STEAL MY MARKETING. 2nd ISSUE + MASTER SPREADSHEET
Wolfgang Puck - Spago, Chinois, CUT (31st May)
Wolfgang has been hosting the Governor’s Ball dinner for 26 years in a row now. It was fascinating to hear from him how he got the opportunity. He personally knew some of the biggest names in hollywood and it turns out, Governor’s ball was not a big deal then. Who could imagine? So he got the opportunity without even asking for it. Power of networking. It is still WHO you know. It will always be. The coronavirus crisis has put a lot of restaurants in strain and I’ve been thinking of writing a compilation article of all the great advice I’ve come across from the many interviews I’ve watched on promoting restaurants. Will update you on the progress of this one in the next issue.
Link to full interview → Wolfgang Puck - From Chef to $100 Million Entrepreneur
Grant Cardone - Cardone Capital (1st, 3rd and 6th June)
I’ve known Grant for quite some time now because he’s so omnipresent on the internet. He’s quite a personality and draws his share of negative attention. For those of us who've seen him ranting and raving and boasting sales numbers on social media platforms I think this interview will be a pleasant surprise. He’s calm, he’s composed and he goes deep into his early days as a salesperson, talks about his early successes and failures and how he got into real estate. I cannot vouch for his financial performance but the dude is smart. I've posted a few lessons from the interview and have a few more for the future. The last one( posted on 6th June) has received some flak because of how he structured his thoughts. What he meant to say was single family homes were not a great deal for people which is why he buys multi-family homes. For those who love him, you know him better than me. For those who’re repelled by his personality, I'd recommend you give him a chance. Watch the interview.
Lessons → How 2008 financial crisis helped Grant Cardone diversify his business. Part 1 Part 2
Why Grant Cardone wrote The Millionaire Booklet in 2 hours - Part 1 Part 2
Homes were not built for people. Homes were built for banks - Part 1 Part 2
Link to full interview → Grant Cardone’s most revealing interview ever with London Real
Patrick Bet-David - PHP Agency, Inc (2nd June)
Patrick bet David is a master communicator, which is why I love going through his interviews. He's also a good interviewee. Every successful person has a mentor but the dilemma for us is how to get them. For those looking for mentors, I'd recommend you read The Third Door by Alex Banayan. I read it after someone recommended it to me on LinkedIn and loved the book. Alex takes you on a journey you’d never expect. Never read anything like it.
Patrick talks about how his own mentors have helped him at every stage of the business. I liked how he still takes notes when he talks to his mentors. Also liked his journey from an Iranian refugee to making $70 million at a relatively young age.
Lessons → Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Link to full interview → Patrick Bet-David opens up on London Real
Jason Capital - Youtuber (4th June)
Jason is someone I recently came to know of and I've been studying his copywriting skills. At this point I have not read enough to form an opinion about him or what he teaches but in the foreseeable future I can sure talk more about the value he provides. During the interview he goes deep into the desires of humans and how good copywriters are great at understanding human psychology. Worth listening to him talk when he talks about copywriting.
Lessons → Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Link to full interview → Jason Capital - Broke to $40 Million by age 29 from my laptop
Nathan Barry - ConvertKit (5th June)
I wrote about Nathan in the last Edition as well and wanted to share how he planned a free plan for ConvertKit users right before the coronavirus crisis. His rationale for creating the free tier was an impending financial crisis as most stocks were overvalued at that time and his bet paid off big time. Signups are up almost 10X. Most small business owners don’t think of their products in terms of the broader economy and Nathan’s insight is a good lesson of why we should.
Lesson → How launching a free plan pushed ConvertKit’s signups from 100 a day to 900 a day
Link to Full Interview → Bootstrapping to 20+ Million ARR
My Portfolio and Why
The stock market is rebounding from the coronavirus bust and I’ve held positions in Carnival Cruises, Southwest Airlines, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and Occidental Petroleum. I’m also watching Boeing, Snapchat and Constellation. Airline stocks are on their way up as the economy reopens and more people travel. Cruises probably will be the last industry to open and it could be the end of the year by the time things get back to normal. I’ve held airlines for the short term but will probably have to wait some time to see gains in Carnival. While Occidental petroleum seems under stress, after doing my research I felt comfortable investing at $20 price range. Berkshire and Amazon are my safe bets in case the economy goes south. Boeing is complicated due to the grounding of its 737 MAX fleet and I’m skeptical about it. Snapchat has 229 million daily active users and revenues were 23.8% YoY in April. They’ve also rolled out dynamic ads internationally and with Facebook and Instagram ad market saturated, brands could jump into Snapchat. I’ll keep updating on my portfolio and my gains and losses and would like to hear about your portfolio as well. Would be fun to collaborate and share information as now seems to be the good time to make some bets.
My Favourite Case Study this Week
Among the many articles and profiles I read this week, the most valuable was this case study on How Ryan Luedecke pushed Sumo Jerky from the verge of failure to $12,000/month in revenues. From looking for customers to sending effective cold emails, none of his strategies are something we can’t replicate for our own business. I’d highly recommend you read it, maybe even try it.
Link → How Sumo Jerky Grew to $12K/Month
The response on the newsletter has been better than expected and I’m planning more things for the newsletter. Maybe exclusive interviews. It’ll take some time to execute these plans and I’m looking forward to your contribution in any way possible.
I’d really love your opinion on this edition - good or bad. And if you have any suggestions or just want to talk, please reach out at stealmymarketing@gmail.com
Here’s a link to the master spreadsheet where I’ve provided a categorized all the lesson series’ with links along with the full interviews related to those lessons. I’ll update this spreadsheet daily. → Master Spreadsheet
You can help spread the word about Steal My Marketing by sharing the newsletter with fellow entrepreneurs and friends.
Sincerely,
Abhishek.