FL258 - We talk about one risk taken that made Blair $20k in recurring revenue!

In today's episode, we talk about how we helped Blair with a pricing change that resulted in $20,000.00 in recurring revenue.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Jocelyn Sams: Hey y'all. On today's podcast, we talk about how taking one risk made Blair $20,000.00 in recurring revenue.

Shane Sams: Welcome to the Flipped Lifestyle podcast, where life always comes before work. We're your hosts, Shane and Jocelyn Sams. We're a real family who figured out how to make our entire living online. Now, we help other families do the same. Are you ready to flip your life? All right, let's get started.

Shane Sams: What is going on everybody? Welcome back to the Flipped Lifestyle podcast. It is great to be back with you again this week. And man, we have got an amazing success story for you guys. It is going to inspire you to take massive actions. Maybe to go in and take some of those risks that you've been avoiding, and just show you what is truly possible when you're all in, online.

Shane Sams: I wanna welcome to the show today, Flip Your Life community member ... Oh wait, hold on. Pause. Blair, how do you pronounce your last name?

Blair T.: Thielemier. The H is silent.

Shane Sams: Okay. Thielemier.

Blair T.: Yes.

Jocelyn Sams: Yes.

Jocelyn Sams: Tea, like I drink every morning. Tea.

Shane Sams: Because I was about to say Thielemier.

Blair T.: No.

Jocelyn Sams: I can only imagine what you get called.

Shane Sams: Wanna welcome to the show today, Flip Your Life member, Blair Thielemier. Blair, welcome.

Blair T.: Thank you for having me.

Jocelyn Sams: It's so exciting to have you on today. This is my favorite kinda show, as you know, if you listen to our show very often. I love it when we have people on that we have met in real life. And I have actually spent time with Blair a couple of different times. So, it's really cool to have you on today.

Blair T.: Yeah, yeah, so I got to meet you last year in Southern California, at a Women's Leadership Conference. And then, again at Flipped Life Live. So that, was really exciting for me, too.

Shane Sams: Yeah, Flip Your Life Live was incredible, because it was just this overwhelming emotional experience, meeting people who ... that weird feeling. It was like the Facebook affect, almost. You feel like you know each other in real life already, and then you're actually in the same place. And our brains have not evolved properly, to handle all these social media connections that we have, or these community connections that we have online, so then it's just a surreal experience, isn't it? To get in the same room with people you feel like you already know personally?

Blair T.: And I really loved what you guys did with the Facebook group. Most conferences that you go to, once you buy your ticket, it's like, you don't get to meet anyone til you get there. But with Flipped Life Live, we had the Facebook group, and that, for me, 'cause I didn't know anyone, was really helpful to get to put names with faces, and not feel like I was going in, not knowing anyone.

Shane Sams: Now, I really do feel like, that we knew you quite personally before the event, because we had worked together, and we had done some coaching calls. We had talked to you in the forums about some different things that you were doing online. And we kinda made some radical changes in your business. And we say radical changes, but it really was just changing one thing, right? We just kind of switched the way you were presenting an offer. And it led to this massive amount of success that we're gonna talk about in a few minutes.

Shane Sams: But tell everybody a little bit more about you, your background, and your online business, leading up to that point where we had that coaching call.

Blair T.: Okay, so by training, I am a Pharmacist. It was 2014, and I was pregnant with my daughter. And I got the news that the small hospital that I was working for was facing some budget cuts. And I essentially lost all my benefits and full-time status. So that, led me to scrambling, trying to pick up some different work at local community pharmacies. And through that, and because of my clinical background, they had asked me to do some clinical services for them in the pharmacies.

Blair T.: So I did that for about a year. And then, in fall of 2015, I started working with a business coach to build my online business. I had people reaching out to me, asking for help, so that they could create these clinical services in their pharmacies. But I didn't know how to create a program around that. So we started with three one-on-one coaching clients, and then from there, I started building an email list, and building the website that was ... I was blogging about what I was working on, and so that was how people were finding out about MTM Consulting, which is what I'm known for.

Shane Sams: And basically, this is just ... it's a way that Pharmacists can add more services to increase revenue. That's really what it is, right? Is that what it is?

Blair T.: Right. So, pharmacy's typically seen as a product-based business. Retail pharmacy. And there's only so much you can do, as far as profit margins for medications, because there's laws, and insurance companies, and all that. So what we're seeing now is, more pharmacies adding in services, and becoming a little bit more service-based, like you would have in a physicians office. And these could be weight management courses, they could be ... like, I do genetic testing on people, to tell them which medications and supplements are best for their genetic makeup.

Blair T.: So this, is what I've became known for, was people were wanting my advice on how to create these services, and then also, create consulting businesses around these services for themselves.

Shane Sams: Interesting.

Blair T.: So, yeah. I began by building an email list. And I said, "When I get to 100 members, I'm going to create a course for these people." So, that's what I ... sorry, 100 email subscribers. So, I had a very small list, and-

Shane Sams: What year was that?

Blair T.: It was December of 2015, when I launched the course for the first time. So, out of the hundred email subscribers, eight people took me up on the beta offer for the equal-

Shane Sams: How much was that?

Blair T.: $197.

Shane Sams: That's awesome.

Jocelyn Sams: Wow!

Blair T.: Isn't that full circle?

Shane Sams: I know, right? I know, that's a great trailer for what's to come. I like what you said there. Everyone remember, $197. This is gonna be a magic number, when we get to it later, okay? How did you feel when you got eight people to buy something for $200 ... that's $1,600.00. And for everybody listening, that's just 100 people on an email list. That's not a 10,000 person email list, right?

Blair T.: Right, right. You gotta start somewhere, so it's funny, my web developer actually charged me $1,500.00 to build the course, so I actually kind of pre-sold it. And so profitability wise, I only made about $100.00 off of it the first time.

Shane Sams: Hey listen, it's revenue. That's a start, right?

Blair T.: That's right. But that was the first, the beta test. And then, I created each lesson, each week. It was like a dripped course. And each week, I would create it. I would send it out to them. I would ask for their feedback. And then, by the end of February, we had all six lessons created, and I launched it again. And I got, I think 15 more members join in the course.

Shane Sams: Wow, that's amazing.

Jocelyn Sams: Yeah, that's awesome, because it just says, "Okay, these people do want this. People do want this product."

Shane Sams: Yeah. And it's amazing, I love what you said, too, you're like, "Well, I made $1,600, but I only profited $100 off that first beta, right?

Blair T.: Right.

Shane Sams: But now, you've got a course that you can sell over, and over, and over again with the same infrastructure, so when you get the next 15 people, it's all profit. And the next 15 people, you might buy some ads or something, but it starts stacking 'cause you've created something you can sell for two or three years without even worrying about it, right?

Blair T.: Right. And then, so these people that had bought the course, really enjoyed it, but they wanted more. The course was very basic about starting a business. So we started from LLC versus sole proprietorship. I mean, we started from the very beginning. And as people went through the course, they wanted more and more specific information about billing for the services, like if the Pharmacist was gonna work in a Physician's office, there's certain billing codes we could use.

Blair T.: And so, I thought, "I'm not going to create lesson seven, and then charge them for that. So how do I do this in a way that continues to pay me for my time, in creating these new products?" So, I was working with Natalie E., and she turned me onto the Flipped Life podcast. And she said, "There's these people, they do membership sites. I think this might be the right direction for you to go."

Blair T.: And that's how I got introduced to you guys, probably in April of 2016. And we went ahead probably April, May, June, that was the transition into the membership site, so then after that, it was still $197 to join the course, and then after three months, it would roll over to a recurring membership of $27.00 per month.

Shane Sams: Now, things ... how did that go, when you first did that? How did it go when you started saying, "Here's the course, and then you get the membership." And then, later on, you raised the price. Didn't you ... you did something radically different. You had a big join fee, or something like that?

Blair T.: Yeah, so as we kept building, now we're at 11 lessons in the course. And then, we had forums, and we had monthly member calls. And so, each thing I added, changed the price a little bit, so we worked our way up. By 2018, we were at $997 to join the course, and then $97 a month in recurring, to continue the membership.

Shane Sams: So, this was interesting, because this is, kind of, where ... Jocelyn and I, earlier in the year, starting doing more one-and-one work. Right? Where we had some times open in our calendar, where we could come in and really take people ... Jocelyn and I are always on the look for somebody on the verge. They're stuck, right? And there was this moment where you were kinda stuck. And the membership got to a certain point, got to a certain number, and you were only getting a couple people a month, right?

Blair T.: Right.

Shane Sams: So that's what we talked about on our member call. What made you charge a thousand dollar join fee. When did it go from your mind, like, that's what you called it, when we first talked, to a join fee, compared to buying the course. Right? Because that's a huge amount of money for someone to come out, just to walk in the door, let alone, what they're gonna pay monthly, after. What was the thought process behind that? Where did you get that from?

Blair T.: I mean, you know, the gurus say, "If you do an online course, $997."

Jocelyn Sams: They have to be right. I mean, hello?

Blair T.: And that was essentially the reason. I mean, Jocelyn, when I talked to you last November, at the conference, you kinda said, "That's interesting that you're doing it that way." And I was like, "Yeah, eventually, I'd like to transfer to just doing a monthly membership."

Shane Sams: What kept you from doing that? That's interesting you said ... So, you talked to her in November. You talked to us in the summer of next year. What was the delay? What was the fear of taking the join fee off? What was keeping you from doing that?

Blair T.: So, to me, these people that were my current members, they had paid the $997. And to me, it was almost unfair to take that away, and then, to offer it to other people at just a monthly price. And to do away with that join fee. And I drug my feet on changing that price from November 2017, until September 3rd of 2018, when you and I had the one-on-one conversation on Labor Day.

Shane Sams: And it's amazing you say that, because we all get these things in our head. Right? One, that everybody's paying attention. Two, that it's not fair. Three, that, "Well, I can't change anything, 'cause everyone in the past got it one way, and no one in the future will ever get it differently." Right? 'Cause we struggle with that, too. Jocelyn and I just had a conversation this morning about some changes that we're throwing around, for our membership. And we had that same conversation. "Well, what about everyone that's paid this? What about everybody that's done that? What if we make this available in this tier, and we don't make it available, and it's been available for everybody else, what's the incentive to keep moving forward?" These are always conversations that we have in our head, and it's almost like we're afraid we're gonna break something.

Shane Sams: But your case is very interesting, because when we went through the numbers, your membership was stagnating, literally. It was like, no one was joining. What was it? Like, single digits, right? A month, or something like that. And we said to ourselves, when we look at these numbers, we're like, "Man, this massive wall that you have built around your castle, is literally preventing," ... you dug a moat. That's what I told you, on the call, around your castle. You're like, "Man, look at this city on the hill. Look how awesome this is. But now, no one's allowed in." Right?

Blair T.: Right.

Shane Sams: And we keep adding value, over time, which is just a natural evolution of all of our products and membership, and we feel like we've gotta keep charging more, and keeping more people out, when really, the more awesome your stuff gets, it's almost like it should get more accessible. Right? And that's kind of what we talked about on our call, is how do we make Blair's membership more accessible? So I told you, I said, "What if we just dropped the join fee, all together?" And I remember, you gasped, on the call. But there was a catch, 'cause I wanted to address that real fear you had about people who had paid more. Right?

Shane Sams: So what we decided was, this thing was really valuable. It was an amazing opportunity for pharmacies to make more money, and it really was worth a lot of money, so we were gonna double your monthly price, right? So all the old people, who ended up paying the join fee, that's fine, but they were paying a little bit lower price, because they've been with you longer. They deserve a lower price for being loyal, right? But now, the new people get in cheaper, up front, but it's actually charging what it's worth, $197. So, go back to that call, how did you feel about that, after we worked out this ... it's not really a compromise, but a solution to that problem?

Blair T.: So, I knew I wanted to talk to you before Flipped Life Live, 'cause there was definitely some shifts that I felt like, it wasn't working. We were stuck on 40 members, and I felt like the whole year, we were, like you said, we were stagnating. And, it was that mindset, exactly what you said, that I felt like I was, somehow, taking value away from the other members, if I was technically decreasing the price to join, but increasing it, if you look at it over, say, a year. And when you reframed that, and made that shift for me, you said, "Now you have the infrastructure built. When you first started, you were really one-on-one. It took a lot more of your time, and so that made sense for you to have that. But now, you've got the infrastructure in place. You've got the team members in place. Now, you want to let these floodgates open, and let people in, because they deserve to be able to have access to this information. So when you said that, it was a total shift in my mindset. It's like, "I'm actually cheating all of the people that are on the other side of the drawbridge in my castle." So that, was really what I needed, to make that change.

Jocelyn Sams: Yeah, and so you did change, and rather quickly, too. So, you had this conversation, I think, on Labor day. Our event started on the ... what was it? The 18th, the 19th of September?

Shane Sams: I think it was the 19th, was the first day of the actual event, yeah.

Jocelyn Sams: So basically, there were two weeks in between this span. So tell us what happened in those two weeks.

Shane Sams: I'll tell you what happened first. Blair's like, "Yeah, I think I could do this by new year. By the end of the year," or something. And I'm like, "No."

Jocelyn Sams: No, that's not gonna work.

Shane Sams: "You're gonna do a webinar in two weeks, and you're gonna come to Flip Your Life Live, and I'm going to announce, on stage, the results. Good or bad." So, how did that go over, when I said that to you?

Blair T.: So, you gave me 13 days, 'cause you were like, "Do it on a Sunday night. That's a good time for people." And I was like, "Okay," so the Sunday night before Flipped Life Live, is when I planned the webinar. And I had done some live webinars in the past, but not really the same structure as this one, so that, was really helpful. You helped give me a framework to use for the webinar. And so, I did the webinar. I actually had shot a YouTube video, calling it the Drawbridge Special Webinar.

Jocelyn Sams: You're welcome, for that.

Shane Sams: Yeah, right.

Blair T.: I talked about this-

Shane Sams: My mouth can come in handy, every once in a while.

Blair T.: Yeah, so I talked about my business coach from Kentucky, who's making me change my prices. And this was gonna be a really good opportunity for people. And I was very open and transparent about why I was changing my prices, and what I was doing, and what I hoped to achieve from this. So, it just blew me away, the results I got, and the response I got from that webinar. So, we registered about 300 people. About 135 people showed up live. And about 50 people took me up on that initial offering.

Jocelyn Sams: Whoa.

Blair T.: The initial offering.

Shane Sams: So, let's do the math here. So it's 50 people, basically, times $200 a month. 50 people who couldn't get in before, because they had this big $1,000.00 wall.

Blair T.: Right.

Shane Sams: And really, these people were already there. They're there.

Blair T.: Right.

Shane Sams: You were keeping them out. But now, you opened the door, and out of nowhere, in one webinar, you've got $10,000.00 in monthly, recurring revenue, night one of the change. Right?

Blair T.: Right, so I-

Shane Sams: How did that feel, compared to the eight people at $200.00 a month? 'Cause remember, it was $197 for the course. So, we're full circle. You take this $197.00 lifetime course, and you've evolved it into a $197 per month, recurring revenue business. So what were you feeling when you got off the webinar?

Blair T.: Oh, I was blown away. I mean, we had, that night, probably about 26 people join that night, immediately after the webinar. And then, the next day, another 24 or 25 people trickled in. And so then, I waited til Wednesday to ... 24 hours had passed, and then, I had sent a Facebook message to you, and was like, "We added 50 members off of that webinar." You were like, "Oh."

Shane Sams: Oh, we were celebrating. I honestly-

Blair T.: Like, I was just real calm about it, like, "Oh by the way, we added 50 members Sunday night."

Shane Sams: I was sitting on the couch, and I distinctly remember this. Jocelyn was going from the kitchen to the back room. I don't remember what she was doing, but she was leaving the room. And I was sitting on the couch. I had my feet propped up, and we were getting into everything, and I yelled, "Oh my goodness." And Jocelyn's like, "What?" I'm like, "Look at this." And I flipped it around, and showed it to her. And man, I mean, we were ecstatic, because that's just awesome, because I mean listen, it's scary to change your prices. Right? Especially something you've sold in the past, because you did get people. I mean, even a couple a month, you're getting people, hey, they paid two grand, there's two grand in the pocket, right? They're $100.00 a month members, so there's a couple hundred bucks a month. Like, it's kinda working, even though it wasn't growing where you wanted it to, so that's a scary proposition. Especially when you've got it in your mind, all the gurus are doing this. Right?

Blair T.: Right.

Shane Sams: But you did it. I mean, it was crazy how fast you moved, once we got off that call, to make all this happen. So how much of that actual fear I was going to call you out on stage, and actual excitement like, "Wow, this might actually work. I might as well try it." What pushed you so hard, to get it done so fast, besides the deadline of, "I'm showing up at Flip Your Life Live."

Blair T.: Right. And I think it was you two saying, "What's the worst that could happen?" And that's something that I really struggled with. Like you said, I didn't want to do this until the first of January of 2019. But having that deadline that you were going to ask me about it at Flipped Life Live, and I only had 13 days to put it together, and then I was gonna see you at the end of the week, it was really what I needed, to give me that push.

Jocelyn Sams: Yeah, and you didn't need three months to get that together. You did it. You made it happen. So this story isn't over, though. So, once you get to the live event, I remember the night of the dinner, you were like, "Hey, so I have this replay. Should I send it out?" I'm like, "Yes."

Shane Sams: "Should I let anyone else watch the Drawbridge Webinar?"

Jocelyn Sams: "What do you think, is this appropriate to do?" I'm like, "Send it out immediately." So, tell everybody what you did then.

Blair T.: Yeah, essentially, it was at the working dinner at Flipped Life Live, and you were like, "Yes, you have to send it out. Do it right now." And so, I did. I sent it out at ... it was like, 9:00 at night or something, and Nikki was sitting beside me. She was helping me with the copy of the email. And it was one of those things that I probably wouldn't have sent it out, if I hadn't been there, and you guys had been telling me, "Yes, you need to send that out." So, I think we got another two or three people who weren't able to attend live, that watched the replay, and then joined the Academy after that.

Shane Sams: So, you just sat there and got a $400.00 raise. Like, I always say this. I always reframe monthly memberships into this, is who just can give themselves a raise? You can't just walk into your boss and be like, at a nine to five, and go, "Yo, boss. $400.00 more a month, right now. Let's go."

Jocelyn Sams: Like that's gonna happen.

Shane Sams: Literally, that's what you did. That's what you did at that table, was you said, "I'm gonna give myself a $400.00 a month raise. And I'm gonna do it right now." And bam, it worked. And then, since Flip Your Life Live, you've been a part of our All Access Mastermind. And we've been pushing you to do more webinars, do more live things, do more things. And I think your revenue, pretty much, has grown to around $20,000.00 in a monthly recurring revenue now, correct?

Blair T.: Right, right. We're right about $20,000.00 a month in revenue, so-

Shane Sams: I love how casually you said that.

Jocelyn Sams: Yeah, you just throw that out there.

Shane Sams: Like, literally two months ago, you were like, "Man, everything's stagnant. I've got some people in there, but nobody's doing it." Now you're like, "Yeah, we're at 20, heading to 50 by next month. Whatever."

Blair T.: You presented with a unique struggle, because I had already set my 2019 goals, and my 2019 goals were to get to $10,000.00 a month in recurring revenue. And so, pretty much, we blew that out of the water by September.

Shane Sams: So, whenever you need to move ahead with something in your life, you just come over and talk to Shane and Jocelyn. That's what she's saying.

Blair T.: Right, right.

Jocelyn Sams: Basically, that's what you're trying to say.

Shane Sams: That's what you're trying to say. We skipped over something. My favorite part of this whole story ... And of course, well, we'll talk about it in a minute. But my favorite part of this whole story, and I can't remember exactly when you told me this. I don't remember if it was on Facebook, or on Voxer in the Mastermind, or maybe even when we were together, live. It may have been at the live event. After your big ... the webinar, the 72 hours, whatever, you get this $10,000.00 a month, that you didn't have the month before. Right? Whatever. You told me you woke up ... 'cause you still work in clinics, and do things like that, right? You still go-

Blair T.: Yeah, like one or two days a week.

Shane Sams: Exactly. So, you still do that. And I remember you said you got up, and your husband looked over at you, and he said ... tell us what he said.

Blair T.: So yeah, I think I sent you, in a Facebook message, because I was actually at work whenever i was telling you about the results of the webinar and stuff. So, I was at work, and I said, "Oh, by the way, this morning, my husband, when we were getting ready, and I was about to walk out the door, he was like, "So, are you still going to work today?"

Shane Sams: What an amazing question. That is awesome.

Jocelyn Sams: Yeah, Shane was so pumped about that. He talked about it on the stage at the event, because he was so excited. So yeah, that is awesome. I love that so much.

Shane Sams: "Are you going to work?" Isn't that the question that we all wanna ... anyone who's starting an online business, that's the moment you wanna get to, is that moment where you say, "When is my last day at work?" But it's not even like, "If you choose to do," ... Like, I've got a buddy, he's got an amazing online business. He's built it into a half million dollars in revenue a year. Great profit margins. He's doing an amazing job, but he really liked his job. He really liked what he was doing. He stuck with it a couple more years, but it was like, he always had the option, at any time he wanted, to say, "I don't have to do this." And isn't that really the point we're getting to, it's like, it's not necessarily if you do, or if you don't. It's, "I have the power to choose," like you could've literally said, "Nope. Not going anywhere today." Or you could say, "Hey, I'm gonna keep doing this, 'cause I want to," or whatever. There's all kinds of reasons we have for the way we live our live. But that's just an amazing power to have, is to say, "I don't need the other people. I don't need the employer. I can choose to stay home if I want to."

Blair T.: Absolutely. And I think it makes me a better Pharmacist. It makes me better in my community that I'm here because I wanna be here. And I really enjoy, I personally identify with being a Pharmacist, and so, it's optional for me. And now, as the membership is growing, and I'm getting more busy, it might be that I'm forced out of being able to go to my job and work, because this other thing, my members, need me more.

Shane Sams: Well, and also, too, what you really identify with, 'cause for anybody that doesn't know what our All Access program is, we talk every day, literally, through an app. But it's like messages. It's like a running conversation that never ends. Right? And what I always feel from you, is what you really care about, is serving Pharmacists. And that's really where your passion is, is helping these Pharmacists do this thing that you teach. And before, you were doing a lot of good in the real world, as you had very few members. But now, you have so many members, the good you can do, is kind of shifting that way. Right? So, it's not really a choice of doing one thing you love over another, it's making the most impact, where you can make the most impact. And right now, that's starting to look like your membership.

Blair T.: And that really resonated with me, too. When we changed the prices, I took that risk. I had always increased my prices, so it was very scary for me to decrease that price, and take that risk. But the reason I did it, and the whole reason behind everything, was I wanted more people to have access to that information.

Shane Sams: And you've gotta be careful, too. There's a very bad problem, especially in online marketing right now, called Vanity Pricing. Everybody's telling everybody, "Charge 1,000 bucks. Charge 5,000 bucks. Charge what you're worth," right? But that doesn't take into account ... that's a lot of ego-driven pricing. And that doesn't take ... one, you should charge what it's worth. The value of it. Right? But that doesn't take into account the actual market. It doesn't take your mission into account.

Shane Sams: One thing we talked about at Flip Your Life Live a lot, was mission. And your mission was to get your message to as many people as possible. Well that, requires you to remove barriers. Right? So, you've gotta find that sweet spot between making great income for yourself, and reaching the masses, which is what you wanted to accomplish. You know what I'm saying? So, you've gotta be careful with all ... yes, we are for raising prices when ... And you did kinda raise your price. 'Cause you raised the monthly price. You just lowered the barrier to get in-

Blair T.: Right.

Shane Sams: And killed two birds with one stone.

Blair T.: Right. And it was the right move, and it was the right thing to do. And now, with the extra revenue I have, I'm looking at putting on some in-person events for women in Pharmacy leadership conferences.

Jocelyn Sams: I love that. I think that's a great idea. I wanna dive into something that we were talking about before we started recording, because I think a lot of times, people think, "Well, Blair, she's making great money now. Everything is a breeze, and she's walking on Easy Street," right?

Shane Sams: I'm walkin' on sunshine.

Jocelyn Sams: So, let's dive into that a little bit, and just talk about how have things changed? And what are you going through right now, as you're trying to level up again?

Blair T.: So, Shane and I were talking about this on Voxer the other day, and I just said, "I feel almost more pressure now that I have this huge responsibility, that I want to continue making this better and better for people, but now that the revenue has multiplied, now the opportunities are multiplying, and I have to be very intentional with what opportunities I'm saying yes to, because there's an opportunity cost for every decision I make now, so it almost feels like there's more pressure.

Shane Sams: Sure. And I love the way you frame that, because that's not how you presented it in the conversation the other day. But we were talking back and forth, and you were like, "Okay, I think I'm gonna do this, now. And I think I'm gonna do this now. And I think I'm gonna do this." You kept telling me, every message you sent me that night was something new. Right? "I'm gonna redesign my website. I'm gonna redesign my sales page. I'm gonna go do this. I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna go do this." And I remember, 'cause we went through this. This is a true thing that will happen when the launch finally turns that corner, and oh my gosh money, right? You know what I'm saying? And it's like, Mo' Money, Mo' Problems. I literally said that to you on Voxer. I was like, "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems, Blair."

Shane Sams: At first, in many of our decisions, we start our online business, we've got a fork in the road that we've gotta take. It's a right or a left. And we think, if we take the correct road, it will straighten out, and we move on railroad tracks straight ahead. Right?

Shane Sams: But the problem is, if you take that correct path ... you know, if you take the wrong path, you'll get a dead end, you've gotta go back through the fork, and go take the other path. But if you take the right path, up ahead is a better choice. So, you might have three ways to go next time. "Do I go left, do I go right, do I go straight." And then, if I take the correct one there, I go forward, and two of those paths may be right. You don't know. Then there's five choices, and 10 choices. And it's like the farther you go, the more choices you have to make. And it can get really, really overwhelming.

Shane Sams: But in your case, you are on a path where we have an offer that converts, and we have a great promotional tool that is still converting, 'cause every time you do a webinar, you get more members. Right?

Blair T.: Right.

Shane Sams: And I kinda remember us speaking to you, to this, "Let's just stay on this path for a little while. All of these other forks in the road are fine, but let's just keep going on this path, or we'll eventually take another path. We can choose that other path." Those opportunities are not gonna go anywhere. Right? Roads don't disappear. And we'll just keep hammering the nail until we get to a certain point where we can start experimenting more, and the risks aren't as big. They don't matter as much. So how did you feel when I was like, "Blair, stop looking at all the paths. Just keep doing what you're doing until we double it again."

Blair T.: Yeah, I mean, that's what I needed to hear, because I do get into this content creation, new products, new ideas, and I start thinking about, "Oh, I could add this, and then I could add this other thing." And you were like, "You've got this one thing that's working, why don't you see how that plays out for the next six months, before you do anything else? Before you add anything else." And I was like, "You know what? He's right. He is definitely right."

Jocelyn Sams: And I think a lot of what it is, is that we're not sure of where to go next, once we get to that point. And because of that, we start looking at things that we can control. That we know how to control. "Okay, well I know how to control what my website looks like, so let's start tinkering with that, because that makes me feel like I'm doing something," but it's not really moving the business forward. And I say this because I do this, too. Okay? When I'm not sure what to do, I start saying, "Well, this sales page is converting at X percent. I really want it to convert at Y percent." You know? And when we start doing that, we start really taking the focus away of growing, and making more people aware of your product, and serving people in the way that they need to be served.

Shane Sams: And what I'm guilty of, is something along this same line of what y'all are talking about, is you made a ... even though, it was a simple decision. It was really just, hit delete three times, and change your price. Really, honestly, and then present it a different way. It was a dramatic decision. It was a major moment. And there's a high to that. There's a dopamine hit that hits the day after a $10,000.00 monthly recurring revenue launch. Right? And you think to yourself, "What else could I change? What else could I do dramatically, or drastically, that could cause something like that to happen again?" Because you're looking for that spark, right?

Shane Sams: And really, it's like peaks and valleys. Now, it's time to grind, and consolidate those gains, and make it work again. Over, and over, and over. Just keep hammering it, and keep doing that same thing. Be consistent, be prolific with that thing, 'cause eventually, that thing will probably level out again, too. And then, we have to make another decision, right? Just like at first, we you had this big join fee. It didn't kinda work for a while, but then it just stagnated. Right? All things eventually do that, but we wanna jump to the next thing so fast, 'cause we want that high again. That's why people get addicted to affiliate launches, and things like that, because it feels so good, and you're trying to get to the next hit as fast as possible, when really it's just like, "Why don't I just start stacking bricks, and building a higher wall," right?

Jocelyn Sams: Yeah, I think this is a particularly relevant message to us today, too, because I mean, I'm just sitting here listening to us say this, and I'm like, "Oh, we've just been talking about this all morning," like, "What if we change this? And what if we change that?" Well no, we don't need to change anything. Keep moving forward. Stay on the path. When you start hammering the nail, and it's not all the way in yet, you need to keep hammering it.

Shane Sams: And I'll tell you another thing, and Blair, you can speak to this. Things that sound hard, become easy and mundane as soon as you do them, right? It probably sounded like a mountain when I said, "All right, two weeks, we're gonna launch a webinar. You're gonna change your price, you're gonna do this." Then, you did it, and the webinar's done. And you can pretty much turn it on whenever you want now, like a light switch, right? So, doesn't it feel easy now, compared to how hard it was when we first talked about it?

Blair T.: Yeah, and maybe there is something to that. It's like, "Oh, it's almost too easy, so I need to make it harder on myself. I need to spend more time doing this, or that, or creating a new product," or whatever. So, I think it's a mindset thing, too, is ... And like you said, the dopamine rush of, "I did this thing, and it worked. And I achieved my goal, and it was amazing." And then, there's the, "Okay, well now, what's the next challenge?" Because I'm a person that, I like to set goals, and I like to achieve them. And I like to challenge myself." So though, I do struggle with that. It's not necessarily shiny object syndrome, but more like, "What's the next thing that I can get to?"

Shane Sams: I like how you basically just flippantly rolled past this ... in your sentence, you said, "Yeah, it's almost too easy to do a $10,000.00 monthly membership. It's just too," ... I could just imagine, that was three months ago, this happened. It wasn't like ... actually, it was two months ago. It wasn't an eternity ago. But like, man, things get easier, but it doesn't get easier, as you get more and more in your business. And the lesson for everyone who's hearing this, 'cause we're talking some high dollar stuff here, right? But the lesson for anyone who's listening to this, maybe doesn't have their idea flushed out yet, or maybe is really overwhelmed with the tech, and getting their website set up, or maybe they just don't understand how to do a sales funnel, or marketing. The thing you're at, is where Blair was. It's where we are. That's just the thing that's in front of us, right? Getting out your idea is really hard, until you get the first one. And then, it becomes easy. And setting up a website is really hard. Until you do it. I could have a website up in 30 minutes, right now. The first website I set up took me probably 30 days. Okay?

Shane Sams: But it just, every step you take, when you look back on it, does become mundane. Does become easy. And the key is, just doing it, and figuring it out, even if you fail a little bit. I mean, you have this model for a year or two before you finally changed the one thing that made the difference. But now, you know what to change. So going forward, it becomes easier.

Jocelyn Sams: And the thing you have to do, is make up your mind that you're not going to be stopped. You can find an excuse to stop you, or you can decide, "No, I'm making this happen no matter what." And then, it doesn't matter what comes up. You have to do it. It's like, where we are now. We can't just say, "Oh well, this online business thing is pretty hard. We're just gonna stop doing it." No, that's not an option, because this is how we make our living. So, you can decide. You just have to make that decision, and everyone has to make it at some point. Are you going to make this happen? Or are you not?

Shane Sams: Right.

Blair T.: Right. It took me three years to become an overnight success.

Shane Sams: It's a Blair bomb. You just dropped a Blair bomb now. Three years to become an overnight success. Yeah, it's so funny you say that. And I wanna get to what you're doing now, because we always wanna move people forward. But I send an email out this morning, to our list, because that's how I roll. I send emails out to our list. But Jocelyn actually had the idea for it. Jocelyn's been doing a lot of stuff on social media, and we were talking this morning about my email. And we decided to send out a fill in the blank. So, the fill in the blank was ... I sent it to everyone who was not a member, had never joined the community, and I said, "I have not joined the Flip Your Life community, because of," blank. Right?

Shane Sams: Well one message in particular, and I hope you're listening right now, 'cause I'm pretty sure you listen every week, and I know who you are. Just listen to us. It was a fill in the blank was literally like, "Oh, I can't do this one thing, I can't do that." It was a 14 paragraph, four point novel.

Jocelyn Sams: Manifesto.

Shane Sams: Manifesto, that they wrote back to me. And it was just excuse, after excuse, after excuse. And stuff like that, gets me really fired up. So, I hit reply, to email this person back. And I basically said, "Look, you just sent me a bunch of excuses," and I straight told this person, who I've seen post on our Facebook page, and has replied to some emails before, I just said, "You are not going to make it, as long as all those things are on this list. And there's nothing we can change, to take those things off your list, because they're fears, and obstacles, and things that every single one of us have to deal with.

Shane Sams: And I started going point by point, and I showed him how me and Jocelyn overcame every issue that he had wrote down on that list. And we made it. And we had all the exact same obstacles. The difference was, we did what Jocelyn just said. We decided-

Jocelyn Sams: We decided.

Shane Sams: We were not going to be stopped. We made the choice that we weren't going to quit, and he was letting all of those things blow him up. And that's what I love about you, is you said, "All right, I'm at a point where I've gotta make a decision, I'm gonna do something different, or I'm gonna make this membership thing work." And you made a decision, and right, wrong or indifferent, you did it, and it worked. So now, you can make your next decision.

Shane Sams: So, awesome discussion, man. Great success story. First of all, before we go forward, congratulations. Life-changing numbers. Life-changing actions that you took are really paying off. And it's opening doors. These doors that are open are overwhelming, but gosh, Blair, a year from now, I have no idea where you're gonna be. You may pass us up, and everybody else that's listening.

Jocelyn Sams: We hope so.

Shane Sams: And we hope so.

Jocelyn Sams: That'll be awesome.

Shane Sams: So, totally, congratulations for everything you've accomplished.

Blair T.: Thank you. I appreciate that.

Jocelyn Sams: Okay, Blair. We've had a really interesting discussion today about just mindset, and making things happen. But we wanna know how we can help you move forward now. So what's something that is maybe something that you're struggling with, something that you need to move forward on that we could help you with today, on this call?

Blair T.: So, I think continuing what Shane and I have been talking about is ways that I could still offer one-on-one help to my members. So, we do the member call, and we do the forum call. So what he and I were talking about, was doing something along the lines of the Voxer Mastermind, like I've been working with you guys. And so, looking at, "Should I just continue doing the monthly membership? Making that offer right now, and should I put this VIP package thing on the back burner for a little while?"

Shane Sams: You know, I was told by a mentor of mine one time, the way you grow a million dollar business, a consistent million dollar business, is you sell people one thing, and then you sell them something else. Right? That's where a lot of people get stuck is, they get that idea, they sell one thing, and then they make it, but they don't have anywhere else for anyone to go. Right? I'd say, in the last year of our business, we've developed different places for people to go. At first, it might've been an annual plan, right? That was higher than LTB of the monthly plan, or Flip Your Life Live. Right? That's another place for people to go. That's why we introduced our All Access Mastermind, which is what we do now, is because that's another place for people to go when they're ready. Right? It's not just get them there, just to sell them something. It's, "Hey, what would be next for the person at my current level? How can I offer that?" So that's really the question that we have to ask is, is that truly the next thing, after your monthly membership?

Shane Sams: If it is, then maybe that is what we create, on a small scale, to test it.

Jocelyn Sams: Well, and I would say two things. First of all, the reason that we started this Mastermind, is because that's what our people were asking for. Okay? So we had people saying, "Hey, we want the opportunity to work with you more closely." And we said, "Okay, well how can we provide that?" And this is what we came up with. But it's a combination of that, and also, what do you want?

Jocelyn Sams: So, is this something that you want to do? Or is it something that you feel like you need to do, because someone else is doing it? You have to really look and say, "Okay, is this something I want? Do I have the time to do it? And are people asking for it?" So, it's sort of a combination of all those three things for me."

Blair T.: I think that's good advice, too. And so, I think the answer is probably putting it on the back burner until people are consistently reaching out and asking me for more one-on-one time.

Shane Sams: What would be, right now, though ... Okay, that's awesome. See, it's amazing to think about that, because it's like, just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should do it. You know? You could totally do this. We've talked about this, how you actually have a couple people that you could totally offer this for. Right? And maybe there is room to beta something like that, but you don't have to, just because you can. Right? That's what opportunities are.

Jocelyn Sams: And I think you could even put that word out there, so maybe on your member calls, say, "Hey, I've got a couple of people who have asked me for this. Is this something that other people would be interested in? I'm just trying to get a little bit of interest, and see who all's interested." It could be something that you email out, like you segment people off, and just know that those people are interested-

Shane Sams: And you still know how to do it, though, right? You could just say, "Are you interested?" Like, when we did ... when we first emailed out the live event, we just said, "Do you guys want us to have a live event?" And people said, "Yes." Then, we started thinking about actually offering it, but we still know it was on the table. Right?

Jocelyn Sams: And you know we baby step everything. I mean, for the live event, we said, "Hey, we're thinking about doing this. Are people interested? And of course, hundreds of people were like, "Oh, yeah, yeah. We're interested." And then, it came time to, "okay well, we think enough people are interested, so let's start crafting an offer." So, we start looking for a city. We start talking to a venue. All these different types of things, we find a date, and then we send it out again and said, "Okay, well you told me you were interested, so now show me that you're interested. Put down a deposit, or pay for this thing." And people did. So, you can do it in stages like that. That's the way that I like to do things. I don't like to just create a whole big thing, and hope that people sign up for it. I like to do it in baby steps like that.

Shane Sams: And I wanna stress this, too, when you're thinking about this, this isn't something that's totally easy to come up with, right this second. Right? But when you're asking those questions that Jocelyn laid out, "What do I wanna do? What are my people asking for? And what do people actually need?" 'Cause you know that. They don't. You're the doctor, they're the patient. Right? When you're starting to look for that, it's like the Venn diagram, and that balance between those three things. Sometimes, all people need is to keep going. You've got all these people in this membership, and you've got this thing. Maybe it's as simple as, "I just need to get in there, and keep them going so they keep paying every month." Right? And work on that retention.

Shane Sams: So, you said something else about a live event, too. Doing live workshops, or something like that. We gotta figure out that perfect blending of what you want ... I feel like you want to work closer with people. You don't just want a huge community. You want there to be a personal element to it, so maybe you just say, "I'm going to do a personal element. I'm going to set a goal to have this ready in three months, but I'm gonna spend the next three months with these people, and figure out where that intersects of what they need, with what they want, with what I actually want to do, maybe I experiment one person at a time, within this." You see what I'm saying? And then, we answer that question, and we actually build it in the next quarter, or something like that.

Shane Sams: And while we're doing that, we go add another hundred members into your membership. And then, it's like, it doesn't matter what you do at that point. It'll work. It's all going to work. Right? It's just finding that sweet spot of what you want, compared to what they need, compared to what they're asking for, that makes you successful.

Blair T.: Sounds good. Well, I will shelf it til first quarter.

Jocelyn Sams: All right. I like it.

Shane Sams: Well listen, Blair, first of all, you're amazing. You're absolutely amazing. You amaze me every day. The action you take is just what's making everything happen in your life. I'm glad that we get to be a part of your journey, and we get to watch all this amazing stuff. And also, too, thank you for coming on the show today, and letting us be transparent, and open. I know it's not an easy thing, to come share success, or even hear someone bragging on you. I know we're bragging on you right now, but you deserve it. And you're gonna do some amazing things going forward. And I know a lot of people are gonna be inspired by this episode, and go take some action. So thank you so much for being on the show today.

Blair T.: Thank you for having me. And thank you guys for everything you do, and putting on the Flip Life Live. I think that was such a great event, and it really gave me a reset point, and something to strive for, to achieve my goals before I got there.

Jocelyn Sams: All right guys, you heard it from Blair. Flip Your Life Live 2018 was amazing. If you are interested in getting on our waiting list for the event in 2019, we are in the middle of planning it right now, and we would love to see you there. If you would like to learn more, head over to Flippedlifestyle.com/live to get on the waiting list.

Shane Sams: All right guys, that is all the time we have for this week. Thank you so much for listening. And until next time, get out there and do whatever it takes to flip your life. We'll see you then.

Jocelyn Sams: Bye.

Links and resources mentioned on today's show:

• Blair's website
• Flip Your Life LIVE 2019 Waiting List
• Flip Your Life community 30-day trial

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