SPI 657: How to Leave Your Job and Start a Business with Amy Porterfield

SPI 657: How to Leave Your Job and Start a Business with Amy Porterfield

Amy Porterfield: If you’re staying in your nine to five job and you start creating this business, you’re not going to have a lot of time. But you also have to ask yourself, how bad do you want it? How bad do you wanna call the shots? How bad do you not wanna work on someone else’s time or someone else’s dime?

Getting clear on your why, what you want, like all I wanted was freedom. So no matter how hard it was going to get, and it got hard for a while, I knew freedom was more important.

I let my why pick me up off the ground when my worries kind of knocked me down, but the rewards of being your own boss and doing your own things, far exceed any of the challenges to get you there.

Pat Flynn: This is our good friend Amy Porterfield, one of the smartest marketers I know, but I challenge her today. She has a new book that just came out called Two Weeks Notice, and it’s for anybody who’s interested in putting in their two week notice, right? How to escape the nine to five very specific strategies on how to do that and how to do it right.

And even if you have a business, how to go back to the foundations of, well, what’s gonna work for growing your brand list, building, all those kinds of things. Again, inside of Two Weeks Notice, but she’s on this podcast tour right now. I wanna help out my friend, but I wanna challenge her too. She has to earn her spot here.

And she did because I role play with her today. I pretend to be somebody who’s unhappy at a nine to five job, and I challenge her with some really hard questions on what I should be doing and how to know even what to do and what’s that timeline like. And I’m a busy, you know, I play a person named Greg and I’m busy and I’m at work, and then I’m at home with my kid and my wife and I don’t have that much time.

So if you can resonate with that, this is definitely for you. And if you’re a fan of Amy Porterfield, this, this is definitely for you as well. So my good friend Amy Porterfield, her brand new book, Two Weeks Notice. Hope you enjoy this episode. We have a lot of laughs, a lot of fun. You might be grossed out at one point and hopefully come away with some golden nuggets here to help you and check out her book as well.

Here she is, Amy Porterfield.

Announcer: Welcome to the Smart Passive Income Podcast, where it’s all about working hard now, so you can sit back and reap the benefits later. And now your host, he can’t be productive while listening to music with a regular beat. Pat Flynn.

Pat Flynn: Amy, welcome back once again to the Smart Passive Income Podcast.

Thank you so much for being here.

Amy Porterfield: Oh my goodness. I’m so excited to be here yet again. So thanks for having me.

Pat Flynn: Yes. And you know, you were here just recently, but I wanted to bring you back on because there’s something important happening in your life, which could mean something important in other people’s lives.

Tell us what this amazing, important thing is it’s happening right now.

Amy Porterfield: So I wrote a book. It’s my first official book. It’s called Two Weeks Notice. And it’s all about finding the courage to quit your nine to five job and go after what you really want. Essentially starting your own business, being your own boss.

And so I wrote this book for those that are in the cubicle or in the side office, still in the nine to five job working away, knowing there’s something more for them out there. But there’s, this book is also for somebody who just wants to move away from what they no longer want and step into what they do want, which is starting a business.

So it, it shows you that all the foundational pieces you need to start your first online business.

Pat Flynn: We have a lot of friends here at SPI who’ve written books, but I wanted to bring you in really quickly here because this book is like perfect timing for the macro economy and what’s happening in the world right now.

A lot of people are losing their jobs. A lot of people are unhappy and, and I think a lot of people know in recessions, like what we’re in right now, that’s a perfect time for opportunity. However, there’s a lot that goes along with a big decision like that. For me, I got kicked out of my architecture job, so I was sort of forced to go down this way.

This can be the guide for you if you’re unhappy or want to start something new or switch positions, whatever you might be in. So I do wanna get into the book and I actually wanna role play with you. I’m gonna pretend like I’m somebody who maybe is unhappy at my job and, and you can walk me through the process so we can see sort of how this works.

Before that though, you, you said this is your first official book. I know that you published a book with a traditional publisher way back in the day and it was like a dummies book, right? Yes. So does that, is that not official?

Amy Porterfield: Yeah. I can’t call that my first official book cuz I genuinely had nothing to do with it except writing what’s in those pages.

And I had two other people that wrote it with me, but like I didn’t market it, I didn’t promote it in any way. Looking back, I’m like, why did they even let me get away with doing nothing with, so this book feels very new to me.

Pat Flynn: So that was Facebook for Dummies. So there’s no Metaverse for Dummy’s book in your future?

Amy Porterfield: No. I wouldn’t even know what to say. I’m so far removed.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, I It probably not even worth anybody’s time to be honest. But this is gonna be fun because, I mean, how does this book differ from other books that, you know, talk about the same thing, you know, escape the nine to five, yada yada, yada. Like, what’s unique about this?

I know that Amy always brings something unique to it, but why don’t you tell us all what that is?

Amy Porterfield: I think one of the unique things about this book is that I’m gonna take you through my journey, what worked and what didn’t. So you really get a backstage pass to a multi-million dollar business starting from when I was still in my nine to five job. So I use a lot of my own experiences, quite honestly, stories I didn’t want to tell, but I knew I needed to in order to make an impact. And so I told the hard stories of when I crashed and burned and when things didn’t work out and, and really get some solid lessons so people don’t have to make the same mistakes I made.

But also I think it’s different in the sense that there’s a lot of business books out there and there’s a lot of self-help books out there. But when I was looking for my competition, cuz you always have to do that when putting together a book proposal. I couldn’t find any books, especially written by women who will walk you through step by step by step, here’s exactly what you need to do and here’s how to do it.

So, you know, I’ve always been a how-to kind of girl. I think our, our way of teaching is very similar, where we actually hold people’s hand through the process and that’s really what this book will do.

Pat Flynn: I think it’s such a smart move on your end. I mean, you’re obviously already a very successful business owner, entrepreneur.

To have a book like this, this artifact that you can now share for people who are just getting started is absolutely key. That was Will It Fly for me in 2015. Because that answered a whole bunch of questions. It helped people understand how what I was teaching was relevant to them. And you talk about storytelling, I mean, that’s what Will it Fly is about, and I love this because we’re gonna uncover some stories that, what’s maybe one story that you haven’t yet shared, that is maybe in the book that you could touch on right now that we can look forward to, to learn more about?

Amy Porterfield: Well, I talk about leaving my partnership in a really deep way that I’ve never talked about online.

Pat Flynn: Oh, you and I have had personal conversations about this, right? Is is it, yes. I’m not gonna mention names, but is this what I’m thinking?

Amy Porterfield: Yes. Okay. And I know I’ve told you more stuff than maybe is even in the book, but I really went there in the book and talked about some mistakes I made taking on a partner. Why I took on the partner, probably different than most people would think, why I did it, and then what it looked like to get out of it and how scary that was.

So I go there. I also tell a story about when I was still at Tony Robbins and I got to talk to somebody about building their online business. She had a business like I wanted, so she got on the phone with me. I paid her, and I hid under my desk so that nobody at Robins could hear me. So I was like, tell me all about your business and how you created it.

So it, these little things of what I needed to do to get here. Just stories that I haven’t told, but I think they’re necessary so people realize, oh wait, I’m not so crazy to be doing this kind of stuff.

Pat Flynn: In the book writing process to like get those stories out of you, how did you do that? What was your process for telling the best story and, and remembering those things and pulling out those details.

Did you have any, do you have any secrets for the future book writers in the audience?

Amy Porterfield: Well, I’m glad you asked this cuz I thought that was difficult. Like remembering the stories, right? Remembering all the stories and also making sure they’re accurate and you’re putting them together in an interesting way. That was challenging for me, but it was so important cuz I knew it brought the lesson to life.

So what I did first is I said, what is the lesson I wanna teach them in this chapter? What’s most important? And then I literally did a brain dump all the things that I went through to learn this lesson, and that’s when the stories started to come up. I also had a sidekick, so I wrote the book, but there’s somebody on my team that I’ve worked with for years and years, and her name is Jaws.

That’s her nickname. Jaws would say, well, what about this time? And she actually worked with me at Tony Robbins, which is where a lot of my stories come from as well. She’s like, what about that? What about this? So it was nice to have someone that knew me well that could kind of pull ’em out of me as well.

Pat Flynn: Oh, that’s really smart. So to have somebody help you think through the past, cuz we, we only, sometimes we only see what’s important, but we kind of don’t even realize that other parts of it sort of exist until you get that other perspective. So that’s really smart. And I, and I’m asking very selfishly as well, because I’m about to start writing a book of my own, my first traditional published book. That’s, So exciting.

It’s, it’s a very scary thing.

Amy Porterfield: Okay. I don’t know if you’ve talked about your topic yet, but I got to hear a little bit about it and I was like the world needs this book. So I’m really glad you’re writing the book. And also I’ll give you one more little tip cause I know you’re in it now. I hired an editor.

like my own editor that didn’t come with the publisher and she helped me write my book proposal and she helped me edit the entire book and actually bring out a lot of the stories I had forgotten. And so that was really helpful too. More money, but when, when you get a nice advance, you wanna kinda reinvest.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, that’s actually great validation cuz I have somebody working with me to do the same thing, same kind of thing. I’m still writing it, but they’re, they’re collaborating with me and, and helping me, and forcing me to essentially, you know, sit down and, and remember these things and kind of restructure them in a way that would make sense for people, so, okay.

That’s, that’s great. Big shout out to Jeff, by the way. Jeff’s amazing. And, and he was the one who helped me with my proposal too. So, big, big shout out to him. And worth every dollar, for sure. Okay, I’m gonna pick a name. My name’s Greg. I dunno why I picked Greg. I think you and I have a history with Greg Hickman, so maybe that’s why.

So Greg, if you’re listening, hi Greg, we miss you. We gotta go back to the Philippines at some point.

Amy Porterfield: Don’t even get me started on the Philippines. Okay, so Greg, so nice to meet you.

Pat Flynn: Hey, so I’m pretty bored at my job and I know that there’s other opportunities. I actually have like a lot of things that I’m interested in, but I, Amy, I don’t know where to start and, and I don’t even know if I could do this.

I mean, I see other people do it and, you know, I’m wondering if I should like start a TikTok or something cuz I, I mean, everybody’s talking about that right now. Or, you know, should I like start a YouTube like, I don’t know what to do. So can you help guide me through like my next steps?

Amy Porterfield: I can, so a question I’ve got for you, Greg. Do you ultimately want to quit your job?

Pat Flynn: Oh, of course, like I, if I could quit yesterday, I, I would, I just, I can’t make that snap decision because I have to put food on the table. I got, yeah, I got a kid at home and a wife, and I mean, I can’t just, I can’t just do that. I feel like that by doing that, I’d almost be just kind of selfishly making that decision.

So that’s where the push and pull comes from also.

Amy Porterfield: Gotcha. Okay. So you’ve got some choices here. One thing you could do is you. Start a side hustle where you’re gonna start making money on the side while you’re still in your nine to five job. But I’ve also seen a lot of people just put together a plan for their business, start working on that business a little bit, but then go all in. So you do get to decide if it’s gonna be a side hustle, or you’re just gonna go all in at some point or another. But before we ever get there, you’ve gotta get super clear on why you want to create your own thing. Like I’m assuming Greg, you wanna be your own boss.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, I mean, I, I hate having to answer to somebody else and, you know, it just makes me feel like I’m not valuable when kind of, I do a lot of important things and I’m just kind of not getting the raise I deserve. I think, and, you know, I know we’re in tough times right now, but it, it’s just hard. I want to be my own boss for sure, but I, okay.

Again, cool. I’ve never done that before.

Amy Porterfield: So let’s talk about. Where you’re excelling. Let’s talk about where you’ve gotten results, whether it be in your personal life or your business life. What are you good at?

Pat Flynn: Well, two things in the office that I’m in, I am really good at making people laugh. Like I, I have a good personality and you know, if, if somebody’s having a down day, I can sort of notice that and, and come over to his desk and make him feel better.

And, you know, at least give them the encouragement to keep going and, and that, that kind of thing. The other thing that I’m good at is, you know, I can go to somebody’s desk and, and make things more organized for them. Like, I can see, ooh, how there’s like inefficiencies and how they have their computer desktop organized and, you know, I’m really good at file management and, and those kinds of things.

And that helps me personally save more time so that I can, you know, get more things done. And I, I’ve helped a few of my buddies do the same thing.

Amy Porterfield: Okay. I’m loving that. And do you enjoy doing that?

Pat Flynn: Yeah, I mean, I kind of, I mean, I don’t like sit down and, you know, dream about it, but it, it is something I’m good at.

I mean, I have dreams of, you know, doing things like comedy one day or, you know, getting on stages and, and whatever. But like, yeah, I mean, I, I’m good at it and I like helping other people do that, but I, I don’t like dream about file management.

Amy Porterfield: Okay. I love that you said this. So one of the things I often tell my students is whatever you choose to do in your business, especially in the first, let’s say first year, second year, look at that as phase one.

You’re just launching. You’re getting yourself out there because what you do, let’s say in your three, four, beyond that, it could look wildly different, but we’ve got to get you out there and so you don’t have find your passion and then leave your job. You don’t have to create a business around something you absolutely feel like is your life purpose, and then you do that.

So I teach people how to create digital courses. That is not my life purpose at all, however, my life purpose, I believe, is helping people move past what they no longer want in their life and become their own boss. And digital courses are a vehicle to get them there. So if you are passionate about helping people, making them feel good, you can build them up and especially when they’re feeling down or having a rough day.

And one of the ways you can help people is getting organized, systematized, dialed in, so that they can be more, maybe even leave work a little bit earlier or spend more time with their family than this organizational type of business that you could put together could absolutely be your launching pad.

So when I tell you that, what do you think?

Pat Flynn: Hmm. First of all, I wanna tell my wife Anna Kendrick about this, cuz she’s really like, you know, I think she’d be really excited about it. Wow. Sorry, this is Pat coming back. I just had to. Sorry, she’s on my list. But anyway, April has her own list by the way, so it’s okay.

I’m sure if you seen Friends, you know what we’re talking about. If you don’t then-

Amy Porterfield: Oh, I have a list.

Pat Flynn: You’re probably kind of very curious about what we’re talking about right now. First of all, this is Pat still talking. I love the phase approach to this cuz I think a lot of people, when they select the business, it’s like, oh, like I can’t imagine doing that for the rest of my life, so I’m not gonna do it at all.

But the phased approach is great and, and when you say phases, like I imagine that like Greg in this scenario would wonder. Well, how long is that phase gonna be? Like, is that gonna be six months before I start doing other things that I, you know, actually truly enjoy and am passionate about? Or 10 years, like what’s the maybe timeline that we’re thinking of when, when it comes to these phases?

Amy Porterfield: Well, if you absolutely know what you’re passionate about and you’re like, this is what I’m going to do. Like I have a student that she knows her job is to train dogs. Like that’s what she wants to do. She trained her own dogs. She trains her neighbors dogs. She wants to train dogs. She wants to do it in person first and then create a digital.

She’s very clear about that. So I’m gonna set her on her path to do that. But I work with a lot of people that are a little bit unsure. They’re good in a few areas, but they don’t know what the end all be all is. So what I tell them is give it a year. Give it a year that you go all in with whatever it is you’re going to decide to do.

And while you’re in it, while you’re running your own, you’re gonna start to develop other ideas or different things that you might want to do that are, it is just gonna come organically, but until you’re in the game, everything feels like an idea, but really far from reality. But when you’re doing it, and this is how you need to make money, you get scrappy, you start thinking of things and it starts to evolve.

So that’s why I don’t think everyone needs to start a side hustle, because sometimes a side hustle is one foot out, one foot in. So for Greg, I might suggest, look, choose an exit. When are you ready to leave and actually get going with this? And even if you start a business just to kind of get it going, it doesn’t have to be a forever side hustle.

It could be like one or two months that you make a little money and then you jump ship and you go all in. Everyone gets to do it different. But my point being is you do, I need to back up a little bit. You do need to choose an exit date. And so if Greg said, okay, I really wanna be out of here in six months, but I think realistically I’m gonna need a year to make this work.

And I’ll say, So the year is usually the longest I’ll want a student to wait, put that date on a post-it note. You tell three people, and the reason why I say just three people is when you start telling everybody, they’re gonna tell you all their fears of why you shouldn’t do it. So the only people that get to know are the people that are gonna cheer you on and say, this is the greatest idea you had, what can I do? So you’re gonna tell the closest people to you. Nobody else gets to know your dream. You put that note on a Post-it note and you see it every single day and behind the scenes, early in the morning, late at night, you start working away on how you’re going to make this happen. Whether you wanna launch and start making money while you’re still in your nine to five, or you just wanna put the plan together and get things going.

You’ve got to start something. And Pat, I don’t mention your name personally in the book, but there’s one story I mentioned that you inspired me because do you remember you telling me that you created content for a really long time before you actually were selling anything?

Pat Flynn: Yeah. Correct.

Amy Porterfield: Yeah. That is something that, I’ve heard that from a few people, but you really stick out for me where you can start creating content while you’re still in your nine to five job or in a job you don’t want, whatever.

Whether you’re your own boss but you don’t like what you created, you can start creating content, whether it be a podcast, a blog, a video show, whatever it is for you to figuring out what you want to create, who your audience is, bringing people to you, that’s something everyone could do while they’re still in a nine to five job.

And so that is one thing I would tell Greg. Let’s start creating some content and experimenting with this new idea.

Pat Flynn: Okay. I’m, I’m Greg again.

Amy Porterfield: Okay. Hi, Greg.

Pat Flynn: Hi. Good to see you. Thanks. I had to go to the bathroom. So you were talking to some dude and then, I don’t know, like-

Amy Porterfield: This is the wildest podcast episode I’ve ever had.

I, I need you to like to put a hat on.

Pat Flynn: You’re doing hundreds of interviews. I need it to be different. Okay. Like, go with me.

Amy Porterfield: It’s so different. Next time bring a hat and a mustache. Oh, you already have a beard though, so that’s not gonna work.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, that’s true. I’ll shave for it. No, I won’t do that actually.

Okay. So I’m Greg again. Okay. The, the idea of, of having like six months to a year to sort of, Get ready, try things out is interesting to me and so I don’t have to feel like I have to quit tomorrow. I can imagine maybe cutting on some spending to build up a little bit of a safety net so that when I leave, you know, I have some money just in cases, I’m getting things started.

But like, what is the business? I mean, what, what am I even gonna be doing and where am I gonna find the time for that? I’m still gonna be working nine to five. I’m a, I’m a father and you know, it just seems impossible. Like it sounds good, but how am I actually gonna do this and, and what am I gonna be doing?

Amy Porterfield: Yes.Okay. First of all, we’re gonna take baby steps because if you’re staying in your nine to five job and you start creating this business, you’re not going to have a lot of time. But you also have to ask yourself, how bad do you want it? How bad do you wanna call the shots? How bad do you not wanna work on someone else’s time or someone else’s dime?

Getting clear on your why, what you want, like all I wanted was freedom. When I decided to leave Tony Robbins, I wanted to call the shots. I didn’t want anyone to tell me what to do, when to do, or how to. So no matter how hard it was going to get, and it got hard for a while, I knew freedom was more important.

I let my why pick me up off the ground when my worries kind of knocked me down. So, Greg, you have to get really clear on your why, because it is gonna be hard to find the time, but the rewards of being your own boss and doing your own things, Far exceed any of the challenges that it will be to get you there.

So that’s the first thing. The next thing is we gotta think about after we kind of consider how you’re gonna create content. Are you going, Greg, I think you should podcast. So I want you to kind of consider, you know, I’ve got this friend Pat Flynn, he has a a course on podcasting.

Pat Flynn: I heard of him. Yeah. He’s got a great podcasting course.

Amy Porterfield: It’s a great podcasting course, and I would invest, so when I still work for Tony Robbins, I invested in two courses. They were each a thousand dollars. I told no one because no one at that time would’ve even supported me spending a thousand dollars on someone’s course. I didn’t even know the person or what they were about.

One was about video marketing, one was about social media, and so I say investing in yourself, learning what you need to learn before you go out on your own is a great idea. So buy the podcasting course, figure out how to do that. Start your podcast. The next thing I want you to think about is, Let’s say you’re going to help people put systems and processes in place and get organized, let’s say in their, in their work world.

We’re just gonna make that up. Then we gotta figure out, is this gonna be a digital course? Are you gonna start out with one-on-one coaching and consulting? Are you gonna do group coaching? Are you gonna do a membership, a mastermind? The beautiful thing about being your own boss is you have so many options in terms of a business.

Now gone are the days that we have to do a 10 page business model and get investors and figure out how we’re gonna do it. Most of my students start with hardly any money and a wish and a prayer, and they’re going for it because they want it so bad. They create the content, they decide if they’re creating a course or a membership or anything like that, and they get to work.

We can get scrappy to make this work.

Pat Flynn: Yes. Okay. So. I need to create content, it sounds like, and podcasting is one way to do it with, with what I teach, it’s probably more visual. Is that a problem? Or like, I know Pat also has this amazing YouTube course that maybe, maybe YouTube might be cool.

Amy Porterfield: Pat, Pat Flynn, he’s got everything you need. I love the idea of visual and I think video is the most powerful medium online. So if you want to show what you’re teaching do video all day long. So maybe, maybe you don’t start a podcast. Maybe you start a YouTube channel. But I do think that’s one of the very first decisions we need to make after we decide why we’re doing it and get clear.

What kind of content are we creating and how are we gonna package it?

Pat Flynn: Yeah, this is Pat coming back in. Hi. Hi. I like the, this idea of like, let’s just like pick a content channel. Just one. Yep. Just one, right? You didn’t say like podcast and YouTube and all these things. Just pick one because that helps you refine what it is you’re doing.

It helps you like learn the language. It helps you just get comfortable putting that stuff out there and seeing what that’s like and adjusting and actually see from these platforms, especially YouTube, this is why I’m pretty bullish on YouTube right now, because the, the, the potential reach is much higher.

And you have access to an audience that’s already there, sort of, yeah, to look for those things. And also YouTube will push these things out with a podcast, if you have relationships, that’s a great place to start or, or a secondary platform to start, but on, but you know, for example, I might create 10 videos and none of them like are about the thing, the organization thing.

But then one of ’em picks, and it’s like, wow, oh, people love that. And now I have access to a, a group of people who I can talk further with and communicate with and, and, and learn about. And almost they’re guiding me. They’re telling me what to do next. Almost at, at that point, which is, which is really great.

But, okay, Greg, coming back in. Content, great. I understand that that’ll help me get practice. That’s something I can do on the side or on the weekend or, or, you know, I can create a short little video really easily so that that fits into my schedule. But, does that mean if I go on YouTube, for example, that I’m just gonna wait till I have enough views to make ad revenue that matches my, my salary right now?

Or like, like you had mentioned, digital courses. Would people even pay for that when they’re getting and watching these things for free on YouTube?

Amy Porterfield: Great question. So what I say is the difference between, let’s say a YouTube channel, which you absolutely should start. I love that idea. Let’s start getting that momentum going.

But when you are gonna need to make money, and a lot of people, because they wanna quit their job, they don’t wanna wait a year till they actually start making money in their business. So we do need to put together a very simple offer. And so what that means is, no, I don’t want you to run this YouTube channel and wait till you get enough use to start making some money with it, although that is definitely a good thing.

I think you also need to be proactive in creating an offer and getting it out there. So when I say create an offer, it might be a mini course. Maybe you create an hour long digital course that you maybe do live first, and then now it’s recorded and you can sell it through ads or for your website or through social.

So you can start to bring in a little bit of money. There’s confidence in seeing that your idea is actually worthy, that people are willing to put their hard-earned cash to that offer, and I think it gives people a boost. So I’d like to see you making money sooner than later. So you could keep it simple with an hour long training.

You can go with a digital course or membership or anything like that. But here’s what I wanna get back. You don’t have an audience yet. You don’t have anybody to market to. Sure, we’re gonna try to grow that audience on YouTube, but we need to focus on list building. And so before we get to that offer of making money, we’re creating content.

Now we’ve gotta focus on growing your email list. And of course social media can be a part of that. So you getting on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok or wherever you wanna go. You’ve gotta decide, just choose one in the beginning. Where do you think your ideal audience is spending time? And so once you start getting on social and start posting and growing your audience there, you’ve gotta think, I need a lead magnet.

I need some kind of freebie to tell my social media audience, hey, if you wanna dive deeper with me, if you wanna know how to X, Y, Z, let’s get you on my email. And so growing your email list while you’re growing social is very important because even a list of 200 people can allow you to actually make some great money.

I have many students with small email lists. They put together their first offer, they make five figures, and that’s the kind of momentum I’m looking for for my first time students doing this.

Pat Flynn: So Amy, I already have an Instagram and a Facebook. Okay. Do I need to create a new one or can I just do, do this stuff there?

Amy Porterfield: So it depends. Let’s talk about that Instagram. What are you posting right now on Instagram?

Pat Flynn: Picks of me and Anna skating.

Amy Porterfield: You’re living a good life.

Pat Flynn: Sharing gifts with each other. Yeah. Living the good life there. But you know, I’m, I’m always at work. I’d love to see her more. Yeah. Hence this convers. So and she’s on the road all the time, acting and stuff too.

So, you know, it kind of goes both ways.

Amy Porterfield: So busy all the time. Yeah. But you’ve got some options here, Greg. So, number one is you can start transitioning your Instagram, the one you already have. You can start transitioning it into a business account. I don’t love managing two accounts. I don’t love to have like a personal Instagram and a business Instagram.

So for me, I just started to use Instagram for business and I’ll weave in some personal stuff when we go on trips or recently we went to a football game. I share that. But overall it’s really business heavy cuz that’s what people want from me. So if you only want to manage one, let’s say Instagram account, start to transition that.

Start to talk about the content that you wanna create. Maybe share a little piece of the YouTube video. Maybe share that you’ve got this freebie and start to talk about this business. Now, some people are gonna be very confused. Your cousin from Wyoming is gonna be like what are you doing here? And that’s okay.

Not everyone’s gonna understand your vision, but again, you gotta keep your eye on what is really important to you. So the transition is always a little bit awkward. I talk about this in Two Weeks Notice, it’s a little awkward. You kind of wanna come outta yours skin, you’re doing things that are different.

My biggest fear, so Greg, what’s gonna happen to you is likely you’re gonna start to think, but what will people think?

Pat Flynn: I’m already thinking that.

Amy Porterfield: What, what are my coworkers gonna think? Right? What are my family members gonna think when I start posting about this online? That’s very vulnerable. They’re gonna think I’ve gone crazy.

Why am I talking about organizing your business life? And that’s okay if they don’t get it because they’re not living your life. So you have to be willing to get uncomfortable in order to make this work.

Pat Flynn: Super powerful. This is Pat by the way. I always just had like a random thought cuz you had mentioned like, what are coworkers gonna think about, you know, Greg posting on Instagram and stuff, which is definitely, I, I mean that makes complete sense.

What do you think about people reading Two Weeks Notice? Like it says two weeks notice on the cover. Like if they bring it to work and read it. That could be a bad situation.

Amy Porterfield: Yes. So I actually thought about this and I talked to my publisher about this before they gave me a deal. I said, one of the challenges we’re gonna run into is this is not necessarily a book you post on social media while you’re at your nine to five job saying, this is my latest read.

This is what I’m loving yeah. And it, you know, I probably should have, it would’ve been a great promotional thing to put a fake cover on the book when they need it to kind of walk around with it or whatever. Oh, wow. Would, wouldn’t that be kinda fun? So I, I do think I’m gonna run into a little bit of a challenge that if you’re still in your nine to five job and you wanna quit, this is not necessarily something you’re gonna be talking about publicly.

But I thought about that as an author now, and as someone who needs to promote a book. That’s why I’ve leaned very heavily on my friends like you who have an audience of people that maybe a lot of people in your audience, Pat, already left their nine to five job, but they’re struggling to make money in the business they’ve created.

They’ve skipped some steps along the way, right? And they know that this foundation is very rocky for what I’ve created, the bulk of the book is around creating an online business, website, social media, list building, offers, courses, memberships, all of that. So everything I wish I would’ve known when I was first starting out.

So yeah, you make a great point that, yeah, the the girl in the cubicle isn’t gonna be showing everyone her book, that’s for

Pat Flynn: sure.

But I also feel like it could take this sort of like under the table offering from friend to friend, kind of like, Hey, I hope so, you gotta read this book. Like, don’t show anybody here at work.

But like, I’m planning to leave. You gotta read Amy’s book cuz it’s like, let’s go together kind of thing. So, yes, I know you talked a lot about the great resignation on TikTok. I’ve seen you, you, you’re doing a great job on TikTok.

Amy Porterfield: You too friend. Can we talk about how hard it is to get that off, up and going?

It’s not my most favorite experience.

Pat Flynn: I’m running in a 30 day experiment right now just to kind of stay consistent and it’s definitely a different platform. However, I also know that it just takes one video to change everything. And, and of all the platforms, it’s the easiest one to create video on. So I’ve seen some of your stuff blow.

Mostly when like Hobie’s in it.

Amy Porterfield: Can we talk about that just for a quick minute? So I was on stage the other day and I was talking to a group of women entrepreneurs and I said, you know, I’ve been in business almost 14 years and I create content like it’s my job. Like I have been creating content from day one.

And I said, I finally went viral with it, 40 million views of one of my videos on Instagram. And then TikTok took it for like 2 million views and it was, as you, Hobie, my husband, showing his beard and me reacting to how much I love it. I’m mad. I’m mad that of all the great content about list building and course creation, that my husband’s beard is what makes me go viral.

And he actually had the audacity to ask me, how much money do we make? No shot. None. We made, we made $0 with 40 million views on Instagram. I’m so mad.

Pat Flynn: That’s funny. I actually, I talked about this in a previous podcast episode. I deleted a video that was there just reviews because it just, I was like, what value is this providing the world right now?

It was actually like a disgusting look at my microphone cover that had like a growth on it from me talking it was nasty, but I was like, this is gonna get views y’all. This is gonna get views. I had like that. Oh no, no, no, no, no music playing. You know, and I was. I don’t wanna be known as the gross microphone guy.

This is clean. I cleaned it literally right after. I actually filmed myself cleaning it for part two and then I just deleted part one and, and I’m not even doing it, so.

Amy Porterfield: I can’t believe you deleted it. That’s so funny.

Pat Flynn: It was gross. It was nasty.

Amy Porterfield: Okay. Yeah. I’m glad I didn’t see it. I feel like I see everything you do.

I did not see that one and I’m happy.

Pat Flynn: Oh, I’m not even gonna talk about it anymore cuz I, I’ll throw up, but I think we need to talk about this idea that, you know TikTok, yes, is a place you can go viral. You went viral there, but made $0 as a result of that. Can you speak to that versus the methods that you teach inside of your book and why that’s a better option in for for many people?

Amy Porterfield: Thank you. So this idea of going viral, I really do believe it’s overrated. And of course I went viral for something that has nothing to do with work and it didn’t add tons of new TikTok followers and also people that are seeing it, 40 million people see it on Instagram. They’re absolutely not all my audience.

Right. And so I, yeah, that’s funny. And we can laugh about it.

Pat Flynn: But it felt good, right? You, I mean, did, did it feel good? Are you like, I got recognized and I got, I got these views now and all the vanity metrics that you know are also similar in, in entrepreneurship, you know, the size of your list and how much money you’re making, all that kind of stuff.

Like did it give off those same sort of endorphins for you?

Amy Porterfield: That’s a great question. I did feel good and we did think fun and I’m not naturally fun online. So it was good that something kinda showed my personality that typically doesn’t, that all felt good. And I was, at first, I actually thought it was gonna bring a lot of new followers into my world.

So I was very excited about that. But when I saw that, it really didn’t, I went back to my roots and what I talk about in the book that at the end of the day, what I care deeply about is I am making an impact in my students’ lives and I am able to make you revenue that I am proud of. And so if I’m thinking about making a revenue I’m proud of and making an impact in my students’ lives, then really what it comes down to is what am I creating that’s going to be something of great value for my audience?

And what, what do my metrics look like in terms of conversions and revenue and list growth? And so to me, at the end of the day, list, conversion, revenue, all of that matters to me, not a TikTok video that gets all those views. And so I think though I’ve been in the business for a long time, so I could feel grounded in that.

But if I was in my first year and I got that viral video, I would absolutely think it’s a bigger deal than it is. I think that’s very normal. But I think the smart entrepreneur, even if you’re just starting out, the vanity metrics, they will get your ego and just take over it like that. I’ve been totally guilty of it.

Where, where is my ego showing up versus my strategic entrepreneurial mind? I think there are two very different things.

Pat Flynn: That’s such a good point and, and I think this is a really important discussion right now as TikTok continues to be at the top of people’s minds and still great opportunity. But if you, again, if you, if you are creating content that’s not about necessarily what your offers are or who you are as an entrepreneur or what it is that your service is about, then it really doesn’t really do much for you and it could actually pull you in the wrong direction and to the fact that you didn’t get a lot of followers from that.

I think that’s so important to understand because one thing I’ve realized is that on YouTube as podcasters, as, as TikTok, whatever, whatever platform you’re on, people don’t subscribe because of the content they just saw. They subscribe for the content that they know is going to come. And so your one time hit, it’s not gonna be good enough.

Now, if you have a theme or you know, there’s some people on TikTok, by the way, that are amazing, and I watch one video and I go to their profile and they have like, 20 of the same video. Like there was a guy who creates mashups between two songs, and they’re always like, mind blowingly good.

Amy Porterfield: I think I know what you’re talking about.

I love him.

Pat Flynn: You know? And so I know that when I subscribe, when I see a piece of content from this person, that’s what I’m gonna get. But somebody who finds this video of Hobie’s his beard, and by the way, I have a beard as well. The beard’s not the factor for the growth because my TikTok is not growing. So it must be just be a handsome husband, you can tell him that. You, you just. If what you’re creating is not about ultimately what it is that you’re trying to serve your audience with, it’s gonna be very difficult. Entertainment maybe is a little bit different because there’s comedians and all those different things, or you know, all the different skits are about different topics, but they are the product, they are the entertainer.

That’s who you are subscribing for. And for us as educators, it’s, it, it is partly us as the brand and, and showing up as important as who we are. The value that you’re creating is, is what’s most important. And so I’m, I’m glad we’re having this discussion because I think a lot of people are being swayed.

Even, even I was swayed, I created a video about a nasty microphone hoping it would get views. But then what would that ultimately do? Maybe every time I do a podcast with people, they’d be like, Hey, Pat, is your mic clean again? And that that’s not the life I wanted to live.

Amy Porterfield: I think I. You know, you know, I’m one of your biggest fans.

I have been a fan of you since the minute we met, and the fact that you had a video that started to get a bunch of views and you’re like, this is not what I wanna be known for. I think that takes a lot of confidence to do that. And I think a lot of people listening right now, where sometimes when you’re just getting started in your business, for the newbies that are listening, there’s a desperation that comes with that.

That is human and very normal. I need to do this. I need to do that. Say yes to everything. This video’s gonna go viral. Great. I’m just gonna keep writing it. Where I think we should all should look forward to getting to a place that we feel grounded in our business, that even if something’s working well but isn’t really in alignment with who we are, we’re able to say, I don’t wanna do that.

And so anyone listening that wants to get to that place, just know you are very capable of getting there. I think it just comes with some years of experience.

Pat Flynn: It does. So for Greg, who, Hey, it’s Greg here.

Amy Porterfield: Hey Greg.

Pat Flynn: Let me join the conversation again, guys. For me. Greg, for those of you listening, Amy’s like laughing her butt off right now on video.

Amy Porterfield: I can’t handle it. It’s so good though.

Pat Flynn: I need a voice though. I think I, I didn’t want it.

Amy Porterfield: You made a voice. What was your voice in the beginning, off camera?

Pat Flynn: It was like a, like a, I had like a twang to it. I’m not even gonna try it cause I don’t wanna offend anybody. So for Greg, who’s like, Hey, I hear you.

It’d be great to get to a point where you are confident in what it is that you’re offering and, and you can say no to certain things or catch yourself when you go, you know, off kilter. But for me, just starting out, I feel like every piece of content isn’t me. Like this is all new for me. I’m, I’m scared to put myself out there.

I’m not gonna be happy with it. I’m, I’m pretty sure where do I get the courage to just hit publish on that content as I build my audience and get to know who it is that I’m actually serving.

Amy Porterfield: Okay. Greg, I love that you asked this because when I was first starting out, I recorded a bunch of videos and my husband said, where are these videos that you’re recording?

You’re not putting them anywhere and you’re spending all this time. And I was scared to put them out there. I was scared what people would think of me or say of me. And so first of all, you have to acknowledge these very normal feelings when you’re just starting out a feeling imposter syndrome, that you’re not good enough, that you’re scared, what will people think?

All of that is normal, but the thing, when I, I was watching an interview from Oprah many years ago, and she said one of the reasons why she did so well in business is in her early years, she ran her business like a racehorse runs a race, and you know, a racehorse has blinders on. And so she said, my whole team and I, we put blinders on.

I didn’t allow myself to look at what other people were saying about me or what other people were doing. I kept going. I kept churning out content, get putting it out there, showing up, even though I was embarrassed and I didn’t like what I was putting out there, you’ll never love what you’re putting out there the first year. I look back on those videos and I cringe. I would never be where I am today if I didn’t put out those videos. I had to start somewhere. Run your business like a racehorse, put those blinders on and just put the content out there. You’ve got to ship it because, or you’ll just stay in that nine to five job way longer than you ever want to.

Pat Flynn: That’s so key. And we’ve had other guests on the show like MKBHD, who’s a giant YouTuber, tech YouTuber, 14 million subscribers. He was telling a story about how his first 100 videos we’re for less than a hundred subscribers, I think 86 subscribers. Wow. When he had his hundredth video and now he’s got 15 million subscribers.

And same, same story with Mr. Beast. The other thing I wanna call out before we finish up here is something you mentioned earlier, which is like the audience knows when you put in some extra time and care into helping them or to, to providing something new. And it might take a little longer, but I think the audience knows when that happens.

The reason I’m remembering this is because I just brought up Mr. Beast. He talks about this all the time and it really helps with my Pokemon channel. Like the audience knows when you’ve done something a little different and, and stepped it up, and it might take time for YouTube or the algorithm or people to find it, but eventually if you keep focusing on providing something different, right?

Different is better than better. It’ll eventually work. if you stop because the first few aren’t working or the view count isn’t there and because, or you start, like you said, the blinders are off, so you’re paying attention to more than you need to and there’s just so much noise out there.

And you’re also comparing yourself to other people. Like, you, you’re not gonna get to the point at which these things that you’ve created and have a chance to germinate and, and produce for you. So, you know, can you speak to Greg one more time, what will happen after three months, four months when I’ve created content, I have not yet really seen anything, quote unquote, blow up yet.

And you know, I’m starting to have doubts like, how do I keep going when I, when I come across those brick walls?

Amy Porterfield: Okay, Greg. So you’re gonna get going and the only people in the beginning that are even gonna pay attention is maybe your mom and your brother. And one of the things that I teach is this concept of capacity for zero.

When you’re starting out or anytime in your business, you have to strengthen your capacity for zero, meaning be okay with zero people on your email list, zero people watching your videos, zero people opting in, or whatever it might be. Now, that’s worst case scenario, but if you said, okay, I, my capacity for zero is strong, I’m just gonna keep doing it.

And like you said, 30 day TikTok challenge. What if, Greg, you had a six month challenge on yourself? Every single week you’re gonna put out a new video on YouTube. It does not matter who watches it, how many downloads, anything like that. You’re gonna be a man of your word and you’re gonna commit to those six months.

I promise you that you are going to start getting traction because you’re going to start getting better at and better at what you’re creating. And I love what you said, Pat. I didn’t put this in the book, but I wish I did. I have a good friend that subscribes to her life by saying DSD, do something different. Every single week she’s gonna DSD her way to success. She’s gonna do it different than most people will. So Greg, when you start creating your YouTube content, two, three months in, you’re gonna get some ideas that are gonna DSD your way to success. You’re gonna show up differently than everybody else. You would never have those ideas if you weren’t in the game.

That’s the power of, I think, this book and what I teach you is you’ve gotta get into motion because that’s where the magic is happening. It sure as heck is not happening you dreaming about being your own boss when, you’re in your nine to five job. We have to do something about it. And that’s the guidebook in Two Weekk Notice.

Pat Flynn: And the why is the driver, like we talked about earlier.

Amy Porterfield: Yes, absolutely. One of the very first things I teach in the book is getting very clear on your why.

Pat Flynn: So everybody go get the book, Amy, where can they go grab it?

Amy Porterfield: Anywhere where you buy books online, Two Weeks Notice is waiting for you.

Pat Flynn: Perfect. I think this is the first podcast interview where we’ve had three people, but it’s actually two.

Amy Porterfield: I, I really enjoyed Greg. He’s, he’s a great guy and he is gonna be really successful.

Pat Flynn: I mean, yeah. I mean if, yeah. I’m a little jealous actually of Greg and his life to come. So, so hi to Anna for me. Thank you Amy for coming on again and everybody go grab Two Weeks Notice. Thank you. I wish you the best with the book.

I cannot wait to see it on the lists, cuz I know it’s gonna be great.

Amy Porterfield: Thank you my friend.

Pat Flynn: Not just, like, Hey, the couple weeks after it came out, it’s on the list, like for years to come. This is gonna be something that I think will be a staple in, in, in the lives of, and the only place we won’t see it is probably in the workplace.

But other than that, it should be, should be everywhere. So thank you so much Amy. Appreciate you and good luck.

Amy Porterfield: Thanks for your friendship. I appreciate it.

Pat Flynn: All right. I hope you enjoyed that fun interview. Probably one of the most fun interviews I’ve done because that was very unique. And thanks to Greg, also our special guest. And bye to Anna as well for me.

This is episode 657 of the Smart Passive Income Podcast. If you want the links and all the resources and the links to Amy’s book, head on over to SmartPassiveIncome.com/session657. Again, SmartPassiveIncome.com/session657, and definitely check out her book two weeks notice available wherever books are available.

And we’re already coming in to the end of February, 2023 here. So if you haven’t made a move on this yet, and you’re thinking about quitting your job or moving on to something, this is definitely for you two weeks notice. Thank you to Amy for coming on and entertaining this idea. She was all for it. I hope you check her out on TikTok as well.

She’s doing some fun stuff there. So again, thank you so much. I appreciate you. Best of luck to you. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you don’t miss out. And yeah, we might do some more role-playing and maybe Greg and Anna will come back in the future at some point. This is so much fun. Thank you so much, everybody.

Take care and I’ll see you the next one.

Thanks for listening to the Smart Passive Income Podcast at SmartPassiveIncome.com. I’m your host, Pat Flynn. Our senior producer is David Grabowski. Our series producer is Paul Grigoras, and our executive producer is Matt Gartland. Sound editing by Duncan Brown. The Smart Passive Income Podcast is a production of SPI Media. We’ll catch you in the next session.