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Dave Lukas, The Misfit Entrepreneur_Breakthrough Entrepreneurship

The weekly podcast with serial entrepreneur, Dave M. Lukas, devoted to giving you incredibly useful and unique insight from the world's top entrepreneurs with a focus on their non-traditional methods for achieving success, their Misfit side. Misfit was created to give YOU the breakthrough entrepreneurship strategies and actionable advice to accelerate your success! The show's open format and Misfit 3 concept, combined with Dave's intuitive and engaging interview style quickly uncover each guest's key tools, tactics, and tricks that listeners can start using in their lives right now. Learn more about the show at www.misfitentrepreneur.com and become a member of Misfit Nation by signing up for the Misfit Minute, the FREE weekly email with specific resources from the week's "Misfit 3," and actionable tips and items from the world of Misfit Entrepreneurs. It is delivered every Friday to your inbox!
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Now displaying: December, 2016

The weekly podcast with serial entrepreneur, Dave M. Lukas, devoted to giving you incredibly useful and unique insight from the world's top entrepreneurs with a focus on their non-traditional methods for achieving success, their Misfit side. Misfit was created to give YOU the best, actionable advice to accelerate your success!

The show's open format and Misfit 3 concept, combined with Dave's intuitive and engaging interview style quickly uncovers each guest's key tools, tactics, and tricks that listeners can start using in their lives right now.

Learn more about the show at www.misfitentrepreneur.com and become a member of Misfit Nation by signing up for the Misfit Minute, the FREE weekly email with specific resources from the week's "Misfit 3," and actionable tips and items from the world of Misfit Entrepreneurs. It is delivered every Friday to your inbox!

Dec 28, 2016

Welcome to a very special year end edition of the Misfit Entrepreneur – a year end wrap up of the best insights and musings from our Misfit guests. I also want to thank you. Thank you so much for all of the support of this show and for sharing it with others. It continues to grow tremendously and we wouldn’t be where we are without your support. So, again, from the bottom of my heard, thank you so much.

There is so much amazing insight, advice, and life lessons from the 2016 Misfit Entrepreneurs. We could write a whole book with all of the wisdom. And maybe we will!

The best place to go to see all of this great content is on our website at www.misfitentrepreneur.com

There you can see each episode and its detailed show notes. The content in this episode was sourced from the episodes and show notes. We picked out the best insight and advice from each episode and its notes that we thought could help you to most.

So go check out the site and all of the other resouces available to you on it!

Dec 21, 2016

Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!"

In November of 2016, we introduced a new format that we are putting alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.

"Lessons for Hannah" are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I have learned which I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.

This week’s Lesson for Hannah

Hannah honey, I want to talk to you about the ability you have to overcome anything. We all go through times in our lives that are tough and that test us. This is what makes life so exciting and yes, sometimes frightening, but it is how we handle these moments that makes the biggest difference in ability to grow as individuals and ultimately our success in our endeavors.

Let me tell you a quick story about how your dad made a big mistake, but was able to overcome it…(please listen to the episode for the full story)

The big lesson in how to overcome anything is to remain calm, or at least find calm after freaking out, before you make any decisions. 99% of the time people make decisions out of emotion and that, sometimes can lead to even bigger mistakes. Remember to look at things from a logical standpoint and ask “how can I overcome this or make the best out of this situation.” Asking “how” will open your mind to finding possibilities for yourself and then you can make them happen. Things are never as bad as they seem anyway – we typically make them worse than they are. Remember, when you desire and want something truly bad enough, you’ll move mountains to get it. Believe in yourself, your abilities, be willing to innovate, and you will always be able to overcome anything.

Best Quote: "When you desire and truly want something bad enough, you'll move mountains to get it."

Misfit 3

  1. When you find yourself in a tough situation, always remember that things probably are not as bad as they seem.
  2. Remember that 99% of the time people make decisions based on emotion, especially when they are in tough situations or ones of panic. The key is to let the initial reaction happen, but not act until you are more calm and can rationally think through what to do.
  3. Ask "How?" "How can I overcome this or make the best out of it?" Asking "How?" ignites the creative side of your brain to find solutions.
Dec 14, 2016

In this episode, Dave is excited to welcome Priest Willis. Priest is the founder of Affiliate Mission, a premier, award winning affiliate marketing and management agency. Affiliate Mission helps businesses ensure that their product or service is prominently featured on as many high quality, high traffic websites, and social sites like Facebook and Youtube, as possible. In short they help businesses find and get new customers easier and faster with strong, relevant content.

Priest and his team work with clients all of the world and managed everything from start to finish, effectively allowing clients to outsource their business or side hustle to work 24 hours a day for them.

It was this ability and the fact that Priest gives a portion of every dollar that the company makes to charity that intrigued Dave about having him on

www.affilliatemission.com

Connect with Priest on Twitter: @priestwillis

Email Priest: priest@affilaitemission.com

Priest started in 1996 when he built his first computer with his father. In doing this, he found a passion for technology. He got so advanced at building computers, he started a business selling them. It began to grow, but as Priest says, it started to outgrow himself. He wasn’t prepared, did not have enough help, and ultimately started to have anxiety issues. He did all this while holding down a job so he could make sure he supported his young family.

He knew he needed to find a better business and business model to fit his life. He started building websites, but found it too labor intensive.

He wanted to find a business where he did not have to have a physical product and work with other businesses to help them grow. That is how he got into the affiliate business starting in 2004 with Amazon and some others.

Priest coins a term, “Horizontal Money" – The ability to make money while you are laying down and sleeping

From that point, Priest has built the affiliate business into Affiliate Mission, an award winning affiliate marketing firm.

Priest talks about forced unplugging to overcome anxiety. He forces himself to tune out and take breaks. He also makes sure to find ways to delegate and find help where he needs it and have the right team in place.

At the 7:45 mark, Priest explains affiliate marketing and how it works. He talks about how to do it, the types of players in the affiliate game and how you can work with them.

Priest offers advice for affiliates. He says that affiliates get excited about an idea and run after it, they create all these domains to sell through, but then if the idea or success rate begins to fade, they let it go and don’t stay on it. He says focus on your passion and work with merchants that closely align to what you love and what you blog about or share on social media. You won’t fall into the trap of chasing the latest fad or idea and be able to be consistent. Successful affiliates are typically doing something inline with their passions.

Priest gives advice for merchants. He says it is best to understand what an affiliate is looking for. One of the biggest mistakes merchants make is not connecting with and understanding their affiliates. The affiliate is their customer or an extended marketing team and they need to treat them like one. Affiliates are at the front of the line and merchants need to communicate and stay in tune with them.

At the 16:00 mark, Priest talks about how to get started for beginners in affiliate marketing. He especially gives advice on if you have an informational product like an e-book or program (digital asset).

At the 19:30 mark, Priest gives advice to people that are more established and have a blog or larger social media following. (influencers).

Priest talks a lot about how you always need to be innovative and be you. Find your voice and your message. No matter how many people you have in your database, if you are consistent and authentic, it will grow over time. Don’t copy others and try to be like them.

Priest says that right now, one of the hottest things out there are subscription boxes like Blue Apron, Birchbox, and others. If you have a passion for one of these products and actively talk about it, consider becoming an affiliate and sharing your story of using the product.

At the 28:00 mark, Priest talks about how to use Google Alerts and Correlate to see what content is lifting up and gaining traction. That is how affiliates stay up on what is hot and people are interested in. If you are passionate about it, then you can buy a domain that fits it and create Amazing links, etc. and get some traction. He goes on to give other examples of how you can create a business without owning anything and just have a website with a passion.

At the 32:00 mark, Priest talks about how to balance paying commissions if you offer a product to affiliates. Hi advice – give what’s fair, don’t be tricky. Make sure you understand your costs and what you can actually giveaway. Think of a long term approach to your business and look at what other competitors are offering and find the balance. ​

The future of affiliate marketing? Influencers have definitely become much bigger than expected. Right now, Priest says “Omni-channel” is the future which is really using intelligence to find out where someone really came to them from (online to store or store to online). It is predictive analytics. Priest mentions an example of coupon codes on Impact Radius (www.impactradius.com)

 

Best Quote: "Knowing who you aren’t helps you to know who you are"

 

Priest's Misfit 3

  1. Patience: If you are going to build a business or be an entrepreneur, you have to be patient. You have to be willing to go through the process to succeed and sit through the failures along the way. Formula 409 is known as 409 because it took 408 tries to get it right.
  2. Persistence: There will be failure and rejection and that is where persistence is critical. You have be to persistence to believe in yourself, your goals, and your vision when no one else does. This is what you being you is so important.
  3. Communication: As you build a team, you have be somewhat transparent and willing to communicate with those around you. You have to be able to inspire and encourage them. When you bring people into your world, you become a coach and people look to you for leadership.
Dec 7, 2016

In this episode, Dave is excited to welcome Sarah Dudley. Sarah is the founder of Marketing Macros, a company that helps individuals and brands define and build their digital eminence. Helping you figure out things like - Who are you? What do you portray online? Why should people listen to you? Why should people buy your product? Sarah works with clients to help them understand what those are and how to build a digital brand.

Sarah has an MBA in Marketing from Northwestern and was named by LinkedIn as a Top 15 Millennial Influencer in 2016. In her short career, she has already made a major impact on so many companies. As Sarah says, “Marketing is the perfect intersection between psychology and business. Every day, we ask ourselves who is our audience, what do they want, and how can we give it to them in the format they prefer. We need a deep understanding of our customers and an even better understanding of how to show them, in a profound way, that we are the best people to help solve their problems.

From a young age, Sarah was drawn to books. She used them as escape from the world around her. She came from a somewhat broken home. Her parents were never together and her mom had trouble with jobs causing them to move around a lot. Growing up this way was fuel for Sarah to live a better more stable life. But, books were an escape for her and she fell in love with writing and storytelling herself.

She excelled in school and when she went to college fell in love with psychology and the science of why people do what they do. She majored in business and psychology.

After some soul searching, she realized that marketing was the perfect intersection between business and psychology and went and got her MBA.

In one of her early assignments she was asked to take on social media for the company. She became addicted and started building a community and voice online.

Now she has helped small and mid-sized business, as well as executives create personal brands and provides thought-leadership. She loves helping people build their value through a digital brand.

Sarah’s Elements of a good story:

  • It’s relatable – tying business or products back to experiences
  • It ties into emotion – It pulls at people and makes you feel something
  • It has a call to action – it asks the reader to do something further

Sarah talks about millennials and explains that they distinctly value experiences more than things and that they are much more entrepreneurial than people think. They are bigger risk takers when it comes to following their passions.

In building a brand, Sarah talks about how one of the bigger reasons to build a brand is to take back control of what and who you are portrayed to the world, and what is out there about you. You want think about what you want to be known for or be the expert in. Then, depending on where you audience is at, those are the platforms you concentrate on. For example, if your audience is professionals, then you would focus on Linked In. Once you have this, focus, focus, focus and create your own content.

You have to put yourself out there. What could you do if you live without fear? Will you regret not doing something as much as you would doing it? Take the leap and act.

Sarah’s formula for a successful social media strategy:

  1. It starts with consistency. You must be dedicated to taking the time and making the investment needed to gain traction
  2. Make sure you are in tune with what works best on your social mediums and what people are responding to on them (ie. video, audio, text, etc.)
  3. Be real. People gravitate toward authenticity
  4. Just putting content out is not enough – make sure you are delivering content that engages them and helps them
  5. Identify tools that you can use such as tools to schedule posts like Hootsuite or Buffer, etc.

Top tips for energizing an existing brand:

  • First, ask yourself if your message is realty the right one. Does it really resonate with you audience?
  • Is your website updated? Is it optimized for today’s user wanting instance communication or feedback?
  • Are you using the right content on the right mediums, especially video. Video is critical in today’s world.

Best tip for building a tribe? Be relatable and relevant to your audience and be “human” in your mediums

Up and coming platform to watch? Facebook Live (not so up and coming, but new and difference and driving the future)

Biggest lesson? You don’t have to be defined by your circumstances. You can always change them.

How can businesses engage Millennials more? Millennials want the opportunity for their ideas to be heard and bring their experience of growing up in the digital age to their roles.

 

Best Quote: “In order to get people to act, you must ask them to act.”

 

Sarah’s Misfit 3

  1. Identify your WHY. Make sure you know what it is and embrace it. Draw on it for encouragement. It helps you remember that there is a bigger picture.
  2. Set Goals. Go get your goals and then set new ones. Give yourself a target to go after
  3. Find a Mentor: Align yourself with someone you respect in different areas of your life.
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