Unusually Focused

If you’re the type of person who doesn’t post videos because you don’t like the way you look, or because you don’t have a good camera, or you think no one is watching anyway, or you don’t like your voice, or you wonder why someone would buy or watch your videos when they can go watch that other person's… you’ll dig this episode.It’s a conversation with my friend Brian Nevison. We talk about the work he’s been doing with other online teachers, trainers and coaches about making their videos more profitable and engaging.I was seeing his posts & responses to people in the Random Talking Video Facebook Group, I could sense he had a system and that he wasn’t just guessing… and he also openly shares his best ideas without holding back. which made me think, “damn this dude would be a good guest.”One of the things I like most about Brian is that even though he’s a beast who can jump over cars and bench press 1500 pounds, he doesn’t lead with demonstrations of his physical superpowers. He uses those more as ap

Robert Tercek is a Business Futurist, Technology Strategist, and Digital Media Pioneer. He's an award-winning author with his book “Vaporized," and he's the former President of Digital Media, Oprah Winfrey NetworkI asked him to come on and talk about two of the essays he posted on Facebook about the COVID crisis - which you should definitely read.1️⃣ "You have everything you need within you now to survive & thrive" (strategies)2️⃣ "Finding opportunity in the chaos" (predictions)We talk briefly about the current state of affairs.And the two things we have to make sure we do over the next couple of monthsThen we get into what the future might look like… for businesses and the economy, in general.We talk about the shifts in our preferences that will likely change everything foreverAnd some strategies you can use to build your brand and differentiate yourself in these crazy times of uncertainty.Kassidy comes in late because she had to disinfect herself after coming from a bi

A conversation with Movement Performance Chiropractor, Dr. Moses Bernard, about the launch of his Ultimate Spine product.We've been working with him behind the scenes for a few months and we are right in between the Presale and Open Enrollment periods, so we thought it would be cool to have a candid conversation about the stuff that has been working so far.All 100 pre-sale spots sold out in 6 hours - almost half of which came in the first 15 minutes.You'll get a bunch of cool ideas in this episode:✅ We talk about the ads we used including how we set up the targeting…✅ How we used Facebook & Instagram Ads to get his videos in front of more than a half-million people who didn’t know him. Many of whom signed up for his email list and registered in the course.✅ The strategy we used to get people started on the "Buyer's Journey."✅ And some of the things that we were asking him to do that made him uncomfortable.✅ Before we get to deep into the marketing, I had to ask him what The 3 stup

“I gave SO much of my time — and as happy as I was to help, I wasn’t able to put food on the table... or pay my bills.”Nazareth has been an important part of the #randomTalkingVideo community for two years. Her easy-going, inviting personality & true vulnerability have helped A LOT of people overcome their fear of talking to the camera and just posting it.A lot of her content is about a very specific problem experienced by many women: Vulvodynia - which [as far as I understand it] can be described as Chronic Pelvic Pain. Not fun.She made a post in the Confidence, Influence & Random Talking Video group a few weeks ago asking for advice about how to STOP giving free advice over DM and start getting paid.She spent so much time helping people that she truly cared for that, as you'll see in the show, she essentially went broke.But she tried a different approach... and as soon as she posted about what happened in the FB group, I asked her if she'd want to jump on FB Live and talk about it.She said

Have your Facebook & Instagram ads stopped working? Did they ever work at all?By far, the most common questions Danny Twoguns and I got since the last episode of this podcast were about targeting. People were very clear that they wanted DETAILED INFORMATION about exactly how to set up their ad targeting... none of the "nebulous" bullshit that people are tossing around.These questions come from everyone from start-up personal trainers, online coaches, and yoga teachers to 8-figure serial entrepreneurs. Each of them obviously has its own unique circumstances and differences, but there does tend to be one commonality.One step that they're all not taking.The next step.They take the first step just fine. They boost the post. They set up the sweet targeting parameters within a 5mile radius of the shop. They might have even installed the Facebook pixel on their Linktree. Oooohhhh.But nothing happens. They think "that's it?" and "☹️ Facebook ads don't work."But they fo

I should be charging you for this episode. It's a conversation with Danny Twoguns - the creator of the Fitness Nerd Academy - and founder of not one, but TWO, popular gyms in the relatively small town of Erie, PA.Danny was one of Rabbit Hole's Most Valuable Rabbits. When someone had a question, he was always there to drop serious knowledge.The main reason I wanted to bring him on the podcast is to discuss what he’s doing with Facebook and Instagram advertising and what's working RIGHT NOW.Specifically, I ask him what is the single best thing he’s doing right now to turn a cold, social media audience into CUSTOMERS for his and his clients brick and mortar gyms -- and as expected, he DELIVERED.One of my favorite takeaways from this episode is what i’m now calling the $150/month Facebook Membership. Which isn’t actually real - but it’s a cool way to look at what we both to consider a prerequisite marketing budget.And we walk step-by-step through a 3-part campaign that both of us use on a regular b

This episode is a conversation with my friend Nelson Cuadras - from The Daily Practice podcast.I met Nelson through the #randomtalkingvideo community - just as I've met hundreds or thousands of other cool ass people. But Nelson's got some special kind of thing - because not all of those thousands of people have me wondering "hmm I wonder what's up with this dude/chick?"I think it's a combination of these things:1. I compare myself to him on social media because we have similarly sized audiences and many of the same thought-leader friends2. He's got an unfairly good voice for podcasting.3. He seemed to be dealing with similar mental health issues as me4. He has cool people commenting on his stuff5. He has cool guests on his podcast.6. He seemed/s like a genuinely good dude.He does a lot of cool handstands and stuff with his body - but honestly, I don't even care about that. The only reason it's cool to me at all is that he's shown his audience (me) a more inter

There aren't a lot of things I love more than pissing off yoga teachers - especially the soft ones - which tend to be white women. It's just too way too easy.unusuallyfocused.com/s2e2And I can't think of many betters ways than talking to the creators of a new podcast called Yoga is Dead, Jesal Parikh and Tejal Patel, about their first episode: "White Women Killed Yoga.""Yoga is Dead is a revolutionary podcast that explores power, privilege, fair pay, harassment, race, cultural appropriation and capitalism in the yoga and wellness worlds. Join Indian-American hosts Tejal + Jesal as they exposes all the monsters lurking under the yoga mat."It's one conversation broken into 2 podcast episodes for digestibility. Both are available right now.We talk about a few hot button issues like cultural appropriation, intent vs impact and a lot of stuff regarding race.And we get into specific action steps you can take to be better, do better, and make more money.Before I published it,

This is the second part of the conversation that began in the previous episode: Trigger Warning: Yoga is Dead & White Women Killed It (Part 1) - so if you haven't listened to that one yet, do that first."Yoga is Dead is a revolutionary podcast that explores power, privilege, fair pay, harassment, race, cultural appropriation and capitalism in the yoga and wellness worlds. Join Indian-American hosts Tejal + Jesal as they exposes all the monsters lurking under the yoga mat."We talk about a few hot button issues like cultural appropriation, intent vs impact and a lot of stuff regarding race.And we get into specific action steps you can take to be better, do better, and make more money.Before I published it, I asked a few people, both white and not-white women, about what they thought of this conversation — and they made no qualms about telling me that I could have pushed back harder on a few of the points.I suppose that might be true — but I didn’t do this to be combative or anything… The main

A couple of months ago, I got a text message from Kass that said "check out  trollcakes.com. I am officially a fangirl."I clicked. And immediately, I thought "HO-LEE SHIT. WHO IS THIS AND WHY IS SHE SO MUCH SMARTER AND BETTER THAN ME?"Then I Googled her and found her main website with an absolutely hilarious portfolio of projects she's worked on.Cat Hair Pills, Wax Strip Fortune Teller, Lululemon or Chairman Mao -- the list goes on and on.Which only made me feel worse.Ok not really. But I knew right away I had to get her on the Podcast.Her bio says "I like to advertise real and fake things. I own a fog machine."Her stuff has been featured on fucking EVERYTHING - including but not limited to:NPR, Playboy, CNN, Inc., Boing Boing, Buzzfeed, ABC, Upworthy, Design You Trust, Mashable, Grub Street, Pix11, Food&Wine, AV ClubHer approach is entirely unconventional and she has a really sharp marketing mind.We talk about a bunch of cool shit:How she uses low-cost Loss Leaders to b

The most expensive book I own is called "Breakthrough Advertising" by a marketing legend named Eugene Schwartz.It's a regular hardcover book. Not an overblown 'info product.' And I've seen it running anywhere between $500 and $1000 - which is a feat in and of itself.It's full of down-n-dirty marketing brilliance.But there's one concept that I have never been able to forget. It colors everything I do.It's called the '5 Stages of Customer Awareness.'It's absolutely critical to understand this if you want to get results with your marketing.A few key takeaways in this episode:The single best way to build influence over someoneHow to tailor your posts to speak to the right people at the right time.One of the biggest mistakes I see people making with their social media marketing efforts (ESPECIALLY those promoting "local" businesses.)And a bunch more.Mentioned in this episode:MoneyMoves: How to make shit happen with social mediaMagic Pixel Dust: 

This episode is totally different.It’s not even a ‘podcast,’ per se.It’s more like the result of me experimenting and practicing my skills in sound design.An immersive auditory concentration training exercise.

"He's self-help packaged in a systematic approach to marketing with authenticity. You can't be authentic until you know yourself, and you can't truly deploy Ryan's strategies of marketing without truly getting to know yourself, your message, and ultimately what your purpose in life is.He helped me get over my crap by realizing my purpose transcends all my fears and insecurities. My excuses became my reasons to execute, because nothing good ever came out of playing it safe by living in fear, letting things that make you uncomfortable dictate how you live your life." -@marcussmithfitnessThe last thing I want to be known as is a "self-help" guy. But I definitely DO NOT MIND people feeling the self-improvement benefits that are packaged inside of the Unusually Focused marketing principles, methods, products, and events.Which you can learn more about at unusuallyfocused.comIn this episode, I talk about how #randomtalkingvideo is the single best tool I've found for using

This is a 10minute clip from an episode of The Body Awake podcast. It’s called “Connection, Audience and Being Real on Social Media.” (episode 47)We talk about the ethics surrounding the use of “FOMO” as a marketing tactic.I posit that FOMO is an unavoidable emergent property. Not a marketing tactic.Practicing Ethical FOMO means you’re not a dick, you make cool shit, and people don’t wanna miss out.TL;DL: I woke up like this.

Comment sections have the potential to be the single-most powerful sales & influence device you have.In fact, I just posted a scintillating series of articles on unusuallyfocused.com about how to create more rich, dynamic, and engaging conversations on your posts.For it is in the conversations you create (and participate in) that relationships are built and you earn favor with The Algorithm.It’s where your “brand” is developed, influence is built, and money is made.That’s what people come back to see. They don’t come back to re-read your post or re-watch your video.They come back to the conversation in the comments - whether they’re a participant or a “lurker.”So in this episode, I give you just a simple way to help improve your comments sections so you create more meaningful conversations.And check out the series of articles here.A Terrifying Look Behind the Glass & Inside your MindEngagement 2.0 and the Truth about “influencer” marketingGhost Followers & The Upside DownHow to Build Trust & A

People are similar in more ways than we're different.And at the very core of our similarities is our concern about and focus on status. That is, our role and level of power, from moment to moment, in whatever situation we're in with whoever in it with.With your friends, your colleagues, your family... the more status we have in any network of people, the better.Most of our decisions are based on this very question:  If I do this, will it increase or decrease my status?So then, we can take advantage of this core instinct by giving people the tools to easily signal their status through their association with us - and our products & services.And that's what I talk about in this short episode, it was inspired by a study that was done with the most famous painting in the world. The results are comical.I got a lot of these ideas from Elephant in the Brain.https://amzn.to/2DFI7kXKassidy's notes:Ryan shares his cut & dry theory behind why so much interest and fascination was birthed around

Two Ryans. One Podcast. I was gonna say "make sure you listen to Part 1 first," but I ain't telling you how to live your life.Episode Page and bonus content at unusuallyfocused.comRyan Magin's Instagram is @ryanmagin.HypeNotesWe talk about the 4 types of content you need to be posting to build influenceUsing Facebook Ads to build authority, credibility and trustSelling without being too doucheyMaking money with a small audience.batch creating content so you don’t have to think about what to post.how often you should be posting,the four types of content you have to be postinghow to make selling easier by running a fomo campaignthe power of live events for creating authorityhow ryan sold a $3,000 per-person workshop over instagram and DMhow to start a content production agency to help other local businesses with their social media using pretty photos to bring eyeballs is cool as long as you’re doing this.other seductive marketing bullets here.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ KassGems (Show Notes. She didn't

This is part one (of two) of a conversation I had with the Instagram & Content Wizard, Ryan Magin. After we finished recording, we were both like "damn. we could have just turned this into a paid product."But instead, we stuck to the plan to give it to you for free.We’ve known each other through this weird world of internet marketing for a decade and we’ve got the battle scars to prove it.We go over content strategy, advertising, controversy and selling your stuff with social media.Part two will be available soon. But if you want early access, leave a review on the podcast and send me an email (ryan@unusuallyfocused.com) to let me know. I’ll hook it up.unusuallyfocused.com/podcast/how-to-make-money-with-a-small-social-media-audience/

30 Days Later. A podcast is about this podcast. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly. My honest stats. My "launch strategy." What’s been working. My promotion and advertising strategy. And ideas to make your podcast a success.https://unusuallyfocused.com/podcast/dont-start-a-podcast/Show Notes:3:30 - Ryan reveals the tools he uses to create each Unusually Focused podcast episodes and the single tactic he’s been using to make the podcast successful.4:16 - Learn about the Unusually Focused launch strategy. Errrr - lack of. 5:00 - Ryan discusses how he promotes each podcast episode. 6:20 - Keep this rule of thumb in mind when deciding whether or not you should spend money on advertising. 7:35 - Ryan’s thoughts and experiences with IGTV.8:15 - You should be putting more energy into this ONE thing (This is so important, that you should actually be putting more energy into it than you do into actually building and improving your product).8:40 - The Unusually Focused Podcast stats as of episode 12.12:00 - Ryan talk

In this episode, Unusually Focused's Director of Marketing & Cult Operations, Kassidy Crawford joins Ryan as they reveal the most closely-guarded secrets of the Universe and age old question, "Should I have a separate account for my _____ stuff?” And how to make money with social media.unusuallyfocused.com/podcast/should-i-have-a-separate-insta-account-for-my-business/This episode includes:  3:00 - The answer to one of the questions we get the most: “Should I have multiple Instagram accounts?” 3:44 - It’s hard enough to move on our ideas, confidently. The last thing we want to do is make it harder on ourselves. Find out what makes “creative friction” and how to avoid it at all costs.4:20 - You don’t need to make multiple accounts for all of your interests. However, there’s an exception to every rule… 7:40 - Branding experts will tell you to become one-dimensional. Find out why that’s one of the biggest mistakes you can make… Especially in the world of social media. 8:30 - If you’re not already s