Rise and Record with Brandon T. Adams: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01John Lee Dumas:Light that spark fire nation, JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. On today's classic episode, we'll be breaking down how to rise and record. To drop these value bonds, I brought Brandon T. Adams into EO Fire Studios. Brandon is a two-time Emmy award-winning producer, TV host, media expert, and founder of Rise and Record, helping others grow through video marketing, storytelling, and business development. And today we talk about how success is different for everyone and how telling your story effectively will allow you to build a business and oh, so much more.

0:36John Lee Dumas:And a big thank you for sparsing today's episode goes to Brandon and our sponsors. If you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. High Level gives you website hosting, funnels, email marketing, automation, calendar booking, payments, and course hosting all on one platform, plus award-winning 24-7 support. Get a 30-day free trial and my full bonus stack that includes a 50-minute private call with me and much more at highlevelfire.com. Highlevelfire.com. Fire Nation, 50 days will fly right on by. The only question is, will you have something to show for it? I created a free YouTube series called 50 Days to Something, a step-by-step path to build a real product, service, or offer in just 50 focused days.

1:19John Lee Dumas:Start today for free at eofire.com slash YouTube. Brandon, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What's up, everybody? BTA here. And the one thing that most people would probably disagree with is the fact that success is different for everyone. What you think is success may not be what I think of success. you got to ask yourself the question, what does success mean to you? And as soon as you figure that out, you're going to be much more likely to get there. And I guess if I was going to add one more thing, thing I learned a long time ago is your success is determined by the people you're around.

2:04And sometimes you have to get rid of people close to you. Could be friends, or you may have to limit the amount of time you spend with some of your family members, sadly.

2:14John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, personalize your version of success. I mean, I am currently living my version of success right now, which is not Gary Vaynerchuk's version of success, which is not Tim Ferriss' version of success. It's my version of success, which by the way, might change in the upcoming years. And then I will shift that personalized version of what my success looks like and then strive after that. And I love that message. And I hope you're doing that Fire Nation. Now, BTA, we have quite a history together. You've been to my home in San Diego when I lived there. You've been to my home in Puerto Rico for reasons we'll talk about.

2:52John Lee Dumas:Tell Fire Nation the story of our journey together doing crowdfunding campaigns. Yeah, you know, it's crazy, man. It's been so many years since that began. But it started with you coming on my podcast back in 2015. and then you mentioned about doing the Freedom Journal. And at that time, it was really a concept. And so you mentioned doing crowdfunding. And at that time, I was just getting started in the crowdfunding space. And I said, hey, let's crush this together. And six months later, we did the Freedom Journal campaign on Kickstarter, which was quite the ride, man. I mean, just from doing that, the preparation, the launch, And doing that led to – we did$453 ,000 in revenue in 33 days, which became the fifth largest campaign in history for crowdfunding.

3:46So that was the beginning of my crowdfunding career, man. That led to the Mastery Journal and other things. But it got me more into helping influential people with campaigns. And it wasn't just necessarily the people needed the money. The people I worked with were influential people like yourself or Kevin Harrington or even the Thinking Grits movie we are a part of. And what I did is I used crowdfunding as an outlet to prelaunch a product, a service, or a film, and then I ended up using it to fund my own endeavors. But the biggest thing I learned in that, John, is the power of telling a story and doing it specifically through video content and through film.

4:30And once you learn that, you can use that to generate more revenue for your business, get people to donate towards your cause, or in the case we did together, get people to buy a lot of your books. So definitely a journey, man. And can you believe that was seven years ago?

4:46John Lee Dumas:It's nuts. It's just one of those things where, you know, days can be long, but the years, they are short. And it just brought back a memory while you were talking of you being like, dude, we've got to get a video ready for the Mastery Journal. I'm getting on a plane like tomorrow. I'm going to fly down. I had just moved to Puerto Rico. So I'm like, my house is like brand new. I just moved in here. Kate was actually gone on a trip. So I was like bacheloring it up here. And you and your video guy flew down and spent a few days down here. And we just ripped it up in Palmas del Mar, shot a great video and, you know, had another very successful crowdfunding campaign.

5:20John Lee Dumas:And I love that, you know, that number$453 ,000 is still top of mind for you because, you know, it's like, obviously I remember that, but the fact that you do as well just shows, how much you're invested into your clients, into people that you work with, into what you do. And the reality is video can be a tricky turkey, as I like to say. So let's talk about how video works for a growing business. Video is, it's a tool. It's a tool to be able to get people's attention. And even more importantly, it's a tool that can tell a powerful story. And you look at a video, let's say you're watching a video on Facebook, Instagram, or a YouTube, a landing page, wherever you see it, is it getting your attention?

6:02You have to get somebody's attention right away within the first, as you know, from the campaigns we've done, first three to five seconds. Get their attention and tell them why they should even be watching that video. What's the connection there? How are you getting their attention? Why should they be watching? And then what's in it for them? Or what's the emotional connection and story to be hold there? And then what's the call to action? And so that's why it's powerful. It gets their attention. You look at video, it's something you can see, you can hear, but also you can feel the emotion behind it.

6:34You know, it's actually proven when somebody can see your eyes, they're more likely to trust you. When you're wearing shades and you're on camera, people are less likely to trust you because they can't see your eyes. There's a lot of communication that happens through a smile. So if you're smiling on camera in a video, people see you more genuine and as a nice person. And then also a lot of communication happens through hand gestures and movements. So when you do that, when you're speaking to camera, and also if you're going to do a high production, if you add in some editing, some music, you can draw this emotion.

7:07You can draw this attention with somebody. You can get them to like and trust you. But also if you can tell a story with it, you can get them to buy from you. And that's why video is so powerful. And that's why I've personally become obsessed with it. I've spent well over a million dollars of my own money from creating TV shows, film, to be able to tell stories that really empower others, inspire them. But from a business standpoint, it's helped me get more clients and it's helped me make more money in my own business. But also anybody that uses this video or storytelling process can use it for their own way, whether again, getting more clients, making more money or helping spread awareness for a great cause.

7:48John Lee Dumas:Well, I think a lot of people get stuck on the quote unquote, how, so I want to move into the next topic, which is talking about how can we as entrepreneurs, as small business owners create regular video content. And let's talk about it maybe through the phone, because, you know, we all have a phone or at least 99 % of us have a smartphone of some kind, whether it be an Android or an iPhone. And, you know, that regular video content is so key. I mean, it's definitely one of the reasons why I've had success with Entrepreneurs on Fire because it's consistent. It's a daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs for 10 years now, for 3 ,700 episodes now.

8:27John Lee Dumas:And guess what? I was terrible interviewing at first Fire Nation, but I got better because I kept doing it. So let's talk about the how, Brandon. Yeah, it's so true because most people listening, they're probably thinking, I'm not going to get a production crew or a videographer. How can I just do it simply? And it is with your phone. And it's funny you say consistently. Like I was just thinking in that moment, I think it's now four years that I've produced a video or posted on social media every day for the last four years on some platform. And so consistency is key. And the reason why I've been able to do that is, for one, you've got a phone.

9:03That makes it easier. You have a camera phone. You have ability to create videos on your phone. The next step is to make it very simplistic. I can't even say that word. To make it simple is to have the apps Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and then maybe even YouTube. The different platforms you're going to post on social media that are on your actual phone. The next step is you need to create the video. The easiest thing for creating content is thinking about who am I, what do I do, and how can I help people? That's your main talking points. Here's who I am, here's what I do, and here's how I can help you.

9:42And being even more specific, if you know who your ideal customer is, you're going to be sharing messaging that's going to be speaking directly to them, your niche. The riches are in the niches. So when you can speak directly to them, they're on social media. They're going to feel like, oh, man, John Lee Dumas is speaking directly to me, which means it's going to be more likely they're going to reach out to you and turn into a customer. And then the other thing that makes it easy for people to share content on social media is share stories. So you could be sharing past stories of clients you've worked with, case studies.

10:18So, hey, I remember the time when I worked with John Lee Dumas and we did the Freedom Journal and we raised a half a million dollars in a month and it became a success. And here's what we did. Boom, boom, boom. Here, if you want to learn more, how you can work with me, you can go to BrennanCAdams.com. So that's a great example of all I did was shared a story from a past experience, which is credibility, which that person in the story, they might be like, oh, I'm like that person in the story. I want to work with Brandon. And so that's more in terms of, okay, the messaging. So here's what you do.

10:48You got the phone, you got the apps on your phone, and now you know kind of the messaging. You pull out your phone. I do this every single day. You create a video, you press record, create the video, and talk about whatever you're going to talk about for that day. And Sometimes you might get inspiration from something that happened that day. OK, you recorded it. You have in your phone. I simply upload it to one platform first. I'll upload it to Facebook. I'll put something that's attention grabbing to get them to want to click on the video. I'll create my copy for it. I will post that video, let's say, on Facebook.

11:22And then I'll copy that text. And I'll post the same video to LinkedIn, Instagram, and other platforms. I might tweak it a little bit, the messaging. but for the most part, it's the same across different platforms. And all I'm doing is I'm multi-purposing one piece of content, which is getting me attention. Some platforms might get more attention, but what I just did right there is that's the quickest way for you to create one video a day for less than 10 minutes and post to two, three, or four platforms. And that, my friends, has worked for me in so many different ways and it's helped me build a brand, but also has helped me get more money in my bank account.

11:59John Lee Dumas:And Fire Nation, by the way, if you do that for six months, and you're still not getting the kind of response you're looking for or hoping for, keep doing it. This takes time, this takes effort, this takes consistency, this takes showing up. If everybody could get results after six days, six weeks, six months, and everybody would be doing it, and it wouldn't be worth it. It's the people that stay consistent doing this like Brandon has for so long. And I love how he said, share a story from your past experience. We all have a past experience. That's where you can draw from. Who am I? What do I do?

12:30John Lee Dumas:here's how I can add value to your world. If you think about those three things, who am I? What do I do? Here's how I can add value to your world. You've got a video ready to go. I like to use a app called Bonjoro and I've been using this for years now. So whenever anybody joins Podcasters Paradise, you know, my podcasting community where I teach people how to create, grow, monetize their podcast, I get a notification and then once a day or once every few days, I go into Bonjoro and I create a personalized video for that person who has joined. And I'll say, Brandon, thank you so much for joining Podcasters Paradise.

13:04John Lee Dumas:Your faith and trust in me means the world. Kate and I are truly honored and we are in the Facebook group every day to support you. So get in that Facebook group, say hello, introduce yourself. I'll catch you there. It's quick, it's easy, but man, let me tell you the refund rate on something like Podcasters Paradise goes almost to zero when within 24 to 48 hours, people that have joined Podcasters Paradise are getting a personalized video from me saying their first name because I do create the video for them and take them through the first couple steps of what I want them to do. And of course, welcome them to the community.

13:40John Lee Dumas:Now we have a lot of cool content coming up Fire Nation when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Fire Nation, if you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. That is why High Level is Entrepreneur on Fire's featured partner. High Level gives you a website builder and hosting, funnels and landing pages, email marketing, appointment scheduling, payment processing, course and membership hosting, and so much more. Everything you need to succeed all under one roof. No duct tape, no juggling five platforms, just one clean system for your business. and their award-winning 24-7 support has your back when you need it most.

14:17John Lee Dumas:When you sign up at highlevelfire.com, you also get my exclusive bonus stack, a 30-day free trial, a private 15-minute call with me, JLD, access to my weekly live office hours, a digital copy of my book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, my 50 Days to Something Execution Roadmap, and more. Visit highlevelfire.com and start building your something today. Fire Nation, If you've ever thought, I know I'm capable of more, but you're not sure where to start, I've created something for you. It's called 50 Days to Something. Not 50 Days to Perfection, not 50 Days to Overnight Millions, just 50 focused days to build something that matters.

14:59John Lee Dumas:Maybe a product, a service, a course, a coaching offer, something real, and something that will generate real revenue. 50 Days to Something is my passion project. Each video is short, is tactical, and it's designed for you to take one meaningful step forward each day. Picture this, in just 50 days, you will have built an asset. And the best part, it's completely free and it's on my YouTube channel right now. If you are ready to create something that matters, visit eofire.com slash YouTube. That's eofire.com slash YouTube and start your 50-day journey today. 50 days will pass in the blink of an eye.

15:37John Lee Dumas:The question is, Will you have something to show for it? Brandon, we are back. And now that we are creating regular video content with our phone, because Paradise, sorry, Fire Nation are action takers. They are going to take our advice and start taking action. Let's talk about how we can deploy that video content to actually make money for our business, taking that next step. Yeah, the next step. So what do you do with the content once you have it? Because a lot of people shoot it. They don't know what to do with it. Like I said before, the one simple way is to be posting on social media. And most platforms that I post to, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and so I'll post the content on those platforms.

16:19So I'm putting out content, people are seeing it, and they're going to be more likely to reach out. So that's one thing. The next step is you can put it into actual ads. So we'll run ad campaigns that are targeting specific demographics, locations, geo-targeting, And that messaging will be speaking to a specific group. And what happens is obviously they click on that video, they'll click on that ad. It will go to a landing page where we will have an even more produced video. like it could be something where I have different B-roll clips, catching attention, something I've actually had a professional editor put together where it's a landing page giving more information about whatever it is I'm doing.

17:02And they may buy right there or they may click apply where that information goes to a sales team where they actually close that lead and turn it into a customer. So that's being very specific if I'm going on the digital side. But another simple one, John, here's a couple ones that have worked very well for me. And again, you're listening, you're probably going to be like, this sounds so simple. I can't believe that works, but it does. I will send out, I did yesterday, 25 personal videos to people that I've met at events, people I've connected with in some way. and it'll be customized to them where it'll be 30 seconds or less and I will send it to them and they'll just say, hey, what's going on?

17:42How you doing? You know, we connected this event. This is what we worked on together and I just want to say I got this other event coming up called Rise and Record. If you're interested, you can check it out at riseandrecord.com and I'd love to share more if you have any questions. Have a great day and that's just one example and what I'm doing is I'm becoming top of mind and so I'll send those personal videos out and people will be like, wow, you created a video for me because not many people do that, which leads to more likely somebody buying from you. And then another thing I've done, and you get them every year for Christmas, I'll put on a Santa hat and I'll create a customized video to my inner circle and say, hey, Merry Christmas, John.

18:24I hope you and Kate have been doing well. And I just want to say, I appreciate you, man. I love you. I hope if you ever need anything, reach out to me. Merry Christmas. And so that specific thing every year works. And I do it because for one, I just love doing it to say hi to people. But also, again, it's top of mind. People are going to be remembered by me and they're like, oh, they might go about their day and they might talk with somebody and that person might be like, oh, I'm looking for a video producer. I need somebody to help me with my marketing. Well, you need to talk to this guy, Brennan T.

18:55Adams. So it's touch points that you're doing with the videos and it's simple videos that you create. And then one last one is when you create videos with other influential people, other, let's say celebrities or other people that, let's say they have an audience, when you create a video together, you both can multipurpose that to your platforms and then you're cross promoting to each other's platforms, which gives you content, but also you're getting into their audience as well. And then the next final thing is you need to make sure all your platforms, all your social media platforms direct to your home base.

19:29And what is your home base? Your website. So that can convert the leads into sales or convert them into leads. So that's, that's a technical stuff, John.

19:39John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, how are you staying top of mind? I mean, I love that example that Brandon just shared about staying top of mind. So when a conversation comes up that's in your area of expertise, you're top of mind, you're top of mind because that person just received some form of reminder about you. Now I want to bring this home, Brandon, by talking about your upcoming events, Rise and Record. Let's talk about why Fire Nation should consider coming to Nashville, Tennessee to hang out with us. Well, for one, they get to hang out with you and me because you're going to be speaking there, you're going to be hanging out.

20:17You know we have fun when we do our events together. Big time. So you get to hang out with us. But really, Rise and Record, the name Rise and Record, I'll share where it came from. When I met John back in 2015, before then, I was a scrappy entrepreneur trying to figure things out. But I was documenting my journey through videos. I was sharing videos online, through Facebook Live, through Snapchat, all these different platforms. And I was sharing my journey with the world. And what I found out is the people that ended up working with me down the road were people that followed my journey and followed my story.

20:52And they were inspired by it. And some of them became some of my best customers and friends. And so when you rise up and share your story, it allows you to grow your business, but also allows you to build like and trust with your audience. And so Rise and Record is all about rising up and sharing your story and doing it specifically through video or film or TV shows or just with your iPhone. And when you do that effectively. When you tell your story effectively, it allows you to build a business. So Rise of Recorded, when you go to the event, what's going to happen is you're going to walk away being able to share your story effectively.

21:29You're going to be able to use this thing called a phone to create videos that can help you convert more leads and get more sales. And you're going to hang out with us. So the event is in Nashville, Tennessee, October 19th through the 21st. You can get all the details at riseandrecord.com. That's riseandrecord.com. And for all of you listening right now, because JLD and I are buddies, I have a code for you to get 10 % off your ticket sales. If you at checkout, use the code JLD10. That's JLD10. You'll get 10 % off. Again, just go to riseandrecord.com. And one last thing. I mean, you're going to learn from great speakers.

22:08You're going to have fun. We have Brian Kelly in from Florida Georgia Line. He's going to be singing and performing. We've got Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank. JLD and I are going to have some fun with you as well. So looking forward for all of you coming out and hanging out with us.

22:22John Lee Dumas:You know you make me want to cruise. Yeah, baby. I mean, I don't think you should let that Florida Georgia Line singer hear that because he'll be pretty disappointed with my version of cruise. But it's a great song. The great video. If you haven't heard of Fire Nation, just go type in cruise Florida Georgia Line into YouTube and you'll see just how cool that song and video is and it's gonna be awesome it's gonna be a fun event for so many different reasons you're getting 10 % off just by listening to this and one more time what's that promo code Brandon yeah promo code is JLD10 just go to riseandrecord.com and use the code JLD10 for 10 % off rise and record make it happen fire nation because you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with you've been hanging out with BTA and JLD today and you could be hanging out with us IRL in real life in Nashville this fall.

23:15John Lee Dumas:So keep up the heat. Head over to eofire.com, type Brandon in the search bar. His show notes page will pop right up. And Brandon, thank you, my man, for sharing your truth knowledge value bombs with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation. Today's value bomb content was brought to you by Brandon. And Fire Nation, successful entrepreneurs are great at three things, productivity, discipline, and focus. That's why I created the Mastery Journal so that you can master productivity, discipline, and focus in 100 days. And we're talking step-by-step.