A healthy love affair with Focus James

"Foreign."

Stuart: Welcome to another episode of the book More Show. It's Stuart here and today we've got a great guest lined up. We're going to be speaking with Focus James, who's just written a book called how to have a Healthy Love Affair. Focus. And I've had the opportunity to speak by email a couple of times, but this is the first time we've spoken in person. And I know the guys every time they, they have opportunity to speak with Focus, I always hear about it because it's always such a great experience. She's got such a passion and an energy. So I'm really looking forward to this episode. I think we're going to get a lot out of it as we get Focus's book out there ready to. Ready to hit the world. So, Focus, thanks for your time today. Looking forward to this call.

Focus James: Oh, you are welcome. I'm so glad to be here and I love your accent so I can talk to you all day long.

Stuart: Focus. I have got a bit of a connection because she's outside Philadelphia, which is where my fiance is. So in the not too distant future, we're going to be a little bit geographically closer than we are now, separated by about three and a half thousand miles. So hopefully we'll get a chance to meet in person. And you can listen to my accent and I'll listen to yours and have a good coffee.

Focus James: Absolutely. I look forward to it.

Stuart: Fantastic. So a bit of background for everyone else there listening. So Focus jumped on board about six weeks ago, I think now maybe a little bit more. She's got an event coming up in the next couple of days, so the team were focused on getting everything up and running ready for this event so that there was something physically available to meet this audience. The book, as I mentioned, is called how to have a Healthy Love Affair. I think it's a fantastic perspective on an issue that a lot of people suffer with or struggle through. So what I wanted to start about, start talking about was a. I'll ask Focus in a second to give a bit of background in our own words. But one of the early things I think we should talk about is just this slightly different perspective. A lot of times as people are coming into the process, they may be struggling to think about what to write about or how to choose the subject. So focus. Let's start with what the. Your background and kind of what brought you to writing the book and what you do and how it supports that, how it supports you and your business.

Focus James: Awesome. Yes, thanks. Great question. So I actually got married at 18, as a Christian, trying to solve one problem and created 10 more. I was so young. I was so young. Definitely didn't know who I was and sure enough couldn't pick a partner for a lifetime. So I really, it got clear to me that I just didn't know what I was doing. About three weeks into the marriage when the clothes were piling up and my husband looked at me and I looked at him and we were like, who's washing those clothes? Right? And I remember saying to him, wow, that's a big pile of clothes. And he looked at me and I saw his face. You know, he was like, you're supposed to do that. And I'm looking at him like I'm supposed to do that. It was just a hilarious moment now, but at that moment I felt a lot of pressure because I was actually walking out the door. Yes. As a full time student from 8 to noon and then working from 1 to like 7 in the evening at a part time job. So I was an athlete, an academic. So my mom fed us, made sure our food was ready, our clothes were washed. So I spontaneously got married and she definitely told me I wasn't ready. So this is where the birth of this book come from because the tagline to how to have a healthy love affair is you could be happy or you could be right, but you can't be both. Well, actually when I called her about three weeks into the marriage asking her how to wash clothes, she took a deep breath and a sigh that said to me, you are wrong. I told you you were not ready for marriage. Well, you know, for the better part of the marriage, my life was dedicated to prove her wrong because I was an athlete, I was competitive, Stewart. So I had to prove her wrong.

Stuart: When you can imagine how external motivation.

Focus James: Yes, yes. So you can imagine how that marriage went. You can imagine how her and I conversations went about marriage. It was all about competition and me trying to prove to be right and make her wrong. Right. So no love between there, no real mentoring there because of my stubbornness. But you know, out in that marriage ending I learned so much about, you know, the interaction of humanity and it really was confronting and caused me to have a hunger to read and go to seminars and workshops and listen to YouTube and really trying to understand the dynamics of humanity. So that's where it came from. It actually got burped out of pain with the, with the husband that I married and a mother who gave me life source just not knowing how to navigate with humanity. So I'm actually You know, the person child of what not to do to have a healthy love affair. So and then this really sought and got hungry for how to master communication in a way that calls a win win.

Stuart: So when people come on board with us, this is often the first time that we've spoken to them. A lot of the time we're working through some of those steps to pick a title, dial in that single target aud and the subheading that kind of amplifies the subject. But I think when we started working with you, all of these things were in place already. You're subheading that you can be happy, you can be right, but you can't be both is such a fantastic. It just amplifies and delivers such a strong message of the promise of the solution and the key issue that people face as they're going through it. Is that something that subheading. Is that something that you've had for a long time? Was that the early, the early manifestation of it with those things you realized or what was the kind of genesis of that subheading?

Focus James: Yes, it actually is. And I just had to get that. I can, I can argue well, okay, I can argue well. My first degree is in early childhood education. My second degree is in communication. So I can make you feel like a little boy real well. Right. So that. And that doesn't bring anybody joy. Right. So I have the psychology of how to talk to people and I wanted to use it powerfully. So how can I build people up and be able to deliver well, so that there is a win win. So that's where it started from. As I was going to college, I was realizing that there is power in words and you know how you raise your voice and lower your voice and lean in when you talk to people and your body language. So I quickly got the concept, but still in my immaturity trying to figure out how to use it and temper myself and know how to control my own self. Inside of dynamics. When someone says something to me, am responding or am I actually reacting? Right. So a lot of nuances in learning how to, you know, dance the dance called being with humanity.

Stuart: It's fantastic. It's such a great example. And I think for as people are listening to this, even if someone's coming to from maybe a financial services background or something, that's very kind of academical numbers based rather than the emotional based subject. Just thinking, just reading the words and seeing that the subheading amplifies the message of the title so much and really kind of encourages People to raise their hand because it delivers the promise of a solution. I think this is just one of the best examples that I've seen for a long time. And it's really fascinating that you came to. It all came to us with this already. It's not something that we had to work through. So I think the book falling under the. Or the content in the book falling in place after people kind of open it up and move from that. From that title to that subheading to the chapter outline, all of it is so coherent and leads towards the kind of the call to action at the back and the next steps. It really is such a great model. And listening to you talk and the framework and particularly it's something that I pick up on is that difference between responding and reacting. So often it's that taking that second slow thinking, I think is another term I've heard people talk about in the same kind of context, but taking that extra moment to think about, okay, are the words that are about to come out of my mouth just an emotional reaction to it? Or is this the best possible response I can give to. To have an outcome that's. That's beneficial for everyone? Fascinating.

Focus James: Yeah. I can't say it any better. I think one of the things I had to really get present to him, the bodies I was leaving behind. Stuart, am I doing. I was right. I got my point across. I told my truth, which is untrue, but doesn't mean it's the truth. And where am I leaving people? What am I up to? So it created a whole empire inside of me. How I want to offer that to other people, that you get to be who you are authentically and in a way that works and get you the world and the love that you want. So it transcends not only to relationships but to business. So I have a component to go in and teach and train in a business where I have what's called a lunch and learn. So I get, you know, the boss buys the lunch and I. And I teach. Right. And they get to learn and then outside of get to either, you know, become a hire me as a coach or consultant. And of course for families, singles and love partners as well. And of course the married couples and definitely are divorcees. Right. They're going to be connected financially or with children for the next 20, 30 years. They also need a way of being with each other that works, that's authentic. And get that the marriage fell, but now where do we go from here? So it's all encumbersome. Right. How to have a relationship matters in every area of life. It's like nowhere. You can not not have it. Even the geek in the back, you know, of his mom's basement, he got to sell it to somebody so he has to know how to use it. Right.

Stuart: All of different relationships and elements. The divorce one that you mentioned there is a great example I think is it's really not the thing that's thought about because coming together in a relationship, it's so much about coming to the together element, but the, the separating is so much about the separation. But it's impossible to completely separate. There should still be, or often has to be some kind of connection and navigating that different, the different dynamics. I think I really liked what you were talking about. The kind of fact that it's not a zero sum game. Just because too many people think about winning has the flip side to losing. And that's a problematic way of thinking about it. It's really sounding like a cliche. But what's the outcome that can be a win for everyone. Think about the bigger picture, I guess, the kind of the overall battle, not the individual campaign.

Focus James: Exactly. Beautifully put.

Stuart: So you were talking about your business, the way that you're set up. That's more one on one consulting or group consulting or remote consulting. Just want to give people a bit of background so they can kind of position where you are when they compare with where they are.

Focus James: Absolutely. Yeah. Thanks for asking. So absolutely. If I'm local, I can come to a business or a small home based business and. Or a corporate actually. Of course I can travel as well. We live in this awesome country. You can fly anywhere. Right. So I can get technology, definitely. So a lot of my clients, I either FaceTime with Zoom, whatever they feel comfortable, Skype. So either way we can. And some people are old school, they don't want to do any of that. So they'd rather have a conference call or we come sit in their home with them and their spouse or them and their children. So whatever way works for you. I'm definitely open and I want to make sure you're the most comfortable. But I find most of my one on ones are over some type of technology.

Stuart: Right. I think it adds in that extra element. It's slightly more dynamic, it's more flexible for people. And I guess as part of the relationship challenges that people have got either in the workplace or at home, one of those elements is juggling all of the commitments and things that people need to do. So being able to deliver your element of it, the business, the coaching, support and training and guidance in a way that's kind of reactive and or responsive rather and takes that into consideration. Just makes it all the more, all the more likely to be successful.

Focus James: Yes, I agree a thousand percent. I want to set people up to win. Right. So whatever works for you to get the content and because it takes something to generate yourself when you hire a life coach it's already confronting. You're already going to, you know, have to be dealing with things that don't work. So I don't want to make the travel to and fro row any harder. So if we can hop on media, you don't have to park or drive and vice versa and we can jump right in and get into it and without you leaving your home or finding babysitters, it's just a win win. That's the whole goal.

Stuart: Yeah, absolutely. So let's look at then moving into the so we've got the event that's coming up in I think it's next week as we record this in fact. So this episode is going to be episode 59 in the stream. So I think that's going to a week onto Saturday as we record. So I think you should be in the middle or in the, in the kind of throws of the event as this goes live. So we'll definitely have to do a quick follow up afterwards. So that's, that's in that element of using the book as part of the overall funnel. We'll get to that in a second. I just want to quickly again give a bit of background to people and think about your lead generation activities at the moment. The people who kind of come into your world, you've obviously been doing what you're doing for quite some time. So are the majority of people coming to you because of a personal referral or from some other advertising or marketing activity that you're doing?

Focus James: Yeah, great question. So generally anywhere I go I pick up a client, but I can't be everywhere. It's the birth of the book. So generally if I'm in a networking event I'm going to pick up a client just from my being able to hear what's not being said and be able to see what's not been yet told. So I get in a conversation with the person and walk out the event going to have a client. But I knew I definitely needed another way to be able to reach the masses because that masses because I can't be everywhere at the same time. But if I had something like an amazing tool Like a book, people can immediately, you know, kind of feel my spirit, my mindset, where I'm going with what the coaching is about and then raise their hand and say, that's me. So yes, and also referrals. So as I coach different couples and singles, if you will, they go, oh, and I know someone. And then that's how it kind of rolls along as far as being able to get new customers, if you will. A client.

Stuart: Fantastic. I think that resonates with so many people. Maybe two thirds of the people that we deal with, or certainly that I deal with, obviously the team are in place and dealing with a lot of the day to day interactions with people and we've got all of the individual team members looking after their own discipline. I'll often talk to people in terms of strategy calls or some separate projects that we do, but the those conversations very much refer around or revolve around that personal connection and not doing things at a huge scale. I can't think of really any example where we've got people talking about, I need this thing to work at a huge scale. And I'm just looking at the numbers and at the end of this funnel, I want automatically just a handful of people to pop out at the bottom. Almost everyone that I can think of. We're dealing with some kind of personal interaction, if not actually one on one, but certainly from an email point of view or keeping their finger on the pulse. And I think that's what really makes a big difference. I was just talking to someone yesterday about that and the kind of the difference between still a scalable but a relatively high touch way of dealing with people, as opposed to kind of like a burn and churn Type, typically an AdWords type model where you're just trying to get lots of people in at the front end and then push them through a couple of steps and hopefully the ones who have expressed themselves at the hottest pop out the bottom. I think one of the real benefits that having a book gives you the opportunity to create is many more of those individual touch points. Many more opportunities to kind of make that personal connection using the book as the, as the primary, primary asset, as the thing that you can refer back to as the kind of the opportunity to have a talking point that can then lead on to something else. It just makes all of that, amplifies all that and gives a lot more opportunities.

Focus James: I agree. And that's what also gave me the oomph to write the book when I got the engagement. Well, one, I was actually headed out to Chicago with Les Brown for a speakers campus called an. And my daughter has a good friend in her class. And I asked the mom, can she take my daughter to and fro one of those days I would be there. And she said, well, what's up? What are you doing? And I told her, I'm a life coach. I'm going for speaking certification by the Les Brown. I'm really excited about it. And she said, diva girls. Diva girls. You got to find out about Diva Girls Philadelphia. I said, I sure will when I come back. And when I get back, I have a financial coach that's called a crew, everybody, that's listeners. Oprah has four coaches. So I say to my my life, my financial coach, he wants me to go to an event and hear him speak. And I'm like, sure, I'm there. This man has saved me a lot of money. So I'm there when he says let's. I say go. So he says, diva Girl. I'm like, diva girl. Wow. So he's like, yes, the founder is going to be there. So it was so perfect that I got connected two areas in my life and that's the event we've been talking about. Making fifth is Diva Girl Philly. They're having their annual, fourth annual event of the women empowerment and fitness that I'll be speaking to. So for me, I was like, I need to get a tool out because there's going to be 200 women there. As much as I can talk, I want to be effective. And what's a good tool that can also get out there and have people have a conversation with me that I might not be able to touch each and every one of them? So that's when the fire got lit underneath me that I need to get this book out. And my speech is, you could be right, you could be happy, but you can't be both. And then the founder, her name is Majette, she actually tagged it with how to have a healthy love Affair. We had an amazing conversation and I said to her, what do your women need to hear? Because I believe you don't want to get in the way of what you want to say to what the actual audience needs to hear, right? And that's what she said. She said, how to have a healthy love Affair. And I was like, I could definitely work with that and that consistency.

Stuart: So we've got a talk that's labeled with the same language as the book. And we've got a follow up sequence after people request a copy of the book that talks about the same that talks about the elements in the same way there's a. The material, the whole framework. Often talk about the eight profit actors frame tripping over my words. I often Talk about the 8 Profit Activators framework that we use across all of the business on this side. And one of the super strong benefits there is, it's, it's consistent and it gives people eight hooks to kind of hang their hat on and understand where they are through. And I think that's very similar to what you've got in a consistent model, a consistent language, a consistent message. And as you're looking at engaging more people, it's just a way of bringing them through and not necessarily introducing new words or new terminologies or new things at each different stage. It just really streamlines that process through to the point that you've got opportunity to have a call with them or get on the phone or an email or that one on one interaction. Such a great opportunity. So what I wanted to do today and just make sure that you're getting some value out of this and it's not just me talking, talking in your general direction is to pick up on some of the beyond the book stuff. So the last couple of weeks of podcasts we've been talking about this a lot. What can you do once you've written it to have it there effective at the end of the day, if it was just something that was sat on the shelf, might be an interesting exercise, but it hasn't really isn't turning to that much new business. So I think if we focus on the event, obviously, because that's coming up in a couple of days, and how you can use the book at the event and the follow up sequence afterwards. But then I also wanted to quickly talk about the kind of networking and referral side of things because I think one of the biggest opportunity both for yourself and as of part people are listening to this is looking for that low hanging fruit. It's all well and good to think about this whole new campaign that you could set up and a whole new funnel and the book is a whole new thing. But actually if you can use it to amplify or tweak or augment some of the things that you're doing already, that low hanging fruit means that at least you're getting some movement, some additional benefit and then think of the bigger things, the more complicated things after afterwards. So I want to make sure that we've got time to touch on both of those. So starting with the event, do you know how many people are Attending how many attendees there are?

Focus James: Yes, the goal is 200. 200 women.

Stuart: And do you know if you'll get the opportunity? So some events are structured in a slightly different way. Some of them you'll get the name and email address of the delegates anyway just as part of being a speaker. Or do you know if it's more of an opportunity that you don't get those details so you've actually got to make a connection with anyone who were to want to raise their hand in the event.

Focus James: Yes, great question. So no, I don't get those. Their data but their database I should say. But I do have. I'm a presenter so I'll be speaking for 20 minutes also. I also opted in is to be in a vendor so that I can roll out this book. So it's almost like my first rollout. I'm also going to have T shirts and bookmark, so. And I'm also having I love hand and stone at the massage place here. So they're coming to do massages. So in order to get the massage they'll give me their name and their email if you will of interest. But also I'm going to use the Gogo client technology where you can ask them to text you their information as well when I speak from the stage. So that allows anybody that's already in the room to make sure that I get their information and they also get connected to me so I can have follow up emails about the event. So that's the technology I'm using right now.

Stuart: Fantastic. So I think that's going to be perfect because from stage it's a relatively small room. It's not like you're trying to broadcast to thousands of people. It's quite small and intimate and there's a couple of opportunities within that 20 minutes to both put that text to join number up there and say hey, I'd love. You're the first guys to ever see this in the world. This is a. This is a substitute for a book tour. This has just been captured. I've had so much feedback about the way that we frame the Healthy Love Affair model that a number of people have been bugging me for ages to get this written down somewhere. So this is hot off the press. I really want to share this with you. I know that we've just put an order through that has just arrived. So the number, I don't know how big that order was. That order wasn't enough for a physical copy for everyone at the event was.

Focus James: Is not. It's 60 copies so I'm gonna set up pre orders. Don't really know how to do that technology wise. I know it's probably an option to do that on Gogo client where people can log on there and like maybe pay for it. And that's something I'll need support from maybe from our awesome gym gym Google client. But I'm wondering how to do that. That would be a great idea. How once I run out of books to allow people to still purchase and I kind of ship them out to them and do they cover the shipping? You know, I'm curious as to how to set that up.

Stuart: Yeah, it comes down to a lot of the time, just the price and effort and each person's different. Depends on how much effort they can put into it. There's two options, basically. One option is to make it the book available on Amazon and just point people in that direction and then Amazon, Amazon fulfill it. But the problem there is that you don't get any of the details. Amazon doesn't share the contact details with the purchasers with you in any way. So that's okay. But it's not great from a lead generation point of view. So really looking at fulfilling the orders yourself and whether that is unfortunately now CreateSpace, which is the actual printing arm of Amazon, they used to be able to, they used to have their own storefront so that it was possible for you to get some more information in order through a slightly different channel. But that's no longer the case. So the only option really, unless you find another print on demand company, which is debatably worth the. That's a lot of overhead. So it would definitely have to be worthwhile for to do that in this particular scenario. There's 200 people at the event. You've got a certain number of books there anyway, a subset of people are going to be interested, even if it's a relatively high subset, because there's a. There's a good audience match. So you're probably only talking about by the time you've. You've used the copies that you've got, maybe fulfilling 100 additional orders, if that, to be honest.

Focus James: Yeah.

Stuart: So I would probably just deal with those people directly and whether you set up a shopping cart yourself. So one of the easiest ways of doing that is there's a website service called Squarespace and it's almost like a Plug and Play type storefront. Or whether it's just a case of emailing. Email me your details and here's my PayPal email address and send some payments through and that's the way to go. And then just fulfilling them yourself because the numbers are relatively low. The other thing that might be worth thinking about is, and again it's a cost benefit analysis type thing is whether it's worth giving the copies away to that particular audience. Have it as a bigger launch if it's a group of female entrepreneurs locally in your area already. So that group of people, as opposed to something either out of area or a group that wasn't as dialed into what you offer. If the match wasn't quite so good. These guys are going to be the hottest of hot prospects in the sense that the audience match is the closest to the service that you provide. So you might want to consider having the books are 250 in each plus shipping. So that maybe works out at like say $3 each. There's 200 people there. So whatever that that math extrapolates out to, it might be worth using the opportunity to promote it as a. As giving it away as giving it to them. Or maybe say there's. There's a fixed number of them that you can give away but without having to. For this particular group, without having to charge like a per book price. Wonder if there's a way of kind of amplifying the benefit a little bit more of saying I want to give you a copy of this because it's so important for me to get this message out there. I know that it can help. So head over to the stall at the back. We've got a certain number with us, but if we can't, if we run out of them and you can't get a copy, I'll be sure to put a copy in the post to you afterwards because that's going to be a way of getting their name, email address, phone numbers, address details and really connect, make that bigger connection. So for the overhead of the mental overhead of trying to set up a store and do all of that in, well, what's really only seven days now before the event. It might be the better choice might be just to bite the bullet on the cost of the books and then say that you'll. You'll give them away. I was thinking about the following.

Focus James: We also have the PDF version that could be giveaway.

Stuart: Yes, yeah, exactly. And you make a. That's an. Brings up an interesting point because in another scenario, if the group wasn't as and I might, I might be misrepresenting it as well. This might not be the hottest group of people. So if I'm going off on a bit of A tangent. I mean, just, just correct for, for my error. But if it. Another environment. So let's say, let's say you had this event this weekend and then the following weekend there was an event that you were doing at the university as part of a mentoring program for the students that are going through there. So that second event, hypothetical event, might not be as dialed in. So for ones like that, we, I would typically say to people, go down the digital route because the costs are lower. If the audience isn't such a direct match, then it's not worth the cost of like the physical cost. For this group, though, if this group is really, if the, if this group represents 200 of your ideally perfect prospects, then it might be worth thinking about the physical one just in that differentiation. So the book and the knowledge are. Sorry, the knowledge that's in the book is the same the physical version to the digital version, but the, the psychological value of the two is slightly different. Yeah. So kind of put the, put the wood behind the right arrow or, or I can't think of another metaphor, but, but put the effort into, or sacrifice the costs or the expense or the, the effort into where it's more worthwhile. But the digital version. Absolutely, that's the case. And you couldn't. You mentioned Gogo before as the CRM platform, the tool. So we've got. Already we've got the website set up for the book, the main one that we're using, which is YourHealthyLoveAffair.com and we talked about that as being the place where you can send everyone, because Gogo makes it very easy to set up new landing pages. In theory, you could buy another domain, which was philly divas love affair.com and then duplicate the landing page in very similar ways. So the process is the same, but tweak the words on there so that the words are absolutely dialed into that audience. Got it on the back of the. All the other thing to do is just kind of time shift it. So knowing that your healthylove affair.com, although, I mean, we're talking about now on the podcast, you might get some people who are listening in opting in just to see what the process is. But, but apart from that, what you could say to yourself is, okay, that that domain's only just gone live, no one else really knows about it. For the next two weeks, I'll, I'll tweak the words on there so they're specifically tailored to this event because I know most of the traffic is going to come from this event and then two weeks further down the track I'll make it more generic. So the option of tailoring it and dialing it into this audience and kind of using all of the psychological, the pre suasion type hooks of closing the gap between hey, I'm the person that you saw speaking on stage and maybe we had a quick conversation getting coffee afterwards on this landing page. Now, hey, remember it's me, we've spoken. There's a familiarity move forward through the process. So that would be another option as well if you did want to go down the digital route of just tailoring either that landing page or a dedicated landing page and then equally the follow up sequence as well. So you know that people who fill out the details to this hypothetical Philly Divas healthy love affair landing page, you know those people have come from that source. So the email follow up sequence can be absolutely dialed in as well and maybe make references and back to the event or put the connections in there that will connect them in that experience on that day to the thing that they're now reading a week or two later.

Focus James: I love it. Yeah, I think that's a great strategy to make sure that they get access to the content. Because again, that's our goal, right? Is just to raise the conversation, hear the conversation and have someone raise their hand that caused that invisible audience to raise their hand and go, that's me. I need your service. So I like that of play with that. The book versus the digital version or both of some kind of combination.

Stuart: Yeah. Another option might be doing things like I'm thinking about live events generally now. So it might be the opportunity to add something to it. So maybe say that there is a draw element to anyone that requests a copy at the event. Here I'm giving away or not choose better words than giving away. But I'm going to do two 15 minute calls with two of the people who have opted in and then add if your time is more flexible, if you've got. Because you're doing this, it's like me doing these calls. It's enjoyable and easy for me to do. I like talking to people and kind of brainstorming different ideas. So if at an event offering more of my time it's not. There isn't kind of a direct correlation with cost. So adding something like that in to kind of, I want to say incentivize people, but engage people is probably a better way of saying it. Engage people a little bit more with taking the decision to take the first step now. So that might be an option. Particularly again if these guys are the hottest, because they're the closest to where you are.

Focus James: Yes. So what we have is at the table. We'll have one side of the table, it says 15 minute consultation and then the other one is saying 15 minute registration. So for someone that still has a call objective, a question, a concern, they can sign up for actual consultation that within the next 72 hours I'm going to call, we're going to have a conversation, get into clarity. They need objective. Maybe they need to talk to a spouse and all three of us on the line and either get started and it's a fit or it's not a fit. And they might want to still just be part of the newsletter, blog or, you know, emails. So that's also how I'm getting the opportunity to stay connected because it's a busy packed day. So I want anyone that wants the opportunity to connect with me to do so. But it might not work for them. They might have all of their classes. Boom, boom, boom. And it's also fitness going on. It's lots of vendors about, about 20 vendors and about 18 speakers through that day. So I want to give them plenty of opportunity. Yeah, say it again.

Stuart: Yeah, that's a lot going on in the, at the event.

Focus James: Yeah, exactly. So I'm going to be walking the floor as well and I'm going to be meeting people, I'm going to refer them back to my table. I have five ladies working with me, so I'm always going to have a lady with me because those conversations get pretty, pretty sick. I can imagine. And people want to pull you to the side steward and start telling you their school, which I am so open. I love to hear people's story. However, that wouldn't be the right place. So I have a lady that can come up and go, hey, let's get you back to focus table. So you can set up a personal call and you all can talk later and like really dig deep. Right. And she wants to spend that time so that way I can keep moving throughout the floor as well. But I also want to honor that female because it's an all women's event and I want to honor that female and make sure she has the time that she actually wants as well. So that's what we created, that whole system so that someone's always with me to pull them back to the table and get that contact versus sitting there. And I can't spend 20 minutes with one person, you know, in the middle of the floor.

Stuart: Yeah, Exactly. It does get such a squash on everyone's time and there's so much going on to be able to have another person to kind of step in and keep things moving. Fantastic idea. Do you have yet a kind of a follow up sequence in place already? Like an email follow up sequence to move people on in the conversation after they've opted in?

Focus James: Yeah, great question. So I see that option in Goko client, so I've been looking at the videos to try to learn how to do that, which I think is very unique. It's a great way to do it to keep the content conversation going. And I, and I see you and Dean shot me some emails. Very short but yet it keeps the conversation and your conscious. So I will definitely be setting that up. Also what I have is starting May 9, so the event is May 5. One of the options I'm offering for those that don't know me or love me yet. But they're interested, but they're interested in what I'm talking about. I have a six week course called Create youe Life with Focus through Affirmation. Through affirmation, that's one of my tools. So for six weeks straight we're going to take one area of life. I have a will of life that's in the book, it's called the Focus Will of Life. So we would take for instance money, finances and that hour we'll talk on Wednesday from 7 to 8 and we'll talk about finance and generate a higher level of thinking and create actual affirmations. And they'll be able to then the last 20 minutes we'll have a Facebook page that they'll be able to post their affirmations and talk about what they're looking to do through it or what may have already happened. So that's also the follow up that they can register for that right there in the event and or throughout those 72 hours that I'm going to be talking to those people, I'm going to offer the coaching packages and for those that are ready to get started, if not and they just want to kind of dip their toe in and see, you know, what the world of the Focus of Love is, they can also register for that affirmation course as well.

Stuart: Fantastic. So that affirmation course, is that a lower level paid course or is that a free introductory?

Focus James: Yeah, I love what you're asking. So that what I will offer free is the consultation if someone's really interested and we talk for that 15 minutes and now they want to pull their spouse. I'LL offer them an actual 30 minute consultation for those ladies that's in that diva event. Diva Philly Diva event at no cost. Right, so that's the free, the lower rate like you just shared. Yes, that's normally a higher cost but for the Diva Girls event it's only going to be $287 for a six week course. And so that we all get together and really create our life inside of that, that they can take away that nuggets whether they bring me as their coach or not.

Stuart: Yeah, fantastic. So I think with that having a hard start date on the 9th, thinking about that email follow up sequence that really guides to. Towards that as the step. So you've probably seen it on some of our emails and where else might you have seen it on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast if you've. If I think you're on that list as well. So the super signature that's on all of the emails that goes out the way that we structure that email campaign is when someone probably not on the podcast one, but the book one, for example, as you were talking about, there's three or four for emails that specifically are in that channel in that direction. There's an immediate and very specific follow up sequence that guides people towards the next step. So with the book one, it's towards starting the book for you, I think it would be that date of May 9th is a very specific date. There's a start date for something. So having the follow up sequence that guides people towards that as the next step is I think that should definitely be the email sequence. The autoresponder should be around that and then you can drop people into the broader campaign and the broader campaign which is just regular updates, as regular as you can make it. So for us it's around the podcast, but all of those have got a PS and a super signature in there that says by the way, here are three or four ways that I can help you whenever you're ready. Number one, make sure you get, make sure you complete a copy of the Focus of Love the Wheel of Life and send me a copy of that. Number two, it's join this lower level program, kind of what we refer to sometimes as a mafia, offer a way of people starting with you at a lower commitment. And then number three, for those people who really want to get started now, here's join and here's the way of getting involved in the coaching program and really stepping forward. So does that, does that make sense? I think with the 9th being a hard deadline on something that is starting the audience for the opt ins at the moment know specifically what you're talking about and what you're leading towards because they will have seen you talking about it. So that follow up sequence being dedicated to that outcome, I think that's the best flow for, for this next couple of weeks because that's nice and consistent.

Focus James: Yeah, I think that's perfect. I think that's, it's very streamlined, it keeps the conversation going because you know, when confused minds do nothing. So I want to make sure that it's very spelled out and it's very clear.

Stuart: Yeah. So I think just diving into a bit of detail on what that email campaign structure might be, we did a podcast as, as people listening to this. I think it would have been two shows before where we were talking about specifically that email follow up sequence. So there's a bit more of a deeper dive there. If you haven't got a chance to listen to, It'll be episode 56 or 57 I think. So in there, what we want to do is move people along. So if we know that we've only got four or five days, well, only actually three or four days really for people to get started. So what we want to do is kind of amplify the message and then consistently give them opportunities to take the step and get on board. But we don't want to just send them emails that says, hey, remember me, I'm great, you should join this program. What we want to do is give them more because they should know that already. What we want to do is give them more value and kind of, again, as we've said before, kind of amplify the message and go a little bit deeper into it. So looking through the chapter structure of the book, there's obviously the chapter structure mirrors to a certain degree the stages of the wheel. We don't really have enough time to go into each of them in any, in any detail because it's only a short period of time, it's only a couple of days. So what I'd be tempted to do is pick the two that, you know, resonate the most with people. Assumedly some of them will resonate more than others. That's just typically the way things work and go. Go deep into those a little bit more now because in theory all of these people have got a copy of the book and have read it, you've got the opportunity in the email to refer back to the book and refer back to the thing that they've already got. So rather than Having to reinvent the wheel and create an email campaign of brand new stuff. You can just refer back to the stuff that they've already got and then kind of subtly make the point that really you want to dive into this a little bit deeper and you want to give yourself a way of, give yourself the time and the gift, if you like, of putting some dedicated effort into this. But I think you can do that by going deeper. And again, it depends slightly on what is the easiest way for you to create additional content. So some people it's writing, some people it's talking on audio, other people it's videos, some people it's graphics and images. So depending on what you're the most comfortable with, taking one of those or taking two of those elements over that three or four day period and going deep into them and following up with an email and saying, hey, focus. I just wanted to follow up with an email. I got a lot of great comments and feedback after the event and one of the common themes that I saw was people asking about this particular element on page something, whatever it is, of the book. So I just want to take this opportunity to reach out and share with you some of my thoughts that I was able to share with the people who were asking me that question directly. What I find is. And then whatever the thing is to amplify the message. Now the easiest way might be to do that in audio. And I know we've done that as part of the initial book follow up. So it might be to do more of the same if that was easy for you to create because there is a time constraint around doing this. But it might be something like that allow you to amplify it a little bit and dive a little bit deeper. And then the PS in the first email, just say PS if you want to join the program, then do it here. And then on the fourth email, which is probably going to be about the day before the event, then say to someone, then you can have the more direct message of saying, hey, focus. I'm getting together with a group of people to run through this. Did you want to join us and just have a kind of short personal, expecting a reply type email that then directly asks them. It's a bit like the Gary Vaynershot kind of jab, jab, jab, right hook type thing of give, give, give, give some more information and then ask.

Focus James: Yeah, this is amazing.

Stuart: Yeah. So this podcast isn't going to go up until you're at the event. So I'll send you the audio of this. Obviously afterwards and then you can refer back to it as well. So I'll make sure to get that to you.

Focus James: Thank you.

Stuart: I've just realized the time and as always with these podcasts, I talk far too much and the time goes far too fast. So I did want to quickly touch on the kind of referrals and networking element. Quickly or maybe just the referrals one actually because the networking one is kind of broadly similar to what we've just been talking about. Talking about. It's just in a slightly different context. So maybe let's hit the referrals one. Just before I jump off what we've been talking about though, was there anything, any element of that follow up sequence or any questions or anything that you know that's happening on the event that you want to ask about that we didn't have a chance to mention?

Focus James: Yeah, well, you definitely spoke to it very quickly and that is what to give away and what to what to sell, if you will. Because I know most of the time people sit up straight when they buy something. They show up with time, they show up on time, they stay later versus you give it to them, they come late and leave early. So my challenge of that psychology is that if you give it away, they don't have a stake in the game to pay attention and most likely won't get the most out of it. So as much as I wouldn't even mind giving out all the books, but my, my experience, especially here in this tri state area versus of other places, places I've been to, when a stake is in the game they're in, you know, they're dedicated, they want to bleed everything out of it, which I listen, I'm filled up and ready to deliver with my overflow and would love to give all I had. But what I noticed is that in this particular area it doesn't work that way. People kind of fall back, they don't see the value as much. Stuart, can you speak to that? And we can definitely end and I heard you say the time is near.

Stuart: Yeah, definitely. So typically what we say is that don't let non five star prospects get in the way of five star prospects. So for all of the tire kickers that are out there, it would be, it would be unfortunate or a mistake to not give something to someone that did turn into a five star prospect just because the majority of people aren't five star prospects. So that, that is something that we think about as much as possible. The job of work of this first stage of the process. So the eight Profit activated models that we've got number one, Profit activated one is selecting that single target market. Number two is then identifying and getting people to raise their hand. And then number three is educate and motivate them over time to make a decision to interact with you, to buy with you or to, to take that next step. So oftentimes what people do is join together number two and number three, they try and do the, they try and convert and identify in the same step. And that is, that comes across in, in the way that you were saying there that there's. Those tire kickers are separate from the five star prospects. But still if the job of work of profit number two is to identify the people knowing that not everyone's ready today, then someone who you give something to but doesn't necessarily respond immediately, they're either a tire kicker and will always be a tire kicker or it's just not the right match or it might be that they are a good prospect. It's just the timing isn't quite right. So if you didn't have the opportunity to collect their name and email address details, you'd never know because that, that your pass would separate again. If you do collect their details, even if they don't respond immediately. If you are doing this thing like we do with the podcasts, particularly of having a regular reason to reach out to people and get the message in front of them, then they might be ready in six months time and therefore if you didn't capture the details you would never know. So that's usually the principle that we're coming from. One option that there might be just bearing in mind that if you can do some sifting and sorting and tell the difference between colder prospects versus hotter prospects, one option might be the digital version versus the physical version. So if you've got a way of packaging the physical version so that it adds more value, so give the digital version away. Say to people, hey, if I want to get this in, we're all in the room now I'm talking from stage the doors closed at the back. I really want to get this message out to every single one of you. But obviously it's impractical to give everyone a physical book because think of the trees. But I want to get this message to all of you. So I'm going to put the offer out there. If everyone wants a copy of the book, then feel free, head over to the website text to join. I'll make sure you get a digital copy of the book. I know that some people, Paul, this is really resonating for. And those guys, we can really make a difference. And that's on there. Make sure that you guys get something even, even more, even more powerful, even a quicker start, something that you can actually grab and run with. So we have got some physical copies of the book here. In addition to that, I've also included something else, something of low value. So what you're trying to maybe do is move the price point of the book from. I mean, we know that it costs 215 to print, so maybe we're trying to move it to $10, because at the end of the day it's a nice round number and then you're not messing around with change. And $10 is a round number that people can grab, but adding something to it. So maybe you have, if there's the, there's the Wheel of Life in the book, but maybe you've got some assets already, some things already that more graphically represent the Wheel of Life. So maybe you can print some of those off and create like a little pamphlet or booklets. Or maybe there can be, maybe you can put a, this audio example that we were talking about. Maybe you can dive into detail on how to complete the Wheel of Life. So the Wheel of Life workshop, maybe position it as a workshop that you did with some people and you recorded your kind of presentation section of it and then just write that in as a, as a link in the pamphlet thing that you give away with the books or say with the books I've written the front cover, a URL that you can go to, a secret URL that you can go to where, where you can listen to the presentation I made about completing this exact thing. So increasing the value of it without going crazy. It's not like you're trying to say to people, here's $100 for the book and there's all of these other things with it, but it's just differentiating. You still got the opportunity to collect all of the leads, but you've got an opportunity to kind of sift and sort and differentiate into the, the hotter leads.

Focus James: Excellent.

Stuart: So that is that one, the referrals one. I just wanted to quickly mention, just because this has come up three or four times recently, I'm going to do a separate podcast on it. We did touch on it briefly a couple of weeks ago, but I just wanted to dive into it in a bit more detail. So the referral, referral opportunity. For anyone who's doing referrals already or who has business already, there's that opportunity to Kind of amplify the book's launch by sending communication and email to your existing customers and say, hey, I just wanted you to be the first to know. We've worked really closely together. I've loved every minute of it. We've got a good relationship and we've done a lot of good stuff. I wanted you to be the first to know that I've written a book that covers all of it. I'd love to send you a copy of it and then you can send them the digital copy of it. Just say, reply and let me know and I'll. I'll send you a digital copy of it. But then also say, I know that a lot of people want to share the message with their friends, but sometimes they struggle to get in the right, get the right context or use the right words. So if you've got a friend that would get a lot from this book, just let me know and I'll send you a copy of it that you can give to them. The reason we say do that rather than give me their email address and I'll send them a copy is obviously people are resistant. They don't want to give up their friend's details. So if you've got a copy of kind of facilitating that orchestrated referral, that personal referral through the book, it's probably in, in most cases it's worth the, the money of, of giving the book to someone to then give to someone else. So the, the challenge then, or the trick is that you haven't got that final person's details immediately, so you want to include with it a next step that that person can take the third person can take in order that you can capture their details. So that might be something like having a downloadable version of the Wheel of Life or saying, I like the audio version that we've. The audio version companion thing that we've already done. Just write in a quick note into the book or include a note in the book that says, hey, I'd love to show you some additional stuff. This is a bit of a, again, a bit of a secret thing that I did for some people else, some other people, sorry for a different scenario, but I wanted to make sure that you've got this. So if you head over to this landing page and stick in your details, I'll make sure you get a copy. So then you. Not asking for their details in the first instance, but in the second instance there's an easy, low commitment way of collecting those details. So from orchestrating referrals, that's often A very good way of doing it because it isn't asking for friends to give up their friends email addresses. It's allowing

Focus James: evolving the relationship versus being forceful. I like that. I like to be enrolling. I want volunteers. Is it volunteer arm?

Stuart: Yeah, exactly. It's that passionate army of people who are really dialed into your message and the way of. The way of thinking about it. It's. Yeah. It's a great opportunity and I mean at some point in the future we'll have a chance to talk about testimonials and follow ups and using the book as the kind of the thing to start a whole load of other conversations around. But. But yeah. How was that? I think we covered a lot of things. I'm always conscious about talking too much and giving too many like overload, not giving people too many ideas. I give people ideas all day but overloading. I think those that we've talked about are good. That's going to be a great start. Particularly given that in the time frame in the next couple of weeks there's some specific things happening.

Focus James: Yes. Awesome. And I'll end with this with my 2 cents of it all. I love the Gogo client fund phone number that you can have. So I got the 855 Focus to you. Right. That's my number where people can not only text their email to which is really cool for those that don't actually want to talk to someone but I love that there's a tool there that they can actually listen to an overview of my services and then it's a couple of options to press to get more detail of different things and or leave me a voicemail. I love that because it allows people to kind of get to know what I'll actually call and having to speak to a person directly and feeling like it's going to be a hard sell. Which is which I'm not into it. I want you to be transformed as much as you want to be transformed. So harder than you. So. But I love that it gives that distance enough for a person to kind of, you know, tip around and get some education and see if they want to go further versus it being any other way. So I love that tool on the Go Go client.

Stuart: Fantastic. And like you say, it's such a. I've got a term I fit a lot kind of the minute minimum viable commitment. It's just helping people take that minimum viable commitment step by step by step that eventually gets them when they're ready to the point that they're as committed to their outcome as you are. And then the whole thing is a lot more successful.

Focus James: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Brilliant.

Stuart: So I'll. What day is it now? So a week on, as we're recording now, next week this will go up. So as people are listening to this now, sort of have take a moment to think about Focus because you probably be talking about this on stage. If anyone wants to see the see the book that we're talking about and it really is a great read. I just love the positioning of it. So head over to your healthyloveaffair.com and then you can see some of the things that we've been talking about. I think that's, that's a great step. And anyone that's in the Philadelphia area, or I guess even not in the Philadelphia area, if you listen to this and resonate with the message that Focus has got focused, definitely reach out to her. And yeah, I think this is just such a great framework. You've got such a great opportunity, particularly with the event coming up now. But the whole message is so dialed in. It's. I'm really excited to see where this goes.

Focus James: Awesome. Thank you, Stuart. And everybody's been wonderful at 90 minute book. So grateful. When they told me I had to put my head down for about six months to write this book, I said it got to be another way. Everybody's not doing that. It's got to be another way. Thank you for having for you and Dean and where he was when he got the notion to have it. I really appreciate it.

Stuart: You're welcome. And well, thank you for being so great. It's as we said just before we started started recording, this is the first time that we spoke, although we've emailed in the past. But it's definitely not the first time that I know the team speaking to you because every time they do, I hear about it because it's such a great. Your passion comes across and comes through. So thanks, Focus. Thanks everyone for listening. If you want to see the show notes, then head across to 90minutebooks.com podcast if you want to be a guest on the show as well and we can talk through some of your ideas. Whether you're partway through doing a book already or whether you're just thinking about getting it started, then follow the Be a guest link on the podcast page there and we get something scheduled. As Focus said, rather than dedicating six months in a cabin with a candle or writing a book, then obviously the easiest way to get started is to follow the get started links on the 90minutebook com website and we can then get a call with you in a couple of months time and see how your book is, how your book can best be used. So thanks again. Focus. I'm looking forward to speaking to you again soon. And thanks everyone for listening. We'll keep you posted.

Focus James: Awesome. You're welcome.

Stuart: Sam.