Joe Troyer 0:42
Hey everybody it's Joe Troyer, and welcome to show me Mike's nuggets. No, I'm just kidding. Show me the nuggets. Today we have with us a very special guest, such a special guest, I always give him a hard time he's got two last names, and becoming a really close friend, very quickly. Mike Gore Hickman, our special guest today, really excited to hang out with and really break apart what he's been able to do in the agency space.
And in, we're getting into all the details and all the nuggets. But Mike really has done something that a lot of people haven't he built an inbound attraction based marketing system inbound marketing funnel that built a $20,000 a month recurring agency business in just 90 days. And in fact, not only that, like just the way that Mike goes about building his agency is the opposite of most people and most successful agencies that I know. It's all about minimum effective dose. It's all about leverage. It's all about keep it small, keep it all and I just love where his minds at and I've been wanting to have him on the podcast for some time. So guys, give it up, for Mike Gore-Hickman
Mike Gore-Hickman 1:52
Hey, Joe. Hey, guys. Um, yeah, just just one little correction there. Got to a 20 k per month recurring agency while I was working a full time job. Yeah. forgot that little piece.
Joe Troyer 2:03
Yeah, forgot that little piece that's a little important while working a full time job. Definitely hard. And I know that one of the things I love is that, like, you still have that mindset of keeping your time investment in the agency small, which I want to make sure that we jump in, and you're really thinking about how much time am I working? What is the business giving back to me, you know, so many people as entrepreneurs, and I'm guilty of this, I have a new project, they get excited about something they just throw themselves in and never come back out. Right? And it's like, man, I really traded one job for another. So, man, let's, uh, let's step back for a second. And let's talk about how you ended up in this crazy world of digital marketing.
Mike Gore-Hickman 2:45
Yeah, I mean, how I originally got in digital marketing is like a really long story, probably not one that we have enough time here. But anyway, I have a friend of mine had a startup marketing company and, and he invited me in. He was like, Hey, this is what we're doing. We need a guy like you on our team, do you want to come help us out? And you know, at the time, I was like, freshly married, I think I was only married for like, a month or two at this time, like, Hey, honey, I'm gonna quit my job and join a online marketing company.
And she's like, No, you're not. Um, so I think actually back Back then, is when I really started this mindset of like, being able to do that minimum effective dose, and I had to really prove to my wife initially that I could do this, like new online marketing thing and my full time job at the same time, so I was employee at two companies at the same time, this second company, the marketing company took off, I was really fortunate to be able to, you know, be part of a marketing company that went from like zero to just about 10 million in just a few years. Learned a crazy amount during that time. And yeah, that's really, you know, that's really what the incubator that really kicked off my my journey in internet marketing.
Joe Troyer 3:56
And that's so that's so awesome. And having the privilege like you did to just be involved in a company like that, in a startup environment like that, to go from zero to 10 million a year in this space. In the agency services world is very unheard of. Right? Like that's an unparalleled opportunity, I'd love to, if you would give me a couple of takeaways in that journey as as you were part of that scale from zero to 10 million.
Mike Gore-Hickman 4:24
Totally. I mean, one of the probably the most important thing that I learned is, is the power of of actually having a niche or a niche. I'm just gonna use the term niche for this This podcast is having a niche marketing systems the power of what what effective messaging can actually do to a person or or an industry and also the power that a great result can have on someone else's business. Like if you can provide someone a really good result like and their testimonial for you, that trickle down, that that's going to have back on your business in your life is It's so incredible.
So as much as I talk about, you know, saving my time and protecting my business and things like that, if I didn't get results for my clients, I wouldn't be here, right? That's really the most important thing. So if you can get great results for your clients, and you can kind of step back then then that's how you can kind of set this up. That's awesome, man.
Joe Troyer 5:19
So then what happened? What was the transition point where you're working for this company that goes zero to 10 million, you start building this, this agency on your own? Like, tell us about that next transition?
Mike Gore-Hickman 5:32
Yeah, I mean, I'm an entrepreneur, like through and through. So as amazing as his company was as great of an opportunity was as cool as my job was, I was still working a lot hours, right. I was still working on hours. And most importantly, I was working for somebody else. They were paying me great, too. So I had nothing to complain about there. But obviously, is, you know, many of you agency entrepreneurs, know, you can't work for somebody else, no matter how good it is. I mean, my boss at the time, he actually quit his, like executive job at Tesla to be an entrepreneur, so he gets it more than really anyone. So yeah, I started exploring different like side hustles. I did some like sales consulting for a little bit.
But that ended up taking like, way too much of my time wasn't didn't fit my life ethos. I mean, I had a friend tried to invite me into like an MLM at the time, I was like, Hmm, maybe not. But anyway, I had a friend that introduced me to the concept of marketing, a marketing agency where you essentially use like, third party contractors like invisible PPC to, to do the product fulfillment for you, so that I could just focus on the marketing and sales and customer success, and then not worry about the customers actually getting results, because that was the part that I was the least familiar with. I meant having conversations with customers is easy, setting up UTM tracking parameters on a Google Ads campaign. Not so easy, not so wheelhouse for me.
So I could outsource after like 30% cost of goods sold, I had a perfectly infinitely scalable business with no staff and an ability to keep my time. So just them explaining that business to me, I fell in love with it. And that's when I really had laser focus, like this is how it has to this is where my life has to go. And that's the path that I followed.
Joe Troyer 7:23
I feel like in the agency space, nobody really has that concept of minimum effective dose. It's just like, we're gonna do all this stuff. We're gonna serve all these people. We're gonna do all these different services, we're gonna choose all these different niches. And I tell people, I feel like till I'm blue in the face, like, Man, you got to pick a niche, like, you're really smart, you got a good thing going on, you build a great for all intensive purposes, like general agency business. But the reason like you haven't really moved the mark for like, the last two years is because you haven't picked the lane, like you. Like, it's it's a it's no wonder, um, what would you tell somebody in that scenario, like being there and going through that experience, your first like, firsthand,
Mike Gore-Hickman 8:08
Man I've seen so many agencies, like generalist agencies offer everything to everyone, like on their website, it's almost like a status symbol. For some people. It's like, Oh, I can offer SEO and PPC and Facebook ads and websites, and I'll mow your lawn for you to write. I mean, if you are, if you're in that spot right now, I mean, 100% of the time, you're going to be absolutely buried in client work, you get a client you fulfill on their website, and then set up their SEO and then whatever else. And then once you're done fulfilling for that client, it's like, okay, let's start looking for the next client. I mean, it makes sense.
On the high level, you're like, hey, if I offer more services, I'm going to get more customers. But that's not really the way that it actually works. It's counterintuitive. It's like you need to pick one type of customer offer one service productize that service. So basically, like give it your own spin. So you're not just selling PPC, you're not just selling SEO or Facebook ads, like you actually call it something like your, you know, the nuggets method or whatever. And then, and then sell that one specific product to that one specific person. Because that's you solving a problem you're going to get.
That's how that's how you really scale anything because you know, if you ever watched that McDonald's movie, what's it called the founder? Yeah, they're like, they like got mad at their like El Paso franchise because they're sorry, there's something like bean burritos. Yeah. And you got to sell burger, fries, drinks and shakes. And if you can perfect that, like they obviously scaled in They're huge. But if you can just solve one problem for one person, not only is your fulfillment going to be a lot easier, and you're not going to be buried in work, but your sales and marketing is going to be so much easier, so much more streamlined, and you can start setting up automated systems. Like I've automated Customer Success email, follow up. I have onboarding email automation. I have, you know, marketing, email automation, none of that would be possible. If I was a generalist offering different solutions to different people.
Joe Troyer 10:11
That makes perfect sense. So when you think about minimum effective dose, and specifically in your agency, like, what are the big things that you work on, right? Like, if you took like, 80/20 Prater's Principle, and you applied it to itself, I think that's 96/4 right, like, that's what you do such a good job with, I feel is like, you don't let like shiny object syndrome get to you near as much I'm sure it still does. But near as much as most agencies and you're really focused on a couple of things, I think you do those things really well. And you let the rest just be as is. So if you were giving me advice, saying, Joe, if you can just focus on these three, or these four things, what are those things that you think are the big levers?
Mike Gore-Hickman 10:52
I mean? Yeah, that's a good question. Um, and yeah, really important, and probably the most important one. And number one is, is like you and as much as agency owners hate hearing this, you have to pick a niche, right? You just absolutely have to pick a niche, pick a service delivery. And and basically, the way that you pick a service delivery is like, out of all the different services for this one niche? What's the one thing that's going to move the needle the most for them? Right? Is it PPC? Is it Facebook ads? Is it Seo? Is it a website? Is it whatever it is, doesn't matter? What is going to move the needle the most for those people?
And then and then and really just focus all your energy and time on finding more finding more people to sell this one solution to? And, and also being able to say no, if a customer comes to you, and you know outside of your niche, and they're like, Hey, can you help with? Like I had a customer come to me and I know nothing about real estate leads, he's like, Hey, can you can you help my my agency, real estate agents or real estate broker, get more home leads, like they they're ready to pay some serious money, and they heard about you somewhere. And I was like, I mean, hey, it'd be nice to have an extra, you know, three k recurring, but I will cost, right, I'm gonna have to figure all this out, I'm gonna have to take all of this time that I spent on sales and marketing and working out and you know, hanging out with my kid to now figure out this new problem for this customer that I'm not really passionate about and doesn't fit my my life ethos. So you got to be able to say no, even if it's really appealing, and even if you could use that money. I mean, it's, yeah, that's important.
Joe Troyer 12:36
You said it. So Well, I didn't want to interrupt you. I wanted to make sure you can finish your thought. But you said that you said that. So well. So now obviously, it seems like most of your time these days, I would say are spent in two buckets, correct me if I'm wrong, but I would assume sales and marketing. And I know that you focus mostly on inbound. And then obviously, the other side of that is then account management, right, like long term client retention.
Mike Gore-Hickman 13:00
Yeah. And I mean, because I use third party, most of my client fulfillment, the the actual like results, part of it is super easy. Like I'll you know, meet once a week with my account manager at invisible PPC, we'll just go over all the accounts. And real quickly, it's like 30 minutes a week, then that allows me to have a pulse on it. Really treat invisible PPC as a partner, and not just someone who I expect and demand great results from. It's like, Hey, we should try this. Like, I probably have some ideas too. So let's work together on it. But the majority of my time is definitely spent on sales and marketing.
That's what I love doing. And that's what you should love doing too. Because it's like, the most profitable part of your agency is booking appointments and closing those appointments. And then my actual client, client work, and customer success systems probably, you know, taking anywhere from one to two hours a week. Wow. That's to manage, like all the rest of my customers and make sure they're happy.
Joe Troyer 14:06
That's awesome. In a conversation that we're having, right, before we got started, you talked about how you approach your marketing in a mathematical way. Can you tell me what you mean by that?
Mike Gore-Hickman 14:16
Yeah, um, this is, this is a pretty cool way to think about it. And when you start thinking about your marketing in like a mathematical way. Really, anyone can do it, like anyone can can have a profitable funnel, if they think about it logically, rationally and mathematically. So you start with you start with what's the maximum that I can spend to acquire a client. Okay, so set a fee Plus, you know, plus one month of retainer profit, let's say so, if it's a two case two case setup fee one came on, there's $3,000. Let's say if $2,000 margin. So okay, I can spend up to $2,000 to acquire a client, and then you work backwards. What's my what's my close rate? What's my cost? Per appointment, what's my cost per lead? What's my cost per click, and it's literally just a very mathematical funnel, and you need to you need to just put X amount of dollars in here to get X amount of appointments out here.
And as long as you can reliably close, you know, a number of those appointments. I mean, if you're getting $200 appointments, you just have to close one in ten to be profitable. Right? But if you're getting $200 appointments, chances are you're gonna be closing a heck of a lot more than one in 10. So that's where it's scalable. And then in terms of playing with those numbers, it's like, what can I do to get a lower cost per appointment? And how, what can I do to sell more of those appointments, so you can play with your offer, you completed your promise, you can reduce the friction in terms of people getting on the phone with you. And then and then in terms of closing, you can play your setup fees, you can play with the term length, the terms of, you know, adspend, the cost to get more people to close. So really, it is just a mathematical numbers game. And if someone wants to set up a system like this, they absolutely can they just need to know.
Joe Troyer 15:59
I love it, I think you said something that might have slipped by people's minds a little bit too. And like with running lots of traffic, right, it's a whole lot easier to get traffic to break even right or at $2,000 when you have to spend it versus if you're trying to sell something for seven bucks and 27 bucks. You know which one's easy. I mean, it's the one that you got to k, right. Like, it's, it's a lot harder to mess that one up. It's a lot easier to make that work. But I think as agency owners, we're used to like, we're used to telling people do this advertising my work, but we used to doing it ourselves. Like what would you tell somebody that was like I get it? Mike? I gotta be all about the recurring and yes, that makes sense. I'll breakeven to get that month monthly recurring, we'll spend that 2K, what would you tell them? Right? Like, how do they not get scared on that outlay of that initial cash running ads in and putting two grand out there and hoping that it works?
Mike Gore-Hickman 16:57
Totally. And that's like, by far the thing that I see agency owners struggle with the most is how can you take the emotion out of out of your initial ad spend before you see that return on investment? And I mean, the the true answer, the answer they don't want to hear is that you can't like, I mean, if you're if you're in a position where you're gonna spend that $2,000, and that's going to take food off your table, like, you know, probably don't do that. But if you're in a, if you're in a position where I mean, you you do want to grow, you have a you have a business, or you're starting a business, and you want to set up a system like this, like, you have to just try to find a way mentally to distance your emotions from your ad spend, and have a way to trust a way to believe in a way to trust and a scientific process to manage those ads on a you know, every I would say every three days, you want to be altering your ads and paying attention to metrics.
So you're never spending too much money without actually adjusting your ads would come into play when you're say your your cost per click is too high. Okay? If that's too high, then do this. If your cost per lead is too high, okay, if your cost per lead is too high, then you do this. And you have a process, you know, a process for responding to any of those factors so that you know, you, you do feel more in control and you are more in control instead of just like Okay, I'm gonna go close my eyes, you know, put a pillow over my head for a week, and then hope that I have appointments, right? It doesn't work like that. And if you think it's gonna work like that, you're gonna fail.
Joe Troyer 18:38
Yeah, very well set. So yeah, system, a framework. And you got to kind of detach as well, you got to be okay, putting that money up. What do you think is a good budget for somebody to start with and say like, this is what I'm going to invest in. Even if I spend, like 75% of that nothing happens. I'm going to put it all in no matter what, like, what's the disconnect, like dollar amount that you think somebody should be, like, willing to invest without making crazy reactions with it?
Mike Gore-Hickman 19:06
Yeah, I would, I wouldn't say that $2,000 threshold, if you're selling an agency service like this, I mean, if you if you spend $2,000, and you don't book an appointment, you're the problem. You didn't do enough research on the front end. And I know that scares a lot of people because they're like, how can I trust in my research but I mean, you pick a niche, and you talk to that niche to figure out what their problems are. And that's where you get your messaging. And as long as you're not someone who's who's, who's like, Who's hiding behind their computer screen and don't want you don't want to reach out to actually talk to people and have conversations. If you have a couple conversations with people or you've had sales calls with these people in the past. Well you have your messaging right there.
You're going to take the messaging and take what what is important to them. Put that in your advertising and that's how you get appointments. So it means we'll work but you can't guess Yep, unless you are in that industry, unless you are a plumber, or you are an electrician, or you have one of those businesses that you're trying to advertise for, you can't guess what their biggest problems and desires are, you're going to be wrong, your costs are going to be through the roof and you're not going to get appointments.
Joe Troyer 20:14
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Yeah, you got to understand the marketplace, you got to do some research, if you're not already in that niche, you got to talk to them and understand, you know, how to speak to them. But also, like you said, what their desires are, what their fears are, what they need to help with. Yeah, you need to make sure that your ads are speaking to them, or you're just gonna come off like everybody else in the marketplace, and not really have that like niche expert type of appeal or approach that really, you've been able to pull off inside your marketing.
Mike Gore-Hickman 20:43
Want to know who does really great market research? Yeah, every fortune 500 company is one who doesn't? most agencies, right. And there's a reason for that. It's because, you know, that's how you're successful you, these these fortune 500 companies, they do market research, they have these, like town halls, they get people together, they ask them questions, they get their behavior. And if you don't do even a little bit of that, you're breaking a huge Cardinal,
Joe Troyer 21:13
I want to shift focus for a second. And I want to talk to you about profit margins, and team structure and what your thoughts are for the future. In your agency, you got a successful agency, you got a bunch of PPC customers, obviously, guys like you gals like you that I speak with in a similar situation, I've already been tempted by have already made a change or thinking of making a change in the future. And that change is quote, unquote, taking fulfillment in house, right at Invisible PPC.
Like, we know that that conversation happens all the time. And it's funny, a couple weeks back, maybe even two months back, we had this conversation, I said, Mike, I'm curious, what point are we just a stepping stone and you end up taking fulfillment in house? At what point? Do you look at it and go, yeah, that's just too much money, I'm gonna bring that in house, and I'm gonna save myself some money. And we had a really candid conversation. And I loved kind of your thought process, because it is very unique. Can you share your thoughts on kind of that topic? The
Mike Gore-Hickman 22:14
way that I kind of look at that is, you know, number one, like, yeah, there's always the financial conversation in my head, it's like, I could be saving this much money, if I brought it in house, I could hire some really, really smart, you know, people in the Philippines to do this for me. And that it does bring on problems, like you save some money, but it does bring on problems of its own. So I go back to my life ethos, right, like, I'm trying to do more with less, trying not to work my ass off. I'm trying not to build a big team, because I don't I've managed teams before I've had teams, I, it can, it can cause problems.
But I mean, at my current model, I mean, getting to my next goal is 100 k a month. And to get to 100 k a month, like I've I've written it out and done the math, like really, I only need an account manager and a salesperson. So as long as I keep advertising in house with invisible PPC, or with invisible PPC for most of my accounts, I can, you know, $100,000 per month after their costs plus two staff, and it's still over 60 k a month and profit. I don't know about you, but I mean, that'll fund my lifestyle, just so I could I could bring it in house. But again, you got to kind of weigh that with, with what your life goal is what your plan is. And is it is it? Is it in line with where you want to go? So for me, I mean, right now it's not. Maybe it is in the future, and maybe we'll have that conversation later Joe.
Joe Troyer 23:46
At what point do you think that there's breakage, right? At what point would you like, maybe consider it At what point? Does the business in your point of view need more than just you? Right? At what point do you need an account manager, because the system's too stressed with the way that you run your 80/ 20 digital marketing agency.
Mike Gore-Hickman 24:07
Totally, I actually have a really cool time management tool that I use, isn't it's less of a tool and more of a exercise that I do every couple of months. And basically, it's like a time audit, where I see where I'm spending my time. And if I if I see that I start spending more than a comfortable amount of time on a certain task, then I started looking to outsource it. I mean, it's not just me doing everything, I have to two VAs that work with me that do all my administrative stuff. Because I don't, you know, I don't like to do that.
But the more that you can, you know, outsource like that, the more ability you have to do the things that are important, like my customers occasionally do like hopping on the phone with me and it's nice that it's not an account manager. I mean, it's not mandatory that that happens, but it is a is a nice thing and does it help with churn? Probably. Right. Um, so it's about you Know what you what you like to do? And if the system does get too stressed, then yeah, of course, then you'll, you know, we'll look at hiring but right now it's, it's not. And as long as you set up the customer success systems properly, it shouldn't get stressed for a very long time.
Joe Troyer 25:16
That's awesome, man. So real quick, I'd be remissed. And I think we would be I think our audience would go, hey, what the heck, like, we didn't talk about COVID yet. And this has been the year of COVID, so to speak. And I know that my team did some research. And since last October, we know that you collected a bunch of money and setup fees, you have a new clients. Can you tell us about how you got first off? What were the results kind of high level? If you would? And then how'd you get such great results? I don't want to miss float your numbers?
Mike Gore-Hickman 25:49
Yeah, I think I don't have them in front of me. But I think in October, it was something like eight new eight new agency clients 16, cane setup fees. Yeah, over $100,000 in annual contract value, I've very little churn. So I'm pretty confident I'll be collecting between 80 and 90% of that in a month. And I did not know it was it was a month and I really didn't work very much COVID affected everybody. I mean, back in March, it was it was huge. But now you know, people even though COVID is still like ravaging the world, people are still trying to like run their businesses, they still need more customers now as much as ever. So a lot of people have let their foot off the gas, which I think has, you know, made a little bit of opportunity.
And I just I just followed the same mathematical system that I talked about earlier. Right? I just made sure that my cost per clicks were within KPI, my cost per lead, we're in KPI, my appointments. And I mean, my sales rate might have been a little bit higher than average in that month. But it was, yeah, it was it was it was cool. And there are always going to be external factors. I mean, we're not always going to be in a global pandemic, but you know, it's going to be this that are another thing. And you just need to be able to not necessarily pivot but but adjust slightly and just be prepared.
Joe Troyer 27:07
Yeah, man, I love what you said there. I think that there is a lot of opportunity in the marketplace right now. Especially for people that can get results and they can show their expertise, they can show that they get results. There's definitely been a pullback from a lot of people in the marketplace in terms of marketing and marketing services, I believe. And then I love that you talked about how like, Man, it's just back to that mathematic formula. I was just last week at this mastermind in Miami with agency owners. And this guy basically said the same thing and said, in the first quarter of q1, I'm spending 100 grand in marketing.
And I'm like, What do you mean, you're spending 100 grand in marketing? He's like, Well, I mean, we've been spending like 10 grand a month, and like the return on investment that we're getting is like insane. He's like, so we've just been like testing a bunch of different things and methods and kind of getting up getting them to minimum viable, and they've been working like crazy. And so q1 I've set aside 100 grand to invest in marketing. Like, you really own an agency, like I've never heard an agency say I'm gonna dump 100 grand in marketing this quarter.
Mike Gore-Hickman 28:11
Yeah, that's that's definitely bold. And I think that goes to show more than anything, that there's a huge opportunity right now, if your messaging can resonate, and like you said, if you can provide your clients with good results on the back end.
Joe Troyer 28:24
That's awesome. So man, I want to talk about what's next for you. What's in the horizon like you, you got introduced into the agency market, you're a part of this just company that just blew up zero to 10 million a year in revenue. I'm sure that was just a crazy experience. You gave us some takeaways you've built well, most people would say is like the agency of the dreams, right? Like you live like the Nomad lifestyle without being a nomad. Right. Like you've at 20 your business, you're living obviously, comfortably, you're living well.
You're spending time with your family and doing the things and hobbies I know you're into piano and running and working out. You're living what most people would say is like the ideal lifestyle. And I know from experience that like when you start to meet those revenue goals, and your your bases are covered, and you are doing things like that, that your priorities start to shift, your priorities start to change. And so I'm curious man, like what's what's next for Mike?
Mike Gore-Hickman 29:27
Yeah, that's, that's a great question. I mean, yeah, my agency's been, it's been a lot of fun, but it's, there's really only so much work that I can do. So it is does get a little bit boring. And I'm an entrepreneur. I mean, I was like a challenge. So as much as I like exit, playing piano, working out running, hanging with my family, things like that. I want I'm up for my next challenge. And it's kind of started a few months ago already, but um, but right now what I'm trying to do is like, this business model is amazing. I feel like not enough people know this business model and even know that it's a thing.
Like when I started looking for side hustles, I didn't even know it was a thing. So I'm super passionate about this business model now, which is, which I've already explained, I don't need to explain it again. So I truly do want to help some more people learn this business model and apply it to their agencies or even start an agency and, and grow kind of like a lifestyle, a lifestyle agency, and I'm challenging myself, in this next quarter, I'm actually inviting I'm gonna bring on five students, and help each one of them get to $20,000 per month recurring by the end of next quarter. So that's the challenge that I'm setting for myself. I've put together kind of like a it's it's not polished by any means yet, but but a very specific framework for exactly how I set up my business. What I did my thought process is that I'm going to be personally coaching these five students over the next quarter, two all hit 20 k per month by the end of q1.
Joe Troyer 30:58
Dude, that'sawesome. I think that at that last event that I was just at last weekend from some of the most successful people in that room, guys that went from zero to six and seven figure businesses, you know, their their mindsets started to change. And they thought about giving back and what's what's really important to them, and how do they feel good during the day, like what's exciting to them. And one thing that I found is, is similar to what you just said, is like giving back to a, you know, a plumber is very different than giving back to a fellow like entrepreneur and agency or somebody that you would view as a peer. So I say like, I love the I love the the goal and the challenge of helping five students get to 20 k MRR by the end of next quarter. And not only doing that, but doing it by doing less like because the money's one thing. But the impact, as I think you've nailed really well is a completely different.
Mike Gore-Hickman 31:56
Totally, yeah, the money, the money is obviously important. Like we wouldn't be doing this if there wasn't an income and a way to provide for your family. But there is something to say about actually like getting great results for people and seeing people succeed and changing their lives and impacting them in ways that you couldn't even imagine. And that's and that's super cool. And if you can do both, and you're, you know, super fortunate. So that's really what I want to do in this next quarter is be able to really impact people and make that type of change. And, and you know, see where it goes from there. But I mean, the first step would be is helping five people to hit that goal, because that is absolutely life changing for a lot of people.
Joe Troyer 32:34
Dude, that's awesome. I want to support you. And I want to support you in this. Let's do that. So, Eduardo, you're going to be listening to this doing the show notes. Let's put in a link man, digitaltriggers.io/Mike. And let's make that go to Mike's page to get more information about this or your calendar, booking wherever you want. Just tell me where you want that to go. But man, I know that so many of the people that listen to the show would love to follow you on that journey.
Mike Gore-Hickman 33:01
Yeah
I mean, I can think through that. What makes the most sense. But yeah, Eduardo, you'll get the link.
Joe Troyer 33:08
I want to wrap it up. I know that we're getting close to the top of the hour, too. So I always asked one question, and I'm excited to ask you this question. Instead of asking you to recommend three books, which I feel like like every podcast does, like what are your favorite three books? I do something a little bit different ask like, what's the one book that's made the biggest impact on the way that you do business? and What? Oh, man.
Mike Gore-Hickman 33:37
I would probably say so I I'm gonna go with two books. Okay, one is like is like, I think super obvious. The one thing by Gary Keller.
Joe Troyer 33:49
Yep.
Mike Gore-Hickman 33:51
I'm sure that's been recommended a million times on your podcast. super important. Just like focus on the one thing that's gonna move the needle, the most credo principle, everything like that. And then the other. I need to just get the name of it. I blanking on it. The other one's gonna be is called The Big Leap. Okay, Gay Hendricks Have you heard of that? I've heard of that one. Though. The main concept on this one. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs should read this is the concept of upper limiting yourself. So people will say they don't deserve that or they they don't think they can become you know, this, you know, this person that they want to become so they're they're putting a ceiling on mentally subconsciously on where they need where they think they can get to. So yeah, the big leap by gay Hendricks incredible read. That's awesome. And the
Joe Troyer 34:43
one thing is a great read as well. Definitely one of my all time favorites. And Gary, you know, just what's the one thing that you've got to do today to make basically all these other things tomorrow happen and, and Nolan Boyd, basically. And so when you think about that, how's that apply to Your Business curious.
Mike Gore-Hickman 35:02
The one thing I think I think it's been pretty evident on this whole this whole podcast, right? It's like how can you say no more, right? Say no to the things that are going to be time sucks and just say yes to the one or two things that are going to move the needle the most. And for me, the things that move the needle the most are getting inbound, booked appointments on my calendar, and closing those appointments.
That moves the needle the most. For me, that gets me the most revenue that allows me the time freedom to go pick up my daughter early from daycare, or go to extra long dog walk or you know, whatever else I want to do play piano for three hours a day sometimes. I'm I mean, I'm not that good. But I enjoy it. But yeah, I mean, it's it's really like how, how can I do it? You said it earlier? How can you do less with more, do more with less, and do more with less. And that's about cutting things out of your life that don't, that don't add to the value of your your life, eat those.
Joe Troyer 35:57
And I love that dude, this has been awesome. Thank you so much for coming on. And we'll have to definitely get you on after next quarter after we can come back. And we can share some case studies with your customers and these new agencies crushing it with inbound and following your model. Man, I just want to say it's a breath of fresh air. The successful agencies that I see are often way overloaded, their profit margins are awful, absolutely awful. They got huge teams. And I often see them looking at the business that they built. They're like man that like I should have just be back at that other job. Like I'm working twice as much my quality of life sucks. And so man, I think you're a huge huge refreshment to the agency. Industry and, and I know our people are gonna love the episode. Okay, thanks, man.
Unknown Speaker 36:42
Thanks for having me on. And yeah.
Joe Troyer 36:47
Let's do it. Alright guys.
