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Today I’m talking with Ezra Firestone about creating Big Value in a world where we have to compete with so much noise and competition.
How do we begin to set ourselves apart and position ourselves, and our products and services as having THE true solution to the needs and desires of our target audiences?
Have a listen to my chat with Ezra as we talk about the answers to these question and more.
See highlights and links from of our chat below…
Check out the transcript or download it to read later: ENJOY!
DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT
Podcast Highlights:
• How growing up within an “alternative lifestyle experiment” caused Ezra to look differently at how to go about preparing for and pursuing a career.
• More life lessons learned while playing poker for a living.
• Starting out online around 2005 with SEO and retailing physical products.
• Becoming well known for and teaching eCommerce to other and branching off into information products as another business.
• Thoughts on VALUE – “Value is subjective, right? Everyone has value to offer. It’s can you communicate that value to a group of people? That’s what it is. Marketing is all about communication…”
• Stop trading time for money – “Let’s think about the difference between trading your time for money and setting up systems such as eCommerce stores or businesses that work for you that aren’t relying specifically on your time.”
• “FIRST STEP is to change your mind about money and change your mind about what you can create in the world and what’s possible, and that’s step one.”
• Get your head right first: “Learning about the mindsets, shifts that you need to make in order to understand how to build a business for yourself. And that was through reading books like, The Cash Flow Quadrant and Rich Dad Poor Dad and Think and Grow Rich and Breaking Loose from the Money Game and the E-Myth.”
• “STEP TWO is putting together some sort of strategy which is like… what can I do to add value if you want to use that particular lingo. What can I do? What kind of offer can I make a group of people that they’d be interested in taking me up on them?
• “Serve the World Unselfishly and Profit, and I believe that you can’t really profit any other way, right? The only way that you really can profit is if the people who you are serving are actually being, if you’re actually adding value to those people, right? You can’t actually profit in the full sense of the word unless you’re serving other people.”
Listen to hear a detailed example of this plan in action.
• How can you and your business stand out from the crowd?
“Here’s how can you separate yourself in any business. Actually, care. That’s all it takes. Not many people do. Everyone’s profit-driven.”
• For a Killer Mindset and
Ezra Firestone – Serve the World Unselfishly and Profit
1. BigValueBigBusiness.com
Ezra Firestone
SmartMarketer.com
James: All right, welcome back my friends to yet another edition of the Big Value Big Business podcast. I
am your host James Lynch. I am really big, big, big time super excited about my very special guest today.
His name is Mr. Ezra Firestone. Ezra comes to us from smartmarketer.com where he encourages others
to share their message with the world through digital marketing
On smartmarketer.com among so much great content. Ezra offers a free program which is a 7-part
eCommerce conversion course which is designed to double your sales, increase your average order
value and get you more business.
One last thing, what really speaks to me and my mission here at bigvaluebigbusiness.com is Ezra’s
motto, probably displayed at the very top of his website. It says; Serve the World Unselfishly and Profit. I
love that message. Ezra Firestone, how are you today sir?
Ezra: I’m good man! Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
James: Thank you very much. I appreciate you coming on and I’m really looking forward to have you
share your philosophy on service, and how it relates to all matters of bringing big value to the market
place, so sound like a plan?
Ezra: Yeah, man. Let’s do it.
James: All right. Can we start up maybe a get a little bit history from Ezra, find out who he is and where
he came from? How you get your entrepreneur beginnings and a little bit about your journey. What
brought you to right here where you are today?
Ezra: Sure. It’s a very long story so I’ll just give you the gist of it.
James: Cool.
Ezra: I grew up in an alternative lifestyle experiment, so a hippy commune of sorts. And that gave me a
lot of alternative view points in life, right, on communication and relationships and business, and that
kind of stuff. And then, I graduated high school so I’ll just fast forward. And I went into a normal high
school. I went to public school. I wasn’t like a weird sheltered kid, you know?
James: Right.
Ezra: And I was looking around. I believe you get what you want from people who have it. So I was
looking around like you want to learn how to run a yoga studio, you find someone who’s doing that.
You’ll learn it from them. You want to learn run an internet business, you find someone who’s doing that
and you’ll learn it from them. And so I was looking around at college and that didn’t look exciting to me.
There’s nothing that I wanted. The people who were there didn’t have what I want. And so I moved to
2. New York when I was 18, and played poker for living for a little while, and ended up getting a job. I
worked in a make-up studio and in a yoga shop.
I think we all get to this game, the game of entrepreneurialism and having your own thing, seeking some
form of freedom, right? Like location freedom or financial freedom or freedom of time, whatever that
freedom might be. And for me, it was combination of freedom of time and freedom of location and
freedom to have the resources to do the things I wanted to do in the world. And so I kind of got started
with SEO a long time ago, back in about 2005. And I’ve been sort of in the internet space since then
doing all kinds of different things, and really specializing in retailing physical products.
James: And that’s about what you’re focusing on right now?
Ezra: Well, I’ve got three different businesses right now. I’ve got eCommerce businesses, right, my
physical product businesses. I have a information marketing company where I create and share
information in the form of short form videos and long form audios like this podcast with my community.
A community of people are interested in online business and growth in their life and many different
areas.
And then I make that community of people follows my content, relevant to offers, coaching, consulting
courses, services etcetera. So eCommerce businesses, information marketing business that monetize
through courses and events, and things like that. And then the services agency, where I do design and
development work for other business owners. So three kind of business models that I have right now.
James: Wow and you’ve got quite the bases covered too.
Ezra: Thanks man.
James: Yeah, man! So it’s safe to say, I usually ask the question, was there a point in time where you
really didn’t want to work for someone else? And you seem like you had that figured out from the get go
or even from when you were looking to go to college. But what made you think that maybe you had
something of value to offer, with your SEO product, your eCommerce product?
Ezra: Value is subjective, right? Everyone has value to offer. It’s can you communicate that value to a
group of people? That’s what it is. Marketing is all about communication, right? The thing about like, I
got involved in, I was looking at like the world and how people spend their time. And a lot of people
spend a very large amount of their time doing stuff that they don’t enjoy doing. Working for people that
they don’t enjoy working for, and I started learning, when I got into the, when I first started learning
that this stuff, I first started learning about concepts and mindsets around money, right?
Like forget about tactics and strategy. Let’s think about the difference between trading your time for
money and setting up systems such as eCommerce stores or businesses that work for you that aren’t
relying specifically on your time. So when I was playing poker and have to play poker for eight hours
straight in order to make x amount of money, now, I’ve got an eCommerce business that works for me
all night while I’m sleeping.
So I started learning about the mindsets, shifts that you need to make in order to understand how to
build a business for yourself. And that was through reading books like, The Cash Flow Quadrant and Rich
Dad Poor Dad and Think and Grow Rich and Breaking Loose from the Money Game and the E-Myth. So
3. I’ve read all these books and about that that got my mind in a place where I was ready to, where I would
have the frame of mind and understanding to be able to pull off my own venture.
So the first step really is to get your mind straight about this whole process. And the way I did that was
through education, through books, and I recommend that as the first step. When every people come to
me and like, hey man, I want to learn how to build an online business. I’m like, okay, the first step is to
change your mind about money and change your mind about what you can create in the world and
what’s possible, and that’s step one. And then, step two is putting together some sort of strategy which
is like what can I do to add value if you want to use that particular lingo. What can I do? What kind of
offer can I make a group of people that they’d be interested in taking me up on them?
And all that takes is paying attention to a specific group of people, right? Like if you look at my
community of eCommerce business owners and online business owners and podcasters and stuff, they
all need design. They all need development. They all need marketing training. Like I just know the
problems and the things that they need and then I make them relevant offers based on the desires that
that community has.
James: So you have you interpretation of value being subjective. How do you link service to that? How
do you effectively serve someone and be able to profit from them? Could you expand on that a little bit?
Ezra: The only way that you really can profit is if the people who you are serving are actually being, if
you’re actually adding value to those people, right? You can’t actually profit in the full sense of the word
unless you’re serving other people.
James: Right.
Ezra: So, I mean there are schemes and stuff like that but that don’t add any value. And I wouldn’t
recommend doing because they all fall apart at some point. But look at a practical example, so if you
look at my tagline is Serve the World Unselfishly and Profit, and I believe that you can’t really profit any
other way, right?
So here’s a practical example. That I run these events, and the event is like a 3-day event and I share
with you over the course of that 3-day event, everything that I know about online marketing that I could
fit in to three days, Facebook ads and conversion and mindset and business models and all that kind of
stuff, right? And it’s a free event, it’s $97 to attend this event, to reserve your seat.
James: For three days?
Ezra: For three days.
James: Wow.
Ezra: Now, at the end of that event, I make an offer. And the offer is a very high ticket offer. It’s like a
$10,000 offer. And it’s only relevant to like 2% of the room. There’s only 2% of the folks who attend this
thing, of the 3 of 400 people that are in the room, that this offer actually makes sense for. They’re ready
to take the step, that they’re ready to have someone design and develop a website and coach them to
the process of building out an eCommerce business. It’s a very specific offer that’s not relevant to
everyone.
4. So I’m able to serve my community by creating this experience that’s very affordable and accessible to
everyone, and then a very small part of that community, I make an offer to them that’s relevant, right?
That is valuable and that’s awesome. And I’m able to monetize this experience on that very small offer
that I make at the end. I’m able to make money and profit and support my family and pay my employees
and all that stuff. And the people who were buying that package are supporting the rest of the group
who can’t afford to buy that package.
So they’re basically putting on this event for everyone through purchasing this product. That they then is
a really awesome thing because I basically build a business for them. So that’s an example of serving the
world unselfishly and profit. I’m able to serve my community. I’m able to profit. The people who buy this
thing get a really amazing product that super relevant to them that moves them forward in their
business, and the people who can’t afford get an awesome 3-day event. So that’d be a practical example
of that. Does that makes sense?
James: It totally does. It totally does and that 2% is what pays for the rest. And the others are taking
away such great value with the $97 buying for 3 days for just a…
Ezra: And they may come back and buy something from me.
James: Sure.
Ezra: Who wants there further down the road or whatever.
James: Sure.
Ezra: But I think the key is like what are the problems, topics, conversations that are relevant to the lives
of your community like what are these people talking about? What are the problems that they’re
experiencing? If you’re looking at the services business model, what is it that they need help with? And
it’s really easy to know that if you are one of them, right? I am an internet business owner. I know the
problems that I have. I know what I need to help with. So that’s what you look at first. And then, you
say, okay, can I solve any of those problems? And if you can, then you get yourself a services business.
James: Yes. So tell me Ezra, how can a small business person entrepreneur, solopreneur really separate
themselves from all the noise out there and really stand out among the crowd?
Ezra: Here’s how can you separate yourself in any business. Actually, care. That’s all it takes. Not many
people do. Everyone’s profit-driven. If you actually care about the experience of the people who
engaged with you, and you articulate to them, if you communicate that to them, you will do really well
in your business because people will feel that. People feel you. It’s particularly in the services business.
You’re dealing with people. It’s all about communication. And they feel you when you talk to them.
And so you have to be genuine. You have to actually care about the results they’re getting, and it does
not matter if you’re as good as the next guy if you care more because you’ll work with them longer.
You’ll communicate with them more. Like you will provide better service and therefore get the business
even if you may not be quite as good at XYZ. You can’t vacuum the carpet as well, whatever the thing is.
It doesn’t matter.
5. James: Because they feel you, and that’s a connection. That’s a human connection that they’re getting
from you.
Ezra: That’s right.
James: Absolutely, absolutely. So tell us a little bit about what it takes for you to have a killer mindset? I
mean to feel awesome, to be the very best you can be mentally and physically, and to be able to give
your all, day in and day out.
Ezra: Here’s what you need to do. Figure out how to be happy. Figure out like what it takes for you to
enjoy yourself, right? What does it take? Does it take you getting a little extra sleep? Does it take you
eating a proper diet? Does it take you having physical touch like getting a massage or like having touch
with another human being? Like what is the thing that has you feel good in your body? What is the thing
that has you feel good in your mind? Perhaps it’s enough rest. Perhaps it’s enough break between work.
And like, if you do that, if you do what it takes to feel good and be happy, perhaps it’s moving your body
a certain amount each week. Perhaps it’s like, who knows what it is for you. But if you’re willing to do
the work to be a fulfilled and happy person, then things will come together in your life and people will
want to be around you because there’s not a whole lot of them, right? In our society, like we have a lot
of victims and a lot of people who are not happy with their daily experience. And so if you can get to a
place where you create a life for yourself or create an experience for yourself on a daily basis that you
can get happy about, really, it’s just takes changing your mind, then you will be successful in whatever
your endeavours are.
James: And you will be productive. And you will be a accountable, and you will stay, well...
Ezra: You do all that stuff. You’ll be enjoying yourself.
James: Thank you for taking that at the root, and just moving right to the answer. Thank you very much.
James: Ezra, where did you get your inspiration from your ideas? Do you belong to any particular
mastermind group or special communities?
Ezra: I get inspiration from a lot of places. I’m very highly network at this point. So I talk to friends who
were in my same business model.
James: Yes.
Ezra: I’d highly recommend joining some form of group. And I think for, if you’re just getting started in
an internet business, it’s probably Super Fast Business, James’ membership is probably the best place to
start because there’s like a thousand members from all kinds of different businesses. And you’re
immediately part of a huge community that has lots of communication. You can pretty much get in any
question you want to answer. I think joining a community of some kind is probably the best bet.
James: You know, I talked to a lot of, I have talked to quite a few people and they all say, a mastermind,
a group, a community, that’s one message that’s consisted about so many people I spoke to.
6. Ezra: I mean the things that you put your attention on grow, right? If you would ignore something, it
shrinks. If you ignore your personal relationships, if you ignore your significant other, that experience
goes away. And the things you put attention on grow. So if you’re hanging out with a group of people
who were all paying attention to business and lifestyle and mindset and having those conversations,
you’re going to experience growth in that area.
James: Perfect. Perfect. Thank you very much. How about current projects? Tell us what you’re working
on if you want to have a visit any particular site or?
Ezra: smartmarketer.com.
James: Sure.
Ezra: And, thinkactget.com. Check me out. We got all kinds of stuff but those are really the places you
can engage with my content if you’re interested in this kind of stuff. I share my research. I share what
I’m up to and I’m pretty good at it, I think.
James: Cool. Did you have a podcast outside of Think Act Get?
Ezra: Yeah, it’s on smartmarketer.com.
James: Awesome. And if they want to get in touch with you in our listeners, they can reach you at
smartmarketer.com?
Ezra: Yeah. Thanks guys. I appreciate you taking some time to hang out with us today. And I look
forward to hearing about how your business goes in the future.
James: Yeah, man. I appreciate you being with us too. Thank you very much, Ezra.
Ezra: Thank you so much.
James: Take care. Bye.