Marketing Your Business - Marketing Strategies for Business Owners

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  288: Hate Selling? Tell These 3 Stories in This Order - Robert Hartwell 14.09.2026 40мин

  Robert Hartwell spent almost ten years as a Broadway performer, performing eight times a week. In 2017 he faked being sick so he could skip his own show and sit in the back of my live event in Toronto, because that was the only way he could get a day to work on what came next. He walked out believing he could teach singing, dancing and acting to young people through a membership. Three years later Broadway shut down, and what he had quietly built was the only thing standing. He locked himself in a studio for three days and recorded a year of content. He gave himself one number to leave Broadway: 30 people into the summer program. He got 33. And the business went from six figures to seven figures and multiple seven figures once he let go of the identity he was holding on to. Now he runs a second business coaching entrepreneurs on story selling. Which is how we got to the part of this conversation I keep thinking about: a five day challenge into a 12 month program with 40 openly promised spots, that closed at 26. He did not go quiet. He said the number out loud, to the buyers, on camera. In this conversation, Robert and I break down: - The four questions he asks parents that turn one class into a three or four year commitment - The gap-and-bridge move underneath every offer he makes, and the guardrail he puts on it - The green, yellow and red system behind his retention - The three stories he tells to sell anything, and why the order matters more than the stories - Why he turns away buyers who can pay - What he said after a launch came in at 26 out of 40, and what he did the following week FREE RESOURCE: The three frameworks from this episode, one page each, nothing to sign up for → https://podcast.stu.me  CONNECT WITH ROBERT: - The Broadway Collective: https://bwaycollective.com  - Personal site: http://robert-hartwell.com  - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sirroberttakespics  - The Broadway Collective on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bwaycollective  CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me  - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz  - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren  - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me  - Membership.io: https://membership.io  Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  287: 4 Things That Stopped My Scroll 11.09.2026 35мин

  There's a free workshop coming up where I am showing exactly what's possible when you start something today. Secure your spot: https://membershipworkshop.com --- Every week, a few things show up in my feed that make me stop scrolling. This week, four of them were worth talking about. Tyler and Rebecca join me to break down: - Bad membership sales advice from a well-known marketing coach (whom I still very much respect), and why discounting, bundling, or offering a trial up front usually backfires - AI learning loops, and what they could mean for how we use AI tools going forward - A free tool called Google Search Console that shows exactly what people are searching for on your Instagram - A couple with under 10,000 followers who tracked down a grocery store employee for his perfectly stacked shelves, gave him his flowers, and raised nearly $9,000 for him after the video hit 9 million views That last one is the reason we started doing this segment. It's a good reminder of what a platform can actually be used for. CONNECT WITH STU: Website: https://stu.me Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  286: How She Gets 40% of Her Members Without Paying for Ads - Tracy Henning 07.09.2026 38мин

  Tracy Henning has been selling real estate for over 32 years and she is still selling today. She also runs the largest Canva Facebook group for real estate agents anywhere, with over 60,000 members in it. Here is the part that got me: 40 percent of the people who pay for her membership every month came out of that free group. She became an agent at 21, in her words "a 21 year old female agent in an industry that was made up of 55 year old males." She made it to number one, sat on her real estate board for 10 years, and was the youngest woman ever to serve as its president. Then she hit "okay, now what?" The answer started as one free Facebook group in 2019 with a clever name that went nowhere. She renamed it around the exact words agents were already typing into the search bar, and it blew up. In this conversation, Tracy and I break down: - The name change that took a quiet group to over 60,000 members - Why a group name works like a search bar - The pinned post that turns browsers into email addresses - Two spots inside a group that almost everyone leaves empty - How much daily work a 60,000 member group actually takes - What she keeps free and what stays behind the paid door - $79 a month, priced so one more home sale covers the year - Too young at 21, too old now, and the answer she gives herself FREE RESOURCE: Get the 3 frameworks from this episode → https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH TRACY: - Website: https://porchlyte.com  - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/porchlyte  - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PorchLyteForTheModernRealtor  - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/porchlyte  CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me  - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz  - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren  - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me  - Membership.io: https://membership.io  Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  285: Jessi Jean's $7M Launch Had Us Talking 04.09.2026 28мин

  There's a free workshop coming up where I am showing exactly what's possible when you start something today. Secure your spot: https://membershipworkshop.com --- Jessi Jean was a nutritional coach who had no idea what to do next. So she started flipping furniture on Instagram and talking, out loud, about being "career confused." Just her, a camera, and a microphone. Six weeks later, she opened something she called the YAP Challenge. She had no funnel. No sales page built in advance. She just floated the idea out there and let people say yes. 4,500 people did. At $297 each. That's $1.2 million from a launch built entirely in public. Then, six weeks after that, she did it again, this time pulling in over $5 million more. Over $7 million in about two months, from someone who started with nothing but a habit of talking on camera. In this episode, my teammates Tyler and Rebecca and I break down what actually happened, and why it worked: - Why "yapping" out loud beat polished, high-production content - The exact moment her audience started asking her to teach them - How she gave her community an identity, and turned them into "Yap Nation" - Why she sold permission, not a product - What "document, don't create" actually looks like in practice - Why her second launch did almost 10x the first one - The myth of "launches are dead," and why this proves otherwise SHOUTOUT TO JESSI JEAN: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessijeanhome CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me - Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  284: She Turned $50 Cookie Classes Into 3 Memberships - Summer Deepe 31.08.2026 30мин

  Summer Deepe says she is "not artistic at all," yet she built three memberships in a niche most people would never think could be a business: cookie decorating. She teaches people how to decorate cookies, how to sell them, and how to run their own classes. In this episode she finds out, live, why more than 40 posts with a million-plus views still were not growing her business the way they should. It started at a kid's birthday party, where she saw a tray of decorated sugar cookies and told her husband, "I bet I could make these cookies." The hobby became a side income when friends asked to pay her. Then she ran the numbers: one two-hour class at around $50 a seat matched a whole week of grinding out custom orders. That math flipped her model and led to three memberships. In this conversation, Summer and I break down: - The class math that made her rethink her entire model - Why the growth she was chasing was not a traffic problem - The one missing ingredient that turns viral videos into leads you own - How she plans to grow using videos she already made, not new ones - The $67 membership priced so one and a half classes pays for the year - Her answer to the question behind every risk she took FREE RESOURCE: Get the one-page playbook from this episode → https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH SUMMER: - Website: https://summerssweetshoppe.com - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summerssweetshoppe - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/summerssweetshoppe - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@summerssweetshoppe CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me - Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  283: The Branding Mistake Keeping You Small (And How to Fix It) - Rory Vaden 24.08.2026 37мин

  Rory Vaden and his wife AJ have quietly helped build some of the biggest personal brands out there through Brand Builders Group. And Rory has done it while never having more than about 100,000 followers himself, on his way to a third eight-figure business. His argument: in the age of AI, information is free and application is free, so the one thing left that you cannot fake is trust. In this conversation, Rory reveals: - Why personal branding is really the digitization of your reputation - The difference between reach and revenue, and why deep beats wide - Why you can fake followers, but you can't fake trust - Fractal math: how to quadruple revenue without a single new customer or a single new ad - How 1,000 followers can out-earn 10 million - The one thing to post tomorrow if you have no time, no team, and no offer FREE RESOURCE: Get the one-page playbook from this episode → https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH RORY VADEN: - Website: https://roryvaden.com - Brand Builders Group: https://brandbuildersgroup.com - Book "Wealthy and Well-Known": https://wealthyandwellknown.com - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roryvaden - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roryvaden CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me - Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  282: He Turned Down $3 Million for $30K a Month - Hal Elrod 17.08.2026 42мин

  Most business owners build the thing they're known for and assume that thing is the business. Hal Elrod did that for years. Today the product that made him famous is the smallest line in his revenue, and the largest is a recurring subscription most people don't even know he sells. This is the conversation to listen to if you're doing everything right and your income still swings month to month. Hal built five income streams on one idea instead of launching something new every year, and he turned down two offers most people would take on the spot to keep the monthly money instead. In this episode, Hal reveals: - Why the thing you're known for is often your smallest earner, and what to build so the money shows up every month - The math behind saying no to $1.5 million and then $3 million, and why the monthly number beat both - Why paying to get on 11 national TV shows sold almost nothing, and how to tell reach apart from the right audience - How to stack new revenue on the offer you already have instead of starting over with something new - Why the cheapest thing he sells is the front door, and what it should feed - The $100,000 he gave away, and the Miracle Equation he says moves any goal from impossible to inevitable FREE RESOURCE: Get the one-page playbook from this episode → https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH HAL: - Website: https://halelrod.com - The Miracle Morning: https://miraclemorning.com - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hal_elrod - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HalElrod - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yopalhal - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@halelrod CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me - Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  281: From College Dropout To $7 Million From One Book - Chandler Bolt 10.08.2026 37мин

  Chandler Bolt is the founder of self publishing.com. He was a C student who hated writing, then he made six figures in seven months running a college painting business, dropped out, and moved across the country to burn the boats. Today his company has published 7,000 books. The climb was brutal. At 21 his business partner tried to push him out, so he borrowed from his parents' retirement to buy back control and paid it all back with interest 11 months later. Then he read one book that flipped his whole mindset in a single line. In this conversation Chandler breaks down: - Why he made six figures in revenue but only kept 13 grand - How he became the self publishing category king by buying a domain that wasn't for sale - Why one is the most dangerous number in business - The everyday partnership play that will do 5 to 7 million - What is actually working in his marketing now that AI is eating search - How he turns a single book into about $7 million a year, and why it is not the royalties FREE RESOURCE: Get the one-page playbook from this episode: https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH CHANDLER: - Website: https://chandlerbolt.com  - Self Publishing: https://selfpublishing.com  - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chandler.bolt  - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@selfpublishingcom  - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandlerbolt CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me  - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz  - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren  - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me  - Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  280: The $1,000/Month Business You Can Run in One Hour a Week - Creative Crafting Club 03.08.2026 36мин

  Christelle Janse van Rensburg and Stefanie De Wet are sisters from South Africa, an architect and an engineer, who grew a kids' STEM craft business to 61 locations in three countries, then rebuilt the whole thing into a membership that now reaches 91 countries. In this episode they break down the pivot that saved everything after COVID took their income to zero in a single month. Christelle started a Thursday-afternoon kids' craft class to relieve her own burnout. It built a wait list. Stefanie ran the numbers on a spreadsheet that night and quit her corporate engineering job the next day. They franchised it, hit a wall, and when COVID shut the in-person clubs they de-franchised on purpose and turned their former franchisees into their biggest ambassadors. In this conversation, Christelle and Stefanie reveal: - Why they blew up a 61-location franchise on purpose - The $1,000/month math behind a class you run one hour a week - Why every ad, post, and newsletter points to one free 60-minute workshop - How twice-a-week launches cut their cost per lead to less than half - The VIP upsell and order bump that help the ads pay for themselves - The milestone they hit this year, and why it is not the part that made them emotional FREE RESOURCE: Get the one-page playbook from this episode → https://podcast.stu.me  CONNECT WITH CHRISTELLE & STEFANIE: - Website: https://www.creativecraftingclub.com  - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativecraftingclub  - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/creativecraftingclub  CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me  - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz  - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren  - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me  - Membership.io: https://membership.io  Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  279: How to Get Members to Stay for Years (It's Not More Content) - Alesha Yamal 27.07.2026 37мин

  Alesha has spent 26 years building a business teaching belly dance, and the way she grew it online is a masterclass for any membership owner. In this episode: the layoff and the tent that started it all, the 40 members she was earning from before she knew what a membership was, the community that keeps members for years, and how to reach the right people without paying for ads. Alesha got let go from her engineering job, sold everything she owned, and lived in a tent while dancing at Renaissance festivals to get by. Years later she started recording her online classes for $20 a month. About 40 people subscribed, roughly $800 a month for work she was already doing, and she did not even know it was a membership until someone told her. In this conversation, Alesha reveals: - What turned a video library into The Belly Dance Journey, a membership people never leave - Why members come for the content and stay for the community - The 10-day Finger Cymbal Revolution challenge and its graduation celebration - How one collaboration turned her members into a music video shot around the world - Why a rising tide floats all boats - The marketing move that started with an internet troll - How to reach thousands of the right people without paying for ads FREE RESOURCE: Get the one-page membership playbook → https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH SAHIRA: - Website: https://sahirabellydances.com  - Online classes: https://learn.sahirabellydances.com  - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sahirabellydances/  - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SahiraBellyDances  - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/SahiraBellyDancer  CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me  - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz  - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren  - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me  - Membership.io: https://membership.io   Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  278: She Built the Membership BEFORE the Audience (and It Worked) - Marine Lacoste 20.07.2026 37мин

  Marine Lacoste toured the world as a musician for a decade, then built a membership business by doing everything in the "wrong" order. When COVID ended the touring income overnight, she started building online, and she built the products and the membership BEFORE she built an audience. Then she picked one platform, doubled down, and grew from a few thousand subscribers to almost 80,000. In this conversation, Marine reveals: - Why she built her membership before she had a single person to sell to - The one question she asked her buyers that made her double down on YouTube - Why YouTube monetization pays her to generate her own leads - The brand-new lead magnet she creates for every single video, built before she records - What she shows on YouTube vs. what she saves for the membership - The simple monthly challenge that woke up a silent community - How she surveys her members to find her real avatars - How she handles critics and the nasty comments FREE RESOURCE: Get the one-page content and membership playbook → https://podcast.stu.me  CONNECT WITH MARINE: - Website: https://onlinerocklessons.com  - Membership: https://onlinerocklessons.com/the-membership/  - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@OnlineRockLessons  - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onlinerocklessons/  CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me  - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz  - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren  - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me  - Membership.io: https://membership.io  Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  277: Sold a $10,000 Offer Off ONE Email (Before It Existed) - Will Hamilton 13.07.2026 43мин

  Will Hamilton has built a tennis business since 2007, and the way he markets it is a playbook any creator can steal. In this episode he breaks down the $10,000 offer he sold out off one email, the order bump that converts a third of buyers, how comedy made him a sharper copywriter, and how he gets traffic without paying for ads. Will's core offers are situation-based Playbooks (a physical book with QR codes), an order bump that converts about a third of buyers, a low-cost subscription to 40-plus programs, and occasional high-ticket experiences, one of which he sold out at $10,000 off a single email he wrote before the experience even existed. In this conversation, Will reveals: - The $67 order bump and the glove theory behind it - The $10,000 experience he validated with one email - How standup comedy made him a sharper copywriter - Why a mistake-based open beat his old videos by a mile - How he stacks open loops and holds the payoff to the final seconds - Where to put the CTA in a video (hint: not the end) - The borrowed-influence strategy he uses instead of expensive ads - Why he split tests every title and thumbnail FREE RESOURCE: Get the one-page content and marketing playbook → https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH WILL: - Website: https://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fuzzyyellowballs/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fuzzyyellowballsdotcom - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/FYB2007 CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me - Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  276: Make Price Resistance Disappear With One Story 08.07.2026 15мин

  You know that moment. You share your price, and right away you can feel it: the resistance. The pushback. The pause before someone says they need to think about it. Now you're defending the number. You're explaining it. You're justifying it. All of it is tiring, because all you want is for people to see the value of what you built. I felt the exact opposite of that in a leather shop in Florence. I was there with my wife, my two kids, and my parents, on a trip we'd planned for months. Every other shop that day went the same way: my wife and daughter went straight for the price tag. But in this shop, things were different. Price never came up. The guy just started talking, about how they pick the leather, who makes each piece, how long one bag takes to build. By the time the number finally came up, it didn't feel expensive anymore. It felt earned. We walked out with three handbags and a wallet. So what was the difference? I break it down into four lessons you can use starting today. Price pushback almost always means I don't get it yet, not it costs too much. Your story isn't a nice extra, it's the actual value. Tell it before you ever get near the price. And the sale doesn't end when the sale does. I'll also walk you through one of my favorite old marketing stories: a beer company that jumped from fifth place to first without changing a single thing about the beer, only the story it told about it. In this episode, you'll learn: Why price pushback almost always means "I don't get it yet," not "it's too much" The $40 chicken menu example that shows how context changes what a price feels like Three ways to tell your story: what you learned, what you built, or what it took to produce it The Jason Gaynard book launch story and what it reveals about showing your process Why the Schlitz beer company jumped from fifth place to first without changing the beer at all The referral move from a shop worker named Smiley that turns one sale into five Your action step this week: find where your story is buried on your sales page and move it up CONNECT WITH STU: Website: https://membership.io Book "Predictable Profits": https://www.audible.com/pd/Predictable-Profits-Audiobook/B0DJTJJHKG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stumclaren/ Podcast (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-your-business-teaching-entrepreneurs-how/id1299443864?mt=2 Podcast (Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/show/0LHzoXLyImec4AbB1ZeYfW?si=5b57a4fc0fba4868 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@stume?sub_confirmation=1 Subscribe and drop a review if this one was useful.
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  275: The Messaging Change That Took Her From 2K to 400K Followers - Lisa K 06.07.2026 36мин

  Lisa K spent eight years stuck at about 2,000 followers. Then she changed her messaging and her content, and in twelve months went from 2,000 to over 100,000, and now past 400,000 across Instagram and Facebook. In this episode she breaks down the niche shift, the daily reel she makes in 15 minutes, what the algorithm actually rewards, and the simple funnel that made 15% of her income. Lisa K teaches people to use their intuition to make better decisions, with a spiritual, divine-guidance approach. She is a published author who posted for eight years while stuck at about 2,000 followers. Her big move was niching down and changing her messaging so she no longer had to convince anyone, then switching to daily short-form video built around a simple framework. In this conversation, Lisa reveals: - The messaging shift from broad "intuition" to a specific divine-guidance angle - Why she switched to daily reels and the three-point framework she uses - How she produces a reel every day in 15 minutes - What the Instagram algorithm actually rewards (and why saves beat likes) - The imperfect reel she posted live that pulled 14,000 views in 12 hours - The system that keeps her consistent: same setup, streak tracker, calendar alarm - The $7 funnel with a 36% order bump that she set up once - How that funnel made 14 to 15% of her income - The annual-membership jump from about 4% to 50% FREE RESOURCE: Get the one-page daily-content and funnel playbook → https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH LISA: - Website: https://lisakintuition.com - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisak888/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lmk88fans CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me - Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  274: Make AI Sound Like You in 20 Minutes (It's Free) 03.07.2026 13мин

  A friend of Stu's, Ryan Levesque (New York Times bestselling author), was publicly accused of using AI to write his newsletter. The evidence? He used an em-dash. He's been writing with em-dashes for years. The world around him just changed how it reads. This is the world we're in now. Your real writing can get dismissed the second someone thinks it's AI. Stu knows this one personally. He hand-wrote a detailed, thoughtful DM response for a half-million-follower influencer who came to him for membership advice. Poured time into it. Didn't hear back for weeks. When he followed up, the person said they figured it was "a generic chat GPT response" and never engaged. It wasn't. It stung. But here's the fix, and it's a one-time thing. AI sounds generic because you handed it a blank page with no instructions. Build a voice guide, and AI stops sounding like everyone else. It starts sounding like you. In this episode, you'll learn: Why the "AI tell" is a myth (Stanford researchers found AI detectors wrongly flagged over 61% of essays written by non-native English speakers as AI) The three rules Ryan Levesque wrote for himself about AI (and why Stu builds on all three of them) Why AI sounds like generic slop and the one-time fix that changes everything What a voice guide actually is and how to build yours in about 20 minutes (free tool inside) The difference between outsourcing your typing and outsourcing your thinking Why feeding AI your PRESENT ideas (what happened this week, the result a member just got) is what makes your content sound fresh Your action step: go to voicecloner.io this week and build the instructions that make AI sound like you FREE RESOURCE: https://voicecloner.io - Free voice guide tool. Answer a few questions, drop in writing samples, get a set of instructions so AI sounds like you. Takes about 20 minutes. CONNECT WITH STU: Website: https://membership.io Book "Predictable Profits": https://www.audible.com/pd/Predictable-Profits-Audiobook/B0DJTJJHKG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stumclaren/ Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/marketing-your-business-marketing-strategies-for-business/id1299443864 Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe and leave a review if this episode helped you
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  273: She Had a 35% Show-Up Rate. One Change Fixed It 01.07.2026 15мин

  Your campaign isn't broken. There's just one spot quietly leaking your results. After 24 years of building and fixing campaigns, here's what I've learned: when something underperforms, it's almost never the whole thing that's broken. It's one weak conversion point. And most of us do the exact wrong thing. We tear everything down and start from scratch. In this episode, I walk you through the exact method I use to find that one leak, and I'm going to use a real client story to show you how this works. Her name is Lisa. She came to me for a VIP day convinced she was bad at sales. Turns out, she was great at sales. She just had one broken spot in her campaign. We found it, fixed it, and her show-up rate went from 35% to 58%. Her stick rate went from 20 minutes to 45 minutes. Same audience. Same offer. Same promotion. One change. (All stats from Stu's client work, discussed in episode.) Here's what this comes down to: three lessons. Lesson one: map every single conversion point in your campaign, every yes or no moment. Lesson two: find where the numbers fall off (and I give you the benchmarks you need to know what's actually a leak). Lesson three: ask WHY it's leaking, then fix that one spot and nothing else. In this episode, you'll learn: The "garden hose with a kink" mental model for diagnosing any flat campaign without blowing the whole thing up How to map every conversion point in your campaign (ads, opt-in, show-up, stick, buy) and which ones you might be skipping The exact benchmarks Stu uses: cold traffic opt-in (above 30%), warm traffic (closer to 50%), show-up rate (40-50% industry average), and stick rate sweet spot for a 60-minute session (51 minutes) Why Lisa's show-up rate was tanking, and the one question Stu asked that uncovered the real reason in minutes How 15 of her top 16 Instagram posts were about a completely different topic than her webinar (and what that mismatch was costing her) Why comment-to-DM through ManyChat converts at 65-90% when a standard opt-in page converts at 30-50% Your homework: the one-change test that tells you whether you found the real leak or just guessed wrong   CONNECT WITH STU: Website: https://membership.io Book "Predictable Profits": https://www.audible.com/pd/Predictable-Profits-Audiobook/B0DJTJJHKG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stumclaren/ Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/marketing-your-business-marketing-strategies-for-business/id1299443864 Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe and leave a review if this episode gave you something to use
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  272: From Bankruptcy to $1 Million With Her Piggy Bank Method - Lou Clarke 29.06.2026 33мин

  Lou Clarke's biggest client fired her when they found out she was pregnant with her third child, dropping her household from $5,000 to $1,000 a month. Then she rebuilt everything with a piggy bank. In this episode she breaks down the comeback, the $4 million she sold through Instagram DMs, and why she walked away from a thriving one-on-one business to chase a hundred-million-dollar mission. Lou is a third-generation bookkeeper who helps female entrepreneurs manage their money so they can keep more of what they make, without going without. After her largest client (80% of her income) fired her on learning she was pregnant with baby number three, her family went from $5,000 to $1,000 a month while carrying a new mortgage. She dug out, built a simple piggy-bank plan, discovered Profit First, and grew a multi-million-dollar one-on-one business. Now she is shifting to a one-to-many membership model to reach a much bigger mission. In this conversation, Lou reveals: - The client who fired her for getting pregnant (and the fall that followed) - The piggy-bank plan that took her from bankruptcy to seven figures - Profit First and the money she stacked without making more - Why doing 1,059 one-on-one calls in a year became the breaking point - "You don't need to make more money, you need to manage it better" - The 100 million dollar mission behind her pivot - How she sold over $4 million through Instagram DMs (and why she stopped) - Why she was told to stop telling her story, and what changed when she didn't FREE RESOURCE: Get the simple money-habits breakdown from this episode → https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH LOU: - Instagram: https://instagram.com/thelouclarke - Website: https://www.thelouclarke.com CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me - Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe for new episodes every week.
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  271: The Shortcut to Customers Nobody Talks About 26.06.2026 14мин

  What if the fastest way to grow your audience isn't building one at all — but partnering with someone who already has the exact customers you're trying to reach? In this episode, Stu takes you inside a real coaching call with one of his members — a photo-book membership owner whose #1 problem is traffic. Instead of prescribing ads or more content, Stu asks one question that changes everything: "Who already has your ideal customers?" What follows is a live mapping session — seven partner types, a four-part playbook, and a simple outreach pitch that makes it easy for the right people to say yes. This is strategic co-promotion where everyone wins. And Stu breaks it all down step by step so you can start this week.   In this episode, you'll learn: The one question that reframes "how do I grow my audience?" into a strategy you can act on today Why one partner workshop could bring in more customers than six months of organic posting Seven partner types Stu mapped live for a photo-book membership — and how to apply the same thinking to your business The two win-win program structures that partners actually want to promote (niche workshops and done-for-you templates) Why the offer has to benefit their audience first — and what happens when you get this backwards How to structure the deal: affiliate percentage (20-30%) or a straight co-promotion exchange The simple outreach pitch that works — including how to use screenshots from their community as social proof to make it easy for them to say yes Stu's closing action step: list 5-10 markets, identify 5-10 partners in each, reach out to one this week   CONNECT WITH STU: Website: https://membership.io Book "Predictable Profits": https://www.audible.com/pd/Predictable-Profits-Audiobook/B0DJTJJHKG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stumclaren/ Podcast (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-your-business-teaching-entrepreneurs-how/id1299443864?mt=2 Podcast (Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/show/0LHzoXLyImec4AbB1ZeYfW?si=5b57a4fc0fba4868 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StuMe?sub_confirmation=1   RESOURCES MENTIONED: Membership.io (Stu's company): https://membership.io Shana from budgetbesties.com (listener review shout-out): https://budgetbesties.com Subscribe to Marketing Your Business and leave a review — we just cracked the top 50 in marketing podcasts. Help us keep climbing.
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  270: How To Find the One Story That Sells Your Offer 24.06.2026 12мин

  Russell Brunson stood up at a charity mastermind in Nashville — $5,000 a seat, 100% to charity, 30 people in the room — and he never pitched a single thing. He just told a story. By the time he sat down, people were lining up to be part of it. That moment taught Stu three lessons about selling that most creators never figure out. Nobody wakes up wanting to buy your thing. They want to become someone different. And the fastest way to show them that's possible? Not a feature list. Not a price breakdown. A real person whose life changed because of what you do. In this episode, Stu breaks down what Russell did, why it worked, and the exact steps to apply the same approach to your course, membership, or service.   In this episode, you'll learn: Why Russell never pitched the Kenya trip — and how the room ended up begging to be part of it anyway The three-lesson framework Stu extracted from watching it happen in real time Why listing your features informs people but telling a story moves them — and the brain science behind why that's true What Stanford's Jennifer Aker found: people remember stories up to 22 times more than facts, and 63% remember the story vs. only 5% who remember a statistic The "Find Your Jane" action step — how to identify the one real person whose life your work has changed and turn their journey into your most powerful selling tool Why showing beats telling every time — the role of photos, voice memos, screenshots, and real client words How Jason Gaynard used the same show-don't-tell approach at his book launch party   TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Cold Open: One Story Outsells Every Pitch 0:32 - The Nashville Mastermind (Village Impact) 1:39 - [INTRO GAP NOTE — see flags below] 1:39 - Setting the Stage: Why Russell Was There 3:53 - Meeting Jane in Kenya 5:00 - Jane Becomes Part of the Family 6:34 - The Room Reacted Without a Pitch 7:01 - Lesson 1: People Buy the Story, Not the Thing 7:53 - Find Your Jane 8:29 - Lesson 2: Your Brain Is Built for Stories 9:12 - The Jennifer Aker Stanford Research 9:49 - Lesson 3: Show, Don't Tell 10:37 - The Jason Gaynard Example 11:22 - Your Next Step: Write Jane's Story 12:08 - Stop Describing. Start Storytelling.   CONNECT WITH STU: Website: https://membership.io Book "Predictable Profits": https://www.audible.com/pd/Predictable-Profits-Audiobook/B0DJTJJHKG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stumclaren/ Podcast (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-your-business-teaching-entrepreneurs-how/id1299443864?mt=2 Podcast (Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/show/0LHzoXLyImec4AbB1ZeYfW?si=5b57a4fc0fba4868 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@stume?sub_confirmation=1   RESOURCES MENTIONED: Village Impact (Stu's charity): https://villageimpact.com Russell Brunson: https://www.russellbrunson.com Amy Porterfield: https://www.amyporterfield.com Jayson Gaignard (book launch referenced): https://jaysongaignard.com    Subscribe and leave a review if this episode gave you something to use.
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  269: Why He Sells His Most Expensive Program First (Not Last) - Victor Damasio 22.06.2026 51мин

  Victor Damásio left law in Brazil, built a beloved marketing community, then flipped his entire value ladder and went from 20K to 200K a month. In this episode he breaks down the high-ticket-first move, the audio message he sends every new follower, the four questions that sold over 20 million, and the honest mistake he made along the way. Victor is a Brazilian marketer and educator who helps people get paid for what they know instead of what they do. His path: a lawyer who hated his job, then a top affiliate, then the builder of a beloved recurring membership, then a high-ticket coaching practice. His big move was reversing the conventional value ladder to lead with his most expensive offer, dropping to the low ticket only on a no. In this conversation, Victor reveals: - Why he left law (and the hard moment that pushed him) - The first guitar course in Brazil and the affiliate years - The recurring membership he built after a workshop with Stu - The value-ladder flip: high ticket first, low ticket only on a no - The honest cost of that flip and the community he let fade - The audio message he sends the moment someone hits follow - The four-question application he says sold more than 20 million dollars - Why his top high-ticket hire is a gatekeeper, not a paid closer - How becoming a father changed how he runs his whole business FREE RESOURCE: Get the one-page social-selling and application playbook -> https://podcast.stu.me  CONNECT WITH VICTOR: - Instagram: https://instagram.com/victordamasio  (also @victordamasiooficial) - Website: https://victordamasio.com  - YouTube: https://youtube.com/@VictorDamasiooficial  - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victordamasiooficial CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me  - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz  - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren  - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me  - Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe for new episodes every week.