63 – “The Reinvention Guy”: Tom interviews Steve Olsher

Episode 063 – Steve Olsher
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:25] Hey Everybody it's Tom here with episode 63 of screw the commute podcast and what we have a unique guest on today. His name is Steve Olsher and he's one of the few people that I even know of. I know some of the old old boys or the old guard but has been online longer than me. There's very few of them and he's one up and you're going to hear his story in a moment now. Hope you didn't miss episode 62. My God Becca Tebon was here. She's not only one of the hottest fit women I know for her age. She's one of the hottest fit women for any age. You've got to check her out. Her picture's going to be in the show notes. You just got to you're going to go crazy. This woman is the poster child for anti aging. One quick announcement our podcast app should be ready soon you'll be able to download the app from the App Store and you'll be able to do a lot of cool stuff conveniently right from your mobile device. So get more on that on future episodes. Today's sponsor is the distance learning school the internet marketing training center of Virginia. Don't even think about retraining yourself or sending your kids to college and to you check out our webinar on higher education.

[00:01:45] I do not want you wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars and putting yourself and your kids under crushing debt. And we'll have the webinar in the show notes at screwthecommute.com and also you can just click on free webinars at screwthecommute.com.

[00:02:01] All right let's get to the main event. Steve Olsher is known as the world's foremost reinvention expert. He's famous for helping individuals and corporations become exceptionally clear on their what. And that is the one thing that they were created to do his practical no holds barred approach to life and business propels his clients towards achieving massive profitability while also cultivating a life purpose conviction and contribution. Now he's the 25 plus year entrepreneur. He's the chairman and founder of liquor.com. He's an online pioneer who launched on CompuServe's electronic mail in 1993 the year before I started taking off I was on CompuServe but I wasn't selling anything in those days. He's the New York Times best selling author of What is your what. He's the author of a business technology book of the year. Internet profits the world's leading experts reveal how to profit. Wait a minute. Online Wait a minute. I don't remember being interviewed for that. What's up with that. Oh man. I guess we'll have on anyway. He's the creator of The New Media Summit and hopefully tells us about that here today. And he's the host of the number one rated radio show podcast reinvention radio. He's an international keynote speaker and an in demand media guest who has appeared on CNN the Huffington Post and the cover of founder magazine and countless other media outlets.

[00:03:53] Steve are you ready to screw. the commute.

[00:04:07] You've been in a long long time. I was. Yeah. What I remember on CompuServe was the similar thing I paid for that. Nowadays there's Google alerts but you can get the CompuServe executive option or something and I use that a lot in speeches to put the name of a company in and I get all the news about them and then I use it during the speech. So but those are a long time ago. I remember when your CompuServe thing used to be a number. Remember we barely remember anybody. The way to contact them but tell us tell us what you're doing now and what's going on.

[00:04:49] So you know I've been doing a lot of things recently. Not the least of which is well dancing in this world of podcasting you know I've actually been podcasting since 2009. But I mean I had really just been going all in on this with the with the event that you mentioned the New Media Summit and continue to do a lot of writing and and speaking around new media and more importantly just really helping others leverage the power of this. I think it's just an incredibly powerful yet greatly underutilized medium. So teaching them really how to to get into this space and then monetize the visibility that they're able to create through it.

[00:05:27] Yeah. And I only got through it recently and I used to pooh pooh it because nobody was making any money it was all you know ego stuff. But nowadays there's just so many outlets like Alexa on echo for Amazon and the car the new cars are able to listen to podcasts now. So yeah. You were you were smarter than me and got and got into it early for sure.

[00:05:51] Yeah well I mean not smarter than you necessarily I just have always been one to kind of see the writing on the wall there and and and I would say you know I'm I wasn't smart enough to stay in and I mean we did our first podcast in 2009 and then kind of danced around a bit and took time off and whatnot. So I didn't stay with it consistently which I can't imagine where our shows would be at this point but got back into it and have been consistent with it since 2015.

[00:06:18] Yeah. And that's I guess that's what everybody says is the one of the keys to it. You've got to be consistent. People have to know what to expect from you and when and where and all that. So now 25 plus years as an entrepreneur that's pretty significant. But I know you're more than maybe 30 years old so maybe because you have a job at one time and the dreaded JOB.

[00:06:42] I'm definitely definitely older than 30. I mean yeah you know it's interesting over the years I think I've done darn near anything known to mankind and including selling the speakers out of a back of a van at one point but you know I've just always been wired as an entrepreneur from the time I was old enough to pick up a rake and move some leaves around to get paid for it. I mean even grabbing a shovel right and then shoveling sidewalks and driveways I mean just again if I could rub a couple of dimes together and make a quarter I was there. So but that really led to some interesting endeavors D.J.'d in a lot of clubs open my own nightclub when I was 19 got involved in the catalog world pretty early in the early 90s and then that led to CompuServe's electronic mall in ninety three and building a fully functional e-commerce site in ninety five which became liquor.com in 98 and then then all kinds of interesting stuff after that real estate and speaking and writing and teaching and doing live events and and so on. So yeah a lot lot of entrepreneurial endeavors over the years and I'm just I'm having having a ball.

[00:07:48] Yeah me too but I only said twenty five plus years it sounded like since you were kids you know.

[00:07:53] Technically it's been longer. I mean my my first I say twenty five because at 19 that's when I opened up my nightclubs I consider that to be like my real first endeavor opening my club. And and technically I guess it's longer than that but then I'd really be showing my age.

[00:08:10] Well I don't know if you know it or not but I had a nightclub from 1980 to 1986 and that was an interesting time it was outside of Morgantown West Virginia. After I got out of college and I was in two gun fights knife fights bikers trying to kill me. I was in over 100 violent encounters with bikers and they shot up my car with shotgun blasts. You know it's like they say anything that you know to die from you makes you stronger and I recently rolled out a membership site called brutal self-defense. So thank God I live you know in those days. Where was your nightclub.

[00:08:51] You know interestingly enough not a not really a dissimilar path. I did it off of the just off of the college campus where I went to school in Carbondale which is Southern Illinois University. So I spent 26 years at SIU and then decided to open a club. But know that that's where we did we just did it in Carbondale right outside of Southern Illinois University there.

[00:09:14] You spent 26 years where you like in the slow class. What does that mean exactly.

[00:09:20] Yeah but being a little facetious but let's say let's say I took my time going through school.

[00:09:24] Well I squeezed the four years of college into five. So that's good.

[00:09:34] That was that was an interesting period of time and I can't sit here and say that I was shot at or involved in knife fights because when that stuff happened I guess you're just a bit. Well you are a bigger man than I am so yes I would run away quickly I'd be like I leave that to the bouncer. Well look at that that's why they get paid the big bucks.

[00:09:53] Look being bigger than you are. All that does is make me a bigger target for the gun fights that really doesn't have a big advantage. You can't run fast. So what would you tell people that are out there sitting in the cubicle thinking about a man. Those guys seem like they have the life everything is perfect for them right. So what would you tell them.

[00:10:19] Well I'd like to ask him if they have room in the cubicle next to them. You know I mean reality is it's there. There are plenty of day where I sit here and just think you don't be a heck of a lot easier to just get a job you know. I mean this this whole idea of inventing a paycheck gets pretty old after a while. It does. Man you know you get you just always on the hustle and the idea of somebody just saying hey do this and we'll pay you. I mean that's a pretty unique concept right. So yeah but the reality is through the work that I do with the. What is your what and really helping people understand how they're naturally wired to excel and then because of my entrepreneurial background I'm able to help them share and monetize that when they're clear on what it is. I would just simply say that step 1 is is really figuring out what puts fire in your soul. And once you're clear on what that is it then becomes so much easier to figure out exactly what you can do so that you can leave that cubicle. That's what you desire.

[00:11:18] Yeah. And so people you know transition that you know we never know. I know I know. I don't know I'm sure you don't just tell people drop everything and don't have any money in the bank and just go you know live your dreams you know. It's a transition period. A lot of people if they're working for a job they need to plan for this exit.

[00:11:38] Yeah I mean the way that I worded Thomas I just simply say let someone else fund your transition. You know it's just like it's a lot of hours in the day I mean I think about all the hours I've been wrapping up lately and bingeing some of these series you know I've we're we're in it we're into Ozark right now and really digging on that. But how do you think about that and breaking bad and Game of Thrones and you know I don't know if you're a TV guy but my wife and I enjoy our series. And so when you just think about the the monumental number of hours and people put into those things like My God you know just. Can you spend your time or can you invest your time. Those are really the questions and we find that a lot of our time where we're spending and so if you just invested some of the hours after work before our work on the weekends into something that you know you truly are compelled to do you'll find that well not only can you get let that day job fund your transition but you'll get from point A to Point B a lot faster if you really just are focused on where those hours are truly going.

[00:12:31] That's that's for sure I try to tell people use your throwaway time. You know I wrote an e-book and four hours at a at a layover at McCarran Airport has brought in three and a half million dollars so far. And people say that sounds like B.S. but it's not it's basically you write a book on how to do something but they can't do it unless they buy the tool that's in the book and you get a commission on it and it's residual. So so yeah that but that was throwaway thought. I wrote a thousand and forty two page book or click that was dominating in my industry for like 10 years nowadays that's too big. Nobody will consume it. So that's a throwaway time on airplanes that waiting for your car to get repaired. Any of those things you could be doing productive that will get you out of that where you send somebody else to repair your car. So have you ever. Here's the rhetorical question. Have you ever gotten screwed over in business.

[00:13:33] Oh man. You know so you'll probably appreciate this so the answer is well for sure and no it is a matter of fact I'm I'm so jaded at this point that I'm more surprised when people actually do what they say they're going gonna do. Like I'm just I don't know what it is if it's you know it's grown up with the Jewish mom or I don't know whatever it is but it's like I'm just always waiting for the other shoe to drop you know where's the phone call. Oh really. OK. There we go. Like yes or no ma'am. But more recently one of the biggest ways that I got screwed is I did as I said a real estate development for a number of years and we developed about over 50 million dollars in property over the years and had some some really you know big winners and then some that got caught up in that that crash that hit so many of us. Two thousand six seven eight nine period. And so I had been doing larger development type projects and one of our larger developments we couldn't refinance when the market fell out and we made a really dumb move and did something that I wouldn't recommend for anyone who is into any sort of real estate development which is basically turning a nonrecourse loan into a recourse loan which is just about the dumbest thing you could possibly do. But that happened because of just some really bad advice and unfortunately it happened during a period of time where I had moved from Chicago where the development was to San Diego and the same person who gave me that really bad advice that I thought was handling what was going on with that would turn out to be a a lawsuit it turns out that he wasn't doing anything on my behalf whatsoever. Plaintiff went in and got everything that they wanted as it related to that case including turning that recourse multi multimillion dollar loan that was non recourse into fully recourse. And ended up with a personal judgment against me for well over seven million dollars. Ruined the whole day and reality is it went even deeper than that because they were able to enforce that judgment against me here in California and the only way that I knew that it was even going on was because they froze all of my accounts and seize my assets.

[00:15:46] Well I'm sure it turned into a massive learning experience for you. Could you just explain that term for people out there a non recourse and recourse.

[00:15:57] So basically a non recourse loan is as it referred. Well I guess it could be for any industry but as this case refers to real estate the lender looks at it from the standpoint of we have this asset that we have a mortgage on. And so if push comes to shove we can always sell the asset and recoup what's owed to us. And so we won't require a personal response a personal liability on your behalf to take out these loans in other words you get the benefit of the money to buy the building but you have no personal responsibility because there's no liability tied to you personally it's secured by the value of the asset. And so in this case it was a fully non recourse loan which means if the loan went south I would have no liability on that debt. They would just simply take over the building and then sell it and recoup whatever they could. And but because of this move that was made which was against the terms of the loan which was unbeknownst to me at that time based on what we did it triggered full recourse. So now I owed everything personally that was tied to this mortgage.

[00:17:09] So that's a couple of great lessons there. Be careful. You see that term a full recourse loan and also be careful who you do business with too. I mean my God you have been there handle on that. None of this would have happened than somebody Yeah depending on other people. That's a big. And also another lesson here is a lot of people that listen this show Steve think that OK well I'm just going to make a little corporation or an LLC and I'll be protected. Well sure. These lawyers laugh at that. They spin they charge you a fortune to set it up and then a good lawyer will do what they call pierce the corporate veil. I mean I doubt if any of that but less than here is sitting and taking notes each quarter with her and pretending to be the secretary and board of directors. Yeah all of these things that really make you a corporation and have limited liability. So it's a fancy attorney if there's a lot of money involved that's a joke you're wasting your money. But the good good lesson is there sorry you had to go through that.

[00:18:16] I'll just simply say that you know there are lessons in life that I don't mind learning this is one of them I could've gone a lifetime without having to learn I would have been fine with that.

[00:18:28] So let's flip that. Anything funny happen in the business for a bizarre.

[00:18:39] Well you know man it's there's no shortage of those stories either I will say that perhaps one of the funniest things that I've had to. Well I've had the pleasure of experiencing over the years is you know when we went when we had the catalog business. It's a it's a cutthroat business. And and I guess funny is a relative term as it relates to business.

[00:19:09] But what was that. What kind of business what were you selling in the catalog.

[00:19:13] So we were actually this was the predecessor to liquor.com. It was actually called liquor by wire at that point which is basically FTD for wine and champagne and spirits and gift baskets and so on. But basically if you were in Virginia and you want to send a bottle of champagne your buddy in L.A. who just closed a big deal then you would call us and our local retailer would deliver that for you. So that was that was the those those days of catalogs right. I mean just before. I mean it's funny now we're actually just watching a movie my son and I were watching a movie called boyhood and the kids in the movie. Now we're looking at a Victoria's Secret catalogue of course. Get get in there. GIGGLES I boys were sitting around chuckle at that and you know not that I would be a subscriber to that but somehow of course everybody in their mother ended up with one of those in their mailbox. Now I was just trying to think about like when's the last time I actually saw a Victoria's Secret or any sort of catalog at all. Right. I mean just other than Restoration Hardware I guess no one's really putting those out anymore.

[00:20:17] You get that big one from Uline.

[00:20:20] Oh right. And IKEA right I guess.

[00:20:23] If you stack enough of them together it'll stop a twenty two bullet.

[00:20:31] But but you know interestingly enough like I said that the catalog business is really cutthroat business and we were running you know quite a quite a few books through that. And let's just say that a lot of the bigger printers that are not the RR Donnelly's of the world are in kind of remote ass locations like Wausau Wisconsin. Like some smaller locations. And let's just say that the way that they tried to earn my business would be frowned upon today. But but but back in the day you know it was one of those just no holds barred kind of approach. You know we got to do whatever we got to do to get this guy to sign the customer. And when you're out in the middle of nowhere evidently what happens in Warsaw stays in Warsaw.

[00:21:35] So now I know my next question was already answered. What do you like best about working for yourself.

[00:21:49] So but now it's I mean look. Reality is I have several multimillion dollar businesses that I run from my home office and I consistently work three days a week. So you know try to try to get everything done on a Tuesday Wednesday or Thursday what day is today.

[00:22:09] I don't know. They all run together.

[00:22:15] It's Wednesday. Right. So try to do everything everything as much as I can on a Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and it's really just giving me the flexibility of being able to be home when I need to be home being able to take the kids to school. I mean I walked my kids to school pretty much every day from the time that they were you know in preschool up to the time that they were in middle school so being able to walk them to school and just hang out with them and coach the flag football teams the baseball teams you know the whole nine yards of course spend time with my wife and and so on so it's it's been one of the biggest benefits of being an entrepreneur is just the flexibility of time.

[00:22:57] Is she a part of the business.

[00:22:59] She's not actually my wife is a she's a funeral director and embalmer. And so yeah I mean I guess if some of the I guess some of the clients get out of line.

[00:23:16] Oh she would love to hear this story. See before I after I got out of the nightclub business I was telling you I wanted nothing to do with nastiness and drinking and all these bums tried to kill me. I said whatever I do I'm going to have fun with it and the people around me are going to have fun. And I started a custom designed practical joke business in Washington D.C. and long before punk and jackass and all those shows were around it's called prank masters. We did 4000 custom designed practical jokes and all these years. But when one of the things was they an over the hill preacher so I would dress up like a priest and I had these caskets that I found at a flea market and I bought them and I put them in a little utility trailer and I had a little Nissan Sentra and I was driving on the beltway in Washington D.C. and I got these little funeral flags that said Tom's discount funeral.

[00:24:22] We did 4000 jobs there. And that kind of kicked me off into the speaking business. I've never had a embalmer before.

[00:24:30] Yeah that's what she does talk about having fun with your work man. That sounds like a riot.

[00:24:36] I was I was hysterically laughing. I wrote custom humor for six years straight every day and I delivered a thousand performances myself. And that's kind of where I got my comic timing for speaking and so forth. So I reinvented myself right. From a night club Near death to to a jokester. So. So what's the worst part about working for yourself.

[00:25:06] Well you know I mean it's definitely the pressure of of having to take care of those who are counting on you to take care of them. I mean you know when you've got employees that I don't. At this juncture and I haven't for that it's been it's been about five years since I've had a full time employee.

[00:25:26] Oh really. I've got five. Pulling my hair out.

[00:25:33] Right now I haven't had a full time employee now for about five years or so part time type people help as needed. But you know reality for me is that the hardest part about it is just the pressures of having to to cover the payroll and cover the costs of just running a business which means you just gotta be out there selling you've got to be out there hustling and you know it is kind of I mean it's an interesting it's an interesting dynamic and interesting conundrum so to speak from the standpoint of you know as your business continues to grow which is what we often want our businesses to to which is grow you have more responsibility and then more you've got to be selling more. And it's like we just keep adding to our expenses as our business grows which means we've got to keep selling to cover those expenses and becomes this really difficult vicious circle. Right. And the pressures of that especially if you continue to grow often don't get any easier.

[00:26:47] But in fact get more complex when you get to more and more is insofar as revenue is concerned and so often you know there's glamour of having a multimillion dollar business you know is one of the. Just quickly washes away when you realize that to have a multimillion dollar business you've got to be generating multimillion dollars of revenue which means unless you've got the world's best funnels and things on automated and you know on autopilot so to speak. It's it's it's a challenge.

[00:27:15] My goodness Steve I'm confirmed. I mean I have to go to three and a half days a week of work if things get bad.

[00:27:25] Yeah I know it's scary. Just. Will you will you pray for me.

[00:27:28] I will. I'm already ready. So yes. So yes certainly. But I guarantee you would trade it for anything you know.

[00:27:40] Like I said at the at the outset of our conversation here man. Believe me there there are indeed.com is an open tab right now on my on my screen.

[00:27:48] But they'd have to pay a lot of money to get you to sit in a cubicle. So so tell you know how people deal with you. What did you tell us about this new media summit. Also tell us though about your definition of new media versus old media and how you got into all that.

[00:28:07] Yeah well let some let let's start from the definition first. I mean to me new media is the wave of what I would call pull media which basically means the consumer pulls the content when they want it. And of course what they want and on their preferred device. And so examples of pull media would be well like podcasting and is a perfect example right. No one's forcing you to listen to this episode you raised your hand you downloaded the episode you got it and you listened to it.

[00:28:38] So it's it's one of the reasons why I'm so bullish on the medium too because you know people who listen to podcasts are much more likely to take action on a recommended product or program or service. And that same recommendation coming from email or social media or blogging etc. Mostly because of the intimate relationship that takes place between the host and the audience. But also again because it falls under that category of pull medium where it's it's kind of the equivalent you'll appreciate this and I liken it to the equivalent of a one hundred percent email open rate and a 100 percent email click through rate. And so it's it's that powerful and of course other pull media would be anything where like Netflix you know where you pull the content that you would the content that you want. I mean no one is forcing it on you versus the the old media so to speak like regular television ABC NBC whatever where you turn on that channel and whatever is on is on you didn't ask for it to be on you can consume that content or of course you can just change the channel. But it's a push medium like a newspaper would be a push medium. Right. Because you didn't ask for what's on that page you're flipping the pages and you can continue to turn the pages or you read the article. Right. So pull media is what I would call new media and then push media is what I refer to as old media and what we did in terms of this event that you're referring to which is called the New Media Summit is we created an event where we specifically focus on podcasting and teaching people how to leverage and monetize the power of podcasting. But specifically what we do with this event that makes it very unique is we bring in 40 top podcasters who not only share their strategies and tactics and shortcuts for crushing it with the medium but we also allow ample time for the 150 attendees and we do limit it to one hundred and fifty but we leave ample time for one hundred and fifty attendees to take the microphone and to literally pitch the podcasters on who they are and what they do and pitch. Everyone in attendance as well and pitch the thousands of people who are watching the live stream and on who they are and what they do and they get booked on the spot. So people come to the New Media Summit and they leave with bookings in hand on podcasts.

[00:31:03] That's great. And there's a lot of details to the podcast. When I got into it. I mean I studied for four or five months before I rolled out because in a couple hours on some of these apps they got out. But boy to do it right. You really did a lot of details in the market and monetize it and the do you. What do you go into it in their media.

[00:31:27] Well we go into a lot of what you've you've mentioned. So we do go into how to monetize the visibility I mean I'm of the mindset that every visibility opportunity is a revenue generating opportunity for you right. So when you are a guest on a podcast or when you are the host of your own show or even if you feature on a blog or on a social media post or whatever. That should be a revenue generating opportunity for you. So a lot of what we teach is how to turn visibility into revenue and best practices around podcasting and you know what our future trends in terms of what's going on with the medium and everyone sharing best practices through panel discussions and small group discussions et cetera. So it's a mixed medium type of event as well with the pitches and the panels and the small group discussions and of course the teaching sessions and so on. So we cover quite a bit of ground but reality is people come out of there after three days with the most important thing of all which is real relationships with today's leading icons of influence. Because there are no iron curtains there are no green rooms or no VIP sections Everyone hangs together. Everyone eats together we provide lunch for my lunch every day for everybody and we dance together we learn together. So it's it's really a relationship building event more than anything else.

[00:32:55] It sounds like someone at any level could it happen right if you were just thinking about doing a podcast you couldn't be in a better immersive atmosphere to get the story fast I imagine.

[00:33:07] So if you're thinking about launching your own show you'll come out of there with of course bookings on shows but also a really good understanding of what to do and why you're doing the show and how to best position your show to accomplish whatever that goal or objective is. If you have no interest in starting a show but you just want to get booked on shows and then of course you come there and you get booked on podcasts or if you have a podcast and you're looking to optimize the value of that asset the value of that content then you come out of there with strategies that could literally I called the six figure shift. I mean at any point in time there's a six figure shift waiting for you to happen at that event.

[00:33:46] Now when is that coming up and any spots left.

[00:33:49] Well we do actually have one coming up in February so February 21st to the twenty third in the Tampa Florida area. Then we do another one in September in San Diego. So take your pick. East Coast West Coast OK.

[00:34:14] And still have room.

[00:34:17] We do I think we've got about 30 seats left right now somewhere right in there.

[00:34:23] Yeah because people when they when you announce the dates people flocked to this because the value here and the you know all of those podcasters I know even look myself you know I know a lot of people it's you know it's pulling teeth to get even get to some of the people I know because they're so busy. So this is really a great opportunity for people out there if you want to get the podcasting and I don't know of any better a better place than this one. Where do you where would they go to check it out.

[00:34:57] Well easiest place of course if you just want to learn about the summit is the New Media Summit Web site which is NewMediaSummit.net. And you know if you're just interested in connecting with podcasters. That's something we can help with too and maybe we can talk about the directory.

[00:35:16] After the break we're going to give him a give him. But you've got a lot of great resources for people here probably more than anybody that's been on the show so far and all of them are top notch because this guy like I said he's he's been around the round the pike. We're going to take just a brief message for our sponsor and when we come back we're going to ask Steve what a typical day. Maybe we'll ask him to do two typical days when he's working and when he's not working and how he stays motivated.

[00:35:48] All right. So I want to tell you about this. At colleges and universities are doing folks. I mean according to gradeinflation.com they're raising grade point averages to make it look like they're doing a better job of teaching when there is a mountain of evidence that they aren't. I want you to really watch the eye opening higher education webinar at Screwthecommute.com just click on free webinars and potentially save yourself and possibly your loved ones friends and neighbors hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt when they go for higher education. Also if you decide an Internet career is right for you. IMTCVA.org. We'll finance. That's internet marketing training center of Virginia will finance your education with no credit check and zero interest. You can check it out at IMTCVA.org it's the distance learning school it's asynchronous which means you can study anytime day or night you don't have to show up at a certain time so it fits perfectly if you're still working at that dreaded JOB and that will be shown us this is episode 63.

[00:37:00] All right let's get back to our great guest the Steve Olsher is here he's been in the game longer than me and I very few people can say that. He's had his ups and downs like we all have. And he's brought some great tips for us. But I want to see what is the lifestyle like a little bit more. So Steve what's a typical day look like for you when you said you work like Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. So in those days and then when you're days off I mean can you can you completely divorce yourself from a multimillion dollar business. I mean who are you kidding.

[00:37:35] Right. Yeah. And so yeah. Tuesday Wednesday Thursday. I like the idea of four day weekend. So look you know when I'm when I'm at I'm at it and whether it's creating content in terms of e-mails that are gonna go out to my list. You know when when the kids are out of school even on a workday it could be eight thirty nine o'clock on a wake up when the kids are in school. Seven forty five something like that I am not one of those early riser hands and kinds of guys. So you know obviously get up try to try to yell the kids out of the house if you know they've got school that day and and then just dig in to interviews I try to do. It's funny because out of you know out of all the things that I've tried over the years in terms of marketing and you can probably relate to some of the old school things that we've done by buying keywords you know and of course SEO and blogging all I mean like all of all the things that I've done over all the years there's nothing more effective in terms of being able to generate highly targeted leads and getting folks interested in your product programs or services. Then what happens when you appear as a guest on a show. So outside of you know a very small number of Facebook ads the only marketing that I do is appearing on shows like this. And so in the last three years I've appeared on over 500 shows.

[00:39:07] And this kind of show is great because I've done a lot of TV in the past. What a hassle that is. If I have to go to New York for a TV appearance it's a thousand bucks right there plus one or two days shot and just craziness to do it and you could get bumped. This is infinitely better. That's why you got to get to that New Media Summit. So that's your marketing.

[00:39:32] So it is it. And by the way I look at I look at podcasting and these sort of opportunities here as like free stages right. I mean thousands and thousands and thousands of free stages are waiting for you to share your mission and your message. Right. So. So on a typical day like today I think I've got three interviews that I'll do. And outside of that I'll do so we have some year long type programs that we have. So like this morning we did a group coaching call for for some of those folks I'll do some one on one stuff for more on the elite type clients. And and realistically as I've got to create my own content as well. So on Thursdays we create the content that we do for our shows reinvention radio and beyond eight figures so we actually do it as a live radio show. So we do one hour of reinvention radio and then one hour beyond eight figures. And that takes place on Thursdays.

[00:40:27] And how do you stay motivated with all this stuff.

[00:40:32] You know it's interesting man. I am. It definitely ebbs and flows. And I've been in kind of what I might call like coasting mode if you will for a while really really when you come right down to it I've kind of been an in Coast mode now for the better part of almost 10 years.

[00:40:51] And you got kid stuff and you're coaching and doing all kinds of good stuff. You're allowed to do because you got the income.

[00:40:59] Yeah. And realistically for me it's just kind of sharpening the saw and that's what keeps me motivated is sharpening the saw And for those who are not familiar with my work I teach something called the 7 by 7 model now which are basically the seven things that I do to fuel our seven figure plus businesses right. So there's only seven things that I do. So for me it's really just sharpening the saw on on one of those seven things on a consistent basis that keeps me motivated. There's always room for improvement.

[00:41:31] Yeah for sure. Now you've got a lot. There's so many freebies you have I don't know what to pick from but I did download one of your things that was like two point seven million podcast hosts. By the time I got done reading it my eyes were sore and I had a headache but I never saw such a beautifully produced free document that was freakin amazing. And that's the. I really appreciate high quality work when people put out stuff it's that good and free. You know that they come through with high value and all their other stuff. So tell them some stuff they can get from you to get started and also give us when you're done with that I want you to give us some parting thoughts for we call him our screwballs who are listening to this and they want to. They want to get out there and be an entrepreneur. So yeah go to it.

[00:42:27] Yeah. Yeah. And I appreciate that. So it's not two point seven million it's close but what you're referring to is we have a free directory that we put out which is called the ultimate directory of podcasters. So if you've been wanting to get to be a guest on shows and you just don't really know how to connect with folks the ultimate directory of podcasters gives you detailed contact information photos name of the show description of the show website and even the email address of six hundred and seventy top podcasts or so that is the ultimate directory podcasters detail contact info for six hundred and seventy top podcasters. And we do give that away so you can get that at myultimatedirectory.com. That's a great place to go.

[00:43:16] And we'll have you have the show notes for everybody and I got to mess with you over here. Here's the thing. Here's the thing so I'm looking through this thing my eyes they're getting crazy because there's so many resources here. But then every category Steve's face pops up. It's like OK ballet podcast. Oh there's Steve. But it's an amazing amazing resource. So what else you got for them and then get some parting thoughts for them.

[00:44:15] Yeah I mean we talked a little bit about just if you're in that cubicle and trying to figure out what the first step is I mean for me it's always the first step of being able to answer the question of what is your what. And so if you're curious in terms of what your core gift is and what the primary vehicle is that you'll use to share that gift and then who the people are that you're most compelled to serve and you think the what is your what framework can help you with that which I know it can. We do give away a free copy of that new york times best sellers you can get the whole book at Whatisyourwhat.com. So whatisyourwhat.com is where you can go to pick up a free copy of that entire book.

[00:44:49] Yeah we'll have everything in the show notes. Oh Steve it's great. Cross paths with you again after all these years. And well yeah just a mountain of resources and that new media summit I'm telling you folks 30 slots left. Get on it because. What's the address for that again.

[00:45:10] Yeah. NewMediaSummit.net.

[00:45:15] Because if you want a super super it's like it reminds me of those drag cars that have nitrous who want to to you just like that. Yeah. You walk in that door and now you've got to practice your pitch because I've heard some pretty lame pitches. You don't want to blow your chance. Training helping them with that they've got to be concise they've got to get the message. Yeah. Just give me a couple of tips on making a good pitch.

[00:45:42] So one of the things you do that I think does make our event unique is we actually do four pre event training sessions to really help people get dialed in and we actually create a media one sheet for you as well as one of the bonuses there too. But yeah it's it's just super important to be able to to use the time that we're giving you when we. Like I said we literally hand all one hundred and fifty people the microphone so that they can get their their time on stage to pitch everyone so being concise being intriguing as my friend Sam Horn says you know being able to pass the eyebrow test for people can raise their eyebrows and go that's interesting I want to I want to hear more about that right. So it's definitely a skill but it's a learnable skill and in reality is we have a 100 percent track record of people coming to the summit and getting booked on shows some really really proud of that where again everyone who comes to the summit leaves with bookings in hand. And actually some of the folks leave with a lot. We have one woman who left the last summer with 33 bookings. So it does look if you need more visibility and eyeballs and eardrums on your mission a message and who doesn't. Why not get it for free and that's that's what happens at the summit.

[00:46:54] Let me tell you folks just getting 10 bookings is not easy. Even if you've got a reputation because just getting to people and now they're all going to be there in one place just amazing. So it's newmediasummit.net. Steve thanks so much for coming on man. I really appreciate it. And I know everybody is going to go to take a look at that hard and get all your resources. Hey glad we could get it together.

[00:47:23] Yeah man. You're definitely one of my heroes dude. I've got nothing but love for you and admiration. I've seen what you've done over the years and believe me you guys are in good hands here with Tom and I'm glad you're doing the show.

[00:47:34] My pleasure. All right. So next episode folks is 64. That's how the pursuit of excellence can really skyrocket your business. And if you're new to podcasts please Subscribe and review we're on all the major places go to iTunes. If you don't know how to do that we have instructions for you at Screwthecommute.com. Check out all Steve's stuff. And I'll catch you on the next episode.

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