Built to Last (Celebrating 100 episodes)

Narrator 0:00
You’re listening to the All systems go podcast, the show that teaches you everything you need to know to put your business on autopilot. Learn how to deploy automated marketing and sale systems in your business the right way. With your host, the professor of automation himself and founder of automation bridge, Chris Davis.

Chris Davis 0:31
Welcome to the All systems go podcast. I’m your host, Chris L. Davis, founder and chief automation Officer of automation bridge, where retrain digital marketing professionals, how to automate their marketing and sales, first for themselves, then for their clients. And we call these types of professionals, automation service providers, and if you would like to determine if you would make a good automation service provider, we have a quiz, a quick assessment that you can take and it will give you the results and next steps. You can take that quiz at automationbridge.com/ASP, I have to be honest, I’m extremely excited we’re at this is a milestone episode. Okay, and I’m trying to contain myself if you haven’t, if you can’t hear it in my voice, and I’m trying to stick to my script, alright. But I’m gonna give myself the freedom to get excited at any point. All right. So if you’re new to the podcast, make sure you do me a favor, listen to this episode in its entirety. And when you’re done, make sure that you subscribe and rate give a five star rating and review to the podcast. I always want people to know what they’re getting into. While I would love everybody to just go smash the subscribe button, I want you to do it in an informed, informed manner. Okay, if you are listening to the podcast and just have not subscribed yet, I don’t know what you’re waiting for. Come on, join the family of listeners. You can find the All systems go podcast and Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, you can subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast we are there. And as I mentioned, I need to jump right into it. I’m excited. Listen, am I the only person that has to remind themselves to celebrate themselves, I hope I’m not the only one because if you’re like me, you’re focused on the task at hand and one that’s complete. It’s on to the next and on to the next and on to the next. And while that may be admirable. In terms of achievements and accolades. It also you run the risk of selling yourself short of celebration. Okay, so in this episode, I want to commemorate myself. On the achievement of 100 episodes. Yes, if you haven’t seen the title of this podcast, this is the 100th episode. And this means more this is not my first time making it to 100 episodes, I was the creator and sole host of the Active Campaign podcast and was able to bring that to beyond 100 episodes as well. But this, this meant more to me this meant more to me and I’ll share with you why and how and what I also want to do is kind of give you some insight on how the sausage is made give you a peek behind the curtains of the production of this podcast, and how just how I’ve been able to be so consistent. Again, this is not my first time extremely consistent 100 episodes we have not missed a week everybody look at the publishing date, seven days apart of every single publishing seven days apart 100 episodes it’s almost two years consistently with pre COVID during COVID post COVID. So I thought it would be appropriate to entitle this episode built to last. Right? That’s what this that’s what this podcast is. That’s what my approach to life is, is especially professionally in business is that we build things to last So let me start by saying this let me start by saying longevity has its place. And these are the wise words spoken from the from the great Dr. King in his final speech in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968. Just 24 hours before his his assassination. In though he was speaking with great trepidation and projection and prophetically really about the finality of life though he didn’t know 24 hours it would be it. But you know through the death threats and just his relationship with God and what he had understood life to be. He knew that I will not be here with you all as long as I want To be, he wanted to be here much longer, of course.

Chris Davis 5:05
But those words have always stuck with me and they still ring true for anything strong enough to endure the test of time is that longevity does have its place, right. And anything that indoor such a time testing only comes with intention in preparation. And it’s with a similar intention in preparation that I created this podcast not not for a moment, not for fun, not for just something to do. But to last. So honor Dr. King in those words, as as they have guided me through my career, and just knowing that I’m not building this thing for the moment, just for one time use just for quick hit. building this thing to last This podcast is built to last and to endure the test of time is an achievement because it gets the best of us, Father time is undefeated. undefeated, right, but simply put, this podcast is built to last. And by that I mean, not just by me being consistent, but the content itself, I believe the content that has been created and will be created will retain its value if not increase over time. It will live beyond me. Mainly mainly because what you hear on this podcast is battle tested, proven practices that work and will continue to work Once applied accurately. It’s like that classic album, right? You just you it doesn’t matter what year, you pull it out. There’s some songs that my parents grew up to. They grew up on, and I listened to it. And it It impacts me I’m like, man isn’t good music, right? I believe pure content can stand the test of time. And this podcast, this is pure content. And by consistently producing pure content. It’s going to last but but what goes into that production? How do you build something to last? How do you do? consistency is more than just a decision to be consistent. Right? We can say that there are so many people that want to be consistent. I want to consistently send email, I want to consistently generate leads, I want to consistently consistently generate sales. I want to consistently work out whatever the case is, consistency seems to elude A lot of us. And what I want to do is speak specifically to business. And even more to this podcast on consistency and longevity. And talk through the three lessons I’ve learned from building a podcast for longevity twice, by the way, right? I just want to give you the three things that have guided me and have helped me and in doing so I’m going to also as I mentioned, pull back the curtain and let you guys see the inside the inner workings of things. All right. So the first thing is you need a system. This goes without saying on a podcast such as this, you need a systematic way to produce your results. Okay. The system that I use is a pipeline. The pipeline exists in air table and it’s integrated with Active Campaign. And what it allows me to do is capture leads now actually, let me let me give you all my technology, why not? It’s the 100th episode, let’s celebrate with me, will you so I like I use jot form as my form capture software that allows me to get all the information about a guest that I need to be able to make an informed decision. Okay, so one one URL I can send people to now I am doing some

Chris Davis 9:06
conditional display and some automation in the backend of the form itself. That’s an entire different episodes. But long story short, what that form allows me to do is quickly approve people who come in pre fit and pre determined and it allows me to add people to the queue that I need to go and really vet a little more those people are added to the to air table database and I’m able to just simply look at their record and select the drop down that says hey, approved or not, and it’s a single select drop down once I once I hit approved, then that triggers all all types of automation in Active Campaign to send them a link to schedule. Of course when they schedule, it goes to my acuity calendar and when they do that, not only is you know the event added to my calendar But it also triggers something back in air table to let to notify that it has been scheduled. Okay, so that’s the front end and when in, I used to use an Active Campaign for when I was at Active Campaign. But in doing so I lost the ability for dynamic fields and pre population to start automation earlier. So that’s why I left Active Campaign to use job form. So many of you may be pushing native forms and your CRM to the limit, I would highly suggest you look at web form software. Again, I probably am due for an entire episode on job form in the way that I use it. It’s absolutely the strongest form building software that I know of on mine. I’m a longtime user, and they’ve just gotten really good in the last couple of years. But that’s that’s a, that’s some insight into the scheduling process. Now, everything that I mentioned, I’m only involved in reviewing my air table database, and saying, Yes, that’s it. The to get somebody to capture somebody’s information and get them to show up, the muscle required from me is one click of a button in the air table database that says approved. Okay, so that process, I can get you all the way to being on the podcast, pretty much hands off. And by the way, approved me selecting approved is only for those who don’t come pre approved, I have an entire separate air table that generates links for pre approved guests that when they click the link and go visit that page, it sends them down a different path. And I don’t have to touch anything. Right? My effort then is to create the link to send them prior to scheduling. So either way, I’ve got one task to do, and everything else is handled and you show up, show up well prepared. Now let me let me go into the next point. So the first one was you need a system, you need a systematic way to produce results. You know this, this is the All systems go podcast. You do that? Okay. Second is you need a team don’t shoot, don’t you dare? Don’t you dare do what I did. In the beginning, when I was at Active Campaign, doing my first podcast ever. I said, Oh, let me figure out how to do it all. Do not I repeat, do not do such anything that requires you to run it will usually run you into the ground. That’s that’s just what it is. So don’t be tempted to do things are yourself in the beginning and take pride in it. Like Yes, that’s me, I did this, that that approach doesn’t scale. individualism is the enemy of scale. Okay, when we launch our individual efforts, and when we say I’m a solopreneur, and I’m doing it all, all I hear when people say that is I won’t scale. The money I’m making now is probably all the money I’ll ever make. Okay, but instead, you need to build a capable team that can do what you know how to do, and not better than you. Now watch this better, does not mean better quality. I think people get it twisted. And nobody can do it better than me. You don’t focus on quality, you focus on the total product and the process. Did you hear me better is not about the quality. It’s about the total product in the process. Right better means more consistently and reliably. It doesn’t matter if you’re the greatest

Chris Davis 13:56
writer, right? If if you if you write the greatest content, if there’s no way for you to produce it consistently and reliably. Right, then it doesn’t matter how great you are on anything. If it all requires you, you’re going to get burned out at some point, you’re going to get tired. It just is what it is. And that’s why it doesn’t last. That’s why you tap out. Because you’re focused on I can do this thing better. I can build this landing page better than my VA. I can write these emails better. It’s not about the individual efforts, the individual resources that you can create. It’s about the process, the people in it in the product. You have to think bigger. And I see this common, this common mistake made by entrepreneurs who are used to just doing I have to say it’s time to transition from doing and not just delegating. I think that’s a nother kind of cliche don’t do delegate, right? No, it’s time to really start to honor that the true power is in the process is really in the process a, you may need to tweak the process in which you’re using to produce what you need, I had to do the same for for me, when I was at Active Campaign, I was the main producer, not by choice more by force, they were just like, hey, look, I’m not going to give you resource for whatever reason. And when I did have resources, they were removed after just when I was getting comfortable. So I built an unhealthy muscle of learning how to do all of this myself, Now watch this. I use automation to the utmost to do it. But even at that, I would not recommend it. Right? So watch this when I was there, you of course, I’m an Active Campaign. So I have to use Active Campaign to do my pocket. So I built a pipeline. And I’m moving things through stages, because it only requires me to move things and things are triggering, sending people stuff and blah, blah, blah, right? Every time I move a deal to a new stage is triggering, and automation, everything else, right. However, when I started my podcast for myself, I realized that that was that’s not ideal. I don’t want somebody to have to log into active campaigns and move stuff around. cannot do that in air table. Right? And an air table gives me more flexibility. I have more fields, I can capture more data we can collaborate, if there’s a question, right? So this represents me moving from individualism. I can publish a podcast to how can we publish a podcast? So now, air table becomes the central pipeline. And it’s integrated with Slack, and email. So when stuff happens in air table, I can send a slack message. And guess what, there’s a link in that slack message that takes you right to the record in air table. So I’ve learned that I need to build a process that people involved, one can be interchangeably, but they can jump in and jump out of the process. Right? So you see me moving from individualism to a team based approach, changes the tools that I use, changes how I use the tools.

Chris Davis 17:52
Right? So one of the things that I I was talking about when you’re talking you need a system is the scheduling process. Well, guess what, if it’s a guest, on the show, what will happen is, you know, I’ve got various views in an air table based on the status, right, so scheduled, you know, ready to send, ready to send the notes, recorded, post production, all of these things, right. So I have a view for any time somebody is coming on to the podcast. Remember, this is the collaborative nature, I have a custom field that allows me to type in, this is what I want to talk about with this individual. If I haven’t connected with them prior to, right, this is what I want to talk about. If I’ve connected with them prior to that link that I generate for them, it will pre populate the job form. And I’ve got an entire air table database, I just enter all the information in it produces the link, I send the link, when they click the link and get to the job form all of their information is in what we’ll cover is already filled in and literally all they need to do is enter a few things and then boom, they can schedule. But in the event that’s not the case, when somebody scheduled some time, I need to figure out what we’re going to talk about, well, I can just pull up the record, make a note in a field and air table and once that note is filled in that record now appears at another view and air table that that lets my my podcast manager know, we can send this file we can now send this document to this person so that they can prep so that they can prep for the for the podcast. And Cassie is my podcast producers name she’ll get she’ll get that notification and then send the email is a Google Doc copy and paste some stuff in there. Those of you who are listening to this after the private video that I just did in the accelerator, my automation accelerator folks, you know that by the time you listen to this, I’m probably already venturing down the path of autogenerate that document and emailing it. Just Just because I can’t just because I figured out a process on how to automate dynamic, the how to automate the creation of dynamic documents, right? What another reason why you really need to be connected and stop playing with this this automation stuff come come get you some real training, right? So anyway, so So now Cassie does that and then the note document goes out to the guest, the guest sees Oh, this is what we’re talking about. They show up informed, I show up in form, we record this thing and it’s in its magic, right? You’ve seen it, you’ve listened to the, to the podcast, right? So you need a team? You definitely need a team is if if I did it, could I do it? Yes. But the quality that we produce together? Can I send the document? Just like Cassie Yes? Can Can I go in and, you know, update some post production things? And maybe I can even write the copy better? Could I? Potentially Yes. But guess what, I can’t do it consistently and reliably. I get tired. That stuff burns me out. I can’t do the whole production. So then I fall back is Cassie, the quality of output? Is it mine? Like? What is it that different? It’s not. But guess what? by empowering people and allowing them to build their own muscle, I actually prefer when she writes the summaries then when I do it. So holistically, it’s an improvement. Right, we’re all, we all have our corner of the table to hold up. And we’re all strong in that aspect. So you can put much more on the table, much more consistent experience with that table, instead of it being all on my back. And remember, we’re talking about lasting everybody. individualism does not last, if you’re going to build something to last, you need a process that your team can leverage easily in an ongoing fashion. Right. So lastly, I said you need a system said you need a team. And then third is you need to learn how to use both to get things done. And I’ve I’ve already shown you some of that, how I’m using systems and teams. But I would like to say that this is really all about leadership and growth on your part. Okay, most people are comfortable doing it all themselves, or, or doing things in a way only they can.

Chris Davis 22:48
I think they’re both very limiting. They’re a very small approach, right? If you’re doing something in your business, and it’s like, only I can do this, you’re limiting yourself. And the question I would ask is, why? Why can only you do that? And the answer to that question I’ll tell you right now is because all the logic is in my mind, and nobody has ever taken the time to extract it. And once you start extracting people’s logic, they start looking at it, like, I don’t know why I’m doing that. It’s the danger, right? It’s the danger of keeping it all in your head. And this is an achievement, oh, I I’m the only one in my business, I can do this. That’s not an achievement. It’s a setback. And you have to learn how to not just rally the troops, but to provide an environment they can thrive and this is all leadership stuff. This is all empowering your people understanding their strengths and weaknesses. so that you know where to place them in the process. right because what what it turns into is instead of automation assisting the humans, right, the humans are the main people and automation is just here to help no we flip it and humans are now assisting the automation. Automation is doing the core of the heavy lift. And then humans just come in and do what they need to when they need to come in only when they’re summoned right for a moment automation summons people hey I need you to do some real quick so I can keep going Can you hurry up all right click that button for me. You got a great now I got the rest Get out of here. Right being summoned for the moment and then let automation run its course. But it can’t be built for just you around you or or how you do it. This has been hard for me everybody because I didn’t realize how much of an individual I was operating as you know the way that I took notes. It wasn’t shareable. The the the way that I come up with ideas and sometimes create things. It was not scalable. Like, I’ve found myself leaving my team on outside Hey Chris, what are we doing here? So I had to figure out how do I write blog posts? How do I get podcast published? How do I get landing pages built? How do I do all of these things different because I know how to do it

Chris Davis 25:18
how do I do it differently? And again this podcast is an example is one of my core achievements you know of doing things different so that they will last. I’m thinking of you all. You don’t want you don’t want to edgy sketchy podcast. Oh, well, he dropped one episode this weekend, I guess. Hopefully next week, oh, I had to wait a month for the next one. There’s people who publish podcasts like that. But I can’t tell you the amount of people who have told me how much they appreciate how much they appreciate the consistency and I’ll be honest, this this was only given to me through frustration and pain. And I’ve mentioned it a couple times already at Active Campaign I started out being the sole producer and then I hired help and I had helped us Ooh, this is good being able to hand it off and I had to massage my process Now granted, since one man Active Campaign everybody has access to the same account so I didn’t have the issue of not having it all in Active Campaign because I didn’t want people to log in all employees had access anyway so it just made sense to do the pipeline inactive campaign and by the way if you’re not using webform technology that can do some segmentation and automation on the front end what I had to do is capture the same information and just let him eat the logic in an automation do it but it required people to check their email so whether they were immediately approved or not they had to check their email to find out when you can put that type of logic and automation in the form the next page the thank you page for people who are approved just let’s move on okay that was just a note that I meant to mention earlier so anyway I started out as as the sole producer and then I get help now help was just like oh my goodness I can now like what what it was taking me to do one or two podcasts that same amount of time I can produce like 10 So those of you who saw me speaking at events wow publishing a podcast it’s mainly because I had a queue of podcasts from when I had help and it wasn’t until I was out speaking doing these study halls that you know, he shall remain nameless removed remove my resource for whatever reason and now I’m back to having to publish it all myself so I had to go and lean on that muscle again simplify things as much as possible but what happened everybody I was exposed I was exposed that is better together I that was the time where I was like man I’m never doing this on my own again ever. So I’m thankful for that ignorant and painful experience right ignorant on the part of why would you pull resources from something that’s working painful for me because it was just like man oh my gosh, this is how do I do this and travel and it just made me have to automate more. But I’m thankful for it because I gave me a different appreciation for including people in the process and building process with people in mind not just leads and money and all of that right. So this is what goes into producing the podcast I haven’t talked about the post production the boss the post production is fairly hands off for me and it migrates from air table and Active Campaign and job form and all that to click up click up as our project management space. And once it goes in there Oh man, it’s just smooth like butter. How it how it gets done, I mean it it is exemplary. And we set up the same thing as statuses, another pipeline post production pipeline that Cassie manages for me and and it’s it’s magical. It’s it’s in sync. It’s the Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, right, it’s that, man, I don’t even need to say it, you just know. Okay. There’s a little insight on his podcast. And in the three reminders, I’m constantly telling myself, for those of you who are listening is like, Yes, I need to do this, I need to do this three things. I tell myself all the time. It’s bigger than you. It takes more than you and it can’t need you. It’s bigger than you. It takes more than you and it can’t need you. It’s this approach that brought me to 100 episodes twice now again, and it’s going to take me far beyond but my longevity everyone the longevity that Dr. Kane talks about it has its place. Its place is here with this podcast. It means nothing without you listening. So thanks are definitely In order for the 100th episode, if I miss out on something charged to my heart, not my mind, I want to thank every single person that has listened to a single minute,

Chris Davis 30:11
a single minute of any episode of this podcast, thank you. For every guest that has taken the time to provide the valuable insights. Thank you for taking the time and sharing freely. For my amazing bike. as manager Cassie, I’ve mentioned many times that keeps things flowing so smoothly. Thank you, for every marketer that has is and will be enrolled in my automation service provider program. Thank you, you don’t understand how greatly needed you are in the sessions that we have, where I’m teaching and revealing things that I’m doing, providing templates, helping you get that first send that first proposal higher amounts than you’ve ever sent, raising your prices, but all doing the provision of that service and excellence it’s that that learning journey that I see you go on that helps me that keeps me sharper on every single one of these episodes. So thank you, for every client. Every client that I’ve worked with this year and beyond going forward and in the past on Thank you, you are my sword sharpening. Okay, I don’t I do not I’m at a place where I do not test on clients. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that but everything that I do for client is proven so every time I get to do something proven it gets better and better and better and now I get to take my automation service providers with me so they get better and better and better. Everyone in the private in the automation bridge private community Thank you. We we talk about tools, we we share wins, we get private trainings in there like it is it is a community like no other. And I just want you to know I appreciate you thank you for every single time you log in, thank you for every time you post something, Comment, like all of that, I would be remiss oh my goodness, I can’t I I actually need to pause I can’t think anybody else anymore without first thanking my wife for blessing the intro of this podcast if you guys didn’t know that is my wife. Welcome to the all systems go podcast. That’s my wife. So thank you, and I love you. The support that she continually gives me, it’s in everything that I do. And I’m glad I’m excited to put our presence on it. All right. And for every person that has shared an episode in any capacity, whether you have quoted me and not giving me attribution, took the word on your own or shared it. There’s people who share these podcasts with their there’s professors that share with their class, there’s teachers they’ve shared. There’s there’s groups and organizations that listen to it together. Thank you. I can’t say thank you enough. Okay, I hope you all can hear the appreciation. And I also hope that you understand how I built this podcast to last. And what I want you to do is approach your business like that. I really do. I want you to approach your business to say, hey, how can I build this thing to last? Let me not let me not rally the troops for a temporary time for a quick win. How do I win? Forever, right? So though this is a major accomplishment is still honestly it feels like I’m just getting started. It really does. It feels like I’m just finding my flow. I’ve got so many more ideas that require more people. And I’m okay with that. Right. And I’m personally personally looking forward to figuring out to figure out guests, and whatever else. Right? What I mean is I’m looking forward to future guests. future content, future optimizations of the podcast and whatever else it brings. Because whatever we do, whatever we do with this podcast, we’re doing it for longevity. So you just know, if you want to know what day of the week it is. Look at what Wait did an awesome go podcast come out. If it did you know as Thursday, you can set your clock and your watch to this consistency. And my hope for you is that you take some of what I’ve shown you in my podcast production and you can apply it to your business your approach and build that thing to last. It deserves it. It deserves to be here while you’re here not stressing you out and it does Sara is to live on when you’re not.

Chris Davis 35:04
Okay? So build it to last in tell me this who needs to hear this? Who needs that reminder that Hey, get out of it. Step back, let other people come in and help. Make sure you share this with them. If you found value in today’s episode and you’re not subscribed, make sure you subscribe now and leave a five star rating and review. Here at automation bridge. We’re dedicated if you can’t see it, if you I know you see it, and I know you fill it. We’re dedicated to training digital marketers, and teaching them how to implement automated marketing and sales systems. We call them automation service providers. This is this is what small businesses are in dire need. They’re starting to realize digital marketing is not marketing automation. I need a different skill set. I need higher efficiency. They need this and they need somebody that can deploy these type of back end systems automated systems for rapid growth. The good thing is I’m on the call. I’m on the call. I need you all to join me digital marketers Come on What are you waiting for? CEOs who own your company, send your marketer to me, I do the training, we’ve got the program for them and the community. Okay, so we’ve made it easy for you to get access to anything that you need. Go to all systemsgopodcast.com And that gets you access to all the latest episodes, you can browse our packages, our amplify my automation package is the one that is geared towards putting marketing automated marketing and sales systems in your business over the next six months. So you could take advantage of that. Join a free free Facebook group request or refer someone to be a guest on the podcast and any resource or training mentioned on the podcast, one URL to remember get you access to it all. And that’s allsystemsgopodcast.com. Thank you for taking the time to listen to the 100th episode of the All systems go podcast. And until next time, I see you online automate responsibility

Narrator 0:00
You’re listening to the All systems go podcast, the show that teaches you everything you need to know to put your business on autopilot. Learn how to deploy automated marketing and sale systems in your business the right way. With your host, the professor of automation himself and founder of automation bridge, Chris Davis.

Chris Davis 0:31
Welcome to the All systems go podcast. I’m your host, Chris L. Davis, founder and chief automation Officer of automation bridge, where retrain digital marketing professionals, how to automate their marketing and sales, first for themselves, then for their clients. And we call these types of professionals, automation service providers, and if you would like to determine if you would make a good automation service provider, we have a quiz, a quick assessment that you can take and it will give you the results and next steps. You can take that quiz at automationbridge.com/ASP, I have to be honest, I’m extremely excited we’re at this is a milestone episode. Okay, and I’m trying to contain myself if you haven’t, if you can’t hear it in my voice, and I’m trying to stick to my script, alright. But I’m gonna give myself the freedom to get excited at any point. All right. So if you’re new to the podcast, make sure you do me a favor, listen to this episode in its entirety. And when you’re done, make sure that you subscribe and rate give a five star rating and review to the podcast. I always want people to know what they’re getting into. While I would love everybody to just go smash the subscribe button, I want you to do it in an informed, informed manner. Okay, if you are listening to the podcast and just have not subscribed yet, I don’t know what you’re waiting for. Come on, join the family of listeners. You can find the All systems go podcast and Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, you can subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast we are there. And as I mentioned, I need to jump right into it. I’m excited. Listen, am I the only person that has to remind themselves to celebrate themselves, I hope I’m not the only one because if you’re like me, you’re focused on the task at hand and one that’s complete. It’s on to the next and on to the next and on to the next. And while that may be admirable. In terms of achievements and accolades. It also you run the risk of selling yourself short of celebration. Okay, so in this episode, I want to commemorate myself. On the achievement of 100 episodes. Yes, if you haven’t seen the title of this podcast, this is the 100th episode. And this means more this is not my first time making it to 100 episodes, I was the creator and sole host of the Active Campaign podcast and was able to bring that to beyond 100 episodes as well. But this, this meant more to me this meant more to me and I’ll share with you why and how and what I also want to do is kind of give you some insight on how the sausage is made give you a peek behind the curtains of the production of this podcast, and how just how I’ve been able to be so consistent. Again, this is not my first time extremely consistent 100 episodes we have not missed a week everybody look at the publishing date, seven days apart of every single publishing seven days apart 100 episodes it’s almost two years consistently with pre COVID during COVID post COVID. So I thought it would be appropriate to entitle this episode built to last. Right? That’s what this that’s what this podcast is. That’s what my approach to life is, is especially professionally in business is that we build things to last So let me start by saying this let me start by saying longevity has its place. And these are the wise words spoken from the from the great Dr. King in his final speech in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968. Just 24 hours before his his assassination. In though he was speaking with great trepidation and projection and prophetically really about the finality of life though he didn’t know 24 hours it would be it. But you know through the death threats and just his relationship with God and what he had understood life to be. He knew that I will not be here with you all as long as I want To be, he wanted to be here much longer, of course.

Chris Davis 5:05
But those words have always stuck with me and they still ring true for anything strong enough to endure the test of time is that longevity does have its place, right. And anything that indoor such a time testing only comes with intention in preparation. And it’s with a similar intention in preparation that I created this podcast not not for a moment, not for fun, not for just something to do. But to last. So honor Dr. King in those words, as as they have guided me through my career, and just knowing that I’m not building this thing for the moment, just for one time use just for quick hit. building this thing to last This podcast is built to last and to endure the test of time is an achievement because it gets the best of us, Father time is undefeated. undefeated, right, but simply put, this podcast is built to last. And by that I mean, not just by me being consistent, but the content itself, I believe the content that has been created and will be created will retain its value if not increase over time. It will live beyond me. Mainly mainly because what you hear on this podcast is battle tested, proven practices that work and will continue to work Once applied accurately. It’s like that classic album, right? You just you it doesn’t matter what year, you pull it out. There’s some songs that my parents grew up to. They grew up on, and I listened to it. And it It impacts me I’m like, man isn’t good music, right? I believe pure content can stand the test of time. And this podcast, this is pure content. And by consistently producing pure content. It’s going to last but but what goes into that production? How do you build something to last? How do you do? consistency is more than just a decision to be consistent. Right? We can say that there are so many people that want to be consistent. I want to consistently send email, I want to consistently generate leads, I want to consistently consistently generate sales. I want to consistently work out whatever the case is, consistency seems to elude A lot of us. And what I want to do is speak specifically to business. And even more to this podcast on consistency and longevity. And talk through the three lessons I’ve learned from building a podcast for longevity twice, by the way, right? I just want to give you the three things that have guided me and have helped me and in doing so I’m going to also as I mentioned, pull back the curtain and let you guys see the inside the inner workings of things. All right. So the first thing is you need a system. This goes without saying on a podcast such as this, you need a systematic way to produce your results. Okay. The system that I use is a pipeline. The pipeline exists in air table and it’s integrated with Active Campaign. And what it allows me to do is capture leads now actually, let me let me give you all my technology, why not? It’s the 100th episode, let’s celebrate with me, will you so I like I use jot form as my form capture software that allows me to get all the information about a guest that I need to be able to make an informed decision. Okay, so one one URL I can send people to now I am doing some

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conditional display and some automation in the backend of the form itself. That’s an entire different episodes. But long story short, what that form allows me to do is quickly approve people who come in pre fit and pre determined and it allows me to add people to the queue that I need to go and really vet a little more those people are added to the to air table database and I’m able to just simply look at their record and select the drop down that says hey, approved or not, and it’s a single select drop down once I once I hit approved, then that triggers all all types of automation in Active Campaign to send them a link to schedule. Of course when they schedule, it goes to my acuity calendar and when they do that, not only is you know the event added to my calendar But it also triggers something back in air table to let to notify that it has been scheduled. Okay, so that’s the front end and when in, I used to use an Active Campaign for when I was at Active Campaign. But in doing so I lost the ability for dynamic fields and pre population to start automation earlier. So that’s why I left Active Campaign to use job form. So many of you may be pushing native forms and your CRM to the limit, I would highly suggest you look at web form software. Again, I probably am due for an entire episode on job form in the way that I use it. It’s absolutely the strongest form building software that I know of on mine. I’m a longtime user, and they’ve just gotten really good in the last couple of years. But that’s that’s a, that’s some insight into the scheduling process. Now, everything that I mentioned, I’m only involved in reviewing my air table database, and saying, Yes, that’s it. The to get somebody to capture somebody’s information and get them to show up, the muscle required from me is one click of a button in the air table database that says approved. Okay, so that process, I can get you all the way to being on the podcast, pretty much hands off. And by the way, approved me selecting approved is only for those who don’t come pre approved, I have an entire separate air table that generates links for pre approved guests that when they click the link and go visit that page, it sends them down a different path. And I don’t have to touch anything. Right? My effort then is to create the link to send them prior to scheduling. So either way, I’ve got one task to do, and everything else is handled and you show up, show up well prepared. Now let me let me go into the next point. So the first one was you need a system, you need a systematic way to produce results. You know this, this is the All systems go podcast. You do that? Okay. Second is you need a team don’t shoot, don’t you dare? Don’t you dare do what I did. In the beginning, when I was at Active Campaign, doing my first podcast ever. I said, Oh, let me figure out how to do it all. Do not I repeat, do not do such anything that requires you to run it will usually run you into the ground. That’s that’s just what it is. So don’t be tempted to do things are yourself in the beginning and take pride in it. Like Yes, that’s me, I did this, that that approach doesn’t scale. individualism is the enemy of scale. Okay, when we launch our individual efforts, and when we say I’m a solopreneur, and I’m doing it all, all I hear when people say that is I won’t scale. The money I’m making now is probably all the money I’ll ever make. Okay, but instead, you need to build a capable team that can do what you know how to do, and not better than you. Now watch this better, does not mean better quality. I think people get it twisted. And nobody can do it better than me. You don’t focus on quality, you focus on the total product and the process. Did you hear me better is not about the quality. It’s about the total product in the process. Right better means more consistently and reliably. It doesn’t matter if you’re the greatest

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writer, right? If if you if you write the greatest content, if there’s no way for you to produce it consistently and reliably. Right, then it doesn’t matter how great you are on anything. If it all requires you, you’re going to get burned out at some point, you’re going to get tired. It just is what it is. And that’s why it doesn’t last. That’s why you tap out. Because you’re focused on I can do this thing better. I can build this landing page better than my VA. I can write these emails better. It’s not about the individual efforts, the individual resources that you can create. It’s about the process, the people in it in the product. You have to think bigger. And I see this common, this common mistake made by entrepreneurs who are used to just doing I have to say it’s time to transition from doing and not just delegating. I think that’s a nother kind of cliche don’t do delegate, right? No, it’s time to really start to honor that the true power is in the process is really in the process a, you may need to tweak the process in which you’re using to produce what you need, I had to do the same for for me, when I was at Active Campaign, I was the main producer, not by choice more by force, they were just like, hey, look, I’m not going to give you resource for whatever reason. And when I did have resources, they were removed after just when I was getting comfortable. So I built an unhealthy muscle of learning how to do all of this myself, Now watch this. I use automation to the utmost to do it. But even at that, I would not recommend it. Right? So watch this when I was there, you of course, I’m an Active Campaign. So I have to use Active Campaign to do my pocket. So I built a pipeline. And I’m moving things through stages, because it only requires me to move things and things are triggering, sending people stuff and blah, blah, blah, right? Every time I move a deal to a new stage is triggering, and automation, everything else, right. However, when I started my podcast for myself, I realized that that was that’s not ideal. I don’t want somebody to have to log into active campaigns and move stuff around. cannot do that in air table. Right? And an air table gives me more flexibility. I have more fields, I can capture more data we can collaborate, if there’s a question, right? So this represents me moving from individualism. I can publish a podcast to how can we publish a podcast? So now, air table becomes the central pipeline. And it’s integrated with Slack, and email. So when stuff happens in air table, I can send a slack message. And guess what, there’s a link in that slack message that takes you right to the record in air table. So I’ve learned that I need to build a process that people involved, one can be interchangeably, but they can jump in and jump out of the process. Right? So you see me moving from individualism to a team based approach, changes the tools that I use, changes how I use the tools.

Chris Davis 17:52
Right? So one of the things that I I was talking about when you’re talking you need a system is the scheduling process. Well, guess what, if it’s a guest, on the show, what will happen is, you know, I’ve got various views in an air table based on the status, right, so scheduled, you know, ready to send, ready to send the notes, recorded, post production, all of these things, right. So I have a view for any time somebody is coming on to the podcast. Remember, this is the collaborative nature, I have a custom field that allows me to type in, this is what I want to talk about with this individual. If I haven’t connected with them prior to, right, this is what I want to talk about. If I’ve connected with them prior to that link that I generate for them, it will pre populate the job form. And I’ve got an entire air table database, I just enter all the information in it produces the link, I send the link, when they click the link and get to the job form all of their information is in what we’ll cover is already filled in and literally all they need to do is enter a few things and then boom, they can schedule. But in the event that’s not the case, when somebody scheduled some time, I need to figure out what we’re going to talk about, well, I can just pull up the record, make a note in a field and air table and once that note is filled in that record now appears at another view and air table that that lets my my podcast manager know, we can send this file we can now send this document to this person so that they can prep so that they can prep for the for the podcast. And Cassie is my podcast producers name she’ll get she’ll get that notification and then send the email is a Google Doc copy and paste some stuff in there. Those of you who are listening to this after the private video that I just did in the accelerator, my automation accelerator folks, you know that by the time you listen to this, I’m probably already venturing down the path of autogenerate that document and emailing it. Just Just because I can’t just because I figured out a process on how to automate dynamic, the how to automate the creation of dynamic documents, right? What another reason why you really need to be connected and stop playing with this this automation stuff come come get you some real training, right? So anyway, so So now Cassie does that and then the note document goes out to the guest, the guest sees Oh, this is what we’re talking about. They show up informed, I show up in form, we record this thing and it’s in its magic, right? You’ve seen it, you’ve listened to the, to the podcast, right? So you need a team? You definitely need a team is if if I did it, could I do it? Yes. But the quality that we produce together? Can I send the document? Just like Cassie Yes? Can Can I go in and, you know, update some post production things? And maybe I can even write the copy better? Could I? Potentially Yes. But guess what, I can’t do it consistently and reliably. I get tired. That stuff burns me out. I can’t do the whole production. So then I fall back is Cassie, the quality of output? Is it mine? Like? What is it that different? It’s not. But guess what? by empowering people and allowing them to build their own muscle, I actually prefer when she writes the summaries then when I do it. So holistically, it’s an improvement. Right, we’re all, we all have our corner of the table to hold up. And we’re all strong in that aspect. So you can put much more on the table, much more consistent experience with that table, instead of it being all on my back. And remember, we’re talking about lasting everybody. individualism does not last, if you’re going to build something to last, you need a process that your team can leverage easily in an ongoing fashion. Right. So lastly, I said you need a system said you need a team. And then third is you need to learn how to use both to get things done. And I’ve I’ve already shown you some of that, how I’m using systems and teams. But I would like to say that this is really all about leadership and growth on your part. Okay, most people are comfortable doing it all themselves, or, or doing things in a way only they can.

Chris Davis 22:48
I think they’re both very limiting. They’re a very small approach, right? If you’re doing something in your business, and it’s like, only I can do this, you’re limiting yourself. And the question I would ask is, why? Why can only you do that? And the answer to that question I’ll tell you right now is because all the logic is in my mind, and nobody has ever taken the time to extract it. And once you start extracting people’s logic, they start looking at it, like, I don’t know why I’m doing that. It’s the danger, right? It’s the danger of keeping it all in your head. And this is an achievement, oh, I I’m the only one in my business, I can do this. That’s not an achievement. It’s a setback. And you have to learn how to not just rally the troops, but to provide an environment they can thrive and this is all leadership stuff. This is all empowering your people understanding their strengths and weaknesses. so that you know where to place them in the process. right because what what it turns into is instead of automation assisting the humans, right, the humans are the main people and automation is just here to help no we flip it and humans are now assisting the automation. Automation is doing the core of the heavy lift. And then humans just come in and do what they need to when they need to come in only when they’re summoned right for a moment automation summons people hey I need you to do some real quick so I can keep going Can you hurry up all right click that button for me. You got a great now I got the rest Get out of here. Right being summoned for the moment and then let automation run its course. But it can’t be built for just you around you or or how you do it. This has been hard for me everybody because I didn’t realize how much of an individual I was operating as you know the way that I took notes. It wasn’t shareable. The the the way that I come up with ideas and sometimes create things. It was not scalable. Like, I’ve found myself leaving my team on outside Hey Chris, what are we doing here? So I had to figure out how do I write blog posts? How do I get podcast published? How do I get landing pages built? How do I do all of these things different because I know how to do it

Chris Davis 25:18
how do I do it differently? And again this podcast is an example is one of my core achievements you know of doing things different so that they will last. I’m thinking of you all. You don’t want you don’t want to edgy sketchy podcast. Oh, well, he dropped one episode this weekend, I guess. Hopefully next week, oh, I had to wait a month for the next one. There’s people who publish podcasts like that. But I can’t tell you the amount of people who have told me how much they appreciate how much they appreciate the consistency and I’ll be honest, this this was only given to me through frustration and pain. And I’ve mentioned it a couple times already at Active Campaign I started out being the sole producer and then I hired help and I had helped us Ooh, this is good being able to hand it off and I had to massage my process Now granted, since one man Active Campaign everybody has access to the same account so I didn’t have the issue of not having it all in Active Campaign because I didn’t want people to log in all employees had access anyway so it just made sense to do the pipeline inactive campaign and by the way if you’re not using webform technology that can do some segmentation and automation on the front end what I had to do is capture the same information and just let him eat the logic in an automation do it but it required people to check their email so whether they were immediately approved or not they had to check their email to find out when you can put that type of logic and automation in the form the next page the thank you page for people who are approved just let’s move on okay that was just a note that I meant to mention earlier so anyway I started out as as the sole producer and then I get help now help was just like oh my goodness I can now like what what it was taking me to do one or two podcasts that same amount of time I can produce like 10 So those of you who saw me speaking at events wow publishing a podcast it’s mainly because I had a queue of podcasts from when I had help and it wasn’t until I was out speaking doing these study halls that you know, he shall remain nameless removed remove my resource for whatever reason and now I’m back to having to publish it all myself so I had to go and lean on that muscle again simplify things as much as possible but what happened everybody I was exposed I was exposed that is better together I that was the time where I was like man I’m never doing this on my own again ever. So I’m thankful for that ignorant and painful experience right ignorant on the part of why would you pull resources from something that’s working painful for me because it was just like man oh my gosh, this is how do I do this and travel and it just made me have to automate more. But I’m thankful for it because I gave me a different appreciation for including people in the process and building process with people in mind not just leads and money and all of that right. So this is what goes into producing the podcast I haven’t talked about the post production the boss the post production is fairly hands off for me and it migrates from air table and Active Campaign and job form and all that to click up click up as our project management space. And once it goes in there Oh man, it’s just smooth like butter. How it how it gets done, I mean it it is exemplary. And we set up the same thing as statuses, another pipeline post production pipeline that Cassie manages for me and and it’s it’s magical. It’s it’s in sync. It’s the Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, right, it’s that, man, I don’t even need to say it, you just know. Okay. There’s a little insight on his podcast. And in the three reminders, I’m constantly telling myself, for those of you who are listening is like, Yes, I need to do this, I need to do this three things. I tell myself all the time. It’s bigger than you. It takes more than you and it can’t need you. It’s bigger than you. It takes more than you and it can’t need you. It’s this approach that brought me to 100 episodes twice now again, and it’s going to take me far beyond but my longevity everyone the longevity that Dr. Kane talks about it has its place. Its place is here with this podcast. It means nothing without you listening. So thanks are definitely In order for the 100th episode, if I miss out on something charged to my heart, not my mind, I want to thank every single person that has listened to a single minute,

Chris Davis 30:11
a single minute of any episode of this podcast, thank you. For every guest that has taken the time to provide the valuable insights. Thank you for taking the time and sharing freely. For my amazing bike. as manager Cassie, I’ve mentioned many times that keeps things flowing so smoothly. Thank you, for every marketer that has is and will be enrolled in my automation service provider program. Thank you, you don’t understand how greatly needed you are in the sessions that we have, where I’m teaching and revealing things that I’m doing, providing templates, helping you get that first send that first proposal higher amounts than you’ve ever sent, raising your prices, but all doing the provision of that service and excellence it’s that that learning journey that I see you go on that helps me that keeps me sharper on every single one of these episodes. So thank you, for every client. Every client that I’ve worked with this year and beyond going forward and in the past on Thank you, you are my sword sharpening. Okay, I don’t I do not I’m at a place where I do not test on clients. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that but everything that I do for client is proven so every time I get to do something proven it gets better and better and better and now I get to take my automation service providers with me so they get better and better and better. Everyone in the private in the automation bridge private community Thank you. We we talk about tools, we we share wins, we get private trainings in there like it is it is a community like no other. And I just want you to know I appreciate you thank you for every single time you log in, thank you for every time you post something, Comment, like all of that, I would be remiss oh my goodness, I can’t I I actually need to pause I can’t think anybody else anymore without first thanking my wife for blessing the intro of this podcast if you guys didn’t know that is my wife. Welcome to the all systems go podcast. That’s my wife. So thank you, and I love you. The support that she continually gives me, it’s in everything that I do. And I’m glad I’m excited to put our presence on it. All right. And for every person that has shared an episode in any capacity, whether you have quoted me and not giving me attribution, took the word on your own or shared it. There’s people who share these podcasts with their there’s professors that share with their class, there’s teachers they’ve shared. There’s there’s groups and organizations that listen to it together. Thank you. I can’t say thank you enough. Okay, I hope you all can hear the appreciation. And I also hope that you understand how I built this podcast to last. And what I want you to do is approach your business like that. I really do. I want you to approach your business to say, hey, how can I build this thing to last? Let me not let me not rally the troops for a temporary time for a quick win. How do I win? Forever, right? So though this is a major accomplishment is still honestly it feels like I’m just getting started. It really does. It feels like I’m just finding my flow. I’ve got so many more ideas that require more people. And I’m okay with that. Right. And I’m personally personally looking forward to figuring out to figure out guests, and whatever else. Right? What I mean is I’m looking forward to future guests. future content, future optimizations of the podcast and whatever else it brings. Because whatever we do, whatever we do with this podcast, we’re doing it for longevity. So you just know, if you want to know what day of the week it is. Look at what Wait did an awesome go podcast come out. If it did you know as Thursday, you can set your clock and your watch to this consistency. And my hope for you is that you take some of what I’ve shown you in my podcast production and you can apply it to your business your approach and build that thing to last. It deserves it. It deserves to be here while you’re here not stressing you out and it does Sara is to live on when you’re not.

Chris Davis 35:04
Okay? So build it to last in tell me this who needs to hear this? Who needs that reminder that Hey, get out of it. Step back, let other people come in and help. Make sure you share this with them. If you found value in today’s episode and you’re not subscribed, make sure you subscribe now and leave a five star rating and review. Here at automation bridge. We’re dedicated if you can’t see it, if you I know you see it, and I know you fill it. We’re dedicated to training digital marketers, and teaching them how to implement automated marketing and sales systems. We call them automation service providers. This is this is what small businesses are in dire need. They’re starting to realize digital marketing is not marketing automation. I need a different skill set. I need higher efficiency. They need this and they need somebody that can deploy these type of back end systems automated systems for rapid growth. The good thing is I’m on the call. I’m on the call. I need you all to join me digital marketers Come on What are you waiting for? CEOs who own your company, send your marketer to me, I do the training, we’ve got the program for them and the community. Okay, so we’ve made it easy for you to get access to anything that you need. Go to all systemsgopodcast.com And that gets you access to all the latest episodes, you can browse our packages, our amplify my automation package is the one that is geared towards putting marketing automated marketing and sales systems in your business over the next six months. So you could take advantage of that. Join a free free Facebook group request or refer someone to be a guest on the podcast and any resource or training mentioned on the podcast, one URL to remember get you access to it all. And that’s allsystemsgopodcast.com. Thank you for taking the time to listen to the 100th episode of the All systems go podcast. And until next time, I see you online automate responsibility