06: Personal Growth Mastery with Steve Cunningham

In this episode, Dave is excited to welcome Steve Cunningham. Steve is founder of Readitfor.me, one of the most unique and exciting breakthroughs in personal growth and development released in a long time. In fact, Dave liked it so much he became a customer! Readitfor.me, is a service that delivers a summary of a best-selling business and personal development books to their members every single day.

Their mission is to:

1. Transform members' business and lives by introducing them to one idea that changes everything for them.
2. Help members experience financial freedom by generating multiple income streams.
3. Give members the tools they need in order to be successful and reach new levels in their business and lives

Read it for me is used by some of the largest corporations in the world, as well as many major influencers and entrepreneurs. In fact, Tony Hseih, founder of Zappos had this to say about readitfor.me, "We use Readitfor.me here at Zappos, and we love it. Pursuing growth and learning is one of our core values, and Readitfor.me lets us do that in a fun and engaging way."

www.readitfor.me

Twitter: @stevecunningham

Steve holds the record for shortest law career ever, one week. He had gone to school for law and business, but within a week found that law was not for him, so he went into a family business and started a media company within it. In order to perfect his craft, he begin to study and perfect social media techniques for meeting influencers and acquiring clients many years before it really became popular.

He also studied and read voraciously as many books and materials he could get his hands on about business and entrepreneurship. He found that many of the potential clients he was meeting with were entrepreneurs and one of the best ways to build rapport was to see what books they had on their bookshelves and discuss them. But the funny thing was that many times, they would admit, they actually hadn’t read the books…they just had them on their bookshelves!

This gave Steve an idea. He could take those business books that everyone wants to read, but doesn’t have the time and condense them down to a 10 minute read, or a quick audio or video.  He could then use it to open doors for his content marketing business and use it as a case study to show how things can go viral on social media and grow a business. And that is exactly what happened. Within a very short time, the summaries were shared all over the world, put in email newsletters, and shared on social media.  Steve even starting getting calls from venture capitalists.

So a case study, an experiment to gain new clients for content marketing, very quickly turned into a business and recently, Steve stopped doing content marketing and social media services all together to focus on Readitfor.me full time.

Make sure to pay attention at the 7 minute mark when Steve talks about the “in-between moments.” Also tune in at the 10 minute mark where Steve talks about going from knowing nothing about creating and starting an online e-learning business to creating Readitfor.me. It truly proves that anything can be learned.

Steve talks about his tipping point when he did 10x his sales in one month. The key to this was to go HUGE and create an absolutely off the wall offer. And it worked

That is the offer Dave saw that was limited for a very short window and bought the service. What did Steve do? He went from a monthly/annual subscription to a lifetime subscription for a ridiculous price! He only does this for very specific partnerships.  His thinking was, "Why plod along and get a subscriber here or there, when you can offer something of such ridiculous value that it is too good to pass up." His rational was, "If I make it such a good deal and get a million clients in a shorter time, it’s the same as getting subscription clients 1 by one over many, many years."

The response was insane!

Here are Tips and things Steve has learned in building Readitfor.me:

• The best and most successful authors are the ones that have taken complex subjects and have made them very easy to understand and be able to explain to others. It is the same if you are a blogger, author, or selling something. The more easy to understand and relatable you make it. The easier it is to buy.
• Steve's Top Business Book: Made to Stick. Because of the acronym that they use in how to tell a story or get a point across: SUCCES – Simple, Unexpected, Credible, Concrete, Emotional, Stories
• “It not always the best information that wins, it’s the best storytellers that win”
•  Steve still wakes up every day hungry to learn and seeks knowledge and understanding to further his growth…even after all that he has read and summarized, this passion is a driver for him and should be for you as well. As he says “the more you learn, the more you realize that you don’t know.”
• Your own growth and personal development is on you. Its your job to seek and take away things to help you. Be open and learn as much as you can from everyone that you meet.

Top Books Recommendations from Steve:

Instant Influence by Michael D. Pantalon. PhD

Goal Setting and Task Performance (From an old text book delivered via module at Readitfor.me

 

Best Quote: “Always challenge assumptions you are making and why you are doing what you are doing…”

Steve's Misfit 3

1. Understand the changes coming in the economy. By 2020, experts say over 50% of people will be freelance workers. It will be an enormous change and based on how you decide to handle it, a major opportunity or threat. We know the Misfit audience will see the opportunity! Steve recommends 2 books that you actually get and read on both sides of this coming shift: 1.) Exponential Organizations – This book helps you to think about how you can take advantage of this trend. 2.) Raw Deal by Steven Hill. This book basically describes how horrible this trend will be for millions working at companies around the world. Companies will be replacing workers with robots, AI, and freelancers.
2. 2.) You must understand that your success is dependent on getting the right behaviors out of the people that work with you. Steve recommends reading BJ Foggs’ Behavioral Model. This book is the best in helping people understand how to get other people to do what they want them to do. The core of it is B =MAT, Behavior that you are looking to get is a combination of motivation, ability, and a trigger. All 3 need to be present for people to take action.
3. 3.) Take the time to master the most important behavior you can generate in business – Getting people to buy from you. He quotes Peter Theil, “Most companies don’t fail because of a poor product, but because of poor distribution (sales).”