David Gonzalez — Dissecting What Makes A Super-Connector

Boom, boom. Boom. Boom. Boom, boom.

What's up, everybody? You're listening to the Hustle and Flow Chart podcast with your boys, Matt Wolf and Joe Fear.

What's up, everyone? Welcome back to the Hustle and Flowchart podcast. My name is Matt Wolf. I'm here with my business partner and co host, Mr. Joseph A. Fear.

Now everyone knows my full name. Middle name is A.

Your middle name is A. Today, we've got a really, really cool guest, and he's someone that we've actually looked up for a long time and we sort of kind of studied for a long time and, you know, we've been a fan of what he does. He puts on a thing called the Internet Marketing Party. He does it every single month in Austin. He does it at least once a year in San Diego. So we obviously go to every single San Diego one. We've been to a couple of the Austin ones. His name is David Gonzalez and he. In this interview, we were trying to dig in to how he does his networking and how he has such a massive network and how he's ramped up the Internet Marketing party and just all, all of what goes into putting something like this. And with this interview, he had actually a hard time really piecing it together. I think he's still trying to figure out exactly how this whole thing came to be. I think he's still putting together how I built such a big network. How is this Internet Marketing party such a success? How have I built such a big brand in this industry? And it was, it was just really fascinating to listen to this sort of stream of thought of how this all came about and how his, his upbringing and his childhood and his various contacts that he made over the years sort of all led to this culmination of this massive brand in the Internet Marketing Party. And so you're going to hear him sort of explain his, his story and you're going to get some takeaways, but you need to like, sort of pick them out a little bit. You're going to hear him talk about how he puts on Mastermind events and how he connects people to each other and how he's, how he's consistently grown the Internet Marketing Party and how he strategically partnered with other people to better systematize the Internet Marketing Party and a lot of this stuff. He's such a humble guy and he's such a.

The type that's still piecing it together himself that, you know, you kind of got to listen for those elements. But it's still a very fascinating and very Fun interview with a guy who's just had massive success and has built a massive network in this industry. So really great interview. Anything you want to add to that?

No, I think you nailed it.

I think I nailed it.

All right, well, let's get into it.

Let's go ahead and jump right in with Mr. David Gonzales, the host of the Internet marketing party.

All right. All right. David, how you doing, buddy?

Doing great. Thank you for having me.

Yeah, it's been like we've been chasing you like a crazy man.

You've been chasing him around the world, literally.

Not literally, no. But definitely you've been one that we've been wanting to get for a while just because, I mean, seems like you're just the well connected fellow, you know? You know, everyone, we, we go to all your parties. I mean, I think we went to.

The first party, we go to all these parties in San Diego, but we've actually flown out to Austin and gone to at least two in Austin too.

Yeah. Thank you.

It's been a bit, though. We need to make it out there again.

But.

Yeah, man. So what, what's. I guess what's new in your hood? Yeah. Are you, you know, I am party. You're, you're just. I know you did a lot of JV stuff. I don't know what you're doing these days. What's the update?

Yeah, yeah. So what's new is the fact that I've had a JV and affiliate management agency for. For about. Well, I've had two different ones. And so all told, it's been close to six years. And then I know one of your other guests that you've had is Gonzalo Paternoster. So he and I partnered about six months ago and he's just been rocking my world because he helped me change my mindset from being a JV and affiliate manager to being a strategic partner with companies and businesses that here to four, I was just.

Being a consultant or an agency and now we're doing partnerships with folks because he's helped me realize that my network and my connections and my knowledge from being in this industry and.

Being in masterminds with the biggest names in the industry.

Have made it to where I didn't wake. You know that whole thing about the frog and boiling water, Although I've heard it's not. That's a fallacy, it's not really true. But you haven't tested it. The metaphor holds true though, right? Like. Like if I've been thinking of myself as a connector and A JV guy for so long that it didn't occur to me until Gonzalo came around that, like, dude, there's so much more opportunity that I could bring a company.

Yeah.

Because at the end of the day, the people. Reason people hire our agency is for traffic. It doesn't matter. Like, if I told people, hey, I'm no longer doing JVs, but I can bring you better quality traffic for less money, they wouldn't care if it was JV or CPA or what. Yeah, they don't. Nobody really cares. They just. And so he helped me realize that, like, even once someone can get traffic, if their conversions aren't dialed in, it doesn't matter, because all the trout, you know, it's like almost I've had people. I've actually told people not to bring traffic to their offer because their offer is not converting well. So I. A lot of people don't know this, but I. With Internet Marketing Party, when I have a speaker talk on our stage, I ask them what's their biggest challenge, and they, Whatever they answer, I curate the 8 to 10 most experienced people around that challenge, and I put them in an afternoon mastermind called a think tank the afternoon before the Internet Marketing Party. So once a month, for the last, you know, we just celebrated our ninth anniversary. We started doing this about six and a half, seven years ago. Once a month, for the last seven years, I've been in a room with people like Roland Frazier, Ryan Dice, Noah Kagan, Tucker, Max Ron Lynch. You know, like, some of these guys have generated billions of dollars worth of sales, not millions or hundreds of millions. And. And it, you know, it's just kind of like, oh, that's my world. And Gonzalo came in and he's like, dude, you realize if you became a partner with these companies instead of just being thought of as a consultant or an advisor or, you know, and technically speaking, now that's what I am. But, like, not. Not just a JV manager.

Yeah.

Or a JV broker. And a lot. I haven't even been doing that on my own for a long time. It's been a team that does it. But still, that's what people think of. So this is probably the longest answer you've gotten for sure.

Yeah. Well, with Gonzalo, if you haven't listened to it, you know, listeners, go check out Gonzalo after this one because he's just badass. He totally compliments your style, though, because he was even saying during that podcast, he kind of lets you just run free now, where you Felt like you had to be organized, that you had to kind of be someone you aren't really. I'm not saying you're not organized. I don't really know.

I mean, it's not that I'm not organized, it's that it doesn't come naturally to me. And interestingly enough, now that I don't have to, I'm more organized, if that makes sense. Because now I'm doing things that I get to do as opposed to things that I have to do. And so I've recognized that in order for me to do more of the things that I get to do, I require to be organized.

Makes sense.

I actually want to take a couple steps back and I'm curious about how you got into what you're doing now. What was the.

Catalyst that made you start doing the IM parties and networking and all the stuff you're doing now? What were you doing before this and how did you move into this space?

The catalyst was the fact that I had sold a million dollar a year hypnotherapy business.

I had money and time and I had a mentor at the time who had retired by the age of 30 from the. As a real estate investor. And he was going to coach and mentor me to follow in his footsteps. And that happened to be like late 2007, early 2008. And, well, I don't have to remind you what happened towards the middle and end of 2008. So even though you would have thought that that was a perfect time for. As a real estate investor, I didn't have a lot of capital. Like, I didn't have the kind of capital that I, that I, that would have been required to really, you know, take advantage of the real estate market. And at the.

Yeah.

And what he was doing with teaching, I had gone through getting my real estate license. So I had a, I had a real, you know, I had a license. So it was a different gig. And needless to say, I was trying to figure out like, damn it, now what am I going to do? And my buddy Michael Lovich, who I'm sure you guys know at that point had already scaled his hypnosis business, digital business, it was called the Hypnosis Network. They were doing like 10, 12 million a year. And I asked him to coach me in the online space because I had read Tim Ferriss Four Hour Workweek and I was like, well, this sounds like something I could probably do. And it really inspired me to like, oh, well, let me just figure out some place to leverage my expertise and he's like, yeah, let me, let me introduce you to my buddies, Kevin Wilkie and Matt Gill from Nitro Marketing. And they were in Dallas and they had been huge affiliates for everybody under the sun. And they were releasing their own info product. And he said, they're looking for an affiliate manager. And I was like, what's that? And they, they, they, they, they, you know, they said, don't hire Dave as an employee. Just, you know, just. He's like, don't get, don't become an employee. Just learn how to do this thing and then it'll connect you with everybody and then you can figure out what you want to do when you have more connections. Yeah. And so they had interviewed a bunch of other people, but they're like, yeah, we're gonna hire Dave even though he doesn't have any. He doesn't even, you know, he doesn't know hotmail from. He doesn't, I don't know. So he ended up giving me a spreadsheet that had all of their affiliate, all of their. Everybody they'd ever promoted. And that was like, who's. Who? It was Frank Kern, Ryan Dice, Mike Dillard, Perry Belcher, Joe Polish. Like everybody that you've ever heard of was on the spreadsheet. It had their phone number, their cell, their. Their cell phone, their Skype, their email, everything. And just have at it, huh? Yeah. I just started connecting with people and then I realized, well, a bunch of these people are in Austin. At the time, it was, you know, like three quarters of Yannick Silver's high level, master, high ticket mastermind, which at the time, there were. There weren't that many of them. It was only Joe Polish and Yannick Silver that had a mastermind.

Pretty much. I know now everyone does.

Yeah. And anyway, two thirds of his mastermind was based out of Austin, you know, and so I had gone to Kevin and Matt, did a meetup in, in Dallas. And I went to it because it's like a three hour drive from Austin to Dallas. And a group of us went and drove up there and I was like, man, this is cool. I should do one in Austin. And Kevin lived right downtown in a really beautiful condo. I live out in the suburbs and, you know, you know, just a regular house. It wasn't like anything brag worthy. So I was like, I'm gonna do something downtown. Went down to a bar and negotiated a deal with them to bring in people. And that's how it got. I had the idea. I talked with Eric Louvier and Mike Dillard and Ryan And Perry about it. And I didn't want to step on anybody's toes in case they were thinking of doing something, because I was more about building relationships. And Eric was really active in what's called the Warrior Forum. And he posted something in the Warrior forum saying, hey, next month, Dave Gonzalez is doing this thing. Then he forwarded me a copy of it, and I was like, oh, great.

Now I gotta do it.

Now I got to. So that was the first. That was in September of 2008.

That's that. You know, we've done it every single month ever since then. And people keep coming, so I keep doing them. And then what? The way the ones before Traffic and Conversion got started is because Traffic and Conversion used to be in Austin. And then when they moved out to San Diego, I was like, well, because they used to be like, every second Tuesday of the month, and then Traffic and Conversion starts usually on a Friday. And so I was like, oh, let's move it to that Thursday. And we already had momentum and was our. One of our largest parties. So we started doing it in conjunction with other events. And when we. When they moved to San Diego, we started doing it. Actually, we had already gone to San Diego. We did the one with Frank Kern.

You did? Yeah, we were there at that one for sure.

Yeah.

So place, same location?

Yep, yep.

I think you need a new location now, though, in San Diego. You're like, maxing that place out in San Diego.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're gonna have to raise prices because kind of Gonzalez idea. He's like, dude, it's ridiculous. People pay between four to six thousand dollars all told. When you're not just a ticket, but, like, hotel, airfare, everything. And then you've got a $30 ticket. You know, it's like. It's laughable. He's like. And that would be okay if it weren't the fact that, like, you literally had to tell people, like, sorry, we're sold out. You know, so that, like, it's not like you can just keep making the venue bigger.

That's true.

Yeah. So you do these networking events every single month. I didn't realize they were that frequent in Austin. I mean, are you. So as soon as one is over, are you just, like, back to work on prepping for the next one?

Well, I mean, we have them lined up usually for three to six months out in advance.

Got it. Gotcha.

Well, so.

I guess I'm thinking of when you first got into this whole thing. You had that Rolodex of the highest name Guys in marketing, I mean, you were just going in blind. So I think your, your, your like, skill set just like, I mean you, it seemed like you're already a go getter. You, you can approach anyone, but you didn't even know who these guys were. So it's probably even easier to kind of kick start things.

Yeah.

How has that turned into like, now do you have partnerships with these guys? I know you did a lot of JV deals, so you kind of brought two people together. Like you were saying, bring traffic and all that. So is that something that still kind of lasts to this day? I know you're doing more partnerships.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, not all of our, our clients are our partners, but it works out better for both. That's one of the things I love about working with Gonzalo is he's a really good deal maker.

Yeah.

Where to me the hallmark of a good deal maker is somebody you want to work with again. Because a lot of deal makers, they're more like sharks. And it's like, yeah, yeah, you got a deal, but you feel like, you know, you got cheated. Yeah, Like I don't know that I'd want to work with them again kind of thing. So to that point.

We have some clients still and we'll still bring on clients. It's just that, you know, it's more enticing to work with people who want to partner with us because then we can bring more of our heft, more weight to the table. And, and really, you know, because it's like now it's hard to see the other way.

Right.

It's hard to be like, yeah, I mean, but we will still bring on clients because sometimes it just makes better sense in both directions to, you know, if somebody's already got proven conversions, they've got. There's already a lot of overlap with our network. They just want somebody to do the work. Well, we have affiliate managers that can do the work and it, you know, there's not a lot of, you know, if they go to the same masterminds I go to and they know a lot of the same people that instance is not. Wouldn't be a good deal for them, you know, and I don't know how much we could feel good about like co owning that product right now.

You're probably the most networked person we know, you know, you know, more sort of high level entrepreneurs and business people and like uber successful people than probably anybody else that we're personally connected to. Now would you say that you're sort of naturally a good networker, and that's why you did the IM party, or do you think that's a result of doing the IM party?

I think. I think it's. It's. It's a combo of both. I think it's one of those chicken or the egg things because.

You know, I. I used to think that it was my. My mom's gift of gab that made me this way. But when my father passed away, when I gave his, you know, his eulogy, I realized, wait a minute. Like, there's so many people that love my father. Like, my. My mom was known by a lot of people, and she knew a lot of people, but my father was loved by a lot of people. And so I think that combination of. Because my dad was more.

More.

He wasn't an introvert per se, but he was more like, you know, he wasn't as much of a gregarious, outgoing, bubbly person. And so I think as that combination of them two made me naturally, like, a pretty good networker. Like, I'm genuinely curious about people. Like.

Right.

Especially I gravitate towards really accomplished, really talented, really spectacular people. Like, I. But it doesn't stop with people. Like, when it comes to really, like, have you guys ever seen. Been in somebody's tool shed or like. Like. Like a workshop with somebody, and then, like, you see, like, some really specialized, really badass piece of equipment, like, or tool that's, like, obviously made in, like, Austria or Germany or specialized thing.

Yeah.

Like, and it's just like, what is this? Like, I'm just fascinated by stuff like that. So I don't think it's just people. It's like, anything that's exquisitely talented or specialized, like, I'm just curious about it. Like, I'm. I'm intrigued by mastery, specialization, things like this.

And I think I'm attracted to it because I want more of that, but I've always felt too lazy to do it myself. So it's kind of like, oh, well, here's a way that I can kind of, like, learn about it without doing it. Well.

No, you. Literally, yeah, you. I guess that inherently attracts you to talented people. And they might not be the most successful, but they have this brain. They have some kind of thing that's shining, but it allows you to show it off to your audience.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's really fascinating.

And the other cool thing that Gonzalo's done for me is helped me realize that I'm a genius that's been walking around thinking I was a dumbass Because I've been. Because I've been hanging around with so many geniuses.

Yeah, yeah.

That, like, I mean, but he helped me, like, wake up to the fact that like, when I was in second grade, I got the, the second highest. You know, the standardized tests that they give you in the whole school.

Damn.

And like, you know, there was all kinds of other signs and signals that I was really, really smart. But then my parents got a divorce and I lived. I grew up in a. Kind of a rough part of South Texas and I think I didn't really have a lot of things going for me to help me, like, really flourish and.

Kind of blossom as a, As a really smart person. Like the people that I tend to curate and put on my stage. Yeah, but that's changing.

Yeah. Well, so, I mean, even, I mean, we've known you for a long time and you've been always connected to everyone, but it feels like just recently, or maybe not just recently, but just in the last handful of years, you've really started flowing and yeah, you, like, found some other level, some other gear now you're just kicking into.

Yeah, I think some of that has been.

Interestingly enough.

Now, like, I don't want, like, I'm. I just want to. Before I say what I'm about to say, I'm really feeling, Starting to feel self conscious about, like, I feel like we're just talking about me and my story and stuff as opposed, like, I don't. I want to make sure that your listeners get value. True, this is fun for me. Like, everybody likes talking about themselves, but so we'll jump into stuff that your listeners can get value from because, I mean, hope, you know, hopefully they'll get value for my story. But like, I want like, you know, stuff. You're good, you're good.

Yeah, we'll roll. So.

But yeah, like, I think I'm 5 foot 2, 5 foot 3 with shoes, you know, Like, I, I'm a small dude. And I think I didn't realize until after I started Jiu Jitsu and I won a gold medal in my turn in my first tournament how much of an impact being such a small dude. I mean, I'm smaller than a lot of women, you know, and that was the case ever since I was in school. And so I think that was one of the things that made me such a good networker is that I, I was, I was so small that, like, I felt like I had to saddle up with or team up with bigger, faster, stronger dudes so that I could, like, you know, not feel like, oh well, I mean, because I remember hitting puberty around, you know, 6, 5th, 6th, 7th grade, where it was like everybody was friendly and cool and fun and then, then we all started. All the boys started liking the pretty girls and it was like this competitiveness thing. Like the, the mammalian instincts started kicking in and, and, and like I didn't feel like I could compete with, you know, with my friends that were starting to become athletes and like, you know, being. I was never picked, like, I was almost always picked last when we would play like, you know, group sports where there was a team captain and stuff. And that took a lot of toll on my, Myself, my self image and my, my self esteem and stuff. So I think that's where my connectorness started is like, I was like, oh, well, I'll just become really good friends with the, the most popular, you know, big, you know, athletic people. And I would like, you know, I was kind of like the class clown and the like, the funny, gregarious like kind of thing. And I think that's, that between that and my parents is where that got started. But to answer your question.

Why I think my flow and my gear started kicking in is once I learn Jiu jitsu, it, I mean, I was regularly tapping out dudes that were, you know, highway like 135, 140 pounds. I was tapping out dudes that weighed 250 and that were like, you know, you know, your size, Matt.

Not quite 250, but yeah, that's true.

I mean, no, no, I didn't know the high, the, the weight size. You're like, what, six one?

I'm six three. Yeah.

Six three. Yeah. I mean, you're, you're, you're a big dude. I mean, and like, I didn't realize it until after I started getting pretty good at Jiu jitsu and practicing it on a regular basis. How much my, I had this unconscious pattern in the back of my head that was like, might beats, right? And like that in the, in the world of business, in the world of anything that I just felt like, well, if, if things ever get out of hand, if there's ever a disagreement, if ever, blah, blah, blah, you know, like they, they could just kick my ass. But then once I learned Jiu jitsu is like, my confidence grew to where it should have been all along.

Yeah.

And it started to bleed over. So if you guys are enjoying this and you think your audience will like it, I'll keep going on this, like, kind of like intimate, like personal.

We actually, we Love both sides. You know, we love. We love hearing sort of what makes you who you are. But then we also do love the tactical stuff. I think it's. We try to create a good balance because I think that, like learning the sort of backstories and the mentality and the things that you went through that made you who you are, open up insights for other people that maybe if I focus on these sort of things and this sort of way of thinking, that'll help steer me in that direction. But saying that, like, maybe we should shift gears a little bit and talk about some sort of tactical kind of stuff. So what I'm curious about is how, for some of your early events, how did you go about getting some of these bigger name people? You know, because obviously. Okay, so this is my perception, and I'm not sure if it's 100% true. You can sort of correct me, but my perception is the IM party, you were sort of bringing out larger name entrepreneurs as a way to draw people to want to come to the parties. So how, how did you initially start to get some of these bigger names that others may see as sort of unattainable? Did you have any strategy behind it? Was there any sort of technique or something that you use to grab their attention and make it actually look like something that's beneficial to them?

Yeah, except speaking of Zone of Genius, I feel that. Or, you know, things that just kind of come naturally to us. I feel that. Remember at the beginning, before we started recording, I said it'd be ideal if you asked me really, you know, like targeted questions. Because I think that some of these things just come so natural to me that I don't really know what I did. Until you kind of point something, you've got to extract it, you know what I mean? Not because I'm not willing to tell you, it's just like, I'm like, well, I just invited them. But I'm sure if you ask, like.

Well, okay, so do you remember who the first guest was that you ever had at your very first IM party?

The very first guest.

Was a guy named Ben Mack.

Yeah, he was like, yeah, he flew in from someplace and so he was brainiac guy.

So the reason I asked that is I'm curious if you can actually remember, you know, how you reached out to him or what your sort of approach was to get him to agree to come out to the IM party.

Well, it wasn't that big a deal. Like, I mean, Ben was just a like, crazy, fun loving guy. And me and Lovich had him in common. And we just said, hey, you want to fly to Austin and speak a bunch in front of it?

In front of a bunch of entrepreneurs?

How about this? How about to leverage what Matt's saying, in your eyes, who did you see that was, like, unattainable that you had to work hard or get a little creative with?

Well, look, I think this is helping me, like, so the answer to your question is. The first thing I did is I reached out to people who were a big enough deal, but not so big a deal that they would. That they would give much resistance. Got it.

Okay.

I did.

I did enough of those that it became fun and interesting. Intriguing. And then let other people talk about how cool it was to their peers that were a little bit higher up in the rankings, if you will, in the ranks. And then once I had enough of those under my belt, then it was then, and I consistently had a crowd. Then it was just a matter of, you know, reaching out to people that were. That were, you know, more unattainable and building a relationship with them and just casually going, oh, by the way, I run this thing. If you ever want to come, you should. You know, it'd be cool.

Right.

Instead of making it, like, a big thing.

And this was. I mean, because during this whole phase, I know, like, just from knowing you, you were doing other things. It wasn't like it was your main focus, you know?

Right. It's never been my main focus, and much to many people who love me's chagrin.

Yeah, for sure. So, yeah, it's interesting. I remember talking with Gonzalo, too. So obviously, you hustled your ass off for years. He was saying now with him around, and I don't know if this is Gonzalo or you or Combo. Now there's like, one or two people actually running the thing in Austin.

Yeah, yeah.

Whereas, like, I don't know how many you had, like, 10 or something like that back in the day.

Yeah, that was. That was. I mean, a lot. Like, as far as people on the team, there was 1, 2, 3, 4, like, 5. Five of us. And it's funny because in hindsight, but it's just one of those things. It's like that frog in boiling water thing again, like, you just don't realize how much inefficiency there is in certain things until somebody comes in and goes.

What shows you a whole new light. Yeah.

Yeah.

So.

So, I mean, kind of what I'm hearing is that, you know, the. The whole progression of you being this sort of networked guy with all these, you know, high, you know, these very successful business people was just sort of a natural progression. There's no. There was no real, like, tactic, like a methodically planned out thing. You just kind of, you know, due to your upbringing and your sort of personality, it just kind of naturally happened. And it's sort of hard to explain how it happened, but it just kind of happened because of just who you were being with these people. So the. The sort of thing that I would like to shift into then is let's talk about the I am party and what goes into the I am Party. Because you did talk for a minute about the. The mastermind that you do with the think tank that you do with your speakers. And that's something that obviously a lot of people don't know. So can we talk a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes of getting one of these parties set up? I mean, what goes into getting people through that door? Obviously, it gets easier and easier with each event because the word spreads. But in the early days, what was sort of your tactics to get people into the door?

You know, I think a lot of it was hustling. Like, just, you know, we had. We had a lot of relationships with a lot of.

Of other people. Like, you know, at the time, it was me and Lovage were the one. Like, first I started it, and then Lovage came on board as a partner to help me with the branding and everything. And we would. We would just reach out to folks. Like, I'd be like, oh, who would be cool to be on the stage that would. That would get drunk and, like, you know, have fun and we could stay up with all night and stuff.

Yeah.

And so it was. It was really.

I kind of feel like it was. What was the question again?

Because I'm just curious about what went into, you know, sort of your marketing efforts to get people there.

You know, I mean, it's funny because, man, like, I don't know if there's ever been a party where someone doesn't ask me that comes in from Houston or Dallas or San Antonio or, like, it's. This is my first party. I've been hearing about it. How did you get it started and stuff? And it's like, I almost feel like it's one of those unfair advantages that I had by being at the right place at the right time. Like, I really don't know that if I started. If I was to start.

Internet marketing party today, like, if no one had ever done Internet marketing party, and I was just trying to start it today. I don't know that it would be the like if I could make it as long running and successful because like now so much has changed. Like there's podcasts, there's, there's.

You know, blogs, there's so many different channels. There's virtual summits and like even Internet marketing party. Getting us, getting our like main headliner for San Diego is becoming challenging because there aren't that many people that aren't like, that are big name that aren't everywhere already. Like, okay, so there's Gary V. Yeah. There's Tim Ferriss and there's Frank Kern. Other than them three, who else, like, would you be like, oh my God, Elon Musk.

Right.

But see that like at that point, yeah, you're right.

I know you're out.

You're in outer space. Like.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I guess what I'm, what I'm hearing because I was thinking the same thing. It's almost like you set yourself up in this perfect location without even knowing you had this group of friends, but. And then you got this Rolodex, so obviously you got like the freaking open door to just contact people. But I'm thinking you also did hustle your ass off. You were in Masterminds. You mentioned that. So I mean, like, I think a huge part is because I know just from us, we, we run like a little meetup. It's like a beer meetup. But I think all that was a direct connection for us at least personally through Masterminds, making connections, hustling, getting a little different with our thought, thought patterns and getting creative with like actually holding an event because a lot of people won't even go that far.

Right. Man, I'm feeling really self conscious about this interview. Like I, like, I don't know that I like, I'm bringing any real value to your people other than if they're just like, oh, this is an entertaining, like, just casual. Listen, here's what I'll tell you based on what you just said is that I just, I kept doing it because it was fun. Like, yeah, it was like for, for years I've said that Internet marketing parties like the funnest time of the month for me, like, oh, you know.

Was, it's never been about like, I mean, I've wanted to monetize it, but that hasn't been why I did it. Like it wasn't like if anything you.

Wanted to do it.

Yeah. So I, I think what I'm trying to get at is like this is one of those weird. Ezra Firestone told me once, he was like, dude, you've got the biggest, most well known brand in the IM space.

It's probably true.

Yeah.

What I said, that's probably true. From our perspective. I mean, everybody's heard of Internet Burgundy Party.

Yeah, but. No, but it wasn't just that. It was. You've got the biggest brand in Internet marketing that hasn't been like, that doesn't have any product or that's true or like, launch or thing behind it. Like every other brand from Frank Kern to digital marketer to.

You know, infusionsoft or whatever, like, they have a product, right? And he's like. Like, no one knows what to do other than come to your event, you know, so. Which if they're in Austin, sure, it's easy, but if they're not, like, you know what I'm saying? I've never. I've never really dialed in, like, who's our target market? I just keep doing these things, you know.

Now, doesn't the Internet marketing party. Don't you actually have a membership element where you can get the recordings from past.

We do, and that's one of the things that we're working on. And it's taking me forever to. Taken me forever to figure out is all right, it needs to be called something different, like the. The online membership or something, or the online club. Because when people think of the Internet marketing party, they think of the. Whether it's in Austin, San Diego, or anywhere else. And we need, like, we're distinguishing that there's a. There's a membership side of the thing.

I gotcha. I think it's just funny. I'm kind of like digesting this whole conversation. I think you're like, the most humble, like, guy that has done a lot of shit, you know, a lot of cool people. You have this badass party and this big following. You obviously have the JV stuff, all these partnerships, and it's just kind of like.

But it's cool. I love it. Here's where some of that comes from. There's two places that comes from. One is that I've suffered a lot over the last, you know, six, seven years where I was spending so much time around so many rock stars in our industry, and I was not making a lot of money.

Right.

And. And it sucked. Quite frankly, it sucked to have that much like. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It's just in those moments, it sucked to, you know, that whole quote from Tony Robbins or whatever that, you know, you're the sum of the five people you spend the most time with. Well, I suffered from that comment because it was like, damn it, when, when am I gonna shine? When is that my. And so I think I'm still like, kind of like washing that off of me. Like, that's what you're hearing is humility. And also because I don't feel that I, like, I just feel like I was just like, I've just been like the little engine that could. Like, I just, yeah, I've just kept going. But it wasn't like I had this like, brilliant.

Thing where I was like, okay, here's my plan, here's my, here's my strategy. Here's my, this is what I'm, you know, I've just been like, sticking it with it, staying in the game. And so I'm not really trying to be humble. I'm just like. And, and because so much of it is invisible to me, like, I don't. It's hard for me to know what I did because I just did it. I didn't.

You didn't overthink it. You did just. You stuck with it. I mean, I'm seeing a lot of common, commonalities between us. And you, like what you just said, hanging around all these rock stars, these people. I mean, I've been business partners with some big name people that, you know and, and, you know, same exact thing, man, for a good five, six years, I was just scraping by, you know, credit card debt stuff, you know, all that shit and moving around and so, but always willing away. And then finally when it hits, you're almost like, you don't even see it coming because it just hits.

Well, that's what I think is so interesting about this interview, too, is I think that so many of our listeners, so many people that are going to tune into this podcast, are going to relate so much to what you're talking about. Maybe it's not, you know, I've had these giant networks of people, but, you know, when does, you know, when, when is my pocketbook going to start to feel it? But it may be, you know, I've bought 100 courses and I've been through all this training and I've been in masterminds. Why hasn't that paid off? You know, people are going to relate to that sort of story. They're going to relate to. I know what, where, where David was when he was, you know, building something amazing that everybody thought was awesome, but, you know, it was more rewarding. For everybody else involved than maybe him. Right. So I think that is so relatable. And I think that's what makes interviews like this and discussions like this where it just does get personal and it does sort of dive deep onto why this stuff happens, you know, that's why. What makes it such an interesting conversation.

Yeah.

Now, but I do want to touch on something because, you know, you mentioned that you don't quite totally understand how it all happens, but then every once in a while, you sort of, like, point out something that you do do in your business that you sort of were methodical about.

Right.

So, for example, when you get people out to speak at these events, you know, I kind of. I was asking, like, how do you get some of these bigger names? Well, in the very beginning of the episode, you kind of mentioned we do this think tank, we do this mastermind, where we ask them what their biggest problem is. And then I. I tap my connections and bring out seven or eight people to come and talk to them and focus on that. Well, that's. That's a very tactical thing that other people can do. They can go out there and they can say if they want to network with somebody, they can focus on other people's problems. They can focus on, you know, what. What's. What's the biggest nut you're trying to crack right now? As Brad Costanza would say, what's the biggest issue in your business you're trying to get around and then figure out, okay, who do I know that can help that person solve that problem? If I make that connection between those two people, then everybody involved is now a much deeper connection to me now.

Yep.

You know, so, I mean, I. We are. You may not realize it, but we are pulling these. These tactical elements out of you, even though you may not be realizing that we are pulling these tactical elements out of you. But. So my. My next question actually revolves around this Mastermind thing. Now, let's say you're getting Frank Kern out to the event Frank Kern has an issue in his business. And you're going to think of, you know, seven or eight people to bring in Mastermind with Frank. Those seven or eight people, what is. What is their incentive to come out and sort of teach Frank to get over his roadblock? Does that make sense?

I mean, I think that's where. That's where some of the stuff that I'm saying like that just. It's. It's hard for me to see is like, because I've spent the last 10 years building relationships with people where I can call people up and say, hey, you want to, you know, will you come to this thing? You know, And I think one of the incentives is the fact that some of these think tanks end up being.

More valuable than paid masterminds, you know, but again, I've got a track record of doing them. So now I've had people in them that have enjoyed them at one. You know, they enjoyed one, and they're like, oh, well, sure, I'll come to another. And the other thing is, is that I make them exclusive. Like, it's not just a big freaking free for all. Like, you know, I.

You know, if it makes it to where people want to get reinvited. So I, I keep it strictly to 8 to 12 people. And so, you know, if you knew that I was doing a think tank with Tim Ferriss and that the next San Diego, if he was speaking, you know, chances are you'd want to get in there, right?

But you can get us in there. It's cool.

You know what I'm saying? But, like, if his challenge was around, hey, how do I, how do I, like, blow up my Instagram channel or my. How do I do Snapchat? Well, I'd invite Tai Lopez. I didn't. I mean, if you guys had like several million Snapchat views for everything that I invite, then I would, like, I invite people according to their skill set. And so I think that's one of the things to it is that, like, you know, I, I don't just. It's not a willy nilly, like, you know, oh, this is, these are my friends and they're cool. Like, I, and then, so I, when I invite people to it, I invite them so they feel honored. They're like, oh, well, yeah, you're like, you're calling me an expert at my thing. And everybody likes to shine at their expertise, so they come to it.

That's right.

And, and the IM Party and the names that you've brought now to the IM Party in the past have all built that brand up. And now people want to be involved with the IM Party because they've seen the names of the speakers that have spoken in the past. And, you know, people, people want to get involved in things that they think are, are great and going places.

Yeah, yeah. And, and the other, the other cool thing is, is that there's an element of.

Of them wanting to. It was, I think it was neville Medora from AppSumo. He said, Dude, Internet Marketing Party has kind of become like the Laugh Stop or Laugh Factory, where It's like, I forget which one it is where, like, comedians don't get paid to just, you know, to perform. Yeah, yeah. Like, but if you've never performed there, it's kind of like you, you know, you haven't really made it.

That's a rite of passage.

That's a good place to be in man, for you.

I mean, that is. That is very true. I mean, that's a. That's a great analogy that he made there, is that, you know, when. When. When people want to speak there so much that they're willing to not be paid because they see it as, like, that's their rite of passage. That's their sort of sign that they finally made it. You know, that's.

That.

That's a massive brand right there that, you know, you're very, very humble about, but you've managed to build a very, very massive brand in our industry that pretty much everybody in our industry knows about and everybody in our industry wants to be involved in in some way. I mean, we were telling you before this call that out of all the people that we want to interview and sort of find out what makes them tick and find out what goes on behind the scenes of your business, you are at the top of our list. Just because you've managed to build that brand, you've built that network, you've built that. That thing that everybody wants to be involved in.

Well, thanks. You know, another thing that occurred to me as you were saying that, remember a little while ago, I was like, damn it. What was it? Yeah, it was that.

And Anna Cummins, who's our event coordinator that Gonzalo was probably referencing, like, the one person that runs the party now, she's been coming Internet marketing party for eight or nine years. And once she's. Once she decided to start working with us in this capacity, like, she's a badass. But she's like, dave, I. I'm not doing this for the money. Like, because it's not a lot of money. And I'm not like, she's like, I'm putting my ego aside because she's made really good money and been very successful. She's like, I just want to be part of Internet marketing party at a deeper level. And like, she's. I can't quite put my finger on why, but it just. I want to be part of it. And. And when she told me one day, she's like, dave, I think you don't realize how much you are the person that's made Internet Marketing Party like you thought You've been thinking it's your speakers, but she said, I go to meetups all the time in town. But Internet marketing party from day one has always been the one that I felt love. Like, there was like. And you know, in such a male dominated, kind of like strategic tactical industry, it feels kind of, kind of weird to say like that, you know, but she's like, there's like an actual community here where there's love and there's support and like, you are the engine behind that and like, you actually care. And you, like, you. You're walking, you know, like when you go to a party that has like, not an Internet marketing party, like just a regular party, like a Super bowl party or, you know, housewarming party, whatever, and it's a good host, like, as in they're paying attention to people that are like, off in the corner and that, like, you know, like, nobody, like, you go like, hey, let me introduce you to so and so, like, making sure that everybody that's there is enjoying themselves and that they're like, that they're glad that they came to the party or the mix or whatever. And so I just, I don't know how not to do that.

Well, dude, I think that's the most powerful position to be in too, is if you were the one that's making those introductions, the one that's hosting, bringing people together. Usually, you know, you, you get called upon for so many more things. Opportunities just become popping up everywhere. You can't stop it.

Yeah. So. And that's the kind of thing that, like, that's another one of those reasons where I think what you guys are tagging as humility. I'm just thinking like, well, this isn't like, oh, well, here's how you become a badass copywriter, or here's how you build funnels, or here's how you, you know, do partnerships. Like, I think that's just who I am. And like, I don't. I think that if somebody's not like, naturally a good host and like, someone like, you know, Ron lynch, you know, one of my best friends and dear, dear, like a mentor, he sold over $2 billion worth of products. You know, do the George Foreman Grill deal. He helped, he helped launch Oxiclean. And you know, like, we're talking like, he works with Johnson and Johnson and Samsung and stuff. Like, he pulled me aside one day and he's like, you know what your. Your superpower is, right? And I was like. And he goes, he changed the subject. Let me just like, you know, Three weeks later, he calls me up and he goes, have you figured it out?

And I'm like, I don't really. I've always struggled with this forever, you know, because any good, like, personal development course or, like, really good, like, entrepreneurship, leadership will ask you that. And I'd never known. And he's like, dude, your superpower is love. I was, like, kind of pissed. I was like, I want it to be something cool, like copywriting or sales or persuasion or. He goes, dude, that's the superpower that wins them all. Like, that's true. And I don't know.

I think, you know, what I'm trying to say is it's just kind of like, wow. Like, okay, you truly.

When you're talking to you. When people are talking to you, they feel like you care, like you're present, like you want to be talking to that person in that moment. And I think that's what I've. My perception of you. You know, we. I don't remember how far we go back, but we go back quite a while. And I. And you're just the type of person that. The very first time I ever met you, I felt like you're the type that I just kind of knew, and you sort of accepted us into whatever circle you were talking with. Like, there was no, like, sort of click thing going on. You just kind of said, hey, Matt, have you met so and so? And, you know, you were introducing me to people, and it was just kind of like, I met you five minutes ago, and you're already introducing me to people, and you just kind of have that I care about everybody that I'm around kind of feel.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And interestingly enough, that that's been one of those things that, like, just. Because that's how I roll. And there's been times when I've been that way because I was like. Like, I don't really know what to say. So I'm gonna, like, introduce somebody. It's like, that's why I'm saying, dude, I think you guys are picking up on humility. Is me saying, like, man, some of the things that I. That I do that are. That get me really good success. Like, I don't. I'm not, like.

I'm not like, oh, here's my next tactic.

I'm feeling awkward right now. Hey, have you met so and so you guys talk, and that way, I just disappear in the background and be uncomfortable.

Dear God. Says the guy that brings hundreds of people together every month.

If you think about it, sometimes at the Parties. Like, I'm just like, interest. Sometimes I don't want to talk to somebody. And that's you. That's. That'll be why I'll be like, you know, like, hey, I'll be right back. I'm gonna. I gotta go run and do something. And I'm just like, sit in the.

Back and, like, I just talk to.

Somebody that's on the team and be like, so, how's everything going?

You know, like, shouldn't you be out there talking to the guests? No, I. I honestly hear a lot of you and me a little bit and not saying I hold a big event and all that stuff, but the similar kind of thing, connecting. And I would almost just say to any listener here, taking David's message and all that, if you feel like a pull, like you feel like you have that kind of superpower, connect people. Just start. Just start bringing people together. It doesn't matter if it's business or in just personal life, but just see what happens and see the joy you bring, the opportunities that come. But if it is maybe a business opportunity, figure out how you can apply. Apply that. How to make those connections that maybe will, you know, lead to a partnership or a JV deal or something. But I think that's what can get pulled really from this. This whole conversation here, for sure.

Cool. Okay, so last question then. Where can. Where can people go? Learn more about you?

Internet marketing party.

Internet marketingparty.com, i guess. Let's do that. Cool. Cool. Okay.

Thanks again, dude.

See you.

Thanks, guys.

So that was a. It was an interesting podcast. It was a good one. It was. It took a little different direction than we were planning, but I think now that you listen to David's story, it's fascinating to see kind of this arc of that. You know, it's almost started from the days of elementary school, like he was saying in his family, little engine that could. I like that whole, like, reference. And I think he become so relatable in how, you know, if you have any of these skill sets or even if you don't, you can kind of see the thing that goes behind this whole orchestration of events that's happened. And we didn't get to go into detail of everything because, I mean, there's a lot more that makes them tick. But hopefully you pulled out some golden nuggets there and some of the tactics, actually, Matt and I were talking about right after we finished the call recording. David does some really smart things. And one example. So, like, when he promotes these Internet marketing parties, he Usually has these Facebook pages and threads.

It's like a Facebook event page.

Yeah. And so he does that for every one of his events, I believe, at least for the San Diego versions. But he tags every single person who has purchased a ticket. So he makes it well known that he's realized that you're coming, he's tagging you. But then he also asks like, hey, so and so, what's one thing that you're struggling with? Or what's a problem that you can have that you're having right now that you need some help with? And he literally will answer one by one, each person and connect people. And I'll say, like, hey, Sam over here has a problem with SEO. Bob is like the best SEO expert I know. You guys need to chat. And then he'll just leave it at that. And that's like the kind of stuff he does in person. Yeah. But online, like, it's. It's just. I don't think he even thinks about it. Yeah, but it's like his. And this is where we gathered from this conversation is like, he literally just does it subconsciously, but it's so methodical.

Well, it becomes such a part of who he is and what he does that he doesn't realize that it's what he's doing anymore. It's literally just, this is what I do. And I don't think. I don't put too much thought into it. So he doesn't see it as tactics or strategy or anything. That's just who he is. And like you were saying, he does that thing where he tags people and connects people online, and he does that in person. And we talk to him a little bit about, like, how he grew this thing. And, you know, he was sort of giving these sort of humble responses where he just did it and there wasn't much thought behind it, and it just somehow worked. But when you really break down a lot of the things that he said, there was. There was things that he did that you can take away from that. You know, in the beginning, yeah, he had some. Some people that helped him build it. And it. He got networked with more and more and more people. But that didn't start from nowhere. He wasn't just born with this network with these people. He put himself out there at some point to join a mastermind group or to reach out to somebody that he's never met before and jump on a call with them and chat with them.

Well, it's. If a Rolodex of people are handed to you, it's not like they automatically become your close friends or acquaintance business partners. You actually have to do the work and reach out, make relationships connect. And he did all of that. And I think that's something where he kind of almost overlooks, or maybe it's just he's done it so long now. It's just. It's his second nature, you know? Yeah. And we're relating and we didn't get to ask David about, like, what books and kind of some typical questions, but we said the Go Giver. Like, he is literally living the Go Giver book. So if you haven't read the Go Giver, go check that out. But he's. He's doing these things without thinking, hey, what's in it for me? Like, he's not thinking, oh, I want to get 5% of this, like, JV deal or whatever, because I know they're going to do some cool stuff together. Like, no, he's just literally connecting them. Yep. And he's. He's just trying to do good, and then he's moving on.

Yeah. And like, he said, his. His superpower is hurt. He's just a good person who, when he's with people and talking to people, he cares. He listens, he cares about them. When he hears they have a problem, he's thinking of, who can I connect this person with to help him with that problem? And, you know, that may not be like a tactic or anything like that, but that's something that everybody can learn from. Everybody can start implementing that kind of stuff. Start thinking of who you can connect, and that's how you grow massive networks.

So, yeah, hopefully you got some good value and gold out of this. And definitely we'll be. We'll probably have them on again. And yeah, we'll talk. But definitely check out Internet Marketing Party. If you're in Austin monthly or in San Diego, that's like the biggest behemoth of one and they blow it out. So it's really impressive.

So check that out. Thank you.

See you later.

Hey, thank you, thank you. Thank you for listening to this podcast. Now, if you want to learn more and hear from us every single month, which a lot of people do, it's pretty fun. We actually write this thing called the Evergreen Profits Letter, and that is a printed newsletter that we actually send to hundreds of people every single month to your doorstep. So you actually get it in the mail. You can read this sucker, you can highlight it, you can dog ear. You can scratch some stuff out. If you don't like that one, you say no, Joe and Matt. That's not cool for me. But you can take a lot of different strategies, about 15 or so from every single issue, and it's really cool. So basically, these are actionable strategies that you can use in your business right away to test out and pretty much build on what you already have going on. So check it out. It's at www.egpletter.com. it's pretty amazing. And you should go check it out, see what it's all about.

Bo.

Sam.