The 3 Simple Steps For Marketing That Can't Be Ignored | With Mike Michalowicz

Brian Hood (0:00)

This is the 6 Figure Creative Podcast, Episode 166

Welcome to the 6 Figure Creative Podcast, where our mission is to help you turn your creative passions into a stable, reliable income.

If you're in audio, video, design, photography, or really any other creative field, and you just want to learn from other successful creatives, you're in the right place. Welcome back to another episode of the 6 Figure Creative Podcast. I am your host, Brian Hood. I'm here with my big, bald, beautiful, green-shirted co-host, Christopher J. Graham. Hi, Chris.

Christopher J. Graham (0:33)

Hey, man. I wanted to switch it up today. This is one of my favorite t-shirts from college, and it's got holes in it, and I like it. And it makes me feel young.

Brian Hood (0:41)

Well, that's adorable. So today's episode, we have a treat for you. We're interviewing Mike Michalowicz, who is a New York Times bestselling author. He's got so many books over a million readers. This dude is absolutely legit. And not only that, I'm a huge fan of this guy.

But Chris Graham is a super fan of this guy. And we bring up a great conversation about marketing, about differentiation, about...

Chris, do you want to talk about the episode?

Christopher J. Graham (1:04)

What people are in for today? Let me start with a quick story.

Brian Hood (1:07)

That's my Chris right there. Instead of bullet points and great stuff, he's gonna give a tedious story.

Christopher J. Graham (1:13)

A tedious story.

Brian Hood (1:14)

Yeah.

Christopher J. Graham (1:15)

Okay, so Mike reached out to me probably six or seven years ago before he kind of exploded, because I used to write Amazon book reviews for business books all the time.

And I was at this stage where like I didn't have three kids yet, and I had a lot more free time on my hands. And so I'm just like reading business books constantly and then writing a review. And I just, it was a wonderful chapter in life.

And I got an email one day. I don't know how Mike got my email, but somehow I got it from Amazon and was like, hey, can I send you this book, The Pumpkin Plan? And if you like it, will you just write a review? No pressure. Just like whatever you want to do, just write an honest review. I was like, yeah. And he sent me the book, and it was transformative for me. It was one of the better business books I'd ever read. We've talked about it a number of times on the podcast before.

Brian Hood (2:02)

That's my favorite book from him so far, at least.

Christopher J. Graham (2:04)

What was so liberating about Mike, and I think what makes him one of the most perfect guests we could possibly have on this show is that Mike is a liberated entrepreneur.

Brian Hood (2:15)

That's a great way of putting it.

Christopher J. Graham (2:16)

Yeah, he is not constrained by other people's ideas and rules. He's totally himself and he's a badass, but at the same time, like I think he could probably beat me up. I think if we got in a fight, I think he could probably take me.

But he's also goofy and he has a lot of eccentricities. And I love that about him that he has leaned into, I'm gonna be different. I'm gonna be somebody that nobody else has been and therefore the best in the world.

Brian Hood (2:43)

Yeah, and that's the kind of person that you can get that person to teach you about being different, which is what his new book is and it talks about and it's all about marketing and being different. And I think you put it a lot more politically correct, not even politically correct, just nice.

I literally called him to his face on the interview, weird. You said, I don't know what you just said, but it wasn't the word weird. Liberated, yeah, that's a nicer way of putting weird. Weird in a great way, a little eccentric, but yeah, this interview is a lot of fun. So Chris, before we get into the interview today, you came to Nashville recently and we got to hang out and be buddies.

Christopher J. Graham (3:17)

It was so fun. And I'm coming back in like two weeks.

Brian Hood (3:19)

Yeah, you stayed like right behind me in our guest bedroom.

Christopher J. Graham (3:22)

Oh yeah, that's true. That's such a brain buster for me because I've interacted with you so much over the internet, but that was the first time I had been to your new house and now I've been to your new house, but now you're back on the internet.