In this episode, Ken Krell, shares what you need to know to run your own digital events, make them a WOW experience for your audience, and rack up high-ticket sales!
Resources mentioned
Pride
Ken’s Digital 3-Day Event
Thursday, June 23-Saturday, June 25, 2022
Book: The Power of Broke by Daymond John
3 Key Points
Anyone can do a digital event with a computer and microphone.
The cost to do an event is nothing.
Create a 3-day event to sell a high-ticket offer
Transcript
Hi and welcome. I’m your host, Ellen Violette and you’re listening to Episode 125 of the Books Open Doors® Podcast. Today my guest is Ken Krell and we’re going to be talking about doing 1- and 3-day events because he has another PRIDE (event) coming up and this is a 3-day event you do not want to miss because as authors doing 1-3 day events is a great strategy to use as a bridge between selling your book and selling a high-ticket offer and Ken is the master at that and he’s going to show you how to do it on this episode. So, before we get started, I’m going to give you that link in case you’re in a hurry but it’s at https://booksopendoors.com/pride.
So, let’s do this!
For over a third of a century has inspired thousands of people from all over the world by sharing powerful ways to create wealth prosperity and happiness in their lives. Ken is most recently known as a producer of opportunity thought on the world record-setting twenty-eight-and-a-half-hour live marathon broadcasts that featured over fifty-five of the world’s leading authorities on business mindset and success. The event reached thousands all over the globe and as a cornerstone to his digital event production company, Live conference tv.com. That is amazing.
Ken is also producing ridiculously irresistible digital events, and his three-day Pride experience gives attendees the tools needed to pivot from the physical to the digital stage. And that is what we are going to talk about today.
So, welcome to the call Ken.
[2:20] Ken: Well, it’s great to be with you again, Ellen. Again, it’s like, we have been talking for the past few weeks. But it is funny about how amazing Clubhouse has been to connect people cause I’ve known your name for years. And I was like, “Yeah, I need to talk to her.” But we never got there. So now YAY. Here we are.
Ellen: YAY, here we are, absolutely. So, I love that you’re taking people from the offstage (offline) to the onstage because obviously, that’s a very hot topic right now. I’ve actually been in the virtual for all sixteen years, but I know a lot of people haven’t. And I have clients who, I mean literally had to pivot in like a week.
Ken: Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Ellen: Some people are still trying to figure out how to do that or do it well, and you are the guy. So, why don’t you tell me how you got into this?
[2:57] Ken: Well, you know, it’s interesting. We tend to get into things. I think some of the most successful things we get into happened by accident. I started doing digital events and I call them digital, not virtual, because, to me, this is real. What we’re doing right now, you and I, is a hundred percent real. And so, the moniker or virtual I think is a misnomer for what we do. And yeah, a friend of mine was like, “You need to stop calling it virtual because it’s not, it’s real.” And I take that to heart and what I do. But in 2009, I did my first virtual summit. No, actually I take that back. I did the summit thing a few years later, but it began from leaving the physical stage to doing a series of ten webinars as a series, which was theoretically now, in terms of today’s vernacular, a digital summit or virtual summit, had ten different speakers.
Ellen: What year was that?
Ken: 2009,
Ellen: Yeah, I did my first one, I think in 2006.
Ken: Yeah. Yeah, so you got me dated. And the thing is I was still doing physical stages, but those events were great because, and still are, because you have no cost. I mean, your production cost is effectively zero.
And even today where we have so much better technology, I mean, much, much better opportunities. The cost to do an event is nothing. Now I’m on an expensive camera right now because I’ve kind of upgraded what I’m doing for my own purposes. And I wanted a better camera. After every event, I buy a new toy, but you don’t need it.
Ellen: Which one are you using? What are you using?
Ken: A Sony 6,400 with a 35-millimeter F 1.8 lens. And it’s really the lens that makes it look so sexy. I mean, it’s pretty awesome.
Ellen: It is, it is. I said that when we got on, yeah.
Ken: Yeah. It’s kind of neat. But I’ve got a very expensive set: two palm trees and a couple of blue disco lights behind me. You know, honestly, you don’t need to have a whole lot to do an event. So, where people get all wrapped up in the, “Oh-Oh,” you know, technology consideration, it’s really easy. So, you don’t need to spend that kind of money; this is like a thousand-dollar camera. You don’t need to do that.
I do a three-day event and I wanted this quality camera. The first three-day event that I did this past year, last year was shot with a GoPro because it was a 4k Go-Pro and it did a better job than my webcam because I needed distance from my wall to the camera. That was basically the only reason why I used that and then upgraded to this thing, which is just, I mean, everyone’s like, “Oh your camera.”
But no big deal. What’s more important is your sound, and you and I are both using the same mic, which is interesting. But, this is like an eighty-dollar mic I think on Amazon. It’s like nothing special and I have it.
Ellen: I know and I love it. And people always comment. And the way I got it was I had Jamie Jay on and he sounded amazing. And I said, “How do you sound so good?” And he said, it’s the mic.
Ken: Yeah. I mean, and truly, that’s what it is. Most important thing, more than your video is that people can hear you. So, and it’s a no-big-deal thing. And it’s on a little bitty tripod. Why? Cause I’m at my dining room table. “Oh, wait, dining room table, you don’t have an expensive set?”
No, I don’t. I have a dining room table. And so, I live in a one-bedroom apartment here in Sydney. And I do have a place where I can broadcast a little nook, which was designed for an office, but out that window was the city. So, I’m able to be here with you.
And if I turn it, you have my kitchen. So, I could like have my kitchen while look at the city, which is what I typically do. Bottom line is you don’t need to have an expensive set. You don’t need to have expensive technology. All you need is WIFI and, effectively, your laptop.
When you mentioned Opportunitython earlier in the intro, which was shot April of 2020, it was shot with my Mac Book Pro internal camera and the Mac Book Pro internal mic.
Ellen: Wow.
Ken: And yeah, it was like, it was no big deal at all.
[07:10] Ellen: Yeah. And I’m jealous. I wasn’t there cause you didn’t know me.
Ken: I didn’t know you, see that’s your fault. You should’ve made sure I knew that. So, we had, yeah, it was crazy. And then we’ve done obviously a number of events since then, but the point is you don’t need the technology. And at that time, we used something called Stream Yard, which is still around.
At that time, they had a 30-day free trial. So, we had no production costs because we use Stream Yard for free for those three days; we had my Mac, my Mac mic, we had a backup internet connection because my internet connection here at the house was lousy. And that was it. It was so easy to do. So, where people are curious as to how do they do it? The technology is nothing that should stop them at all.
[07:52] Ellen: But, you’re there. Let’s see, when you use Stream Yard… were you’re doing it through Zoom and Stream Yard?
Ken: Stream Yard is basically another type of Zoom, if you will. It’s under the broadcast platform.
[08:04] Ellen: I’ve used it. Oh, okay.
Ken: Yeah. You don’t use Stream Yard with Zoom. Stream Yard will let you broadcast to Facebook.
Ellen: Right, directly to Facebook. But some people are using Zoom too somehow.
Ken: Well, you can use Zoom to Facebook. We do that all the time. Zoom allows you to do that. So, that’s no big deal. But we used Stream Yard because it was an easier interface for us at that point than using Zoom
Ellen: It’s still free if you’re doing it just one, one site, I think, but you can’t run a whole bunch of sites because I’ve been using it and I don’t think I’ve paid for it yet. Yeah.
[08:38] Ken: Okay. Yeah. Well, they probably don’t like you then.
Ellen: (Laugh)
Ken: But, it’s a great platform. But the thing about Stream Yard versus Zoom and I don’t want to get into the weeds on this is that it’s not as interactive as Zoom. So, while Stream Yard will let you have, I think now eight people on screen with you, Zoom allows you to have hundreds, you know, thousands ultimately where Stream Yard isn’t for that purpose. But if you’re going to do a, like a one to many broadcast Stream Yards is fantastic.
And you do get people that can message you on Facebook, messenger, on YouTube and so on. And so, there is an ability for you to communicate, although not as directly. Like in a Zoom meeting like we’re doing right now, we can have as many people as we want, and they can unmute and talk to us and I can see everybody.
[09:19] Ken: So, when I do my three-day Pride event, which is a pretty amazing program, it really transforms your whole… you can really then make a whole lot more money in your own events. And we talk about how to actually produce events that are ridiculously irresistible and generate wealth. You know, with that, I want to see everybody. I want to see everybody on it. I got a 49-inch screen, literally right now behind my camera.
So, I looked through that camera and there’s pixel, pixel, pixel of people. I can see whether they’re smiling, laughing, having lunch. And I call them out because I want them to feed me too. We make it all fun. So, it is more interactive than for example, Stream Yard is. And again, easy choice to make as to what your purpose is. So, you know, we talk about how you can, you do events better…
[09:59]: Number one thing is understand your purpose. What are you trying to achieve? What is the result you want to have? How interactive do you want to be with your audience? If it’s more one-way communication, Stream Yard, perfect, easy, easy, easy. If you want to have an interactive scenario, then absolutely Zoom because we are able to communicate with each other. They can talk to each other.
What did you say? I had no idea. I just kept going and they listen and they pay attention. Of course, when you do it. Right. You know, the big challenge is not do you do you do digital events or not? I think the big question is how do you do it to do it right, so, you’re not boring and the same as everybody else.
Ellen: Good question.
[11:11] Ken: People are turning them into webinars basically. And you don’t want it to be one way. I mean, how do you make it interactive? Between breakout sessions- people screw up breakout sessions all the time. Oh my gosh.
Ellen: I love breakout sessions. I made so much money in breakout sessions.
Ken: Oh, breakout sessions are great, but most of them are done wrong. If you think about it, well sure. How many breakout sessions have you gone into? And it’s like, “Who should go first? What should I say? How long should it go?” You know, it’s like, “Huh,” there’s no direction. So, they’re not as effective as they could be. Right? So, what the host has to do is lay out the instructions for “Here’s what our purpose is for the breakout.” So, people know why they’re doing what they’re doing.
Ellen: Right.
Ken: “Here’s who goes first. Here’s how long we go for, here’s your instructions.” And you gotta repeat it at least twice. So, they know what they’re doing. And most people of course don’t do that because they’re uncomfortable with breakout sessions. And so, breakout sessions are nowhere near as effective as they could be and should be, you know?
[12:04] Ellen: See, on the ones I’ve been on, it was like the person with the longest hair, which is me.
Ken: Right.
Ellen: Due to COVID, mine is way out there.(I have since gotten a haircut!)
Ken: Right.
Ellen: Or, the person who has the first name in the alphabet. Yeah.
[12:17] Ken: We use tools like that also. But so many hosts don’t know to do that. And it becomes like, “Oh God.” And then we also assign a timekeeper. So, we have that. But there are so many of these breakouts where no one knows who goes first, because it’s not clear. Even if someone says it, it’s not clear cause they don’t repeat it. And then you have someone who hogs the time because no one’s keeping time on the thing.
So, how many times do you end up in a kind of a cluster? And then when it’s over, it’s like, “I didn’t get to go.” And I’ve seen so many different events where someone will like, “Wait a minute. Could Mary Lou go now for all of us? Cause we didn’t get to hear her. And it’s really not fair.” I’m like “Really?” You know. So the strategy of breakouts is really an important engagement piece because yeah, they’re terrific. You know, they really are.
And so, that’s just one basic thing that people mess up, which is easy to fix, but they don’t know how and nobody teaches it.
Ellen: Right.
Ken: So, that’s one element of it. I love sharing. Sharing is a great way to do things. But I think the biggest thing though, for keeping an audience is to call them out is to be able to go, “Cindy, what do you think?” Or, “Mary Lou, what do you think?” Or, “You know, we’re telling, what do you say to that? Tom, I see you,” and I call it everybody, as many people as I can do. I call them out so that they know that they’re being seen. Because the biggest thing to me is that my audience needs to feel special.
[13:35]: They need to know that they’ve been seen and that they matter. And so, when you can call them out and by, so “I saw you laughing, Tom,” you know or “Cindy, do you need to take a nap and you look kind of tired?” Or, I’ll say, or I’ll say, “Brenda, would you raise your camera a little bit? All I can see is your chin. I want to see the rest of your beautiful face.” You know, now it’s not picking on them; it’s saying, “You’re important to me. I want to see all of you.” Right? And when you do that, your relationship capital, of course, goes up big time. Everyone else sees it. And they recognize that you, as an instructor, you as a host, you as a presenter, you care.
[14:12] Ellen: Yeah, I feel like I made a mistake today because usually I would ask you when we started and you know, sometimes, I’m so familiar with what it is and the other person is, and we kind of jumped right into it. But why should people do these?
Ken: Because if you want to make money, you should do these. If you want to create an influence in the world, you should do these. If you want to build your business, you should do these. If you want to be seen as the expert and be in control and command of your life, you should do these. It’s pretty simple.
Ellen: All right.
Ken: If you want to grow your business, do them, if you don’t want to grow your business, then I would tune out of this in this episode because this episode will make you a lot of money. That simple.
[14:56] Ellen: Okay. (Laugh) The other, the other question I had is like, how big can people do these events? Just using Zoom
Ken: Ask Tony Robbins. I think he’s gone to at least to 23,000.
Ellen: Wow. Cause I’ve been on some of these kinds of events and what they’ve done, I don’t know how they did it, but I know cause I asked, and they said they had a lot of very extensive equipment.
Ken: Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Ellen: Where they could see all the people now, like on these shows like on the Grammys or some of these and they have a whole bunch of people and they’re clapping.
Ken: Yeah. Yeah. Well, number one, if you’re going to scale it more than even 300 people, don’t do it yourself, bring a tech o manage it. Tony had banks of laptops, banks of computers to feed the Zooms and they’re all interconnected and linked and this and that and that’s wonderful. It’s expensive, but it works. And frankly, if you have 20,000 people at your event, you can afford to spend a few dollars on that.
[15:53] Ellen: Right, right. Don’t you think people starting out should like just kind of keep it low key?
Ken: Yes. Not even starting out, here’s my perspective. I mean, there are those that have thousands of people in their rooms. I’ve seen events and been to events with 1,000, 1500, 3000 and they’re fine, you know, but the challenge is where do you have that personal connection?
If you’re going to want to do a big event like that, that’s great. And there’s a place for all of that. But your audience is not going to get the same intimacy as if you run an event with fifty people or 200 people or whatever. I like keeping my events small and intimate. I also sell a very expensive program which is worth intimately, tons more time, more and more value than what I charged for it. But to able to have that connection and earn the right to ask for $25,000, $35,000, $45,000.
Now you guys in the audience watching me here understand you’re worth that money. “Oh, I couldn’t possibly do that.” Bull. You could. You’re worth it. Recognize that. I teach people how to recognize that about themselves, by the way, they instantly raise their prices and they get it because they know what their value is.
But one way that you do get it is by having your audience know that they’re special. That’s the big thing. Ellen felt special in that Clubhouse room. So, we became buddies. We ended up connecting with each other and here we’re here now.
So yeah, Ellen, I’ve got a student, she had eight people in her room, eight people in her digital room, she sold two of them made 18,000 bucks.
Ellen: YAY!
Ken: And she did it within two and a half weeks. I had someone in a physical event, (inaudible) I had seven people in his room in Orlando, a few years back. I trained him and he did $50,000 in sales. So yeah, you want to go big, let your ego explode. That’s awesome. But you’re going to get a better connection, and I think you’ll enjoy it better when you can open up your heart and do a more intimate group. And that’s what I teach. Yes, you can scale.
[17:46] Ellen: Yeah. I think, I think I mean when I look back for myself, when I’ve done some things to fill something, the ones that have come in were people that I already had a connection with.
Ken: Sure, absolutely. Yeah. And so, what I teach people to do is create a love affair, you know, over three days. And I recommend a three-day program if you have a high-ticket offer, right? Cause because you need the time to really bond with that audience, you need to feel that they can trust you. They need time to process your offer. You don’t want to go in and say, “Hi, buy my stuff.” That kind of creepy.
So, you’ve got to know when to make that offer because you make it too soon they’re going to hate you, make it too late you’re going to hate yourself.
[18:28] Ellen: Right, but one of the things that people do is or they’ll say, well, I don’t know what to teach or what to give in that event before I’m making the offer.
Ken: Oh please. Well, number one, that’s all mine stuff. That’s easily overcome. I teach that. I teach you exactly what to say and how to say it. I shouldn’t say exactly what to say, because what you say is your own.
Ellen: Right.
Ken: But I lay out the model. So, for three days there is a, I call it “the dance”. There is a structure that you follow for, for example, a three-day event. And you know, day one session one is your opener. Day three, session one is your heart close and re-pitch. I teach all of that and why you do it and how you do it. And the fun part about it for me is not only do I do it, but I teach it as I do it. So, they’re like, “Oh, I get that.”
[19:10] Ellen: Well, that’s one of the things that I’m always telling people is that when you go to these events, don’t just go for the information, but watch what they’re doing when you’re in these events with these people who like are masters at doing this.
Ken: It’s like watching a Hollywood movie, there is a model to a Hollywood movie. There is always “Oh yeah, it’s great.” And then bam, something happens and it’s the hero’s journey. If you follow that whole piece through, you’re going to see it in pretty much every film and that’s kind of cool. So, it’s like, “Here it comes,” and so I demystify all of that in my programming so that people can see it and understand it.
So, the question is, do I have enough to teach? Oh my gosh, the problem you’re going to have is not what to teach. It’s what to take out because you’ve got too much, because I can pretty much tell you that if you’re watching Ellen, and if you’re putting a book together, you’ve got like three events inside of you. You really did.
And there’s not that much to do during an event. It goes pretty quickly. A three-day event, you think it’s a long time, it’s not, it goes fast. But I’ll tell you something else. You may choose to have guest speakers; that eats up a lot of time. You may choose to do breakout sessions, breakout sessions, eat up a lot of time. They really do. And they’re great for you if you need to take a break and talk to your team, they’re great for you if you need to do a bio break. I mean there’s strategy for why you have breakout sessions in certain places as well.
[20:30] Ellen: Why do they always feel like they’re too short Breakout rooms always feel like they’re too short.
[20:36] Ken: Because sometimes, maybe they are, or sometimes you get lost.
Ellen: What do you think is a good length?
Ken: Depends. Depends on what you’re trying to do. You know, I can have a breakout session that’s an hour if people are doing something in a workshop scenario. If, for example, if someone needs to tell their story and it’s a five-minute story, then four people at five minutes a piece is twenty minutes, and then they need time for the debrief.
And then that’s debrief within the breakout session potentially. And then there’s the debrief with the entire group. And your breakout session time will vary. If you have a small group, your breakouts may be different. If you have a big group, you may choose to say, “Okay, four people, two minutes, a piece that’s eight minutes versus ten people, three minutes a piece, which is thirty minutes” So, you can decide how long you want that session to go for your own needs.
[21:26] Ellen: I guess also it would matter on how many, obviously people that you had in the overall event. And then you could also figure out how many
Ken: Oh yeah, yeah.
Ellen: Depending on what you wanted to do, how much time you would need given the number of people.
[21:38] Ken: Once you get past ten people, now you can start running breakout rooms anyway you want. Ten people means three groups of three and one group of four, five groups of two. If you want to go do dyads. So, it really depends on what you want to achieve. You can just have one breakout, two breakups to five. And the two breakouts of five at two minutes a piece is what? That’s ten minutes of the breakout, plus your debrief.
So, you can factor in A. What did they need to process the information to get their message to each other? B what do you need in terms of your break? Because it does give you a little bit of a break. It allows you to step back if you need to talk to your team.
Think about this, if you’re doing this at home and all of a sudden, your kid does something that needs your immediate attention for whatever reason, right? Let’s go into a breakout, dah, dah, dah, great, “Honey, what did you just do?” and now you’re trying to fix it. Cause we’re doing this stuff typically from home., So, breakouts truly are a gift to you and a gift to your audience. And it does bring together a community.
So, I teach all the strategy behind that. So, you know what to do and why. And it’s like, “Okay, I got to fill this spot.” I got thirty-six minutes to fill. Why thirty-six? Cause I take it down to the minute. I take your run of show ROS down to the minute just as television does. If you take a look at any kind of TV station, they have it down to the second because they can’t afford dead air.
[22:59]: And when you’re running your own show, and your program is a show, then you’ve got to dial it in to where you are. Now we go long a lot cause I can get windy. And, and my production team, I’ve got a production team that I bring in. They’re like “Ken, land, the plane. Shut up, Ken, we got to go, sponsors are ready, shut up, bring it down.” And we do that. And it’s the same thing.
And when it’s no different than if we were in a convention hall in a meeting room and the team in the back of the room is saying, “Stop” you know, they got the signs, “Ten minutes left, five minutes left, stop.” Same thing.
This is really no different other than, for example, when I have an event, I have a concierge that I hire because I live alone. I don’t have a family here. So, where you guys, maybe your spouse, roommate, whatever, kids can hold up timers to you, whatever. I don’t have that. So, I bring in a friend and it depends like who’s the lucky person that wants to be up all night because I do it from Australia and they communicate via Facebook messenger or WhatsApp by phone. “Tell him this”; he’ll pass me a note or whatever. Or it’s like, “Tell him to go long” or, “Stop because the next speaker is in place,” or whatever. So, I do have that in place. You never alone is the point.
And I make it a point that you feel comfortable with what you’re doing. So that way your audience will be inspired. Here’s a big tip, Ellen, you don’t really want to produce your events yourself. You want a team to do it with you, for you, so you can focus on this relationship with the camera, with the audience, rather than “What do I do next?”
I wanna be able to say, “Listen, here’s the breakout session, CJ, we’re going to have five people, two minutes a piece,” boom. And then I tell the audience. So now while I’m giving instructions, CJ setting up the breakout room. The last thing you want to do if you’re doing it on the fly is go, “Okay, I’m going to do a breakout.” And now you’re, you’re looking down at your laptop, you’re programming it out while the audience is there. And it’s like, no need for that. Let the pros manage it for you.
And depending upon what your end result is going to be, it will make you money, not cost you money. Because if you think about it, if you have say a $10,000 program, if you can convert one extra person you paid for your production team, you know?
So, I look at how can you have a better experience for you as a presenter, as a producer of your own event, rather than get all wrapped up in the drama of this. And the last thing you want to do is look at customer support. “I can’t lock in.” That’s not your thing. Your job is
Ellen: Right. You can’t be doing all that.
[23:30] Ken: Yeah, your job is to have them fall in love with you, deliver the best content that you can so that you generate the results that you want. And at the end of the day, for what most people want is money; they want to sell their program.
And we talk about enrollment and not sales cause sales can have kind of a creepy connotation. But by the time I’m done with you, you’re going to know how to have your audience fall in love with you, so that when you say, “Listen, if I leave you without inviting you to do something further, I will be discounting you and me. If you want to go further with us and take this to the next level, here’s how we can do it.” It’s a simple transition if you know what your big why is, if you know that you really have value that people can benefit from, which for so many of us, we operate from this imposter thing. “Oh, I’m not worth it.” Wrong. You are worth far more than you even give yourself credit for, and your friends and your clients know that.
[26:22] Ellen: Well, I’ll tell you something. I’m sure you’ve heard this. And I’m sure you believe this too, but that the whole idea that you are what? the result of the five people you hang out with.
Ken: Yep. Yep. Yep. Well, one of the things that I realized last year, a by-product of me taking some high, not high-end, they weren’t really high-end courses, they were medium medium-sized courses, but with high-revenue mentors was it absolutely changed my ability to change what I charge.
Ken Absolutely.
Ellen: I mean, I was already charging a good amount, but I mean, it just took it like three times higher for a new product
Ken: For real.
Ellen: Because I saw, “Wow, other people are doing this. I’m worth as much as they are.”
[27:07] Ken: Easily. And I’ll tell you, one of the big takeaways that people have from my program is that they end up charging more, significantly more, and it changes their entire vision of who they are.
Michelle Hollis went from, she figured was $2,000 was her value for her programming went to $15,000 from two to 15, eight times, seven and a half times. And when she made the pitch, they were like, “That’s fair. Okay. I’ll get it.”
Ellen: Isn’t that great? Isn’t that great? You know, when I doubled the price of my number one bestseller launches a couple of years ago, it was because a client said to me,
“You’re not charging enough. You need to double your price.”
Ken: Oh, for sure.
Ellen: “Okay.” And I doubled my price.
[27:48] Ken: Yeah, absolutely. I tell people “Double your price, but not for me.”
Ellen: Yeah. Right. Exactly.
Ken: Olivia Whiteman, she was like, “My offer is $49.” I’m like, “No, it’s not.” She’s now at $900. That’s an 18 X increase and she’s still working it. Nine-hundred dollars is not a lot of money in the scheme of things. And then for those that it is a lot of money, we need to talk. But it’s not a lot of money, but for her to go from $49 to $900 was a gigantic stretch cause she was in the healing arts.
Ellen: Oh yeah.
Ken: And in the healing arts, for whatever reason, their culture there, they seem to be taught that poverty is godly. No.
[28:27] Ellen: It’s not just that, it’s that you’re healing people, they’re sick. And a lot of them aren’t working and yeah, it’s a whole thing. And I’m a certified massage therapist, so I’ve been in that world. So I know.
Ken: Yeah. It’s unfortunate. But if you’re the top cardiologist in New York, you don’t do it for $47. You do it for $47,000 and you’re worth it. And you just try to offer financing or whatever. But because of someone else’s price, and I don’t want to sound mercenary here, but their problem is not yours. Your value is your value. You’re going to change their lives. And if they want it bad enough, they’ll pay for it. They’ll find the money.
How do I know that? Cause I have; I have borrowed… begged, borrowed, and stolen to get onto people’s programs that I knew would shift my life. And I’ve had people that have done the same thing to be in my programs as well. And guess what? The more motivated they are, the better they succeed. Daymond John wrote a book called The Power of Broke and there’s massive power in being broke.
[29:22]: Because if you’re motivated to change your life, you will do what it takes. “Oh. But wait Ken.” “No, no. If your two-year-old daughter, the love of your life, if you don’t have one, pretend you did, suddenly was ill with some life-threatening disease and needed surgery and it cost you a hundred grand or she would die in two weeks or two days, would you find the money? Yes you would. So, all this poverty stuff is all the story I call it BS, bad story. So, it’s not me being difficult, it’s me being real. And we seem to, in our culture, be masters of excuses, but all that matters are results.
[30:00] Ellen: I think it’s also, if you’ve been in poverty or you’ve been broke, I won’t even say poverty and so, you don’t have the money, you think other people don’t have the money.
Ken: Yeah.
Ellen: But the truth is there’re always people out there who have the money and the real problem is that people don’t understand who their ideal market is and then put themselves in the position to be in front of those people who have the money to pay them.
Ken: That’s a great distinction, Ellen and you’re right.
Ellen: I know, cause I’ve, I’ve been there, that’s how I know.
Ken: Right. Me too. At fifty-something years old, I don’t want even say this, but I was living on my mom’s couch. I lost the house. I lost the cars. I lost all of it when the crash, like ten, whatever years ago. And I ended up having a heart attack overall because of all the stress, because I had millions of dollars that was gone, just evaporated, millions of dollars. And so, I know what it’s like to be broke. Multiple times in fact.
Ellen: Well, most of us do, most of us have been there.
[30:59] Ken: So, when I come out strong, like a ton of bricks is saying, “You can do that.” It’s like, “Yeah, cause I’ve done it multiple times”. So, when I get that, “Oh no, it’s, don’t give me the victim stuff. I don’t buy victim stuff anymore.” Because if you have a clear desire, that is that serious to get done, you will find a way to get it done. I don’t care what disability you have. I don’t care what obstacle you have. None of that matters what matters is the result. And there are those that are in worse shape than you that have made it work. So, I don’t want to hear the story about why you can’t. I want to hear how you can. And that’s the question.
Ellen: Right. That question is very powerful. Yeah. Asking yourself at that way.
Ken: The question is, “How can I?” Yeah, that’s the question you ask and then things open. So, I’m not being like, “Oh God, he’s really…” No, I’m not being difficult. I’m being real because my goal is for people to succeed. So, when people are in my room, they’re almost forced to succeed because I won’t let them be less than who they can be, because I see them; you can’t escape from me.
When you get into my, like, for example, if you’re approved into my high-end Safari program, which is an approval-only program, I tell them it’s not a teaching, it’s a doing program. We do stuff. We get you to build your events. You are going to make money or you’re out. You’re going to do it because this is to me, that’s the best type of education anyway.
And so, we teach a lot, but it’s within the framework of “How do we get your event built? How do we get you making money cause now it’s relevant.” Last thing I want you to do is here’s how you do a Facebook ad. Well, it doesn’t matter until you actually do the Facebook ad.
[32:32] Ellen: Right, yeah. So, you know how to do it in theory, but you never know what the results are going to be until you get the results.
Ken: So, yesterday, for example, we did a seven-hour deep dive program as a bonus session to these guys. And it was all about how they originate their next event from all the different pieces that they need to have considered before they launch. And because they’re all in that stage of launch mode and it’s like, “Oh wow, great.” And now they know; it’s very, very clear.
So, as you do your events, make them relevant to people today, not in the future, but today where their pain is today,
Ellen: Right.
Ken: Because then they’ll buy your program when? Today. And by the way, none of this is unique to digital, right? If we were in a …
[33:15] Ellen: Well, then why do digitals perform? I read where you said digital events perform better than physical ones.
Ken: Significantly.
Ellen: Why?
Ken: Significantly, less expense. Think about what you don’t pay. Oh and by the way, there is another level of intimacy, which I’ll dial into a second, but we don’t have to pay for airfare to go to the hotel. And by the way, that’s airfare for you and your team. You don’t have to rent a ballroom. You don’t have to pay for catering. You don’t have to pay for a, a production team onsite. You don’t pay for security, your staff at the hotel. You don’t need that anymore. None of that, right? Hotel rooms for you and your team also, you don’t have the risk of not filling a room block.
And also guess what? You don’t have to book a room, ballroom six to eight months or years in advance, depending upon the size of your event. You don’t have any of that to deal with you say, “Hey, let’s do an event. What date do we want? Okay, perfect. Let’s go.” Done.
The only production team you need is if you hire a team and that’s going to cost you a few thousand dollars versus tens of thousands of dollars for the multiple cameras and all the different parts of that; you don’t need that. So, and there’s no catering, there’s no hotel, there’s no transportation, there’s no food costs, none of that.
[34:19] Ellen: How much time do you need to prepare one? What do you tell people they should have?
Ken: You know, I tell my people to figure six to eight weeks. That’s what I look for, sixty days, because you don’t need to go long. And really the time you need for that is to fill the room, is to get your tickets sold.
Ellen: Right, right.
Ken: So, I’ve had people that have put events together in ten days.
Ellen: Wow.
Ken: And done millions. Yeah. I know one person, he sold his thousand-dollar program or $2000 after that. Two weeks later, he did like $3 million. He had a thousand people. Yeah.
Ellen: On my God.
Ken: Now I’m not telling you to do $3 million. What I’m saying is if you have an audience that’s responsive, you can run an event in a couple of weeks, in a couple of days, frankly. But I want you to plan it first. Right? So, the planning and getting it dialed in right for your event, a couple of weeks for that as a minimum, right? Just to make sure everything’s in place. And if you have guest speakers or whatever.
But realistically I planned events in two days, not big numbers, but for my audience, I can run that easily. I got the camera, I got the lights, I got the mic and I know the content, you know? So, and for all of your authors, think about this. If you’re an author and you’re doing non-fiction, you already have your course.
[35:33] Ellen: Right. I was going to say that earlier. Yeah. I’m glad you brought that up.
Ken: Go through your table of contents. Done.
Ellen: Absolutely.
Ken: And here’s another trick, if your book’s not done it, and I’m not sure if you teach this, Ellen, but if you want to kind of figure out what’s the best way to get your book done, go pull the Amazon bestsellers, take the Top 10, look at the table of contents, and guess what? That’s what people are buying. Gee whiz now you know your topic.
[35:56] Ellen: No, I don’t teach it that way, but yeah.
Ken: Well, some people do and I’m not sure that that’s the right way, but that’s another strategy.
[36:04] Ellen: Well, I’m hoping that they’re having something in there that’s unique to them. That it’s not just what other people are doing.
Ken: Absolutely. Absolutely. But that’s what the market’s buying is my point.
Ellen: Right, right.
Ken: So, now you know what some minimum deliverables probably should be. You got to add your secret sauce otherwise who are you?, Otherwise, you’re just vanilla. I want you to be Tutti Frutti. You’ve got to embrace your inner crazy. That’s what people are buying. If you’re a Ford Taurus. No, Uh-uh. I need for you to be your own..
Ellen: (Laugh) You just crack me up.
Ken: Channel your inner Maserati.
Ellen: Yes, yes, yes.
[36:42] Ken: Yes. That’s what you’ve got to do. And if you really are a crazy person, then great, be that crazy person, cause that’s what people are going to buy.
Ellen: Yeah. The only one you can do is you; just do it.
Ken: Dr. Seuss said many years ago, “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”
Ellen: Yeah.
Ken: So, yeah.
[36:57] Ellen: Well, we spend the first part of our life trying to fit in, and then we spend the rest of it trying to figure out why we did that and how to not do that.
[37:05] Ken: And we can get into what the parents all do and well, guess what? They were wrong. And that’s what makes you unique. Right? And that’s the important thing. So, we celebrate that, make that work, people buy that, people resonate with me for me and it works. Right? And when it’s a love affair between you and your audience, you’re never working again.
Think about this, if people are resonating with you because of your inner wackiness, which is also why I love you, Ellen. Right? And you resonate with them, are you ever working? No, because you love who you’re with.
Ellen: Right.
Ken: I did, for example, I said, I did seven hours yesterday with my high-end people. It went like this (snap of fingers). It was like, “Oh my God.”
Ellen: Right. Well, that’s called being in the flow. Yeah.
Ken: Yeah. And it’s a joy and it just goes together magically. That’s the difference. So, digital versus physical, the beautiful thing about digital is… come here, come here, let’s talk. I can get so close to you right now. (He moves up into the camera) Right? In this physical, if you’ve got 300 people in the auditorium, for example, people in the back row, they’re hiding and you can’t see them, they’re hiding.
Ellen: Yeah, they’re hiding.
Ken: You can’t see them. Here, I’m like right here with you. And I see you in your house and I can call you out. It’s just so much more, to me, so much more intimate than doing the hotel thing.
[38:23] Ellen: You can go on and on about this, but we have to wrap this up.
Ken: Oh my God. See, we’re in the flow and already we’re at seven.
[38:29] Ellen: I know. I know. Yeah. So, any last tips, anything you want to say before we go, we really do have to wrap it up (inaudible).
Ken: Let’s wrap it up. We did talk about a special gift you wanted to give your people. Should we tell them what it is?
Ken: You’re going to get a seat to Pride, a $2,000 event, which sold out last summer at $2,000, you get to come for free as my guest. Now there’s one little caveat.*
We send you a swag box of amazing stuff that you will keep forever. I can tell you that. I’m known for having the best wagon, the business. It costs us $47, sorry, $49 to get it delivered to you in the continental US, right in the U.S. period. So, you cover that it’s yours.
If you are overseas or in Canada or whatever, you’ll cover the shipping to that. So, basically cover the cost of our swag and shipping and you’re in for free, you’re in as my special guest.
Ellen: Wow.
Ken: Yeah. It’s my gift to you, Ellen.
Ellen: That’s amazing!
Ken: Yeah. It’s great. And see, once you have the book written, then what you want to promote it, and you want to promote it through your events.
Ellen: Yes.
Ken: If you have the book, you can use the book to fill your events. You can use the books as a window to your high-ticket offer. It’s big.
Ellen: That’s very cool.
Ken: That’s very big.
[40:42] Ellen: That is a great combination, everybody. So definitely. Yeah. If you’re ready to do it, let’s do it.
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