31: Turtles Always Win with Mike Koenigs

n this episode, Dave is excited to welcome Mike Koenigs. Mike is a serial entrepreneur, 10 time #1 best-selling author, speaker, and interactive online personality and entertainer.

Dave first met Mike almost 10 years ago when he was on the cutting of building your brand online with video. Mike, liternally pioneered video marketing and a host of other online marketing mediums. Just about every personality from Tony Robbins, Paula Abdul, and Hollywood A-listers like Richard Dreyfus have sought out and worked with Mike. He’s won the marketer of the year award, sold 2 businesses to publicly traded companies, and is a very active philanthropist.

This episode is really a special treat as Dave and Mike go deep into a number areas from Mike's background and amazing story to what he sees coming in the future (that you absolutely need to aware of), and some of the best advice you get for building a business and brand online.

www.youeverywherenow.com ​

Connect with Mike on Facebook: @koenigs

Email Mike: [e-mail]

Mike grew up in a small town in Minnesota. Mike learned at an early age to be self-sufficient and love to make stuff. He did not do well in school because he is a very kinesthetic learner.

He started coding at 14 years old and was a young hacker. He started his first business at this time, but was always interested in movies and music. He took this love and started an online advertising agency called Digital Café, one of the first online, interactive businesses.

Mike started using video on the web years before Youtube ever existed. He figured out how to hack search engines and video search engines to get traffic. He turned this into a “push-button” system called Traffic Geyser and secondary texting product called Instant Customer.

Mike was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 and had to make serious changes to his life. He sold some of his businesses, got through cancer, and then started again, becoming a multi-time best-selling author and building a new set of businesses.

What was the tipping point of success? Mike had a low point where he was over $250,000 in debt, went through a divorce, and living off of credit card checks. It was at this time that friend of his introduced him to Tony Robbins. Mike took everything he had left and joined Tony’s programs and went to an event. Within 6 months he had turned his life and business around and a year later, a billion dollar firm bought his company. Mike says he found a great mentor and invested in himself and was willing to take a radical risk.

Ironically, a few years later, Tony came to Mike for help in setting up his studio and marketing online.

“Find mentors you resonate with and then go head first, take the big risks, and trust your heart and your gut”

Traits of high performers:

• Constantly testing and trying out new ideas
• Never quitting
• Always re-inventing themselves and challenging themselves and what they believe
• They don’t get attached to a way of doing business because it changes
• They get in the dirt at the ground level

“What about you right now is standing in the way of becoming the new you? What is it that keeps you frozen in the place you are?”

Pay attention at the 16 min mark as Mike talks about detachment for freedom.

Mike talks about how important it is to stay in the game and how important it is to develop business management skills.

At the 25 min mark, Mike talks about the evolution of doing business online and gives his advice for those starting out today.

Mike says one thing he has learned the hard way is that turtles always win because they don’t wear themselves out before they play the long game

At the 34 minute mark, Mike talks about the revolution of video marketing and how it is changing everything and gets into what is coming and how you can take advantage.

Core skills you need:

• Good copywriting
• Good storytelling
• How to present and sell
• Good design principles

Innovation and leadership will always be needed.

You must be able to rapidly prototype something, get it in front of a market, and test it.

Things to focus on and make part of your strategy and spend your time:

• Facebook will eventually start buying media companies and inject highly relevant commercials on an individual basis
• Anyone of us can build a media outlet with the technology we have now and have an impact
• Smart phone is absolutely the medium for delivering content. The mobile interface is the place to be
• Intelligent Bots and AI is basically available now and its getting even easier
  • Bots will make it almost impossible to tell the difference between a real person and the bot itself
• Combining AI and apps is a huge opportunity

#1 thing needed for a successful product launch?

• You need an awesome offer
• Great bonuses
• Believable scarcity
• A deadline
• An experience

Best tips to grow an audience or list?

• When you get raw, vulnerable, real, and timely with people, they can feel it
• The emotionally relatable you get, the more they people resonate with you
• You have to be willing to open up and show your raw, deepest darkest stuff to truly engage and built a tribe

Biggest NOT TO DO in building your brand online?

• Play the short game
• Don’t go for the easy, quick buck
• Adjust your style to accommodate as many of the personality types of possible
• Show people you are in it for the long haul and to serve them
• You want a brand that represents prestige and people know when they invest in you, they will get the best
• Create prestige and not just a brand

What is the biggest lesson learned from your cancer experience?

• The value of time and yourself
• Don’t invest your time with people who are cheap on their way to success and aren’t willing to pay and have skin in the game – to make a true commitment
• The more painful and risky it is, the more likely you are to do something great becoming the highest form of you

 

Best Quote: “The more insulated you get from the customers on the ground level, the more you lose touch. And once you get insulated, you don’t have a sense of what reality is any longer.” ​

 

Mike's Misfit 3

1. Mike wants to hear from you! Email him at [e-mail] and let him know what part of the interview spoke to you the most.
2. Mike wants you to have a free copy of his book, Publish and Profit. Just make sure to email him at [e-mail] and request it. This book will give you a great system to share your ideas with the world.
3. Become a mentor. Innovation and leadership is the key to prosperity and success and our future. Find someone that you can mentor and serve that you can help have a greater impact on the world.