Our guest today has experience working as a Brand Manager for four global brands. 

Laura Haleydt has award-winning marketing skills to help clients reach their full personal branding potential. She does this by offering tips and tricks on how to build an online business with the power of Instagram.

Laura is an Instagram Marketing and Personal Branding Strategist. Helping her clients scale their businesses using Instagram strategies and personal branding. 

She is also the Co-Founder of Elle Synergy. An online resource for skilled women to build and scale their own online business. 

In today's interview, Laura breaks down the basics of Instagram. As well as, what matters most when it comes to branding yourself on Instagram. From Instagram DM's, shares, or even comments, Laura has the know-how and the experience to help you grow your online business!

Listen to the Podcast at https://pod.co/picnic-tmf or

on Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/tmf-picnic/id1495963496],

Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5Mj5iY8IqefIbAxwX6rr3B],

Google Podcast [https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZC5jby9waWNuaWMtdG1m], acast [https://play.acast.com/s/TMF-Picnic],

Stitcher [https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/podcastdotco/tmf-picnic],

or on your favorite podcast platform.

What tactics have you or will you use in your own Instagram Branding?  

Want more episodes pertaining to Personal Branding?

Listen to TMF Picnic’s episode with Jeannette Bridoux aka The Spiritual, Personal Branding/ Instagram Coach from the West

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/jeannette-bridoux-aka-the-spiritual-personal-branding-instagram-coach-from-the-west/

Listen to TMF Picnic’s episode with Mark Metry, How to Overcome Social Anxiety and Grow Your Podcast https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/mark-m-2/

Selected Links from the Episode: 

Want to Connect with Laura Haleydt?

• Website jo.my/laurahaleydt
• Instagram jo.my/laura-instagram
• YouTube jo.my/laura-youtube
• LinkedIn jo.my/laura-linkedin/
• TikTok jo.my/laura-tiktok/

This means that we should always be looking for the best ways to increase the quality of our landing pages. 

Waseem Bashir has created over 500 different landing pages that increase these conversions. 

Waseem Bashir is the Founder and CEO of Apexure. Waseem's agency helps businesses generate leads with conversion-focused landing pages and sales funnels.

He is also the Founder of LeadGen App. This app helps businesses and marketers capture more leads with effective online forms. 

In today's interview, Waseem breaks down the best practices for landing pages. Waseem explains the roles of landing pages within your larger website. We also discuss long-form vs short-form, landing pages in B2B, and some quick wins for landing pages.

What practices will you implement into your own landing pages?

Want more episodes pertaining to Best Practices in Growth Marketing?

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Andrei Zinkevich, the B2B Marketing Principles That Never Change, Crisis or Not!

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/the-b2b-marketing-principles-that-never-change-crisis-or-not-with-andrei-zinkevich

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Jean Bonnenfant, King of B2B Growth Works and Retention!

jo.my/jean-bonnenfant/

• Selected Links from the Episode: 

Want to Connect with Waseem Bashir?

Apexure | Website jo.my/apexure/

LeadGen | Website jo.my/leadgenapp/

LinkedIn jo.my/waseem-linkedin/

Twitter jo.my/waseem-twitter/

• More Resources:

Want Waseem to Review Your Landing Page? 

https://lp.apexure.com/review-my-landing-page/

Waseem’s 5-Day Webinar Course 

https://lp.apexure.com/webinar-course/

Trust Pilot | Website

jo.my/trustpilot/

UsabilityHub | Website

jo.my/usabilityhub/

Rory Sutherland | Alchemy

jo.my/rory-sutherland-alchemy/

Russell Brunson | DotCom Secrets

jo.my/russell-brunson-dotcom/

Kenny Vermeulen has the sheer creativity needed to go viral and knows exactly how to spot trends. 

Kenny Vermeulen is the Creative Content Director at Happiness Brussels. Facebook post turned full campaign; Happiness Brussels helps brands spread more happiness. 

With his many successes, Kenny shows how to build viral communities. He has proven that he is a great creative, community manager, and trend spotter.

Kenny has over 50K likes for "the ministry of sports" Facebook page. He has even created communities in the real world. Using Pokémon Go, Kenny was able to get over 15K people to visit the Antwerp Zoo! 

In today's interview, Kenny shines a light on the art of spotting trends. He believes in the importance of experiencing things as creativity happens everywhere. We also discuss how to push content and the secrets to having better success at going viral.

What ways have you pushed the levels of creativity in content creation? 

Want more episodes pertaining to Viral Social Media Content Strategies?

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Brian Swichkow, Reddit Marketing and Tech That Changes the World!

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/reddit-marketing-and-tech-that-changes-the-world-with-brian-swichkow 

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Gerard Compte, The Man Who Sends Emails with Love!

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/gerard-compte-aka-the-man-who-sends-emails-with-love

Selected Links from the Episode: 

Want to Connect with Kenny Vermeulen?

Twitter jo.my/kenny-twitter/

LinkedIn jo.my/kenny-linkedin/

Happiness Brussels Website jo.my/happiness-brussels/

Poepeklets Newsletter jo.my/poepeklets-newsletter/

Medium Articles jo.my/kenny-medium/

You could say that many of his projects sound straight out of a Black Mirror Episode. Sharp. Suspenseful. Satirical. 

Brian Swichkow has many exemplary successes. Such as, making a virtual clone of himself as an AI chatbot. Yes, you read that right. 

Among other things, Brian has built mythosone. A non-linear note-taking tool that allows you to take notes from a "single-truth" perspective. He has even used his skills to pull off one of the most elaborate pranks on his roommate.

He targeted his roommate's ads so specific; his roommate thought the NSA was following him! 

This made Brian internet famous in an instant. Brian Swichkow has even done some offbeat ads that both Facebook and Reddit had to redo their ad policies in response! 

In this episode, we discuss the overarching Reddit Strategy. Brian shares the best way to use Reddit to drive traffic and the best practices for posting on Reddit.

We also question if companies should have a dedicated “Reddit” employee.

What Reddit Tip Did You Find Useful? Let us know! 

Want more episodes pertaining to Digital Marketing?

• Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Trevor Dudeck, we talk about Coronavirus and its effects on Digital Marketing!

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/helping-people-and-finding-opportunities-during-corona-with-trevor-dudeck/

• Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Justin Wu, how to tackle Growth Marketing during Corona!

/https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/justin-wu/

Selected Links from the Episode: 

Want to Connect with Brian Swichkow?

Website jo.my/brianswichkow/

LinkedIn jo.my/brian-linkedin/

MythosOne jo.my/mythos-one/

One Inc Cooperative jo.my/one-inc/

The Ultimate Retaliation: Pranking My Roommate with Targeted Facebook Ads

jo.my/brian-ad-prank/

Book Recommendations

MCLuhan for Beginners jo.my/mcluhan/

The Meaning of Meaning [jo.my/meaning-of-meaning/

The Hero with a Thousand Faces jo.my/thousand-faces/

Fear can stop you from making connections you need and seeing what’s right in front of you for the taking.

When a crisis hits, your typical everyday thinking is not what’s going to get you to change this fear. 

More than ever, you need to be able to see the reality and the market as it is. 

Adapt to this change and overcome it. 

Look into new moves based on the changing data. In this time, you need your creativity.

Our guest today has had her fair share of extreme and unpredictable situations.

Anke Herrmann escaped East Berlin before the wall came down. 

From there, Anke started a thriving sewing business with little experience in a country foreign to her. She has experienced discomfort and hardships that she has learned to overcome. She uses this as a gift for her success.

Today, Anke Herrmann helps Passion-Driven Solopreneurs IGNITE their businesses. 

During this episode, we dive into how to stay calm during a pandemic. Anke shares how this maintained calm can help our creativity.

We learn the real importance of creativity in our businesses!

Is Fear Stopping Your Creativity? Let us know! 

Want more episodes pertaining to the current pandemic?

• Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Trevor Dudeck, we talk about Coronavirus and its effects on Digital Marketing!

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/helping-people-and-finding-opportunities-during-corona-with-trevor-dudeck/

• Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Justin Wu, how to tackle Growth Marketing during Corona!

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/justin-wu/

Selected Links from the Episode: 

Want to Connect with Anke Herrmann?

Website jo.my/anke-herrmann/

Podcast jo.my/anke-podcast/

LinkedIn jo.my/anke-linkedin/

Anke’s 9-Part Bite-Sized Business Building Course

https://lnkd.in/gA8CfRA/

Little Book of Clarity 

jo.my/little-book-of-clarity/

Before you can get to that, it's crucial to understand the things in the process that do not change. Learning from the processes that will always be the same in marketing can lead you to success. 

Andrei Zinkevich is the founder of Getleado, a B2B marketing and sales company.

Andrei has also co-founded ROIplan, a community for B2B marketers and founders. This community has over 3,000 members in the field! ROIplan helps create revenue-driven marketing plans. 

Andrei brings over 13 years of experience to the table. Making him a king of B2B strategy and construction of full-funnel marketing schemes. 

You cannot rely only on content marketing, cold outreach, and events.

Andrei has built a data-driven system that tackles the problems from all sides. This allows you to reach your full marketing potential. 

Today, we will be talking about the #1 thing that every beginning marketer should know.

We also cover the most common mistakes seen in B2B marketing. We focus on what marketing tactics are here to stay. As well as, the processes doomed to disappear.

What will you incorporate into your own marketing tactics? Let us know! 

Want more episodes pertaining to B2B Marketing?

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Justin Wu, How to Tackle Growth Marketing During Corona!

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/justin-wu/

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Jean Bonnenfant, King of B2B Growth Works and Retention!

jo.my/jean-bonnenfant/

Selected Links from the Episode: 

Want to Connect with Andrei Zinkevich?

Getleado jo.my/getleado/

ROIplan jo.my/roiplan/

LinkedIn jo.my/andrei-linkedin/

Twitter jo.my/andrei-twitter/

Getleado | 7-Step Ideal Customer Profile Guide

https://getleado.com/ideal-customer-profile/

I have talked to many LinkedIn experts, growth hackers, and entrepreneurs on LinkedIn. I have never received a straight answer on how to make your profile more easily found on search. Our guest today has been able to explain that! 

He stood out to me because he seemed to be the only person who has been able to figure out how to do LinkedIn search appearances correctly. 

Vaibhav Sisinty defines himself as a growth hacker by profession and an entrepreneur from heart. He has been able to generate a passive income stream that is making him twice as much as his regular wage! 

Vaibhav shares how to use your profile to make money and how to us it to upsell to bigger clients. Vaibhav Sisinty has also worked on some very impressive things. 

At only 18, he had already created his first startup, Crazyhead Solutions. 

At 21, he was a marketing manager for Uber. 

Now at 26, he is the head of marketing at Klook, India. 

Vaibhav shares how you are capable of the same LinkedIn success. Such as, how to generate a passive income on the platform. We discuss how to grow beyond 30K Connections on LinkedIn and how you can optimize your LinkedIn profile to get more search appearances.

Today’s episode is truly one of our most impressive and practical episodes yet! 

What will you implement into your LinkedIn presence? Let us know! 

Want more episodes pertaining to LinkedIn?

Listen to TMF Picnic’s episode with Natalia Wiechowski, the LinkedIn coachsultant!

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/natalia-wiechowski-aka-think-natalia-the-linkedin-coachsultant/

Listen to TMF Picnic’s episode with Curt Mercadante, the Dumbledore of LinkedIn!

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/curt-mercadante-aka-the-dumbeldore-of-linkedin/

Selected Links from the Episode: 

Want to Connect with Vaibhav Sisinty?

LinkedIn jo.my/vaibhav-linkedin/

Website jo.my/sisinty-masterclass/

Twitter jo.my/twiiter-vaibhav/

You must have a product that will drive growth! Relying on viral posts, PR, or cool giveaway will not guarantee returning users. 

Nasko Terziev is a growth specialist at WoodWing and a community ambassador for B2B Marketers & Founders. Nasko uses data to build activation projects that will attract and maintain users! 

Nasko has worked for several startups developing some of the most top-notch activation tools. At swivle, a calculator was developed that lets people calculate how much ROI they’d get out of the tool. At Piktochart, Nasko discovered a gap in the market and helped build a tool to fill it. This helped increase eCommerce YoY revenue by 30%! 

I had the pleasure of reading a pre-publication of his epic activation guide. It transformed my thinking on activation. 

In today’s interview, we find out why activation is so important to a successful SaaS product. Nasko Terziev provides his insights on B2B growth marketing and some of the frameworks he uses to make it happen. We discuss user’s first “aha” moment and why it’s so important for SaaS companies to pay attention to activation.  

What was your “aha” moment? Let us know!

Want more episodes pertaining to Growth Marketing?

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Justin Wu, Marketing During Corona and the Recession!

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/justin-wu/

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Jean Bonnenfant, B2B Growth Marketing King!

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/how-b2b-growth-works-and-why-retention-is-king-with-jean-bonnenfant/

Selected Links from the Episode: 

SEO Intent Framework mentioned by Nasko:

http://tmfam.rocks/z19l3r

Want to Connect with Nasko Terziev Jr.?

LinkedIn jo.my/nasko-linkedin/

Twitter jo.my/nasko-twitter/

Medium | The Amazing Flywheel Effect

jo.my/flywheel-effect/

Medium | “Jobs-To-Be-Done” Framework for Product Development

jo.my/jobs-to-be-done/

This makes it very discouraging then to look at the state of marketing and growth today. Here to bring his insight on the topic is one of my partners and also one of the best marketers I know. 

Trevor Dudeck is the CEO of Lemonade, an engaging storytelling agency. Lemonade sends companies to the next level using advertising and branding.

Trevor's aim is to drive brand growth for companies through content marketing. In this process, companies can use content marketing to inspire and entertain their consumers. 

The marketing techniques he uses allow him to solve problems and have fun doing it! Trevor Dudeck has worked with brands such as Google, Lyft, Whole Foods, and other big-name brands. These brands look to him to increase their creative and marketing bandwidth. 

Trevor is the perfect person to help understand the current state of the market. He offers his holistic view on marketing and branding. 

In today's interview, Trevor helps bring insight and a fresh perspective to the situation. We also discuss how companies are responding and supporting their communities in this time of need.

How has the recent situations in the world affected you?  

Want more episodes pertaining to Driving Brand Growth?

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview David Brier, branding expert! https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/david-brier-aka-one-brand-y-boiiii/

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Chris Cooke, the Turtle Saving NO-BS Marketer! https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/chris-cooke/

Selected Links from the Episode: 

Want to Connect with Trevor Dudeck?

Lemonade - jo.my/lemonade-agency/

LinkedIn - jo.my/linkedin-trevor/

Twitter - jo.my/lemonade-twitter/

Harvard Business Review | Brand Marketing Through the Coronavirus Crisis 

https://hbr.org/2020/04/brand-marketing-through-the-coronavirus-crisis/

Justin Wu has become famous for this.

He is the founder of one of the biggest growth marketing companies in Los Angeles, Growth.ly.

Justin has become a proficient growth hacker with no shortage of accomplishments. 

Justin Wu has run over three million USD worth of kickstarter launches. He has also launched a SaaS company, bringing in one million ARR in the first year! 

Justin Wu is a growth marketer who focuses in e-commerce growth and B2B marketing. A seasoned growth marketer, he has used his skills to create the largest growing Growth Marketing community in LA, Stacking Growth. 

One major takeaway from today's discussion is to learn how to speak the language of your growth team. Being the developers, marketers, entrepreneurs, and even the customers.

By learning the language, Justin can see the bigger picture at hand and in turn become more effective. 

In today's interview, we dig deep into Justin Wu's insights of stacking growth and the secrets to being a successful growth hacker. We also discuss growth during a recession and what you can do to survive and thrive in this current climate.

What's the one thing you need to understand to be effective as a growth marketer or founder in 2020? 

Want more episodes pertaining to Growth Marketing?

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Jean Bonnenfant, King of B2B Growth Works and Rentention!

[jo.my/jean-bonnenfant]

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Ricardo Ghekiere, An Actual, Real-Life “Growth Hacker”!

[jo.my/ricardo-ghekiere]

Selected Links from the Episode: 

Want to Connect with Justin Wu?

• Growth.ly Website [jo.my/growth-ly]
• Stacking Growth Community [jo.my/stackinggrowthconf]
• LinkedIn [jo.my/justin-wu-linkedin]
• Twitter [jo.my/justin-wu-twitter]

Some may feel like they have no control over their position in life. I have struggled for years on how to communicate how much power people actually have. Now, I tell them to look at Mark Metry.

Mark has been able to transform himself to help others and watch people change for the better.

Mark Metry is only twenty-two and is already a bestselling author of his new book, Screw Being Shy.

Mark writes on how to communicate your authentic self and how to achieve a successful and happy life.

Mark Metry once struggled with social anxiety. He was able to redesign himself and transform into his true self. Now, Mark is a Forbes Featured and International TEDx keynote speaker.

Embracing his true self, Mark is a successful public speaker, author, and podcaster. Mark Metry is the host of a top 100 podcast called Humans 2.0.

Mark Metry has made it his mission to spend his life trying to impact and influence others.

We discuss the first steps to empower oneself and why you must learn to understand and align your own reality.

We also share how you can grow your podcast audience and the common myths that surround being a podcast host.

I highly recommend you checking out Mark’s book Screw Being Shy which you can find here!

jo.my/mark-metry-website/

Listen to the Podcast at

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/

or on

Apple

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/tmf-picnic/id1495963496/

Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/show/5Mj5iY8IqefIbAxwX6rr3B/

Google Podcast

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZC5jby9waWNuaWMtdG1m/

Acast

https://play.acast.com/s/TMF-Picnic], Stitcher/

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/podcastdotco/tmf-picnic/

or on your favorite podcast platform.

What did you take away from this episode? Let us know!

Want more episodes pertaining to Self-Improvement and Personal Branding?

Listen to TMF Picnic’s episode on Jeannette Bridoux aka The Spiritual, Personal Branding/ Instagram Coach from the West

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/jeannette-bridoux-aka-the-spiritual-personal-branding-instagram-coach-from-the-west/

Listen to TMF Picnic’s episode on David Brier aka One Brand-y Boiii

https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/david-brier-aka-one-brand-y-boiiii/

Selected Links from the Episode:

Want to Connect with Mark Metry?

LinkedIn jo.my/mark-metry-linkedin/

Website jo.my/mark-metry-website/

Human 2.0 Podcast jo.my/human-2-0/

Twitter jo.my/mark-metry-twitter/

Books Mentioned in the Episode

Clarity by Jamie Smart jo.my/clarity-jamie-smart/

Indistractable by Nir Eval jo.my/indistractable-nir-eval/

Lean Analytics by Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz

jo.my/lean-analytics/

"Sure, scaling to 6 figures in revenue in 2 years with no ad spend, no biggie, I've done that."

"Wait, what."

"Six figures in PROFIT?"

"In 2 years, while raising five kids and without ad spend." 

"How the hell?"

Well, that's we're going to be figuring out today during the live. 

Here's what we're going to discuss in more detail:

• What does #Productivity really mean?
• 5 steps to take any business idea and turn it into a real money
• Truthful Marketing: The only way to market a small business in 2019 
• 3 stages of small business growth: from freelancer to stable enterprise Hiring Matrix: 3x3 things that guarantee your staff

Please do ask your questions; we're excited to answer them!

Selling empty apple boxes? ✔️

Direct messaging 100's of people? ✔️

Writing a book? ✔️

Whatever it takes.

Not everyone from my generation has what it takes to get where they want to go. 

It's not because you don't take a straight path to the top that you don't have it. 

Nico and I are living proof. 

But we both did whatever we need to build our Social Media agencies. 

I have The Marketing Family, he has Boundless Media. 

Two young men that know what they want and how to get there. 

I can already feel the energy. 

Here's what we'll discuss:

1. Social Media content strategy, how do you even start?
2. How do you build a community from scratch? And how do you keep it alive?
3. How can you make sure content attributes to revenue?
4. What does good content look like?
5. What's it like running an agency? How can you make it easier?

Check out www.getboundlessmedia.com here to learn more about Nico's agency!

What is the perfect trifecta?

Skills.

Positive Attitude.

Clear Communication.

Someone who has perfected this is, Nathan Hirsch, co-founder of OutsourceSchool.

Nathan has displayed compelling leadership that has brought him immense success and recognition. 

Nathan Hirsch started his entrepreneurial journey over ten years ago. Nathan had his first million-dollar company at twenty!

This company sold more than thirty million dollars in product. Since then, he has developed an art of designing and launching profitable businesses.

Nathan found solutions for the freelance market while working in eCommerce. Nathan Hirsch, with his co-founder, created the company FreeeUp.

This marketplace allows connections between business owners and freelance talent.

This talent is the top 1% in their field! 

Nathan's business continued to grow and see accomplishments. He has continued to uphold outstanding customer service and fast interaction.

Nathan and his co-founder were the face of FreeeUp for almost five years. Both founders chose to make a successful transition to new leadership. 

Nathan Hirsch and his co-founder, Connor Gillivan, moved to their next project. Both men have over ten years of entrepreneurial experience and two successful businesses.

Together, they founded OutsourceSchool using this experience and past success. Both founders are recognized for scaling companies in different markets.

Nathan and his co-founder have now launched an education platform for other entrepreneurs. 

This platform is for entrepreneurs who have a desire to learn how to scale their business.

They focus on using reliable virtual assistants, or VA's. Courses offered by OutsourceSchool include hiring, using, and retaining high quality VA's!

If you dream of how you can scale your own business faster with the help of virtual assistance look here: https://www.outsourceschool.com/cracking-the-va-code/.

Here, you can get a sneak peek into the right tools to make your it work and how to integrate these techniques into your business! 

What was your favorite part of the podcast? Let us know! 

Want more episodes with successful entrepreneurs and freelancers?

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Mikko Alasaarela, A True Visionary!

http://tmfam.rocks/mkk0vb

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Daniel Bechsgaard, The Guy Who Made $70/hr. 3 Months After Starting to Freelance!

http://tmfam.rocks/danbech

Selected Links from the Episode: 

Want to Connect with Nathan Hirsch?

Website [https://www.outsourceschool.com/]

LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhirsch/]

Outsource School | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/outsourceschool/]

Twitter [https://twitter.com/realNateHirsch]

Interested in How Nathan Was Able to Manage a Team of 45 VA’s in an 8 Figure Business? 

https://www.outsourceschool.com/software-managing-virtual-assistants/

Disclosure: With full transparency, some links included in today’s episode contain affiliate links. If you do decide to use these links, thank you so much for the continuing support. I recommend these products only as my personal experience with them and in my own business!

Thanks for watching! 

I've often told the story of me sleeping on the mats.

But I don't usually mention how I made ends meet.

I wrote articles for a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu blog called "Science of Skill".

Dan Faggella ran that blog.

That's where I honed my writing

But he taught me so much more than that, he:

Showed me the techniques I used to dominate international competitions.

Taught me the power of positive psychology.

Inspired me to become a marketer.

Dan Faggella's accomplishments are nothing to scoff at:

He presented his AI research at the United Nations HQ.

He bootstrapped a company to a 2MM, fortune 5000 company.

No-gi, Pan Am champion at Brown Belt.

Masters in Positive Psychology.

Founded and runs of Emerje AI research.

His Company, Emerj, is where executive leaders turn to understand how AI is impacting their organization or industry – and what to do about it.

Today we're going to talk about all of that but also about all of that.

But also about how YOU can advance your career in the era of AI without learning how to code.

Here's his website: emerj.com/

And here's the report he'll mention during the show: emerj.com/beg1

He's been my friend for half a year now; still, I've been struggling to write this post. I've thought about it for weeks.

There's too much to unpack.

There's no way to turn this member of the Forbes Tech council into a catchy headline.

Here's a man, who took a simple translation company and turned it into a hotshot, AI-driven Localization startup, with offices on multiple continents.

That should be enough, the box should be filled.

But then what about his six months of meditation in a Taiwanese monastery.

And what about him climbing a volcano, his role as a Tennis playing father, and his shoeless antics?

Did I mention he invented his own master's study?

All these facts are impressive.

But what stands out to me is this:

When I talk to him, I feel heard and seen.

I feel like he gets exactly what I'm talking about, that he sees the truth.

And when he speaks to me, it's right on the mark.

I hope you'll enjoy this interview with the sharpest person I know.

Get ready to learn about:

- Localization

- Company Culture

- Philosophy and Life

Nikola Tomov and I tackled some subjects close to my heart

- The importance of experimentation in entrepreneurship

- How to deal with balance in life and business

- How to keep yourself effective every single day

- How to grow a YouTube channel

- How to scale

Truly a wonderful guest and conversation. Surely an episode I'll be mentioning during conversation on a weekly basis.

Thanks for hopping on The Picnic!

Using cutting edge programming models and full-funnel marketing, growth marketers are able to drive innovation through data. 

One of these top players in the field is Jean Bonnenfant. A lead speaker and international growth marketing trainer for Growth Tribe France.

What’s really distinctive about Jean is that he is not just another marketer, he really knows how to play this sophisticated game that’s involved in the industry.

Jean Bonnenfant shares his insights on what makes a product or service thrive and what prevents a start-up from succeeding.

Bonnenfant relies on data-driven, full-funnel marketing using tooling, code, psychology, and curiosity.

Jean Bonnenfant is credited with training almost 1500 participants and has spoken at twenty-eight events with crowds up to 500 people. 

Jean Bonnenfant over two years went from knowing nothing about growth marketing to becoming the head of Growth Tribe Training France.

He started out in marketing at another company that wasn’t the right cultural fit. He aimed to become the best trainer he could be and started speaking at conferences where he became an eminent public speaker.

Bonnenfant focuses on retention and activation as he believes these will make a company greatly more successful in the long run. He trains people of this ability at the Growth Tribe’s Advanced Growth Hacking Course. 

In the interview today, Jean Bonnenfant shares some of the best skills to focus on if you want to push the limits, the significance of curiosity, retention curves, analytic frameworks, the advantages of rapid experimentation, and overall why Jean Bonnenfant is one of the most notable growth marketers out there! 

What was your favorite tip or moment from the interview? Let us know! 

Want more episodes pertaining to Growth Marketing?

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Ricardo Ghekiere, An Actual Real-Life “Growth Marketer” With Great Hair! [http://tmfam.rocks/ricghek]

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Fotis Panagio, The Mentor Hacker![http://tmfam.rocks/ft0pan]

Selected Links: 

Want to Connect with Jean Bonnenfant?

• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/growth-hacking-speaker/)
• Twitter [https://twitter.com/bonnenfantjean?lang=en]
• Growth Tribe Website [https://growthtribe.io/]

Identifying and Developing Soft Skills | Glassdoor [https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/guide/develop-soft-skills/]

Lean Analytics | Alistair Croll & Benjamin Yoskovitz  [http://leananalyticsbook.com/]

Trust Me, I’m Lying | Ryan Holiday [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13542853-trust-me-i-m-lying]

Jeff Bezos Working Years in the Future | Business Insider [https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-forbes-interview-works-years-in-future-2018-9]

Episode Show Notes

• What is Something That You Want People to Understand About You? [1:40]
• Has Your Curiosity Every Led You Somewhere Unexpected? [4:20]
• How Did You Go from Not Knowing What Growth Marketing Was to Two Years Later Being the Head of Training for Growth Tribe France? [8:19] 
• How Did You Set Yourself Up to be Successful? [12:05] 
• The Book, Lean Analytics, and Nailing Retention [18:35]
• Publicity Stunts or Something Much Simpler? [23:32] 
• Getting Closer to The Truth—Being Customer Centric in Your Approach [28:35] 
• Working Through the Change [33:53]
• How Do You Apply an Analytics Framework and Growth Marketing Mindset to Providing a Service? [41:45] 
• Can You Elaborate on the Tracking Aspect of the Process? [50:55] 
• What is the Number One Metric That You Are Tracking at Growth Tribe Right Now? [54:17] 
• Inspiring Content on LinkedIn [55:30]
• Having Taken the Workshop for Growth Using AI, What is the Number One Thing You Have Learned? [58:06]
• Closing Thoughts [1:02:36]

✔️Moved to the UK at 4 Years Old.

✔️ Self-Employed at 21 generating leads of financial advisors

✔️ Bootstrapped to a working product with zero funding

✔️ Had the guts to pivot when the data demanded it

✔️ Has the buff Harry Potter as his marketing advisor

I know tons of people my age, scared shitless of pursuing their dreams. 

Sure they're gonna start that startup.

They just need an extra 1000 euros in the bank. 

Just a year more of experience. 

Just one more mentor. 

Not TK. 

He took the 2000 Pounds he had and turned it into a working product. 

They started as a tool for students to find affordable housing. 

It turned out, that wasn't what the market needed. 

Now they're working a tool for universities to match students to their rooms and roomies. 

Turns out being matched to the right roommate can make or break your:

School Results

Mental Health

Chance to Graduate

You might spend years with this random person assigned to you. 

Currently, most schools do this with pen and paper. 

I'm not even kidding. 

TK is working on using AI to match every student to a roommate that will help them achieve their dreams. 

If you know anyone in the "University space" let me know.

How do you become a bestselling author and TEDx speaker?

Who is the most Swiss Optimizer?

What does it take to start a company that scaled TOO fast?

Who is Bruno Aregger?

I wouldn't claim to know. 

Not yet. 

Here's what I do know. 

Instead of taking over his father's company, he said goodbye. 

Instead of chaos, he's got a model for everything. 

Instead of working more, he cut 95% of his working time. 

Wait. 

95%? How is that possible? And how come his business has never been better?

Tune in to find out. 

✅Making another new tiny, baby-type person.

✅Making the opening track for a movie.

✅Having 20+ years of marketing experience

✅Founding J.D. Nevin Communications, a slick marketing agency.

✅Owning and running the Marketing Summit Academy, a marketing trying platform.

✅Hosting a podcast with an NSFW title that features cool guests like the buff Harry Potter.

Clearly, Julian is doing something right.

I mean, who has time for all that?

And who can maintain such a high degree of excellence across all those endeavors?

😖A guy who goes Ballz in your face. (name of his podcast)

That's who.

Last week I was on his show, and we discussed trends and AI mostly.

This week I want to talk more about marketing stuff:

1- How can people win at YouTube?

2 - What should new marketers focus on if they want to get ahead?

3 - How are people going to win in 2020?

If you want to get in touch with Julian you can do so here:

Podcast: https://biyf.marketing/

Agency: https://jdnevins.ca

Marketing Summit Academy: http://www.msa-school.com

Li Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/…/julian-smit…/

Make sure to subscribe if you've enjoyed the show.

Our client was getting frustrated.

We were hired to turn him into a LinkedIn thought-leader.

But we hit a wall.

His industry and mind were highly technical, and we needed someone to translate his thoughts into "human language."

We had great storytellers, but they struggled to understand the tech.

The client who's a tech genius and innovator couldn't simplify his message.

We tried copywriter after copywriter.

But no one was able to capture:

Their tone

The Technical finesse

The beauty of their company.

We were about to give up when Raj messaged us.

"I think we can help."

Within a month, we got this comment under one of our client's post:

"You have such a clear way of communicating complicated and technical Jargon".

Raj his writers, Editors, project managers, and the process had saved the day.

At a price that was 25% below our other writers'.

Creating content is a hard business. TMF has gone through many writers already.

But I wasn't surprised Raj managed, after all, he's scaled businesses from 7.5M to 40M in the past.

Something sets Goodman Lantern apart.

Today we're talking about:

- GL their Secret Sauce

- Bootstrapping Businesses

- Native content writing

See you in the comments!

This bearded brute says what he wants, whenever he wants. He couldn't give any less fu*** whether you like him or not.

He's charming like that.

In his new book, he talks about shutting down his 7 figure agency to pursue "The Freedom Lifestyle." He also claims only to work 12 hours per week.

While forging strong bonds with his family and raking in the dough.

Does this man really possess superpowers? Or is it all baloney?

If you listen to his haters on LinkedIn, it's all too good to be true.

A marketing ploy to get you to depart from your money. Rather than listening to social trolls.

I want to find out for myself.

So I'm about to challenge him on some of his crazier ideas:

1. Work/ life balance is bullshit.
2. If you're on "the grind," you're doing it wrong.
3. Productivity is NOT about doing more things done.

What do you think? Is Curt crazy?

It all starts with Roel De Cock, in 2017.

One of Belgium most critically acclaimed videographers.

He came to me with an odd request.

"There's no place for Belgian Video

Creators to hang out online."

The sole forum had long been abandoned.

He wanted to build a Facebook group.

He'd be the Video Guy; I'd be the marketing guy.

"Sure, let's do it!"

We knew how to run a group.

But we didn't know where to find the Videographers.

Since there was no community.

That's when I found Findthatlead.

Now here was a tool that allowed me to quickly and easily find the emails of all videographers in Belgium.

Before I knew it,

I was LinkedIn messaging people en masse, inviting them to be in the group.

(little known fact, you can find LinkedIn profile URL's with findthatlead, lied a bit about that on LinkedIn)

Within a month, we had the biggest group for Belgian Video Creators.

Today it has 1,107 members and multiple posts every day.

It was only last year that I met CEO and Founder of FindThatLead.

Gerard Compte the man who sends emails with love.

The man who got me addicted to growth.

It's an honor to interview him here today.

The first time that I logged into LinkedIn, about two or three years ago now, I kept seeing Dr. Natalia Wiechowski (https://thinknatalia.com/, https://www.instagram.com/thinknatalia/?hl=en, https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliawiechowski/detail/recent-activity/posts/) all over the place. Over time, I paid more attention and found out exactly what the hype was all about! 

Dr. Natalia did not start her journey in personal branding, instead Natalia Wiechowski was working a normal corporate career where she found herself unhappy and unfulfilled in life. After a 9-month sabbatical, Natalia was able to transform herself into a personal branding coach, and an astounding one at that. Natalia has perfected her craft, allowing her to drive client’s success and help them in their journey to self-awareness. 

Dr. Natalia has consults and speaks all over the world, she has been a part of conferences and events such as Women in Leadership Economic Forum, Masters of LinkedIn Summit, and Classroom without Walls to name just a few. Dr. Natalia has received the Women Leadership Award, is a Forbes Coaches Council Member, and is featured in magazines such as Times and Forbes. Dr. Natalia Wiechowski’s aim is to bring together a tribe of out of the box thinkers and doers who do not only challenge but also strive to change the status quo. 

In the interview today, we dive into the importance of self-branding, how you achieve self-awareness, and the bread and butter of what makes Natalia’s approach so successful! 

Listen to the Podcast at https://pod.co/picnic-tmf or on Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/tmf-picnic/id1495963496], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5Mj5iY8IqefIbAxwX6rr3B], Google Podcast [https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZC5jby9waWNuaWMtdG1m], acast [https://play.acast.com/s/TMF-Picnic], Stitcher [https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/podcastdotco/tmf-picnic], or on your favorite podcast platform.

What was your favorite lesson or moment from the interview? Let us know!

Want more episodes pertaining to Personal Branding? 

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Bobby Umar, That One Guy Who Actually Does Get Personal Branding! [https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/bobby-umar-aka-that-one-guy-who-actually-does-get-personal-branding]

Listen to TMF Picnic’s interview with Kotryna, The Lithuanian Queen of Personal Branding! [https://pod.co/picnic-tmf/kotryna-aka-the-lithuanian-queen-of-personal-branding]

Most of them figured out how to get engagement and views on LinkedIn.

But only a few have really mastered the science of personal branding.

Because that's what it can be.

A science.

There's a big difference between understanding your own personal brand.

And having the skill to develop someone else's.

When Bobby Umar let me peek at his method I saw:

- Core Story Work

- Personality tests

- Value Extraction

- Skill Analysis

- Interviews

None of the usual wishy washy bs.

It's no wonder he

- Did 5 TEDx talks

- Has a Social following of Half a Million

- Got the Inc Mag Top 100 Speakers Award

I'm looking to pick this man's brain to figure out the science behind public speaking and personal branding.

If you want to grow your business, advance your career or get speaking gigs.

And drop some personal branding questions below.

The first bear to make it big on LinkedIn.

AND

The only bear that has written a book about Social Media.

Of course, I'm talking about Bobby The Bear

And his mentor Roger Wilkerson

They first appeared on my radar when I saw them interview literally every LinkedIn influencer I know.

His funny style AND him being a bear unlocked new levels of honesty in his guests.

We're going to talk about:

- Making Social Media Fun

- Using Humor to Promote your brand.

- Whether or not bears shit in the woods.

Hope you're looking forward to the big reveals.

Facebook group with 21k Members

Steam community with 45k members

500k+ sales on a game he coded himself

Selling Over 2.1 Million Indie Video Games

He did all that over the past 12 years. Before that, he relied on food stamps to pay for chicken instant ramen. While living with his mom.

These are Daniel Doan's results. They're so crazy I wouldn't even dare to make them up.

His tech skills, ingenuity, and copywriting skills know no bounds.

You'd think that's what I invited them to the TMF picnic.

But the truth is that I didn't know about any of that.

All I knew what that he wrote a hilarious Facebook status that made me snort milk through my nose once.

That was enough for me.

But it's also cool that he's one of the best marketers I've ever had on the show.

We're life now! Ask us some good questions and give some love!

You're going to learn how to:

- Write words that sell good

- Use Growth Marketing to achieve your wildest dreams

- How to pose next to expensive cars as part of a thinly veiled sales pitch for a course called "Make 7 figures, in 7 days without working.

She hasn't just used her personal brand to anchor an emoji tho.

She's also used it to:

- Work with brands that align with her values

- Start "master your video" which helps you unleash your inner String. (link below)

- Make vegetarians buy her KFC.

Tune in if you want to learn how to be so famous people recognize you by a single emoji.

But also if you want to learn how to win with video.

And if you like fried chicken.🍗

5 Podcast Interviews

5 Article/ Magazine Interviews

14 Paying Clients

20+ Speaking Gig Opportunities

30+ Collaborations

99+ Valuable Connections

These are the life-changing results Kotryna Kurt got from her personal brand.

Us marketers always talk about the webinar that did a million dollars. How we got 10 million views. Or how we got our MRR to 70k.

Those are unicorn results. That take decades of work, patience, and luck.

Kotryna Kurt's results are attainable by anyone.

Anyone that:

- Puts in the work every day.

- Learns from and emulates the best.

- Anyone that finds the courage to REALLY share.

Anyone that posts regularly can attest to this.

Putting yourself out there changes your life. I can speak from experience. My personal brand has brought in 95% of our leads so far.

When I look at Kotryna's content I see quality content. Interesting insights that bring value I see someone who gets it. I see a rising star.

She bought our LinkedIn Course back in the day. But her success is 100% her own hard work. She's an executer.

We're going to talk about anything YOU need to start posting and build YOUR Personal Brand.

Why are so many founders in the middle of the freeway?

We all know that we need to be data-driven.

Data is knowing what your customers want.

Data is solving problems before they arise.

Data is knowing what's going on.

People bombard us with praise for data 24/7.

But let's be honest.

Most are not using it to their full potential.

Sure, you have some Google Sheets.

Sure, someone installed Google Analytics on your site.

Sure, you send out a questionnaire to your customers once.

But.

Is that really all it is?

I don't think so.

Our networks transfer data at the speed of light. Websites track every action.

There's no shortage of data.

Our computers can tell us what that data means.

IF you know how.

Machine learning is wildly available. I like DisplayR.

Alas.

I'm no expert.

That's why I've invited world famous data analyst to answer this simple question:

How can we use data, to make lives better

Johan Johansson is going to answer this for us during our live show.

The TMF Picnic.

We see more than 5000 marketing messages a day.

That's a lot of noise.

90% of those messages are forgotten instantly.

That's why you need to rise above the noise.

You need to be seen as different.

Enter David Brier.

World-renown branding expert and Bestselling-author.

He's worked with everyone from Rolling Stones Magazine to startups and even cities.

"Branding is the art of differentiation."

It's not just about making a logo.

It's looking at the market.

And seeing how you can be different.

Not "the same as but."

But a totally different story.

Ready to be remembered.

Ready to stand out.

Ready to sell.

How do you do that?

One tactic is looking at what your market is known for.

Plumbers used to be known as people that are always late.

So one brand made a promise.

"For every minute we're late, we'll pay you 5 bucks".

Guess who dominated that market?

I got this example from David.

He mentioned it when he was interviewed by Grant Cardone.

I'll be interviewing David Next.

We're going to dive deep into branding.

If you check in, you'll learn how to stand out from the crowd.

Not the response you expect after a night of drunk cold emailing.

Why did he even send pictures of ferrets anyway?

Especially to senior management of The Coca-Cola Company, Symantec Hewlett Packard Enterprise etc.

It was an act of desperation.

The warm leads had dried up.

Payroll was coming.

So he got drunk and started emailing.

Probably expecting to close shop soon.

But something crazy happened.

He started getting sales meetings with fortune 100 companies.

You know, the kind of companies are supposedly unreachable?

They loved his emails.

Yep, those.

Since then he's generated thousands of sales calls like this.

And he's started teaching others.

Who've had similar results.

Personally, I've learned a ton from Jon Buchan.

It's even inspired me to start cold emailing myself.

My most notable email is a customized meme featuring Sonny's nipples. (RPR of 16%)

Thanks, Jon, the world needed that.

If you want to learn more about direct response, humor in marketing and ferrets wearing hats.

Then join us.

You most likely won't regret it.

Have you ever gotten a good cold email?

Or do you hate all of them?

Someone way ahead of his time?

That knows what's coming?

I have.

His name is Mikko Alasaarela.

This 7x founder with 3 exits has always been on the cutting edge.

He started his first tech startup in 1999.

Success despite the dotcom crash.

He's always a step ahead.

Right now he's working on Inbot/ Intoken.

An AI powered platform to facilitate B2B introductions.

With a powerful cryptocurrency to back it up.

It helps people trust.

A world-changing initiative I'm glad to support.

I had the pleasure of helping his telegram community reach 17k+ members.

And I helped his Inbot stickers reach 25m+ impressions.

Peanuts compared to what he did for me.

He's shown the future:

Without him I wouldn't understand:

- What AI can beat me at, and vice versa.

- That the age of "superintelligence" is approaching.

- Why AI will change the very nature of our economic systems.

This might seem like a list of AI hype words.

But these are very real things that are happening.

Soon your ability to provide for your family, get a diagnosis or sign a contract will depend on these.

What do you think of AI?

Love It / Ewww?

At 15 he started his first IT company.

At 25 he was hired as a Growth Hacker for Yellow Pages.

Not something just anyone can accomplish.

Personalization.

Hype word for most.

Science for Hugo.

But what does it mean?

Well, I'll give you an example.

Currently, Sonny De Meester and I are reaching out to barbershops.

We send them a series of emails.

If they don't respond.

We send them an email with Sonny, topless yelling in the woods.

On the image, we have the caption.

"Why won't you answer me *business name*!?

That's baby personalization.

Hugo's Company Enrich3 does adult personalization.

So advanced it's hardly distinguishable from magic.

It allows him to create a truly unique experience for every:

Website visitor

Email recipient

Video viewer

Beyond delivering an incredible customer journey.

It skyrockets conversion.

It's not just hype.

I'm excited to learn more about this.

It's the hottest topic in marketing after all.

- How to build and leverage a Personal Brand.

- How to scale an agency FAST.

- Vipassana retreats.

- Coaching.

- Life and stuff

Honestly, I could leave this introduction to that.

But here's something interesting.

When I asked Mark what his proudest achievements were. He didn't lead with his podcast.

He didn't lead with founding a 6-figure business at age 15 either.

None of that superficial stuff.

He led with:

"I've learned to love and forgive myself."

Anyway, back to the podcast. What do you need to know?

One thing would be that it delivers actionable, practical advice. Another thought would be that Mark's question game is ON POINT.

But none of that matters without KILLER guests.

Well, he's had Seth Godin, JP Sears and Katie Wallace on there. If you need to Google any of these, don't tell us. Don',t embarrass yourself.

Apparently, he still had too much time. So he founded and VU Dream. A virtual and augmented reality marketing & advertising agency based in Boston.

Please don't ask me how I managed to get this Legend on the show.

I don't know either.

There's no better place to learn about:

- Building a Podcast empire

- Augmented Reality Marketing

- Crafty Millennial Entrepreneur Hacks

What should I ask this 21-year-old BOSS?

She's another one of those people that make you think: What am I doing with my life?

This Disney Princess had to overcome though challenges to survive her own heroine's journey.

She had to:

- Overcome a drug addiction

- Overcome serious mental health issues.

- Leave corporate to start a company with 0 experience.

But it paid off.

And she paid it forward.

She's the Founder of "Hux Sustainable" which helps businesses become sustainable. The non-"woowoo" way.

She's the CEO of Rebranding, a non=profit that helps homeless people get jobs.

Apart from that's a phenomenal mom, an impactful influencer and a recreational Instagram Bikini model.

TMF Picnic is the place to be if:

- You want to hear an incredible story

- If it wouldn't be too bad to become an influencer.

- If you don't think communists invented global warming

Someone that never compromises on her vision.

A rare kind soul who's seen adversity.

In 6 months time, she lost her job, her mom and her greatest dream.

She never let that stop her.

Her kickass mode is on 24/7, i.e:

1. In 2011 she started a business based on Fiverr. Not a 2011 thing.
2. She's an influencer status on Instagram, LinkedIn, and even on the first social media platform.
3. Jaime also invented #TheRightWords method to level up personal brands, storytelling, and community building.

That's what her business, Jaimbalaya does.

Let's hone in on those communication skills.

Her coaching method gets people through interviews and salary negotiations.

So far it seems almost 100% effective.

Her coaching got them:

- The job within 3 weeks

- Higher salaries

- Greater benefits.

One client received a $50k increase from the previous job

+ better benefits.

Let's leverage her communication skills for our brands.

Sonny De Meester told me he likes picnics free-flowing.

I'm going into this with an open mind.

If you don't see metric tons of value in this.

Then you're perfectly entitled to your own opinion.

But also totally wrong.

Be there.

1) How can brands communicate effectively

2) What's the secret to Positioning

3) How do you write a book

Which of these topics do you want this LinkedIn influencer to address?

PS: I think Sonny De Meester is a bit worried I might have a new favorite Sonny

- How better communication affects your bottem line

- The 5 steps of the say things better method.

- How to always get the 'YES'

- Making people feel comfortable and included

- The wonderful world of eating cheese

See you there!

- How to make decisions

- How to find a mentor and what to look for

- How to create processes for your business.

Check out www.growthmentor.io if you want to find and expert and pick his brain.

- Stapho

My "genius" ideas, workflows and processes might not be that.... genius.

Often, they make life uncomfortable for my clients. Things that seem obvious to me are often not to my clients.

This can be very frustrating.

Your customers too might be getting pissed off at something easily fixable.

And you wouldn't even know it.

This kind of misunderstandings can be overcome at the personal level in a small company.

But forget about that when you're scaling.

So how do you dig into their minds? I mean, everyone gets bored with regular forms.

I have my theories, but it's a complex topic. So I invited an expert to enlighten us.

Baptiste will join us in the 23rd episode of the TMF picnic. I'm hyped.

You'd never guess this former university union president was selling WordPress themes just a few months ago.

Because now, he's the CEO of Feedier, The ultimate tool to gain insight into your customers.

If he doesn't have a solution to this problem. No one has.

This french hustler has a lot on his sleeve:

- Get and maintain key customer insights

- Gamifying the process to make it fun

- Making your business centered around the customer

He has this rare mix of elite skill and humility.

He's the only marketer I know that shows up on the first page of Google for all the cutting edge marketing niches:

- Messenger Chatbots

- LinkedIn Lead Generation

- Generating evergreen Traffic

He ran an online magazine with thousands of monthly visitors when he was in high school for god's sake.

One of the few people that has both the street smarts and a masters degree.

And here he was, picking my brain.

It just didn't make sense to me, why would a guy of his caliber ask me stuff? I guess he saw something in me too.

It's been more than a year since that call. And we've become close friends and business partners. And beyond that, I like to call him my mentor.

Tomorrow he's going to honor the city of Sofia with his presence. And he'll bless our show with his presence too.

We're going to talk about:

- The future of AI in marketing

- SEO secrets to get you to page 1 of Google

- What online marketing is going look like in 2019

I'll have my notepad out for this one and you should too.

Be there, or be square.

Much Love

Stapho

When I first decided to get started with Social Media Marketing, I started looking for a community to hone my craft.

Traffic and Copy was that community for me.

There Charlie and Vin Clancy taught everything they knew. They spoke I listened. I wouldn't have gotten this far without them.

Matter of fact, most of you wouldn't see this post if I hadn't met him.

There's a lot I appreciate about him. But I especially appreciate how open, helpful and insightful he is.

I've never seen him keep out on value and he's always the first to send me a meme when I need it. He's one of the most supportive guys on the interwebs.

That's why I was so stoked when Charlie released Gold club with Vin. It offered me an opportunity to build a more personal relationship with Charlie.

Since then I've been on a few calls with Charlie, and I've learned a shit ton:

1) How to launch a product

2) How to write copy for cold outreach

3) How to automate LinkedIn.

4) How to grow a Facebook group

5) How to use memes to make people like you.

I'm so grateful to have Charlie on the show, and I'm sure it's going to be one of the best episodes yet!

Much Love,

Stapho

She's also an epic content creator, and she totally talked shit to me after I sent her an automated message.

Oh,

you want to hear about why she got kicked out of school?

Sure, so imagine this:

You're a beautiful, smart young lady and you're the president of the entrepreneurship club at your uni.

You have this huge entrepreneurship planned and you know it's going to be totally baller.

Life is good!

Except for one tiny detail: You totally forgot to market it.

So you do the only logical thing: You scrape the email of everyone in your school and send them clickbait emails to get them in your event.

School is pissed tho, and they kick you out of the club. Plans, destroyed.

But when you check your emails later in the day, you have an email from BAMF (one of the most prestigious growth hacking agencies in the game), and they offer you a job.

So you say fuck it, move from Boston to Cali, and you start your dream job.

It sounds like a dream, but that's Sarah's story.

So here's what we're going to talk about:

- How does one break the internet

- How did she come up with that crazy campaign

- What's it like to work for BAMF

- How do you growth hack your events?

- Why is it so much fun to talk shit to Stapho Thienpont

I'm excited about this one!

Much Love,

Stapho Thienpont

That's right witches, this is a Hogwarts special. Dumbledore and Harry Potter are reunited in this one-off special.

Enough Jokes, I need to introduce this wizard and I need to do it properly. So here we go.

Curt's one of those coaches that decide to succeed first and coach later. Before his current adventure, he ran a successful public relations/ advertising company.

He made some millies there and he was great at what he did but after many years he discovered something...

VOLDERMORT WAS ALIVE!

No, actually he discovered that coaching was his real passion.

So now he's an epic coach with a legit beard.

He's also a really good content creator. And when I say "good" i mean that he's actually making money from it.

When I talked to him last time he told me how he does it and it actually blew my mind.

And that what we'll be talking about.

But also about these topics:

- How to easily make viral content

- How to turn content into heavy pockets

- How to live a life of freedom

- How to oil a beard

- How to find these DAMN Horcruxes.

You better tune in fam.

Much Love,

Stapho Thienpont

I also didn't see epic guests like Nicholas coming.

Who knew that there were so many cool Belgian boiiis in the marketing scene?

I sure didn't, but I'm always ready to support my countrymen.

Although I don't think a baller like Nicholas needs much help.

I mean look at what he's achieved so far:

1) He started a planning tool named Plann3r. This tool looks at both of your availability and location and immediately pics a meeting time that works optimally with both people's schedule.

It even takes travel time into account.

For more info check out this link:

https://plann3r.com/tmf

2) When he was getting started with the app, he got accepted into the "birdhouse accelerator". Which is a very prestigious Belgium accelerator that's notoriously hard to get into.

3) Before that, he worked for a growth hacking agency, where he used his hacky strategies to generate leads on the CHEAP.

He later used those skills for his startup, because he couldn't use traditional marketing channels with his limited budget.

4) He's also a talented developer, which is one of the reasons he managed to do all that other stuff.

That's where he honed his core marketing skills.

5) He has a disarming smile and dreamy eyes. Which isn't relevant in any way tbh..

Here's what I'm going to ask him about:

1) His life journey, he told me about living in Denmark and winning all sorts of entrepreneurial competitions. What's up with that?

2) What's plann3r all about? How is he managing to make it so cutting edge in such a crowded market?

3) How can people use plann3r to save time, make money and look cool?

4) What's his process for coming up with his guerilla marketing tactics?

5) What is the number one opportunity to get leads on the cheap right now?

6) What's one thing nobody told him about starting a saas company?

7) What's it like being an entrepreneur in Belgium?

Much Love,

Stapho Thienpont

He's an absolute God when it comes to b2b marketing.

If I have any question about b2b marketing, I'll always check his blog (getleado) first.

That's why I shared an excerpt of his blog here, earlier this week.

What I admire most about his approach is that it's extremely logical and well thought out. If it can be tracked or optimized, you can be sure that Andrei's done it.

He's the go-to guy for anything lead generation, b2b funnels, lead scoring, lead nurturing etc....

Basically, he's the weapon that can tell you which tool to use for which problem. And then he'll do it for you as well.

On top of all of that he's made a thriving community for B2B Marketers & Founders. Which is where all b2b marketers and founders go to learn so they can look smart in front of other people in the industry.

(They also go there if they want to make more money).

Andrei is highly technical, but in our talk, I want to go over the basics again:

- What is a funnel?

- How do you get started with funnels?

- How do you nurture leads?

- How do you run an experiment?

- How do you figure out who your ideal customer is?

I'm pumped about this, and you should be too.

Much Love,

Stapho Thienpont

Joturl is an exceedingly clever, all-in-one suite for your marketing links.

It's what we use to track link open rates, figure out the destinations, track conversion, remarket people, deep link and so much more.

It's really a crazy effective tool that we use every day, so I'm stocked AF to get a chance to talk to the founder. (that you're gonna be there to watch is just a lucky by-product for me tbh).

But this Picnic won't just be about this epic tool, it's gonna be about the legend behind it.

To help me prepare for this introduction, he sent me almost 30 minutes of audio telling his story. And I actually enjoyed listening to it.

Before he was a SaaS founder and CEO Janosch was a theoretical Physicist, a custom software developer and a consultant.

When growing his company, they went through a lot of hardships:

- The competition is fierce

- They had to fire team members cause they didn't have the right mindset

- He had to deal with my endless questions about using links more effectively

So needless to say, he's an extremely experienced and hardworking entrepreneur.

What I'm interested in learning from this call is the following:

- How do people engage with links online and how can we leverage this for our own business?

- What features does Joturl have that can help us built our businesses?

- What did he learn from running a saas company that has a well-established competition

- What mindset does he look for in his team members?

- How can we use data in a more effective way?

- How did he find a baller like Stefano Pisoni to be his CMO and what's their main strategy for their own marketing?

- Does he think his karate can defeat my jiu-jitsu?

He does that at The University of Houston-Downtown Davies College of Business. He's also passionate about making online education better.

---

He also has an extremely interesting podcast called the "Marketing Mixtape".

It's one of the only podcasts I listen too and coincidentally, a podcast that I've appeared on! (I'll link it in the comments).

And it's actually that last part that impresses me so much. You see, most marketing professors talk the talk. but they rarely walked the walk.

They'll come at you with complicated theories and methods that are theoretically sound but often lack practicality.

Scott definitely walks the walk:

- He has his podcast that's blowing up

- He's killing in on LinkedIn

- And he's starting on Youtube as well.

That's a lot of hard work that he's doing, that he really didn't have too. His university wouldn't lose any sleep if he kept it simple.

---

As you guys know, I'm completely self-taught when it comes to marketing. The benefit of this has been that I've always had the opportunity to learn by doing.

But the downside has been that I've developed the parts that I like a bit more than the parts that I don't like.

Like most people, I've developed some blind spots.

Now, as a professor, Scott has built an extremely solid theoretical foundation when it comes to marketing.

So my goal with this talk is to help myself, you and other marketers to close the gaps in our foundation.

---

In this talk, you'll see me as an eager student, ready to learn from the legendary professor, Scott Davis!

Here's what we'll talk about:

- Blind spots of self-taught marketers

- The latest research in Marketing

- Psychological triggers that you don't know about

- The effects of colors in Marketing

- How you can become a baller like Scott Davis

---

I hope to see you guys there!

Much Love,

Stapho Thienpont

POW

Personalized memes and videos in your inbox now.

Our guest for this Episode is a disruptor, an innovator, and a pretty cool guy. One of those people that changed the game for the better.

Before I talk about Lemlist I want to tell you some fantastic stuff about the man:

- He's an engineer and a marketer

- He loves Gifs, Cats, meeting people and learning

- He hates people with inflated ego's

- He runs the first Cold email group on the Facebook: The Email Outreach Family

- His country cheated us out of the world cup (damn Frenchies)

Back to business.

His cold email tool allows you to send personalized memes and videos to people's inbox.

That's right instead of random pitches you're now getting memes in your inbox.

It's no wonder they ended up as #1 on product hunt.

I'm not surprised tho, I mean... Tech that allows you to send unique personalized memes to thousands of people at once deserves a reward.

Even though they only launched in January, they already have more than 4000 users.

As you guys know, I haven't played with email much.

But Lemlist is the first tool we're planning to get serious about.

I'm definitely planning to abuse this chance to step up my cold outreach game.

Here's what I'm going to ask Guillaume about:

1) What are the stages of a successful cold outreach campaign?

2) What are good use cases for Cold email? Who should get on it?

3) What's the 20% that makes 80% of the difference?

4) What personalization functions do they have up their sleeve?

5) What the effect of these functions?

6) How did they get to #1 on Producthunt?

7) What's the #1 thing he has learned since January?

I'm hyped!

Much Love,

Stapho

Someone with true skill lead nurturing.

He was spitting fire from the first second, answering every question with skill, finesse, and clarity. Russ was a real champ.

However, I looked distracted and disrespectful.

What you can't see in the Live stream is the number of technical difficulties we had. It was so bad that I had to use my laptop as a camera stand for my phone.

Nothing seemed to be working, except for the glorious brain of Russ.

The interview didn't do him honor.

That's why we're redoing it tonight. This time I'll make sure that we make the most out of it. I'll have my eyes peeled to the screen and my ears right open.

Here's what I'm going to ask Russ:

1) What's your method for finding and following up with leads?

2) How do you help coaches and speakers book more events?

3) How do you manage to post so much valuable content in so little time?

4) How did you manage to transition so well into the digital age?

5) How can I make sure I'll be as cool as you when I turn 50?

This is gonna be one for the history books,

See you there

Who's also a generally top bloke. So psyched to have him.

"3 ways to growth hack your personal brand"

"7 secrets to growth hacking your broccoli soup"

You might have clicked on links like that before. And it might have changed your life. Or it might have been a disappointment.

BUT, chances are, you still don't really know what a "growth hacker" is.

Do they actually hack stuff? Are they criminals? Do all of them have fluffy hair?

Well, you're about to find out. Because our next guest, Ricardo, is a purebred growth hacker.

He has more in him than that tho.

When he was 19, he was too lazy to write his thesis. So he started his first company instead. A rental service for students.

Later on, he started Alchemist box, a box that allows you to mix fancy drinks. He sold that company a few months ago.

Currently, he's running his own growth hacking consultancy: fast forward online.

He's ALSO head of growth at KAZI.

AND he's running an awesome Facebook group, called B2B Founders & Marketers. (EXCLUSIVELY for B2B marketers and founders).

That's quite an impressive resume if you ask me. That's I'm honoured that he accepted my invitation to be on this show.

So given the expertise and experience of Ricardo, we'll be talking about the following subjects:

- How to be more data-driven

- How does a Growth H3cker think?

- Entrepreneurship.

- Secret tactics to blow up in 2018

- How to Growth Hack your hair

Hope you guys are HYPED!

- Stapho

But she's also:

- LinkedIn Influencer

- Super nice person

- LinkedIn Local Co-Host in NYC

- Master Networker

- My Favourite person on LinkedIn.

One time Lila told me that her brother got her a reminder once, that said: "You can't make everyone happy, you're not a Taco".

Lila isn't a Taco. But damn it I've never met anyone who comes as close as her.

Her Taco style pays off too, her LinkedIn videos always get thousands of engagements (Likes+ comments+shares).

There aren't many people who can boast of numbers like that.

She's one of those rare people who became an influencer by the sheer power of niceness and networking.

(But let's not forget she's extremely clever and hardworking too).

My whole #TMFLinkedInsChallenge was about me trying to get people to be more Lila.

I believe Lila's whole way of being should be seen as a prime example of how to treat each other on the internet.

She makes people feel warm and fuzzy inside. But she won't hesitate to come up for herself or her friends.

I really hope to meet Lila in real life one day.

Here's what we'll talk about:

- How to Network

- How to master LinkedIn like a human

- Business Culture

- LinkedIn Local.

- Taco Style Kung-Fu

It's truly an honour to have her on the show.

Much Love,

Stapho Thienpont

Matter of fact, I've accused myself of using the Picnic as a cheap excuse to hang out with hard to reach people.

I've spent the whole week applying some techniques I learned from Lila Smith last week.

Every week I learn. And I'm, sure this week won't be any different.

So, what about Jeannette? What do I like about her so much?

I could start with the obvious:

- She's coached more than 100 entrepreneurs.

- She was interviewed by Charlie Price himself for her incredible Instagram prowess. (I paid to see that and it was worth every penny)

- I've seen her kill it as a team member on multiple projects.

- She Grew her Facebook group Dream Team Instagram Secrets at a staggering pace.

But that's all superficial "she gets results" stuff. Here's what really made me reach out to her:

She combines marketing with the spiritual.

That's right, she doesn't just talk about getting big on Instagram. She doesn't just talk about personal branding.

She talks about how to do all that but maintain a healthy mind and body at the same time.

I haven't spoken about this publicly. But later on, I want to work more around Social Media and mental health.

I think Social Media can be wonderfully healthy, but it can be poisonous as well. And I want to help people make it healthy for them.

Jeannette shares this passion, so I'm sure we're gonna reach a new level of understanding.

I'm excited about this one!

Much Love,

Stapho Thienpont

To get his in-depth story, you're gonna need to turn on your audio below,

But here is what you need to know :

1) Daniel runs the "freelancer success community" which is one of the 5 Facebook groups I actually check. (and I'm not even a freelancer).

2) He's a master copywriter / Marketing Strategist.

3) He knows how to make a shit ton of money through growth hacking Upwork.

4) He is an expert at positioning people as the number 1 expert in their industry.

5) I always feel a bit stupid when I talk to him, cause he has an amazing level of intellectual and clarity

I'm so hyped to have him on the show, you can't even imagine.

For real, this guy makes 100 - 500 USD per hour while sitting at any beach of his choosing. He's the real deal.

Feel free to ask us any questions you might have!