Mark Harbert

If you've ever stared at the camera thinking "what do I even talk about?" this is for you. I put together 101 Video Topics That Sell. They're the topics I rotate through to bring in leads and sales, sorted into the 4 stages that turn a stranger into a paying customer. Most people only ever make videos for the first stage. That's why their content gets likes and no sales. Grab the full list here, it's free: markharbert.com/101 Pick one topic. Hit record today.

Email Your Assets, Not Your Liabilities

Her 80,000-Person Email List Sits Unused

People Buy After They Trust You

People don't care that you need to make a commission. They don't care that you have a light bill you need to pay. It's not about what you need. Keep the focus on them.

The biggest content ideas come from answering questions. Find a popular video in your niche and scroll through the comments. Look for the questions people are asking. One video I looked at had over 1,100 comments. Scrolling through maybe 20 or 25 of them, I came up with three or four content ideas. Chances are if they're asking this question, other people are asking it as well. Then do the same thing in: • Facebook groups in your niche • The comments on top blogs in your niche • The comments on posts from top influencers My wife and I started eating plant-based, so I joined a group to get recipes. Someone asked, "Does anyone have any success stories or tools for helping your kids along?" That's a huge question. I guarantee there's plenty of other people asking the exact same question. Where do your people ask their questions?

I was training at a mastermind. I asked everybody who was building an email list to raise their hand. Everybody raised their hand. Then I asked, "How many of you have emailed your list in the last month?" A whole bunch of hands went down. "How many of you have emailed your list in the last week?" More hands went down. This is the biggest mistake I see people make. They build a list, and they never send an email. The most common response? "Well, I have a whole bunch of autoresponders. Isn't that good enough?" No, it's not. You need to be sending broadcast emails on a regular basis. Just building a list and letting it sit there does nothing. When did you last email yours?

Back in my network marketing days, I went to a convention with my company at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. I was up in the nosebleed seats. The very top row. Literally resting my head on the back of the concrete. That's how high. And I remember looking down at the people on that stage. They made me feel like I could do it. I could see myself walking that stage. It motivated me to get in there and do that. Now I've been speaking on stages for a long time. That's what your story should do for people. Tell it so they can actually picture themselves where you are, with the result that you got. Leave them seeing themselves in your after.

People visit websites and then they're gone. If you're not building an email list, you have no way to follow up with them. The fortune is in the follow-up.

Ask most people if they want to be in a get rich quick scheme. They'll say, "No, of course not." "I just want to make money fast." You see what I'm getting at? I've been online since 2008. I've seen hundreds, if not thousands of people come and go. Huge goals. Super excited. And the vast majority fall off. I think the number one reason is a lack of vision. They can't see beyond their current circumstances. I say that humbly, because there was a time I couldn't either. I was in debt. Bills were coming in. But when you're thinking "I need relief now," you're thinking short term. And if you keep searching for that easy button, it will do nothing but frustrate you. Try to look six months, a year down the road. See where you can be. Stop letting your current situation bog you down.

I don't share my results a lot. I'm not one of those guys that likes to be flashy. But I want to point this out to you. I ran a flash sale for one of my courses over a weekend. All my promo was to a segment of my email list. That was it. I didn't post it on social. There were no other links anywhere. It wasn't listed on my blog. It wasn't in the membership area. Strictly my email list. The email notifications for every sale came in. 50 plus of them. When you do your email right and set it up the right way, you're gonna get the results. That's why I'm so passionate about it. I own my email list. It can't be taken away from me. When you have something to promote, people will buy.

I was sitting in a Denny's with my wife and my little daughter, trying to figure out how to get our waitress's phone number so I could prospect her. When I first got started, I was in a network marketing company doing all the offline stuff. At the gas station, the guy on the other side of the pump? I'm trying to drum up conversation and get his contact info. Then that Saturday lunch hit me. I'm like, this is ridiculous. I can't even enjoy myself with my family, because that's all I'm thinking about. That's when it hit me. I need to start figuring out a better way to do this. Now, the relational part of marketing online should never be lost. Have you ever caught yourself sizing up the waitress?

If I go a whole week without sending an email, I almost start breaking out in hives. Not engaging your list is the worst thing you could possibly do.

I saw this meme. Somebody's out in the woods picking up a mushroom. ChatGPT says, "Oh yeah, that's a great mushroom to eat. It has nutritional value." They eat it. It's poison. Then ChatGPT says, "Oh yeah, my bad. That's actually a poisonous mushroom." It was poking fun at the fact that AI will agree with you all the time. AI just mirrors back the clarity that you give it. It'll pretty much always say, "Yeah, you're going down a great road here." But what if I'm not? You need AI to actually challenge you, challenge your assumptions, and give you evidence-based answers. Most AI tools have a setting for special instructions. Tell it you do not want it to agree with you all the time. AI is not correct all the time. Stop assuming it is.

Does dog food packaging convince my dog to want that food? Of course not. The packaging is for the person with the credit card. The person who loves their dog. I have two Yorkies. They're part of our family. We'll do anything for them. Most marketers are marketing to the dog. The only person who matters is the one with the problem that you can solve. This is why people are struggling with AI right now. AI is a mirror. It reflects the clarity you bring to it. When I create an email or a post with AI, my instructions are explicit: hit the human emotions. Hit the buying triggers. The desire they have to fix their problem. Then I go through five or six renditions before I get what I want. Because I know what moves people. Vague problem equals polished garbage. Sharp problem equals sharp everything.

I had a client several years ago. I was working with her one on one. She was already prospecting and doing things on Facebook. But she wanted to learn how to do webinars, so she could do more presentation style stuff. So she started putting all her effort into creating this webinar presentation. Then she came back. "Oh my gosh, my income's going down." I'm like, why is that? "Well, I've been so focused on doing this webinar, I haven't been doing my prospecting on social media." I said, "Well, that's your problem. I didn't tell you to stop doing that. I wanted you to do this in addition to that." Don't lose focus on the basics of connecting with people. That is very important.

I once posted about getting leads on Facebook. Someone replied, "I don't want leads. I just want sales." Explain to me how you do that. You have to have leads in order to get sales.

Most people want it now. We live in a now society. And marketers exploit that like crazy. They know how to work shiny object syndrome, because people are always looking for a quick fix. I went through that phase. Shiny object, everything. Now I get hammered daily by people asking me to promote things. I can't say yes to all of it. Here's how I decide: • Take a fast look at it. • Ask if it's going to help you move forward, or take you off what you're already working on. • Make that decision quick. The quick fix won't get you where you want to go. Stick with it and keep working through it. That's how you get the success you're looking for.