Billy Gene on Increasing Your Traffic: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. Brought to you by the HubSpot. Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like The Hustle Daily. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives and we'll be breaking down how to increase your traffic. To drop these value bombs, I brought Billy Jean into EO Fire Studios. Billy helps business owners and entrepreneurs turn clicks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube into customers. He is also the host of the Billy Jean Offends the Internet podcast. And today, we'll talk about how entertainment and controversy increase traffic We'll talk about how advertising is the key.

0:41The most profitable companies worldwide have billions of dollars in sales and spend billions of dollars on advertising and so much more, Fire Nation. And the big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Billy and our sponsors. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by my good friend, Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger Podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more. A must-listen episode is one of Jenna's recents on everything you need to know about affiliate marketing.

1:16Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts. Belay is passionate about helping your business succeed with their simple, flexible staffing solutions. Download Belay's Bulletproof Budget Template for free, which is the exact budget template they use to grow from a small startup to one of Inc. 5000's fastest-growing companies for nine straight years today. today just text FIRE that's F-I-R-E to 55123. Billy Gene my man my brother I've got some stories I could tell about you they might come out organically during our talk today we'll see and they're all good stories obviously they're all fun stories but I want to start because I love your story I never get tired of hearing about it um about how you you were at 1.50k in debt which let's be honest it's not super abnormal I mean we all have like this massive college debt we get into credit card debt.

2:05We do stupid things all over the place. But you went from 50K in debt to running this wildly successful agency in downtown San Diego. I've been to your office multiple times. I mean, it's a baller. Talk to us about how you made that transition. Honestly, if I had to summarize it for everybody is number one, just on the mindset of asking for help, period. No one figures that out by themselves. And so many times people think that's the case. but tactically speaking, cause I'm a tactics guy. I know your audience listening. They want the juice. It's dude. I got really good at it's spending a dollar and turning it into three period.

2:42I mean, at the end of the day, my quote unquote secret weapon is just advertising. And you know who I got it from the most profitable companies in the world. When you look at the balance sheet of, uh, all the fortune 1000 companies, the apples, the Facebook, the, the insurance companies, the Walmarts, et cetera. What people don't realize that you see is not just the billions in dollars in sales. They spend billions of dollars in advertising. But when you go to small businesses, the first thing you say is like, well, how do you get customers? What do they say? Referrals every time. And it's just like the most successful companies in the world legally have to tell you exactly how they're doing.

3:20But, but yet we don't do it. And for a long time, it was because a lot of stuff was expensive, right? TV, radio, billboards. It just didn't make sense for a small business. Um, but I mean, honestly, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, it costs one to 10 cents, you know, to show somebody an advertisement one to 10 cents. You can show for five to 15 bucks, a thousand people, your message. That was my big secret. So if I had something to sell, I would just literally make a video ad with my cell phone and ask people to buy it. And that's it. I would just make more than I spend. So if I, if I sold something that was a thousand bucks, I'd probably spend 200 bucks in advertising.

3:57And I just repeat the process over and over again. It's so wildly simple. Like what we do, it's crazy. But the difference is, is I was able to overcome the fear of losing money on ads. That's what stops people. They go, well, what if I spend a hundred bucks on the flyer and it doesn't get a return? Then you try again. It doesn't make it not the path anymore. It just means you miss, you get back up and you try it again until you find something that works. Then you keep repeating it. Now you've had a lot of things that have worked over the years. You've had some things that haven't, but when you talk about that arbitrage of like turning$1 into$3, you've obviously had a lot of those.

4:31And there's a lot of examples you could give, but you know, I just want one of your favorites where you're just like, you know, this is almost too easy. Now, of course, all good things come to an end. All arbitrages get tighter and close up over time, of course. But like, what was just one you're like, this is almost too good to be true. I'm going to max this out as long as I can. I mean, there's, there's been a lot, but I think a fun one for everybody to listen to because they probably won't think it's possible is take billboards for example. So I've purchased billboards and a lot of people go, why do you buy a billboard?

5:01Like people don't spend money off of that. And this is where people really have to get obsessed with this about being creative. So quick story in San Diego, California, I bought four billboards. They cost me 36 ,000 bucks and I ran them all. And that was for three and a half weeks. Just everyone let that sink in 36 grand for three and a half weeks on freaking billboards that people drive by. And so then people go like, how do you make money from it? Well, what I did is I made a call to action on it to go to a website and it was an automatic webinar the same way that I would do Facebook or Instagram or YouTube anyway.

5:31And I was just like, I wonder if anybody will opt in. I wonder if anybody will watch. And they did. And it made like$10 ,000 back because what I was selling on the water was like a, uh, a thousand bucks. So immediately people would say, okay, you lost money, Billy. You lost 26 ,000 bucks. You made 10, you spent, that's stupid. Well, what I did is people for some reason give a lot of authority and position to billboards because they know they're expensive. And the companies that are doing billboards are the biggest companies in the world. So they automatically think you're official. I mean, I still think of Pete knows PB.

6:04That guy will always be the real estate guy in San Diego. 100. And so take that, right? So what I did is I said, okay, well, we're going to take a, we rented a helicopter and we flew around. We went to helicopters and we flew around with me and my CMO at the time and a helicopter and my buddy Paul filming from the other helicopter. And we flew over all the billboards and we flew over all the billboards and we turned that into a Facebook ad. And then from that advertisement, we brought in probably like a million bucks. Like throughout, throughout using it over the course of the year. Arbitrage baby.

6:39Yeah. It's so, it's just like, how can you use it? It wasn't just three weeks. You're able to use that footage forever, the pictures of you in front of a billboard forever, even today. We're literally putting an ad up ironically today using that same clip of the helicopter. And so people, you got to start looking at your content as an asset the same way you do real estate. People go, it's a real estate investment and I can make money off of that again and again and again. Same with your videos. What's the difference? I'll tell you what the difference is. Video is cheaper. Video is easier to make and you don't need to go through escrow.

7:09So everybody, if you're not using videos as cash assets, you're tripping. I mean, I want to give you a personal example that involves Billy here is that about a year ago, it was actually maybe close to two years ago now, Billy and I were both promoting a Tony Robbins course. We both finished in the top 10. And so we got to go to Namali, Fiji and have a great four days with Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi. I went scuba diving with Billy Jean. I mean, come on, Does life get any better than that? I'm underwater. I'm 50 feet underwater with Billie Jean. Does life get any better than that? Well, first of all, John's good at it.

7:42I was afraid. I feel like me and Lewis Howes, we were afraid. Because we had never done it before. Everybody's afraid the first time. You guys were like pros, like going down 100 feet, like swimming with sharks. I'm like, what are you doing? It was so funny. Yeah, that was a great time. But my whole point of this story, besides having an awesome time with Billie Jean, Lewis Howes, and just the other amazing people there, is that I took a fantastic photo. And I mean a fantastic photo with Tony. Me and Tony, my arms around him. I'm looking at him. I'm laughing. He's laughing. Sweat's coming off because we're in Fiji.

8:14Like we're both glowing. That photo is still my Facebook profile picture. And I get messages all the time. How do you know Tony Robbins so well? Like it's impossible to get like close to Tony in a normal person's world. And like, that's just an example. Like I made it happen. The arbitrage, I got that picture. I'm still using it to this day. So those three and a half weeks of the billboard, those were just three and a half weeks for Billy. Like those four days into Mali for me, they weren't just four days into Mali. It's been ongoing. Content, dude, it's kind of so, it's such an asset monetarily and people just don't slip on it.

8:47I mean, that picture will live forever. Fire Nation, don't go anywhere. When we get back from thanking our sponsors, we got fire. Artificial intelligence is at the top of everyone's newsfeed. So we all know there are plenty of business pros out there benefiting from AI. AI can help you save time, brainstorm ideas and tackle your to-do list. but knowing about it and putting it into practice are two different things. So what's the first step? If you find yourself spending hours each day on content creation, then meet HubSpot's new AI-powered campaign assistant, a totally free-to-use AI tool tailor-made for marketers and business builders who spend hours each day on content creation.

9:19Campaign assistant will transform the way you work by crafting personalized emails, ads, and landing pages with just a few prompts in a matter of minutes. And you can start seeing the benefits fast. Just pick the content type, add key selling points, and let AI take it from there. Campaign Assistant isn't just free. It's also fully integrated with HubSpot's smart CRM so you can publish the AI-generated content directly into your landing pages and emails from your CRM. So work smarter, not harder. Head to hubspot.com slash campaign dash assistant to test drive Campaign Assistant for free. We all know the feeling of just starting out when you are your business.

9:58Every client, every decision, every detail, it's all up to you. But there comes a time when your potential for business growth depends on you letting go and hiring a team who can help. I know, easier said than done. But Belay actually does make it easy. Belay has helped thousands of business owners make the leap to scale their businesses with their simple, flexible staffing solutions. Belay's exceptional virtual assistants and accounting professionals can partner with you to help you grow your business and take control of your time. They have the nation's largest pool of U.S.-based talent ready to work with you from anywhere and scale with you as you grow.

10:29and Belay is passionate about helping your business succeed. So they're offering Fire Nation a free download of their Bulletproof Budget Template. This is the exact budget template that Belay used to grow from a small startup to one of Inc. 5000's fastest growing companies for nine straight years. Text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to download the Bulletproof Budget Template and streamline your business with Belay today. So Billy, we're back. And one thing I love about you, And I mean, L-O-V-E is you are not afraid to ask for the sale. I mean, I literally like scream at some people in my communities, like podcast was paradise.

11:05Like I'm screaming at them, like ask for the sale. Like they can't get it. They won't do it. You share that your secret of reaching more people is to ask them to buy literally every single time. And I listened to your podcast and you are always asking people to buy, which is awesome. And I'm taking notes myself to that. What would you say to people that are afraid to ask for the sale? The biggest thing I would say consider, other than it's in their best interest, the biggest thing that I would say is nobody actually gets upset with you for asking for the sale. They get obsessed with you for how you ask for the sale.

11:38I give the same example in dating or something. If you're just asking someone out all the time, be careful. That's harassment. That's annoying, et cetera. But if you're making her laugh every single time and it's hilarious and it's this friendly, cordial, warm, fuzzy thing, you can ask as many times as is appropriate, right? And so with asking for the sale, imagine if you make people laugh every single time that you do it. It's the difference between we've all been in a position where we meet a sales rep for something and they just make us smile and we just love their energy. They could ask us 100 times.

12:08Totally. If there's a person we don't like and it's not enjoying the process, they can ask one time and it was too many. so that's the obsession is how you ask do it in a fun friendly way like people have this uh you know thing that sells is like this daunting process etc i'm like dude people love to shop look at amazon the end like people love to shop they are on there to shop and spend money you don't like it's not a bad thing people like to spend just give them an opportunity to do so give them an opportunity and i love it how you come across with your energy with your vibe and you'll make them smile i mean fire nation isn't that how you want to operate anyways i mean just think about it.

12:44Now it's obvious by now from the past episodes that Billy's been on Entrepreneurs on Fire. And you know, if any of you guys have gotten a sneak peek at the book, why I chose him for the chapter on increasing your traffic. Billy Jean is a master when it comes to increasing traffic. He's a master at a lot of things. I could have picked him for like four or five different parts of this book. Like there are 17 steps and like, you're awesome at like a number of them. But the increasing traffic thing, I was like, no, this is, this is really a place where He shines. And I actually pulled a quote that I love from the book to share with you, Fire Nation, and for you, Bill.

13:18Buy the book, Fire Nation. Buy the book. Buy the book. Buy the book. I'm not afraid to ask. This is what I wanted to pull out, though, for the quotes amongst the rest of the amazing contribution that you gave, a full, meaty contribution. This quote stuck out. You're never stuck. You're just not being creative enough, and a lack of creativity will put you out of business and so will boring. Boring will put you out of business. So Billy, bring this home for us. What do you want Fire Nation to know, to think, to implement about increasing their traffic? So today I'm sitting with my marketing team virtually and I'm talking with them about, you know, what's something that we could put out there to get more attention.

14:03And the first thing I like to do is go with historical data, right? What's worked in the past. So I go to the insights on my Instagram business page, which you can all do. You click the three dots, it hit insights, and it'll tell you. But what you can also pull up and you can sort is your most engaged post. It'll show you the post that reached the amount of people. It will show you the post that got the most amount of comments and the post that got the most amount of likes. And as I was looking at my top posts over the last two years, the ones that always did well had something in common. They were funny or they got people talking.

14:39So there's this book that I have that's called How to Live with a Huge Penis. And it's a book that I received as a gift for my girl. And I just laughed so hard. I thought it was funny. Kate hasn't got me that book. I wonder why. I'll send it to you. I'll send it to you. And I posted on my Instagram. And, dude, out of all of the posts that I've had, that was the most engaged. Wow. And at least it was one of the top. But my point is the difference when I say engaged is I'll just use numbers to keep it simple. If you have 100 people following you on Instagram, when you post something, you might get like five, two, three, four people to interact with.

15:23But when I was posting something like the entertainment book, I may be able to reach, instead of two, 20 of those people. Right. So it's the same energy for the post, right? But one reaches two people, one reaches 20 people. How do you increase your traffic? You increase your sense of humor. And it's not just funny. I shouldn't just limit there. It's not just about making people laugh, but also controversial. You know, when the last quarter for politics, every single time I did a post talking about Trump, whether it was for or against engagement, boom, skyrocket. I would put out something educational like, let me teach you about marketing.

15:58Nobody pays attention. Not a word. So nothing. So it's about the combination, right? It's, hey, I may lead with a post about Trump and say X, Y, and Z, but then the PS would be, by the way. You know what I mean? Like I would circle back and make it full circle and combine them. So for everybody, it's like, look, entertainment is requirement, but you don't have to necessarily be entertaining either. You could comment on entertaining things. Your opinion becomes entertaining just by talking and showing something that was there. Look at this show. Everybody remembers Tosh.0. Oh, yeah. Tosh would just stand there.

16:33He would play a funny YouTube video, and then he would write another joke in addition to. The guy never had to be that good because his content was so good that he was sharing. Period. Fire Nation. Billy Jean, as I already shared, you can tell why I brought him on as the master for increasing your traffic. If you're looking at the calendar and it's still before March 23rd, that means my book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, is still available for pre-order. Why is that relevant? Because I have five amazing pre-order bonuses for you. Five, that is Cinco in Puerto Rico. So just one of them, by the way, Billy, I am literally shipping to the door all three of my journals, the Freedom, Mastery, and Podcast Journal to your door.

17:15As a bonus for a single pre-order. Dude, I'm losing money on every pre-order. I could care less. This isn't about that. It's about getting this book in your hands, making it an irresistible, no-brainer offer. Can I chime in on this for this? Please do. Guys, I have to tell you something. You know, let's just talk about success, right? If you listen to this podcast, as I did when I first started listening, you're an entrepreneur. I remember that. That's on your way. and I will tell you something, books are the cheat codes to life. Like every single person here is dealing with the problem, whether it's hiring, whether it's sales, whether it's marketing, whether it's getting more traffic to your website, whether it's relationship.

17:48And do you realize there's someone really successful out there who's already beat that problem a hundred times that put it into a book and they're trying to give it to you. That's exactly what John's trying to do right now. He's, he's literally giving you the blueprint, all the stuff that you like, Just imagine how ridiculous it is to wake up feeling stressed with anxiety and then not getting the book to solve all of that that takes it all away. It's irresponsible, damn it. So go get the book. I mean, it's basically free. I'm not even going to say it costs anything. It's basically free. Get the book.

18:18And Billy, you're the man. You supported me on this. You bought a book for every single person on your team. I did. Every single one of them. I'm so grateful for that. I'm so thankful for that. So Fire Nation, you heard Billy. I'm not even going to hammer it home any more than he just did. at UncommonSuccessBook.com, UncommonSuccessBook.com. The pre-orders bonuses go away on March 23rd, and then you just get the book, which is amazing, by the way. But why not get the bonuses as well? Hello, make it happen.

18:46UncommonSuccessBook.com. Billy, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you, and we'll catch you on the flip side. Later, y 'all. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by my good friend, Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger Podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more. A must-listen episode is one of Jenna's recents on everything you need to know about affiliate marketing.

19:20Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts. Belay is passionate about helping your business succeed with their simple, flexible staffing solutions. Download Belay's Bulletproof Budget Template for free, which is the exact budget template they use to grow from a small startup to one of Inc. 5000's fastest growing companies for nine straight years. Today, just text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123.