paid these guys all this money. And we... they basically sold nothing. And really frustrated. I was like, That's it. I'm taking sales back over. And so I posted an ad for what I call a Web Strategist, and not a salesperson, but a web strategist. And I was just looking for somebody to come in and call all of our existing clients and just be like, Hey, we built your website, like, Can I help you with that?
Right? And truthfully, like, if I would have said web sales person, I probably wouldn't apply, right? But I saw Web Strategist. It's like, cool. That's kind of what I do, right? That'd be web strategy. I do online digital marketing strategy, I'd love to talk to people about it. And it just seemed like it naturally couldn't find out. It's really was sales, right? But that's kind of how we've always approached things. It's like a consultative sales approach. You know, we're really just guiding our clients or prospects through ways that they can improve their online presence. And you know, it's up to them whether they want to take that step or not.
That's amazing. So you guys had the agency first, right? You've been doing that for a while when I met you guys, you are in an agency mode, in the inner circle, right? And since that time, how did this idea come up? Like how did you guys come up with the FunnelHub? We're from like, an agency to like, I remember sitting in a cab with you when they when they shut down. The Mastermind if you remember this, and Mike, you were like thinking about, man, maybe we could figure out a way to start. So we can keep it together until he comes back and then we'll figure it out. And then like, something happened and all of a sudden like FunnelHub, boom. So like, obviously your brain, do you think that like maybe that started your thinking? I wonder if like, you know, like, what, what made you guys do this?
Well, it's crazy, because when we joined Russell Brunson inner circle, which was, what, seven years ago now or something like that. And like, that's when he was going so hard and like websites are dead, don't build a website and have these huge campaigns going on. I remember, we were sitting up on talking live one year, and he actually said, everybody tweet out this hashtag that websites, websites are dead. And we're like, looking at her. Like, don't do it.
We literally just sold websites like the day before the clients were like, now we're supposed to tell our clients.
Good. So but because of that, because of all of that, though, when we joined in a circle, like we never even admitted, we owned a web design agency, right. That's where the majority of our money was coming from. But we're like, we're not gonna go in there and sit in Russell Brunson. We build websites, so he's gonna yell at us. Because they were a digital marketing agency, right. And so we're, like, positive with all this website building that we were doing. And it wasn't until years later, that we realized that there was really a missing component to everybody's funnel strategy, right? So whenever somebody would join inner circle, I remember, you know, it's a very close knit group. And, you know, I just wondered, who are these people, you know, like, and start looking for their name online and searching for them in my mind, because half the time I couldn't find them, right? And I'm like, How the heck are they investing all this money to be in this room? If they have no digital candidate running them? Yeah. A lot of times, I would find something. But like, I think, oh, that's what they do, then I think, come on and speak on stage. And he's talking about something totally different. And then sometimes I find something but it's something I knew I wasn't supposed to find, right. It was like the application to their 50,000, or mastermind, when I was just wanted to find out who the heck they were. Right? Sure. So like, they're like, there's a big opportunity, we started looking at like Google search traffic and for their names for their product name for their course names for their business names, and so forth. And we started seeing there being a ton of search traffic, right, just for their branded terms. And we're like, if all these people are having the experience that I just had, that there's a huge opportunity here, right, there's a huge opportunity for them to, you know, put something there that's going to actually help people get to where they want to go, it's going to help indoctrinate them into who they are, what their movements about. It's going to show them how they can work with them that can give them a pathway to take that next step.
Yeah. How does so.. it's so clever, man. It's like I predicting like 20 years from now, and you guys are billionaires, they're gonna be like, it's like, it's like when someone like invented the straw. It's like, the web already out there. You know, like, these guys, just like, they just positioned it differently. And that's really what you guys are doing, right? It's like, it's similar stuff. It's just, it's so funny because of like, it's the timing of everything. And you saw, right like the funnels, they're just like, different funnels, or pieces of the business all over scattered. But there's no like destination that kind of summarizes like, who are they what's going on with him? Right? It's like creating this like online presence that no one had, which is really, really cool. And I mean,
It very much is a timing thing in the sense that nobody will debate that the funnel isn't the number one place to turn a lead into a paying customer or paint paying client, right, like that is been proven over and over again. And a lot of us have used funnels to create these amazing, amazing businesses. And as a result, we've neglected to think about the experience that someone has when they're moving through our funnels, like if you put yourself in your your client's shoes for a second you think, okay, let's say I attended one of your webinars Eric, and I'm like, sitting there, and I'm like, you know, I'm one of the 90, you know, what is it 97% of people that registered for the webinar, but, I don't buy right, but what am I gonna do then, right? Like, maybe you have some follow up sequences. Maybe there's some retargeting stuff that you're gonna set put in front of me to try and nurture me and get me along. But what research am I going to do on my own or potentially be looking for credibility indicators? That's going to help me move along, right? So many million dollar and two comma club and beyond, businesses have been built around a 3% conversion rate on registrants to a webinar, right, so true. And it's like, okay, if you can build a million dollar business on 3%, like, what about the other 90 97%? Like, what about that, like, how can we tap into that? And the reality is that we need to figure out a way to do it, FunnelHub is a major step in tapping into that. And in overcoming what we call the trust tipping point, you know, there are several things that we each need to buy into and know about you and your brand and your company and all those things before we're willing to take our credit card out of our wallet. And in the FunnelHub helps to get somebody further up that mountain towards that tipping point, and onto the other side where they're actually buying.
So how do you describe we haven't done that yet? I think so anybody that doesn't know what a FunnelHub is? Maybe she did that for the audience. Explain to them very briefly elevator pitch, what is FunnelHub?
Yeah, it's exactly what somebody should find when they're looking for you online. Right? And so simply put is, what's the experience that someone's going to have when they're searching for your name, when they're searching for your product name for your courses, when they're looking for those things, but they're they're trying to find this Gamze the reviews the dirt on you, like, what do they find? When they do that? Do they find a ripoff report? That's unjust and shouldn't be there and it's by somebody that didn't even do business with you or it should they find something that you control something that you own. That's the funnel hub. The funnel hub is a content driven strategy. It's the place where they land in this number one job of a funnel hub is to accept that traffic, accept that that visitor there and get them back into the right funnel as soon as possible, right? help them overcome some of the trust overcome some of the things that are are their points of concern, and get them into whether it's your high ticket funnel, are they ready for your high ticket funnel? Let's get them there. They ready for something? They don't know really who you are. And they just heard of you because of a podcast that you were on. And they look for, you know, Mike Schmidt or AJ Rivera from agency coach, it's like they should find agency coach.com Right. Yeah. And they should see what we're all about. And maybe they're maybe they're just ready for an opt in some freebie a giveaway, right? The whole idea is that we want to make sure that that's what's happening. But the reality is that most websites are a choose your own adventure. And I think that's what Russell's throwing rocks at what he's looking at, when he's looking at websites and proclaiming the death of them is that you know, a website that's a choose your own adventure just means that there's a series of random pages stuck together with no intention, no really consideration as to what are the what are the steps or things that people need to see. And it has nothing that guides them back into the places where they need to be. And so that's why a funnel is so great, because it's very much a choreographed dance to funnel step one, step two, step three, step four. But the FunnelHub's job is to accept people no matter where they're at in their buying cycle and the lifecycle of your of your business. And get them overcome any any sort of distrust and get them back into the funnel, because that's where the magic happens.
So is there a way that you structure the FunnelHub where you're trying to drive them somewhere, take them down some journey, or get some sort of next step when they're there? You're linking them out to different funnels? Are you doing more of an intro? Are there videos like it? Or is it just each person's option?
That's the thing because when you have a funnel, right, you get to control every aspect of that interaction, you know, the audience that you're targeting, you know, the Facebook ad, they saw, you know, the landing page and saw, you know, the webinar, they saw the pop sequence. So it's very easy to like, keep that consistent communication. But guess what, when somebody searches for your name online, now suddenly, you've lost all of that, right? You don't know if it's somebody that's typing your name. And because they just got off your webinar, and they want to check you out, you don't know if it's somebody that their friend told about, you don't know if they just saw you on stage somewhere. So like, we can't assume anything, right? We can think of FunnelHub it's like this big net, that this catches everybody that's looking for you meets them where they're at, you know, indoctrinates them into who you are, if that's what they need, or just gives them credibility indicators, if that's what they need, or shows them the pathway to work, how they work, that that's what they need, right? And so it's really just kind of like that traffic control, right? Where it's taking these people, and it's kind of shifting them into wherever they need to go. In order to get back to business.
To every FunnelHub should have a Survey Detective you do I already have like this idea of like how, like what we're doing with some of these people embedding a survey into that front end when you're getting there to like, take them down the path to figure out like, what's up, man? Like, what do you want? What do you want to go? What do you want to do? Where do you want to be? Oh, man, I felt like,
intelligently kind of share with them their next step?
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, ultimately, ask them questions to like, understand them to figure out what what what's up why you're here. And then, you know, kind of guide them down the right path. Give them you know, get him started on the journey. That's so cool. Yeah, I have some ideas. We got to test that. Oh, man. Well, I'm already well, technically, I'm like, that's the thing is like, we're already doing it. It's just not on a FunnelHub. Right? It's just that people are driving traffic to a page that I guess like as a FunnelHub page, right? But like the destination, right, a funnel is a page. That's the way I look at it. It's just a bunch of pages, right? It's just, you know, how you're positioning it. But man, why did that just clicked to me just now and I shouldn't have thought about 10 days ago, or 10 years ago. Holy cow. We there's a huge opportunity. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's just I was doing a workshop for like all these people for the service detective list last week, and Pirates Cove and I was just, I was just funny, man. It's so interesting when you're around all these entrepreneurs, like you don't realize that people want what you have, until you talk to them. Right? And then you find out their needs, which is really cool. Does...
Also is like a huge, I mean it whether it comes to FunnelHub or anything else, like people are busy, right? And we all think that our stuffs super cool. And we know we don't realize or give credit to the amount of time that we've spent on our own stuff. And so when we go meet someone else, and we're trying to explain to them what it is that we do, and we're like, why don't they get it? It's like yeah, well, they haven't spent the same amount of time and that's, that's where like good marketing comes from a place that good marketing has to be has to simplify what it is you do have to hook them into that. And I think that a lot of people mess up in their marketing because they try and do too much at the beginning. They're They're, they're, they're giving them the firehose, and all we need is just a trickle of information. And I think that's why funnels work really well is it's kind of hard to over engineer, sometimes it's like, it's one, step two, step three, step four step, right. And so we can take a lesson from what funnels have done for our businesses, bring that into other areas of our marketing, or even, like you said, like you're doing a workshop with a bunch of other high end businesses. In a mastermind. It's like, we have to give them little bits in order to help them understand what it is we do.
Totally, totally. And then what you realize is, as you're with them, things that you just make an assumption they know that you think are simple. To your point, you're doing it for so long, that like, it just comes so easy to you. And you're like, Wait, you don't you don't know what that is really. Oh, okay. And now all of a sudden, the opportunities like way simpler than you even thought you're like thinking of these complicated things in your head of how it's a FunnelHub, right? Boom, let's do this. Ever. Does everybody have a funnel up? Like have the percentages of people now that you've been talking to, like, what would you say, percentage wise influencers? Coaches have a FunnelHub? Today?
I mean, it's still pretty small. Oh, my gosh, it's, it's a huge opportunity. I mean, there's, there's a lot of people are starting to talk about it. I mean, we've been working, we've been doing this for three, good three years, three plus years. And up until probably the last six months, where we were probably the only funnel of agency in the world, right. Which, as with a partnership with Russell, you know, Click Funnels 2.0 has the ability to build FunnelHubs directly inside of it, we've been a big part of that, and worked closely with the Clickfunnels team to make that happen. So you know, as that thing rolls out, there's going to be even more people who are doing it. But we've also released a course with Russell called FunnelHub Launchpad, that actually teaches agencies the process of actually how to build a FunnelHub, but also, more importantly, how to sell it and command the right dollar amount, whether that be to selling doing this for funnel driven businesses, or also our own agency has taken the same concepts of FunnelHub and brought it brought that to the local market. And so we sell FunnelHubs to local businesses, and they absolutely it's like a, it's a mindset shift for them to have some of these same, these businesses who are not ready for funnels yet, are getting their foot in the door with funnels by building a FunnelHub for their for their local business. So so we teach that inside of the FunnelHub Launchpad program. But the point is, and the answer your question is that, like, there's a massive opportunity that our agency has already been tapping into for the last three years, and it's been phenomenal. But you know, we're about to snowball can't do more. We're about to see a huge wave of a lot of people offering this and bringing their own perspective to it.
Oh, yeah, I've seen ads, ads are starting, I see him pumping out.
Which is awesome. You know, you've done something right, when the guys who invented the thing are getting rocks thrown? Yeah, it's an honor. So it sounds
like Yeah, congratulations for Yeah, everybody coming out you. You're the target. Is there is there a way that on this FunnelHub that someone can buy a product or service there, or it's designed to direct you to the place where they're going to buy? And so
Yeah, we're not trying to replace ClickFunnels or Shopify or anything where you know, these transactions are happening, those things are great at that we definitely weren't aiming to, like rebuild the technology to do that. We just soon as the point person makes a decision to go to your offer, you know, that's when that transition usually happened. And you're now to the inside of ClickFunnels, which will be easier now.
That yeah, sure. Yeah. Do you have any examples of like, somebody that has used it a client that can resonate with us on how the value that you're bringing to the table has saved their brand?
Yeah, definitely. So a great story like to share. Many folks know, Steve Larson, and he was one of the first people we approached with this idea. And we're like, Hey, let us just do this for you. And like, let's prove the model. And so, you know, before working with him, if you searched for Steve Larson, there was a research search result, they came up with a guy who's a thing as a psychologist and author, amazingly credentialed and very worthy candidate of showing up for a Google search for that name. Right. So that's been like the top eight spots. And so when people are looking for the Steve that we know, and a lot of the community that that we're in knows, like, they weren't finding him, right. And so think about, you know, he's the guy who is the publisher faceoff guy, right? Like he publishes like mad. And so each and every time he's publishing, right, he's creating a ripple effect. People who know his name, see his stuff. And he's creating branding and top of mind awareness with people in his market, and then they go look for him, and what do they find? They find somebody else right. And so pretty quickly with the launch of his FunnelHub, that he took over the majority of the top paid top search results of everything that was there. It's something that allowed him to redirect people who were looking for him back back into his funnel, and back into his world. And this made incredible impact. And so you think about all the searches that might be happening for somebody like him, like, we can't rewind the clock, like, once the search is done, the search is done, like, so we have that moment in time to capture that surge, you know, so I would say, you know, the best time to build a FunnelHub was 10 years ago, you know, the second best time to build it today. Because you can't recapture that you can't recapture what the searches that have been done done by
Are they tracking the data? Have you gotten any data back?
So you saw a massive increase of like, 500% increase in his traffic to his to his FunnelHub as a result of that?
Search traffic is the best traffic on the internet anyway, it's already there.
It's already there. They just weren't finding it. Right?
So yeah, we've got, you know, example, after example, people who were previously not showing up for their old stuff. That's what's kind of cool about this is like, there's not a lot of, you know, when it comes to doing search engine optimization, like, there's easy stuff to go after. And there's competitive stuff. You know, the easy stuff oftentimes is your own name is your own brand name. But it's something where, you know, just building this FunnelHub in the right way. And the way that we we kind of lay out is giving you the best opportunity not only to rank for these things, but also to kind of create a linking between all of the other places that you publish online, right? Because when we search for someone, we may want to find more from their federal law, we want to be there but like, what about their Facebook page, or their groups or their Twitter account or some maybe even some of their funnels? And so just a really key piece of it, bringing it all together?
So you've been doing it for for a bunch of years, and you've done a deal with Russell, talk to us on how that happened? Did you guys approach him? Did he approach you had this all unfold?
Yes, but it's super fun story. So as I mentioned a couple of minutes ago that Steve Larson was our guinea pig with this. And so after we saw those numbers kind of come back, we decided that, you know, as you know, when you join Russell's inner circle, he gives you what's called the decade of the day call, it's about an hour or so call, where we get to sit down one on one with Russell and basically talk to him about whatever it is we want to talk to him about and get feedback on the funnel, business idea, whatever it is. And so he, we we actually just prepared like a short presentation just now that we had the data knew what was doing. We decided we would just show it share with him what had happened. And so we just want him to vet the idea. It's like holiday the idea because we
knew, obviously his opinion of website, so we want to make sure before it went all the way in that he thought yeah, this is a good idea.
Yeah, but we were kind of nervous, though, to be honest, because we knew what we were about to share with him was talking to him about why funnel driven businesses needed websites. Right. So like I kind of expected that day, we got a picture of it somewhere. We'll have to send it to you. But we had like a hung up a picture of Russell in the background just so you like felt like there was a piece of him on our side of the camera.
Right? Well, you have to prove that you're not competing with his system. And then he's,
yeah, so I was kind of expecting he was gonna start yelling at us. No, didn't you see my my Harmon brothers videos about websites being that I spent 1000s upon 1000s of dollars on the New Year, guys. That's what I was. That was the beer, wonderful person to me. So we started the presentation. We're about three slides in, right. And something amazing happens, right? Yeah, he's
like, I don't know where you guys are going with this. But I already want to give you money. Like, like, we haven't even planned to pitch him really on there. You know, we just wanted to like, show them the idea and get
An agent at the table. I'm like, What's, like, what did he just say? And so we're like, well, that's not what today's about arsenal, we just want to keep going. And so we went through the rest of the presentation. So by the end of it, we got another picture of this and he's reaching into his wallet. He's like, alright, so do you take Visa, American Express? What is it? What was your wallet? And he's like, what's the investment and we told him and he's like, done. And it was just one of those things where we'd never went into this with the expectation of like, enrolling him in this, but he saw it right away, he saw what we saw why we were excited, and validated all of our concerns around that. And so that was what led to us building a FunnelHub, Russell and some of his other brands. It led to us doing a lot of other work for people that we consider to be like, just amazing folks, Garrett J white, Christian Bayshore, a lot of folks in the inner circle that we went through and help them with their FunnelHubs, which is, was awesome. So... so Steven tested it. Russell Gunn was our first real buyer, right? And then the rest of the community just started jumping in on it. And I think what Russell was doing, he's watching not only what we were doing with the results of the people we were working with, but he had his own experience. And he's like, I've got this thing now. Like, because we talk an awful lot about search engines and traffic and stuff like that. But yeah, even just for the entrepreneur to know like, Have you ever been in a conversation where you're like, I don't know where to send this person? Like yeah, I I'm gonna have to follow them or have my assistant follow up because I can't just tell them to go to this place. Like it doesn't make sense. for them to opt in for my free lead magnet right now, or go register for a webinar, I need to send them someplace. That's my thing. That gives them the overall thing, right overall picture. And so Russell had the same experience. He's like when people, you know, believe it or not people do ask Russell, like, what do you do? Or where can I find out more information about you and like he had, he didn't have anything until we helped him. And then I will say, hey, go to marketingsecrets.com. That's where you can find all my stuff. That's the jumping off point to everything else. So forgetting about the searches, like just having that, as a business and an entrepreneur is absolutely huge. So I'm seeing that Data Wise, but also just the emotion of having that together is what led to a pretty amazing series of events, which led to us being including this in ClickFunnels 2.0.
Man, that's so exciting. Yes. So tell us about that. How's that gonna work? So when it's included into the launch? What's that look like?
Well, I'll start by telling you that we got to Vox one day. Two years ago now, and some of you guys might have seen the video that that Russell has released talking about the innovation or the what came what preceded the decision to launch Clickfunnels 2.0. And he was in I think, Atlanta with Todd Dickerson, co founder of ClickFunnels, they had this like, amazing idea to redo ClickFunnels 2.0 They they called Dave, in the middle of the night, Dave Woodward CEO, ClickFunnels are like you need to get on a plane right now and come here, this out. So they were all brainstorming together. And we got a box from Russell saying, hey, so don't tell anybody this, but I want to let you guys know that we're redoing ClickFunnels 2.0 It's totally ground up like, and, you know, three of us were talking and we actually want to include we were hoping you don't mind hope you're not mad or that you're upset about this, but which I think he was genuinely asking us this, but like, how could we be like I want to, I want to and that's why we absolutely love Russell, he's like, he's like, I want to include FunnelHub as the first thing that people experience when they when they create an account because we believe that funnels are important. And we also believe that they also need a FunnelHub, that that becomes a jumping off point for a lot of other things. And we're like, mess like we I called him I'm like, Did you did you? Did you just did that just happen? Did he just like actually tell us that he's wants to funnel help inside of this. So that led to some conversations where we put together an opportunity to do that. And so now, October 4 2022, they will release Click Funnels 2.0 as presale pre release. So there's a lot of us that are going to be helping to promote that. The first thing you get to see is our faces. Smiling inside of ClickFunnels. 2.0 right.
That's insane. It's insane. Which is insane.
It's like when I told me in 2016 when we jumped into Russell Brunson circle, that like one day, this would be our reality. I just It's definitely like pinch ourselves kind of thing. And I don't say that to brag, I say that to say like anything as business owners that we want to create as entrepreneurs. Like that's what I love about being an entrepreneur is that we get to make the world up, we get to make stuff up, right? Totally. We get to wake up one day and say, I want to work this I want to do this. And like, of course it never works out the way we plan. But it's something we're like having that level of control. It's something that is easy to forget sometimes. And it's really cool to just see it happen from your eyes.
That's. So dude, congratulation guys. That's so that's so exciting. So are you guys now you still work independently? Or you are part of ClickFunnels? Did you get acquired by ClickFunnels? How does that look? Can you still do business with people? Like can I go higher? You guys might have to go to ClickFunnels to talk to you.
Think of it like... that... like funnels today. Right? There's there's the software that people build funnels on. And then there's agencies that build funnels, right. So yeah, so the one anything to do with the agency game and like any of that stuff, like there's going to be people that need to know the software and need to put their clients on that software, which is what he really wants, right? There's a really nice relationship with us. Because outside of our agency, we've now moved on to an expert business where we coach agencies around the world, you know, how to be able to market better, sell better. And all that service delivery everything right. And so we've got, you know, an audience of agencies look, US is like,
Got it. Yeah, so we can't hire you right now. No, good.
So, so we have we have our agency, which you can absolutely hire 100%. So, like, so it's actually the best of all worlds for everyone involved. So like not only have we, you know, we've partnered with Russell to bring FunnelHub into 2.0. We still have our agency, amazing group of people based here in Tucson, Arizona, that build FunnelHubs for the world, right. But we also, it seems kind of funny though, we teach our competitors to do the same thing, right, like totally our abundance minded we think that there's so much opportunity for everyone. We can't our agency can't possibly handle all of the FunnelHubs in the world. So That's why we've also partnered with Russell to create FunnelHub Launchpad to teach agencies how to build and sell that stuff, just the exact same way that we do it in our own agency. So it's been, it's been awesome. It's been like, then we get to like, you know, influence how the software as was created. And you have this a small part of direction of that based off of the concepts that we've we've come up
So... so the same way that he has templates in there for different funnels? Are there going to be FunnelHubs in there with templates that you could just come? And he's going to make it sound like it's the simplest thing in the world to just go and create a FunnelHub? Yeah, yeah,
It's a work in progress, for sure. And there's there is our team actually built the first FunnelHub template that will be rolled out with ClickFunnels 2.0. And it's my understanding that that template will be available for the people who sign up for ClickFunnels, which is gonna be great. You know, there's going to be more templates that we're gonna release in other ways to make it super easy. You know, it all the raw materials are there to build your own. But the... but the templates in the share funnels give us ability to get people kind of a leg up on that as well, which would be really, really cool.
That's so amazing. Wow, I'm excited for you guys. I mean, this is going to be groundbreaking. So you guys are going to be the the picture then you're welcome to ClickFunnels, how are you? Ready for a FunnelHub?
You can pick two more more attractive guys. So I don't know. But so we'll see
How better. Make sure you get your social media channels ready to explode.
They're gonna search for us.
They gotta know who you are first. Right. And they're gonna go and then
My challenge has been is that my name is Mike Schmidt. And if for those of you guys that don't know, Mike Schmidt is a very famous baseball player for the for the Phillies, or was a Hall of Fame baseball player more homeruns and Mickey Mantle. I can't tell you the number of times in my life that people have asked me Oh, Mike Schmidt. Do you relate it and I always say is my uncle, you want me to sign a baseball for you? So me ranking for Mike Schmidt is is one of my goals. So it's one of the things that I would love that when that name gets typed in without any other qualifiers like Mike Schmidt FunnelHub, or Mike Schmidt, agency coach or agencies or anchor wave any of those things. That's one of my life goals. We'll see where we get. So I, I think we're on our way, no doubt, but
That's great. I sounds like I need a phone number. But I challenge you to get me to show up when someone types in beer. That's always been a bit of a challenge.
I guess I hadn't considered that. But once pretty Yeah.
I imagined cost per click on that on pay per click might be a little little steep for that one's
a little bit of competition. Although I tell everybody I invented it. My whole family invented beer. So
rich history. You've got your beers.
Yes, yes, we are. Yes, we are. This is amazing. guys. You guys are just so awesome. And the coolest part about it is that you guys are two of the nicest people I've ever met. Truly. And it's so nice to see when good things happen to good people. Because you guys are just gonna rock it, man. I mean, I've enjoyed being around you guys, every time around. You. Just blow me away. I mean, Mike, we it's like my fault. You're like, every time I see you're like call me, I'll help you. And I'm like, okay, yeah. And then I'm like, I like dropped the ball when I get back to my 75 things. But like, I just appreciate you guys and your friendship. And it's just, you know, good luck. You have anything you want to share here that you want to give to the audience? Do you have any place you want to drive them?
To? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we got some some goodies setup for folks listening. So if you head over to agency coach.com/beer, we got some goodies there. So especially for anybody who's in an age. Yeah, you know, that one wasn't taken, I'd ever flash beer on that domain. But we are an agency coach.com/beer. We've got some goodies for you guys. We're running a five day challenge for agencies to show you how to double your agency, create a 90 day written plan for how to do that. So massively easy access for that. Over on that page. We just want to welcome anybody in that you have an agency, or you're thinking about starting one. That's an amazing place to start. And of course, you know, we're around on the socials, Mr. Mike Schmidt on Instagram, if you got anything, feel free to reach out. And happy, happy to serve you whether it was related to needs for FunnelHub questions about how to sell them questions about any of the things that we do or agency life in general, we're here we're an open book. We believe that the world is a better place with agencies that actually own their agency as opposed to owning them, right? Because when you own your agency, you own your life. When you own your business, you're on your life and that's a huge part of what we stand for.
Amazing. So you heard it here, guys, you got a huge business opportunity. If you haven't, you can quit your job and go become a FunnelHub agency. They're gonna make it happen for you guys. Dude, you guys, I appreciate you being here. Thank you very, very much. Looking forward to seeing you guys in the launch, or I guess Funnel Hacking live in a few weeks. Yeah. Yeah. You got to be on stage. Yeah.
We're hopeful. Yeah.
So all right. What are you going to wear?
Tuxedo? Of course? That kind of talk to you. That'd be hilarious if you actually do it. I was trying to convince them earlier Actually, today, I was like, Hey, what are we because my wife was going to drop off the suit for dry cleaning and whatnot. I was like, make sure to send the tuxedo too. So we'll see. If we want to be like the Dumb and Dumber guys. question is whether I'm blue or orange. I don't know, what's your preference.
So that would be so funny. Well, that's great. I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys gonna wear on the live stage. I'll see you soon. Appreciate it, guys. Thank you so much. Thanks, Eric. All right, later.
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