Mike Dillard: The Man Who Brought Network Marketing Into the 21st Century

Tim Erway sits down for a “fireside” chat with industry legend Mike Dillard to discuss how he single-handedly transformed network marketing forever!

Mike reveals how he went from an introverted waiter, struggling in network marketing, to pioneering ‘attraction marketing' and shifting the industry into the 21st century…much to the chagrin of many ‘old school’ networkers!

You'll learn about the future of the industry, Mike's biggest regret, and the quickest way to build your brand and influence in today's marketplace!

Watch this exclusive interview below!

Copyright (C) 2019 Elite Marketing Pro, LLC. DBA No Excuses Summit

Transcript below…

Tim Erway:

We're going to do this kind of a fireside chat interview-style type of thing.

You guys are going to enjoy it.

The next speaker has a lot of wisdom to share with you.

In fact, he's the reason that many of us are here today, all of us are here today at this event.

You're going to hear his story, you're going to hear a lot about him, but I want to set this up properly because you heard my story about many years ago, the event that changed my life and the connections that were made that ultimately led to a phone call from Mike.

That phone call completely changed my life.

I never would have built the business that I've built, had the successes that I've had, met the people that I've met and the relationship that I've had that have absolutely, completely changed the path and the course of my life.

I owe a debt of gratitude to this guy that I'll never be able to repay.

He is the godfather of attraction marketing.

He is the man that started it all and he's one of my dearest and oldest friends.

In fact, this is the first time in a long time that four of my closest friends have been under one roof, which is really cool.

Mike has a special place in my heart, I got to be a part of his wedding.

I got to see his son when he was a little baby and hold him and I haven't seen him in so long.

It's just so good to see this guy again and to be able to spend some time with him and more importantly to be able to have the opportunity to bring him here, to share some of his wisdom, his lessons learned and his knowledge and value that he has to offer all of you.

I think you'll find it very valuable.

Without further ado, I'd like to go ahead and have you guys stand on your feet and welcome my good friend, Mr. Mike Dillard to the stage.

Let's start off.

I want to go back in history…

I want to go back to the time that you made the decision to start on this crazy journey of entrepreneurship.

When was it?

Take us back, share with us where your mind was at?

Where were you at psychically?

All that good stuff and just …

Mike Dillard:

Yeah, that was back in high school and it was as a result of waiting tables.

Every weekend through school and coming home at midnight or 1:00 am and smelling like a garbage can of food and sweat and nastiness while all of my friends were out having fun and having a good time.

I'd come home around midnight, 1:00 am, and went to wind down and there's not much on television at that time of night except infomercials.

I used to sit there and watch Brad Richdale infomercials and Tony Robins and Carleton Sheets and all of these guys.

It was a very motivational piece of information to take in at a time when you're coming home completely exhausted from a job that you hate.

It was really, the desire was built there, the belief that it was possible was built in that period of time.

That's really how I got my start, was being opened up to the idea that possibilities were endless at that point.

That really built the hunger in me to take control of my life and not really let myself be put in a position where somebody else has power over my schedule or the amount of money I can make.

Tim Erway:

Yeah, that makes sense.

There is a point where you made that decision mentally and that's awesome.

Tell us how that progressed and how you came to actually physically set off on this journey.

Mike Dillard:

As many of you guys know, I started the networking marketing industry back in the late '90s while I was in college.

I failed miserably at it for a good 5 or 6 years.

I tried every single thing that you could possibly do, from going door to door selling air purifiers for Alpine, to hotel meetings, to handing out fliers, to cold calling people out of a phone book, to buying leads, to truly anything.

It never really clicked until I finally reached the point, driving down I-35.

This was after I'd graduated college.

I had a corporate job and I was driving down I-35 through the middle of Dallas completely bummed out, miserable, and I really just had a breakdown of 6 years of failure and so I said…

“You know what? I'm going to stop chasing success at this point because it hasn't worked and I'm going to just focus on providing value and helping other people, even if there's no money involved in the process.”

That was a huge weight off of my shoulders.

What I realized from that is the moment that you stop chasing whatever it is that you're after in a desperate way, is the moment that it shows up in your life because your attitude towards everything changes.

At that point, when I was talking to prospects or talking to leads on the phone I was no longer attached to the outcome like I had been in the past.

They couldn't pick up on any kind of desperation or desire on my end to make that sale, to have them join my business or buy my product, because, at that point, I just didn't care anymore whether they join me or not.

At that point, people pick up on that shift and that's when they started to show up and that's really when everything changed.

Tim Erway:

That's awesome.

Yeah, I do recall our first conversation ever so vaguely, but it was interesting because I've gotten a lot of calls as a result of that article.

Most of the calls it was someone trying to sell something or whatever, but our conversation was very, “Hey, just wanted to ask you, I saw your article, I thought it was great, I have a question for you, just wanted to ask your advice.”

It was very non-confrontational, I didn't feel like you had an ulterior motive or an agenda.

It was really just a conversation and it was interesting, so it was very different.

When did you realize that there was something to this?

Because if you look around this room, everyone here knows what attraction marketing is.

Most people know that you're the godfather of attraction marketing, but they're wondering how you created this movement called attraction marketing.

When did it click for you to say, “You know what? I have to share this with people.”

Mike Dillard:

I think all of my businesses that I ever started have been inspired by the exact same thing, which was a personal challenge that I was going through at the time.

At that time, it was, hey, I'd started to get success in networking for the first time.

I'd built my first team, but I absolutely hated what I was having to do to build it, which was still calling leads every day, still recruiting people, still trying to train people.

Being as introverted as I am, that is the definition of hell, basically, having to talk to people all day long.

Tim Erway:

I can relate.

Mike Dillard:

I realized, I was like, “Okay, well now I know that I can't do this. I can't be successful at it, but if this is what my life is going to consist of for the next 20 years, I really don't have any desire in doing that.”

I had to figure out a solution that will allow me to still stay in the industry that I invested 6 or 7 years in now and it still held the features that I wanted from a lifestyle perspective, but I needed to bend it to make it work in a way that was compatible with my personality type.

Magnetic Sponsoring was really born out of that problem or challenge which is how do I get people to come to me?

Because I do not enjoy the process of chasing after others.

That was it and it took on the life of its own.

There's a thing that I was writing on the airplane on the way here yesterday about picking your unique angle in any industry that you're in.

Whenever I enter a new market, like the finance world, which it did in 2010, my personal challenge at the time was okay, my business has made a lot of money and I've pissed all of it away on doing really fun stuff and buying cars and houses.

Tim Erway:

Really fun stuff.

Mike Dillard:

Houses and killing TJ with the jet ski.

It's a good story.

Tim Erway:

Yeah, let's talk about that.

Mike Dillard:

Literally next to his …

Tim Erway:

Before we do that, what was your scariest moment of your life?

Mike Dillard:

The scariest what?

Tim Erway:

Scariest moment of your life.

Mike Dillard:

When I almost killed you.

Tim Erway:

When you almost killed me?

Mike Dillard:

Right, because I was coming to groups with the fact that I might have to inherit your kids.

Tim Erway:

Do you want to tell this story as you remember it or do you want me to tell the story?

Mike Dillard:

I can.

We were down at TJ's place on jet skis on the intercoastal canal and I did not have a lot of experience on jet skis at all and if y'all have ever been on a jet ski for the first time, it's a very, very scary moment when you realize it doesn't have breaks and in order to steer it you have to give it gas.

Especially when you're in a panic moment and you're heading towards a dog or a human being, the last thing you want to do is hit the gas, that's not the natural gig.

Failure to do so means you're actually going to hit the object that you're heading towards, which is what took place.

Tim Erway:

I was the object?

Mike Dillard:

2 hours later we're on a hospital bed, we don't know if TJ's got internal bleeding or dying or what.

Tim Erway:

I only peed blood for 2 days.

Mike Dillard:

That was fun.

Tim Erway:

I do recall there being instructions about the jet skis in the beginning, I don't know if you recall this or not, but there was specific instructions that it's against the law to be within 100 feet of another skier.

I'm just saying, just throwing it out there.

Anyway, it's interesting because Mike is one of the most tactically accurate drivers I've ever seen in my life.

You drive with him in any car and you feel all kinds of emotions.

It's interesting because he just has the most technical slides and he executes all of his maneuvers perfectly and it's amazing.

He's got two really good talents.

One is building businesses and the other is driving.

I never would have thought that he would be the one to almost kill me, but yeah, peed blood for a couple of days, but other than that, it all was good.

Mike Dillard:

I will get to back to some content.

Tim Erway:

Yeah, let's do that.

Yep.

Mike Dillard:

All of my businesses are built around the pain or a problem.

None of us are ever going to break into or create a new industry.

We're all going to walk into an industry or market that already exists.

The question then becomes how do you stand out on that market?

For me, I've always really looked for a way to choose a unique angle.

At the time when I started writing Magnetic Sponsoring nobody knew who I was, I'd never been on stage before, I hadn't received any awards, but I did have a concept that was working really well for me, that I thought other people would enjoy as well.

It was unique in the marketplace, so I think that is one of the big reasons for its success.

It wasn't the third book on attraction marketing or the fifth, it was the first.

Moving into the finance space, I'd never been in the finance space.

I have no idea what to do when it comes to money or investing.

I have no business being in the industry and no following, no notoriety, no credibility whatsoever.

How do you launch a business in a market like that?

It's really sitting down and coming up with your unique angle.

For you guys, what is it about whatever it is that you're working on right now that you can do to make you stand out?

What do you see in the marketplace that is missing, that you wish existed?

That's what I did for Elevation in the finance spaces.

I noticed everything out there was a newsletter, it was all text.

There was no video, there was no personality.

The smartest guys in finance tend to be the dullest and the most boring to read or listen to.

There was no genuine, just normal person who was just stating the obvious that everybody else was thinking and providing an authentic solution to that.

That was the unique aspect of Elevation.

Then moving into the current business and the hydroponics space is the exact same thing.

When I am approaching this market, which once again, I don't know anything about …

Tim Erway:

Can I stop you right there because I want to talk about that in a second, but I want to ask you a question moving back to …

Actually, I want to state something first.

The big lesson that I learned from you launching Elevation Group was that you don't have to be an expert, but you do have to be able to find experts.

The cool thing is, is you had no credibility, no expertise, but you were able to leverage the credibility and the expertise of other people to launch a brand new business.

Can you share the numbers of that business?

How fast did it grow?

That was ridiculous, dude.

I was sitting at your house and you've launched …

Mike Dillard:

Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Tim Erway:

Yeah, it was crazy.

I remember we were sitting outside and you kept running in to check the numbers and then we went …

It was insane, I couldn't believe it, it was happening before my eyes and I'm like, “What?”

Mike Dillard:

Since then, a lot of people have done infinitely bigger product launches, but at the time it was just me, basically, by myself launching the blog, which is essentially what it was.

I had one customer service agent and a tech person and that was it.

We've launched that and it did just over three million revenue in the first week and ten million by the end of our first year.

Again, in a market …

Tim Erway:

How many customers did you have?

Mike Dillard:

That first week 8,600 people joined and by the end of the three years that I was a part of that over 50,000.

The reason that it worked, guys, and many of y'all, I know there's a lot of members in here who were part of Elevation at the time.

It was the simple fact of the matter that I was very honest and open about the fact that I had no idea what I was talking about and I was not there as the teacher, I was there as the student alongside my customers.

You don't have to be some kind of rock star or superstar who has anything to give you credibility to actually go into a business, you just have to have a problem that you perceive is out there with other people and then create the solution for it.

Getting back into the hydro business, again, I'm approaching an industry that I have never been a part of, that I literally don't know anything about.

I read my first book on hydroponics maybe six months.

I'm creating a new business and a new product in that world because I see a problem with a lot of potential that can really make a huge impact for the world and I see a solution.

The goal for me then is just to map out well, how do you bring the solution to life?

Then how do you execute from a skillset standpoint the actual launch of the business?

The biggest piece of advice that I can give you, guys and I feel like I say it all the time, so I feel like it's probably repetitive and boring, but I know there's probably a few of you who haven't heard this, so I want to share it.

The secret to my success has been mastering a single skillset and that's really what allowed me to go from waiting tables and no results for six years to then building a seven-figure business within the next year and a half.

It was not looking at the business opportunity, it was not looking at a product, it was mastering a skill.

Whenever someone comes up and asks me, “Hey, what's the secret to success? What do I do if I'm not having results?”

I ask you, “What skill have you mastered or what skill are you currently mastering?”

100% of the time it's, “None.” 100% of the time.

I've never gotten any answer back from anyone that says, “I've mastered this,” or, “I'm mastering this.” Because if they had, they wouldn't be asking me the question, they'd be successful.

Tim Erway:

Sure.

What skill is it that you've mastered?

Mike Dillard:

For me, it ended up being copywriting.

That just happened to be what I naturally gravitated towards.

Tim Erway:

How many people are on Mike's newsletter?

Okay.

If you're not yet, can you give out your link?

Mike Dillard:

Yeah, just MikeDillard.com.

Tim Erway:

Can you share with us what that's all about and your stats?

Because I was blown away with that, just what happened with this little promo you did.

Mike Dillard:

I think the bigger message that leads up to it is I've reached a position right now where I'm personally spread too thin.

I have my Internet mentoring program that I run, I have the Self Made Man podcast that I run and I have the hydroponics business that I'm building out.

I really can't continue to do all of it.

I've had to make a decision on what I want to focus on and for me the hydroponics business is my passion and what I really want to bring to life.

Many of y'all know, I announced basically my semi-retirement last week from this world, the Internet marketing world in order to really dedicate the majority of my time and assets to the hydro business.

I want y'all to just really think about what that entails because I basically declared publicly to my customer base that I am leaving and there's no going back from that.

Tim Erway:

How does that make you feel?

Mike Dillard:

The point is, I have a business idea with a product that is not even a finished prototype yet, which may or may not work that's going to cost a significant amount of money to build and to launch.

It's not going to actually produce any revenue for at least another twelve months and I basically shot the cow that feeds me every day last week.

The whole point is I had to sit back and make a decision what am I going to do here?

Am I going to play it safe or am I going to go really pursue what I want to pursue?

When I made that decision, I just burnt all the bridges behind me.

I think that is an attitude that all of us have to bring to the world of entrepreneurship, is what's the goal that you really want and what's preventing you from achieving that right now?

What is your safety blanket?

What is your safety net?

If you have one that you've been reliant upon …

Everybody has their own decisions and whatnot, but I tend to torch them because it only leaves you with one option left, which is to succeed.

That's what I did last week.

This webinar this coming Tuesday is basically the last webinar I ever plan to hold, at least in this industry and the topic is going to be on list building.

When I sat down and I thought about what is the one topic that I would choose to write about and to teach for my last gig?

For me, that seems to be the most important, because most people don't really understand that your business is not a product, it's not an opportunity.

At the end of the day, it's your distribution channel.

When you guys look at any kind of restaurant out there, Starbucks, whatever it may be.

Starbucks is not in a coffee business.

If you don't believe me, take away all of the stores, put all of the coffee in a warehouse and let me know how much money they're going to make.

They're in the distribution business and that's how they make revenue is opening stores, which is why they have 23,000 of them.

Your list and essentially your social media following, whatever channels you have is your distribution network, that's your business.

Every time that I've left Magnetic Sponsoring, left the Elevation Group, leaving the Internet world now, I still have a business in the form of my email list and my distribution channel, which is why when I launched the hydroponics business I believe it will be a hugely successful launch, even though it will be a year from now and I'm not going to advertise it, it's just going to be with my core group.

That really is the most significant thing that you can ever think about or work on is building your list, building your distribution channel because that will always remain with you.

No matter what you do or wherever you go, as long as you treat those people well and ultimately help them and provide them with value and build a relationship.

A list is a list.

You can literally go buy one online for a million …

You can buy a list of a million people for 99 dollars, which I looked up last week when I was writing my webinar.

Obviously, it's completely worthless.

The value that you're going to derive from that list or your distribution channel is depended upon the relationship that you have with the people on it and the amount of trust that they have in you.

I'm going to be talking about a couple of rules to live by when it comes to building and maintaining both of those because that's actually where the value is derived from.

Tim Erway:

Yeah.

I have a question for you, I want to get real.

Can you share your biggest mistake and then your biggest regret?

Mike Dillard:

Sure.

The biggest mistake was approaching business with a sense of naiveté.

Many of you guys know what we went through in The Elevation Group in 2012 when we ran into a very bad man from Australia who defrauded a bunch of really good people.

Yeah.

We are blessed in the fact that we live in an industry where everyone tries to help each other.

It's a very cooperative, trust-based world that does not exist anywhere else, where people actually promote other people's products who would traditionally be considered a competitor.

Me promoting Ferny's products or Ray's or anybody else's and them promoting mine.

You just don't see that kind of synergy anywhere else in the real world and it puts you in a position of …

Naivete is the word that I can use for it because the way I spent my last 10 years of my career was coming from a standpoint of positive regard and trust.

I didn't believe that someone would be stupid enough to screw people over in the Internet age.

You hear about it.

Unfortunately, we trusted the wrong person and we didn't have any kind of formal agreements other than a handshake, which is how I had always done business in the past.

We didn't do the legal work that we should have.

That was the biggest mistake that I've ever made.

Literally almost killed my business partner, who got cancer from the stress.

That was a very big growing-up moment for me.

The other half of your question was what?

Tim Erway:

Biggest regret.

Mike Dillard:

Biggest regret.

It has to do with that, as well.

Mike Dillard:

Meeting that person.

Running into that individual, unfortunately.

Yeah, things happen for a reason.

You can't control what happens to you sometimes.

You can only control the decision you make and how you deal with it.

You can make the decision to be victimized by a situation like that or you can make the decision to learn from it and grow stronger from it.

It really put things in a new perspective for me as far as my priorities in life go.

It very quickly became less about what can I achieve or accomplish and more about appreciation for what I have at the present in the form of family and health and friends.

What's the word I'm looking for?

My perspective changed from it didn't matter how successful my businesses were any more to if nobody is bleeding in front of me and dying, it's a good day.

It doesn't matter if I have a house or what car I'm driving anymore.

Everybody is alive and everybody is healthy.

It's been successful.

That was a really good shift.

Tim Erway:

Yeah, no doubt.

I've always been impressed.

I've learned a lot from you, by the way, just your character.

By the way, this man has character.

Is that not true?

How he deals with failure.

You were just born with superhuman powers, right?

You didn't need any personal development or anything like that because you already knew everything.

Mike Dillard:

Correct.

Yes.

Tim Erway:

He does have a crystal ball, by the way.

He can predict the future, as well.

I want to ask you about your personal life.

Don't worry, not dating.

We won't go there.

I want to ask you to talk about your son.

Yeah, I don't even know if anyone …

He only has one kid that he knows of.

Mike Dillard:

Yeah.

I have a son named Chase who is absolutely awesome.

He's going to be 5 in August.

It is obviously really interesting, going through parenthood for the first time.

What's interesting about him is you don't know how your kids are going to turn out, which is a scary proposition.

Really it's the world that he's going to grow up in.

In 10 years time, 11 years time, when he's 16 and it's time to go to driving school, I really don't even know if there's going to be one at that point.

Tim Erway:

You're so optimistic.

Mike Dillard:

Well from the fact that we're all going to have self-driving cars, TJ.

Not that the world is going to end.

Tim Erway:

I was going to go there, too.

I thought that's what you were referring to, but anyway.

Mike Dillard:

Yeah, no.

In 10 years time, self-driving cars will be a thing of normalcy.

It will actually be more expensive to get a driver's license and have insurance than it will to let your car drive you places.

I'm very curious to see what that generation is going to do, specifically with the development of AI.

By the time he's 20, the development of robotics.

By the time he's in his mid-20s, I don't know what the world is going to look like.

Tim Erway:

You don't think it's going to explode and everyone is going to die?

Mike Dillard:

Well, you know …

Tim Erway:

I say it tongue in cheek, but kind of.

Mike Dillard:

Did anyone hear the “Be Prepared” product I did with my Navy Seal buddy?

Any of y'all did any of that?

A couple of you?

Tim Erway:

Be Prepared.

He just emailed it.

Anyone see that email about the Be Prepared product?

It actually ended up in my spam folder.

That one did, which was interesting.

I had to dig for it.

Mike Dillard:

Got it.

Yeah, I believe a good character for any entrepreneur to have is to basically drive towards your goal and to envision the life that you want and move towards that in every capacity that you can but to also have a fallback and a plan B for when shit doesn't work out.

A contingency plan.

Not only do I practice that in business, but I also practice that in my personal life.

Tim Erway:

I do too because you scared the shit out of me.

Back to Chase, would you say that that was a motivator for you to create Self-Made Man?

Mike Dillard:

Yeah, that's a good question.

Tim Erway:

I'm fascinated by your interviews that you did.

I've listened to a few of them and they're just phenomenal.

You get some crazy, ridiculously talented and just cool people on that podcast.

Mike Dillard:

I don't know if it's a part of my personality type or what, but I would hope that everyone here in this room can dedicate their time and energy while they're here on this planet to go in as big as they possibly can and to do something that will change as many lives as possible.

That's really what motivates me is my biggest fear on my deathbed is not …

My biggest fear is that I didn't do everything that I could or I didn't push myself far enough or I gave into some kind of fear, where I couldn't contribute as much as I could have.

When we look around the world, specifically over the last couple of years, I don't know about you guys but I have noticed a serious degradation in the values that people tend to live or not live by these days.

Specifically youth, but even adults all the way from the politicians in Washington down to…

Tim Erway:

Obama.

Mike Dillard:

…school teachers and everything in between.

The world we live in today is drastically different than the world we lived in 20, 30, 40 years ago or that existed.

If you've read Atlas Shrugged, it's almost a prophetic step-by-step analysis of what is actually taking place right now.

Tim Erway:

Who here has read Atlas Shrugged?

I think that's a must-read for entrepreneurs.

Would you agree?

Mike Dillard:

There's a reason I have a painting of it on my wall in my office.

Yeah, it's definitely a must-read book.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

It's basically the bible for entrepreneurs if you will.

I was sitting down, having conversations with friends 3 or 4 years ago.

If you see this happening in society and you can see the end result and where it's going to go based on history lessons that are provided to you in examples like an Atlas, it's a very concerning situation.

Typically as entrepreneurs, we sit down and say, “Okay, what can we do to fix this?”

The question was, how do you change society for the better in a long-term manner?

The answer that we came back with was you have to change the value set of the people who live in it.

A big part of that is the men who live in it.

Typically in the past, if you want to change society in a quick and effective way, it's typically done through the barrel of a gun.

That was obviously not an option.

Tim Erway:

Well, you've got enough guns to arm a small South American country.

Mike Dillard:

Yeah.

Well, that's plan B if the value thing doesn't work out.

Tim Erway:

Okay.

Mike Dillard:

The other answer is you have to change the value set that people live by and strive for day to day.

How can little old me have some kind of impact on that?

The best way that I could think of that I could personally contribute or make a difference in is to provide a platform that put mentors and leaders in front of the youth of the world today.

Tim Erway:

These are people you look up to as mentors and leaders.

Mike Dillard:

They are.

They're for the most part, especially in the beginning, my mentors.

I'm running out of people who would fit that category now but essentially the point of the show is to provide leadership and mentors to a new generation of men so that they can have positive influences in their life and people that they can look up to and learn from.

That's the point of that project.

Tim Erway:

Now is that something you're going to continue doing?

Mike Dillard:

Yeah, it is.

That's something I would like to do for 10 to 20 years as really a passion project.

That really was the inspiration for Self-Made Man.

It's done really, really well.

We're making a difference.

I've gotten some of the best feedback I've ever gotten from that show.

It's just an idea and it's me putting other people who are experts on a platform, which is something all of us can do.

I'm really not providing my unique ability to it in any way.

I'm just a guest.

I have to say the first episode or two is horrible.

Tim Erway:

I thought it was great.

Mike Dillard:

There's so many um's and stutters.

The content from the guest was horrible.

My job as a host was absolutely horrific, but that's totally fine.

You're going to screw up no matter what you do in any endeavor.

Tim Erway:

Do you guys feel better that his first podcast sucked ass?

I thought it was good, but …

Mike Dillard:

Well, it is what it is.

The more important thing is to just get it going and then continue through the path and you'll eventually get better and to not have incredibly high expectations for yourself when you just start something out.

Do y'all want to ask some questions with the time we've got left?

Tim Erway:

Oh, I have one more question while they're getting that all going.

Fun.

What do you do for fun, man?

Mike Dillard:

Shoot guns and race cars.

Tim Erway:

We're going to do that tomorrow.

Mike Dillard:

Yes, we are.

Tim Erway:

Yeah.

Mike Dillard:

Yeah, I got into racing in 2008.

I have definitely become really addicted to that sport.

Tim Erway:

The first step of recovery is admitting you have a problem.

Mike Dillard:

Yeah.

The day that I retire, my goal is to go race cars full-time professionally.

That's really what motivates me from a business standpoint.

I like racing because it is a sport that has consequences.

If you miss a basket when you take a shot, totally fine.

You miss a swing when you're up to bat, totally fine.

You screw up when you're racing cars …

Tim Erway:

Or jet skis.

Mike Dillard:

Yeah, it could be bad.

Tim Erway:

I wish I had that picture of me in the hospital, going like this in the gown and you looking like you're freaked out.

That was an awesome picture.

Mike Dillard:

Yeah.

No, I think it's important for everyone to continue to push themselves in every way possible.

For me, I'm willing to put the responsibility on myself and the people that I surround myself with to where I literally put my life on the line.

I think if you're not doing that, it doesn't really count.

I think that's why racing appeals to me in a morbid way, but it matters.

What you're doing, every decision you make, every nth of a degree of the gas pedal is the difference between hitting a wall or not.

I like challenges like that.

Tim Erway:

Awesome.

Mike Dillard:

Do we have a mic, guys?

Fantastic.

Audience member:

First of all, I wanted to thank Mike for being here.

I've followed you for several years.

I think the information you've provided has been very appreciative.

The question, earlier you mentioned a book and I'm not familiar with it.

I just wanted to get more details on it.

Mike Dillard:

Atlas Shrugged probably.

Was that it?

Audience member:

Yes, that was it.

Mike Dillard:

Fiction book written by Ayn Rand decades ago.

Really if you read it, over the last 10 years what we've seen, it's unbelievably prophetic.

It is really documenting what is happening around the world today.

Audience member:

I've read some of her work, but not that one.

Mike Dillard:

Okay, great.

Tim Erway:

Actually, can you share a few more books that you recommend or that you've read that really have had an impact on you while you're answering his question here?

Mike Dillard:

It's not really I would say books as much as courses.

Tim Erway:

Really?

Mike Dillard:

The biggest game-changers for me have typically come in the form of the big courses over my career, whether it's on copyrighting or internet marketing or whatever it may be.

It's literally the 1 to 2 to $5,000 gigs.

Tim Erway:

Gotcha.

Mike Dillard:

We talk about buying information and training.

I have a copyrighting book and unfortunately, the name escapes me.

I think it's Gary Bencivenga.

Tim Erway:

Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

You told me before.

Mike Dillard:

It's a blue book.

It's probably that big.

It's paperback.

It's not even hardback.

Basically Gary is one of the best copyrighters in history.

It was his farewell basically for his retirement.

Tim Erway:

He actually retired, right?

Mike Dillard:

Yeah, as far as I know.

Some of his best-copywriting wisdom in that book.

It's literally just a book this big and it was $5,000.

He sold a limited number of those and I obviously bought one.

Tim Erway:

Was that an uncomfortable purchase for you?

Mike Dillard:

No.

Tim Erway:

No?

Mike Dillard:

No because you know one headline or one piece of wisdom from that book will make that back tenfold.

One of the absolute most game-changing courses that I've ever bought in my life is Jeff Walker's “Product Launch Formula.”

Mike Dillard:

If you guys don't have that, huge mistake.

Huge mistake.

Tim Erway:

If you're launching products, of course.

Mike Dillard:

Well, that's anything.

That's the same thing as doing an affiliate promotion or a launch for your own opportunity.

Any time that you would ever like to get a group of people organized around an event or a purchase decision …

Tim Erway:

You used it for your podcast even.

Mike Dillard:

That's what I said.

If you want to get a group of people motivated to go take action, that's really what that course is all about.

Really that's what we do as marketers all the time.

“Product Launch Formula.”

Actually a great place to start is he launched a book, basically a much shorter version of his product on Amazon.

You can go buy his book, Launch, for $15.

It's a great place to start.

That course has made me literally tens of millions of dollars.

Tim Erway:

Awesome.

Mike Dillard:

Jeff Walker, “Product Launch Formula.”

The book is called “Launch” and that's on Amazon.

Tim Erway:

Cool.

Robert Lemus:

I'm Robert Lemus.

I heard some great techniques, how to build your brand for someone just starting out, but my question to you is if you were just starting out in today's market, how would you start off to build your brand?

Mike Dillard:

Well, I think building a brand is a result of providing a lot of value.

I've never really focused on building my brand ever.

If you've known me for a while, I didn't have a personal website at MikeDillard.com until a year ago.

I've never focused on building my brand.

I've just focused on creating stuff that I think will provide a lot of value.

As a result of that, your brand is formed.

Yet at the same time, one thing I do consciously keep in mind is who my target audience is and how I can be as relatable to them as possible in my marketing pieces.

The photos that I do have on MikeDillard.com are intentional.

They're designed to appeal to a certain group of people who have a similar set of values that I have or similar set of beliefs or whatever it may be.

I have a picture of me in my training gear with my assault rifle basically at my ranch as one of those pictures on that blog.

I have it there very intentionally, even though it's going to turn off a ton of people and some people are going to get pissed off and disgusted by it and never do business with me.

I totally understand that.

There's a very conscious decision to keep it there and put it there, because it's going to attract another group of people, as well.

For me, building a brand is about doing what you say you're going to do.

Providing a lot of value, having integrity over a long period of time and giving yourself enough time to build a brand, which is typically going to take 2, 3, 4, 5 years.

I think just making good business decisions as a person is really the key to doing that in the long-term.

Tim Erway:

Yeah, good advice.

Okay, what else?

We've got time for a couple more questions.

Audience member:

Hey, how's it going?

My name is Chad.

My question is how would you switch your list from going from a business opportunity or from financial advice to hydroponics?

Tim Erway:

Great question.

Mike Dillard:

Involving people in the story.

A lot of the emails that I send out these days or post on social media, it's personal stuff.

My racing, whatever I'm doing.

It's really just involving people in my life and what I'm doing.

Telling them why I'm making that transition and involving them in the story and then also making sure that you connect the dot as to why it's important for them to follow it, as well, and why they would want to and what they're going to get out of it.

What's in it for them is still something that needs to be addressed, as usual.

Yeah, that's it.

It's being a normal person.

Tim Erway:

One more question for the Godfather.

Mike Dillard:

No pressure, no pressure.

Audience member:

Hi, Mike.

This is Patty.

I don't really have a question.

What I have is a big huge thank you.

Mike Dillard:

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Audience member:

I've been following you since almost the get-go, back in '05.

I have a paper copy of Magnetic Sponsoring that I've read on a yearly basis and I built my business based on your philosophies.

Thank you.

Mike Dillard:

Oh, thank you.

That's awesome.

I appreciate that.

That's awesome.

Cool.

Tim Erway:

To just piggyback on that, man, you've changed so many lives.

You continue to break new ground and make the impossible possible.

It's awesome to see.

It's inspiring for me and it's inspiring for everyone else in this community.

We really appreciate you flying down here.

By the way, Mike has no ulterior motive.

As he said, he's a man that practices what he preaches.

He's here to give value.

He's here to share with you.

He will be around here for the rest of the day today.

Mike Dillard:

Yeah, that sounds great.

Thank you guys for having me and for all of y'all's support.

I've met so many of y'all over the last 24 hours that have followed me for almost 10 years now.

You're the reason I can do what I do.

Thank you so much.

It's not possible without your support, so I really do appreciate that.

Tim Erway:

Awesome.

Mike Dillard:

Thank you for having me, guys.

I appreciate it.

[End transcript.]

…

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