Jul 9, 2019
Podcast Show Notes
with Kyle Gray & Guest Cody Burch
Building a Business With Cody Burch
Today on this show we have Cody Burch. Cody is a friend of mine I've known for a few years now and we've worked alongside each other in many awesome organizations. I am so excited to share his story with you on the podcast today.
We are going to go from when he set out on his own journey to build his own business and the many interesting and powerful things he's done to build it. From creating a podcast, writing his own book, and most recently hosting his own event, which was very successful and very exciting.
He's done this all very quickly by making big moves, investing in himself and really connecting with his audience. He is so vulnerable and honest in his storytelling that I think a lot of you are going to find it really inspiring and I hope it helps you take action on your dreams as well.
Keywords
Podcasting, podcaster, interview, interviewer, guest, podcast guest, interviews, podcasting guest, The Story Engine, The Story Engine Podcast, Entrepreneurs, Selling with Story, business, business coach, coach, marketing
#kylegray #thestoryengine #thestoryenginepodcast #podcast #podcasts #storytelling #podcasting #influencer #listening #news #show #business #Businessman #Businessowner #businessowners #businesscoach #businesslife #businesstips #businessminded #entrepreneurs #sellingwithstory #marketing #entrepreneur
Key Takeaways
- Cody’s Transformational Journey from Techy to Entrepreneur
- Creating A Podcast That Is Truly Authentic
- The Struggles Of Producing And Selling Live Events
- Invest In Relationships
Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode
Alyson Caffrey Podcast Episode
Cody Builds a Business Podcast
Transcript
Kyle Gray:
My name is Kyle Gray and today on this show we have Cody Burch. Cody is a friend of mine I've known for a few years now and we've worked alongside each other in many awesome organizations. I am so excited to share his story with you on the podcast today. We are going to go from when he set out on his own journey to build his own business and the many interesting and powerful things he's done to build it. From creating a podcast, writing his own book, and most recently hosting his own event, which was very successful and very exciting.
Kyle Gray:
He's done this all very quickly by making big moves, investing in himself and really connecting with his audience. He is so vulnerable and honest in his storytelling that I think a lot of you are going to find it really inspiring and I hope it helps you take action on your dreams as well. Without any further ado, let's turn it over to Cody. Cody Burch, welcome to The Story Engine Podcast. It's so exciting to have you on the show today.
Cody Burch:
Hey. What's up, Kyle. Thank you for having me. I'm really pumped to keep going.
Kyle Gray:
You have an incredible story that I really want to explore about the past year of your life and a lot of the things we've created. Before we dive into that, I want to ask you the question I ask all of my guests at the opening, tell me about a moment in your life that has defined you and really helped you become who you are today, serve who you serve and doing, and how do you do what you're doing.
Cody Burch:
I've always identified as a tech guy, that was the role I fit in the last company I was at. The last company I was at, I was there for 10 years and I was just a tech guy. I learned all the technology, I use all the technology. When we would go to events, I would just hover in the corner and learn what we needed to learn. I didn't ever need to meet anybody. I wasn't very social. I didn't see any value in relationships or being out in the front. I was there to learn, learn the technology, learn how to implement it for ourselves and for our clients and that was just how I saw the world. I remember when I was getting the itch of entrepreneurship in the fall of 2016, it became very apparent I needed to transition out of that job I'd been at for 10 years which was a very difficult mourning and grieving process. The last part of that story was I had annual review to wrap up how that year had gone and it was a breakfast meeting that turned into a lunch meeting.
Cody Burch:
We were just there all morning. It wasn't going well so just imagine an awkward meeting of being very apparent that it wasn't going to work out much longer. As that meeting wrapped up, we went outside to say our goodbyes and it was December, it was right before our Christmas party, right before the holiday break. I remember my former employer, he said, "Hey, if you ever want a recommendation, I can put in a good word for you." He didn't mean it in any bad way. He meant it in a helpful way, I really believe that but in my head I heard, "Hey, if you want to just be another tech guy for somebody else, I can put in a word for you and I'll get you another tech guy job, another right hand person tech implementer tech job." I really used that as fuel to fuel me to say, he doesn't even see it. I want to be an entrepreneur. I want to start my own business. I want to solve my own problems, I want to serve people on my terms. It was in that moment where I really felt a shift in my identity like how I saw myself, if that makes sense.
Cody Burch:
Since then I've always identified as an underdog. I've got this sign behind my head temporarily, I'm probably going to take it down eventually, but it says, prove them wrong. It's just how I've manufactured a lot of the stuff I think we'll chat about today of that motivation of how to move forward in the world and solve interesting problems over and over again and not give up and keep going ahead. I think that was the real moment that really changed everything for me.
Kyle Gray:
I think that's incredible. I was going to ask about this sign because if you're watching on YouTube or have ever seen any of the content Cody makes, it catches your eye right away. I've always wondered what the motivation behind that was. It's definitely part of your message. Since then it's been so cool seeing everything developed because I remember working alongside of you in one company and seeing how you've just established yourself since then, since you've gone out and really created your own path. It's been amazing to see what you've been doing. You've been doing great social media posts. I see a lot of your presence just even on Facebook and things like that. Creating your own show, your own podcast, creating your own book. Most recently, having an event which was just two weeks ago, if I remember right. I'd love to hear and go through this process with you and explore this journey.
Kyle Gray:
From first setting out on your own and really deciding and perhaps buying the prove them wrong sign, to where you are today because I think you've made a lot of great progress and you've come forward and really establishing yourself as an authority of something much more valuable than just another tech guy. First, I'd love to hear what were some of the first moves? How did you set the foundation for this new direction and this new journey you are going to take?
Cody Burch:
A great story framework I heard is once upon a time, and then suddenly, and then luckily, and then happily ever after, right? Once upon a time, suddenly this thing happened but luckily this silver lining appeared and then happily ever after. Once upon a time I was a tech guy for this company and then suddenly found myself unhappy and wanting to be entrepreneurial. Then luckily I had a skillset to serve other people. I was really good at Facebook ads. I was really good at lead generation. I was really good at online marketing. Then that's how I got started. I took that skill set I had to the world and just basically hung my sign out on the street and said, hey, I'm open for business. You may have known, I do online marketing for this one company for this subset of people, but now I do that for anybody. Anybody who needs any help, let me know. Now, quite frankly, when I got started, I did anything and everything I could that would pay anything. I built membership sites.
Cody Burch:
I built WordPress sites. I did some graphic design. I did some blog posts. I did some content marketing. I did some email marketing. Quite frankly, I'm pretty good at a lot of those things. I'm not really good. I'm pretty good. The number in my head was I had to make 7,000 bucks a month. That was the math of how I could not be so disruptive financially to my family because I was the main breadwinner of our family. I didn't have any money saved. I didn't have any old, dead, rich uncle that left me an inheritance. I just had to figure this out and had to make money for my wife and kids. That first month I made just over 7,000 bucks and then thought, well that looks like that's going to work and what if I could get to 10,000 bucks, that's just this arbitrary entrepreneurial number that we hit. Then I did that soon after as well, but it was through number one, saying yes to everything. That was something I thought was a necessary part of my journey that I wanted to churn through as fast as possible. There's no way to sustain a business when you do everything.
Kyle Gray:
You gotta get out of there fast. It will drive you crazy. I've been there too.
Cody Burch:
I just wanted to keep it super short and get through that. Within a few months I was just doing Facebook ads, just doing sales funnels, and I was still doing email. That was the three-pronged approach, that's just the worldview I had. If you want to sell something online, you need an ad to send traffic to a funnel and then you need to follow up with an email. The email stuff, it didn't bring me a ton of joy and I stopped doing that pretty quickly. By about six months in, again, I wanted to go as fast as possible. When I would think through those first six months, it sounds like it was years like that wasn't year two, that was month two. I just went as fast as possible and I did some stuff for free and then I raised my prices. I think my first ads client was nothing. Second ads client, I charged 200 bucks. Third ads client, I charged 500. Fourth ads client, I charged a thousand. Fifth ads client, I charged 2000. Then I haven't raised my prices much from there, but that was all within six months of launching. That was that first evolution of take this problem I saw in the world of helping people get more leads and make more sales using the power of online marketing and then doing it for them.
Kyle Gray:
Tell me what about one of the skills that when starting out you had a good basic skill set to get you going. What was one of the skills that you were critically deficient in that you needed to build up fast to succeed?
Cody Burch:
The sales part was tough for me. I had never sold in the past. I had never needed to sell or whatever you want to call it, enroll new clients or position myself as an authority that was worth being paid what I was asking for. That was something I had to figure out really quickly, which also was accompanied by having no clue really how to run any kind of books, bookkeeping or accounting or invoicing. Again, within month five or six I hit a turning point, a hockey stick on the growth chart and I was forgetting to send invoices. I was forgetting to bill clients. Having so much fun doing the thing because I think that's how we all are, we're craftsmen in those ways. I was forgetting the nuances of the business, like, oh, they never even signed their agreement but I already went ahead and get started or they didn't even pay their second half of their invoice and it was due 60 days ago.
Kyle Gray:
That was pretty nice, you're in a good spot if you're having so much fun, you're forgetting to bill. I mean, it's better if you're billing but that's a good place where I think it's something that a lot of people would love to be and you're in so much of a groove and you're in your zone of genius. Things like that can pass you by. Again, good to build that skill up too.
Cody Burch:
I got better at it and then I hired it out. I mean, I brought on my first position I hired was an ops manager and she's still with me to this day and she's fundamentally changed my business and allowed me to experience some of the growth I've had as well.
Kyle Gray:
Is that Alyson by chance? Because she's been on the podcast.
Cody Burch:
Yeah, she's a genius. Everybody, Alyson Caffrey is a genius.
Kyle Gray:
Yeah, she's the best. I try not to tell people about her because every time I do, they hire her, try to get away from me, so don't hire her. Leave a spot for me soon, I need her next. Yeah, but she's a genius.
Cody Burch:
She's so great. Maybe this is a fun transition point, like getting that part of my business figured out. I don't know about you Kyle, but business got easier for me and then I decided to mess it up with some of the other things you talked about with books and podcasts and live events. We can talk about that next if you want.
Kyle Gray:
Yes, yes. That is the next thing I want to talk about, out of bookkeeping and into book writing. Tell me about the One Hour Funnel book.
Cody Burch:
Here's how that came about. I had the idea for this notion of a one hour funnel in August of that first year. I jumped in January. My first day on the job was February on my own for the first time ever. In August, I registered the domain name and filed for the trademark for this idea of a one hour funnel. In my head it was just a quick way to launch marketing funnels that's just what I'm about. I'm an engineer, I'm a tech guy, I'm an efficiency guy. I just wanted to do this quickly. In my business I thought the more I can systemize how I fulfill on these sales funnels, the more profit I'll have, the more predictable results I can get for clients. I was taking what worked with winning campaigns and separating it out from what didn't work with campaigns that I was launching that weren't working. Finding out what the commonalities and made a little roadmap and then put in mind like, well this would be a really cool book or would be a cool podcast. I didn't know what it could be but I was like, this could be something. Another mutual friend of ours, Chandler Bolt, has a course called Self-Publishing School. I bought that like first thing. I jumped in February, I think I bought that course in March or whenever it was open in 2017. It was about how to self-publish a book.
Cody Burch:
Now, full disclosure, I didn't really ever log in. I didn't really look at it. I kinda did but then I got busy and in my head I was like, I know I want to write a book. I know I want to write a book. I know I want to write a book. Knowing Chandler, it'll never be this price again. It's going to get more expensive along the way. Right? I bought that course and then didn't do much with it. That was 2017 and then in 2018 I launched a beta group. What I did first was I launched my own course. I made The One Hour Funnel a course and it launched to tens of people with accumulative yawn like the market didn't really care. They didn't know who I was. That was going to hit me too like it would serve me to be better known and to stop being behind the boards in my home office and still identifying as a tech guy and get out in front more. What I did is when that webinar launched to sell my course, The One Hour Funnel course, I decided to start a podcast to document the whole journey.
Cody Burch:
I had no followers on YouTube, no followers on Instagram or Facebook. I had no Facebook group, I had no email list. I had literally nothing, zeros across the board. I had dozens of agency clients in my email list, which was just in Gmail. I didn't have CRM or anything. Episode one is, hey, what's up? I'm Cody and I'm going to document this process. Then podcast is called, Cody Builds a Business, and it's documenting that journey. In the opening credits it says going from literally nothing and nobody to a million dollar business. Now at the time of this recording, I think I'm about $924,000 away from hitting that million dollar mark but we're getting there. We're on our way. Here's what I thought would happen. I was so brilliant. Launched a podcast, it'll be new and noteworthy on Monday. The world will love it. I'll host the webinar on Thursday. All of the people on the show will, of course, they'll sign up for the webinar, then they'll buy my course and I'll need to decide do I want a vacation in Lake Tahoe or vacation in Aspen like, what do I do now?
Kyle Gray:
On Sunday, right?
Cody Burch:
Right, on Sunday. Exactly. That of course didn't happen. Episode two is, I'm doing a webinar. Episode three is, well, that didn't work. Episode four is, well, what do we do now? Episode five is, Cody is depressed. Episode six is, Cody picks himself up off the floor. It's so great to document that. For those listening, number one, you'll listen to the episodes because they're useful and they're funny and helpful. Number two, document your journey however that is most comfortable for you like a podcast like this with Kyle, like a YouTube channel, like a blog or whatever that is. Now I can look back at that and see what I've done and where I've come from and what I've learned and how I've grown. The course came with the podcast, it was both dropped at the same time. Then the turning point there for me too was I got on the phone with a guy named Dean Jackson, he's a marketing guy. He said, you should write a book like the course would be a great book. That's one of the lenses through which Dean sees the world is he helps people write books and I was like, no, I don't want to write. I mean, I do, but I don't, it sounds so hard like it would take forever.
Cody Burch:
I want it to be a book that my grandkids' grandkids' grandkids will remember. That's a lot of pressure and I'm just not ready. He's like, no, no, no. Write a short book. Write a book that will help your desired customers raise their hand and say, I need some help. That was in June. The course launched in April, podcast launched in April, book writing process was in June almost exactly a year ago. Then the book ended up dropping in August.
Kyle Gray:
One of the things that I love about the podcast and the book that I think a lot of people listening in can really find to be much more manageable and much more applicable to their lives is I do love how it's really short. It's a very crisp book that focuses on a single problem. Actually, my new book, Selling with Story, I wanted to create something like that and I failed.
Cody Burch:
Got it.
Kyle Gray:
It's a much bigger book and I wanted, but I really set out and I was like, it's going to be crisp. Nice. I liked that and I think it's a really useful focused tool. I also appreciate just the short and whimsical consumable nature of your podcast as well. I think it's made it easy for you to create ideas and synthesize ideas and just look around and see, oh yeah, this is something going on in my life. I'd love for you to share this. I think we talked about this on your show, but you were watching your kids play basketball and that turned into an idea. Tell me about just a couple of the little inspirations for many episodes and how you turn that into content or some of the most successful ones because I think this format is really good. It's really personal and it's very easy to achieve.
Cody Burch:
Yeah, for sure. One thing I noticed, what I thought my podcast would be in the beginning was me documenting the journey. It was like, and I'm joking, it wasn't really, but it's like Facebook in '08 where it's like, hey, I had some eggs. The world is like, well I don't care. I was documenting in a way, like I had a podcast interview today and then I did this, I did that, did this, did that, and then I thought, well that's going to run its course. People ultimately probably don't care. They're not that voyeuristic about what I did at the gym that day. I exaggerated a bit to prove a point. Then I started to document what I was learning and then I would go on trips and then people like that because I would go to $10,000 masterminds and my fans will be like, what was it like? Who else was there? What did you learn? What were your top takeaways? Well, that's cool because I just take it for granted that people don't do that. I don't do it a bunch but I was able to go to some conferences, not all of them are 10k obviously, I couldn't afford that.
Cody Burch:
Some of them were and they were interesting and I met cool people and did cool things and got to bring back the top learnings from those episodes. There was still something where I was trying to put on a front in a way of a persona of what I thought a good podcast host should sound like. Then that lasted until about episode 96 when I think it's 96 where I recorded an episode called Hitting Rock Bottom. That was in January of this year I think when that episode dropped. That instantly became my most shared, commented, downloaded episode. It was about the story I opened up with on here, like just me transitioning out of that job for so long and what that was like and the fear I faced and the uncertainty and then the malaise that I went through. Just all of this stuff. I just told the full story in a respectful, historian way. Then people loved that. Then my second biggest download episode was me talking to my wife. We were just, I don't know, you know, my wife, we just have a good chemistry.
Cody Burch:
She's very funny and charming and it was just amazing so people love that too. Then I thought, well, people sure love this part more than my observations about whatever I saw at baggage claim at the airport, like a comedian or something. Right? I was just like make an observation and talk about it. I try to make sure those episodes are in there, those vulnerable moments. It gives me a place too where it's, for the most part, it's just me. It's just me in my home office and a microphone and I can just open up and it's therapeutic for me to do that as well. Then the other thing that I noticed along the way, like you mentioned, is just the observations I would have like when I'm at the airport or the person at Starbucks gets your name wrong or somebody steals your parking spot or the kid on the basketball team shoots into his own goal or whatever, right? You're like, well, what's that like? How does that show up in business and what can we learn from that?
Cody Burch:
Man, I'm a huge fan of regularly documenting your observations in the world to help other people, to serve other people through your experiences. My show is a mix of those things. It's my observations, it's my vulnerable moments. It's my most afraid moments and most proud moments. My podcasts this last week after my live event, I was like, I'm going to own it. I'm super proud of myself. I think we don't acknowledge that enough in this world. It's more fun to differ. It's not me, it's God. It's not me or it's my team. It's not me, it was the hotel or it was the AB team like no, it was all of those things. Yes, it was God and yes, it was my team and yes it was, but like I'm going to own it. I did a really good job and I'm really proud of myself. That was my episode last Wednesday, and that got good feedback. People are like, dude, good for you like I'm rooting for you and I'm following your journey here. Sounds like you just crushed it and let's be happy for a minute and not be melancholy about what you're concerned about or whatever. Super fun. Everybody should do a podcast in my opinion.
Kyle Gray:
I love that. That's another thing that I've really enjoyed about what you're doing in your show is you're able to and yeah, I don't think enough people do that where there's this hype, I'm so cool kind of marketing. I think a lot of us are afraid to become like that, but sometimes it's good to celebrate and share and be happy. I think that more of the sharing that authentically is good. I also think you do a great job at just having calls to action and really moving people forward. Oftentimes you're saying, I know in the episodes leading up to the event, you reach out and you say, hey, I want you to come to this event. I want you to check out this book. You're standing behind what you're doing and you're really proud of it and it comes through in the episode. One of the next questions I want to ask, this is one of my favorites I've been asking recently. On this journey, you've made a lot of investments. You said you made $10,000 events and things like that. Tell me about the investment that you made that you were really feeling it in the pit of your stomach. Like, oh no, and it was a scary move to do. You're like, I'm not even sure if I should tell my wife about this one, maybe. You made it and it was a risk and it paid off huge.
Cody Burch:
I mean, that was one of them. I don't know, there's an organization called Mastermind Talks. I remember I was talking to a friend of mine, Nicholas Kusmich when I was starting to get a lot of momentum at year one in the business. We were having dinner and I said, hey, where do people like you hang out? Like, I want to help more influencer, thought leader, guru, course creator, expert businesses with their ads and marketing. He said, well, I go to Mastermind Talks. I was like, great, got that down. What else? He's like, that's the only one. That's all you need to know about. I was like, wow, okay, cool. What is that? He told me and I said, how do you get in? He's like, well you can't, it's really hard and you have to know somebody and it's super expensive and how much does it cost? 10,000 bucks and you have to get recommended. It's like a secret society, right? I did some research on it and then in 2018 I applied to be in it and according to their website, they have a tougher acceptance rate than Harvard.
Cody Burch:
There's a 15,000 person waiting list and it's a 150 person event that's run once a year, not 151 people and not five times a year. It's 150 people once a year. The odds just are horrible. I applied to get in and I asked Nicholas and a couple other people and say, hey, you think I would be a good fit for this community? Could you put in a good word with the organizers and all that stuff? In March of 2018 I got accepted and as we all know now it's 10,000 bucks. I didn't have 10,000 bucks for sure. It was just a dip in the business where I was like, I don't have that. It's one of those where it's like 10k today or 16k in payments or something like that. Interest doesn't make sense at all. I got to find 10 grand on a credit card or somewhere, sell something or something to get the money. That was something that was probably the scariest or the riskiest investment. By then I knew my business. Here's my big risk, Kyle, is I'm not super comfortable in crowds. To walk into a room of 150 successful entrepreneurs, I knew I wouldn't just start crushing it and high fiving people, making a bunch of good friends.
Cody Burch:
I also didn't want to put so much pressure on myself to ROI my 10,000 and be that guy. You know what I mean? I don't want to be that guy at the event trying to close deals in the bathroom and close deals in the hallway. I just wanted to be just fully present, no expectations, serve where I could serve, contribute where I can contribute, go on. They had social events like a great hike and the hikes were super social because you go for a walk for an hour with other entrepreneurs and you can just talk and make great connections on those hikes. That definitely paid off. Super cool community, tons of interesting people that helped me. I think the biggest takeaway from something like that is just the level that some of those people play on made me think bigger. It could be an income goal or impact goal. Like I want to get a thousand leads this year and they're like, what if I could help people get a million leads? What if I could try to change the world of online marketing with this skill set that I have and just dream bigger, like what's my moonshot?
Cody Burch:
These people are doing such interesting things. One guy there was like legalizing cannabis in Canada or something. That's such a big mission, whether you're for or against it are not so relevant, but like that undertaking is enormous. What a cool mission. Here I am trying to get a couple of leads on Facebook. It was like, I got to dream bigger and play bigger. That's the one that comes to mind.
Kyle Gray:
Absolutely. It's a big risk. Time and time again when I make investments like that, that scare me, it gets you into that mindset because it's something that forces you out of your comfort zone and now you're like, okay, it is time to play bigger. It's time to make this work and it's time to make this count. I'm certain that that part of this inspiration and part of what you are doing and part of the world that you've been surrounded and then placed yourself led to your event. We know that it's been a big success, but I'd like to hear a little bit about the planning and the purpose and the setup and the promotion of this event because I was expecting either that or you talking about your event as this big investment. Tell me about the lead up to this event and how you made it into this big success for you.
Cody Burch:
The event was the hardest thing I've ever done. I have never been more stressed. I'm trying to think as an entrepreneur like we get, I don't know about you, but you get comfortable. I figured out how to make a decent income running ads and marketing and that was pretty easy. Then I was like, well, I'll mess this up. I'll go write a book that's going to be hard or I'll mess this up now I'll do a podcast or whatever. For me, I was like, I'll just throw a huge wrench in this whole machine and I'm going to do a live event. I thought it would be hard. I had done it once before at that last company and it was so hard, but I thought, I'm a good marketer, people know me now. Podcast had been around for a year. I've got lots of interesting friends. It's in Denver, it's going to be affordable. The ticket prices are going to be a couple hundred bucks. I'll probably sell it out instantly. It was so hard. The first, like the 12 disciples, we all have those 12 disciples, right?
Cody Burch:
The 12 disciples bought instantly. Like Cody, I believe in you and I'm in, they paid full price, they told their friends. That was like probably four months out and then I didn't sell any tickets for months and I was super stressed. There were more than one night of just tears. I remember one night I went upstairs, I worked from home in the basement and then told my wife, I said, I feel like a fraud. Then I just burst into tears because for me I'm a good marketer, I know how to get leads and make sales for myself and for clients. I was like, here I am putting on a marketing event and I have no clue how to market it like I was trying everything and but nothing was working. It felt so good to say that out loud, I feel like an impostor. Then to notice, just to deal with that emotion like let that come out. She hugged me and she's like, you got this. Because she didn't know I'd been putting up a front too for her, trying to be strong and tough. I got it, no big deal like we're going to crush it.
Cody Burch:
In my head I had a ton of fear and uncertainty because when you do an event, we were on the hook for something like 30,000 bucks was the financial investment and it comes in stages. We paid a $5,000 deposit for the hotel to reserve the room and reserve the food and then had to get the AV guy there. Then we had to get a room block that we guaranteed. That was my most stressful day is when you do an event, you tell the hotel how many people, how many rooms you're going to sell. The day that that bill came due, I found out that none of my attendees were staying at the hotel so that's all on me. That was a low day for me. A friend of mine reached out, how are you doing? I said, I'm doing horrible. I'm having a really awful day because this thing is happening to me and it's going to cost me thousands of dollars and I just messed up and I feel stupid and I feel blah, blah blah. If any of your listeners think I just crushed it all the time, every day. Every day was roses and I sold it out instantly. It was so, so, so hard to fill it.
Kyle Gray:
Every detail of that, like a can of Sprite at an event at a hotel costs $6 or something like that. Down to the, you just think like, I mean I've been to events and people go to these things all the time and you'll see a water bottle or a little snack pack or something, that's like crazy amounts of money. You'd never pay that much for a can of soda normally, but people just grab them, they're free and they're like, oh yeah, let's just drink. When you see somebody just at the soda bar putting an extra Dr. Pepper in their backpack for the road, you're like, oh my God.
Cody Burch:
There was that, there's that for sure. Promotion wise, I did a free plus shipping book funnel, so buy my book and on the thank you page it was like, "Hey, you got the book now. This comes with a ticket to the event. Here's how to redeem your free ticket," which I would do like a seat deposit, that got zero sales. That didn't work. I did an opt-in funnel, I think it was a free download of the book and the thank you page with same thing like, "Hey, this book is amazing and there's a live experience happening soon since you downloaded the book. It's clear you have this problem. Here's how to redeem your free ticket." That got zero sales. I tried discounted tickets like $97 tickets, that got one or two sales. I did a five day challenge, which I loved, where it was a lead generation challenge. At the end of the challenge I did a webinar about this general concept of online marketing. I sold the course and I sold an event ticket and that got five tickets sold I think.
Cody Burch:
In hindsight, that was the biggest bang for my buck of getting multiple ticket sales with one promotion. I did a thing called a live stream, which was a three hour training and it was a QVC infomercial, teach for a bit, have a testimonial, make an invitation to the event. That got zero sales but that I had to hire a camera crew in a studio space to film that. What works in hindsight was chats like this, was interviews with friends and people on my podcast and people on their podcasts and lots of Zoom calls and lots of phone calls and lots of direct messages and lots of Facebook groups support, lots of giving. We were talking before we hit record how you and I support different online communities. Just giving, giving, giving, giving, giving was helpful. I had enough goodwill that when I would make that invitation saying, "Hey, it's clear you have this problem, you need to get this part of your life figured out." That worked. They were just one off.
Cody Burch:
Most days I was striking out, and if I got lucky I would hit a single, but I never hit a home run and never hit a grand slam. I never spoke from stage and closed 20 tickets, it never happened for me. That wasn't my reality. Filling it was super duper hard and I'm happy to talk about anything else around that feeling inside, but the execution and I knew, and you knew, everybody knew that Cody and my wife, Christy and Alyson on our team who we've already said was amazing, would pull off the best event anybody's ever seen, which we did. Then I introduce a new flagship program that people join there as well, which was super fun. That's why I've seen it as a success now. In hindsight, it was super hard. We maxed out. I've said this a few times and I maxed out, I have two credit cards, two business credit cards, we maxed them both out. I got home from the event. I had missed three payments of other stuff. They're like, "Hey, we billed the card on file that was maxed out."
Cody Burch:
I was like, yeah, I know, like, sorry. Now I'm picking up the pieces of that. I just want to tell you and your listeners like, I put it all on the line financially, not that I would have been bankrupt or lost my house or had to foreclose on things. I don't want to over dramatize that, but I just can't overstate how much I felt like I had at stake to execute this live event. If that encourages anybody to say, "Well, I'm going to go for it just like Cody went for it," then kudos to you.
Kyle Gray:
Cody, I really, really appreciate just the vulnerability and openness in this. I think a lot of listeners can find and take courage that there's a lot of people out there like I was saying earlier that are just hype marketing, I'm so cool, I'm so amazing. What really comes down to it and what I'm hearing and despite the digital marketing and even being a master at Facebook ads and all of these things, what it really came down to was making human connections. Getting in the right room with the right people, getting on the phone with the right people, giving, giving, giving and contributing however you can. There's no shortcuts, there's no easy, easy ways to your gold plated helicopters or anything like that. I so appreciate your openness and your vulnerability in this journey. I think everybody listening will to. I'd love to, and it just comes down to true human connections. The means and the tech and the methods are all, you know, some work for some people, some don't. In the end, it's how you connect with people. I'd love to hear any closing thoughts and where can we go to learn more about you and connect with you further.
Cody Burch:
Thanks for saying that, man. My closing takeaway is the old adage of dig your well before you're thirsty. For me, in hindsight, for hosting a live event and this is true for anything, replace live event with, you have a book that's coming out that you want to launch or you have a virtual summit you're going to do, or you have a workshop you're going to introduce, or you have a new flagship service or product. I told you at the beginning of the interview here, I don't consider myself a very social person. I'm not a social butterfly. I'd go into a room of a hundred strangers and leave with a hundred strangers. I wouldn't leave with 20 best friends. Just never been that guy but I wish I had been. My advice to people listening is knowing that at some point you're going to need to rely on people to help support whatever your dream and your vision is that you're working on.
[social quote]I dug a small well and then I got very thirsty. That's my advice to anybody is to invest in those relationships now before you need them. You can't err on the side of being too generous and you can't do it on the side of being too convenient and all those amazing things and generate as much goodwill as possible.
Cody Burch:
Again, a book, podcast, product, whatever it is, to take the time now to start to make those connections and to give and to connect with people and to see what they're working on and to stay in touch and never ask. Just give, give, give, until you're ready at whatever point in a year or two or five years to say, hey, it happened. I wanted to let you know that I did finally read that book and I would love your support, a rating, a review, a download, a launch team or whatever. People say, I would love nothing more than that. You've been giving to me for five years now, or for five months. I would love to do that. I dug a small well and then I got very thirsty. That's my advice to anybody is to invest in those relationships now before you need them. You can't err on the side of being too generous and you can't do it on the side of being too convenient and all those amazing things and generate as much goodwill as possible.
Kyle Gray:
Where can we go to learn more about you?
Cody Burch:
That's right, the second thing, I'm just kidding, man. I'm not ready to ask yet. The best place to go learn about what I'm working on all around The One Hour Funnel idea is at onehourfunnel.com. You can grab a copy of the book there for free. The book that started it all, the book that started an event that started a movement. It's just super fun to have done that, so that's the main hub and I'm @onehourfunnel on Facebook and on Instagram as well.
Kyle Gray:
Cody, this has been a stunning conversation and I really appreciate everything you've shared. Thank you so much for joining us today on The Story Engine Podcast.
Cody Burch:
Thanks for having me.
Kyle Gray:
Thanks for listening to the Story Engine Podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes and resources mentioned on this episode and every other episode at thestoryengine.co. If you're looking to learn more about how to use storytelling to grow your business, then check out my new book, Selling With Story: How to Use Storytelling to Become an Authority, Boost Sales, and Win the Hearts and Minds of Your Audience. This book will equip you with actionable strategies and templates to help you share your unique value and build trust in presentations, sales, and conversations, both online and offline. Learn more at sellingwithstory.co. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.