Episode 92: Stand Out On Screen Without Spending A Fortune with Johnny Beirne – Transcript
Rennie Gabriel 00:09
Hi, folks, welcome to Episode 92 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast. This is where we talk about money tips, techniques, attitudes, information, and provide inspiration around your business and your money. I'm your host, Rennie Gabriel. In past episodes, we spoke about how to understand the numbers from your business, how to measure the level of pleasure based on where you spend your money, how to track your money in 5 - 10 seconds, what determines how close you are to Complete Financial Choice®, and how to run your business without being in your business. Last week, we had Eric Lofholm, talking about how the art and science of selling can create wealth. Today, we have as our guest, Johnny Beirne, from Ireland. Johnny trains people online, how to train people online. He also helps people set up their own simple studios in seven days, so they can stand out on screen without spending a fortune. Fortunately, this is a podcast, because I've not yet taken all his advice on how to look fabulous on Zoom. But that's in the works. Johnny, welcome to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast.
Johnny Beirne 01:30
Thank you, Rennie. And just for your listeners, you do look fabulous on screen.
Rennie Gabriel 01:35
Thank you. Yes, I have been told, though, that I have the perfect face for radio.
Johnny Beirne 01:40
Not at all. Not at all.
Rennie Gabriel 01:41
Well, let's start with some questions.
Johnny Beirne 01:44
Sure.
Rennie Gabriel 01:44
I got a an idea of what you do. But you may want to explain more about that. And also tell me why.
Johnny Beirne 01:53
Great, yeah. So for years, I was training offline. And I realized that it's very difficult to scale unless you hire more people. And that kind of eats into profits. And it's got a whole other, I mean, it's possible, it just didn't excite me. So of course, been involved in the internet for over 20 years and internet-related businesses, I looked into taking my training business online. So that's what I did. And I guess the main reason for it is to stop exchanging precious time for money. I believe it's the worst exchange rate in the world, and to look at, essentially having more freedom to do with it what you will, ideally some good, as opposed to evil, with your free time. But it's really to have more freedom, both financial and time, so that you can make more contributions to the world. It just, it's easier to do great work like what you do, because you're not always having to be worried about income. So that's why I got into it. Yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 03:03
Beautiful, thank you. And I would agree that the time is the most precious asset that we have, because we do have a finite amount of that. The money we can create is not finite. But the time is. That's not going to change for any of us. Let me ask you something else, it's very important from the standpoint that I try to lead by example. I donate 100% of the profits from the work I do to charity. Tell me if there's a particular cause or charity that you support.
Johnny Beirne 03:36
Yeah, so homelessness would be my main charity. So we have a number of great organizations here in Ireland, that focus specifically on that. So sometimes we do sleep outs, and to kind of get a real strong sense of what it's like. But also as people pass by, they see us doing this and they contribute. So that will be the main one. I think, I know, people were complaining over COVID that are stuck at home. And I kind of reply to that by saying, you know, be very grateful, there's lots of people who would love to be stuck, quote, unquote, at home. And I think no matter what's going on, being able to have a base, be it on your own or with family members, or you're living with other people, just have a place called home, however small or big it is, I think is, I think it's a fundamental right. And I think it's a really important thing for people's well-being, psychology, health, safety. So that's one that has always struck a chord with me, and I love to, when I can, get involved in that particular charity. Yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 04:49
Thank you. Bless you for doing that kind of work. Well, let's talk about some business stuff. Tell me who your target markets are.
Johnny Beirne 04:58
Yeah, so at a high level, I guess, anybody who gets paid for what they say, essentially, but I narrow that down a little bit into primarily my people, my tribe, are speakers, trainers, authors, coaches, and knowledge brokers. So I have an abbreviation that I use for myself, just STACK, S,T,A,C,K, which is speaker, trainer, author, coach. The K is knowledge broker, which kind of covers consultants, mentors, anybody that essentially gets paid for their insights, their advice, their experience, and as subject matter experts, people like that, they're my main people. Yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 05:40
That makes sense. I like the idea of calling a group of people knowledge brokers, it could be corporate trainers, educators, it could be, yeah, fit a whole pile of people with one term. What was your biggest failure, whether it was personal or business? Let's get down to some serious stuff.
Johnny Beirne 05:58
Yeah, I guess I was lucky in one way that my original subject matter, when it came to my own courses that I gave, and mentoring and consultancy was in social media. And I got into it almost before it was called social media. So I was quite busy through word of mouth. And I kind of rested on my laurels, so to speak, as we say, where, you know, should, those mouths will never close. And the word of mouth will just keep on happening. What I wasn't keeping an eye on was more and more people were getting into being experts in social media, and I wasn't investing my time or my money in growing my brand and my positioning. Essentially, I wasn't doing any paid advertising, or marketing, or brand building. And things started to slow down a little bit because primarily because more and more people were coming into the marketplace as experts. Now they weren't all experts, let's say, but they said they were and you know, who was I to judge. So that was one thing that you kind of have to almost catch up or kind of wake up one day, similar, if I may, to your own story, and a lot of us, where there was probably more going out than coming in. And I wasn't counteracting that by investing in my own positioning and awareness. And being on more great podcasts like this, or have a book coming out - or possibly should have wrote a book sooner. Things like that. So that's definitely something I would advise your listeners not to rely on word of mouth, because you have no control over it, really. You have indirect control by always providing a great service. And you would hope that the word of mouth would continue. But you have no direct control over it and you just don't know when those mouths might talk about or start talking about somebody else instead of you. And you're left wondering, Where's all the business that used to come in? Because the bills keep on coming in, for sure, as you know. So yeah, that was, that was something that I would not let happen again.
Rennie Gabriel 08:05
Yeah. And it makes so much sense because someone who's spending the money on the marketing, and creating a name may not even be as good as you, but they're getting the attention and the dollars.
Johnny Beirne 08:18
Sure, because perception is reality. And if they do it well, who's to say they're not? And until potentially, hopefully, they're good, but you know, it may be too late when you realize they're not. So, yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 08:31
Exactly. Would you say that your biggest insight from this was to promote yourself sooner? I mean, yeah, you never know who's watching that can transform your business, if you're really getting out there.
Johnny Beirne 08:45
Sure. Yes. Yeah, related to that, in brand building, is show your work. So I've gotten a lot of new business from simply posting regularly on LinkedIn, primarily because that's where my people hang out. And they hang out on Facebook a little bit as well, and some of the other social platforms, but LinkedIn is where most of my people hang out. So over the last, I'd say, even pre-COVID, but particularly during COVID, because of what I do, I started to share tips and tricks and tools and techniques, about you know how to set up a simple studio. So, because for a lot of trainers, their business closed, and they were thrown into online training, live online training. They were thrown in at the deep end. So I was sharing some simple tips on how you can have a simple studio on a small budget in a small space, and yet do yourself justice on screen. And that was like, 'Wow, I need to do that because I'm turning up with the bathrobe hanging on the door looking down into the camera. I looked like something in a witness protection program and I'm not doing myself justice.' So, you know, show your work and as you rightly say, you just don't know who's watching. And I've got some great work in from people who have reached out and said, 'Johnny, I've seen your videos on LinkedIn, I love your style, I love your tips. I love how you're showing up on screen, I need that too. Can we work together?' So, as I say, yeah, don't underestimate who's seeing your videos, or reading your blog, or following you on social or listening to your podcast. Just, of course, keep an eye on it, too, that you're not doing hours and hours on end and nothing's happening. If you can get it down to a couple of hours a week, where you may batch, produce a number of videos, or audio files, or blog posts, let's say two or three hours every Tuesday from two to five, and you schedule those to go out for the rest of the week, or you have a VA to do it for you. It's a very efficient way. And it's a great way to build a habit of sharing your great work on a consistent basis.
Rennie Gabriel 10:51
I agree completely. And to back up what you just said, someone got a hold of me within the last couple of weeks, who had been reading my weekly email for about two or three years, before she finally reached out and said, 'Rennie this email meant something to me, please follow up, I'd like to talk to you'.
Johnny Beirne 11:12
Sure, because it's the old adage of people don't, you know, people don't buy when you're ready to sell, they buy when they're ready to buy, you know. And the fact that she stayed on the list meant you meant something to her that she didn't unsubscribe, she found the content valuable. And you never know what email is going to be the trigger or where income or budget didn't allow up to now and now it does. Or her mindset was at a different place up to now, but now it's in the right place to move forward. So as I say, people buy when they're ready to buy, not when you're ready to sell. So in order for us to keep them front of mind, we do need to show our work in weekly emails and all the other stuff I mentioned for sure.
Rennie Gabriel 11:56
Absolutely.
Johnny Beirne 11:57
I've had people for five years plus, and I'm like, 'oh my god, this is this is unbelievable' that . . . You wouldn't like it to be that long. But hey, if they're on your list, it costs you nothing extra for them to get the same email. So . . .
Rennie Gabriel 12:10
Exactly. Well, let's talk about someone who has taken your advice, like a case study, that did what you said and what the outcome would be. Do you have an example?
Johnny Beirne 12:21
Yeah, so primarily myself, first and foremost, where I'm based in the west of Ireland, and I have clients all over the world. And that's a great thing to be able to have and say, and I'm very, very grateful for that. We have Chris Cook, who's a swimming teacher in England, again, got into a lot of schools with his online classes, who wouldn't have got into as many had he to do it physically. And we've got another lady who teaches . . .
Rennie Gabriel 12:47
Wait, wait a second. I got to slow down, Johnny. Okay. This is a person who you said was a swim instructor?
Johnny Beirne 12:54
Yes.
Rennie Gabriel 12:54
But he's teaching online?
Johnny Beirne 12:56
Yeah, so he does the techniques, you watch the video, and you take it to the pool, and you just got to be careful with your device. But there's also techniques you can do out of water. I mean, you can lie across a chair, and do the arm movements while you're watching. So that when you take it to the water, it's like simulated swimming. It's the same as you know, if we do any simulation online, then we can take it into the real world, at least we're practicing the technique because it's building up the - oh god, I'm forgetting the term - is it neuroplasticity? And so you're connecting their brain to the physical.
Rennie Gabriel 13:34
Muscle memory or whatever you want to call it.
Johnny Beirne 13:35
Exactly. So those type of things. And then another lady who was teaching intimacy to teenagers, and the importance of intimacy, and again, the word has gone for me. Yeah, where - consent. So where, where consent is obviously very important in that there's consent from both parties in a sexual relationship as teenagers. So she was teaching. That's what she teaches, sexual relationships among teens. And again, she was able to get into schools. And so she recorded videos, she used a puppeteer. So some puppets, so she'd converse with the puppets to kind of take some of the, I guess, try and take some of the serious nature out of it, but yet get the serious points across. And again, she was able to get into schools. She was able to sell it to parents who couldn't necessarily convince their teens to go along to a class because it's a bit taboo and a bit embarrassing, possibly, so they could watch it at home together. They could do the course together in the privacy of their own home and still get the same material. So for subjects like that, where people are a little uncomfortable to go into a group scenario, to learn about these type of topics, it's great that parents can sit down with their child and watch it at home. So again, it just makes it more accessible and affordable and reach and teach more people. Those are just some examples that are coming to mind for sure.
Rennie Gabriel 15:02
Great, this is so helpful. And I'm hoping that you have something that you can direct people to that would further help them if this is something that they want to solve. Do you have a landing page, or a guide or something?
Johnny Beirne 15:17
Sure, yeah. So if you go to johnnybeirne.com, J O H N N Y, B E I R N E, it looks like Bernie, but it's pronounced burn. And that's how we spell it in good old Ireland. At least it's not as O'Shaughnessy or some of those harder ones - but there you go. Hello, to all the O'Shaughnessy's, by the way. So yes, if you go to johnnybeirne.com, there's a link at the top for a free guide, just to give you an insight into how you can transform how you turn up on screen for your meetings, webinars, live streams, and online courses. There's also a link there if you want to book a call, so that we can have a chat.
Rennie Gabriel 15:55
Terrific.
Johnny Beirne 15:56
It is free, yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 15:57
I will put that in the show notes so that anyone who clicks on the show notes will have a hot link right to the website. And, well, is there a question that I should have asked you, that would give some additional value to the listeners?
Johnny Beirne 16:14
Yeah, I guess I would encourage people who have a life experience such as yourself, Rennie, be it in whatever area, financial, whatever area you're an expert in, and don't underestimate how much of an expert you are to your listeners, because a fifth grader is an expert to a fourth grader. So you're an expert to somebody who's willing to pay for what you already know. And that can be life experience, insights, education, information, all that good stuff. I would encourage you to, your listeners to consider turning it into an online course or program. It's very fulfilling to be able to reach and teach people all over the world where you can make a difference in their life. You can help them avoid going through what you went through purely by sharing how you got through it and how you avoided some other things. And people ask then, is it all very technical? And is it difficult to create an online course? And I never say it's easy, because they think well, it's easy for you, Johnny, you're doing it every day. I never say it's easy. I just say it's easier than you think with the right guidance and advice. It's a lot easier than you might think. There's work involved, for sure. And there's a little bit of technology for sure. But if you think of your end goal, where you can stop trading time for money, and use that additional income and freedom to do great things in the world, it's a win-win for everybody.
Rennie Gabriel 17:40
Thank you, Johnny. And that makes sense. It's one of the statements I make all the time, which is wealth creation is a team sport, not a solo sport. And everything is easier when you've got some guidance. Johnny, thank you for being on the show today.
Johnny Beirne 17:59
Great, thank you for the opportunity.
Rennie Gabriel 18:01
You're welcome. And to my listeners, thank you for tuning in. Next week, we'll have Doug Sandler talking about how easy it can be to start your own podcast. And I know it's true, because that's who taught me. You can listen to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast on your favorite platform. And please rate, review, and subscribe. And if you'd like to know how books, movies and Society programs you to be poor, and what the cure is, then log on to wealthonanyincome.com/TEDx. You'll hear my TEDx talk and can request a free 27-page Roadmap to Complete Financial Choice®, and receive a weekly email with tips, techniques, or inspiration around your business or money. And if you'd like to see how you can increase your wealth, and donate to the causes that touch your heart, please check out our affordable program, Wealth with Purpose, on the wealthonanyincome.com website. Until next week, be prosperous. Bye bye for now.
