Why Entrepreneurs Should Step Outside Their Lanes and Embrace Failure

Intro (00:09):
Welcome to innovations and breakthroughs with your host Rich Goldstein, talking about the evolutionary, the revolutionary, the inspiration and the perspiration and those aha moments that change everything. And now here’s your host, Rich Goldstein.

Rich (00:34):
Rich Goldstein here, host of the innovations and breakthroughs podcast, where I featured top leaders and the path they took to create change past guests include Joe Polish, Roland Frasier, and Zach Benson. This episode is brought to you by my company, Goldstein patent lore, where we help you to protect your ideas and products we’ve advised and obtained patents for thousands of companies over the past 26 years. So if you’re a company that has software product or design, you want protected go to Goldstein patent law.com, where there are amazing free resources for learning about the patent process. You could email my team@welcomeatgoldsteinpc.com to explore if it’s a match to work together. You could also check out the book I wrote for the American bar association that explains in plain English, how patents work it’s called the ABA consumer guide to obtaining a patent. I have with me here today, Michael Alden, Mike built the multi-million dollar marketing company that landed him on the Inc magazine lists three years in a row as one of the nation’s fastest growing private companies.

Rich (01:29):
He’s also, three-time bestselling author on both the wall street journal and the USA today book lists. He’s also launched and pitch dozens of successful products in a variety of advertising mediums. I’m very pleased to welcome here today. Michael Walden. Welcome Mike. Thanks so much for having me, man, and I’m really glad to connect and especially how we connected to. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we can talk about that a bit. So we connected on clubhouse, which, you know, I mean, by the time that this, this episode posts, um, it might be way more widespread than it is now because it’s just growing so fast and amazing media man. It, you know, it really is. And it’s funny, like, um, it’s, it’s a platform that I’m on a good portion of every day. Uh, and I see people around like you and I, I feel like we were like in a freshman class together, like hanging out during Christmas week, you know, when, uh, like there was a bunch of us that were just around almost all the time.

Rich (02:27):
And, um, we’re in these rooms where there were business leaders of all kinds and then other people asking questions. And, uh, so like, you know, where a certain type of founding crew, I guess, over there on that at the beginning, I mean, I mean, w we were there pretty early, so, uh, and it’s just wild to see. So depending on when you’re listening to this, if you’re not on clubhouse, you need to be on it. Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. And, um, but yeah, I mean, and it’s kind of funny too, that, uh, um, clubhouses an audio only application, which is kind of very similar to podcasting, but it’s like podcasting where all of a sudden someone else might pop up in the middle of a conversation. Like, uh, you know, it could be grant Cardone,

Mike (03:12):
Tiffany Haddish just pops into a room and, you know, uh, Floyd Mayweather just pops into a room. I mean, it’s, it’s a wild, wild, uh, app. And, uh, it’s truly amazing. You know, I scream from the rooftops about things that I find that are, I feel as though can add value to people’s lives. And some people listen to some people don’t. So, uh, let’s hope that people listen, you know, go to, I don’t even, I didn’t even know how you’d do it. And you just go to the, if you have an Apple right now, you get to download the app, by the way, we have nothing to do with clubhouse. We just met on clubhouse and we’re just excited. We’re just excited about it.

Rich (03:43):
Right. Which is great. Like when you could launch a business that has your customers promoting it for you, when people book, you make people true believers, such that they’re telling everybody you’ve gotta be on clubhouse. Like, that’s, that’s the greatest, right. It’s finding that, finding that type of sticky, um, cause solution let’s say, or product. Right? Yeah. And, and so you’ve been involved in, in products from the very beginning you’ve been involved in, in products from their inception. I mean, you know, what are some experiences you’ve had like that with something that just was so exciting that you were, um, that, that it almost seemed like the, the public would have promoted for you once they knew of what it was.

Mike (04:28):
Yeah. You know, uh, that’s a rare thing, you know, and I don’t necessarily know that any of my products really ever came to that. I mean, that’s something, again, I think you’re in a w in a rarefied, uh, you know, position when that happens and when you’re, when your product can truly, uh, kind of, uh, uh, go back to the very essence of, of word of mouth marketing, which is still the most powerful form of marketing that there is. If, if you can get something there. I mean, that’s when things become super profitable, because what I’ve done with my businesses is we spent, you know, millions and millions, and we think we spent close to 150 million so far on advertising to get people interested in our products. And that’s just another thing that people don’t realize what is going on with clubhouse or what, you know, what has happened with other products or even, you know, even like Facebook, things like that.

Mike (05:16):
But people don’t realize too, like even Amazon was buying Google ads. Right. You know, so you have to advertise in order to kind of get that momentum. Um, how, I don’t even know the origins of, of clubhouse. You probably do, but I, I don’t even know how it happened. And, but I, it was me, it was, it was a friend of a friend that, uh, that said I should get involved. It was through social media. Uh, and I just saw the opportunity and, um, yeah, it’s, it’s pretty awesome. So it’s, it’s really hard to do that, you know, uh, to get to that status, but if you get it, you know, you got, they gotta reach out to guys like you, or, or more, more, more, maybe a, more like a real, uh, excuse me, estate planning, attorneys just figure things out because cash is just, will be. Yeah,

Rich (05:58):
No, absolutely. But I think you hit on a couple of really important things there. And, um, one is the value of word of mouth marketing, um, where, uh, you know, just getting other people to tell you your tale for you. And, and, and the other thing you hit on too, was just about, like, like you said, you you’ve paid $150 million for ads and it is all about engagement. And so, um, you have to expect going into business that you are going to pay for that engagement. Like, even if you’re selling a product on Amazon, you have to pay for pay-per-click, you can’t just rely on people searching for you anymore. Um, and when you can use social media of some form to get free engagement, that’s just, that’s just awesome. Right?

Mike (06:42):
Yeah. I mean, you know, they, you know, they’ll build it and they will come type thing, you know, if they come first, that’s even, that’s even better before we even build it. Uh, but yeah, you have to, you know, uh, figure out a way to, uh, essentially subsidize in essence, your paid media for non-paid media, so that you can grow your brand, uh, and, uh, you know, have more profit. In fact, we were talking, we keep talking about clubhouse about that, you know, and, you know, you can spend, you know, 150 million like I have and have a very, very small profit margin, or maybe you can even spend a lot less and have a much higher profit margin. And in the latter, you actually might be in a better position. And it’s funny because at 45 years old and somebody who has built, you know, a pretty big business and had hundreds of employees, I’m at this stage in my career, in my life where I realized it’s not necessarily about spending all that money and generating all that revenue, it’s like, all right, how much can you keep? You know, how much can you, can you, um, you know, give to, to your employees or your family, or what have you, that’s really the important part. And a lot of times, for me in my life, it’s always been, um, you know, I learned things the hard way. Sometimes

Rich (07:46):
It is what it is. Yeah. So, so, um, and in this case, learning things, the hard way is, is, is by, um, I guess, generating lots of revenue and, and having lots of expenses to match.

Mike (07:59):
Yeah. You know, uh, I’m sitting here in a, in a, in a studio that we built out, you know, uh, behind me is a, is a television studio that probably cost a half, a million dollars to build. And, and, uh, you know, uh, quite candidly, it’s kind of obsolete. I mean, it’s got all the lights, it’s got multiple sets, we’ve got cameras, we’ve got all that stuff, but you don’t even need it anymore. You know? Uh, I’m not even G I’m guessing you’re sitting in an office, but most people they’re doing this stuff out of their house. And it’s really interesting to watch and to see, you know, I was a couple of years ago, I went and visited a friend of mine, um, who was the CEO of a, of a, of a multi-billion dollar business. And I go to his house, he had two houses and the Hollywood Hills, like right next to each other, you know, you get Ferrari’s and all these things, like, just everything you can imagine, it’s like exactly what you would see in the movies, you know?

Mike (08:44):
And, uh, he’s the CEO of this company. And one thing I realized after just hanging out with him for, for, for three days, no offices, none, they had no offices. He was taking meetings with high level people that in doing multimillion dollar deals in his kitchen. And it just, I came back and it just, it, my, my mind was blown. I, you know, at one point, uh, in this building that I’m sitting in right now, I had almost 15,000, no, 25,000 square feet, excuse me. And, you know, cause I had all these employees and I call centers and all this other stuff, the world has changed, man. Like, you don’t need that stuff anymore. And it’s great because if you’re a young entrepreneur and the barrier of entry is so low right now, uh, it’s remarkable. It’s, it’s a, it’s such a great opportunity, but it’s also, you know, kind of intimidating if you have no idea where, what you’re doing.

Rich (09:30):
Yeah, no, absolutely. The world has changed. And like even before this year, right, the world changed dramatically this year. But even before this year is so different than let’s say 20 years ago, right. When you’re launching a product, um, you know, you need to have, um, space, you know, you need to have retail space or you need to have a warehouse if you’re going to sell, um, sell that manner. But, um, and you know, if you wanted to sell a product, like you even need to need it to get in touch with the retailers and get those distribution channels open, or you had to put an ad in a magazine or something like that, you know, it’s, it’s like, um, so different from what it is now where you literally can, um, um, without leaving your home, have a product made for you, get it sent to Amazon for Amazon fulfillment, uh, create a listing, uh, start a pay-per-click campaign to, to drive traffic towards your listings and have a business. And you can do it all from your couch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, I guess it depends on the couch and, but yeah, you could do it from, you know, as long as you could work while you’re sitting on that couch and not get stuck

Mike (10:47):
Laptop, you know, it’s crazy, man, you got a laptop, you’ve got an, I mean, some of these people are, are actually building businesses, uh, with, you know, just this little thing right here. So, you know, the potential is there. Uh, and again, the barrier of entry is crazy. I mean, I got cameras in that room over there that by the, when we bought them, they weren’t, they were, they were significantly cut, uh, as far as the pricing, but now they’re obsolete again, you know, and it’s just a, and you know what, I can buy those probably same cameras for like 500 bucks. I paid 5,000 for them a couple of years ago. And before that they were $70,000. And so now it’s this, you know what I mean? Like, uh, I was just telling you, I was going straight to camera on some stuff for one of my businesses and I’m looking, I was doing it literally on the app that we’re on.

Mike (11:31):
I was doing on zoom. I didn’t even, I didn’t even line up my own cameras. Cause one, I don’t even have anybody here. No one’s here, you know, so I needed it to do it myself. I can barely figure out how to turn the cameras on, let alone run them and take the cards out and all this other stuff. So yeah, I mean, it’s a, it’s a wild time to be, to be alive and, and to be a part of really any business in, in any, uh, in any Avenue, whether it’s, you know, service-based business as a physical product, that doesn’t really matter. It’s just a great time to be alive.

Rich (11:58):
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And, and, uh, uh, and it kinda, as you noted, it’s like your phone can, can take better video than the cameras that you bought years ago. Um, you can, you can set up distribution channels, like, you know, from, by opening up a website and creating an account where it used to take meetings and get, and getting into the right person. And, uh, it’s become that much more accessible for people that have ideas to take it, to take an idea, um, and to launch it. So I guess let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about like what it takes to, to take an idea and launch it. Um, and, um, so like you’ve been involved in lots of products from the ground up. I know some are in the supplement space and, uh, kind of, I guess what’s your experience with, with taking something from initial concept and then at the very least validating that you are onto something.

Mike (12:56):
Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, it’s, uh, you’re right. What you’re saying earlier is, you know, there’s, there’s, um, you know, someone once said to me, uh, if you want to go broke really quickly, uh, have a bunch of ideas, right. Uh, and as an entrepreneur, we have ideas all the time. And, and, and sometimes because of maybe who we are and our DNA and where might be a little bit impulsive and that’s definitely me, you know, so I’ve had ideas. I’ll give you an idea. That was a crazy one. Okay. A few years ago, actually. Wow. Now I think about it seven years ago. Uh, is it seven maybe? And I funny, how about five years? I’m sorry. Five, five years ago. Uh, I got the 40, under 40 award, uh, here in Boston, the Boston business journal. And, uh, one of, uh, the other recipients, I think there was, I think it was 40 of us, right.

Mike (13:45):
Uh, was the founder of a little known company called draft Kings. And, uh, I wanted to pitch him on doing an infomercial. And, uh, so what I decided to do was, is when I got up on my, you could, you could, your acceptance speech could be three words. After those three words, it was $25 a word. It was a way that it was a way for them to raise money. Right. So I get up and I accept my award and I say, you know what? Um, I don’t really care about how much it costs because I want a ton of money on draft kings.com last night. So what did that do? I got his attention, right. So I got off the stage and his Jason Robins is his name. Uh, and, uh, he comes up to me, we start talking and we did not hit it off.

Mike (14:23):
Like we were not, we just, w we just did not connect. We just did not connect. And, um, you know, there was alcohol flowing and things like this. And I came home and I was like, this guy who, hopefully I could swim from Boston, you know? And I was so mad that he D he literally, I’m talking, I’m literally, I’m literally talking to him, I’m telling you. And, um, I don’t get that offended that easily. And he literally just turned around and just stopped talking to me as we were in the middle of a conversation, you know? And so I come home and I was telling, uh, one of my relatives, this whole fiasco that happened. And he says to me, he says, you know, Mike, I actually make money in daily fantasy sports. It’s like, you know, it’s kind of a side hustle for me.

Mike (15:02):
In fact, I write a blog about it. And I was like, really? And he’s like, yeah, I’m like, you know, about this world. And he’s like, yeah. And I was like, well, what’s the blog called? He’s like, it’s called draft demons. I’m like, that’s a cool name. That’s a great name. And it’s a great name that we can trademark. Let’s see if we can get the domain. So we get the domain. And I said, you know what, man, let’s go after draft Kings. Right. Like, I I’m, you know, like I’m going to take my ego in my impulse cause I have an idea and I’m going to go after draft Kings. Okay. And that was an insane, uh, proposition. I, uh, I wrapped NASCAR’s I spent, you know, probably a million dollars or more in developing software, which is actually a small number. And our, our, um, kind of competitive advantage was going to be NASCAR.

Mike (15:47):
Uh, cause I had a relationship with NASCAR still do. And um, they weren’t DraftKings. Wasn’t doing NASCAR. Okay. So we get to the, our, and our big push was going to in our big kind of unveil unveiling, failing unveiling, uh, was going to be the Daytona 500. Right. Literally we get two days before. And the software company that we hired went out of business and not only did they go out of business, they just shut the doors. Wow. And that was it. That was, that was it. Like everything went down and, and, and I had already spent so much money. And, uh, you know, so if you have an idea, uh, I’m a practitioner of transcendental meditation. And when I first learned it, you know, the, the teacher or professor, whatever you want to call him, uh, said, you know, look, you’re gonna get a lot of ideas are going to flow through your brain.

Mike (16:30):
A lot of this happens when we just, any form of meditation, don’t act on them right away. If you want to write them down. That’s cool. Think about them. Don’t act on them right away. So I would say like, notice the thought, come and let it go, let it go. If it’s cool, write it down and then think about it. You know? Um, and I’ve launched Def I mean, I bought a, bought a company in Ohio that developed distilled spirits, uh, for people like, if you had an idea like, Hey, you want it to do, you know, uh, an adult chocolate milk. Like if that’s what you want to do, you come to us and we would do that for you. Uh, I launched the vodka, um, and that was a beautiful thing. And we had a lot of fun with it. I backed an artist and I said, well, I’m going to take my marketing.

Mike (17:08):
Know-how all just, you know, great ideas that at least that I thought that they were, and we, you know, we made a run at them and we’d put our best foot forward, but you know, they all failed. And I don’t like to use the term failure. Cause I learned that from Zig Ziglar, it’s more about, we call them temporary defeats and there’s a lot of things, you know, it’s cliche, but there’s a lot of things you can learn from them. But when you think about it and when I start to add up the amount of money that I’ve spent, I wish I had it back. And I also wish Joshua was, you know, sitting here today. I wish I had that knowledge, you know, back then they always say, I wish I wish I knew it back then. And that’s, um, that’s just the life of an entrepreneur though.

Mike (17:40):
I also look at it like research and development, you know? Cause as an entrepreneur, you got to try new stuff. You just have to, a lot of people say, you know, stay in your lane, you know, focused on what you’re good at and you know, okay. That is, there’s some certain value to that. But if you don’t go outside of your lane, if you don’t think outside the box, you never gonna, you’re never gonna know if, what you thought or your idea was in fact, you know, valid. So there’s nothing wrong with taking it to a point where, where it’s, there is proof of concept. If you can get to proof of concept then from there, you know, I think you have something.

Rich (18:12):
Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, it’s so much gold in there. Right. And, and uh, uh, you know, having ideas following through on them and having them fail and there’s different flavors of failure, right. There’s, there’s just the, the, the non-judgment the non judged or nonjudgmental act of failure. What’s like, it didn’t work out. Right. And, and that’s something that we learned from, but then there’s failure as like an emotional, like, devastation, like where it’s like, I failed and I’m never going to do anything good. So like, it kind of depends where you land, right? Like some people like, like every successful business person fails as a, as like a state of fact. And then they move on from it. They learn from it. But some people failure is just a devastating, like emotional state attached to it. Yeah. I guess the real choice is whether you do that, whether you attach that emotion to it, um, or whether you consider it to be a valuable lesson, like all of those things that you did. And I know you wish you had the money back, but like you T you gave it a fair shot. It could’ve also been successful. And, and you also learn things which helped you in your future businesses and you’re not done yet. Right. Are contributing to what you’re doing today,

Mike (19:28):
Actually, you know, it’s it again, if you really, I think one good way to look at it is it’s like research and development and it really is. And you learn things that you would not have learned. And, um, it’s, it is a process and, and you, you are in fact going to fail and the factual sense and the emotional sense over and over and over again. In fact, I wrote an article, uh, for a magazine called Boston man magazine. And the title of it is I’m a great loser. And my mom’s like, Mike, why are you saying that while you’re saying that? Well, you know, I lose more times than I win. In fact, I lose 99% of the time. And I look, if anybody tells you that, that that’s just a part of the process. It’s okay, you’ll get through it. It hurts, man.

Mike (20:11):
It hurts. You literally physically feel it. No, a lot of people don’t talk about it. I talk about it all the time, because I feel like most entrepreneurs or most business people are just, they’re not transparent and they love to show the cars and the rolls. And they love talking when you and I were talking about revenue and things like that, you know, I I’m like that as well, but I’m also, um, open, honest and candid to the point where it’s probably even too much, but I think people need to understand that, that the life of an entrepreneur is not for everybody and it hurts, but if you can get there and if you can get to the point where you’re truly supporting your lifestyle, it’s a great thing. You know, I can, what I want when I want, I don’t really have a boss. Do I? And here’s the other thing too. You always have to answer to somebody and whether it’s a bank or whether it’s a, I still have to answer to people, but I do what I want when I want. And sometimes that’s a good thing. Sometimes it’s a bad thing. Um, and you just have to understand that you will have the peaks and valleys and recognize it when you’re going through those valleys. I don’t care what anybody says. It just hurts.

Rich (21:09):
Yep. Nope. I get it. And then it’s just about resilience, right? It’s about bouncing back from it, not getting stuck in it. I mean it, and it hurts and what some people do, those, they dwell on it and they stay in it. But the ability to bounce back to, uh, you know, live another day to try another whatever makes all the difference.

Mike (21:32):
Yeah. I mean, you know, there’s just, there’s just throughout history, there’s this the Mo you know, the most influential people in history. I mean, look at Elon Musk, right. You know, he was the richest man in the world and, you know, he’s going back and forth now with Bezos and, you know, a year ago, uh, Tesla was, was looking like it was going to fail, you know, and, you know, so it’s just, it’s just, it’s a part of, it is a part of the journey. Um, and it is a part of the lifestyle of an entrepreneur. And just to be able to recognize that you are going to feel that pain, um, it, it, it makes it more palatable. It makes it more so that you can actually understand it so that your brain can process it and say, okay, you know, um, I’ve been through hell and back in my businesses and I’ve lost millions and I’ve had horrific things happen throughout the years.

Mike (22:16):
And, you know, I had a friend who who’s no longer with us. And he said to me, Mike, you know what, you’ll be okay, man. And I just get chills just thinking about, I remember where I was standing. I was in front of my, I was in front of my garage in this massive house that I built in a private neighborhood in the same town that I grew up in, like living in the projects. Uh, and, and, and I was standing there and I had to, I put my house on the market a few years ago cause I got killed financially. And, um, he just said, you’ll be okay. And you will be okay. You know, I think it was Winston Churchill said, if you’re going to go through hell, you might as well all the way through. And then that’s what happens. Right?

Rich (22:51):
Exactly. I mean, it’s like life always turns out the way that it does. You can count on life to turn out. Yeah.

Mike (22:57):
W and w and it does, and it will get better. I think there’s also too, uh, you know, it’s interesting how this conversation is going. I think that, you know, um, there there’s, there has to be, you know, a, a pretty good kind of balance between optimism and realism, you know, because a lot of entrepreneurs are optimistic to the point where they’re actually a sociopathic as well. Um, and so, you know, meaning they just don’t care about anybody else. It’s just going to work out and I’ve been around guys like that. And some of those guys are actually in jail, you know? So it isn’t always just going to work out. It isn’t always just going to get better. Um, unless you do something about it too, because when you’re in that pain and where you, when you’re going through that stuff and you want to crumble up and sit in the fetal position in your, in your basement, like I’ve wanted to do like dozens of times.

Mike (23:44):
And sometimes I have, but you got to pull yourself up and see, like, what else are you going to do? Like, are you just going to give up? You know what I mean? That’s the other part, like, I always say to myself, like, what else am I going to do? You know? And, and so like, you know, you and I, you know, I’m a lawyer, I keep my license active, but I’m not gonna wanna practice law. No, one’s going to hire me. I mean, I haven’t really practiced law in a long time. So I’m an entrepreneur, I’m a sales guy. That’s what I do. I sell stuff. So you can just to figure it out and just put, you know, put your big boy pants on, suck it up, feel the pain. And ultimately you will get through the other side, but when you’re going through it, man, like I said before, it’s not easy.

Rich (24:18):
Yeah, absolutely. A lot of, a lot of wisdom there. And, uh, and I, and I agree. It’s like just, you know, Pollyanna painting on like a positive spin on everything. Doesn’t, doesn’t help anyone, you know, and it’s not real, it’s not authentic. It’s like, it’s not,

Mike (24:35):
And there are too many people out there that do again, it’s too much, they lay it on thick. And in fact, you know, this is going on. Maybe, you know, I think people sometimes look, I’m, I’m a super positive guy. I’ve written self-help books. I believe in the power of positivity, you know, Norman, Vincent Peale, like I believe in that stuff. And by the way that stuff works. But there also has to be, again, a delicate balance of like reality. And I think people, you know, when they, they go to, like, let’s say a Tony Robbins event or one of these other, you know, RA type things that are very helpful for people. And a lot of times what you’ll find and Tony Robinson will probably admit this is, is, you know, they’re all fired up. They’re there for seven days and they leave. And 99% of the people don’t do anything.

Mike (25:15):
And that’s the hardest part is you can get all excited. And, but it’s, it’s about being consistent. You know, it’s one of my, one of my other books called 5% more. I realized that, you know, you know, w we’ve been in rooms with grant Cardone, I’m actually friends with grant. I’ve been on his program called power players. And he’s been on my podcast twice. I can text him if I need to, but his book, 10 X, I think a lot of people misunderstand. What he’s really saying is, you know, a lot of people think that you can just go all in on something and that’s wrong. In fact, our, our brains don’t work that way. Our brains work best when you compound on that, when you just do take those small steps and then compound on them over and over again. And it’s really hard because if you want to accelerate super fast and you think, well, I only have so much time.

Mike (25:56):
The power of compounding is, is amazing. Again, you’ve, you know, that whole, you know, you save a penny a day and compound and add to it every single day, you have $5.3 million in 30 days. And in fact, my wife said to me, she goes, you’re a lawyer for reason. Cause I’ve always said, I’m bad in math. She’s like the math that doesn’t make sense. I go do it, just do it, take a penny a day and double it. Every single day, you’ll have 5.3 million. So the power and the power of compounding, I think is really what people need to understand is one year in those Tufts watch, when you’re growing a business, take those baby steps. You don’t have to 10 X what you’re doing every day. And by the way, nobody can do it. You can’t 10 X forever. You’re going to burn out physically, mentally that’s. I mean, that’s science, that’s anatomy. That’s just, you know what I mean? And unless you’re on some sort of performance enhancing drugs, uh, and again, you’ll burn out at some point. So what I say to people is like, let’s take baby steps, let’s compound on an overtime, and then you’re going to get there. You’ll get, you’ll get that 10 X. You just don’t need to do it all at once because it’s not sustainable.

Rich (26:56):
Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and so let’s talk about bestseller secrets. I know this is like information that has been, um, that, that you’ve had. And, and, um, that you’ve been kind of talking about for years, but it seems like it it’s day has come back around. So tell me about that.

Mike (27:13):
Yeah. I mean, it’s interesting too, like when you talk about, you know, the businesses that you get involved in and the things that you learn in the doors that open, or the new doors that they know that come your way, and you know what, my first book ask more, get more, I own a marketing firm, you know, again, we’ve done hundreds of millions and who cares cause what’s the profit. Right. But we have, and, uh, when I launched my first book, I’m like the title’s awesome. Right? The cover’s awesome. It’s over there somewhere. It’s the yellow one. Uh, the contents like, okay, it’s pretty good. You know, for my first book, I got a publishing deal. I was super excited. And you know, I’m a kid from the projects. The fact that I was even here, still on this planet is just a remarkable thing.

Mike (27:51):
And you know, I, uh, I was like, I’m going to take all this knowledge and all of our power. And we are going to be a number one New York times bestseller like w it was a, it was a foregone conclusion. It was going to happen. And I realized really quickly that marketing gadgets, marketing, supplements, marketing services, it’s a different world when you’re marketing and more importantly selling books. And so I took it upon myself. Like, I’m not a good entrepreneur. And I spent millions of dollars again. I’ve said this before. I kind of wish I had it back, but it got me here today. I spent millions of dollars trying to figure out how do I compete with the big boys? Like, how do I compete with the big time publishers? My first publisher is Greenleaf. They’re what they call a hybrid publisher or a vanity publisher.

Mike (28:34):
They’re not big, but the gave me an opportunity. And what I figured out was is that there is a method, just like anything in business. There is a method that nobody wants to tell you about. And so, you know, I’ve written six books and I decided that. And by the way, my books are, you know, I’m a three time wall street, journal USA today, bestseller my books have been number one in Amazon. Hundreds of times, I’ve held the top five against all books in the world. Dozens of times, my last book, a blueprint of business was the number one book in the world. Barack Obama was behind me and there’s a method to it. And, uh, it is a, it is a military operation if you want, if you’re trying to get to like things like New York times or wall street, journal USA today. Um, and I realized that most people don’t know that information and it’s painful when you spend all this money.

Mike (29:22):
And when you launch your book and nobody cares, it’s hard to say it’s a negative thing. And I haven’t written a bunch of books. I can guarantee that nobody cares about your book because you’re a lawyer, you know? So the only people that are going to buy your book, like, Oh, I’m an I, you know, IP, like, you know, the only people that are buying again, I’m just, I’m not picking on you. But I, I just know, I just know what it’s like to put, to put literally years of effort and money and blood, sweat, and tears into something. And then it just flops. And that happened with my first book, which went on to do great things. And it’s been sold all over the world and it was a wall street journal USA today bestseller. So I wrote my book bestseller secrets, um, to, to just really kind of level the playing field and to show people that and show author specifically, uh, you know, that you can become a bonafide legitimate best-seller the term bestseller has been bastardized.

Mike (30:11):
But what I’m saying is an actual verifiable, legitimate bestseller, whether that be Amazon Barnes and noble books, a million, uh, wall street USA today, it can be done. And then the best part is, is most of it you can do actually on your own. I spent millions of dollars doing it. I actually give the book away for free. So for those people who are listening or watching you just go to bestseller secrets, book.com, and you know, they can download the book. And it’s not like one of these eight page things. It’s 27,000 words, which is just over a hundred and something pages. It’s an actual book that gives you the blueprint of everything that I’ve done. It’s not some, little eight and a half by 11. I know

Rich (30:46):
Sound, but I tell people, I’ll send you a copy of my book. They expect like, right, like a 32 page book with about a hundred words on each page. Yeah.

Mike (30:55):
You know, most, most of them it’s a real book. And by the way, I’m a lawyer. Yeah. Like what did you think? Yeah. But you know, again, where, you know, you’re, you’re a lawyer, you know, I’ve been doing it for 26 years and you wrote it for the ABA. Like it’s gotta be of substance. Right. And so

Rich (31:11):
Come to expect very little from like, Oh, well, like my book, you know, and what you put your heart into it. And you, you, you write a real book, but it’s just kind of funny that they respond that way. But it sounds like you’ve, you’ve figured out a lot about what works there. Um, I have should know.

Mike (31:27):
Yeah. And it’s, you know, and it’s fun and it’s, it’s exciting. And when we talk about, again, go back to some of these failures or temporary defeats that I’ve had, I wouldn’t be here today. And by the way, I’ve done this also for dozens of authors, I just did it for Kevin Harrington. God has booked a wall street journal USA today. Uh, I’ve done it for some other big time authors, like a guy named Ron Sharron. And, you know, he’s, you know, I’ve got him the number one, uh, uh, on the wall street journal. I did it for this other, like no-name guy, who’s on a no-name guy, but you know, just self published guys and, and people that have had their books out for a couple years. Because when you put that type of effort in, in a book that you want to get out there and you want people to have that information, you feel like your book is going to change the world over.

Mike (32:11):
It’s going to help people. And then you put it out there and it does nothing it’s devastating. And, and, and a lot of authors have no idea what to do. I’ve had dozens and dozens of authors on my podcast, a lot of New York times, best sellers, but a lot of guys that are, you know, I had a guy who was a professor at MIT, brilliant guy. The book’s amazing. It’s such a great book. Didn’t any of these with a huge publisher didn’t knew anything, nothing. And it happens all the time. So I’m really super passionate about it because one I’m at it. And two, I know what it’s like, because I’ve done it myself. And so, yeah, that’s, none of this stuff would have happened if I hadn’t have had those temporary defeats that cost me even more of millions, uh, back in the day.

Mike (32:50):
I mean, I did insane things with my books. I wrap NASCARs, you know, I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to make sure that my books are in what they call premium placement and things like Hudson news and Barnes and noble. And I just show people all the pitfalls and the things, the mistakes that I’ve made. And, and, and I just, I feel like if I give this information to people, it’s going to help them. They’re not in competition with me. I’m not competing with anybody else. You know, whether it’s a cookbook, it doesn’t even, I did, I wrote a children’s book with my daughter. I did the same thing. And if you want to get that information out to people, um, you know, uh, my book bestseller secrets really shows people how to do it. And again, I’m giving it away for free. My accountant’s like, what are you doing?

Mike (33:27):
I’m like, well, you know, you know, there’s other ways we can help people. Right. That’s awesome. So, um, if people want to learn more about you get in touch with you or get that free, um, that free book, bestseller secrets, how do they go about doing so? Yeah. You know, I mean, if you just want to reach out to me, uh, you know, um, pretty much everywhere it’s at Mike Alden, 2012, that’s where I pretty much kind of got it all in, on, on, uh, on social media. Uh, so you can find me on Facebook. You can find me on LinkedIn, you know, Mike Alden, uh, if you’re interested in the book, you can just go to bestseller secrets, book.com. Uh, you just download it. You do, there is a small processing fee, but it’s no big deal. Again. I’ve spent millions, uh, kind of, kind of figuring this stuff out or again, uh, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, clubhouse, um, everywhere. Uh, I’m probably the most active right now on Instagram. Uh, I’d love to just, you know, connect with people, connect with the people that you know that you serve. And hopefully I can help if you have any questions about anything, if you want to reach out to me, send me a direct message and I’ll do my best to get back to you. That’s awesome. Mike really appreciate you being here, sharing your story, sharing some really helpful information and, uh, sharing about your, your book sales secrets. Thanks so much for being here, Mike, thank you.

Outri (34:40):
Thanks for listening to innovations and breakthroughs with your host, rich Goldstein. Be sure to click, subscribe, check us out on the web@innovationsandbreakthroughs.com and we’ll see you next time.