Marcio Santos is the founder of Nerd Digital and a Senior Manager at Advent Health, where he manages consumer application activation and coordinates with 50-70 people on major releases. He has been writing on Medium.com for three years and started his YouTube channel six months ago to share career growth stories.
Marcio Santos maintains a highly structured approach to productivity that centers around early mornings and deep work. He wakes up early to handle family responsibilities, making breakfast, packing his son's lunch, and walking him to school before diving into work. "I don't usually schedule any meetings until the afternoon because I want to have as much time to have deep work as possible," he explains, protecting his most productive hours for focused work.
The cornerstone of his time management system is a weekly planning ritual every Sunday. "Usually on sundays I set up set my week up and so I do a weekly review on sundays where I look at like the past week look at what I want to do for this week and I go into my calendar and I'll plan out everything that I want for that week," Santos details. He meticulously blocks time for specific activities, labeling calendar entries like "podcast prep," "podcast steps," and designated SEO work, ensuring he stays accountable to his priorities.
For goal setting, Santos focuses on shorter time horizons rather than long-term planning. "Most of the goals that I'm setting are 6 to 12 months out," he notes, keeping his objectives for Nerd Digital visible and reviewing them weekly. He asks himself crucial questions: "Have I made progress towards this goal? What can I take out of my way that I can get me there or what can I put in my way?" Perhaps most importantly, he emphasizes the power of saying no to maintain focus, admitting he's had to "say no to a lot of money" to build his own program rather than being pulled in different directions. His secret weapon for sustained productivity is simple but effective: "Go to bed early. I think if I'm able to go to bed by 9:30 everything really falls into place for me and I'm super productive."
Santos concludes with a clear call to action for course creators who have hit a scaling wall. "If you're stuck with your course creation you've maybe created a course but you're not sure how to scale it then reach out to us at nerddigital.com," he offers, positioning his team as the bridge between having a course and reaching six figures in revenue.
Throughout the conversation, his fundamental advice centers on the importance of specificity and focus. Rather than trying to serve everyone, he advocates for the power of saying no and getting laser-focused on who you serve and what problem you solve. As he puts it when discussing the customer quadrant exercise with course creators: "When you're very generic, it sounds like the type of course that you could find on udemy for 10 bucks... but when you get more specific, everything about your course becomes so specific so fast and so interesting that you're able to charge more." His overarching message is that success comes not from casting a wide net, but from becoming the absolute best solution for a specific group of people with a specific problem.
"If you're not clear who you target, a good way to become more clear is simply to state who you will not accept right - who is not a good fit for your course. When you state who's not a good fit, the people that are a good fit become more clear."
— Marcio Santos Santos explains how to better define your target audience by first identifying who you don't serve.
"One of the common threads that I see very often when speaking with customers is a lot of the courses when they speak about their course instead of speaking about the outcome of their course they'll speak about how they deliver their course."
— Marcio Santos Santos identifies a key mistake course creators make in their marketing and positioning.
"If there's no pain you can't - people just won't buy it."
— Marcio Santos Santos explains why understanding customer pain points is crucial when segmenting your audience into different quadrants.
[0:00] how long have you been podcasting for if [0:01] you know [0:02] how do i pronounce your name [0:04] marcio marcia okay [0:07] so um [0:08] i've started this youtube channel about [0:10] six months ago [0:12] and uh i have been writing on medium.com [0:16] for almost three years now [0:18] wow that's good [0:19] yeah [0:20] i have really good following there [0:23] and then i'm trying to build the same on [0:26] youtube [0:27] um also have a full-time job [0:31] at advent health yeah i saw that in [0:33] their emails that's where i spend most [0:35] of my time but this is a passion of mine [0:38] to bring the stories of people like you [0:41] and share with others so that they can [0:44] kind of see how their life can turn how [0:47] how they can grow their career [0:50] uh from the beginning stage to [0:53] um [0:54] to like 10 15 20 years [0:58] and [1:00] what do you do i added health [1:02] i'm a senior manager there i manage the [1:05] activation for the consumer application [1:08] so they have advantel.com advent health [1:11] mobile apps [1:14] and [1:15] a bunch of other applications so [1:19] the majority of the focus is connecting [1:21] the backend emr system [1:24] with this application [1:26] so that patient can log in and see their [1:28] health record book an appointment with [1:30] the doctor [1:32] um [1:32] do a virtual visit [1:35] so it [1:36] pay their bills so it's a bunch of [1:37] application [1:39] bunch of features um in one place for [1:41] the consumer so my role there is [1:44] to coordinate with [1:49] all the people within the department and [1:50] outside the department [1:52] um so i have a scrum masters in my team [1:57] um [1:58] and there are other people who directly [2:00] or indirectly report to me so my goal my [2:03] purpose there is to [2:05] build the new features [2:06] have it tested [2:09] um [2:10] have it properly communicated within the [2:11] company and outside the company that [2:13] this is something coming and then [2:16] release them [2:18] and [2:18] so [2:19] i'm basically connecting all the dots [2:22] between engineers product owners scrum [2:24] masters outside the department uh people [2:27] who support our patients and all that [2:30] um [2:31] and [2:32] on a typical release a big release i [2:34] coordinate with at least 50 to 70 people [2:39] so that's that's my full-time job [2:42] that's [2:43] a lot of people [2:45] yeah yeah and and that's what make it [2:48] fun [2:49] why my job is exist is to make sure all [2:52] these people are working together [2:54] if i see a gap that's where i chime in i [2:57] will first let you speak about [3:00] what you do what your business is how [3:02] much you charge for those anything [3:04] um that you want to pluck um [3:07] share all that detail [3:08] so again if you know thank you so much [3:10] for having me on your show [3:12] it's uh it's a real pleasure to to meet [3:15] with you you seem like a really nice guy [3:16] and to to share with you so about me my [3:19] name is marcio santos i am the founder [3:22] of nerd digital and what we do is we [3:24] help course creators [3:26] scale to six figures in six months [3:28] um as quickly as we as we can [3:31] and so you asked about the cost the cost [3:33] is five thousand dollars to get started [3:35] and then you don't pay again until you [3:37] cross six figures [3:38] so it's um [3:40] it's very [3:42] simple the the payment method that we [3:44] have we offer [3:46] so that's that's how it works okay [3:49] paying five thousand dollar to begin [3:51] with is that a challenging for people [3:54] to sign up or you you find many people [3:58] it really depends on the profile of the [4:00] customer it really it really depends so [4:02] if you're a small course creator that i [4:05] mean if you're the course creator that's [4:06] never launched your course you don't [4:08] have any sales [4:09] we're we're not a good fit [4:11] right we are really good fit for [4:13] somebody that has a course and wants to [4:15] scale their sales [4:17] so [4:18] that's that's really who we work with is [4:21] helping companies that have already [4:22] validated that that there is a market [4:24] that people are willing to to buy their [4:27] their course [4:28] their course is structured [4:30] and [4:30] really what we're doing is we're helping [4:32] them to [4:34] implement these three fundamental areas [4:36] for for success for their course that [4:39] they usually overlook or they don't go [4:41] really deep enough on the fundamentals [4:43] to get the max [4:45] the maximum out of their course [4:47] you talk about three steps and you talk [4:50] about six figures so let's let's [4:52] dive deeper how do you help them what [4:55] what do you do for them so the way we [4:57] work with them vnode is we essentially [4:59] work with them through coaching but we [5:02] also provide some i would say done for [5:04] you services [5:05] so [5:06] most of the the engagement is usually [5:09] through coaching we have [5:11] really organized systems and [5:14] a course of our own [5:15] that we we teach our our clients [5:18] and we walk through the worksheets and [5:21] all the ideas and frameworks with them [5:23] step by step [5:24] and our program is divided up into three [5:27] phases so our first phase [5:29] is on [5:31] refining your offer so we make sure that [5:34] the way you speak about your product the [5:36] the value proposition and the avatar are [5:39] really well refined and ready to go to [5:41] market and that usually takes a few [5:43] weeks [5:45] of work of research of understanding [5:47] them them understanding their consumer [5:49] them refining a little bit of their [5:50] language and then the second phase is [5:53] helping them build or improve their [5:55] funnel so how do they convert [5:58] visitors to their website into leads and [6:00] then into prospects that are ready to [6:01] buy their course [6:03] and then finally in phase three we [6:05] actually help them launch and so that [6:07] involves sending traffic into their [6:09] funnel and then executing an actual [6:12] launch sequence which is usually like a [6:14] series of emails that means excitement [6:17] and anticipation for your course launch [6:20] okay and [6:21] as you said i'm assuming it's a weekly [6:24] type coaching sessions [6:27] right so some some clients need more [6:28] help than others right and so [6:30] some even if we we always have a weekly [6:33] call um but there are some clients that [6:36] will [6:38] send me daily emails even you know [6:40] multiple emails a day or you know we [6:42] have them on slack as well and depending [6:44] on where they are in the program they'll [6:46] need more or less hand holding and more [6:48] or less support [6:49] and [6:51] so [6:51] yeah [6:53] that's how i would say there's always [6:54] like a weekly call opportunity but [6:56] there's always opportunity as well for [6:57] them to to reach out to slacker even i [7:00] have clients on my whatsapp sometimes [7:02] messaging me yourself [7:03] you're a one person team or you [7:06] many people [7:07] yeah we have a handful of people so we [7:08] have uh our va we have a developer and a [7:12] creative person [7:14] that helps us yeah small team so far who [7:17] is the ideal person that typically buy [7:19] your course so the the people that [7:21] usually buy our program are people that [7:23] already have a course they've already [7:25] have some sales they've already you know [7:27] sold at least 20 000 30 thousand [7:30] um with their course and really what [7:32] their they've gotten to a point where [7:34] they feel overwhelmed with [7:37] all the work that goes into promoting [7:40] their course [7:42] and converting people into customers [7:45] that's that's usually the best customer [7:47] for us because we're able to implement [7:49] our system [7:50] into their into their website into you [7:52] know their technology and everything [7:55] and [7:57] always there's always an opportunity to [7:59] refine how they speak about their [8:01] their course because usually at this [8:03] point when people get to this point [8:05] um in in sales and volume [8:08] they do it because they already have an [8:11] audience or they do it because [8:13] they had this offer and they were able [8:15] to usually they have some kind of [8:17] experience or a coach or a consultant or [8:20] they're working nine to five and they [8:23] transform what they know into a course [8:25] and then they sell that [8:27] but [8:28] oftentimes they don't work with the [8:30] professional marketer to really enhance [8:32] their copywriting and how they speak [8:34] about their their product and so [8:36] there's [8:37] small tweaks that you can do on about [8:39] the way you speak about your course i [8:42] can greatly enhance the value of it [8:43] without actually having to create a new [8:45] course [8:46] so it's it's it's a really high leverage [8:48] type of type of work it's really fun [8:51] i think you said 20 000 sales or [8:53] something that probably the time when [8:55] somebody is thinking that [8:57] i already know everything and that's [8:58] where you are chiming in to [9:01] fine-tune them that's amazing yeah it's [9:04] it's fun one of the common threads [9:07] that i see very often when speaking with [9:09] customers one of the starting points is [9:11] a lot of the courses [9:13] when they speak about their course [9:14] instead of speaking about the outcome of [9:16] their course they'll speak about how [9:18] they deliver their course [9:20] and so for example you you um [9:23] if you had a course on podcasting for [9:25] example [9:26] there's one way that you can speak about [9:28] it which is how to create a podcast [9:31] another way to speak about it is how to [9:33] build an audience [9:35] and [9:36] another way to speak about it still is [9:38] how to generate revenue online [9:41] the [9:42] the means to generate the revenue and [9:44] the means to generate the audience would [9:46] be through a podcast [9:48] right versus creating a podcast because [9:52] at the end of the day you have to [9:53] understand [9:55] what is it that your customer really [9:56] wants do they strictly want to have a [9:58] podcast because anybody could set up a [9:59] podcast but how do you set up a [10:01] successful podcast that generates money [10:03] without certain obstacles that people [10:05] usually face with the podcast [10:08] so that's [10:09] the first place where we start with our [10:11] customers is helping them really [10:12] understand and hone in on what makes [10:14] them unique about their course and what [10:16] they know how can we enhance that how [10:19] can we speak about the outcome in a way [10:20] that's very measurable and very specific [10:23] and meaningful to their to their avatar [10:25] i don't know if you know thiago he has [10:28] been doing youtube video for a long time [10:30] he's and recently i saw that he's he [10:32] came up with this a course [10:34] with like 1 500 for the basic one to up [10:38] to 3 000 [10:40] i guess [10:41] people like them are [10:44] the ideal candidate or the customer for [10:46] you [10:47] yeah so thiago forte i do know him he's [10:50] uh the creator of building a second [10:52] brain yeah and his course is actually [10:54] too big for us [10:56] um [10:57] the once once you get to a size like [10:59] that that's usually [11:01] they're usually ready to hire [11:03] a [11:04] full-time staff [11:06] i see okay yeah they're usually hiring [11:08] multiple people to help promote the [11:10] course help build their funnels help [11:14] set up their ads and do everything else [11:16] that they need whether that's running [11:18] their twitter their newsletters their [11:19] emails and all the back-end stuff [11:21] they're they usually have like a team of [11:23] dedicated people to get to that size [11:24] plus the admins to help run the course [11:29] once the course is live because i know [11:30] he runs a cohort based course [11:32] yeah [11:34] and you are so clear about who you're [11:36] targeting and who you're not targeting [11:39] yeah that's it that's an important um [11:42] thing that we also teach our clients is [11:45] this is [11:46] so one thing that that you can take away [11:48] from this if you're listening is if [11:50] you're not clear [11:52] who you target [11:53] a good way to become more clear is [11:56] simply to state who you will not accept [11:59] right who is not a good fit for your [12:01] course when you state who's not a good [12:03] fit [12:04] the people that are a good fit become [12:07] more clear [12:08] and when you're able to become clear at [12:11] least with yourself with your own course [12:13] and with your own value [12:15] uh the value that your course offers it [12:17] makes it more compelling when you put it [12:19] in front of the right customer [12:21] because [12:22] we're all in the in this game of you [12:25] know trying to get attention for what we [12:27] sell right we're [12:28] on podcasts we're on youtube we're on [12:30] twitter we're using these platforms as a [12:32] way to amplify what we have to sell [12:35] and [12:36] if we can be more clear with right if we [12:40] can have one specific solution for one [12:42] specific audience with one specific [12:45] vehicle [12:46] then that automatically makes us a very [12:49] clear solution [12:50] for [12:52] for one specific person [12:54] and the good thing about that is that [12:55] every time we go out to market whatever [12:57] we share we're more likely to convert [12:59] people [13:01] we're more likely to be able to charge [13:02] them more [13:04] and by doing those two things [13:06] we inevitably become a more profitable [13:08] and successful business that's [13:11] so true [13:13] but at the same time [13:16] i'm making it more conversational so [13:19] that we can give more glimpse of the [13:21] thought process right [13:23] so um [13:24] [Music] [13:25] it's at the same time it's really hard [13:27] to do [13:29] as a content creator and i will give you [13:32] an example [13:34] in my mind i'm thinking i have a very [13:37] specific audience when i think about who [13:41] these videos are for [13:43] these are people who [13:45] are in their early career journey or [13:48] in the [13:50] middle of the career journey but has [13:51] been doing the same type of work for [13:54] five years and now trying to see [13:56] what next is for them [13:58] so [14:00] at one end i feel like [14:02] this is my audience when i see my stats [14:06] i see [14:08] people from 55 to 65 [14:10] are almost 23 [14:13] of the audience that i have [14:15] which i didn't start with [14:18] so now i have this at this and now i'm [14:21] also thinking [14:22] the type of content that i will have [14:24] like time management goal setting [14:27] um [14:28] or [14:30] things related to career [14:32] communication skill or interpersonal [14:35] skills [14:36] these also apply to people who are in [14:39] business or entrepreneur or doing solo [14:42] so now [14:43] my [14:44] my range has increased and my um [14:49] the the [14:51] from narrow it's it's becoming more [14:53] wider in terms of different type of [14:56] career [14:59] and in my head i'm still thinking [15:00] logical but i know i i have this gut [15:03] feeling that it's becoming wider than i [15:06] originally thought [15:08] so how do you [15:09] like as as a [15:10] content creator or course creator how [15:13] how [15:15] you help them [15:17] still be narrow like you are [15:21] so there's a this is really nice [15:23] activity that we do with our clients [15:24] it's called the customer quadrant [15:27] and what we do in the customer quadrant [15:30] is we help them to get clear on who they [15:32] should focus on and as you as you [15:34] described with your audience right so [15:36] you have [15:37] this group of [15:39] and the customer quadrant it kind of [15:41] gives it away that there are usually [15:42] four ways four parts that you can [15:44] segment your your market into [15:48] there is at the low end [15:50] there is this [15:52] uh [15:53] customer that is in your market but [15:55] they're very [15:56] small right they're they're not ready to [15:58] buy they don't have enough pain [16:00] and [16:01] they kind of sitting on the fence [16:04] then you have this [16:06] the second group the second tier the [16:08] second quadrant which is yeah they have [16:10] if we go to to your example with [16:12] careerists right so you could have [16:14] somebody that's fresh out of high school [16:16] they're looking for a job [16:18] um but they don't have money to to buy a [16:21] course from you and they don't have [16:22] money to pay for your consulting for you [16:24] to help them with their career advice [16:26] that you have then you might have a [16:28] second group which is okay they're fresh [16:29] out of college [16:31] for their first out of college but also [16:32] they don't wouldn't have money perhaps [16:34] to buy a course or maybe they wouldn't [16:35] have money to buy your your coaching [16:37] then you have this other group which [16:39] would be they already have a job [16:42] and they're looking for a better job [16:45] that's another segment and then the last [16:47] segment would be people that have [16:50] amazing jobs and they're actually [16:52] looking for [16:54] a job that gives them more time freedom [16:57] so [16:57] it's they're all in the market of [16:59] looking for a better career [17:02] but [17:03] they're all at different phases [17:05] right [17:06] and i would probably say that quadrant [17:08] number three the second the third group [17:11] is the one that you would want to focus [17:12] on most most right they already have a [17:14] job and they're looking for a better job [17:15] well they have money to pay for a [17:16] consulting service with you or coaching [17:18] or a course from you and they have [17:20] enough pain [17:22] they are going to work every day and [17:24] they have they they hate their job or [17:26] they hate their boss or they hate the [17:27] industry or they're afraid that the [17:29] industry is going down whatever it is [17:31] there's enough pain in there so they're [17:33] like okay i i'm going to take action on [17:35] this course i'm going to take action buy [17:37] it [17:38] if there's no pain you can't [17:41] the person people just won't buy [17:43] it was a good exercise cool i'm glad you [17:45] like it coming back to your course these [17:48] are a glimpse of the services that you [17:50] do with your customer as part of the [17:52] coaching [17:54] and [17:55] you take it take them from point a to [17:57] point b [17:58] where they are selling even more than [18:00] what they were selling before they [18:02] joined you correct yeah our goal is to [18:04] get them to six figures fast so our [18:06] promises um we'll get them there in six [18:09] months [18:10] and if we don't we'll simply continue [18:11] working with them until they do my [18:13] friend [18:14] courtney [18:15] i [18:16] interviewed her and [18:19] she's working on a course what's your [18:21] advice for people like them [18:24] who are [18:25] new [18:26] and [18:27] obviously have to grow enough [18:29] to be able to pay for the services um [18:32] so what's your advice to [18:34] people like this [18:36] it really depends you know it really [18:37] depends because i i would need to know [18:40] where she's at what what is missing i i [18:43] mean she could book a free call then i [18:45] can give her advice right that's always [18:47] something that i do as well if there are [18:49] other coaches out there other [18:51] consultants if somebody has a course [18:53] and there's a book a call opportunity [18:56] i'll usually book call so that i can [18:57] pick people's brains [18:59] and even if you come away from the call [19:01] with one tip [19:02] it can usually be very very helpful i [19:05] think the main thing i would tell [19:06] courtney is [19:08] is not to skip the fundamentals [19:11] don't [19:12] skip [19:13] the important work of figuring out who [19:16] it is that you serve and what is it that [19:18] the pain that they're in [19:20] and what is that outcome how can you [19:22] paint that outcome in a [19:24] in the best way possible [19:26] so that your customer really wants to to [19:29] have that [19:30] um [19:31] i think two other tips i would [19:33] share for that are [19:36] um [19:38] when [19:39] one way to to make things [19:42] more appealing right to refine your [19:44] offer [19:45] are to think about what are the systems [19:47] that your your customer is usually [19:50] struggling with to get the outcome so if [19:52] we go what is her course on what is [19:54] court courtney's course about [19:56] oh it's for managers to become a better [19:58] manager like it include one-on-one it [20:01] include [20:03] how to treat your employee how to coach [20:06] them how to do feedback and everything [20:09] that a manager a new manager needs to do [20:12] or need to learn [20:14] so that [20:16] he or she can become a better manager [20:19] and is that a manager in what type of [20:21] company or industry [20:23] i don't think it [20:24] applies that way it's it's [20:27] generic so if i took this course i would [20:30] could i use it in a sas company like if [20:32] i'm working in a sas product like would [20:34] you think her course would be useful [20:37] i think so because it's more on the [20:39] people management side [20:42] and [20:43] how do you [20:46] basically treat your employee better so [20:48] they are more productive sas company or [20:50] a manufacturing company or a software [20:53] development company [20:56] yeah [20:57] i i hear [20:59] you know things like that like offers [21:01] like that where it's like a manager [21:03] course for [21:04] any type of manager [21:06] and [21:07] my gut instinct right there is to say [21:10] let's get more focused [21:12] because when you're very generic [21:14] it sounds like the type of course that [21:16] you could find on udemy for 10 bucks [21:19] or it sounds like something that you [21:21] could just read in a book [21:24] but when you get more specific what [21:26] happens [21:27] is [21:28] everything about your course all of the [21:30] modules all of the worksheets and all of [21:33] the one-on-ones and whatever however [21:35] you're delivering the value becomes so [21:37] specific so fast and so interesting [21:41] that you're able to charge more right [21:44] that's interesting that's seriously very [21:46] interesting so for example if we use [21:48] your example [21:49] um can we use your example where you can [21:51] please please if we use our example of a [21:54] manager working in a sas company [21:57] versus working in a [22:00] i don't know a school or a government [22:03] if i'm working in government [22:05] and [22:06] i'm a manager [22:08] there's going to be so many different [22:10] needs [22:11] there than in a sas [22:13] how you communicate is this virtual is [22:16] this [22:18] what are we talking about we talking [22:19] about software and what are the tools [22:20] that you use in the sas versus the tools [22:22] here do you use asana do you use trello [22:26] versus here are using google sheets and [22:28] microsoft project are using the whole [22:30] microsoft office suite to get things [22:32] done and communicate whereas here you [22:34] may be using slack and you're maybe [22:36] using zoom [22:37] these other technologies [22:39] what are the measures of success how do [22:41] you measure success in [22:42] here versus here here if it's you're a [22:44] sas you're linked to the product success [22:48] so it's like feature feature [22:50] extensions turn rates um mrr how do you [22:55] bring those things in as a manager and [22:58] uh improve those those kpis versus if [23:02] you're in government [23:03] then what are the kpis there i don't [23:04] know voters and donations and votes and [23:08] i don't know whatever else those are [23:09] different [23:10] uh outcomes that the manager needs to be [23:12] able to get out of their team [23:15] and [23:17] like i can clearly see that if i were to [23:20] teach a manager to be better at [23:23] decree you know [23:25] helping his ui designers or whatever [23:27] developers to [23:29] decrease churn [23:30] that's a very different conversation [23:32] different context which will require [23:34] different tools [23:36] to get that outcome versus here on this [23:38] end how do we get more donations [23:41] i i feel like there's there's enough [23:43] difference there that you could make it [23:45] so clear so specific [23:47] that when you go to market and you show [23:49] this offer to the person like if you're [23:50] a sas manager you say look take this [23:53] course and i will help you [23:55] decrease your return rate by 17 month [23:58] over month [23:59] that will speak so clearly and so [24:02] to the heart of the problem of the sas [24:04] manager that saturn's like [24:06] this is exactly how does this person [24:08] know what i'm thinking [24:10] they're speaking exactly my language [24:12] they're telling me specifically about my [24:14] problem that's the exact what we call [24:16] this 2am problem that i have when i put [24:19] my head on my pillow at night [24:21] right which is usually a good barometer [24:23] of are you solving a good enough problem [24:26] if you're solving if your if your [24:28] problem and you can that's another tip [24:30] for courtney [24:31] if your manager for avatar puts their [24:34] head on their pillow at night [24:36] what is that one thing that's waking [24:37] them up at night [24:39] are they saying to themselves oh i wish [24:40] i could be a better manager [24:42] or are they saying [24:43] man i wish i could get my developers to [24:46] finish all their code on time so that we [24:48] i wouldn't have to [24:50] go back to my vp and ask for more money [24:54] what is it what is that thing that's [24:55] keeping them up at night you want to [24:57] solve that problem you want to be the [24:59] boss at solving that [25:01] because if you can solve that that [25:03] sas person will [25:05] gladly hand over their money pull out [25:07] their credit card and say yo teach me [25:09] give me the solution because i'm staying [25:11] up and i need a solution [25:14] wow [25:15] um here's why i'm i'm amazed by this [25:18] conversation [25:20] uh [25:21] almost three years ago i was i started [25:23] writing my book how to be a better [25:26] manager one of the problem that i was [25:27] facing at that time because i am in the [25:30] software [25:31] all my experience all my knowledge is [25:34] related to software [25:36] and in my head i keep convincing myself [25:40] that [25:41] i have to write more generic [25:44] so that any manager can use versus being [25:48] very specific that how to be a good [25:50] manager in a software company [25:52] so [25:54] i did exactly opposite of what you're [25:57] suggesting and now just by hearing you [26:00] it clarified a lot that i should not [26:03] have done it [26:04] [Music] [26:06] yeah [26:07] i'm sorry to hear that you know i'm [26:08] sorry to hear that you abandoned your [26:10] product and your book and [26:12] you came to that realization now but [26:15] the um [26:16] this is a fundamental right like what i [26:18] said to to courtney [26:20] don't try don't overlook the [26:22] fundamentals this is a fundamental [26:24] thing that we do in marketing we have to [26:26] be very [26:28] diligent about who we're trying to serve [26:31] what problem we're trying to solve as [26:32] you do in software right build build [26:35] things people want that's the y [26:37] combinator maximum and [26:40] when [26:41] the [26:41] the big outcome of what we're doing with [26:44] our with our clients is making sure that [26:46] we're building things [26:47] in those things our courses [26:49] that people want [26:52] well this is this is the great [26:54] discussion [26:55] um we have to keep moving thank you so [26:58] much for this segment i [27:00] i can say that just by having these [27:03] uh last 10 minutes of conversation i can [27:05] see the depth you have [27:08] and anybody who will hire you will [27:11] definitely [27:13] will get a lot of benefit from [27:16] your conversation [27:18] i [27:19] just by talking to you for less than 15 [27:21] minutes i i many things are getting [27:23] clarified for me so [27:25] just to me imagine that you talking or [27:28] your team talking to them for like six [27:31] months what [27:32] impact you guys will make [27:35] thank you vino thank you i appreciate [27:36] that okay awesome [27:38] all right [27:39] so let's change the direction [27:42] what you wanted to become when you was [27:44] in high school [27:46] okay so [27:47] the answer to the high school part is i [27:49] wanted to be a soccer player [27:51] when i was in high school i wanted to [27:53] play professional soccer that's that's [27:55] what i wanted had nothing to do with [27:56] this so how did you land [27:58] into this job what was your first job or [28:01] business and then how did you lend to [28:03] this [28:04] man i've been on a very windy road you [28:07] know so i started my i think [28:10] out of high school the job that i got [28:12] after that was a graphic designer [28:15] i worked in a small agency slicing [28:17] images for flash and for you know [28:19] websites built in html [28:22] and from there i really loved learning [28:25] about photoshop and learning about all [28:26] that stuff in dreamweaver and flash [28:28] and later i became like a course [28:31] creator [28:32] for government so i helped them to [28:35] transform a course into like this flash [28:38] course which had quizzes and animations [28:40] and things like that and had it was [28:41] built on top of an lms and [28:44] it was [28:45] super interesting and from there i went [28:47] into more advertising [28:49] and after that i owned a uh [28:51] an online gaming league so it was like [28:53] this website that would create game [28:56] tournaments online and i would sell the [28:58] tournaments to different sponsors [29:00] we had like starcraft and fifa halo [29:03] different tournaments online [29:05] and after that i had i moved into [29:08] back into [29:10] a marketing agency [29:12] and [29:14] when i was at the marketing agency my [29:15] mom she was diagnosed with alzheimer's [29:18] disease [29:19] and so i wanted to spend as much time as [29:21] i could with my mom and so i decided to [29:23] leave the agency because if you've ever [29:25] worked in agency you know [29:27] there are endless hours that you put [29:28] into that [29:30] so i found a client to do some web [29:33] design work because i still knew i could [29:35] make websites for people i signed a [29:37] client and then i gave my notice [29:39] and through that when i came back to web [29:42] design i realized that there's so much [29:45] that changed in the industry [29:47] just so much i studied [29:50] right when i when i left the agents i [29:51] started taking as many courses as they [29:53] could from seo to paid advertising email [29:56] marketing [29:58] content marketing [30:00] as much as i could [30:01] and i would slowly start to implement [30:04] those things with my clients [30:06] and it wasn't until you know several [30:08] years of doing that kind of just taking [30:10] whatever jobs it could [30:12] that somebody reached out to me say hey [30:14] martial this guy in california he has a [30:17] block he also has a course he needs help [30:18] with some seo [30:20] and his his website is radreads.com and [30:23] his name is kay he [30:25] we started working on a small seo scope [30:27] but then after that [30:28] he says hey you know can you help me [30:30] sell more of my course [30:32] and it was through that relationship [30:35] where i was able to help him go from [30:37] five figure launches with using five [30:39] figure launches and helping him to go to [30:40] six figure launches i was like wow this [30:42] is really fun [30:44] um it's a smaller company i was used to [30:46] working with much bigger brands [30:48] and it was that relationship and that [30:51] impact [30:52] that really interests me in helping more [30:54] course creators [30:56] uh i really like having one-on-one [30:58] conversations and and have being able to [31:01] say you know hey just change this one or [31:03] two three things and you go go and try [31:06] this hey you you maybe you should try [31:08] you know one of these two three things [31:10] let's change these things around let's [31:12] do these experiments [31:14] so that type of thing [31:15] really interested me [31:17] and so i just decided it's like you know [31:19] what i'm just going to focus on this [31:20] group this is a group that [31:22] i think i can help i can serve i have [31:25] this one case study and then after that [31:27] i just started getting more and more [31:28] clients working one-on-one with them [31:30] helping them go to six figures [31:32] and that's where i'm at now [31:35] how many years you've been doing this [31:37] i've been doing this now i feel like [31:39] it's been two years already okay [31:42] yeah wow [31:45] this is a constant [31:47] uh with everybody i interviewed [31:49] they go through these uh different [31:52] different cycles different type of [31:54] things uh and then they figure [31:56] uh where they are so it's amazing to see [32:00] and if i go back [32:03] 10 20 years [32:06] that curiosity that how my life will be [32:08] what i will be doing and [32:11] the emotion [32:13] that are attached to that one specific [32:16] job that you and i was doing like 15 [32:19] years ago [32:20] today it doesn't even matter what [32:22] project was that and all so it's it's [32:26] so powerful the journey itself is so [32:29] powerful [32:31] yeah [32:32] during this entire journey was there any [32:35] patch where [32:36] you was [32:38] not sure what next is [32:42] oh yeah definitely [32:43] many times every i think ever at every [32:47] every transition [32:49] is filled with uncertainty [32:51] and every time i transition was usually [32:53] when i was movie changing countries so i [32:56] i moved around a few times and every [32:58] time i moved i was like what the heck am [33:00] i going to do here now nobody knows me [33:02] i have to reinvent myself or figure out [33:04] something i have to recycle my skills [33:06] and reframe things and and i kind of [33:08] just went through that over and over [33:09] again and [33:11] this is another reason why i'm very [33:13] interested in course creators because [33:15] the underlying [33:17] current that's driving course creation [33:20] is change [33:22] right it's [33:23] if you're in a market [33:24] that is being pushed by change [33:27] you need to create more and more courses [33:29] or update your course for that industry [33:31] and there will be [33:33] endless amounts of course created [33:34] because there's more [33:37] specificity required and we talked about [33:39] if you can create something a specific [33:41] solution to a specific avatar in a [33:43] specific way being the course [33:45] that's that that is great [33:47] but the more things get more specific [33:49] the more things get more difficult in [33:51] markets [33:52] that's actually [33:53] a good [33:54] rationalization why there will be more [33:56] courses in that industry [33:58] so from a market perspective i was also [34:01] interested in the growth opportunity [34:03] so that's another reason why i got into [34:05] you know working on courses [34:08] you're feeling down [34:09] to find what next is i think right now [34:13] i'll tell you about right now because [34:15] in the past it was different but right [34:17] now what i've been doing or what i did [34:19] was take things one day at a time [34:23] there are some days where progress seems [34:25] so slow [34:26] right you're working and you're working [34:28] it seems like you're doing so much work [34:29] but you're not moving the needle [34:31] and on those days and those weeks and [34:33] those months [34:35] i always had to remind myself that you [34:37] know rome wasn't built in a day that i'm [34:39] doing a lot of the things underneath on [34:41] under the surface [34:43] learning and studying and trying and [34:45] experimenting and failing [34:46] and because [34:49] it's really this fundamental stuff [34:51] that's going to help you on uh you know [34:53] in the future [34:55] and so whenever i got stuck when i was [34:56] feeling down i was like let me just make [34:58] a few small improvements today [35:01] and this take this takes i think a [35:04] little bit of patience [35:05] but even before that you need a little [35:08] bit of awareness as well so [35:10] i think you need to be aware of what is [35:12] the thing that i can change [35:14] today that will have an impact two weeks [35:16] from now or a month from now or six [35:17] months from now [35:19] having doing that is hard [35:22] and i'm not [35:23] the best at it but it has been a [35:26] practice that has helped me to to make [35:28] moves right so it has helped me to to [35:31] get to where i am and [35:34] i think um [35:38] one thing i'll add to that is [35:43] you have to be willing at least this is [35:45] something that i told myself is i have [35:47] to be willing to [35:49] say no [35:50] to incoming offers and incoming requests [35:54] and incoming opportunities if i'm going [35:56] to work on something that [35:59] is going to help me in the future [36:02] because otherwise you at least this is [36:04] my experience i'm always being you know [36:07] pulled around yanked around hey can you [36:09] help me with hey can you help me with [36:10] that hey can you come to this hey [36:11] there's this event this course this [36:13] opportunity this whatever it is [36:16] if you if you if i continue just to go [36:18] on that path i will never be focused [36:20] enough to really build my own program [36:22] build up my own course build my own team [36:24] and and build things this way so [36:27] it on the other side so i said patience [36:30] i said awareness the other thing i i [36:32] think is is a little bit of courage [36:33] because you have to say at least for me [36:35] i've had to say no to a lot of money [36:37] there's been a lot of money on the table [36:38] like hey we have this there's this [36:39] contract this project this is like [36:41] that's a lot but no i'm gonna say no [36:43] because i'm gonna build this now and it [36:45] will be worth it in the future [36:48] and my my problem is saying no to myself [36:50] because i go after shiny [36:52] objects and how to [36:55] keep focus [36:58] and and just doing this thing so yeah [37:01] it's it's hard [37:02] um [37:04] it's very hard yeah it's hard to say no [37:06] to yourself yeah [37:09] um you were saying there's a certain [37:11] activity that you did to keep yourself [37:14] up yeah so when it when it comes to the [37:16] online marketing courses and things like [37:18] that when i first [37:20] you know uh decided to leave the agency [37:22] and start my own thing [37:24] i took courses on this platform called [37:26] market motive and i don't know if they [37:28] still exist or not but i remember taking [37:30] the course there [37:31] and [37:32] the first course i took with this [37:34] brilliant guy named avinash kasich [37:37] and he is an absolute maniac when it [37:40] comes to web analytics [37:42] he like i've never seen somebody that [37:44] loves their job more than him [37:46] and i think i was really lucky to [37:49] to find him was a friend of mine that [37:50] recommended so i learned a lot from him [37:52] i got a lot of his passion for web [37:54] analytics it's something that i still [37:56] love till today is to be in inside [37:59] google analytics and be very [38:01] understanding about what's going on and [38:03] using that as a as a tool for us to make [38:06] better decisions [38:07] so market motive was a big one but i've [38:09] taken man endless [38:11] dozens thousands i spent thousands and [38:13] thousands thousands of dollars on [38:15] courses on coaches [38:17] um [38:18] i've see i've read you know [38:20] dozens of books uh cialdini is on my on [38:24] my shelf with uh [38:25] with influence it's probably [38:28] you know one of the those [38:30] best books that you have to read if [38:32] you're a marketer [38:33] there's a recent one that just came out [38:35] 100 million offers from alex hermosi [38:38] which is really great as well as very [38:40] helpful [38:41] um so i don't know i'll give you those [38:43] two books and and some some courses [38:45] there for [38:47] you to think about what is your goal [38:49] setting method how you are identifying [38:51] what next two year five year looks like [38:54] i don't i don't have a such a wide time [38:56] horizon most of the the goals that i'm [38:58] setting are 6 to 12 months out [39:01] and so usually [39:03] i'm not the most diligent about that [39:05] most disciplined about setting the goals [39:07] and and sort of breaking them down but i [39:09] do always have a very clear focus on [39:11] where i'm going so [39:13] um you know for where i want to take [39:15] nerd digital right now i have these [39:17] written out and i have them you know [39:18] pasted in front of me and i look at them [39:21] and i review them frequently enough that [39:24] i never lose track of them and on a [39:26] weekly basis i asked myself you know [39:28] have i made progress towards this goal [39:31] what can i take out of my way that i can [39:33] get me there or what can i put in my way [39:35] what can i do more of to get me closer [39:37] to that goal [39:38] and it's [39:41] as you as you were saying about saying [39:42] no it's a constant battle like okay what [39:45] else can i say no to so i can get closer [39:47] to that [39:49] so [39:50] um i think i hope i answer your question [39:53] you did uh comfortable sharing those [39:55] goals yeah so our goal for right now for [39:58] near digital is to help a thousand [40:00] course creators get to six figures [40:02] right so to take them to from [40:05] uh to six figures and help a thousand [40:07] companies that's that's what i want to [40:09] do what's your typical day look like [40:11] include the time management method right [40:14] you asked about the time management so [40:16] uh my [40:17] my time is is pretty [40:19] pretty strict um i'm up early in the [40:21] morning usually i wake up first and i [40:24] make breakfast for everybody i usually [40:26] do some stretches [40:28] um [40:29] brush my teeth you know that type of [40:31] thing serve breakfast pack my son's [40:33] lunch then i i'll walk him over to [40:35] school [40:36] hug him goodbye wish him a good day and [40:38] then i'll i'll come home [40:40] and at that time i'll have some coffee [40:41] and then i'll get right right into work [40:44] and um [40:46] uh i don't usually schedule any meetings [40:48] until the afternoon because i want to [40:50] have as much you know time to have deep [40:52] work as possible [40:54] one thing i forgot to say is that [40:55] usually on sundays i set up set my week [40:58] up [40:58] and so i do a weekly review on sundays [41:01] where i look at like the past week look [41:03] at what i want to do for this week and i [41:06] go into my calendar and i'll [41:08] um [41:09] plan out everything that i want for that [41:11] week and so i'll give you know put [41:13] things on my calendar i'll name them and [41:15] say okay this is for [41:16] the podcast and before the podcast i [41:19] have my podcast prep and after my [41:21] podcast i might have my podcast steps [41:23] that i want to do after that and on [41:24] monday i have a specific scope of seo [41:27] that i want to think through there's so [41:29] i make sure that i bucket those things [41:31] throughout the week and label them and [41:33] set myself like too busy and make sure [41:36] that i'm i'm i actually do them i find [41:38] that that's one small thing that makes a [41:40] huge difference and the last thing i'll [41:42] say about time management [41:43] that really helps me is to go to bed [41:45] early [41:46] i think if i'm able to go to bed by 9 30 [41:50] everything really falls into place for [41:51] me and i'm super productive [41:53] if i end up going to bed later than that [41:55] it's it's not as good [41:57] and i think you said your weekend is [41:59] where you relax and other than sunday [42:03] you typically relax [42:04] i yeah so i didn't mention my weekend [42:06] but on saturday usually i'm doing [42:08] something with with johnny and my family [42:10] uh johnny is my son he's six and my [42:12] other son is real [42:13] and [42:15] we yeah we usually go you know to some [42:17] birthday party we'll go skating i don't [42:19] know walk around to go biking or [42:21] something and on sunday sunday morning i [42:23] play soccer with some buddies [42:25] and then sunday afternoon usually i'll [42:27] hang out with my family again and then [42:29] sunday night we do reflection as a [42:31] family and i'll do my weekly review is [42:33] there a question that i did not ask but [42:35] you want to answer oh i think you're [42:37] pretty thorough you know uh not nothing [42:39] that's coming to mind right now do you [42:41] have a question for me have you created [42:43] your own course i have not i didn't even [42:45] think about creating yet i'm trying to [42:48] focus on [42:49] this channel which will have like four [42:51] type of content informational deep type [42:54] query journey podcast which is what [42:56] we're doing right now some personal [42:58] finance budget uh hobby related items [43:02] okay awesome my last question for you is [43:04] uh do you have a message for the [43:06] audience um i would say that if you're [43:09] stuck [43:10] with your course creation you've maybe [43:12] created a course but you're not sure how [43:14] to scale it then reach out to us at [43:17] nerddigital.com that's [43:20] n-e-r-d-d-i-g-i-t-a-l dot com my name is [43:22] marcio and i be [43:24] you know delighted to help you reach six [43:25] figures uh it was a pleasure speaking [43:28] with you you know thank you again for [43:29] for opening up some space for me and [43:31] having me on and being so generous [43:33] thank you so much you're welcome thank [43:35] you [43:46] you
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