Overcoming Business Obstacles and Ensuring Marketing Compliance with Anik Singal

What would you do if your life was suddenly upended by a 92-day ICU stay and a grueling battle with the FTC? On this episode of the Seven Figure Builder Show, I sit down with the incredible Anik Singal to explore his extraordinary journey through these harrowing experiences. Anik shares how a nurse's profound words transformed his attitude during life-threatening times and provides raw insights into the importance of understanding regulatory rules for marketers. His compelling stories of resilience and survival offer listeners a masterclass in overcoming extreme challenges and finding a deeper purpose in life.

Imagine nearly selling your company for millions, only to face a sudden investigation that leads to devastating business losses. We discuss the relentless spirit required to bounce back from setbacks, the value of learning from failures, and the drive to leave a meaningful legacy. Anik and I emphasize the necessity of resilience and maintaining forward momentum, no matter the obstacles. From evolving beliefs about entrepreneurship to the critical choice of how to react to setbacks, this episode is packed with valuable lessons for any aspiring entrepreneur.

Navigating the tricky landscape of marketing compliance, Anik provides expert advice on managing net impressions, avoiding regulatory scrutiny, and the pivotal role of a good compliance attorney. We cover the intricacies of implied earnings claims, testimonial guidelines, and practical strategies to maintain ethical marketing practices. Anik's personal journey, his passion for empowering others, and his new book round out this deeply inspiring conversation. Tune in and connect with us at sevenfigurebuilder.com for more transformative content.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, welcome back.
This is Julie Baranek, host ofthe 7 Figure Builder Show, and
I'm here today with my friendAnik Singhal.
Hey, anik.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hey, how are you?
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Fabulous and I am super pumped to chat with you.
You are brilliant in your ownright, but an entrepreneur,
dreamer, fighter, speaker,teacher, philanthropist if I can
get my words today, if I canget my words today Trained over
300,000 entrepreneurs around theworld.
You have been recognized byBusiness Week in the top three

(00:29):
of the best US entrepreneursunder 25.
You've been Inc 500 CEO.
You've just accomplished somuch and I know you're here
today to keep us compliant withFTC.
So what is that all about?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
I accomplished so much, I got my butt sued by the
FTC.
Yeah, you know, it's funnybecause before this whole FTC
thing came up, I used to saylike, hey, I've been through a
lot and I really have.
I mean, I seriously have.
I have all the extremes.
So there was a period of my lifewhere I was in the ICU for 92
days.
I was bleeding.

(01:03):
They had to give me two pintsof blood a day to keep me alive.
I was a mess.
I got to the point where theyhad to keep my bed flat.
If they even so much as put thebed up, my heart rate would
spike to 180.
I was flat.
And we got to a point wherethey had to do a surgery where
they said, hey, everybody thatshould see him bring them in

(01:28):
50-50.
If he wakes up from thissurgery, this is going to be a
really, really rough surgery.
So I've had that right.
You would say that's the lowestof lows, but for me I mean just
we could talk about it.
But like my, I remember when Isurvived the day I was being
checked out of the hospital andthat wasn't the worst of it,
because it got worse after that.
Well, yeah, but I remember thenurse, the head nurse.
She was retiring within a weekor so and she came to me and she
said I needed to see you beforeyou left because, you know, I

(01:52):
just wanted to make sure youunderstood something, and that
was that I've been a nurse for50 years and we did not save
your life.
The doctors did not save yourlife.
The surgeon did not save yourlife.
None of us here.
You should be dead.
Surgeon did not save your life.
None of us here.
You should be dead.
There is no reason for you to bealive other than you, your
attitude and how you showed upduring these night, these three
months.
And so I always tell peoplelike I've been through a lot,

(02:15):
and out of all of that, by theway, the hardest thing I ever
went through was beinginvestigated by the ftc for 18
months.
I mean it is.
I would not wish this uponanybody in the world.
And so, yeah, I've experienceda lot.
I'm not regretful for any bitof it.
I think it all shapes as to whowe are today.
And you know what?
I live a really blessed life.
I've got two beautiful littlegirls, a great family, um, I

(02:36):
live in a great home, drivewhatever cars I want, take
vacations.
So I'm not here to complain, um, I'm just here to empower as
much as I can.
So, yeah, I've been through alot.
My goal and mission now formarketers is to wake them up as
to what the regulatory rules andlaws are, because they don't
know them.
I didn't understand them.
I knew some, but I didn'tunderstand them.
And four words.
If there were four words thatweren't in my sales calls, my

(02:59):
entire case could have turnedout very different.
Four words.
So I thought it'd be wise tolet everyone know what those
four words are so that theydon't have to go through these
issues.
So, yeah, it's just a lot ago.
Um, I'm, I've been through a lotgood, bad and at this point I'm
40, I'm gonna be 41 in a monthand I just like I don't know,

(03:19):
maybe it's midlife crisis orsomething, but I'm all about
like, hey, how can I just sharemy wisdom and tell people what?
And and I've you know, julie,one thing about me is I've
become so raw.
I was always kind oftransparent, but now now I'm
like that old man that's likeget off my lawn, like I don't
got anything.
I'm just raw, like it's.
It is what it is that the good,the bad, the ugly, and I think
it makes for interestingconversations with entrepreneurs

(03:41):
interesting conversations withentrepreneurs.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
It does, and it's so valued because it's hard to peel
back the layers for most peopleand really understand what's
happening behind the scenes.
That everybody touts to be amassive success and in reality
they're not right.
But back to your ICU experience.
It sounds like, and I would say, you have a massive purpose in
your life.
Obviously that's why you'rehere, so I'm glad you made it
through that.
My original career I was ahigh-risk labor delivery nurse,

(04:08):
so from the nursing perspectivethat's like you know a lot for a
nurse to come in and reallyshare that with you.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
So I think that's pretty awesome that you did so
but yeah, I, I appreciated itfor her, her for it.
I didn't really fullyunderstand what she meant.
You got to understand it.
I was.
I was high on pain meds oh yeah,I remember that months, but I
stuck out at me and and I thinkit probably took me months,

(04:36):
maybe years, honestly, becauseit went on to be that whole
period of my life lasted a year.
I had to have two moresurgeries after that was
admitted again and again, andthey weren't as serious as the
first one, but they were stillpretty bad.
I mean, I, I couldn't walk,julie, I love my legs went.
I mean, if you don't walk for90 days, your leg muscles just
go limp.
And so I had to go throughphysical therapy.
They built like a makeshifthospital in my parents basement,

(04:58):
um, and and, julie, you knowone thing I I didn't mention is
during those 90 days in the ICUlaying flat, I ran my business
with a Blackberry phone and wedidn't have iPhones at that time
and I actually got into troublewith the administration
multiple times because I, youknow, I can't have your phone
out in the ICU.
They don't want you using yourphone.
And so I negotiated with themand I said, well, if you don't
want me to use my phone, so theywould confiscate my phone and I

(05:19):
would call my employees andthey'd bring me another one the
next day by another phone.
And I was like I just told usI'm not gonna stop.
So there's a computer in thisroom that you guys never use the
nurses use it for five minutesto come, punch some data and let
me use it.
Bring it up.
It's got a pivot thing I canlay flat and use it and then you
don't have to worry about mehaving a fun.
So I've negotiated hardcore toget the ability, because here is

(05:41):
my take on that and peoplealways like why I said this is
how I've always been.
My take on it was this I'mstill breathing and I'm still
awake and I still have a purpose, and so, as long as I'm
breathing, I'm doing what I'mdoing because I love it and I
enjoy it.
And what else am I supposed todo?
Sit, sit back and watch rerunsof like friends or something

(06:02):
like how much, how long I'mgoing to do that lying in bed,
you know, and by doing this Iwas engaged, I was busy.
It would give my parents andfamily the freedom to walk out
and go do something and knowthat I'm happy and busy.
And so I um, yeah, that was areally keep.
There's so many, so many thingsthat happened during that that
year that now I'm able to lookback on and say God dang, you

(06:22):
know, like that way ofapproaching, that is how I
approach this in business andlike wow, that trait is very
strong.
But yeah, I never understoodwhat she really meant till
probably years later and Irealized because now I work in a
coach, a lot of people rightLike I work with a lot of our
students and I'm just sometimesI just want to smack them and
say just like gotta have somegrit, man.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Like, come on, you know, dude, if I can do it flat
in the hospital bed, you can doit in the comfort of your own
home.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
I say this to people all the time.
I say, if you want to come tome for sympathy or empathy, good
luck, right, because unless youcan outdo the story I'm about
to tell you you do not have itbad.
So shut up and get to work.
And this is why I've alwayssaid I am not the best coach for
most people, because I am notthe person that sits down and
says so tell me your feelings,how you feeling this work
through them all.
Like I'm like get up and go doit.

(07:12):
Like I don't have time for allthis belly aching and crying.
But that's just, um, that's my,that's my it's, it's how I know
to fix things, it's how I do it.
I just I feel like bad timesshould be an expectation.
You're just gonna have badtimes.
They come.
I don't know what to tell you.
Like you're good and thenyou're bad and then you're good

(07:34):
again.
Like it's good times, bad times.
So when they happen to me, Idon't let them impact me as much
now, because I'm like oh okay,that's good.
That's now because good timesare yet to come.
I know it's going to kind ofturn.
That's an entrepreneur's life.
You go through these highs andlows.
Whereas I try to coach peoplebecause people get so taken
aback by it, they're like, oh myGod, my product launch failed

(07:55):
and I'm like, cool.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Move on right.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, why are we still talking about this?
It failed, so it failed, solet's move on right.
And it's like, oh man, I workedso hard on it.
And it's like I don't know whatto tell you.
Like I just we don't have atime machine, so we can't go
back and fix this.
Let's move forward.
And that's been how I've beenfor a long time and I swear I
mean, we talk about all thesethings, right, julie, we talk
about funnels and we talk about,you know, marketing and traffic

(08:21):
and this and that.
Like sometimes I'm like that'sall well and good, but that's
really not how you succeed.
It's all up in here and you cantalk to any very successful
person.
Um, I remember talking to thisone person.
It's a really funny story.
So this guy was a billionaireand he tried to join um.
There's like an exclusivemastermind of billionaires and

(08:43):
he's.
He thought he would be ashoo-in and they asked him a few
questions.
The first question they askedhim is have you ever been near
bankruptcy?
And his answer was yes, it's agreat.
Then the second question was um, have you kind of forgetting
what's up?
I know the question.
That was like the kicker thathe didn't have, but I can't
remember the second question,but it was like it was some like

(09:04):
traumatic thing, was like this,like big thing, like has that
happened to you?
In this case, he was like yeah.
The third one was have you beensued by the government?
And I remember that that stoodout of this story when I was
like dude, yes, like me I, andhis answer was no, and they said
you can't come in.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Wow, because they're in the mastermind because were
like you.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Just everyone in here understands what it really
takes to be at the next leveland all these three things have
to have happened.
And and you know, I don't knowfor me.
Obviously it stood out fordifferent reasons, but I took
away was exactly what you justsaid.
Even the most successful inthis world literally say it
requires pushing throughchallenges.

(09:45):
They're still facing them everyday.
Elon Musk was interviewed andthe guy said to Elon Musk he's
like.
And Elon Musk's response hesaid do you feel lonely?
And Elon Musk, the most reveredor hated man on earth, said yes
, and that I mean.
I'm listening to that interview.

(10:05):
You listen to the interview bythe NVIDIA CEO, slash founder.
They asked him on CNBC.
They said if you could go backand tell a 20-year-old, if you
could go back 20 years and tellthe younger version of you who's
launching NVIDIA, what wouldyou tell him?
And he leans into the mic andhe says I would tell him don't
do it, wow.
And you tell him and he leansinto the mic and he says I would

(10:26):
tell him don't do it, wow.
And like the, the host was likewhat, what do?
you mean don't do it, he's likeI would say don't do it.
And he's like you gotta unpackthis.
For me that's not the answer Iwas expecting.
He goes see the.
The blessing and the curse of agreat entrepreneur is that they
always think it'll be okay.

(10:46):
And it's a blessing becauseit's what gets us through all
the toughest times and it's whywe power through and prevail
when others can't.
It's a curse because we putourselves through a lot of crap,
right because?
And so the guys looking at Imean he's like fascinated and
he's talking to him and he'slike wow, okay, and he goes.
Well, I don't understand whyare you still the CEO of NVIDIA,

(11:09):
like, if it's so hard and ifyou don't like it, and he leans
in and he goes because I thinkit'll be okay, like I just said
it right.
And that made an impact on me.
I mean so many interviews Ilistened to that was like damn,
he's right, like that's.
So people always ask me like,what does it take to be an
entrepreneur?
I'm like just survival, amassive sense of survival.
I sent my friend an audio noteyesterday.

(11:31):
I was going through some toughtimes and I said just keep
pedaling, man.
He's like but it's so hard.
I said just keep pedaling.
You gotta keep moving your feet.
You just gotta keep moving yourfeet.
It's a statistic.
It's statistics, right?
Okay, with every time I, if I'mtrying to get a heads and I
flip its tails, my chances ofthe next one being heads goes up
.
I flip again tails, my chancesof the next one being heads goes

(11:54):
up.
I flip again, I flip again.
The more I flip, it keeps beingtails.
My chance that the nextflipping heads just keeps going
higher and higher, and higherand higher.
And I'm like, I'm like, guys,that's what success is.
It's flip fail, flip fail.
Just don't stop, because everytime you fail, the chance of you
succeeding is actually higher.
And now, all of a sudden, whenyou look at it from that
perception, I think, if I'mwrapping it all up into my story

(12:17):
, that defines how I look atchallenges and failures and all
of that You're talking to a guywho was about to sell his
company for deca.
Millions of dollars was done,it was the deal was pretty much
done.
I was about to step down a CEOwhich, by the way, most people
will tell you who've been CEOsof larger organizations.

(12:37):
As much as we aspire to be, aCEO is like the worst job on the
planet.
I wanted to get out of that job.
And then I had just had a baby,our first child, and I was so
excited to be like astay-at-home dad.
For a year after selling thecompany and three weeks after we
had our first child, I get suedby the FTC or notified that I'm
being investigated by the FTC.

(12:58):
I lost the acquisition.
My business went from doingnearly nearly 40 million that
year to almost nothing because Ihad to slow down a lot Not that
they made me, but that was thewise choice.
I lost 85, 80, 85% of my team.
I had to let them go.
So here I went, from like I wasat the best possible.

(13:21):
My dream come true I wanted tosell my company before I turned
40.
I was 39.
It was my 39th birthday.
I was going to announce to theteam that the deal is done, it's
being put into place and myright hand is now the CEO and so
everyone's gotten promoted andeveryone's going to make a ton
of money when this acquisitionhappens.
That was going to be mybirthday gift to everybody, my
39th birthday.
So I was like biggest dream ofselling the company, check mark,

(13:43):
getting home to be with thebaby for a year and be dad
checkmark, stepping down, a CEOcheckmark, able to focus on my
health now, because I can justfully dive in on my health
checkmark.
It was like the perfectCinderella story.
One FedEx package one FedExpackage walked in through that
front door.
Life went from here to here ina moment's notice and there have

(14:05):
been people who that haveexperienced this, who have
committed suicide, who have goneinto deep depression.
I can tell you story afterstory that I've now learned
about by working with myattorney of things that have
happened to his clients.
And I had to make a choice atthat moment which one am I going
to be?
And I said the idea ofrebuilding that.

(14:26):
Julie, till this day sometimesI'm like oh, you know, I'm
supposed to be an investor now.
I don't want to operatebusinesses anymore.
I don't want to be a CEO.
It sucks, it's so much workbuild.

(14:47):
Because I have a book in mymind that I want to write.
I really want to write it.
That gets to be probably one ofthe books that I leave my
daughters with, that I leave theworld with.
But in order to write that book,julie, I've got to bounce back,
so that a lot of people ask melike Anik, you still have money.
I mean I can go right now.
I can probably just buy a fewfranchises, buy a couple of more

(15:07):
real estate properties.
I don't live a very lavish life.
I'm going to be pretty muchcovered.
I'll be a consultant.
I'd make a million dollars ayear just consulting.
I live like a super easy life,make good money, be covered.
My kids would be covered andthey're like why do you do it?
And I'm like I got to writethat book, man, I got to write
the book.
I got to bounce back from thisfor the pure purpose of bouncing

(15:31):
back, just to show people thatit's possible, so that nobody
else can say it's not possible.
So yeah, it all culminates inhow you approach things.
But this and this happens to usin different gradients.
Okay, all the time.
Julie, you have your story, Ibet, if not multiple stories, of

(15:51):
this and this, and so do others.
And I just I challenge peopleright now listening to this to
say how do you react during that?
Right, do you look at that asthe be-all, end-all?
Do you sulk, do you live in thenegativity and depression of it
, or do you allow yourself a fewdays to mourn that, of course,
whatever time you need, but thenget up and say I just learned
one way not to do it.

(16:11):
Now let me go figure out, letme go back and do it again,
right?
So that's been my approach tolife.
It's served me well, it's not.
It's a stressful way, it's notthe easiest way to live, but
it's one that it brings mehappiness.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Absolutely, and I definitely want to dive deep
into the whole FTC experiencefor you.
But what I'm hearing thatyou're rebuilding is you're
creating your legacy, right Likeyou've created your journey.
You've created such success,but now you're creating your
legacy.
So I'm curious what is thatlegacy that you want to leave to
the world?
So I'm curious what is thatlegacy that you want to leave to

(16:46):
the world.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
You know, I don't know if I'm being very honest
with you.
I actually don't know, and Ithink this is where you're going
to start to see a lot ofdifferentiations between me and
a lot of people that you mightinterview or a lot out, or that
I'm not going through toughtimes or whatever.
I don't know what that legacyis.
I'll tell you what I thought itwas, and I know that it isn't

(17:18):
that anymore.
So 20 years ago, when Igraduated college, I was
literally appalled and repulsedby the idea of someone getting a
job.
I was literally appalled andrepulsed by the idea of someone
getting a job.
It was.
I mean, I came out of collegeand I had job offers from three
of the top banks in Wall Street.
I mean I got a degree infinance and I couldn't even I
don't even know, like I stillcan't figure out credit debit.

(17:40):
So I don't know what thatdegree did for me.
But I got a degree in financeand I did really well part-time
working during college as as afinancial planner go figure.
But I was mostly sales.
Right, I was, I was doing thesales part.
There was professional moneymanagers behind the scenes, so
investment banks wanted mebecause they were like this
kid's got the talk, he knows howto talk, to talk and I was
gonna make great money.
So, as far as my friends andall were concerned, I had the

(18:03):
dream that they all look for.
I had three investment banksfighting for me, so the idea and
I also had my business kind ofstarting to boom at the same
time my online business so I letall of that go, but to me, the
idea of getting a job was likerepulsive.
I was like I can't do so.
My message in the beginning ofmy career of an online educator
was everybody should be anentrepreneur.
My legacy will be to build aplatform that empowers anybody

(18:27):
and everybody in the world tobecome an entrepreneur, because
that's what everybody should be.
Now I can tell you 20 years Ihaven't even done this.
That is entirely andholistically false.
Not everybody can be, should beor needs to be an entrepreneur.
My best friend and I just haddinner last week and he has now
for 10 or 12 years 12, no more,15 years almost probably been

(18:49):
battling this.
Every three months he wakes upand comes to me.
He is very successful.
He is high up in his professionIT, top grade security.
I don't know what he's allowedto do.
He can't take his phone insidewith him.
My number is at the government.
I'm one of the three peoplethat's allowed to contact.
I don't like it.
I'm like I don't want my numberin this database that you put
me in like it's very top secretstuff.

(19:09):
So I'm like you're very, very,very successful.
He's like I want to be anentrepreneur and this week ago I
just told him I looked himstraight in the eyes I love you
and if this is a path you choose, I will always have your back.
But this isn't for you.
And you know what.
He looked at me and he goes no,I've started to figure that out
too.
So it's just not for you, man.
It's not the right lifestylefor you.
You're not gonna like it.
So I think now I think everyonecan.

(19:31):
I think there's something to besaid about being an
intrapreneur.
I think everyone could want tohave a lot, be under a company
but have a lot of freedom,growth, variable pay, ability to
grow.
But I changed that ideologyyears back, a few years ago, and
so now it's like when I thinkabout what is my legacy, it's

(19:51):
going to sound so cliche, but Ilook at my two girls and I'm
like what do I want to teachthem?
Like what?
I think that gets to be mylegacy, because that way I don't
have to be living two lives.
I can like live one life and mykids can learn by observing
what.
I think that gets to be mylegacy, because that way I don't
have to be living two lives.
I can like live one life and myKids can learn by observing

(20:12):
what I'm doing, rather than mehaving to come home and teach
them one thing and then go outand like live another thing.
And I think, if I had to teachmy, my older daughter's, two
years old now.
So we're starting to hit likeour terrific twos and we're
having some meltdowns andmoments and she's Scared of new
things.
She doesn't like new things,and so it's giving me this what
do I want to teach you right now?
And it's so funny, but it isabsolutely about sweetie.

(20:35):
This is how we confront ourfears.
This is how we bounce back whenwe fall.
This is how we react whenthings don't go our way, when we
fall.
This is how we react whenthings don't go our way.
So it's about like composure,calmness and control and I start
to think, holy crap, did Imight be becoming a personal
development dude, because Idon't want to do that.
I don't want to be no tonyrobbins or whatever.

(20:57):
But the book that I want towrite is a book about
acknowledging, accepting andharnessing the tragedies and the
bad things that happen to usand getting empowered by them,
and so I think, somewhere inwhat I just rambled about Julie
is what I want my legacy to be.

(21:19):
I can tell you this here's somethings I'm doing.
I'm writing a lot of books.
I'm very obsessed right nowwith books.
I feel like you know, oh my God, why am I blanking?
Today there is a Christian,female Christian.
My wife loves her.
I'm a big fan of her too.
She makes me laugh.
I always say she's like thefemale version of Joel Osteen.

(21:40):
She writes like a book a month.
She has like a hundred books.
It's insane, and my wife readsthem all and I'm like that's.
One way to leave a legacy is toleave a lot of my knowledge in
books, and I love books as amarketing tool.
I think they're the best toolfor marketing.
I love books because peoplelove books.

(22:01):
I love books because that'ssomething I leave back for my
daughters, right, that's mestaying with them.
So I don't know.
You know, I want to get myknowledge out to people.
I want to empower people.
Money yeah, you know, it's areally cool way to.
It's a I forgot the term, it'sa measuring stick, right?

(22:22):
I feel like the more money youhave, typically you've provided
more value.
So like, yeah, I'll make moremoney, but somewhere, I don't
know, somewhere in legacy, helppeople, impact people, get
people to get up, get people tostop like whining about their
problems.
Maybe it's there.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
I definitely hear you .
I know I always think back tobecause I started my career as a
registered nurse, did that for11 years, shifted over to
consulting and all sorts of funstuff.
But I've taken my whole nursingworld with me to the
perspective of, at the end ofthe day, nobody died.
And it goes back to thatmentality.
That mindset that you weretalking about is like pick up
your bootstraps, suck it up,just keep moving and it's

(23:12):
perspective, like did anybodydie?

Speaker 2 (23:13):
No, okay, we move on.
That someone asked me.
It's.
Like a few months into the FTCinvestigation things were just
unraveling and I was starting torealize you go through these
emotional phases when you getinvestigated by the federal
government.
And then you go through likethese emotional phases when you
get investigated by the federalgovernment and you go through
this like in the beginningyou're like, oh, this is a
mistake, You're going to realizethe mistake and it's going to
go away.
And I actually have anotherfriend who got, who was months

(23:35):
behind me, who got investigated,and I watched him go through
the exact same and I was like afew months ahead so I was like,
all right, let it happen.
But like that's you know yeahthe grieving process, right.
And then, like you just settleinto, I was at settled into the
point where I realized like, hey, this, this is going to get way
worse before it gets better,like, all right.
So someone, one of my friendsat that time, one of my

(23:56):
marketing friends orentrepreneur friend, said how do
you, like, how are you dealingwith this?
Like, how are you still makingjokes?
Why are we here having tequilashots?
Like, why are you stilllaughing?
And you know what I said to him.
I said, man, I stared the GrimReaper straight in his eyes and
cheated him out of death.
And that dude's been chasing mefor 20 plus years and hasn't

(24:16):
caught me yet.
I'm sure I can handle a coupleof lawyers at the FTC.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
So, and I said it facetiously not to upset anyone
at the FTC, it was just a joke,you know yeah, please leave me
alone.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
I don't want to see you guys.
I come in peace, with respect,but I just meant like, hey, this
, this I have seen worse, beenworse.
My daughters are healthy.
Food is on the table.
Shelter is over our heads.
My daughters are healthy.
Food is on the table.
Shelter is over our heads.
Um, I'm alive and I'm out herewith you right now.
There are people around theworld who would, who would do

(24:52):
anything to have the freedom tohave a drink with their friend,
knowing that their family, thisperspective and I was like I got
to live in that perspective andas long as I live in that
perspective, you know, my, my,my mentor said this to me all
the time.
I hated it and he still says it.
It doesn't trigger me anymore.
He would say to me all the timeAnik, if this is the worst

(25:14):
thing that happens to you today,it's a pretty good day.
And when I called him and saidI got this notice from the FTC,
it's the only time in my life hegoes.
You know that thing I alwayssay to you.
I'm like, yeah, he's like, I'mnot going to say it today.
I was like, thank you.
I was like I just don't want tohear it today, but still, even
that day, it stood true, eventhat day.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
Okay, so I want to dive deep, though.
Tell us you said there werefour words.
Right, that would have changedthe whole trajectory for you.
So clue us in.
What are things that you knowpeople are doing that they don't
even know that they're doing?

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah.
So you know, if you look at theinvestigation and you see what
happens, I'll give you guys thesynopsis and then I'll kind of
come down to those four words.
So for the last 20 years I havenot been a fool.
I have been fully aware of thefact that we play in a heavily
regulated industry.
So the risk you know I can owna Subway franchise or I can do

(26:09):
this business the risk of beinginvestigated by the government
is higher in this business.
Okay, that's just a byproductof the business.
I get that.
So for the longest time I'vealways had an FTC attorney,
someone who is a complianceattorney.
I've always counseled them.
Actually, I had spent probablyclose to a million dollars over
years counseling them and I evenhad a full-time paralegal in my
business before this that waschecking all the sales calls

(26:32):
that would lead to sales.
I was very anxious and nervousabout the FTC stuff, not because
I was scared of being sued, butmostly because I wanted to do
the right thing.
I didn't want my company tobecome something that was
abusing or taking advantage ofpeople.
So what I learned was this Ilearned a simple rule For years
this was reinstated by theattorneys and that was that the
FTC comes after you if they seea lot of complaints.

(26:54):
So they are complaint driven.
They have so much going on.
They're a limited organization,even with government funding,
so they've got to put theirattention and time on the places
where there's a lot ofcomplaints.
That's whatever is noisiest,that's kind of dries their eyes.
So I thought, great, let's notbe noisy.
So I understood right, keep,keep the complaints and and take
care of people and all good.

(27:14):
So we were doing 20 000transactions a year.
This is transactions.
We, since 2015, I've sold247,000 courses.
At this point, I built acustomer support team.
That was three support teamsand I did them in different
parts of the world so that wewere running eight eight-hour
shifts, 24-hour, 24-7 support.
Weekends, covered holidays,covered New Year's evening,

(27:35):
covered Christmas day, covered36 minutes average response time
to customers.
Refunds no problem.
We were all about we take careof our customers.
I had never in 20 yearsreceived a single legal notice
or a complaint from a customer.
Ever.
No challenges.
Legally, no state AG problems,merchant accounts the same ones

(27:55):
for over a decade.
I'd never been shut down, neverhad an inquiry.
So my refund rate was below 5%.
My chargeback rate was below0.7%.
My BBB rating was an A.
My customers were happy.
I had nothing negative about me.
I took care of people.
Even till this day I say mostlygo ahead and talk to people in
the industry about me.
I mean I've not really harmedor hurt anybody from what I know
, and I was doing good.
We were doing a lot ofnon-profit work, like I thought

(28:18):
everything is good, I'm helping,I'm supporting and I'm showing
up for people.
So I want everyone to know thatyou know, because some people
will say well on it, you know ifyou, especially if you read
their press release, you'regoing to be like onyx evil and
look they do their job.
They're not my friends, but Isay I can lean on the data.
The numbers are not numbers Ican make up.
There are numbers that they'veseen and supported.
The data shows that I was doingwhat I was told and I was doing

(28:41):
a good job by it and I so now,if you look at my copy now from
today's eyes, I'm like, ooh, whydid I say that when I do that?
Because I wasn't prioritizingthose things, because I was told
that, hey, the standard is youknow, be and I was business
partners of Robert Kiyosaki,damon John, les Brown, bob
Proctor, I mean we.
It was awesome, right, it waslike and I and I built this big

(29:01):
machine that was scaling andgrowing and and I did it under
these KPIs and and, and Ithought we were doing good.
So, um, I didn't like a lot ofphone sales stuff.
I, I, I, in my company, I had arule nothing above $10,000 can
be sold.
Because I felt that, eventhough we don't do financing,
even though we don't allowpeople to take out mortgages or
take out their 401ks, we hadstandard rules about this stuff.

(29:23):
I didn't want any fancy, funnybusiness and we would listen to
the sales call.
That led to a sale.
And a few times we foundsomething like the guy said okay
, I'm not going to buy my house,I'm going to buy this instead.
Boom, within 24 hours, uh-uh,sorry, we renegate that sale.
What we do is we refund theperson and say please go buy our
house and, as our apology, youget the program for free, right,

(29:43):
like we were active about stufflike this.
So, and we have it all on record, and so I like to draw that to
people because, right out thegate, what people will say is
well, he must've been super evil, horrible.
I'm not that person, so I don'thave to worry about this, okay,
so let me just draw thatcomparison of that.
I wasn't evil and the numbersshow that, and my historical you

(30:05):
know now if you look me up, ofcourse we've got people coming
on and attacking me and callingme bad things because they're
reading the FTC.
But they don't.
They're not actual customers.
They actually never dealt withme.
They're just latching onto thebandwagon.
But talk to people haveactually dealt with me for 20
years and they'll tell you theexact opposite.
I have team members that havebeen with me for 15 years.
Right, that love me.
They're still here.
Even through the two years ofmuck we went through, they're
still here.

(30:26):
So, as we started going throughthe invest and so as they sent
their demand letter I'm readingall these things and guess what
doesn't really matter?
The fact that I have very oh soBBB A rating 20 complaints a
year, all resolved, 100%resolution rate, and so we had
an A rating.
So, out of 20,000 transactionsa year, 20 complaints a year at

(30:48):
the BBB.
So I mean, look, it's about asgood as we're ever going to do,
like I don't really know a wayto do that better, and so the
mechanics, the mathematics of itall look boom good, but then
when you start to read theirstuff, it was about you said
this, you said this sentence ina four-hour presentation, you
this, that, that dot, dot.
So we submit, start sending abunch of stuff.

(31:11):
I can get into some of thelegalese and the laws, but I'm
gonna fast forward and just saythat right now, given some
supreme court rulings in 2021,the two things that are being
regulated the most becausethat's where the ftc has the
most kind of domain right now istelesales calls and recurring
things.
So if you're selling anythingrecurring or if you're selling

(31:31):
on the phone one-to-one phone,zoom, whatever it is, but it's
like that one-to-one interactionto get a sale Live events if
you're doing one-to-one closingin the back of the room, that
counts too, and so the wholecase kind of dwindled down.
Yes, there's all these issuesthat they have with things I'm
saying in my webinars, buttechnically, according to the

(31:52):
Supreme Court ruling, as I nowam echoing what my lawyer has
told me I'm not a lawyer, guys,but I've spent enough time with
my lawyer now that I think I getthese things right they
couldn't really recoup moneyfrom me for things that I did
that were one to many, that weresales pages, sales videos.
Now they do have somethingcalled notice of penalty.

(32:13):
That has not been tested incourt yet but theoretically they
say they can fine you 50,000per violation.
So for me that was going to belike I could have been fined
like a half a billion dollars orsomething.
Again, brand new, hasn't beentested, but by Supreme Court
rules it was like hey, due toweb sales you can't just go

(32:36):
garner their accounts, freezetheir funds, take over a bunch
of money, but telesales andrecurring sales you can.
So during the investigation,very soon into it, when they
realized that, oh, you have atelesales team which they know
most of us marketers kind ofhave the Ascension model right,
you come here and here and youbuy the coaching program, and

(32:59):
the four words that the wholecase came down to, where they
were like bam gotcha, like this,you know we got you by the tail
, now You're not going anywhereWas what is your goal.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
Seriously.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
I'm serious, and everyone always goes what, and
let me explain to you how theylook at it and when you see it
from their eyes, you'll go holyshit.
So, all right, julie will playthis out.
We get on a call.
I'm the sales guy.
I say, julie, hey, it's awesome, glad to see you.
Oh, you want to start an emailmarketing business.
You know, that's cool, julie,it's great.

(33:37):
I see that you bought thisprogram.
What's your experience beenlike this?
How long have you been doingthis, hey, julie?
What's your goal?
What do you want to make Like,why are you doing this?
What's your goal?
Answer me, julie.
Just say anything.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Make a million dollars.
Don't make a million dollars.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Why do you want?

Speaker 1 (33:54):
to make a million dollars.
So I have freedom to dowhatever I want.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
Okay, you want to spend more time with your kids,
your family, you want to takevacations, you want to buy their
dream home.
Julie, that is an amazing goaland you know what we can help
you with that.
Implied earnings claim Gotcha.

(34:18):
As a salesperson, it is sodifficult for me to not respond
in a way where I'm creating thenet impression in Julie's mind
that I have said I can help youand I will help you, and that
you can get what you just saidthrough me.
I've created a net impression.
That's all the regulators careabout net impression.
So you can take all thespecific rules and laws which

(34:40):
you should know, but you cantake them all and chuck them in
the trash.
In the end of the day comesdown to net impression.
So here I'll give you anotherexample.
Julie was play along.
So, julie, arm I walk you intoa room.
There's 10 people in the room,okay.
And so I say Julie, meet personnumber one.
He works for Apple.
Julie meet person number two.
She works for Apple.
Julie meet person number three.

(35:01):
He works for Apple.
Julie meet person number four.
She works for Apple.
Julie meet person number three.
He works for Apple.
Julie meet person number four.
She works for Apple Personnumber five, apple Person number
six.
Hey, julie, who do you thinkthey work for Apple?
Apple, I didn't say they workfor Apple, but I created the net
impression in your mind.
I led you to believe that I'mresponsible for that.

(35:24):
So how does that work inmarketing and how does that work
in copy?
I love marketers.
They'll say well, I never saidyou could.
I never said you'll make$10,000 a month.
I said you could make $10,000 amonth, I'm covered.
I lawyered the lawyers.
I lawyered all the lawyers inthe federal government.

(35:45):
I just outlawyer them with theword could and it's like ah,
time out.
Here's what they're gonna say.
They're gonna say you know what, julie, you watch that whole
presentation.
At the end of it the lawyerjust says this is like,
literally, this is how it godown in court.
So they'd say, julie, everyfinish watching that five-minute
video, julie says yes, it'slike, this is how it would go
down in court.
So they'd say, julie, have youfinished watching that five
minute video?
Julie says yes, he's like Julie, how much money do you think

(36:06):
you can make per month with thissystem?
And Julie says $10,000 a month.
Oh, that's funny.
Where'd you get that?
He said it.
Julie doesn't remember that thecould right, there was no
accentuated disclaimers, therewas no net impression management
.
The other way, marketers then.
So marketers always got to tryto out lawyer the lawyers.

(36:26):
So the marketers will come andsay, okay, okay, I won't say
anything, here's what I'll do.
I'll make my marketing copy andthen I'll pick apart my top 10
students and say, yada, yada,yada.
This is my system.
I teach you how to do affiliatemarketing.
Julie made twelve thousanddollars a month within the first
30 days doing this.
Yada, yada, yada.
Martha made $15,000 in herfirst week.
Yada, yada, yada yada.

(36:47):
Sam made a million dollars hisfirst year.
So you go through.
And now what am I doing?
I'm doing the same thing Meet,person number one.
Apple.
Person number two Apple.
Person number three Apple.
Person number four Apple,creating a net impression,
impression, and that is animplied earnings claim.
So with the, what is your goal?
It's an implied earnings claim.
But go, look up, I go to Googleright now and type in goal

(37:09):
setting, which is what they callit.
So they're determined.
So I'd call goal setting, goalsetting, ftc.
No, write up about it anywhere.
So how do we know about this?
Well, this is where you've gotto have the right attorney.
So I'm the attorney I had priorto greg christiansen, who I
co-authored with this book.
So about mid-case I switchedattorneys, or I didn't switch
like, I didn't get rid of my oldattorney, I just like made this

(37:30):
one first chair.
No, no, no, nothing bad to sayabout the prior attorney, but
there's a difference betweenhaving an attorney and then
having a government attorney,which turns out what I had, and
then having a complianceattorney.
Greg Christiansen is 20 plusyears compliance attorney.

(37:52):
I can't even count how manycases per year he settles with
the FTC.
I can't even count how manytimes he's been at the FTC in
the room defending a client,talking about it, been in
depositions with them, been incourt trials with them.
He gets a chance repeatedly,month over month, to hear what
they say, how they perceive andwhat they believe.
And he has heard the directorof this division that oversees

(38:15):
the business opportunitydivision say did your client say
what is your goal?
Well, yes, it's in the script.
That's an implied earningsclaim.
There's nothing written upabout it until now.
Right, and so the FTC has guys,they don't try to hide the
rules.
There's no gotchas.
A lot of people also have thismyth about the FTC it's all the

(38:35):
money grab.
Biden's just trying to get abunch of money because to fund
his wars.
Actually every penny, what theyget for the most part goes
right back to the consumers.
So it is a cost center for thegovernment.
It is not a revenue producingcenter for them.
So another reason why theydon't care how big you are.
By the way, greg has defendedcases where the settlement was a
watch the funniest one.
I didn't even know this.

(38:56):
He was just here filming withme.
I found out he's defended acase where they took the minivan
.
They took the guy's minivan.
I'm like, who takes a guy'sminivan?
Like that's just like damnright.
But there was a case where overfour years the client had done
a million dollars over fouryears and that was a case.
They don't care big or small,because they don't keep the
money.
It's not their money, they giveit back to consumers.

(39:18):
So, with Greg now, and to giveGreg credit, within weeks of the
investigation starting, I hadhired him and said fly down here
, be with me for two days, gothrough my stuff.
I wanna know what to expect.
He starts looking at our stuff.
He's like, well, this isproblematic, but it won't be an
issue because of the law thatpassed.
The Supreme Court, this this,this, this, that, and he's

(39:40):
looking at it.
He's looking at like man.
You guys have done a reallygood job.
I'm like yeah, I know, I'm good,they're gonna.
I'm gonna get a public noticeof apology, I'm gonna.
You know, you go through allthis bullshit in your head and
all of a sudden he goes.
He's listening to a call.
He goes whoa, whoa, whoa.
Remind shit what he goes.

(40:01):
This is gonna be your case.
He called it way before.
He said they're gonna come down, they're gonna stuck on this.
What is your goal?
And sure enough, 18 monthslater, that's what they were
stuck on.
What is your goal?
So now am I gonna say I wouldhave been scot-free if that
didn't exist on the sales calls?
I don't think so.
Sometimes Greg says that Greg'slike, yeah, it would have been
done.
I'm like, well, I'm not gonnasay that because don't know and

(40:22):
I'm not in their heads.
But man, we would have.
We would have made a hell of alot of noise and had a really
strong case if that wasn't there.
That was the term that made evengreg go on it.
You, you need to settle likethis is just gonna get ugly.
So, um, now, in the end of theday, they are lawyers also, so
the things get ugly and theyplay.
I mean, they're lawyers, right,so they're not your friends.

(40:44):
That is two people against eachother.
So they are going to play theircards.
You pay whatever you got, andthey got a billion dollars, you
don't.
So someone's card stack is alot higher, but there's implied
earnings claims that peopledon't understand.
There's things likemisrepresentation.
So, julie, we see this all thetime in our presentations this

(41:04):
was worth $22,000 and today youcan get it for $500.
Well, who died and I say thisjudgmentally, I'm not Guys, I'm
one of us.
I was doing it, I'm there, Iget it.
But now I get to look back andsometimes be like what the hell
it's like?
Who died and said that's$22,000?
You're telling me your PDF thatyou give that's a 32-page PDF
is worth $5,000?

(41:25):
What the?
That is a clear violation.
It's deceptive In their eyes.
I'm not making any judgmentshere.
It's misrepresentation.
So the three clouds.
So if you are currently anentrepreneur sitting there
thinking you can outlaw thelawyers, let me just give you
three reasons.
You can't.
They've built it into the rules.

(41:46):
You can see them.
They're in the Federal TradeCommission Act.
Number one is the concept ofimplied earnings claims.
You are responsible for theimplications, not just the
direct words.
So boom, the mays, the coulds,the canns, those are out.
Number two misrepresentation.
It's a pretty generic term.
So number two misrepresentation.
It's a pretty generic term.
So if you misrepresent, sohere's the other thing I can do.

(42:07):
Right, this is, by the way,another implied earnings claim I
always love.
I love this as an example.
So, julie, I'm not gonna, I'mgonna do a video and I want you
to watch it, and I am not gonnasay anything about making money
or how much money, I'm gonnajust.
But here's what I got.
I I got a gold chain, two goldteeth, I got a Lamborghini on
this side, I got two girls inbikinis and I got a Ferrari on

(42:27):
this side.
I got a mansion behind me and achopper floating around and I'm
throwing money the whole timein the video.
I'm creating an.
That's a lifestyle claim.
I'm still infusing in your mindan implication of deep riches
and wealth that are attainedfrom the message in that video.
That is an implication.

(42:49):
Number two is misrepresentation.
This bonus is worth that much.
Only five seats left.
You can do scarcity, no problem, Document it.
I bet no one knew that If youare ever on a webinar and you
say 20 only seats left and youmean it great, you can do that
At the end of the webinar.
Document that crap and put itin a folder that you genuinely
stopped that bonus or stoppedselling at 20 seats.

(43:10):
Get the names, the emails, thetimings and document it, because
otherwise it's amisrepresentation.
The third big umbrella thatthey've used as a net is net
impression.
So you can throw everything outand they just say hey, if a
reasonable consumer watched yourmarketing piece and then
quizzed and asked what's yournet impression, If they come

(43:31):
back and say I can make blah,blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah in 30 days,boom, Doesn't matter what you
said, what you did, doesn'tmatter the visuals, you are in
violation and that's actually insection five of the Federal
Trade Commission Act.
It talks about net impression.
It's the most used term fromthe FTC, which we never learn
about.
Marketers never learn aboutthis term.
Right, they're not trying tohide the rules, but they've done

(43:52):
what they need to do.
They've put it out there.
It is up to us to now go get it, absorb it, understand it.
They don't need to shove itinto our heads.
And so for me, I, just halfwaythrough the investigation, Julie
, I was like what the hell?
Like I didn't not.
I've been in this industry for20 years.
I'm considered one of the OGsof this space and I don't know
this stuff.
If I don't know this stuff,there is no chance that other

(44:13):
people know it, and so you knowwhat I want them to know it.
I said this sucks.
I don't want anyone to gothrough what I went through.
So sorry, I know that was amassively long monologue to a
very short question you asked me, which is what are the four
words?
But I wanted to give thecontext so that people
understood why it's important toknow the rules and why the way
you've been looking at yourmarketing is not right.

(44:35):
A lot of people say I'm a goodperson, I do right, my customers
get results, I'm fine.
Yeah, it might be true, butthat's not how they look at it,
and that doesn't necessarilymean you're compliant.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
No, I love that.
Thank you for sharing all ofthat.
What I would ask back is how dowe be compliant Like looking
back now?
You know what you know now.
What would you have donedifferently?

Speaker 2 (44:56):
So okay, so one of the key things that I think.
So you got to look at and Gregtalks about this too.
And again, I repeat toeverybody, I'm not an attorney.
So take all of this with agrain of salt and seek Greg as
an attorney, of course, and Idon't get paid for that.
I mean I win some browniepoints with him.

(45:17):
That's nice, but always nice tohave a lawyer that likes you.
So number one so you got to talkabout what draws their eyes.
So the first way to protectyourself is to never draw their
eyes right.
So never do shit.
That'll just outlandishly getthem lots of complaints draw
their draws their eyes.
Big claims draws their eyes.

(45:38):
Lots of ad spend flashy drawstheir eyes.
So first level of protection isdon't draw eyes.
So we'll talk about how you notdraw eyes.
Number two they have some thingsthat they know they can enter
into your door.
They have a key, they have ahacking kit to get in the door.

(45:59):
They have the lockpick thereyou go.
That's what I was looking forto get in the door.
They have the lock pick thereyou guys were just looking for
and those are absolutestatements, testimonials and
endorsements and high claims,any form of claims.
So we'll.
So now those three.
They can pick apart any one ofthem and that's a ticket into
your company.
They can now come in anddeliver a cid to you, and now

(46:21):
they're in there.
Here's the thing if you get acid, 99 out of 100 times they're
gonna find stuff.
I mean it's, it's just like.
So the name of the game reallyis to never get there.
Now, just so I make it clear topeople too it's not very easy
for them to just send you a CID.
There's quite the process, andso you, it's not.

(46:43):
I don't want people to getscared and think, oh my god, I
said one thing, they're coming.
That's not how it works.
The analogy I've used, whichGreg has quietly not like nodded
his head to, but I think as alawyer he can't really back me
up on this one, but I think it'sa reasonable analogy You've got
an empty glass in front of you,julie, and so every time you

(47:04):
say something or do something,that is a violation.
Imagine you put a drop of waterin the glass, now that is a
violation.
Imagine you put a drop of waterin the glass, now.
The reason people think thatonly big companies get hit is
partly because those bigcompanies are just the ones that
people hear about because theymake a splash, but it's also
because those big companies areat a higher risk of getting hit,
because when you make onemistake with a thousand

(47:25):
consumers, that's a thousanddrops.
So your glass just fills upquicker, that's all it is right.
And so some violations are morewater than others.
And so, basically, look atyourself as this glass and know
that when the water overpours,that's when the FTC comes
knocking.
So one mishap, one mistake,albeit legally speaking, is

(47:45):
enough.
It typically isn't.
They have to go through a lotand they have a lot of cases.
So first rule is don't be stupid, don't be flashy.
Keep your Lambo in the garage.
It doesn't need to be in yourad.
I never had any of my fancycars in my ads and I did really,
really well to keep it in thegarage.

(48:07):
Alright, use it for your ownprivate time.
Don't flash around and use itto help you convert.
And I know I just killed abunch of marketing bros' entire
dreams.
But sorry guys, I'm sorry toall of our 25-year-old kids out
there.
I just it draws eyes right, andso the drawing eyes thing, I
think, is common sense.

(48:27):
People know what draws eyes.
You're getting a batch ofcomplaints.
You got 25 consumers that havecome together and hired a lawyer
, like dude.
You're asking for it Clean upyour stuff.
You got a problem.
They're not the problem, you'rethe problem.
Fix it.
Okay, let's talk about themiddle level, which is how do
they pick that lock?
Testimonials they know mostmarketers don't follow the

(48:48):
testimonial rules.
I'm happy to go through them.
I don't know how we are on time, but I'm happy to go through
this.
Four rules they know.
They know for a fact.
I'm telling you right now, 100%of the testimonials I've
reviewed by marketers are out ofcompliance.
That's an easy way to pick thelock.
That's the lock they picked onme.
They knew that was the key theyhad to the door.
Number two absolute statementsstatements.

(49:08):
How is an absolute statementdifferent than a claim here?
Nine out of ten doctorsrecommend this supplement to
help fix your gastric problems.
That's a very specificstatement.
How big is your study?
Who are the doctors?
Did you pay them?
Where did you find them?
How did you find them?
Was it commissioned by a thirdparty or did you do it in-house?
How'd you come to that number?

(49:29):
Because you're leaning on it?
It's by a third party or didyou do it in-house?
How did you come to that number?
Because you're leaning on it.
It's a pretty strong statement.
It's very specific, right?
So if you're making specificstatements, I there you go.
I was top three entrepreneurunder 25, as voted by
Businessweek, right.
I've kind of stopped using thatbecause I'm 41.
So it's like, all right, dude,get over it.

(49:49):
Now.
Business week, right, I've kindof stopped using that.
I'm 41.
So it's like I did, I get overit.
Now she's been 16 years.
I stopped using it a while ago.
But they grabbed it from paststuff, business.
We got bought out by Bloomberg.
Bloomberg went and nuked it andkilled its pages online, killed
the magazines really hard tofind.
I said it's already pretty old.
They couldn't validate it.
This became a week-long thingout of an 18 month investigation
.
They're like, prove it.
I'm like, are you kidding me?

(50:11):
Right, prove it.
We don't see it anywhere.
You said you're a top threeentrepreneur under 25 by
business week, where, thank god,I had sent my dad an email with
the link.
Okay, the link is dead, though.
Nothing comes up.
But one of my friends said dude, go to wayback machine I was
gonna say thank god and I foundthe old article and boom, and

(50:31):
then it ended right.
I substantiated and ended.
So if you have absolutestatements, read through your
copy and make sure they're allsubstantiated.
Effectively.
Nine out of ten doctors ask alawyer.
If, however, the hell youarrived at that nine out of ten
is a, would it be validated?
In the eyes of the ftc that's alawyer question.
But any absolute statementthat's because they know lord,

(50:52):
they know marketers.
In the eyes of the FTC, that'sa lawyer question, but any
absolute statement that'sbecause they know marketers make
a lot of bullshit statementsand so usually absolute
statements are an easy way.
Number three is claims.
Right, here's how to make$1,000 an hour.
Here's how to do this.
Here's how to cure.
That's sad.
Don't use the word cure, buthere's how to you know there are
things.
Claims this the word cure, buthere's how to you know there are
things.
Claims this is you'll lose 32pounds by doing this Like.
These are claims, and so theyknow, they know.

(51:14):
They just know that mostmarketers never have the
appropriate substantiation forthem.
So let's talk now about thosefour rules, because these are
very important and these areGreg's rules, not mine, although
I take credit for them now,just because I, canreg, created
these after having studiedhundreds of cases and been doing
this for 20 years.
If you want to use atestimonial, by the way, a a
claim is, it's a like.

(51:36):
If I say, here's how I make 32000 a day, it's a self
testimonial.
So there still has to matchthese four.
Four rules.
Number one um, if it's, if, ifjulie just gave me a testimonial
that she made $22,000 usingwhat I taught her, julie, you
need to sign a release and anaffidavit claiming to be

(51:57):
truthful and that I can use yourstuff in my marketing.
Okay, great.
Okay, anik, that's not that bad.
Okay, no problem.
Number two Julie, I need you toprove to me that you made
$22,000 using my stuff.
Please submit substantiation tome of your claim.
Who?
Now we're getting intrusive.
We don't really want to ask ourcustomers that right.
We prefer to just take thescreenshots of their Facebook

(52:18):
group message and pop it up intoour marketing totally illegal,
that's not legal.
Here's why people say well, Idon't understand.
Julie said it is Julie'sproblem.
Like I'm taking her at her wordwell, yeah, as long as she's
out there saying it, it's'sproblem.
Like I'm taking her at her wordWell, yeah, as long as she's
out there saying it, it's herproblem.
But you took it and put it inyour marketing.
It's now become your claim andall claims must be substantiated

(52:41):
factually without any room fordoubt.
So you need to get confirmationfrom Julie that you indeed,
that she indeed, made that money.
Okay, now we go to so fine.
People say ah, say ha, that'sgonna be a pain in the ass, but
I'll call Julie, I'll talk herinto it, she'll give it to me.
All right, fine.
Rule number three we crash andburn typicality.

(53:02):
I can't have a thousandcustomers.
Take my cherry, pick my 10, 20,30, 40, 50 best ones, highlight
their results and forego thefact that 950 didn't get those
results.
So you've results that youdisplay have to be typical, and
how you establish typicality youneed to work with a lawyer

(53:24):
because they're gonna outlaw you.
So you need to make sure you'vedone the appropriate study,
have the appropriate processesin place and most people fall
apart on typicality.
It's just no one has it andpeople say what am I supposed to
do?
90% of my customers don't evenfinish the product.
Okay, then you're able to sayhey, the typical customer who
finishes our program and doesthat, that, that, that, that can

(53:47):
expect an average response orresult of blah.
That's okay, that's fair.
They allow you to definetypical customer.
You need to define it and youneed to be clear about that.
You can't just say ourcustomers make blah, blah, blah,
which is what most of us woulddo.
So our customers who blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah make
blah, blah, blah.
Okay, but now that's thetypical result.

(54:08):
You can't use the outlierresults from up here.
Your testimonial has got to bewithin that.
Number four is always withinproximity.
You have to have a disclaimer,disclosure.
You can't just have it at thebeginning, you can't just have
it at the end.
You can't have it at the bottomof your sales page.
Every time you use atestimonial within proximity of
that visible, readable oraudible there needs to be a

(54:29):
disclaimer disclosure that allresults are not typical and
results may vary, and that thisis a cherry-picked case study
from a successful student.
So if all four rules match, youhave effectively created
something that you can use atestimonial on.
It's very hard to do.
Here's the rule I've made in mycompany and it works
brilliantly and I'm killing itwith it, and that is I only do

(54:49):
character or experience-basedtestimonials period.
So, julie, thank you for givingme the testimonial that you made
$22,000 from me.
That is awesome.
It warms my heart.
Do you mind?
Just speaking to yourexperience of working with me?
What do you think about me andthe program Julie says we'd love
to?
Anik's program was amazing.
He delivers exactly what hesaid he would.
He shows up on on time.
He's a man of integrity.

(55:09):
I love this course.
It's one of the best ones I'veever taken.
I can't speak highly enough ofhow much it's impacted me.
Guys, take the course, julie,you would be surprised.
That does the trick.
Yeah, people need testimonialsmode and you know what the
customer who has to see thatJulie made $22,000 in order to
buy there's the wrong customer.

(55:29):
They're to be the pain in theass.
They're going to be the onesthat complain and they're going
to be the ones that get therefund.
Customers who want thetestimonial simply to see that,
ok, there's another human outthere who's seen it, done it,
touched it, played with it.
I feel confident that I'm notwasting my money.
That's the customer and thattestimonial the character slash,
experience testimonial issufficient.
So, if you make an absolutestatement, make sure you have

(55:53):
substantiation If you use atestimonial I just gave you the
rules and don't make crazyclaims that you can't
substantiate and prove thetypicality of.
Those are the three biggestthings.
Now there's other things youcan do, but those are the
biggest ones.
That's where they pick the lockthe most and it turns out
people will be like, well, I can, could do anything I'm not

(56:13):
gonna be able to convert.
My business is done in.
I thought that you guys for alittle while and I'm here to
tell you, looking in 10 the eyesand saying compliant marketing
not only works on you sleepbetter at night, you get better
customers, they spend more withyou.
Here's the best analogy I'veever used.
This is the, the marketplace ofcustomers.
We always use this term inmarketing.
We say up market, down market.
I'm gonna say itdisrespectfully at all, but

(56:34):
you've got the.
You've got the more you know.
See, you know, you've got theperson who's a, who understands
entrepreneurship.
It already has a business upand running.
Then you've got the personthat's like I want to make a
million dollars, like by nextmonth, so I can pay my house off
because, like you know, I'mjust got these unrealistic
expectations.
What happens, julie, is when yougo compliant marketing, the

(56:55):
reason your conversions don'thave to suffer if you do it
right and for that you do haveto get trained.
It's like we have to help youdo that.
But if you do it right, if youwere converting 10% of this
market by using all your claimsand all that, yeah, you, you
stop converting to that market,absolutely your conversions to
that market will drop.
You know what happened?
The other market, becauseyou're claiming marketing, your

(57:19):
hype, e marketing has beentaking, has been driving those
people away.
Yeah, right, julie, if you werelooking at one of my programs,
given where you are in yourcareer and I was like Julie if
you join my program, I promiseto make you at least twelve
thousand dollars a month.
You're like what the dude?
But then I'm.
But if you come to me, I'm likeJulie I see that you need a
webinar in your business.
Well, I've got a template thatI've used to sell over 52,000

(57:40):
people and scale the paidtraffic.
I think you can take thistemplate and build a webinar for
yourself.
That would do really well foryou to help you scale your
business.
Julie goes oh yeah, I need that.
So what happens?
The reason your conversionsdon't struggle is because you're
just converting a differentaudience that happens to spend
more, be better, refund less,complain less and give you a
better sleep at night.
So that's the visual I needpeople to think about.

(58:02):
That happens with compliantmarketing.
So I always say with me it'salmost a blessing, not a curse,
it's, it's, it's, I love it.
Now I don't, I don't even wantto do the other way.
I like this way.
So we focus on the skills.
Last piece the lawyer has Greghas said is talk about that,
what you can control, and don'ttalk about that, what you can't
control, and you'll be protected.
I can't control the results youcan get out of it, but I can

(58:25):
damn well control the experienceI give you.
So I'll talk about theexperience I give you, yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
Well, and ultimately, what you're doing is you're
building trust right, which iswhat the testimonials are for
anyway but you're building trustin the experience, not in the
scammy, hypey results that theymay or may not get.
So to your point, doing it theold way, you're attracting the
wrong people.
You may be converting them, butthey're the customers you don't
want, where the new way right,the right way and the way that

(58:53):
you're supposed to do it isbuilding trust with the right
people that are loyal, that willbe with you long term and have
a better experience overall andyou can serve them better.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
Yeah To everybody listening to this podcast.
You guys are all, for the mostpart, what I would consider the
upmarket.
Ask yourself a simple questionwhich messaging would you buy?
Yeah, and you'll answer allyour own questions.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
Absolutely so.
How can people get the book?
How can they work with you?
Where can they find you?

Speaker 2 (59:20):
Yeah, thank you so much for even the opportunity to
share that.
So we are working on quite themission right now.
I really am a believer of turnyour pain into others gain, or
turn your mess into your message, or what Ed Milet says, which
is your best customers.
He is the person you used to be, and so I turned this into
quite the mission.
And so don'tsaythatcom forward,slash, go.

(59:42):
Or just go to don'tsaythatcomand click the link at the top,
but don'tsaythatcom forward,slash, go is the book, and
there's a $7 digital version andthen there's a physical version
.
And so I would say, get thebook, read it.
People are loving it.
Thank God we've had now, atthis time of filming this, we've
had like 1300 books out thedoor and getting some great

(01:00:04):
feedback and people's eyes arebeing open, which is what we
wanted.
And then we also just launchedit's like not even a week and a
half ago what we call compliantmarketing Academy.
It can be found at compliantacademycom and that's where you
get the whole shebang.
I mean, you get access to Greg,to me, you get 33 at the moment
it's 33 legal disclosures,agreements, contracts that are

(01:00:25):
pre-written, that help reduceyour risk.
You get what not to do.
But then you get a wholeeight-week course with me of
what to do.
So I walk you through what Iwas doing, what I'm doing now
and in my conversions are doinggreat.
So we don't just bring the badnews, but we bring the good news
.
And then you get a bunch ofother things how to protect
yourself.
We have a whole segment inthere about state AG's because,
as Greg says, the federalgovernment is the five thousand

(01:00:47):
pound gorilla that will rip yourarm off and beat you to death
with it.
The state government is a 3,000pound gorilla that will rip
your arm off and beat you todeath with it.
So beat you to death with it.
So they're still very powerfuland the state AGs are also very
busy.
So we have a whole section inthere about that, and he has a
section in there about assetprotection.
So you got the book and you gotour compliant academy.
And then what I'm reallyexcited to roll out here in the

(01:01:14):
next couple of weeks, from thetime that we're filming this, is
a AI powered software that willbe your watchdog and watch over
your entire business, all yourcopies, social media ads and
every sales call you ever do,and proactively let you know
when there's a compliance issuegoing on.
So that is being developedright now.
We're just fine-tuning it.
It's about one of the hardestthings I've ever built, is not
as easy as it sounds, and sowe're trying our best here to
give people the tools, theeducation and the certification

(01:01:37):
for learning compliant marketing.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
I love it and to be compliant in your AI compliant
software, which is ever changing, right yeah yeah, yeah,
absolutely Changes all the time.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
We read every case that comes out and with every
case we get a chance to read theFTC's opinion and we get a
chance to.
I mean, just a month ago theymade some rules that impacted
Basically what they said is hey,sales calls.
Because a lot of people werelike, well, I'm B2B, so these
rules don't apply to me.
And in most cases they weren'tB2B, they were B2C in the eyes
of the government.
But now the FTC came out abouta month ago and said all right,

(01:02:12):
you know what we're done dancingthis dance, so the rules now
apply to B2B as well.
So there's always you know it'severy month or so there's some
rule changes.
But I will say this the core ofthe FTC Act hasn't changed.

(01:02:37):
But I'm curious if you had theattention of the whole world for
five minutes, what would youtell them?
You know you've warned me thatthis question was coming.
And, man, right now, whatspeaks to my heart?
And maybe this would besomething different six months
from now.
But I would tell the world to Aenjoy and accept the turbulent
times of your life and to valuethem as much as you value the

(01:02:58):
good times and to not let themdeter you from your dreams, but
to go one step further andduring your turbulent times,
during your tragic times, mostlikely the universe or God, god
or whatever you want to believeis handing you one of the
greatest opportunities you willever see in your life.
It's wrapped up in that tragic,that turbulent, that painful,

(01:03:24):
the miserable time.
There's something there, and ifyou can just be present to know
that the bad is not all bad andthat there's potential good,
you might just get the biggestbreakthrough in your life that
you've been waiting for.
For me, I I get a chance to nowtell the peop, tell people about
this, and I can't believe thewarmth with which this message

(01:03:47):
is being received the wejokingly have been calling it
the compliance revolution.
I mean, I'm getting a chance toopen the eyes and help so many
people and monetarily, I'mgetting a chance to potentially
build a business that might beworth hundreds of millions of
dollars if the software, thisenterprise software, takes off.
I'm helping, but I'm buildingvalue.
There was opportunity wrappedup in the most painful thing I

(01:04:11):
ever went through, doing the FTC.
Stuff was harder than the ICU.
So my five minutes would befocused on my example and
telling everybody that if youhaven't faced a hard time yet,
look around the corner becauseit's coming.
I'm sorry, but it's coming.
But I'm also here to tell youthat it's not all bad, that good
comes with it, and you've gotto be smart enough to step back
and see both sides.

(01:04:32):
And if you can do that, there'sopportunity there that you can
harness.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
Absolutely.
I know I always tell my kidswhen you're in hard times, like
how long is it going to take forlife to be beating you over the
head until you learn whateverit is that you're supposed to be
learning out of this?
Absolutely Well, thank you,anik, for being on today.
This was so incredibly powerfuland so informative and
absolutely go get the book.

(01:04:56):
We'll have all the links forpeople to come grab it, but I
really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
Yeah, it was my pleasure.
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02):
Yeah, for sure, and if you found value in this
episode, please do share it.
That's how people find us, andyou can find me at
sevenfigurebuildercom and I willsee you on the next episode.