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A
Welcome to do this, not that, the podcast from marketers. We share quick tips, things you can do right now, and then we add a little bit of chaos at the end of every episode. We also keep it short, like this intro. Let's check it out. So, all right, this is a special episode of do this, not that. We just put on a huge virtual event called the Ventastic. And one of the speakers at the event was Amy Porterfield. And so I wanted to take Amy's session that her and I had this fireside discussion, and she ripped through all these tactics about web webinars and small events and how to drive revenue in this world that's so all over the place. And this session was incredible. I learned so much from Amy. If you don't know Amy, she is the number one person that I learned from all the time. So I want to take that session and release it as a special podcast episode. Hope you like this one, and thanks for checking it out. Let me just give you a little background on her, because we're getting into webinars, we're going to get into small events, all the things. But if you don't know Amy, all right, she didn't, like, you know, get handed some sort of silver spoon. She grew up in a blue collar household, okay. And if you would have told her that someday that she would create a business that would employ all these people and generate over $130 million in revenue, I don't know if she would have believed you. She worked for Tony Robbins as the content director. Okay? She left that job. She took all this money that she didn't have, $17,000, and she went to a mastermind that she literally needed a payment plan for to try to figure out how to start some sort of a business. And then 16 years later, she built this online business that's generated over $130 million, helped over 100,000 students build businesses on their own. She became a New York Times bestselling author. Her podcast, my Favorite Podcast, Amy Porterfield show, has well over 60 million downloads. And the engine behind all this thing, behind all of it, is something called Digital Course Academy. This one program, this one digital course generated over $60 million just on its own. And then here's the bonkers wild thing that we're going to dig into today and how she did this in January, she said, you know what? Screw it, I'm pivoting. And she did something nobody expected. She retired Digital Course Academy. She walked away from this zillion dollar engine that was still chugging and what did she decide to do? She decided to launch this incredible six month coaching program for women that are making between 150 to 500 thousand dollars a year in revenue to increase their confidence to get to that next level, the Calibre Collective. And then she launched Millie Club, which is one of the most successful masterminds and boot and in person, small in person events. It is crushing it. She's doing all this stuff, she's not scared to pivot and she's fueling all this business with events, with webinars. She's incredible. I can't wait to dig into it all. Amy, welcome to Eventastic.
B
Well, hey there, Jay. Thanks so much for having me. That was an impressive intro that no one has actually done it quite like that, so thank you, my friend.
A
Well, I have to say it is difficult because you've done a lot and then all of a sudden in January you throw this curveball at everybody. And I'm sitting there in my car, okay, and I turn on your podcast episode and you're like, hey everybody, I'm, I'm going to go in a complete 180 here. I almost like drove off the road. I'm like, what the hell's going on? So before we get into like webinars and events or whatever, what. What happened? Did you just have like, like an epiphany in the middle of the night? Why did you decide to change course? No pun intended.
B
Yeah, right. Well, it was a huge, big deal for me and a big decision. So here's the thing. Like you said, I have been promoting digital course Academy or some version of it for many, many, many years. And it's been my bread and butter. It put me on the map. I'm known for it. And then about a year ago, I started to get this kind of knowing that something else was waiting for me. But when I've. I've been doing the same thing, Jay, for 17 years I've been creating and selling digital courses and teaching other people how to do it. So. So after 17 years, you usually are thinking about retirement. Not necessarily I'm going to blow up the whole business, but there was this knowing that I was ready for something bigger. And when I looked at it clearly, what it is is I feel as though I've earned my elevation. So anyone watching right now that you feel like a pivot or a big change or something is on the horizon for you, it's probably because you've been doing the same thing for a long time, you know, more, you've done so much. You've made all the mistakes, all the successes, and you're ready for more. And your audience is ready for more as well. So I listened to the women in my audience and they say, what else do you have for us, Amy? We've started to build our business. What else can we do with you? And I had nothing. And I wanted to teach the woman who had already started her business and I wanted to share all the strategies that I have to build a multi, multimillion dollar business. So I took my experience and knowledge and I told myself, I've earned this. I've earned the right to pivot the business and take it in a new direction. And so I got all the courage that I could find. Luckily, I have a beautiful team that's helped me and we turned this whole ship in a new direction. And it still shocks me because Digital Course Academy made millions and millions last year. But at one point or another, it becomes it's not about the money anymore.
A
Well, I, I, I sort of envy your ability to, to make that big decision and pivot. Were you like, super confident after you like that next morning we made the decision or were you scared? I mean, like, were you just like, no problem, we got this?
B
Hell no. Or heck no. So sorry. No. I was absolutely freaked out for a good six months. As I started to even to think about it, I was like, don't even think about it. We're not even going to do that. That's too big of a change. And so, and also for those watching, if you're really good at something and then you make a big shift, you're not going to be really good at that other thing, like, right away. And to have like a beginner's mentality again and mess up and things don't go well and learn something new, it hits your ego a little bit. Like, I had to learn everything about this new business model. So, yeah, I was freaked out for very long time.
A
So one more question before we get into kind of the whole webinars and events thing, because a lot of people here today in their own careers, they might be nervous to take a step back, to take a step forward, like whatever Paul Abdul said. And it seems like you've done that numerous times throughout your career. Like, are, are you, you're, are you comfortable? Do you think that that's what you need to do, to step forward is to actually, like, step back? Because in a lot of ways, I'm sure your first year of this business, you're not going to make as much as you did in digital course academy last year.
B
Right, right. For sure. And I love that you quoted Paula Abdul. That's very rare in interviews. I'm in, so got to love that. So, yes, I had to be willing to take a really big step back. But also, wait, there was something you asked me about that question. The Paula Abdul really threw me off. Say the question again. Because there's something I really wanted to hit.
A
No, because, like, in your career, not just your business, if somebody's sitting there and they're like, am I? I want to do this thing, but I know I have to. I'm a director now. I'm gonna have to become a manager to. To grow again. Like, is stepping back. Okay. Is that what you are comfortable doing?
B
Yes. So, no, no. I want to be the best of the best at all times, and I want to be the baller in my business and everything like that. But here's what I did learn. You had mentioned that I work for Tony Robbins, and so much of my entrepreneurial journey has been credited to things I've learned from him. And one of the major things I learned from him is if you want to grow, you have to get uncomfortable. You have to be uncomfortable probably 90% of the time when you're trying to build something, especially something new. So, Jay, every day I want to come out of my skin right now. Every day I'm doing something new. I just had a call. I've never had a sales team before. I had a call. They're totally a different beast, a sales team. So I'm, like, coming out of my skin, trying to figure out how to make it all work, and I'm uncomfortable all the time, and I hate that feeling.
A
I.
B
Although I just keep remembering, oh, this is what it feels like. This is what it is supposed to feel like. So anyone watching right now, if you feel like you've been pretty comfortable for a while and you haven't really had that feeling of itchy, scratchy, want to come out of your skin, like, oh, my gosh, you probably need to get into motion. It's probably time for your pivot or your change or you to go for something bigger. You should be uncomfortable more often than not. And if you really value growing in your business and in your life, well,
A
I really do want to credit you because you've been, you know, outside of these sessions, you've been really helpful in me thinking about how to pivot in my business. So everybody that's listening, this is really that moment. You want that when's that moment. This is that moment. And it really does. It's really a moment to reflect and think about if you are too comfortable. All right, let's talk about something that is how you're building this thing, which I think is wild for everybody here. The W word, the gross word. Webinars. Okay. Talk to us about how you are. Literally, this coaching business, which is a mega coaching business, isn't like Amy just coaching three people. This is like a coaching business on steroids. Okay. Amy is fueling this thing with weekly webinars. What is the motion that you're doing?
B
First of all, W stands for wonderful. Because right before we got on, I was telling you I'm obsessed with webinars, and I have been for a very, very long time. So, yes, you. Right. In order to promote my coaching program, I do a live webinar every single Monday. And it's to a cold audience because we use meta ads in order to bring people in. I semi cold, we use social media. We invite people from our newsletter. But a lot of new people are getting on because I do it every single week. And from there, I teach and I change their perspective, and I show them a different way to look at their marketing. And once I got them to a place of, they realize, wait, I do need help here. From there, I invite them on to a call where we give them a marketing model review. So the webinar is then going into a free call for a marketing model review. And you know me, Jay. I'm a girl of integrity. So the calls are really valuable whether they join my coaching program or not. And we tell them, if you're a good fit, and we think that you would love our coaching program, we'll tell you about it on the call. You. If not, you just walk away with a marketing model review. And we've gotten great feedback about that. But, you know, I've done webinars to sell a $2,000 digital course year after year after year. So I had to learn kind of selling. Selling a call is a different ballgame. So that's how my webinars have kind of changed.
A
So. But you're doing them weekly, right? Yeah, and they're live.
B
They're live. So it's kind of my husband.
A
Every week. Every week, same topic.
B
Okay, so here's. Here's the secret here. First of all, my husband Hobie, doesn't love it because I'm like, okay, we can go on vacation, but I just got to run in and do a webinar. But I chose that. That is what I wanted to do. I will tell you all there is a higher perceived value with live. And so whether you say the exact same thing or not, people want you live. And so I thought, okay, here, here's how I decided webinars. Jay so for those watching, here's how you make a big decision on what I call your selling vehicle. What do you do best? What would you be excited to do? What, or at least not dread every time you do it? Where do you shine the most? And for me, it's webinars. I love that you can teach and then invite into your world. And so that's why we chose webinars. And it's the same exact webinar every Monday, except that I use AI to audit my webinar. So I have a cloud project that is specifically for this webinar. It helped me create the webinar and now it helps me audit it every week. So I'll put the transcript of the webinar in there. I'll give it all the metrics of show up rate, conversion rate, all the details. I'll share a little bit about how I felt about it. And I said, give me the audit. Show me where I can increase conversions. I recently did this and it increased my conversions 4% from one week over the other just by tiny little tweaks. So it has really been kind of a fun challenge doing the same webinar over and over, just getting really good at it.
A
Okay, well, first of all, that's amazing weekly. This sounds like torture. So let me ask you a question about the live portion though. Is it available on demand?
B
It is not. And there's no replay. So this is, this is a big deal. Okay, so I definitely some people are frustrated with us, but here's what I found. And again, I in order to make that $60 million with digital course Academy, all I did was webinars for many, many years. So I know webinars. And one thing we found over the last two years is that people say they're going to watch the replay, but if you look at your metrics, very few people watch it. And for us, very few people were buying off the replay. Again, there's a higher perceived value with live. And so because of that we said, okay, we're not, we would rather say no replay because here's what happens. We might lose a few sales for people that need the replay because of time zones or whatever. However, we're going to gain a lot more sales for people that actually show up. So our show up rate is pretty solid week after week because we tell them there is no replay. We also don't go on and on about how I do this every single week. This is happening this Monday. Here's your date, here's your time. That's the end of the conversation.
A
So I think that's so important for any company of any size, this idea of Live. We've turned marketing to Netflix. It's available whenever you want it. And then people don't watch the On Demand. They don't go to Pipeline if they're not watching it. Your Live Only is amazing. The other thing that I think that everyone could take away from this is you don't need to be perfect for everybody. You know, this idea On Demand is that you don't want to. You don't upset anybody. Right. That's not how it works. You're not going to run a business if you. I mean, you got to upset some people. Right?
B
Right. And that, you know, I like to be nice to everyone. I'm definitely the people pleaser. And so over the years, I've had to get good at repelling as much as attracting. I am not for everybody, and I know that. And after, you know, when we get older, we start to accept it a lot more. But I really pay attention, Jay, in my marketing of this will repel the wrong person and absolutely attract the right person. Because for years, I just attracted everyone in my first five years of business. And. And my sales showed it. And so my sales shot up when I was willing to repel the people that weren't right for me. And also, I really firmly believe this. Like, if. If you want something bad enough, you're going to make time for it. And I think we all do that. It's human nature. So if you really are interested in what I have to teach, you're going to make time for it. And those are the people that I want in my coaching program.
A
So the other thing that I took away from you, doing these weekly webinars and being the same one over and over and you're making it better each week is. A lot of times I feel like I can't talk about a certain topic. I've talked about it 20 times already. There's no way a human being on earth wants to hear me say, put this in your stupid subject line or whatever. And then I shy away from, like, repetitive content. Is it hard, like, is it hard for you to be like, okay, I'm in week 20. I'm doing the same webinar again. Like, do you Feel weird.
B
I. Absolutely not. Doesn't even enter my mind. But remember, we're attracting a new audience all the time, so I'm not going to the same audience over and over again. Now we are inviting my email list through my newsletter every single week. But we're doing it in a subtle way. So it's a very kind of under the radar sell, because I'm all about selling. And, hey, come to my webinar. But because it's weekly that, you know, they're going to hear about it enough. But I'll just make a subtle sentence, you know, a text link there. Um, if I've talked about it a lot over the last few weeks or so. But Jay, mostly it's new people on this webinar. But also, I want to remind you, we have a really good friend in common, Stu McLaren. And he reminds me all the time, say it 50 times, say it 50 different ways. We think people hear everything we say. And Jay, I hang on your every word. And you know that, like, you have changed my email marketing dramatically. And I know I've missed 50 or probably 80% of the things you said.
A
So lucky.
B
Say it. Say it again.
A
Let me ask you a serious and very important question. If somebody out there has gone to, like, 20 of your webinars in a row, do you put them, like, on a watch list? Do you report them to, like, the FBI or something?
B
I should be sending them flowers. All right. I should be sending them a little treat in the mail. They're my favorite.
A
You should actually ask Claude, is there anybody that's gone to every webinar that I'm not related to?
B
And if they haven't bought why, that's what I really want to know.
A
Right. Okay. One more thing about webinars I'm curious about, and then we'll get into in person events here for a second. So when you start out your webinars, you kind of, like, grab people's attention pretty fast. And I think for a lot of people out here, everyone's putting on webinars, but they're boring people to tears. Is there anything in the first five minutes that Amy Porter feels like, you got to do this to grab them?
B
Yes. And that is you have to make it about them, not about you. The biggest mistake I see people make with webinars is that they will start the webinar with, hey, so glad you're here. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I don't even do that in my webinar right now. This is really weird. I've never done this before, but I don't do a slide or two about. Let me tell you about me. I might, you know, as the audience gets colder and colder, but they don't care. If you can start out by telling them, here's who this is for, so they know instantly they're in the right room and here's what we're going to do and get right into it. Take out all the fluff. Here's another little secret. You've got to get to the cell at 45 minutes or sooner. If you start selling after 45 minutes, I promise you your sales are going to go down. You have lost sales because at the 50 minute, 55, 60, people just start jumping off. They don't have the time. So if you haven't gotten into your pitch by 45 minutes, you are losing sales. But that first five minutes make it about them, not about you.
A
I love that. I love that. I hate when people start out a webinar. They go, these are the seven things we're going to go over. And this is my life story. It's like, who cares?
B
How does that help me do it? Yeah.
A
And by the way, everyone put their questions in the chat because we're going to hit Amy up with a bunch of questions before this is all over. All right, so let's pivot to in person stuff. So you have something called the Millie Club, which is this in person event. Let's say it's for women, right? And about 30 women, you bring them to Nashville. Tell us about the Millie Club and, and what this all is.
B
Okay, so the Millie Club, like you said, is a group of 30 women at a time. So it's a cohort. We meet for six months and we get together twice for two two day events. So in Nashville, which is where I live, and all the women are making 500k or more and their goal is to have that first million dollar year and beyond. So everyone is, is, has the same goal. We're mo direction and everyone either has a course, a membership, a coaching program, a consulting program, something like that, where they're marketing it online.
A
So I am very jealous that I can't attend this thing. And I watch all the videos that I know you don't want to come. Yeah, no voice loud. It's not nice. And I love the videos that you put out there because the event is like, it's like a beautiful event. Everything looks so curated, so I'm sure it's not all a piece of cake. So in terms of small in person events because a lot of people are. They put on, you know, these certain dinners or this, that or whatever. What is the Amy Porterfield? What are the secrets to really doing a small in person event? Right. What have you learned that is wrong?
B
I've only been doing events like this for about two years. So if you would have asked me this like a year ago, I would have told you, like, whoa, there's a big learning curve here. Because I think I did it wrong for a few of these events. Here's what I did wrong. I taught a lot. I brought a lot of guest experts in. We had very little time of connection and talking. I didn't want the lunches to go too long because I wanted them to get so much value. So if I just put tons into it, they're going to leave like, holy cow, that was so good. Big mistake. What I've learned over the last year when I. We always survey directly after like within probably 48 hours of the event we survey. And what I found is people want more time to connect and talk, sharing in the room. I did this, I tried that. And real conversations are very valuable. And when I stopped teaching so much, when I stopped bringing as many experts in and gave them more time to be in small groups and longer lunches and more time to socialize, like we added a dinner at nighttime. That's when they loved it more. That's when they thought it was the best event ever.
A
And.
B
And I noticed my retention went up into the next millie club when they had really strong connection with each other. We had, out of 30 people in my milli club, this last cohort, 19 of them re upped for another six months. That's a lot of people. And it wasn't me. It was because they all felt really close to each other.
A
That's amazing because, like, if I did that, then the less that I would be involved, the more people would enjoy it. So maybe if I don't even go would be like the most popular thing of all.
B
I'm going to try it. I'm not going to show up on day two. We'll see what happens. Right?
A
It's not going to be here. Oh, my God. I want in. I want in. I can't wait.
B
Never know.
A
Yeah. All right, we got, we got all sorts of questions coming in in the chat here. So let me, let me hit you with some of them. All right.
B
Okay.
A
Right, here we go. Our email lists. Still the center of everything. Are we done with email marketing?
B
No, they're the center of everything. We do. They're incredibly important. Here's an example. The other day we were having problems with our ads and we need to sit, we need to hit a certain amount of leads for Monday morning webinars in order for everything else to work this week. And so we didn't hit it because we had an ad problem. And ad problems are expensive and frustrating. So the less I have to spend on ads and the more I can tap into my email list all day long, I think it's the most important asset in your business.
A
Okay. By the way. And that's why I don't wait till the end to do the sell. Because that way. I just learned that from Amy. We're going to put in the chat and we'll say it again at the end. But Amy's newsletter, and I want to talk about in a second is my favorite email newsletter on the planet. If you're not subscribed, stop listening to this nonsense and go subscribe amyporterfield.com Newsletter and the reason Amy's newsletter is so awesome is that she's very real in it. And you made that pivot like a year or so ago. Are you like, how do you get comfortable? You really put yourself into your newsletter. Like you put like, what's going on in your life, your last Amazon purchase. I mean, anything and everything going on, like, is that hard for you to do or you just love, you love just being yourself?
B
It's actually really hard for me to do. I, I grew up in the online space many, many years ago where social media actually wasn't what it is today. And so we didn't share everything we ate in our whole morning routine and everything about our lives. And I also have a husband that doesn't necessarily love to be on social all the time. And so sharing for me, just, I always felt like people don't want to know this stuff. But then I started following other people's newsletters before I wrote mine. Full disclosure, I would never have a newsletter without Jay. Jay was the one. He's like, get a newsletter. And so I'm like, fine, fine, fine. And I watched yours, Jay. And you like, were you open book in that I'm a weirdo.
A
Yes.
B
I learned a lot about you and I very surprising things about you through that newsletter. So I, I started looking at newsletters like yours and others and I was drawn to them. I wanted to know what was in their Amazon cart. I wanted to know what they were watching, but also I wanted the marketing tips. So I modeled what I loved and now it's very, very easy. I did this laser treatment on my face where I looked absolutely insane. Me posting that picture is not my normal thing, but I'm like, do it. And so I did. And that was like one of the ones is most commented on. So, yeah, you can come into my life.
A
I don't think I saw that on your social, on your insta story, your after your laser. I don't feel like I saw that picture. My wife is a dermatologist. She's always coming home a laser. And she's like a tomato. And she's. I'm like, you did a laser? She goes, yeah, I did. To myself. We had a new lake. I'm like, what do you.
B
I am so jealous you're married to a dermatologist. I would look like super fake if I was married to a dermatologist. Just so you know.
A
Oh, I know. I got. I got to get over there. You can see I got lines. It's very disappointing in her. All right, let me, let me get some more questions that are coming in here. Okay. What is a one simple thing people could do this week to increase their revenue without creating anything new?
B
Oh, I love this. Stop creating new stuff. You have so much in your world already is. Speaking of email lists, it could be as simple as you put together just a three part email series. Super simple about a product that you have on Evergreen. We've done this many times. $100,000 in three days. Your audience, they might have heard it like we talked about 50 times already, but they weren't ready at that time. So you write an email to people already know you love you. They've been on your email list with a special offer for something you already have. There is money in that list that you haven't tapped into.
A
Oh, I love that. All right, one more thing before I get to a ridiculous question. Is there a marketing tactic that is working now that you haven't done before? And there's a marketing tactic that you've done before that's no longer working.
B
Okay. The one that is working now that I hadn't done in the past is YouTube shorts and authority videos. So you all know what YouTube shorts are. But authority videos would be, I record like for seven minutes about area of expertise that I teach my students. So it might be mindset around entrepreneurship or how to have a mindset of a million dollar woman or whatever that might be. And we put these videos out there. It's not necessarily part of my podcast, but it. We call it authority content and it is blowing up. It is what? It's bringing people to our YouTube channel and increasing our subscribers. We just got, like, serious about YouTube a few months ago, so that is working really well for us. And the shorts just come off of my podcast. So something even like this will cut a little short and put it up there. So that's working really well that I've never done before. And we're going to keep doing it. I just recorded four of them the other day.
A
I.
B
So they can be really quick. And then a marketing strategy I'm not doing. Okay. This is very personal. I would tell my husband that I need to scroll TikTok and Instagram for business. Like, of course I do. I need to know what's going on. And I have stopped that marketing strategy. I've gotten the brick. If anyone knows the brick, you've got to go to the brick to turn it on or off. It absolutely helps because I have to get off TikTok.
A
What's the brick? I don't know what the brick means. What does this mean?
B
The brick is a little square, that it's like a magnet. You can put it on your fridge. Let's say you hold your phone up to it and it locks your. Your social media. So you go about your day. If you want it to come back on, you have to go back to the fridge and unlock it. And just that. That. That pattern interrupt, like, I have to get up and unlock it. You usually stay off social longer.
A
Oh, my God. But that would make it go to the fridge more often, which is a whole other plot.
B
That's true. Don't put it on the fridge.
A
Over the fridge. Anywhere but the fridge. All right, I have a ridiculous question to ask you. So I saw in one of your newsletters you were talking about you're a true crime junkie. You like true crime stuff. Right. And that when you watch, like, Dateline or whatever, you're not really looking at what happened to that wife that got unfortunately murdered or whatever you're looking at past the person on the screen and looking at what's in their home and if they have, like, dishes in the sink and all this stuff. So. So, like, when you're on a zoom with somebody, are you just zoned out and just completely judging them based on what's in their background?
B
Absolutely. Absolutely. I cannot handle when someone has a messy background on video. Now, I like a fun one. You're just. I was thinking, my gosh, mine's so bland compared to your fun one. I love a fun one, but, yeah, When I'm watching Dateline and the husband's talking about his missing wife, I'm like, well, if she comes back, she's going to kill you for all those dishes in the dirty sink. And your couch is dirty. So I tell my husband, don't you dare. I'll come back and haunt you if that happens to us.
A
So do you. Have you ever seen the show Hoarders? Is that like a nightmare for you?
B
A nightmare? I am the full opposite of a hoarder. And I unfortunately get rid of things that my husband and I absolutely need and then I have to rebuy. So I'm not proud of that.
A
So do you have, like, nothing your home now, like, oh, my God, this, my, my garage needs to be cleaned out. My closet is.
B
And you could eat off the floor of my garage. It is a mallet.
A
Wow, that is amazing. Well, as you know, one last stupid question. So Bose from the Real Housewives that keynote this thing earlier in the conference. And are you still into Real Housewives? Bravo, reality tv? Are you now, like, elevated now that you change your business? Have you changed watching your tv? Your very, you know, important things?
B
I will never not watch Real Housewives ever. Okay. Listen to you Want to hear a connection? You know, like six degrees of separation kept bacon. My hairstylist does two of the girls on Real Housewives. Orange County.
A
Wow.
B
I have the inside secrets. Just so.
A
Yeah, that's amazing. I don't know.
B
You might as well just call me a Real Housewife.
A
See that? Who knew? I, I, Yeah. Real Housewives of Rhode Island. It's the only one I've been watched. It's a mess anyway. I won't even go there there.
B
It's crazy.
A
Listen, everybody. Again. Amyporterfield.com Newsletter if you do nothing else of this entire event, subscribe to her newsletter. I am telling you, you're going to know more about Amy's life than you could ever imagine. You'll learn about the Brick. You're going to learn about what she buys on Amazon. You're about weird TV shows. And you'll learn about all of her businesses, all the different things. Amy, you are just a source of inspiration, an amazing friend. I appreciate you greatly. Oh, follow her on Instagram too. Best Instagram follow. Thank you for being here, Jay.
B
I'm your biggest fan. So thank you so very much for having me.
A
Wait. I have two huge things to share with you. First, I have a book coming out. Stupider people have done it. It's coming out the first week of June and All net author proceeds are going to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. This book might be terrible, but who cares? When you buy this thing on Amazon or anywhere else, you are going to be helping to kick cancer's butt. Let's do that together. The second thing is you can go to jschwettleson.com on the upper right hand corner there's thing that says Partner. My agency wants to help you. If you're a business marketer, consumer marketer doesn't make a difference. I want to help you drive net new sales, registrations, growth, change the design all the way. The stuff that you are doing, hit me up there. Also, if you want to do brand collabs, I want to know about your brand. I want to help you amplify that message. Go to JSON.com click on partner. Let's do stuff together. And the last thing is leave this show a review if it wasn't the absolute worst podcast you've ever heard and you're awesome for being here later.
Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson
Episode 525 | June 18, 2026
Guest: Amy Porterfield
Host: Jay Schwedelson (GURU Media Hub)
In this special episode, Jay Schwedelson sits down with digital marketing icon Amy Porterfield for a candid, insight-packed conversation originally recorded for Eventastic, GURU Media Hub’s major virtual event. Amy pulls back the curtain on her seismic business pivot, her unique approach to high-conversion webinars, her evolution with email marketing, and her recent foray into premium, small in-person events. The episode is loaded with down-to-earth advice and real-world tactics for marketers looking to elevate their game, foster authentic community, and maintain the courage to evolve—even when it means stepping back to leap forward.
On Pivoting:
"There was this knowing that I was ready for something bigger...I've earned the right to pivot the business and take it in a new direction."
— Amy Porterfield (03:30)
On Growth:
"If you want to grow, you have to get uncomfortable. You have to be uncomfortable probably 90% of the time when you're trying to build something, especially something new."
— Amy Porterfield (07:28)
On Live Webinars:
"There is a higher perceived value with live...We're not, we would rather say no replay...We're going to gain a lot more sales for people that actually show up."
— Amy Porterfield (12:54)
On Repetition:
"Say it 50 times, say it 50 different ways. We think people hear everything we say."
— Amy Porterfield (15:53)
On Webinars’ First Five Minutes:
"You have to make it about them, not about you. The biggest mistake I see people make...is that they will start the webinar with, 'Let me tell you a little bit about myself.'...They don't care."
— Amy Porterfield (17:44)
On Small Events:
"When I stopped teaching so much, when I stopped bringing as many experts in and gave them more time to be in small groups and longer lunches and more time to socialize...That's when they loved it more."
— Amy Porterfield (20:21)
On Email:
"It's the most important asset in your business."
— Amy Porterfield (22:21)
On Authentic Newsletters:
"I always felt like people don't want to know this stuff...But then I started following other people's newsletters...now it's very, very easy."
— Amy Porterfield (23:35)
Featuring Amy Porterfield’s characteristic warmth, candor, and actionable advice, this episode is a masterclass for marketers ready to elevate their strategy and embrace what’s next. Whether you’re planning your first webinar, thinking about a bold career pivot, or craving higher connection in your community, Amy’s roadmap offers both the tactics and mindset shifts to move forward.
Subscribe to Amy’s newsletter: amyporterfield.com/newsletter
Connect on IG: @amyporterfield
End of Summary