Rival Steals My Million Dollar Business Idea - The DM Ep.5 w Vince Reed

I went back to that very place where I told him the idea where he stole it from me. I grabbed the napkin and I devised my plan. And I remember, like, I woke up the next day, and I'm just like, crap, is this thing even gonna work? Hi, my name is Vince Reed.

Hey, what's going on? Ben street here, and welcome back to the dm. You got to admit, it's been a lot of fun. In the last episode, we talked about the Invisible Funnel, my first minor success as an online marketer that quickly blew up right in my face. You got a chance to learn a little about Team Underdog and how we literally went against all odds taking on Giants, and I still think we won. But, hey, second place is pretty good. You got a chance to learn a little bit about my new idea, my app company. And you got a chance to hear about the thief, the dude that tried to take my idea from me. We're gonna get into that in this episode. Now, if you missed that, make sure you go back and watch it, but also make sure you check out the recap show. You know, I dive deep into a lot of things that I don't cover on the episodes. I can't tell you how many times I go home, they're like, I did tell them this or that. I cover all that stuff in the recap show. And last but not least, make sure you like and subscribe. What are you doing? Subscribe so you don't miss a single episode. And with that being said, let's get started.

So let's just get right into it. Dude goes up on stage, literally, verbatim, says exactly what I told him at lunch. I'm talking 10, 15 minutes later, he walks up on stage like, he's so cool. And the guy's like, oh, we've got a guy that wants to do something really nice for you. And. And he gets up there, he's all, listen, I think apps are the future. I think every entrepreneur, just like you, should have their own app. We all have websites, don't we? You should have your own app. And everything that's coming out of his mouth, I don't even know. But I'm rising up. I'm standing up. You know I box, right? Go ahead, show him that clip. We gotta show him.

Yeah, I wanted to walk up there and get my Floyd Mayweather on, but I didn't, because you know what they would have said? Here we go again. The other guy doesn't know how to handle himself at an event. So I sat there and I Started to think about something. I said, you know what? I'm glad that he did that, because I'm the wrong one to get that motivated, because I'm not going to quit. We talked about it in the first episode. Bring a lunch, right? No matter what happens, I'm not going to quit. You better be prepared if you want a challenge to be like that to the very end. So I got up. I didn't even stay for whatever was coming next at the event. In fact, I don't even think I went to another session. I went back to that very place where I told him the idea, where he stole it from me. I grabbed the napkin and I devised my plan. I said, I don't care if he does give everybody that was at that event an app. I'm going to outwork him. My app is going to be more productive. It's going to get better results, and I won't stop until that happens. I devised the plan, and I knew one thing that he didn't know, that creating personal apps, it wasn't easy. You see, you couldn't just get an app into the App Store and just treat it like a website, okay? It had to actually be a useful tool, and that alone made it very difficult. So I had all of these different plans on how we were going to make it a useful tool, how people could actually use it, and it could be a tremendous benefit to whoever downloads it. So I knew I had that advantage. I knew that he couldn't just go and just copy the idea. And I said, okay, this is what I'm going to do, okay? I'm going to go here, and I'm going to go talk to all of the top producers, all of the gurus out there, the people that have been building relationships with for years now, and I'm going to share with them the idea. And I'm going to say, hey, listen, I'm going to create this for free for you, this app, and I want you to test it out, right? All I ask in return is that you simply, when it gets out, when we launch, that you let me come on and let's do a webinar and share the results. And they said, vince, I got you. And that's when I realized that all of my hard work, all of the lead generation, all of the ads, all of the favors, all of the underdog days, was coming back forward, right? When you provide value, when you provide enough value to the world, that's how you make money. And it was on. So I flew back home and I Was excited, and I just got to work. So success leaves clues. I had witnessed so many successful launches, from my mentor's launch to my buddy that I met in the vip, watching his company grow and taking part in all of these different affiliate launches myself. And I started to notice something in common, and that was the fact that these entrepreneurs and business owners that were doing these launches, they knew how to dangle the carrot. They knew how to get marketers like myself excited. And I knew that I had to do the exact same thing. So what did I do? I remember I went to the mall and I said, I gotta get some awesome prizes so I can give these things out to some of these entrepreneurs who hopefully will promote my new app company. So for whatever reason, it leads me right to the Apple Store. And I walk in there like I'm some big shot, and I'm like, I want three of those Apple, you know, laptop computers. I want four of those phones. I want, you know, five of those iPads, and I'm just going crazy. And I remember they brought them out and like, what the heck is this guy doing, right? So they bring it out. I'm walking out of the store with all of this stuff, and I just know people are going to eat it up. Because during this time, obviously these things aren't cheap. And back then, you know, not a lot of marketers had all of this stuff. So I knew that they would want it, and I knew these would be amazing gifts to give out during this launch. So on my way home, I went to the bank and I withdrew $10,000 in cash. Not a lot in today's terms, in terms of what people are willing to give away. In fact, I took part in the launch, which I'll tell you about shortly, where someone gave away a Ferrari and, like, 100 GS, but 10 grand at the time, and a launch was a lot of money. And then I went home and I got to get the epic picture that I'm going to post, right? So I essentially put everything on my desk and I take this picture and I start to essentially create, you know, the sizzle, right? I start to say, I'm coming out with this awes thing, and everybody is going to want to get it because it's gonna change your life as an entrepreneur. And it started. People started reaching out, like, Vince, what's going on? And I knew I had the sizzle that I needed to get this launch off the ground and absolutely crush. Oh, boy. They tried to steal from me. Now, during this time, I'm back and forth to Vegas, you know, working with the app manufacturers to make sure that this app is absolutely amazing. And I now have the prototype and people are using it, and I'm generating leads and it's amazing. A few other that I know are using it, and it's awesome. And I just cannot wait to get to the launch. But there's just some fine little details that we're trying to work out to make sure that these things are getting approved. And when I say these things, this app is getting approved in both Apple and in the Android App Store. Now, I was working long hours and my wife was my girlfriend at the time. We were like, we gotta do something fun. I've been working nonstop trying to get back on my feet and grow a business. But, you know, it was time to finally hit back up Mr. X and, you know, have a little bit of fun, because I was in Vegas all the time growing the app company, and now it was coming up to our anniversary, and I decided to give this guy a call because the first time that I met him, as you guys remember, you know, he just created the most epic experience, literally walking me right into a club that no one was getting into. And. And I said, this was a great time to show off a little bit to this girl that I'm dating and, you know, make her think that I'm like, you know, big time. Like, I thought I was.

Access granted.

Digital rich digital. So I call up Mr. X and he goes, okay, what are you looking to do? Okay, you looking for, like, hangover where you don't remember the weekend? Are you looking for, like, okay, let's just get kind of wild and maybe just black out one of the three nights that you're here or you're looking for, like, your girlfriend's in town, let's just show her that you're big time. I said, number three. So we get there and it is crazy, right? We walk up and I'm like, okay, first night, I want to go to a club. Let's have fun. Same type of experience. Club is packed. No one's getting in. But of course, we get right in. He walked us right in. We have a good time. It's one of the only times I can remember where both of us at the same time had a few too many, to the point where we contemplated getting tattoo rings. But I chickened out. Then the next day, I said, we need to calm it down a little bit because I gotta work. I gotta get the app business right. During the day, I was working on the app but at night, we kind of would link back up and have a little bit of fun. So I said, plan something for us. So he sets up this amazing dinner, right? We walk into this restaurant, and it's some name that I can't even pronounce. People are bringing us all these extra things, appetizers that we didn't even order, in fact, and I kid you not, the chef walks out and asks us, how was the. How was everything? And we go, it's crazy. Oh, there's one more thing. And then I want you to try it. Brings out another thing, and we try it. We get all the main, you know, dishes coming out, you know, wine, and it's just amazing. I'd never had an experience even to this day, like we had at that restaurant. And I'm kind of a bit nervous. I'm like, what is this thing gonna cost? Like, when this bill comes out, is it gonna be, like, outrageous? He slides it out, and it's like, less in terms of what you would pay at a nice steakhouse restaurant today. I was blown away to the point where I doubled the tip just because I thought it was so cool. And I'm like, Mr. X. That boy good. That boy good. He set it up like that, right? So we leave out of there, and I'm like. I call him up and he goes, how was it? I'm like, man, do I even need to answer this question? And I'm like, what's next? I'm like a kid, like, on Christmas Eve. Like, what's next? He's like, all right, I want you to go to the Bellagio. I want you to take three steps left, three steps right. Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, B, A start. I did it. We end up in some amazing place that I couldn't even tell you where it was in the Bellagio. It's there. Trust me, it's there. We. We walk in. I knock on the door. The lady comes through. Look, peeks through the peephole. Just kidding. There was no peephole. She opens the door. We walk in. She then takes us to this, like, area, right? It's like this couch. And it's, like wrapped. It's like wraps around this, like, legit bar where every bottle there looks like it probably costs $1,000 or more. Long story short, we're in, like, this exclusive high rollers room that only a select few people get to go in the Bellagio. And there's music playing. The lady's coming over. She's like, Mr. Reed, do you need anything else? And, you know, I had something on my mouth. She tried to wipe it off. Just kidding. She didn't do that. But I was expected to do that. The service was like, that great. And there's these people that are gambling, like, in the room, right? And they're bringing trays of chips over to these people. I remember I asked the waitress, I'm like, how much is on that table? And, you know, she says, well, each chip is a minimum of $5,000 per chip. And when the guy was gambling, he would grab, like, a stack of $5,000 chips and he, would, like, roll them out. And when he would lose it, it would be like, nothing. He would just look the drink, and then sometimes he'd call over the lady to come again. There'd be more chips coming out. It was the most crazy thing I've ever seen. I couldn't believe people were actually gambling that type of money. And sitting there, that was the point where I knew. I knew that, you know, I was thinking way too small. I knew that anything in life was possible if you're willing to put in the work. And that's why you have to strive for those types of experiences. It was the most epic thing that I've ever seen without spending any money. And it let me know that if you can leave an impression on your customers, okay, they will be a customer for life. At that point, I called up Mr. X. I'm like, you need anything? Can I send you a limo? Can I buy you dinner? And he and I became best friends. And you will see throughout these entire episodes some of the other experiences that he created and how you definitely need to take care of your customers because it will definitely take care of you.

So now it's the big day. It's time to launch my new app company, and I'm excited. I spent time, some so much time creating the webinar presentations and, you know, figuring out how I was going to follow up and, you know, making sure that, you know, the company out of Vegas was able to produce and create these apps up to par. We had finally gotten to the point where they were getting approved. And, you know, it was awesome. I was excited. So I remember I started emailing my list and I was setting up this big webinar to launch this awesome company. And I did. I mean, I can't remember the exact number in terms of how many people were registered, but it was the most I had ever had registered, ever, because one, you know, I was showing them that awesome picture of all the Things that I was going to be giving away when we started the affiliate competition. But two, I created so much hype and, you know, so much excitement for this new tool that was gonna make lead generation easy, right? So I do the webinar. I get on there and I remember, like, I was so nervous and, like, people are coming in. Then it's like one person, you know, five people, you know, 20 people, you know, 60 people. And back then, like, if you were to get 50 people on a webinar at one time, like, you were like, doing something special. This is before webinars are really a big thing. And then it got to, you know, 100 people and then 120 people. And I'm like, okay, this is it. It's going to happen. And I do the webinar and I start talking about this new thing in terms of apps. And remember, this is new. People were not used to this type of technology before. And, you know, I get to the pitch and I close. And, you know, I remember I saw a sale come in. I'm like, awesome, this is about to, like, happen. And then another one came in and I closed the webinar. And I remember I just waited and then no sales happened. I'm like, what's going on? Everybody was so excited. They were asking questions on the webinar. And then like, maybe 15 minutes later, another one came in. Okay, maybe something went wrong. Like, I'm expecting more sales. And then like another 30 minutes, one came in, and I'm like, oh, gosh, my excitement, my energy, you know, this plan to dominate the vision of the guy who stole from me, stole my idea. Is he winning? Does everybody already have an app that he created for them? Like, is this guy actually crushing it? Should I go look him up? Like, all these thoughts start coming through my head. Like, one more comes in, I'm like, okay, cool. Maybe something happened. And then it's crickets. I mean, we made like maybe a couple grand at the end of the day. And I remember, like, I woke up the next day and I'm just like, crap, is this thing even gonna work? Are the people that are, you know, telling me that they want to promote this thing even gonna want to promote this product? Nobody even wants it. If my own audience doesn't want it, why would their audience want it? And, you know, it was crazy because I had structured the product to really benefit them, to be a no brainer in terms of pricing. And for whatever reason, I decided to just switch things up. I said, well, maybe if I make it A little bit less to get started and, you know, increase the amount of money that they pay every single month to maintain the app. Because we had these really cool features within the app that allowed people to literally download the app, you know, a lot easier. And to build, you know, two types of lists. Not only build a text message list, but obviously get people to download so you can do push notifications directly to, you know, the end user. And I'm like, what if I change the price point and make it a little bit easier? So I said, hey, I'm having an encore webinar. And I'm like, the reaction to the last one was amazing, which it was. I didn't mention that there was really barely, barely any anybody buying. And I did another webinar, but this time it was a lot less people, probably half of the people who were on the first webinar. And I changed up the presentation a little bit, and I just made it focused on. On one thing, which is a lesson, right? If you try to explain everything in your product or service, it's not going to sell. You have to figure out what's the main benefit of your thing and what problem it's going to solve, and just focus on that one thing. That's what I did on this presentation. And it was crazy because before I even got to the end, people were like, just send me the link. I want to buy. I remember I put the link in there and people started buying. I wasn't even done. I remember it was throwing me off. And I started seeing I had more sales, like, halfway through the presentation that I did with the last webinar that had double the amount of people. And underneath the table, I'm like going crazy. I want to jump up, but I'm trying to hold it in, trying to play it cool. But I knew that I had a winner, right? And I got off that webinar and I had probably five times the amount of sales at the end of the presentation. And they just kept going and going and going. And at that point, I knew I had a winner. I knew I could save face, and I was excited. I started calling up all of the people that had promised me that they were going to promote. And I was able to now show them the results from my own presentation, which gave them confidence to want to share this idea with their audience. And then it was time to get into the game. It was game time. So it was time for the first webinar. And the agreement that I had with my mentor was that he was able to go first, which is, by the way, a huge lesson. If you're promoting any other person's product where you know a lot of other people are going to be promoting, right? So he went first, and there was a gazillion people on that webinar. And I delivered the exact same presentation. And people just like the one before were buying before the presentation was even ending. And I remember me and my girlfriend at the time, after that actual webinar, we went to go have a burger at this cool, cool place called Burger Parlor, which, by the way, no longer exists with the best burgers in the world. Person who actually created that restaurant, I actually had fries. Created it, had my name on the menu. It was Vincent's Fries, by the way. Wish it was still in existence, but it's now. Anyhow, I met there. I'm eating the burger with my own fries, and, like, sales are still coming in. I remember I'm showing her and I'm hitting the refresh. I'm, like, scrolling up. And every time I would do that, more and more sales were coming in. And at that point, you know, I felt like the guy that hit the lotto, right? I'm just so excited. All of the hard work. I can't wait to see that guy that sold my idea and be like, hey, man, look, this is what happens when you try to steal someone's idea, when you're messing with somebody that will never quit and won't stop, right? So after the webinar with my mentor, he absolutely crushed it. I finished, you know, stuffing my face with burgers. The affiliate competition is in full effect now. You know, I'm on the other side. I'm having people hitting me up, being like, what place am I in? Am I going to win this thing? Am I going to win the laptop or the 10 GS? I'm like, I don't know, man. You're close. Just like they used to do me. You're close. And then I would do an email and I would show them the leaderboard, and I'd get a call back. There's no way this person's in front of me. How many more do I need? I'm like, you're close. You're close. And it was crazy, like, throughout this entire process. And, you know, I had some of the biggest marketers in the world promoting this thing. And I'm doing webinars to their list. And what's crazy about these affiliate launches that a lot of people don't know is that when you do these, these, like, launches you essentially are taking that individual's list. So if someone's willing to allow you to market to their list, they have a lot of trust in you. So now my list is growing, you know, to the tune of, like, you know, a couple hundred thousand, because now I'm doing these webinars to other people's lists. In fact, one of our affiliates was promoting it, and he was using one of the strategies that I was teaching, you know, with the app, which was essentially run ads on apps and phones. And, you know, he called me half excited, half mad, like, frantic. I'm like, what the heck is going on? Why. Why are you mad, man? Like, you're. You're in the top 10 of the affiliate competition. What's going on? He goes, dude, I just got my, you know, my autoresponder shut down. Like, what do you mean? He's like, yeah, we were generating leads so fast. Like, they thought that I was basically spamming. Like, I had uploaded a list of, you know, leads illegally, that I'm, like, waiting for them to call me back. And I just remember thinking, like, man, that's crazy. Sucks to be you. So anyways, I kept going on. I'm just kidding, Just kidding. I called him. I'm like, dude, calm down, okay? We'll figure it out. You know, let them know what you're using. Send a screenshot, show them the leads. You can track it. And he did, and he eventually got his account back. But this is how crazy this time was. So then I started to stack up the presentations and the webinars for all the other affiliates and showing the results from the past person. So I would show my results that I got on my webinar. I'd show the results that my mentor got. And I was doing a webinar, you know, sometimes two and three of them a day. And this just continued on and on and on, and it was just amazing. And I'd never seen anything like that before. And what was crazy about it was, you know, once we were able to start to deliver the apps, because what was cool about it, I was like, look, I want to make sure that this app is functional, but I want people to get it back quickly because I don't want them to buy. And then they're waiting two or three months for what they invested in. So we were able to literally get people their apps within, like, 10 to 14 days. So when people started to get their app is when it started to pick up even more. So what I would do is I would take a picture of their App because people would send in their picture and their picture would be on the front of the app, right? And they would post, they got this new app and then other people would see it and other people started to buy. And this is when I started to learn the importance and what true product market fit is. It's when you have a product and service that just works, that other people are willing to share, you can start generating sales without any marketing. And then I started to think about it as, you know, time has gone by. You know, even though I wasn't technically running ads and this was growing, I was just doing webinars, you know, I didn't take into account all of the past marketing that I had done, all of the ads that I'd done in the past, all of the sweat equity that essentially came back to benefit me, you know, during this time. And again, this is just let you know that you may think something is not working right now, but trust me, it is. People are watching, people are seeing your videos, people are taking notes. They're just trying to figure out, are you for real, are you going to be there, you know, when things get tough or are you just there now when things are all good?

So now I'm like, I've got a legitimate big time company. You know, cast is coming in. I'm like, I got to start bringing on people because there's no way that I can manage this by myself. It's just me out of a little apartment doing all of this and running back and forth to Vegas to my app manufacturers. So, you know, during this time, you know, I get this call from a friend of mine that I had met at this place called Thursday Night Boardroom from another mentor that I had. And he goes, my, my son is looking to do something. He's looking for work. Would you mind like teaching them what you do? I'm like, absolutely. So he comes over to my, my apartment one day and he's telling me how he has this idea for an app and you know, he really likes what I do. I'm like, well, hey man, why don't you come do some stuff for us and help us, you know, with the app company? And he goes, absolutely. So at this point, again, things are rolling and we're excited. So now I have my first, you know, person that's working with me. And little did I know that not only did this with this guy work with me, he would become my right hand man and help me grow companies into the millions. So we start working and it's crazy and you know, we're seeing all of these people using the app. It's really cool. People are, you know, making videos on social media about it. People are, you know, posting their pictures and we're just looking at each other like, man, this is, like, this is crazy. And, you know, this has gone on probably, I would say, four or five months. I mean, it's consistent sales consistently coming in each and every day, people getting results. And then I started to notice something that was a little bit strange. You know, we would submit these apps and at first it'd be 10 out of 10. Like, right away, all 10 apps would get approved with, you know, Android. And then it started to be where like 9 out of 10 would get approved with Apple and we would work and eventually that one that didn't get approved would get approved. And then what would start to happen was it was like it went from, you know, nine out of 10 to, like eight out of 10 getting approved with Apple. And, you know, it was crazy because my right hand man, at that point I was like, hey, man, I need help. I want to focus on some other things. I want you to come on and, like, run this app company while I start growing some other ideas that I had. At this point, the manufacturers are, you know, developing the apps and creating them. You know, all he has to do is manage the company. The marketing is already in place. We're not even having to spend that much money on ads. Hey, put someone in place and let's go on to the next thing. So he's all excited. He's going to, like, now, at a young age, in his early 20s, be in position to run this entire app company. And I'm starting to see these weird things happen with Apple. You know, it goes from, you know, eight out of ten to seven out of ten to six out of ten to five out of ten apps getting approved. I'm like, okay, this is. This is weird. Wake up the next day, four out of ten. Okay, three out of ten. I'm like, this is nuts. And then I get the email from Apple and I say to myself, you've got to be kidding me.

Thanks for listening. Be sure to leave a review, and if you want to watch live episodes, be sure to jump over to YouTube and check them out. Adventurey TV. I'll see you there.