0050: Profiting from Persistence with Author, Speaker, Founder & CEO & World’s Leading Landscaping & Window Cleaning Influencer Keith Kalfas

Mario Fachini  [0:00]  

EA interviews, Episode 50. Inspiration, transformation success stories in the Imperfect Action Round, seven days a week. Join Mario Fachini for tuning for today’s Expert Authority Effect Interview. 

Mario Fachini  [0:13]  

Welcome Expert Authority World. I’m excited to have another episode for you with another great guest. We’re going to have a great interview. I’m excited to bring to you, Keith Kalfas. Have you ever thought about starting a company? Have you ever thought about maybe starting a second company? Keith has done this very, very successfully. And not only has he done it for himself, he has helped other people, not just a few people, not just a dozen people, but hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of others. So we’re going to bring him up right after we thank our sponsor.

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Mario Fachini  [1:09]  

Here he is ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Keith Kalfas. Keith, how are you doing today?

Keith Kalfas  [1:13]  

What’s going on, Mario?

Mario Fachini  [1:15]  

I’m having a great day and excited to have you here. I want to dive in and know what is the inspiration for starting your company? Why did you want to do out of anything in the world, why landscaping?

Keith Kalfas  [1:25]  

You know, really man, landscaping is the last thing in the world I wanted to do. I just started cutting grass when I was a kid. And I didn’t know anybody who knew anything about anything. And I was just kind of a broke kid and was out on my own by the age of 15. And I had to find a way to pay my bills. So I was you know, lying on job applications and then eventually started my own but it’s just a means to an end and a way to make money. There’s a lot more to it. But yeah.

Mario Fachini  [1:57]  

What were you doing before that? Tell me a little bit about your story there. 

Keith Kalfas  [2:01]  

I was working two jobs at 14. Two part time jobs, I was in an auto mechanic shop as a cleanup porter boy and then bussing tables at restaurants and working at Hungry Howie’s Pizzeria, just anything I could do to help put some food in the fridge at my house. 

Mario Fachini  [2:23]  

So ever since you started your company. I mean, you did it because you wanted to make some extra money. But what inspired you to not only stay there, what made you want to help others with theirs? 

Keith Kalfas  [2:35]  

Yeah, so I actually didn’t start because I have a landscaping business here in Michigan. And I didn’t even start my business until I was 28. So literally from, let’s just say 18 to 28. That’s what the whole first part of my life, working for other people stuck in a limited mindset of not having any access to YouTube or anything at that time of a bunch of young entrepreneur saying “You can go, do it”, you know. So I was stuck miserable working for other people. And it wasn’t until I was 28 that my whole life came crashing down on me. I wasn’t making enough money to pay my bills. I had just gotten in just kind of financial trouble. And my back was against the wall. So I started going out at night and on the weekends, I would get off work at my crappy day job and then go out to literally dark, knocking on people’s doors, posting ads on Craigslist asking people if I could pull their weeds. Like pulling, because I was flat broke had nothing dude. I was like borrowing, I didn’t even have car. I was borrowing my wife’s car and going with lawn bags. And I would show up, like I would sell a job on Craigslist. This is how I started my business, right? Because we had an eviction notice on the door at our apartment. And I was terrified. I was like the biggest terrified man, and I would show it to people, I would sell a job over the phone, not even know what the price and then I would show up in my wife’s car. And I’ve literally had people come out of their houses like “Oh, no thanks. Please go away.” “Like what do you mean? I’m an expert landscaper, I’m doing this my whole life. Give me it give me a chance. I’m starting up my own business.”  “I don’t care. You’re not in a letter truck. You don’t look professional.” So it was one of those things like just going home defeated. But I literally did that. I was able to replace the income from my job in six weeks, and start my own small business.

Mario Fachini  [4:31]  

Congratulations. That’s huge.

Keith Kalfas  [4:33]  

Yeah. So it’s funny what you can do when your back is against the wall, you can go out and become a person that you never thought was possible. So, six weeks, 12 years of being stuck in dead end jobs, replaced my income in six weeks. I always thought you needed 20, 30,000 startup capital to start a small business. I didn’t know you could literally just go start. Now if you’re like in the restaurant industry, which I’ve done plenty of that when I was a teenager like bussing tables and waiting tables, you can’t just go start your own restaurant. But the interesting thing about the service, home services business: plumbing, painting, drywall, siding, landscaping, lawn care, window cleaning, I mean, you can literally just start with nothing but your fingertips. And so within the next 24 months, I got the business up to six figures just by working my guts out and saying the word “Yes”. And then now you ask the question, inspiring other people to start their own business, for me… 

Mario Fachini  [5:34]  

With what I do on YouTube and your trainings and your books. I mean, you clearly have successful not only one company, but multiple companies, which is admirable. But a lot of people would just be complacent and stay there. Why did you want to go out and help other people do the same thing because you went from just running the company to teaching others how to do it, which is a whole other business and a whole other mindset. What inspired you to expand on that, if you will. 

Keith Kalfas  [6:01]  

I believe that, at least for me, there’s a saying that I love, David Deida said this, he said “lock yourself…” And David Deida is an author he wrote a book called “The Way of the Superior Man”, he wrote it, he said, “lock yourself in a room with a notepad and a pen, and do not come out until you know your purpose”. So I went through a pretty severe depression, and you know, 2011 and 12 and ended up in that same position, locking myself in the house. And I just had a total breakdown, I was crying and sobbing and I believe in God, and I believe in Jesus. And I was just like repenting and just trying to like renew, who to become a person who has an attitude of gratitude. And I really felt that my whole life I used to have these dreams. And I was a little kid, it was weird that I was in a suit and tie on stage in front of thousands of people, like with tears in my eyes screaming some message of hope. I know that sounds really weird. But that’s the number one thing that drove me. So I started making these videos on YouTube and documenting my entire story of how I went from a flat broke nine to five Joe, who was stuck in a dead end job in miserable fighting with his wife over money issues in an eviction notice on my door, stuff like that, and a debt with debt collectors calling me of how I was able to transition, start my own business, get it off the ground, and literally go out and pay off all my debts and get to the point where I have, multiple streams of income and 13 bank accounts, two businesses within a five year period. So when I tell that story on the internet on YouTube, because I have like 1500 videos on YouTube now and have just crossed 20 million views

Keith Kalfas  [6:50]  

I wrote and I published two books and two online courses, I have a new online course coming out soon a, new book coming out soon I have my own live seminar event that people fly all over the country to come to my event, this one we’re having in September, there’s going to be 300 to 500 people, I think we’re going to sell it out 500 people. I just don’t have a doubt with that. But I really, believe that if you want to, say become what they call, like an influencer, or whatever, it’s as simple as just picking up even your cell phone. Because I have videos with hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, my cell phone, you get an inspiring moment. I really like, I know I’m kind of jumping around. But I’m piecing this together, there’s a couple paths to enlightenment, and one is the way of the cross. It’s enlightenment through suffering. And there’s these times when I’d be on a job site, the sun is beating on me, I’m dripping in sweat, I’m totally frustrated, I just under quoted this job, you know, as a contractor, if anybody’s here and you know what that’s like, and you’re just in anxiety and you’re suffering out. At the same time, the material showed up late, then this thing broke down, and then the employee’s sick and you’re going through all these things, and then you come home for dinner, and you’re supposed to be present with your family and put on this smile when you’re just like so I would in these moments, whether it’d be three o’clock in the morning, or in the middle of a job, I’d pick up my phone and I’d be like Dude, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I would speak about it in in a learning way, not like a victim. But I would share these transformational stories of like, “Ah, the silver lining to all this, this is the journey.” And you know what’s interesting, if you get really vulnerable, there’s a book by Brene Brown called “The Power of Vulnerability”, and I encourage you to watch her TED Talk. And that really kind of changed my life. That was that one book alone. I’ve read like 470 books now and Audible.com just while landscaping and that book’s amazing. Because she talks about when you’re vulnerable with people, especially, on the internet, there’s something so tangible about that, that people can emotionally wrap their heart around. And then they go from, judging you to actually resonating with you, certain people do, and if you know who you’re talking to, and who you’re speaking for coming from a position that you’ve actually done the thing, you can create a lot of credibility with a lot of people really, really fast on the internet by doing something that’s called “The Anti-Guru Effect”. You’re not saying, “Hey, I’m a multi millionaire. And I’ve done all these things. And I’m going to show you how to do it in this five step process.” That works for some people. But what if you’re saying, “Hey, I’m not a multimillionaire, I’ve gone through some really tough stuff. And I’m here today in this place I’ve always dreamed of being and I’m so thankful because I used to be there. And I got to share it with you like these few things that just changed my life.”

Mario Fachini  [10:56]  

You have that servant’s heart and gratitude, you’re not trying to loop people in if you will, you’re just sharing your experience with them, which they can relate to. 

Keith Kalfas  [11:05]  

Yes. Now, at some point, when you build an audience, I mean, doing stuff on the internet it’s really time consuming. You have to, “monetize”. And I believe that if you create products and programs, and coaching, consulting and courses and things that kind of revolve around what you’re teaching them, then you build so much reciprocity with your audience or your following that it’ll get to the point where they’re mad at you, because they just want to give you money, they’re upset with you, because they want to buy something. And you can literally get it to the point where when you release a product, it’s like floodgates fail, just buy it. And that’s the times when you make, you can make five grand or 10 grand in a single evening. And you’re just freaking out. I remember when I did my first product launch, I never made that much money in my life in one night, and I was literally just jumping. I created an online course called “How To Start a Landscaping Business Right Now With No Startup Money”. And it’s it’s a compilation of step by step videos that for me on actual job sites to property walks and pricing, how to start a business how to legitimize it, it comes with a downloadable ebook and audiobook. And I sold that to my audience with a continuity of membership option, a monthly membership option. And then all of a sudden, all these people signed up. And then what it did is boom. So when you’re taking your journey, you’re struggling your story. And then now you’re being seen as like an authority online or kind of the spokesperson for that sector of the industry, that demographic, and you begin to learn how marketing works. And now you’re communicating with an audience, but you’re with them. It’s an ‘us’ thing, because there’s like a ‘you’ space, there’s a ‘me’ space, there’s a ‘we’ space, when the customer, I mean, not the customer, when the people watching on the internet feel like there’s a ‘we’ space and then they come in and they buy your course, that transaction is almost like invisible. It’s just the next step.

Mario Fachini  [13:06]  

Yeah, but they want it. They’re expecting it, you know, they read the book, but that’s not enough. They want to go deeper with you. And it’s a disservice. I tell my clients all the time, it’s a disservice to them if you don’t have the course. And a lot of people think it’s like well, I don’t want to push this on them and you don’t need to you’ll have people begging you going “How do I learn more? How do I dig deeper?” And it sounds like you’re experiencing that.

Keith Kalfas  [13:30]  

Oh, so if you can get yourself in your mind to… Okay, so last year my marketing ROI live workshop event here in Michigan, it’s sold out. My  buddy Eric Reno, he’s got like a $5 million roofing business and he’s got an amazing story. And I said “Why don’t you come to the hotel conference room because the event’s in two weeks and I just want you to kind of look at all the picture, you’re going to be speaking for these people for the first time”. He’s not a speaker, but he’s got an amazing story. And he actually gave one of the best speeches and people were crying to like he was like that victor that valor, like crush it, dude. And he’s like, “Oh, I’m good. I’m gonna crush it’s gonna be okay”. Not an egotistical way. But he stood in this conference…

Mario Fachini  [14:12]  

You got to have confidence though. The world is a nasty place, you got to have confidence. If you’re not operating 150%, you need to have a little bit of wiggle room. And it’s not to say, “Look at me, I’m the greatest thing since sliced bread”. But I tell people, “You can’t be at 100. Because the second you get one nick, you’re below hundred”.

Keith Kalfas  [14:30]  

That’s interesting.

Mario Fachini  [14:33]  

So you haven’t come into the room. He was checking it all out, never spoke before. 

Keith Kalfas  [14:38]  

Yeah. And so I follow a lot of public speaking online training. One guy in particular, his name is Bo Eason. And he said that you should walk around the room, put your hands on the tables and chairs, go to the corner, put your hands on the walls and mark your territory, stand in every position of the room and in, and the way I perceive this as you’re in the back room, pretending you are an attendee watching yourself speak, then you go to the front of the room, then you go to the side, you walk in and out the doors, you go to the bathroom, you look out the window, you make sure what you’re doing is you’re really familiarizing yourself with the room and then you’re dominating and owning it. So when you actually go on stage that morning, now, you’re so comfortable in that room that you appear natural, like you’ve been there before, even if you haven’t, that’s why you need to get in the room and scope it out. I’m speaking in a couple of weeks here and… next week, actually, and I’ll be doing that as well. But anyways, Eric, I say, “Eric, this room is packed right now. Everybody’s looking at you. And then I changed, I flipped the script by him. And I’m not going to really cuss here too much. But I said, “Dude, you went out. You went from living in a trailer park trying to be a famous rapper, but to building a $5 million business, and you get a successful family, you have everything you ever wanted. And people want to know how you did this. They want to know your story. And you selfish bastard, for not putting, and just sharing that with other people. There’s people craving this knowledge and how dare you?” And in that heat people don’t talk like to him like that, because he’s the boss, man. But we have a good friendship. And all of a sudden, like dude, he just went cold like white pale face goosebumps, bro, he looked at me and it hit him like a ton of bricks. He’s like, “Oh my god.” In two weeks, this room is going to be packed. I’ve crossed the Rubicon. There’s no backing out of this. And the very next morning, dude, he showed up to his office, like at 6am and started preparing his speech. And we started going over, he got dead serious about what was about to happen. And he was calling me, I was coaching him over the phone. Not that I’m a great speaker, but and I was pointing him to the resources and like that to that day he showed up even though he wasn’t a professionally polished speaker. He crushed it, bro. Like his, I don’t want to say, I can’t say what he said. But the last 30 seconds of his speech, he talked about how the big dog like the big fish, the hungry shark always wins. If you come to my town, and you start putting roofing signs all over the place trying to compete with me, that’s okay, because I can crush you. And then he walked off the stage. But now it’s not what he said. It’s how he said it because I watched men in the audience, mostly men, because it was a very masculine type of stoic thing that he was communicating, people were crying, because he was talking about reaching deep down inside and grabbing a hold of that place inside you that just wants to be an alpha, that wants to stop being afraid and wants to just go out and just attack your goals and dreams in a vigilant type of way. And that’s what he’s able to do. And then now, so I could go on and on about this. But so that’s where all the passion comes from inside of me. And now I actually coach and help other people kind of do this. And I’m really excited about it. Because I believe anybody who spent years in their life developing a skill. And who is now becoming or has become somebody like “You’re successful dude.” Like “You’re successful girl.” Because you figured this thing out, like you’re not giving yourself enough credit of how far you’ve actually come. There’s so many people dreaming that they wish that they can do what you’ve done. And if you just open your mouth and turn on the video, or make a podcast or do something to start sharing, like aside from the money, you will actually start to create value for thousands of people. And if you think nobody’s going to listen to you, you’re wrong. Because check this out, there might be somebody that you’re comparing yourself to in the industry of experts, or influencers that you like, “Why can’t I be like them, look how polished they are, look how great they are”. Uh-uh. They’re not you. And when you be your own unique self, and you’d be authentic and bold and vulnerable. Let’s say you have some, what’s that called? Like a huge birthmark on your face. And that’s okay. That will become like the most beautiful thing about you. Let’s say you have a list or you talk or you stutter, it doesn’t matter what it is, when you’re your own authentic self and your spirit shines through, that could be. There’s this dude I follow on YouTube, he’s Mic Bergsma he does video reviews, and he loves GoPros and the Judas death. He’s literally like, “GoPro…” This dude is the shit. I love this guy! He’s got like millions of subscribers, and he’s one of the best communicators on YouTube because he doesn’t let being deaf stop him. He actually uses that as, his greatest gift, right? Like me, I blink and I can have twitches and a little bit of Tourette Syndrome. Like I was really insecure about that for a long time. But now I say, Hey, all these people that like have these weird issues and their mom, my mom died of a heroin overdose like people that I know that’s kind of deep, but…

Mario Fachini  [20:12]  

Sorry to hear.

Keith Kalfas  [20:13]  

People who go through, who’ve gone through that stuff, if you be your own unique selfie, let all that stuff to show then all these people will…

Mario Fachini  [20:20]  

You don’t let it stop you because it’s worth so much more. It’s like when I got my first car, all my friends’ parents were buying them their cars, we’re all turning 16 or whatever. And I wanted a car, I wanted a boat. And I remember my parents saying “You can have anything you want as long as you pay for it”. And I actually started my first company again, landscaping also, when I was 12. And by the time I was 14, 15, 16, I had money to pay cash for the car. And it was worth so much more because you know what it took to get there just like, with your books, with your show, with my trainings, with this show, and all the different things. It’s like, if one thing doesn’t go right, you’re not going to go well,  just go get another job. You’re gonna go, I’m going to fight for this, like your friend Eric was talking about to the point of the vulnerabilities and the flaws, if you will. I found it most interesting. Do you remember AIM, AOL Instant Messenger and the little icons before all this stuff? You remember the one with the like the mole on here? The icon with the mole on the face? 

Keith Kalfas  [21:23]  

I don’t remember that. 

Mario Fachini  [21:24]  

There was a smiley face icon with a mole on it. It was actually modeled after what they were making the emo icons off of Cindy Crawford. You know, think about that. The modeling industry, it’s like we’re everything has to be perfect. And it’s like “No, absolutely not”. She like redefine that. So with what you’re saying with the books, the training the podcast, what’s the biggest transformational story you can think of someone who’s bought your book, your training, listen to your show, what’s one story that just blew your mind that you probably weren’t even thinking about? What’s the biggest transformation you’ve been able to give to someone?

Keith Kalfas  [21:59]  

Multiple confirmed prevented suicides because of my videos. So I’ve woken up in the middle of the night. It’s a spiritual thing to me where I feel something, I have to make this video, my wife would be like, “What are you doing?” Doesn’t matter, I have to go out and make a video, I’ll take my cell phone with the light on, like blinded by it. And I’ll just make some deep video about something that’s, you could say channeling or rushing through me. And I knew I had to make that video at that time. There’s a few of these videos on my YouTube channel at Keith Kalfas. If you got K-E-I-T-H K-A-L-F-A-S, it’s probably in the show notes, just type my name anywhere in the internet, you’ll see all my crazy videos, but I’ll feel very compelled to make a video then a week later it’ll to loop back to me that something happened, it changed someone’s life, it started a business, it’s prevented a suicide. And you know, I’ve broken down crying because I don’t know what or I don’t know why. But I really believe if you believe you have a message that you need to share with somebody and you’re worrying and that like your makeup isn’t right or you got some bags under your eyes or you have something going on. Anything, if you have to set a… I have a friend who’s crushing it on YouTube right now. Him and his wife live in this tiny little one bedroom apartment. There’s so much stuff in the apartment, they don’t have any place to even make a video. But they picked one little corner of their apartment and they made it nice with some little studio lights. And they put up something like, and the video, it looks dope, it looks sweet. But if you just turn the camera a little bit you can see they’re in a little tiny apartment. And they’re crushing it. And they’re excited now and now they’re making money online, they’re selling their digital products, and they’re about to move into a luxury condominium, as soon as they get their tax returns in the next 30 days. And I’m so happy for them. Because if you get stuck in your kind of current reality, you’re not giving yourself enough credit of how much you can. I could tell that you want to say something, man.

Mario Fachini  [24:06]  

No, I’m just agreeing with you. Because so many people think that they have to go from I have “nothing”, because there’s clients of mine who have won more awards than you could count, you’d recognize them if I said their names. And I’ve been at their house and look at their fireplace. And there’s literally dozens and dozens of legit trophies and they’re like, “Who’s going to listen to me?” And then there’s other people that have nothing. And they’re like, “I know I have a message.” And it’s that self belief, that self doubt, the whole reason I started the show is to raise the identity of humanity. Because no matter where you’re at, we always have that disbelief. So I’m just nodding in agreement with you. Because no matter where you’re at, you can turn on a camera, a couple of lights, share your message. And maybe today you get one person maybe today, the next day, you get two people then, a month later, I mean time is going to go by either way, what are you going to do keep it bottled up inside of you?

Keith Kalfas  [24:56]  

No, I gotta get it out on the internet. As long as you’re not discrediting other people, slandering other people, you’re not talking about other people’s personal information, you’re not whining and complaining and crying about your problems on the internet, I had this thing, it’s like a, because zero and up is positive. So I never go below neutral. And if I do whine or complain about something, it’s only about something in the past that I overcame. And I’m speaking about in a learning conversation of what I learned from that. So I’ll go deep into the emotion, like the little bit of the suffering thing. And then I’ll come out of it. And I’ll talk about how that was a pedestal for growth. And I got a confirmation because one of the gurus that I look up to, I found one of his videos he made a couple years ago where he made like a 17 minute video talking about how his business was. He was miserable. He’s has like $10 million business. But he talked about how he went through this the ‘struggle period’. And he dude, he was all stressed out in the video. And he goes, “Dude, I was just miserable man…” And he started going into the emotion again, like he started suffering, I was like, “This is gold, this is gold!” Because people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. And they won’t buy into your story unless they feel that you’re a real person and that you can, you’ve been through hell, you’ve been through the struggles, right? And you embrace and honor the struggle, you’ve probably heard that. I like how Tony Robbins, dude. The guys is like a multi hundred millionaire or whatever, he’s probably a billionaire. And this dude gets on stage and starts talking about how when he was living in a like a 400 square foot studio apartment sleeping on like a cot or something like, because you got to circle back to that. And I believe that…

Mario Fachini  [26:35]  

Bridge that gap in the connection because that’s where people are relating to you. They’re either at that point, or maybe one or two steps above it, they’re not 48 steps down the road.

Keith Kalfas  [26:47]  

Not at all. Most people aren’t. And if you look at… we have the greatest opportunity in the history of humanity in front of us right now. And if you’re not already sharing your message online, this is if you want to, and if you’re watching this podcast, you probably want to. If you’re not already sharing your message online and monetizing it, then you’re going to miss the boat. Because this is the greatest opportunity ever. Like if you really really see this for what this is right now, I don’t think anything else is more important than getting really serious about this because dude, it’s like this any other time in human history, if you would have lived anywhere else in any other time in human history, this isn’t even an option. Like you would have to… It’d be so rare. Dude, you can pick up your phone and potentially talk to millions of people and change their lives, you can help other people change their lives and get paid for it by making videos. This is amazing. So here’s what, I want to give you a little tip real quick. You say, but what do I make a video about? I don’t have anything epic to show in my videos, I don’t have professional cameras and lighting and an editor and all this stuff, you don’t need that. All you have to do is give people good information. For instance, hang your content on a framework. Past, present, future – there’s three pillars. High, low. So, a high point, a low point. Before, after. So you could say like, “Today, I have a six figure business or I have these skills, I’m good at sewing. I don’t know, people make six figures teaching knitting online, right?

Mario Fachini  [28:34]  

Basket weaving.

Keith Kalfas  [28:35]  

So I used to suck really bad. What’s going on here? Okay, I used to suck really bad. And I struggled, but I had a dream. And then it got really bad. But I figured something out and it changed everything. And then little by little I came here and now I’m here. And I’m going there. Like when you talk about this to people, you’re hanging your content and a framework. From fat to skinny, from broke to rich, when there’s contrast and you talk about things like that, where the five steps to success in this thing, right? What are the five steps or it could be three steps, five steps, seven steps, right? When you speak in terms like that people go, “Wait, there’s seven steps? I didn’t know there’s seven steps. There is? I gotta know what these seven steps are.” So if you talk about the seven steps, and you hang your content on a structured framework, then people are going to want to listen to you. The videos I make on YouTube, always get a minimum five times the amount of views. If I literally just take my cell phone when I’m done here, and I started with the five steps to starting a small business. It’s going to get 15,000 views. Because, now if I made a video just talk about starting a small business, that would get some views too, but if I said five steps, because there’s so much content on the internet. And just like with anything, when you start to get serious and you treat it like a professional – the way you communicate, you just rose up to the top 10% of everybody else who just put a bunch of crap out on the internet, right? So, I can’t show you because I got my my webcam here. But, so I have these storytelling structures and frameworks. There’s a guy named Michael Hauge, you know who that is?

Mario Fachini  [30:30]  

I’ve heard of him.

Keith Kalfas  [30:30]  

From the Hero’s Journey. So he’s a Hollywood screenwriter, he gets hired by Hollywood movie people to create these amazing scripts. And he’s identified that there’s six compelling acts that happen in every hit film. And there’s different versions of this. And when you actually just implement these into your communication, then people just get hooked, right?

Mario Fachini  [30:59]  

So let me ask you this, because you’re talking a lot about your videos. But how have you incorporated it in your books and what has publishing your books done for your business? 

Keith Kalfas  [31:08]  

Well, aside from providing creating multiple streams of ice, you could say residual income coming in, which is really cool, because without monetizing the message, you can’t continue to share your message, right? So when you make money off of your message, like publishing my books, I have ebooks that I’ve also turned into paperback books, that I’ve also recorded in a studio with a microphone and turned into an audio book. My last two audio books I recorded with my cell phone, I just spoken to my phone, the whole book and uploaded it to Audible.com. I’m making it sound easy, it wasn’t easy. Then you promote it, you get on Instagram, you guys, “I’m really, really excited, I have this new book coming out soon. And oh my God! You guys are gonna love it, you’re specially going to love in chapter five, I tell this breakthrough story of how this and I gave you this ‘Five Step Framework’ of how to actually do this thing. It’s in chapter five.”, right? We say that “I gotta get the book, I get it.”. So if you’re putting out content, and you build this reciprocity, and you say, you know what, “The first 20 people who buy the book, I’m going to give you the free audiobook version.” You just create little things to excite people. And what will happen is when you just take that little extra step, and you allow yourself to get excited about it, believe it or not, you put up a webpage, you get your little book, ebook download, and you send people to it, collect their email address, I mean, you will literally sell books, and you’ll wake up in the morning, and you will be like, “Honey, I can’t believe this. I have made more money while I was sleeping than I made in the last three days at work.” So when that happens, that changed your whole life. Because now “Oh my God. Now, I gotta do the paperback book.” right? I show you my two books, one second. So I’m not trying to sell you my books. I’m just trying to show you an example here. My third book’s coming out soon. So this one here, sorry. My first book was “How to Start a Landscaping Business Right Now with No Startup Money.” The messaging is right. It’s to my audience. My audience saying on my whole YouTube channel is about “How to Start a Landscaping Business..” and…

Mario Fachini  [33:17]  

Very specific audience. 

Keith Kalfas  [33:19]  

Yeah. And I was like, “What do I name the book, I have to name it something amazing. Hmm? What are people typing in when they’re going on YouTube? And they’re trying to figure out how to start a landscape thing, right?” So I was a little embarrassed about that. I was like, “You can’t name a book, ‘How to Start a Landscaping… yes you can, surely people will buy it, because they’re going to find that…

Mario Fachini  [33:40]  

I did the same thing with my first book. I was teaching video marketing. I’ve been doing that for years. And I was like, “Who am I talking to?” Business owners. Guess what the name is? Video Marketing for Business Owners. 

Keith Kalfas  [33:55]  

Right now, it seems like low hanging fruit. Way too simple. Can it be that simple? Simplicity really wins. Now, I went and found one of the top industry leaders. And I got him to write a blurb for the top. And I just went out and modeled with kind of the best selling books do. And this, I get this kind of blurb on the back of the ISBN number I did all this through Amazon CreateSpace. And I went and created a URL link in GoDaddy. So people can go to the web page and buy the book. And then half the book I wrote the other half I sat here on this microphone. And I spoke it into to Google Docs. 

Mario Fachini  [34:36]  

Okay. 

Keith Kalfas  [34:38]  

And then I was typing and speaking the book ‘Chapter 17. How to Register your business, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’. And I talk  and it’s all done. You could just go on like Upwork.com and hire an editor, somebody to go through and fix it. This book was a little sloppy. I sell this for $8.99 on Amazon, it’s like six bucks on Audible.com, you can buy it on my website, ebook, audiobook at Keithkalfas.com. Then my next book was a little more professional. I started reading how to do all this stuff. This, I stayed up till four o’clock in the morning on Photoshop, I designed both these myself, and I had like, 78 revisions of this, like ‘I would make one out, I would do this orange line, I have to bring it up a little. But I don’t like the way all that money showing this kind of cheesy, let’s just make the money just a little bit in the corner. Oh, I don’t like… that needs to be out, the orange… Nope, here’s a kind of a rule of thumb. You want two colors, a maximum of three. Two fonts, no more than two fonts. If you have to have an extra font, it has to be something just stick with two colors and no more than two fonts. What are your colors.

Mario Fachini  [35:44]  

Keep it simple. 

Keith Kalfas  [35:46]  

Yeah, keep it simple, stupid. 

Mario Fachini  [35:48]  

And that’s the thing. So many people listen to audio books, they don’t realize, for everyone listening to the audio books, you can also create the book with audio. And it’s a great way to do it. If you’re not a “writer.” I mean, I tell people all the time, I failed English seven times. And I wrote my number one international best selling book.. “Well, how do you do that?” “Because it says best selling not best written.” The goal is to get there and to reach your audience. So I’ll leave you with this thought before we go to the Imperfect Action Round, when people are going well, why would I want to do a book? Why would I want to do a podcast? You hit on it, you hit it home when you were talking about Eric, look at all the people in the room you get the help, right? He’s affecting those lives providing that transformation and really doing a service for them. Now, think about this. If you have one person listening to your podcast, if you have 10 people buying your book, if you have 100 people watching your video, on a regular basis, think in the realm of public speaking, everyone goes “Oh, I’m speaking to 50 people, hundred people 500, 1000 10,000. And you look at the numbers of people in a room. But guess what? The internet now like we were touching upon has enabled us to speak to these people, at any point any single day through these different mediums. So when you build up 100 people 5000, 10,000, 100,000 it’s like you get to speak to them, imagine yourself on stage speaking to them every single day. So I’m going to ask you some more questions along that line and dive deeper. And we’re going to go to the Imperfect Action Round right after we thank our sponsor.

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Mario Fachini  [38:38]  

Alright, we’re back with the Imperfect Action Round. Keith, are you ready to take Imperfect Action? 

Keith Kalfas  [38:44]  

Let’s do it. 

Mario Fachini  [38:45]  

What’s the fastest path to the cash?

Keith Kalfas  [38:49]  

Selling, go directly to your target customers and create an offer and ask them to buy it right now. And have a way to collect that money. 

Mario Fachini  [38:59]  

I love that. Direct response marketing and you said the key ‘have a way to collect that money right now’. I’ve ran into too many people where they want to do a book signing they’re like ‘How do I take a payment?’ Like ‘Really? I want to sell online. How do I take a payment?’ Friggin’ Google it. Have not only one way to take a payment, but have multiple because what happens if one isn’t working? And I’m not going to name them. But if one isn’t working, what do you do? What’s your backup? I remember telling my girlfriend’s mom in high school, I like to have three backups. You want to have no stress in your life, know what you’re doing. Do it well, and then not worry if stuff hits the fan because it can do it multiple ways, in short of the entire world losing electricity, which would be a greater problem than making a sale. You’re going to be okay, it’s going to be okay. There’s no business emergencies. So thank you for that. Not only ask for the sale, but have a way to collect it because you don’t want to stop at 99%. So the fastest path to the cash is be prepared and ask for the sale. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way they can fix that? 

Keith Kalfas  [40:11]  

Oh, the biggest problem that my prospects have is the BS story that they keep telling themselves in their head that they can’t start their own small business. And you said how can I fix it?

Mario Fachini  [40:24]  

Yeah, how can they fix it?

Keith Kalfas  [40:25]  

How can they fix it ,is to literally put the mute button on all the negative people in their life including, even if it’s family members, it doesn’t matter. You’re temporarily just mute them. And then immediately get around people who are showing, sorry, my headphones, get around people that are showing the fruit on the tree who have what you want to achieve in your life and just get around those people. If you can’t do it in person, get around them online immediately. And then your belief will just change. 

Mario Fachini  [41:00]  

Excellent. 

Keith Kalfas  [41:00]  

It’s all a belief premise, the one Domino.

Mario Fachini  [41:03]  

The high leverage point. I love that. So the last question of the Imperfect Action Round revolves around customer lifetime value, how do you maximize that in your businesses? 

Keith Kalfas  [41:14]  

Okay, so in my internet business to maximize the customer lifetime value, I have something called ‘An Integrated Product Suite’. So it starts out with a $7 tripwire offer, which kind of like greases the skids, gets their foot in the door. And then it elevates them through what’s called ‘The Customer Elevation Model’, 7 to 37 to 47 and 97 to 297. And then now I have a product coming out. That’ll be 497. And eventually 997. So as they’re going on their path and their journey, you are just creating like a lucky charm trail of stuff and creating more value for them. So you just keep the ball rolling, yeah. 

Mario Fachini  [41:55]  

It sounds like you’re giving them the opportunity to dive deeper. Instead of just a book, they can take a training course but you’re letting them opt in at whatever level they want. If they want a little bit more you have that. If you want a fair amount more like, what is it Goldilocks and the three one? Which one’s just right is, and you let them decide it sounds like right? 

Keith Kalfas  [42:18]  

Yep. And then in my landscaping business, we do landscaping, window cleaning or residential services. Always asking the customer if they want to sign up for quarterly maintenance, keeping in touch with me via email marketing, postcards, calling up, following up and then try to turn a customer to a client that we service regularly, instead of just disappearing. Because I think if you serve a client, and you disappear, and they liked your work, and they like you, and now they go hire somebody else, they’re actually mad and you disservice that client because they wanted to work with you again. It’s really easy, all you have to do is just keep top of mind and you can increase your average customer LTV. 

Mario Fachini  [42:59]  

That is a great point. And it’s also relatable to anyone listening to this that wants to write a book. I can also say from experience, if you stop at the book, there is a good percentage that want to go deeper. So always, always make a back end course because you will irritate them and they say ‘I want to go deeper.’ and you go ‘Should I add a chapter?’ No, you should build a course around it. 

Keith Kalfas  [43:22]  

So the way you’re talking, it sounds like some of your audience wants to write books. And one thing that I learned, I took the Experts Academy by Brendan Burchard. I also read Guy Kawasaki, his book called How to Write a Book. I also read a book called Book the Business by Dan Kennedy and then took other copywriting courses. But directly inside of the book, I’m doing what’s called seeding and threading. And I’m name dropping my online course where they can dive deeper, different resources. And at the end of the book, I will adamantly in a very expressingly, repeatedly asked them to go on Amazon and leave me a positive review for this book. Come on, do it. I’m practicing what I’m preachin’. 

Mario Fachini  [44:00]  

Making sure you got the CTA in there.

Keith Kalfas  [44:03]  

The what?

Mario Fachini  [44:04]  

Making sure you got the CTA in there.

Keith Kalfas  [44:07]  

Yeah, yup.

Mario Fachini  [44:09]  

So speaking of books, let’s close this off with one of your favorites. What’s the book that’s impacted your life the most? 

Keith Kalfas  [44:17]  

Well, I’ve read 470 books now. I love books. And I think the top one is Dr. Wayne Dyer, There’s A Spiritual Solution To Every Problem. You want to hear more? Because…

Mario Fachini  [44:31]  

It sounded. Sounded like you had more to say.

Keith Kalfas  [44:34]  

Yes. So, Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow Quadrant and the whole Rich Dad series – amazing books. Obviously all the greats, like Napoleon Hill’s Think And Grow Rich. There’s one called Burke Hedges, Parable of the Pipeline, beautiful book, all of Dr. Wayne Dyer’s books, Deepak Chopra, Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins books are amazing, like the Unlimited Power and Awaken The Giant Within, books on NLP, How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success In Selling, the thing that I love about… I love audible.com I got the highest package you can get, and I regularly jammin’ through it at least minimum a book a week for the last 10 years straight. 

Mario Fachini  [45:23]  

That’s huge. That’s a great example.

Keith Kalfas  [45:25]  

One thing I want to add. 

Mario Fachini  [45:26]  

Yeah. 

Keith Kalfas  [45:27]  

So there’s a point where you have like 80% learning and 20% action, then 70, then 60 to 50. And then you get to the point where you’re strategically learning where you don’t want to learn anything else. Like I’m listening to Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, the Nike founders book right now. And right now he said he’s like in the factory. He’s 20. In China, he’s locking down his first deal. They don’t know that he’s not an ambassador, the new it like he’s not successful. He’s just winging it. It’s a great book. But I shut the book off because I said, “You know what, this doesn’t have anything to do with exactly where I’m at ,what I’m up against right now. I need to put this down and focus on fixing the copywriting on my sales letter and moving the needle forward in my business right now. Instead of pontificating with all this.” It’s like, I’m too afraid to go do the thing. So let me let go learn all these other things and hope that your subconscious mind will just like reshuffle the deck, and you’ll just through osmosis start moving forward. No, there’s hard work, you have to buckle down and shut your phone off and really, really buckle down and hire the right people and do the things that move the needle forward. And if you want to know what those things are, they’re usually probably things you’re avoiding, or the most painful. I have them. 

Mario Fachini  [46:36]  

Yeah, we all do. And I’m glad you brought that up the episode with Matt Davis from ‘Obstacle Racing’, we were talking about very similar things. You can’t just sit there and I use the example of the secret and you can’t just sit there going, “Okay, you know, I’m going to think about it. Think about it. Think about it. It’s like I’m going to get 100 new clients.” No, you need to call one of them, email one of them, text one of them and start the ball rolling. So I’m glad you touched upon that, you know, always be learning, but also be putting in the action also and be strategic about it. Because, you know, I love Kiyosaki, I’ve read over 14 of his books alone. And he’s one of my favorite authors for many reasons. But at the same time, if you’re not going into real estate, you probably don’t need to do a deep dive on his real estate courses. However, if your goal is to learn sales, he’s got other ones about that. And if you’ve never heard about the difference between employees and consumers and businesses and investments, well, Cashflow Quadrant is going to help you there.

Keith Kalfas  [47:38]  

There’s a book that changed my life. 

Mario Fachini  [47:40]  

Oh, what’s that one?

Keith Kalfas  [47:42]  

So I’ve read a couple of books like YNAB – You Need A Budget, but this one is a Mike McCallum, it’s Profit First. That book’s amazing. He talks about his triumphs, and then failure and how he went out. And basically I went out, open up a bunch of bank accounts, and my money is extremely organized now. Because I know what it’s like to not be organized. And I just sat down with my accountant yesterday and found out that things are pretty good. And my wife and I are, we’re talking to a mortgage broker right now about getting into a house. I don’t know how I feel about that with the economy. But it’s interesting to look back over all these years that sometimes the things that seems so hard that takes so much willpower, if you put a systematized process in place, then it just kind of like you said, you automate that thing. It just starts to take on a life of its own, and you can step back and go, “Oh, my God, I’m not having to stress so much about that.” And you get stressed out about the fact that you don’t have to stress about it and you start getting all paranoid, like, “How is my life running smoothly, something has to go wrong.” It’s like, if you came from where I came from, you can relate. And I probably have to do more self work of letting that stuff go. 

Mario Fachini  [48:59]  

It’s just a new level and congrats, that’s fantastic to hear. Because I think ultimately, that’s everyone’s goal. Well, I’ve appreciated you for sharing. I would, one more time let everyone know what’s the best way to reach you? Where can they find your stuff? 

Keith Kalfas  [49:14]  

Yeah, Keith Kalfas, that’s K-E-I-T-H-K-A-L-F-A-S. KeithKalfas.com, Keith Kalfas on YouTube. If you go to KeithKalfas.com, you can get my free marketing mini course. It’s just a free program that I put out, you could check that out and Keith Kalfas on Amazon. Just type it anywhere in Google. There’s like 20 pages of stuff.

Mario Fachini  [49:37]  

Excellent. Well, I appreciate it Keith. I look forward to connecting further with you. Have a great day. And I’ll see you soon. 

Keith Kalfas  [49:44]  

Thank you so very much. 

Mario Fachini  [49:45]  

Have a great day and God bless. 

Expert Authority Checklist  [49:48]  

You’re already successful. You’ve worked hard to get where you are. We both know it wasn’t overnight and hasn’t always been easy. No doubt you’re the expert on your subject matter. But do your prospects in your marketplace think of you first as their go-to-trusted advisor all the time? ExpertAuthorityChecklist.com is 100% free and revealed 21 steps to determine if your prospects view you as the expert and authority of your marketplace, or if it’s just all in your mind. Important required steps like do you have a process in place for prospects to self identify if they qualify for your time and expertise, or not? Does your current offer have the seven components of an irresistible offer required to make it a no brainer for your prospects? Do you have the real life paperback book showcasing you as the subject matter expert you can actually hand someone? Get your free checklist now at expertauthoritychecklist.com once again, expert authority checklist to make sure you have the 21 steps covered. It better not be more but don’t need those one or two things you may have missing go any longer. Visit expertauthoritychecklist.com and make sure you’re being seen as the expert and authority today. Once again, that’s expertauthoritychecklist.com. Get your copy now.

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