Below is the transcription for this episode:
Dave: Hey what's going on my friends? This is Dave sharp Welcome to wake up legendary this morning. We have a guest on and oh by the way, everybody who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday. Happy Thanksgiving, hopefully you all had a fantastic holiday and I am grateful for you all. No doubt about it. Very grateful to everybody in our company. nearly 80 people who work day in and day out to serve all of our customers. And of course each one of you in our community, very grateful to you all this morning. We're going to be talking to a gentleman who lost two jobs in two years, but now he's back on his feet. Let's hear his story. Joachim. Welcome to the show.
Joachim: Well, thank you so much. I'm actually very honored that you have me there.
Dave: It's our pleasure, my friend. We want to hear your story. We've noticed you and we want to hear you know where you came from, you know what happened along the way and where you're at now. So take us back a little bit and let us know where you came from the nutshell version and how you found Legendary.
Joachim: Well, the nutshell version. My digital marketing journey actually started in 2017 which was a really bad year. For me. Essentially what happened is that I was at a real estate business and the government started suddenly adding new regulations. And that was a small you know, it was a one man show basically. So essentially what happened is it was just like so much regulation that put an incredible burden, just admin, administrative stuff, which was crazy, and I just couldn't handle it anymore.
Is this the American government or the German government?
Joachim: The German government.
Dave: Okay, because you're calling in from Germany right now, right?
Joachim: Yes, That's right. I’m German, and I'm calling right now from Germany. Where it's cold. Yeah, we have minus degrees, not like Florida. Anyway, so the German government started to Well, essentially what they're trying to do is they tried to knock out all the smaller guys so that the big corporations have a have a field day, and pretty much made me go belly up. And at the same time, my marriage was falling apart. My dad died. So 2017 was one of those years where you're going okay, I don't need ever I don't need that ever again. So, but I still had to make money you know, I mean, okay, marriage was falling apart, but I still had to provide for my wife and kid and so I started trying to figure out okay, I gotta go to online. I mean, that's probably the future and I attended webinars and you know how it goes, you you invest stuff, and unfortunately, I didn't meet you back then. So, because, well, I messed around for about a year and got nowhere and I was just ending up in debt and Well, truth told, you know, a little bit too much alcohol came on top of that. So I was in a pretty bad place and then anyhow, so I kind of at some point, I decided that's it. I went to get a job. Actually, I was working in I mean, it was still my own company, but, you know, it was sort of corporations for web design business. And I've been little darling along and it just didn't go anywhere. Really. And anyhow, I saw in the end of 2019. I got a little money together and then I started massive marketing campaign. And it looked really good. So you know, it was 2020 and it's like the beginning of the year. I had contracts lined up as ever contract sign. So it was awesome. And then boom, lockdown. So a middle of March 2020. We went into lockdown in Germany, and literally on that day, I lost every single contract. That was lined up. I mean, every company went like, we don't know what's going to happen. All the fairs are canceled. All the exhibitions, everything we had planned, it's all in note. So we cannot invest right now. So it was literally that locked on. Like knocked me out of business, which was kind of tough, you know, when you just invested in marketing and just, I mean, just to gain momentum, it was like, Whoa, right. Anyhow. What can I say? I mean, I've been an entrepreneur all my life. So failure is not an option. So, you know, you move around a bit and you know, you do what you do, you know, and hit a couple of walls and whatever but eventually you just gotta pull yourself together. And so then I started communicating and you know, trying to find out what, what can I do and somehow I bumped into an old buddy of mine and he said, Hey, by the way, I really need somebody to help me with my consultancy business. And I happen to be trained in administrative technologies as well as PR and marketing. So I'm quite knowledgeable in this stuff. And I was like, awesome. I'm looking for a job, you know. match made in heaven, you know, and it was going well. It was really going well. I mean, you know, I had lots of orders and all that stuff, but then we went into the next lockdown. I was just getting a bit too much and somehow, two big customers just split. Because, you know, they went into financial trouble because of the lockdown. I mean, it's just a chain reaction. Yeah. So in June this year, I got that dreaded phone call. And I was like, You're welcome. Sorry, but you know, I can't do anything. You know, I lost my customers and how he would actually say goodbye, you know. So, I mean, I was I was, you could say I was a little bit pissed off. I mean, I was really not happy. I mean, I've never been a big fan of the government. But what they made out of this thing is just beyond ridiculous. So it was clear to me now that I mean, you know, I am out of a need to be digital 100% legally independent of any government regulation whatsoever. I mean, you know, of course it can still switch up the internet somehow, but truth told, you know, at this stage in my life, I mean, I just turned 58. I started from scratch a couple of times, so that's fine. But it's got to be the last time you know, I mean, I'm like, I don't want to go through that again.
Dave: Yeah. So how did you find us? How did you run into legendary and what happened from there?
Joachim: Well, I started searching social media. And I wasn't TikTok. I mean, really, I went on TikTok because I was bored. You know, I just wanted to get entertained a little bit. But at the same time, you know, I was looking for digital stuff. And then I came across the channel of just Jessica SEO and I, you know, I followed the link and I saw your video, so it was a no brainer. I mean, I didn't. I didn't think twice about buying the 15 Day Challenge. I mean, that was sort of, I mean, come on for seven bucks. I mean, it's like, you know, what, what could possibly go wrong? And literally on the second day, I was like, okay, okay. Finally, I met the right guy. I mean, I was just close, you know, there was like, I don't You didn't have to talk much to me. It was more like, okay, how can I figure out the financing? But, you know, I was just moving around a little bit and stuff like that. It just, I knew that's it, you know, and, well, I never looked back, so I haven't done anything else. Ever since.
Dave: Wow. And when was that?
Joachim: It was, I believe 15th When I started the 15 Day Challenge. Yeah, actually today is kind of a special day for me because I just launched my first own product.
Dave: Wow. Very good. Awesome. What is that? Is that a course or a consulting offer? What is it?
Joachim: Well, actually, I can tell you about that part that's in the plans, but actually, you know, having been, I'm still in the position where finances are pretty tight. So I had to do quite some juggling to pay the blueprints. Even though for me, it was like no question. I got to have them. It was like, Okay, I need these blueprints. So I go to move or whatever it takes to get them. In fact, the matter has already made the money back. So it's like, you know, it's really a no brainer, but what really annoyed me was the high cost for the funnels, like click funnels, like if you're a total newbie, it's like, oh my god, you need the funnel. You need the autoresponder and you need this and that and all this little stuff. It's kind of adding up, you know, especially when you're like, you don't know what you're doing. So I decided I'm going to create a funnel system with WordPress. So and that's to a fifth of the cost. Of Click Funnels. So we're in what sort of a plugin that goes with WordPress.
Joachim: Yeah, there are various plugins and I mean, I used a Weber so that I mean, you still need an autoresponder.
Dave: Yeah, I mean, a Weber has landing pages, get responses has landing pages. I first started out with WordPress using an Optimized Press landing page builder. There's all kinds of different tools. I mean, all you have to do is, you know, go out and do a little bit of research. We recommend Clickfunnels because it's just plug and play and it'll allow you to build your funnels and then sell your products and kind of do all that stuff. But, you know, it's like, it's like, you know, these tools are becoming a dime a dozen out here now, and yeah, that's right. You know what I mean? They're becoming a commodity in a sense, they're, they're, you know, there are so many of them. Just like Brian Geisler says opt in monster. I mean, there's, there's, there's tons of them, you know, and then Tammy says Clickfunnels makes it easy. You know, it's all about perspective. You know, every business you're gonna have your tools that you got to pay for, and quite frankly, I think compared to everything else out there, there's not that many tools that you need to buy, but, you know, to somebody who's brand new Sure, it can feel like you know what else do I need but but so you've you've you bought the blueprint, change your feedback your you say you've not done anything else since then it sounds like you've found your groove.
Joachim: I definitely. I definitely have, I mean, it's like, to me, that's I mean, honestly, what I mean I get asked this question a lot on social media these days. You know, should I buy the blueprints? i It's expensive. Are they so pushy and this and that and I'm like, relax. Can I tell you exactly why you should actually buy them. And that's the, from what I can tell, the one thing that makes all the difference. I mean, to me personally, these Thursday's zoom calls are the most important ones like, I mean, literally when I started the 15 day challenge, I set up my TikTok account. So I was like okay, I'm gonna get going, you know, videos did. And I mean, literally, nothing happened. I mean, I don't know how many videos I posted, 20? 30? And I had, like, 200 followers or something like that. I mean, it's pathetic, like nothing happened. And I was really getting concerned about this because I'm, I mean, patience isn't my greatest virtue. Persistence. Yes. But keep going on the same thing and nothing changes. I'm going no, no, no, no, no, that that cannot be, you know, if I continue with this in this speed, I'm going to be 1000 followers in a year or so you know, so there had to be some change something that changes something and exactly at that point, Matt made that video, that training that Tiktok training and literally on Thursday I made two videos miniverse about these How to videos so that you actually you know, attract interest. And I posted these two videos on Friday night. By Sunday I had 5,000 followers. I mean, it was incredible. I mean, it was just unbelievable. So and, you know, now I have over a million views and 15,000 followers. I mean, there are people that are smashing my production by 1000 But you know for me, it was not so important to now go brutally far. Because I can count the different problems because I'm sitting in Germany. Yeah. And I mean, I spent at least three or four weeks trying to trick the algorithm, you know, getting a US SIM card and I mean, I tried every trick to pretend that I'm in the US to get the US guys because I have 90% people from Germany, right? And what my one product so far was Legendary. Which is all in English. So that's quite a barrier, you know, because Germans speak a bit of English but right, doing a massive course like this is a whole different ball game, you know?
Dave: So, yeah, so but you persisted on and, but I want to go back to a second ago, just talking about that live training that you mentioned on Thursday, you know, one of the things that I am known for, I think, and I I want to continue to be known for this is is being brutally honest about the industry and about how how most companies in gurus operate in this industry. So we know, because I want to make sure that we never become that and I want to call it out so people because I don't care if people don't buy from us doesn't, it's not going to make Sakana make or break my lifestyle or anything else. But oftentimes, people want to venture out, they want to see other things they want to see if the grass is greener on the other side. And what often and I don't have a problem with that, because I understand that's a human tendency. And what happens is, is somebody will buy a course or training from, you know, some company and then they'll have a outside trainer come in who's a good communicator who's a great, he's a great salesperson, because oftentimes, when you buy, you know, even a high ticket training, it's an opportunity to sell a customer something else. Right. And of course, one of the things that's unique about legendary here and I can't take credit for this, it just happens to work like this is that we actually have a chief marketing officer who's actually a fantastic trainer as well. So he's not only you know, he's not only running marketing campaigns on a daily basis, we have TikTok channels that we're testing things on, and we actually get to come over and share those exact things. Same with Drew, we have an in house marketing coach here with Drew, and he's working with ClickFunnels and AWeber and these things every single day. And so and then me, you know, I've been doing this for over a decade. And, look, I'm here every day doing consistent content, syndicating it out to podcasts, you know repurposing it to different channels. And you know, there's an old saying, I don't know if you say this in Germany, but we eat what we eat our own cooking, right? So, you know, there's a lot of restaurants who wouldn't need what they're serving, right? But we're practicing the model that we teach, you know, we're not and there's a lot of contradictions on the internet. Right now. There's a lot of people who are selling courses about doing drop shipping. Now they're not doing drop shipping themselves, but they're selling the course which is what we teach selling information, right? There's a course on dropshipping they're not really doing a whole lot of Amazon but they're selling the course on how to do Amazon FBA and all these things. Why? Because selling information is and always will be the highest profitable. Business model on the internet, because there's no manufacturing production shipping, holding cost, and there's very little overhead that you need in Joachim, you just mentioned that, you know, moving up from affiliate marketing to having your own course and or coaching program and even doing your own event you know well, there's also an you know, you can stay an affiliate for as long as you want. You know, we've got high earning affiliates in our community who that's all they do. Or you could step up to selling your own course or as you said, zoom. Again, I say this all the time. One of my favorite hybrid models these days is simply selling a one day workshop where you deliver it live, you sell it all month, or you sell it for two weeks and then you deliver it live similar to what we do with a decade and a day training that comes with the blueprints. There's so many options, and it requires no overhead, no shipping, no manufacturing. You don't have to worry about it getting stuck in a barge off the coast of California or off the coast of Germany or wherever. Because as soon as you buy it, instantly it's delivered to you. And I made it. I spent the time, not the money. I spent the time making the course or setting up the marketing campaign and I gotta sell it over and over and over and over again. Joachim, I don't know if you've seen a lot in your 58 years but to me, I've never seen a business model and I've been doing this for over a decade. I've never seen a business model that's better than this and that smarter than this. Have you?
Joachim: Honestly, that's like I mean, really my hat is off to you the way you created this because as I said in 2017 I spent quite some time with various people. I don't want to badmouth anybody but yeah, like known gurus.
Dave: I call them the gurus and the goblins. You spend some time and money with some of the gurus and the goblins out there. Right exactly right. They sit on top of the mountain and never get down and talk to their customers or clients. They never do a live stream but they're, they're considered experts. Right?
Joachim: Exactly. Exactly. So I mean, you know, the definition of expert is the guy who screams the loudest and you know, that's something you know, we Germans are anyway not really going for that. It's just we have a different need. And that's one of the things that I'm running into. No matter what I promote, you know, legendary or otherwise. But the simple truth is, and that's what I felt from that. On that second day of the challenge. I I just I don't know, I looked at you the way you operate and you talk and what you do, and it wasn't oh my god, look at me, I'm the greatest and you know, I'm the coolest and I'm the smartest No, you just actually said what's, you know, what's important, you know, and and that that's to me, I mean, honestly, that one, that one zoom call from Matt. Okay, that one zoom call was more worth to me then the two and a half $1,000 I paid for the blueprints because it made that money right back. I mean, that one you know, little training. And I mean, that's one of 200 videos I mean, I haven't even talked, haven't even got into the blueprints for real. Because it's just so much to learn and so much to do and, you know, but these zoom calls every week they give because it's, I mean, obviously the social media scene out there is changing every day by the minute. I mean, literally, the training you did in January is today pretty much obsolete already. If you look at TikTok, you know. I mean, they're, they're constantly changing everything, because obviously, they're competing in an arena between themselves. So the rules are constantly changing. And that's of course, the problem. And if you then borrow the course I mean, I actually started last year during the lockdown. I started a Facebook ads training course. And you know, the guy calls himself the Facebook, ad ninja and all that and I'm sure he's successful. Obviously, if you have a team of people, and you're on the market, you're going to make a ton of money. But for a newbie, his course was two years old. You know, it was completely useless because the software had changed so dramatically nothing matched anymore with what he was talking about. So what's the point? You know, I mean, you updated the blueprints during the lockdown I mean, you can hear it in the videos. Each video he talks about you talk about the lockdown and COVID and all that shit. So you know, this isn't the five year old. You know, five years ago, you know, you worked a little bit and now you're sitting in the Bahamas and drinking my tires. You know, you can see, you know, you're there. You guys are like what you said, you know, you're you're eating what you're cooking, and I really liked that and I'm still I keep telling all the guys you know, I don't know so much money and I'm like, This isn't how much money. This is. I mean, affiliate marketing or digital marketing, no matter what you call it. That's the business model of the future. I'm completely convinced. I mean, no matter how much everybody is, me and ying yang Yeah, but that will be the future. I mean, in the end to me, like every company on the planet will eventually have their own affiliate program because it's actually brilliant when you think about it.
I mean, most of them do. Most of them do and don't even realize in Germany, it's
still very little. we're way behind you see, because they don't understand. I mean, obviously if you're, you have an army of people who do the marketing for you, you don't have to spend one dime on advertisement, nothing. It's a free advertisement. I mean, it's like if you're a big company, and you're not grasping that and starting your affiliate program, I think you're completely behind. It's like everybody is going yeah yeah yeah about NFT's and this and that. Well, if it would be so unimportant then Zuckerberg wouldn't put out when you just put it out. I mean, you know, it's like, this is the future, blockchain is the future. We may not like it. It doesn't matter if we like it. Better embrace it, and you know, win with it. And that's what I realized about affiliate marketing. And, I mean, I'm so thankful that you put up that program, because it's like, the minute I started, I dropped everything else. I was like, Okay, that's it. I don't need all the other distractions. You know, I was looking at what can I do? Like having lost my job twice in two years? I was really like, I mean, you get a little tense at that point, you know, so I didn't want to do the old stuff, like revamp that old business stuff, which is, you know, would just be desperate. So, now with this, I'm like, okay, boom, you know, I mean, it's been quite a tough cycle, because shit is a lot to learn. I mean, I did underestimate the amount I had to learn for sure. I mean, you know it 58 You're not that. I mean, I'm not a technology challenge per se, but I mean, my eight year old son is better with his iPhone than I am. I mean, with my thumbs. The first video I mean, my God. It was like, challenging you know?
Dave: I mean, I'm 38. I just turned 38 The other day, and I feel that way too. And you know what, here's the dirty little secret. And I say this quite often that I'm not technically I mean, if you know the reason why I stream everyday just from my webcam, I've got this. I've got this microphone, but it literally is just set up directly into my computer in there's a little I don't even know what you would call it some sort of thing that it plugs into over there and there's some knobs and stuff, but I wouldn't dare go messing with those knobs because I don't I don't know how what they even do, you know, you know, syncing my iCloud calendar can be a challenge. I mean, sharing my Google Calendar with other people can be a challenge. But the thing about the blueprints in what I teach inside of the blueprints and I was actually just looking at them as you were talking, you know, there's, there's, there's portions of this, of this, of this content. That is that it is timeless in when you want and I designed this course to be exactly that. Right. So if you log in to the affiliate marketing business blueprint, you know, there's timeless material in here that if you understand this material, and I'm speaking to everybody here, you will never, ever want for money again, because you will know how to generate money. It won't be a mystery to you. And, you know, I explained the affiliate marketing business blueprint here, how it works, how the three phases starting out at the beginning work we have a decade in a day live workshop that you can attend as many times as you want, but where we get you right into the fire, you know, live and we sort of hold you hostage on a live coaching session right away, and then starting with number you know module number two, sitting on a goldmine you know, I actually go into talking about the history of direct response marketing. I go into talking about the legends, the copywriters, the gentlemen who were marketing back in the 50s and 60s, Eugene Swartz, all these people who were writing letters.
Joachim: I actually enjoyed that part quite a bit. I have to say, it was very interesting to actually learn about the history of these things. And like, I mean, I like that part to understand the bigger picture because, you know, I like to always look at the bigger thing.
Dave: Well, that's the blueprint. You're looking at the blueprint versus just figuring out how to swing a hammer and I think that what most people do is they just want to get in just give me the hammer and show me which nail to hit. And it's like, well, that's a minimum wage job. But if you know how to read the blueprint, you know how the game works. You know where the game came from and how it started. How is that because my point is, the principles that those guys used back in the 50’s 60’s 70’s and 80’s are the same principles that we use now. So even though some of the technology and down here in the Facebook funnel the TikTok funnel the YouTube funnel the Instagram funnel, you know, even though down in these sections, there might be small components of the sections that change in terms of algorithms. The fishing formula that I teach right here will never ever change. It will never change in the history of this industry in the history of direct response marketers and copywriters will never change, because it doesn't matter whether you're in the metaverse or whether you're on the internet, or even whether you're in a business offline in your marketing via direct mail, inviting people in in using those principles to close them. They will always be the same because they always have been the same and here's the big point that I want everybody to take away. Over the years, there's been platforms that have not only changed but TikTok emerged. It was a brand new platform. Quite frankly Instagram was not even around when I started. It was my MySpace and Facebook was where it was becoming cool to be and so then we all went over to Facebook. So Instagram, TikTok, all these other platforms have emerged in you know what? The same exact principles in terms of creating marketing material in terms of writing or filming an ad and that ad would be considered a paid or free ad, right? Even if we're uploading a video to TikTok I still consider that an ad, right? It's a value driven ad, but it is an ad because you are asking for them to do something at the end. The principles across that timeline of all those different platforms have always stayed the same. It's just true all the nuances of the platform of understanding how to use the platform, but you can't go and put a shitty ad on TikTok if it works. You cannot do it. You cannot do it.
Joachim: Right. But you know, that was actually my biggest problem. I was battering my head against the last couple of years, and only through the constant repetition like on the blueprints, but especially from these zoom calls. I finally, I mean, you know, I'm a bit trained in PR and marketing and sales. So I always, I mean, I was doing well. You know, I was having six figure businesses and I'm talking profit, not turnover, but you know, with the old ad type style, you know, like direct marketing, like distributing flyers, and now this value driven thing. I gotta tell you, that was I mean, I had to completely change my whole outlook because I was just like, not getting it. You know? How does this work? How was it supposed to work? I mean, if you don't have life communication, I don't think you will ever get it. Because only in a life communication somebody goes yeah, I understand. That's what you like to do. But this is not good because of this exact thing. And then you go online and you see a video and he says, Yeah, you see this is a mistake. And then you go ahhhh. I would never get that from a mere video that was recorded by somebody just do what I say. If you don't understand it, you will never get it.
Dave: Yeah, I think I think we undervalue the power of getting feedback and live coaching, and the combination the combination of watching videos or going through a course, combined with live feedback and conversation about real world situations, even if it's not yours, you can still relate to it because you still have the same questions. And then you combine that with community. You combine that with all of the folks that we have within this community. We're having conversations every day. There's people on here who are going to be learning from this interview for months and years to come. So you combine everything that we have here in folks, this is what I think Joel Kim and I would really want you to know is that if you want to succeed if you really want to make you know, 2022 Your biggest year ever. And I say you know I'm saying this a little bit biased, but I'm also saying this because I've seen everything in the industry. There is no better time. In place to do it. It's just not true.
Joachim: I actually would like to add one more thing which actually impressed me a lot personally because I've valued that kind of thing a lot. Because when I made my first commission, you actually sent me a quick video. And, I mean, honestly, I find that quite extraordinary because if the CEO of a company was, you know, making so many millions, I mean, obviously your day is probably a lot less fun these days when you were purely a marketer, I could imagine because at that level when they all were all kinds of dry things, but I know how busy you probably are and you know taking the timer and recording a quick video I thought that was really, really really special. I mean, you know, it was really like, Wow, these guys care. I'm not just a number. I'm not just one of 100,000 affiliates. No, no, I actually care and that to me, is like that's the biggest value that I'm actually looking for anywhere. And I hate to be just a number. I think everybody does.
Dave: Well, my friend, thank you for your time today. Thank you for your story. Thank you for your you know your wonderful feedback, and I know that you're a man who is probably, you know, not easy to impress and you know, you're an intelligent guy, you're probably highly critical and you expect a lot out of yourself and you expect a lot out of others, especially that you invest money with. So I'm glad that we've been able to deliver for you so far. I'm glad that you've been able to also take this and run and have success and I just I'm going to be excited to watch your journey here over the next few months and if you would, please come back and keep us posted here in a few months and let us know where you're at.
Joachim: I'm certainly looking forward to that. I have a personal goal and that is one day I want to get that Rolex from you.
Dave: I'd be happy to put it on your wrist my friend. All right, well Joachim, thank you again, man. And, you know, happy end of the year. Happy holidays to you and your loved ones and we'll talk to you soon, buddy.
Joachim: Thank you so much for having me.
Dave: All right, take care. Bye bye. Okay, bye bye. Alright my friends. Well, here we sit here in November. What is it? November 26. Okay, it is so close to the end of the year and there will be so many so many folks who set them out so who set themselves up, you know, for a powerful 2022 You have everything here. At least I think you do. I think you do. Right? That you need to be able to do that. So stay plugged in. Let's rock it. We'll be back here for another episode on Monday live and my friends. Get out of here. Have a great Friday, have a Legendary weekend and we'll see you back here Monday. Peace.
