Perfectionism Will Stop Your Service

Welcome to Marketing in Your Car, the podcast for funnel hackers everywhere. You're now part of a small group of underground entrepreneurs who are trying to change the world through the products and the services that we believe in. But because we don't rely on venture capitalists, we don't have financial safety nets. So we have to do things differently. We have to do things smarter. We do that through an art and a science we call funnel hacking. This podcast will give you a glimpse at the daily life of a funnel hacker. So let's get started. Good morning everybody, it's Monday! Well, at least for me. Who knows when you listen to this, but even if it's not Monday, treat it like a Monday 'cause it's gonna be amazing today. I am actually on my way to go record the last half of the Expert Secrets book for audiobook format. And it's interesting, I don't know how many of you guys have ever done it before, but I remember the DotCom Secrets book when it was done, we planned the launch, everything's happening, all of a sudden like the week before I was like, wait a minute, what if we made an order form bump? That was the audiobook, that'd be the coolest thing in the world and so then I was like, well, how do you make an audiobook? So I started trying to record it myself and that did not work. So I'm like, there's gotta be like recording studios that do this kind of thing. So I search around and there's a dude in Boise who has a recording studio for bands but I don't think that we're in an era that bands record a lot of stuff anymore, whatever. So anyway, I hired him to do the book and it was awesome, kind of. Well, it turned out awesome for those who got the audiobook version. But a couple things because I forgot the mental turmoil that this went through. So the problem is that he said normally people will spend like a week recording audiobook, but I had to do it all in one day 'cause I was, you know, huge time crunch. And so, yeah, so I started trying to do the whole book in a day, which had a lot of pain associated with it because it just took so long and it was tiring. And I was trying to like keep my energy level up 'cause I didn't want people listening in like each chapter getting tired and tired with me. So I was like doing all sorts of stuff to keep me awake and alert, which was really hard. And just, it was honestly, there's just a lot of pain associated with that first book. And the other thing that is interesting, like, The first half of the DotCom Secrets book is written kind of like a story so it sounds really well. Then the last half, it's like examples and then like things that, I don't know, don't make sense as an audiobook really. And so I recorded them. I remember as I'm doing that whole thing, it made me really self-conscious of the book because I was just like, "Oh, these don't sound awesome." The first half of the book sounded cool but these parts, it's like me telling the script and plugging examples and just like, it doesn't work unless you're reading it. So I did it but what's interesting is when it was done, It was done, I was all, and I forgot about this 'til just on Friday when I started recording this version, but like I forgot how self-conscious, like he came with a book while I was recording the audiobook version. Like it was this weird mind thing where I was just like, this book is not very good. 'Cause I don't think it's that good as an audiobook. Anyway, but because of that, like I never, that was the last time I read the book was when I recorded the audiobook. And I was like, and I kind of put it on the shelf and I never read it. And then we launched it literally like a week later and we've sold, I think last we checked it was like 79,000 copies. So we're getting close to 100,000 copies. Copies, which is awesome. And I've had insane amounts of people tell me that the book changed their life, it changed their perspective on things, it helped them to finally understand marketing and sales and funnels and like, it did its job and I'm really proud of it, like really, really proud of it. And what's funny is I know that as we're approaching our next book launch, there's some things I wanted to clean up in the book and most of them were things that I remember came to my head during the audiobook version, things that bugged me back then. And so last week when I was flying to Arizona on, was it Wednesday, I got the old book out and I was highlighting all the stuff I wanted I'm like, man, this book, probably shouldn't say this about your book, it's not very humble, but I was like, this book is really good. I was just really proud of it. Even though there's things I wanna change and tweak or whatever, but I was just, I was really proud of it. And I forgot that, I was like, man, I haven't read this in a long time, like I forgot about it. And then Friday as I went in to read the Expert Secrets book, I started getting this, I'm sitting in the exact same chair, exact same room, exact same everything, or the DotCom Secrets book. And the first part of the book, similar, reads like a story, and so I was liking it, but then I got the parts that are similar where it's like I'm taking the PowerPoint slide and I'm plugging in all the stuff, right? I'm plugging it in and it's like, it doesn't read good as an audiobook that way. And so I started becoming more and more self-conscious as I was reading it. I spent probably, I think 6 or 7 hours in the studio recording the book. And by the end, by the time I left, like, I was a wreck. Like my whole brain was just like, like second-guessing the book and is it any good? And maybe it's not any good. And like, what if people don't like this because it doesn't, It doesn't make sense this way. And all of a sudden, as I was sitting at home, I was laying there after I think my wife had gone to bed. I think I was watching Shark Tank or something, 'cause I think I had hopped up on enough caffeine to keep me, have enough energy to read the book that I was like, I couldn't fall asleep. And I'm sitting there and stressing out, and then I was just like, huh, I kind of remember this from 2 and a half years ago when I did it with the DotCom Secrets book. And I remember how much I second-guessed the book. I didn't even want to sell it after we finished the audiobook, but we did anyway, 'cause I was like, I can't do anything else, I have to put it out there. And I kinda felt the same way with the Expert Secrets book. And this time, luckily I broke it up into 2 days, otherwise it would've been even worse. So that's why I'm going back right now to do the last, I probably got 60% of it done on Friday and I'm gonna do the last 40 today. But it's just funny how much you second guess yourself. And I started thinking about all the products I've created in the last 14 years and the interesting thing is I've never gone back and watched any of the products ever. And I think that the problem that some of us have is that we do, like you put your your heart and your soul into something and when you're creating it, you know it's right. When I was working on the book, I was like, I know this is right. I know, I felt right about it. But then as I went back and for the book version, it's me doing the audiobook, you start second-guessing all these things because you're like, oh, I didn't say that right. I should've said it this way. I should've, you know, and like so much of this stuff floods into your mind that if it wasn't for the fact that it's being published, it's being printed, launch date's happening, all these things, I probably would just pull the plug and be like, you know what, screw it. I hate this book. We're just running away. Luckily the wheels are in motion just like the DotCom Secrets book and I couldn't do anything about it. The DotCom Secrets book, I was giving away a Ferrari. There was no if, ands, or buts. This was happening whether I liked it or not. And the same thing happened with this. And I'm grateful for that because I think that a lot of us, the problem is you record something and then you go back and you listen to it and then you second guess yourself and then you cancel this thing that could have been life-changing for somebody else. And so I would recommend for a lot of you guys, first off, if you're editing your own videos, your own audio, I bet that's hard. I luckily have no skills or talents so I'm not able to do that, but if I could, I can imagine how I would be stressing out and trying to cut out every cough and every hiccup and everything. And I would be trying to make it perfect, whereas the perfection is oftentimes what kills the project or what takes the soul out of it. You know, marketing your car, you guys have heard me sneeze, you've heard me almost kill squirrels, you've heard me like, I think got pulled over once, or at least almost pulled over multiple times, but like that, That rawness of it is what makes it intriguing. I think sometimes we try to perfect it so much that it loses it. I remember the first, I was listening to a Jay Abraham course back in the day, it was the first time I ever heard of Brian Tracy. And I listened to this presentation of him on stage and I was like, dude, this guy's captivating and like, everything was amazing about it. And so I was like, I wanna learn everything from Brian Tracy. So I went online, I went to eBay and I bought every Brian Tracy course known to man. First one I plug in and it's Brian in a studio reading a book and I was like, Like, I listened for like an hour and I was like, this is horrible, and I just turned it off and I've never listened to Brian Tracy since, which is sad because like the first experience with him live in front of people where there are flaws and things and like, it was amazing. In fact, it's interesting, everyone like obsessed with audiobooks. I like audiobooks, but if you look at like what I listen to, like this morning when I was working out, I was not listening to an audiobook, I was listening to a course of Dan Kennedy on stage. 'Cause like there's something, I don't know, like I like people's energy on stage much better than their energy reading a book in a studio typically. So I've tried to keep, in fact that's one big reason why I read my own audiobook as opposed to everyone else is like, don't read your own audiobook, hire somebody to do it for you, 'cause the pain that I'm going through now. But I was like, yeah, but then you got some dude reading a book to you. At least when I'm doing it, I'm able to use my own voice inflections and talk the way I would speak to somebody personally, you know, and I can have more fun with it. But there's something about live, and so I would just say, the reason why I'm even sharing any of this, outside of the fact that I think sharing my mental battles I have with myself over my own content is the same thing all of you guys are dealing with, right? And I would just recommend to, if I was most of you, don't ever go watch your course after you do it. Let the people speak. 'Cause you're gonna be so, at least for me, I'm so critical of myself. I would hate everything. I literally, if I went back to every podcast, I would edit out every stutter, which I just did 3 of them right there in a row. I would edit out every cough, every sneeze, everything, and then it would become this perfect thing that you guys wouldn't connect with. And so I just think it's important to pull yourself out of the editing of the content you are the content creator, 'cause I think sometimes because of our perfectionism that we like and that we expect of our own stuff, it'll actually keep you from creating what will give people the lasting change that they need. So I hope that helps somebody who's stuck in that part of it right now like I was and have been and am often. And with that said, I'm gonna wrap this for a couple reasons. One, it's kinda the end of the thought. Number two, I'm about to get on the freeway and I have no idea exactly where I'm going. I'm really bad at directions, so I gotta turn GPS on my phone. I should've done an episode with GPS on these. Could've heard it saying every 2 minutes like, "Turn left here. In 1/4 mile, turn right." But anyway, I didn't do that so you guys missed it out. Anyway, alright, I'm gonna bounce. Appreciate you guys all. Have an amazing day and don't be perfection. Don't try to be perfect with your content. Just create stuff and put it out there because I think perfectionism is the number one thing that'll kill your ability to change your customers' lives. With that said, appreciate you guys and I'll talk soon. Thanks so much for listening. You enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at our funnel hacking projects. You can also watch the Funnel Hacker online reality show and watch us build and launch funnels live at www.funnelhacker.tv. If you'd like to come hang out with your fellow funnel hackers, come join our Facebook group at www.projectclickfunnels.com. Oh yeah, and don't forget, you can get a free MP3 player with the first 257 episodes preloaded at marketinginyourcar.com. Join us next time, and remember, you're just one funnel away from your dreams.