Your Message Matters: How to Rise Above the Noise and Get Paid for What You Know with Jonathan Milligan: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Light that spark 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 Content is Profit. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives and we'll be breaking down why your message matters, how to rise above the noise and get paid for what you know. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Jonathan Milligan into EO Fire Studios. Jonathan is the founder of marketyourmessage.com and author of the new book, Your Message Matters, how to rise above the noise and get paid for what you know.

0:34Today's value bombs, Fire Nation, passions change, but your purpose remains. Your present courage in this moment matters. Other people's future depends on your present courage by your nation and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Jonathan and our sponsors. Imperfect Action, hosted by Steph Taylor, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Imperfect Action is a bite-sized online marketing podcast for business owners who want to get straight to the point. Join Steph Taylor as she answers all your business marketing questions.

1:05Recent episodes include five must-knows to sell your online course, program, or membership, and four steps to grow your email list for your next launch. Listen to Imperfect Action wherever you get your podcasts. Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. And four-time TEDx speaker Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free training where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions. Jonathan, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1:47First of all, it's great to be back on the show. I'm so excited. And here's the thing. So I originally started, well, I say my second blog was called Blogging Your Passion. And that created a real frenzy. And it's something that's always debated. Like, do you follow your passion? Do you follow what's profitable? How do you marry the two? And ultimately, I think passion is something that's often misunderstood. So passion, yes, you need to have profit in it. But here's the thing. Passion is not like this one and only thing I got to go find out there and find that one passion that I'm going to do for the rest of my life.

2:26I believe passions change. But what I define passion is, is it's a problem you are passionate about solving for the next two to five years. That is what an entrepreneur needs to focus on. So it's not I'm passionate about pizza, so therefore I need to create a business on pizza. But is there an underlying problem that needs to be solved in something you're willing to dedicate for the next two to five years? So passion, again, way misunderstood by a lot of people, but I think if you have the right definition, it can make all the difference. Well, Fire Nation, as you know from the intro, we're gonna be talking about this theme a lot today, specifically all around the concepts within Jonathan's first traditionally published book, Your Message Matters, How to Rise Above the Noise and Get Paid Yo for What You Know.

3:16I added that yo, by the way, that's not actually part of the book. But listen, this is the deal. we're going to be talking a lot, Fire Nation, about purpose, about uncovering it, about passion, about message. And I want to start there, Jonathan, kind of building off of what you already shared with us here today. What is the actual difference between just finding your purpose and uncovering it? Because at first glance, it kind of seems like the same thing. Yeah, it does. And, you know, it took me, I would say, a decade to figure this out. So, as someone who launched from college, I became a high school teacher.

3:49Both my parents were teachers. I married an elementary teacher. I just thought that was where I was supposed to go. But for some reason, I had this unsettled desire to do something entrepreneurial. And I just started doing things. I kept thinking, I got to find my purpose. And here's what I realized. After a decade of that journey, you don't find your purpose in a thing, a job, a career, or a company. but you uncover your purpose. It's actually right underneath your nose all along. And there was this old book called Acres of Diamonds that was a game changer for me. It's been out of print for years, but it was basically about a person, a farmer who owned some land and he wanted to go on a search for diamonds.

4:36He thought, if I could just go find diamonds, that'll be what I want in life is to be rich. And so he sold his farmland, went out to go searching for those diamonds, ended up broke and basically died a broke man. Meanwhile, the person he sold his land to was coming across the lake or actually the river right there and noticed something shiny in the river. And it was a diamond. And lo and behold, that land was filled with diamonds. And the point of the message is oftentimes we're trying to find our purpose out there in a thing, but your hidden diamond is right underneath you. It is how you were made.

5:19I believe we're all factory installed with a gift, but we need to nurture it and use it. You've been given a unique ability by God, but you need to discover it and then start using it. factory installed with a gift. I love that phrase, Fire Nation. Think about that. You're a snowflake. You're unique. You're different. You have a gift that is unlike anyone else's in this world. So what should you do to go about finding your purpose and uncovering that purpose through what John's going to be sharing here today? And that kind of leads us to the next thing I want to talk about, which is this life's message.

5:55Like, do we want to even discover this life's message? Or, you know, I should even maybe more get specific and say, how can we discover this life's message? Yeah. So discovering your message really comes down to three things. Purpose, which we just talked about, people, and passion. You have to have all three of these together if you want to create a message-based business. And that's what I'm talking about in the book is how do you take your message, your story, and create a business around it? You have to have these three things. So purpose, we just talked about it. To sum it up, it's how you show up best for others.

6:30Do you know how you show up best for others? Number two, it's people. Who do you want to serve? You can't serve everybody. You've got to decide the people you want to serve. And the more specific you can be, the more powerful your communication becomes. And so you've got to figure out that people part. Who do you want to serve? And then finally, it's passion. What problem are you passionate about solving for the next two to five years? Again, your passions will change. And that's something that I really want to get across in the book is that passions change, but your purpose remains. So don't put your identity in a passion because it's probably going to change.

7:10You know, when I first started online, it was a career coach blog for accounting professionals. I'm not doing that anymore. You know, I started talking about blogging, and now I've moved on to marketing your message for messengers of all types. Your passions will change, but your purpose remains. And so if you want to put together your message, it's nailing down purpose, how you show up best for others, people who you want to serve, and passion. What problem are you passionate about solving for the next two to five years? Three Ps, Fire Nation. I'll say it one more time because it's so critical.

7:45You are absorbing the specifics here. Purpose, how are you showing up best for others? Like get real about that. Then people, who exactly do you want to serve? And let's get specific, specific on this. And passion, what problem are you passionate about solving for the next two to five years? And something that you didn't even actually bring up, John, that I'm kind of curious for you to just kind of quickly respond to is, I mean, yeah, what if there's a situation where you actually do solve that problem? And like, lo and behold, the problem solved. So that could be another reason why you don't want to get too tied up in this passion, because you might actually even just complete the solving of that problem and move on to something completely different or something that's that next level.

8:26Yeah, absolutely. And the thing is, too, John, you're growing as well. So, you know, what you're passionate about may change. You may feel like, you know what? I think I've helped bloggers start blogs, but there is a higher thing. There's that next level. Maybe I want to help six-figure entrepreneurs become seven-figure entrepreneurs. And so, yes, that can absolutely happen. So in the book, you talk about these four primary influencer voices. Let's go through all four. Yes. Now, this was a discovery I made from a weekend workshop that I did. So I capped it to like 15 people. This is about six years ago.

9:01and I was primarily known as the blogging guy back then. And here we have, I am spending time with these 15 people for two whole days. And I kept hearing the same thing over and over again. Jonathan, I'm not really a writer. I struggled to write, but you put me in front of a camera and give me a topic and stuff bubbles out. Or Jonathan, I love having conversations and interviewing people, maybe like on a podcast. And I walked away from that two-day event going, why is there not a personality test for influencers? Meaning, if you desire to be an influencer of some type, is there a personality test that can help you discover if you are more motivated to be a writer, a speaker, a teacher, or coach?

9:47And so that was the genesis of a 32-question assessment that I've used now for the past six years, and we have really dialed it in. In fact, we included the whole 32-question assessment right inside the book because I wanted people to be able to take action on it right away. And so what this does, John, is it helps you to identify your core motivations. It's not competency, but it's like, am I more motivated to be a writer, a speaker, a teacher, or a coach? And the final word on this, because I know I get this a lot, is, well, what if I want to do all four? You can absolutely do them. You can't do them all at once, but you can develop competency in all four.

10:27I've been able to put all four into my business over time, but your fastest path to income and impact is leaning into your primary influencer voice. Fire Nation, this is the reason why I brought John on the mic today to talk to you because listen, these are four primary influencer voices that you need to understand, go through, potentially identify and resonate with so that you are speaking in the right direction. Now, John, before we move on, anything you want to add to this part? Yeah, one thing for messengers would be once you identify this, it's going to help you understand two things. Number one, the type of content you should create.

11:06And number two, the income streams you should start with. So quick example, writer, obviously blogging is there. And maybe as an income, you need to be writing a book. Or if you are a speaker, maybe you need to think of a YouTube channel. If you're a teacher, a live stream show weekly where you're interacting with people is a great place to start. And if you're a coach, maybe an interview podcast is a terrific personality style for you to lean into. I mean, that was one thing that helped me out so much over the years was learning how to ask the right questions by interviewing so many people, which of course then made me a better coach, a better mentor, a better creator of courses, et cetera.

11:48because the skill of asking the right questions was so key. And Fire Nation, if you even think we're close to being done dropping value bombs, you got another think coming. We're going to be talking about some of the best ways for messengers to get paid, yo, when we get back from thanking our sponsors. If you're a startup with big goals, then it's important to find a CRM that can keep up, but I get it. When you're in startup mode, it can be tough to know which platform is right for you and your business. Here's the good news. From marketing and sales to supporting content and everything in between, HubSpot's all-on-one customer platform has startups covered.

12:24And with the HubSpot for Startups program, you can save 30 % to 90 % on a platform that scales right along with you, increase leads, boost revenue, improve your customer experience. HubSpot for Startups helps you do it all. Plus, they offer 24-7 customer support, integrations with more than 1 ,500 of today's most popular apps, and a constantly evolving library of resources and articles created to specifically help startups scale. HubSpot is trusted by some of the world's most successful startups and more than 100 ,000 companies around the world. To see if you're eligible to join the HubSpot for Startups program and take your growth to the next level, visit hubspot.com slash startups.

13:02This isn't the first time and definitely won't be the last. You hear me talk about how important health and fitness are, and for me, nutrition is a huge part of that. So in addition to eating real whole foods, I take supplements to make sure I'm fueling my body with the right nutrients, and one supplement you should definitely check out is Field of Greens. Just one scoop a day, and you'll be getting in loads of fruits, veggies, herbs, and spices all at once. Field of Greens tastes great, and I'm feeling more energized, and my hair and skin are loving it. This is nutrition the way nature intended.

13:34Field of Greens is radically different. Each organic fruit and vegetable was medically chosen to support heart and vital organ health. You're going to love this product. But if for any reason you don't, they're offering a 100 % money back guarantee. Plus I got you 15 % off your first order and free rush shipping. Visit fieldofgreens.com and use promo code FIRE. That's promo code FIRE at fieldofgreens.com. Fieldofgreens.com. Do you have a message inside that you know is meant to be shared with the world? Giving a TEDx talk is one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world and Thought Leader can help you get there.

14:13Thought Leader is a speaker coaching company that has helped over 550 and counting coaches, speakers, entrepreneurs, authors, and experts land TEDx talks. Thought Leader is not affiliated with TED or TEDx, but they're able to get these results because their founder, Taylor Conroy, is a four-time TEDx speaker himself and past EO Fire guest. You might be thinking a TEDx talk sounds great, but where do you start? Taylor has put together a free training that's going to teach you how to land a TEDx talk in as little as 90 days. Join Taylor to learn exactly what TEDx organizers are looking for in their speakers, how to write a talk that goes viral once it goes online, and more.

14:49Visit thought-leader.com slash fire. Join Taylor for this free training and get your message out of your head, out of your heart, and out into the world where it belongs. That's thought-leader.com slash fire. So John, we're back and you know this, I know this, Fire Nation knows this. I mean, there's just a lot of chaos in the world today. How can we as entrepreneurs rise above this noise to get our message heard by the right people? I really love talking about this. And the book itself is divided into two parts. Part one is more of a self-development, like we just talked about, uncovering your gift.

15:31What is your message? Then the second part of the book is about the practical marketing tactics of rising above the noise. Because here's the thing, there are so many distractions out there for messengers. Do I do social media? Do I do a podcast? Do I launch a blog? Do I do this, do that? And they just get so distracted. And it really goes back to something I know you talk about a lot, John, and that's focus. And so for me in the book, I talk about the four focus habits. These have been game changers for me. And I really discovered this by watching other people I admired. So here they are real quickly.

16:08Number one is the create habit. This is where you are doing something. You're creating free value in some way. That's a podcast, a blog, a YouTube channel, a live stream show if we're talking about online. In other words, how are you going to get your message out to the masses? Because here's the reality. There's only two ways to promote your business. Either, number one, promote yourself, or two, you promote your free, valuable content. I don't know about you, but I don't like promoting myself. It's just not something I feel. Some people have that gift. I don't. But for me, promoting free, valuable content is the key.

16:47So that's number one. What are you doing to create free value for people to bring your message to the masses? Number two, the capture habit. What are you doing to build your email list? This is so important. But building an email list is still here. It's not going anywhere. Could it change one day? Yes. But I'm not putting my hopes into Facebook likes. I'm not putting my hopes into a Facebook group or Twitter followers. What about all my TikTok followers, Joe? Well, those are great outposts for you to reach out to people. But ultimately, where you build the relationship and the income proven over and over again is with the email list.

17:28And so you got to have the capture habit going on. What are you doing every week to put people on your list? Number three, the compile habit. This is where you package your knowledge into products and services. What are you working on right now that's going to earn income? And then finally, number four is the connect habit. This is the fuel that gets everything going. This is traffic, right? What are you doing to connect with other influencers? What are you doing to promote yourself in this content that you have? It's one thing to create it, but you got to get it out there in some way. And so those are the four.

18:08This is where I spend majority of my week. The create habit, creating free value. Number two, the capture habit, building that list. Three, the compile habit, working on something that's going to get me paid. And number four, the connect habit, the traffic portion. Create habit, Fire Nation. What are you doing every day to give free value to your audience that's really solving problems? And what are you doing to capture that? I actually don't have a TikTok account, John. I was totally kidding. But what are you doing to capture these potential leads that you are building up to build a meaningful list that you control?

18:44Not that Mark Zuckerberg controls, that you control. Then how can you compile this to get paid? We'll be talking about this in a second here. And then the connect habit, this is the fuel to your fire. This is traffic. So John, I teased this in the introduction. I teased it once again before the break. I just teased it right now again, 35 seconds ago. Tell us the best ways for us messengers to get paid. There are 12 that I teach inside of the book, but I think the easiest way to explain it is that they fit into four buckets. And it goes back to what we talked about earlier, writer, speaker, coach, teacher.

19:21So writer income streams. You can self-publish a Kindle book. You can do a physical book. You can do an audio book, speaker income streams, paid keynotes. You could do virtual or even in-person workshops or events around your message. How about a coach? You can offer one-on-one coaching. You can do group coaching. You can offer a high-ticket one-year mastermind. And then what if you say, I'm a teacher, Jonathan, how can I earn income come online with that? Well, online courses is a great way. A membership site where you're showing up and teaching every single month. And so those are just a preview.

20:02We go way more in depth on these. But here's the cool thing. You can only do one at a time. But over time, you can have all 12 of these working in your business if you want. And it's powerful when you think about the income and impact you can create with these 12 income streams. Writer, speaker, coach, teacher. Fire Nation, that's just four buckets that can expound and expand out to a total of 12. And where are all those 12? Well, they're in John's new book, Your Message Matters, How to Rise Above the Noise and Get Paid for What You Know. So talk to us about this book. I mean, if I'm seeing this correctly, I think that you might have made this book available for free for EO Fire listeners, for Fire Nation.

20:51What's the deal with this? I really want to get the message out there for me. And I know you're the same way, John, with your book. And the big hidden secret is for most authors, it's not about making money on the book. It's about spreading that message and making an impact and difference in people's lives. What I did is I actually bought a couple thousand copies of my book to give away for free. And all I'm asking is to pay for the shipping and handling. So again, this bookstore, you can go get the same paperback book for$17 at your local bookstore. But I'm going to give away for free by going to yourmessagemattersbook.com.

21:30Again, it's yourmessagemattersbook.com. And you can get a free actual physical copy sent to you. I'll ask as you pay the shipping. Wow. So give us one breakdown here. What is the reason above and beyond all the awesomeness we just shared that of course is in greater detail within the book that Fire Nation needs to consume the contents in this book? So my main reason for writing this book is to help people who are on the fence. Quite frankly, they just don't believe they have value. They don't believe that they have a message to share. And what I want you to know is you have a powerful message to share.

22:13And I'll give you a quick example. So one of the illustrations I have in the book is picture you're standing against this 30 foot high brick wall and there's a single rope hanging down. And yes, it's going to require effort for you to grab a hold of that rope and scale this wall. But on the other side of this wall is a whole group of people cheering you on. What's the point? Here's the point. There are people in the future that need your help, but it hinges upon your present courage in this moment. A real quick story. Before COVID, I had an in-person event and we had about 80 people that came to this event.

22:55It's a two-day event. And the night before I said, I want to show them my very first YouTube video because it was terrible. It was horrible because sometimes people look up at influencers and think, well, they just could do this. It's just natural for them. I wanted them to hear how creepy I was on my first video. So I went back to the archives and I found my very first YouTube video and it was exactly the same day, 10 years earlier. And I was just set back in my chair and I was like, 10 years ago today, I would not imagine what I have here. A room full of people wanting to learn from me. And it's almost, John, as if I could hop into the DeLorean and go back in time and tap on that younger me on their shoulder and say, hey, listen, your present courage in this moment matters.

23:48Because here's the deal. Their future help, I just came from the future. Their future help depends on your present courage right now. And if that's true for me, that's true for you. Your present courage matters and their future help depends on your present courage right now. Everybody you admire, you can trace their story back to a moment of present courage when they hit publish, when they decided to put their podcast out there, when they took those steps. And your message matters and their future help depends on your present courage in this moment right now. Fire Nation, there was a lot that I took away from this episode.

24:29I hope you were taking half as many notes as I was because there is so many value bombs that were shared. But if there is one theme, one takeaway that you can really just absorb into your heart, your soul, your gut today that I think will really move the needle for you, your present courage matters. It really does. And if you can just truly believe it, because it's true, so it should be easy to believe, but if you believe it with your heart and your soul, you will be able to take the action necessary to be the success that you want to be one year from now, five years from now, or the 10th year from now that Jonathan just talked about, where he could not believe what that present courage that he took 10 years ago had resulted in and you'll be in that chair as well.

25:13So Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And hello, you've been hanging out with JM and JLD today. So please keep up that heat. Head over to eofire.com, type Jonathan in the search bar and his show notes page will pop up with everything that we've talked about. These are the best show notes in the biz. And by the way, you can also listen to past episodes that John's done on Entrepreneurs on Fire. There's awesome value in that episode as well. So get back, listen to that one, enjoy it. And your direct call to action, Fire Nation, yourmessagemattersbook.com.

25:51yourmessagemattersbook.com. Head over to that URL and just for shipping, you're going to get this book for free shipped to your door. Make that happen. John's bought these books for you, Fire Nation. Let's make him use all of these books for you. yourmessagemattersbook.com. Get over there, invest in yourself with the shipping, invest in yourself with the time, energy, and bandwidth it's going to take to make your message matter, to have your present courage that's going to matter. Jonathan, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we will catch you on the flip side.