Getting Optimized with Stephan Spencer (A Productive Conversation)

This is Stephan’s podcast appearance on the Productivityist Podcast.

And this is the Productivityist Podcast. Welcome to the Productivities Podcast. I am your host, Mike Vardy, and this week on the show, I have Stephan Spencer. He is an accomplished author. He is a speaker. He is a personality who's appeared on television. He does a lot of stuff. He is the founder of the Get Yourself Optimized. He's a podcaster. He's got a couple of podcasts going on. He is again the author of The Art of SEO and several other books. He's just got a lot going on, and we talk about how he lives intentionally. His deliberate way of being.

We talk about how he balances learning with execution. We talk about how he has basically gone from who he was when he started out to who he is now, as well as reinvention and automation and things of that nature. Really great conversation, and I'm sure you'll get a lot out of it. So let's not talk anymore with me. I don't want to take any more time away from Stephan. So, let's just get to that conversation. Here is my conversation with Stephan Spencer on the Productivist Podcast. Enjoy.

I like to welcome Stephan Spencer to Productive Conversation today. Stephan, thanks for joining me today.

Thanks for having me.

So, I want to talk about optimization. Start off because you're into that. So, why don't you tell our listeners a little about yourself and why I would say you are into optimization? It's on several friends that you're into optimization.

Yeah, it is. I'm an SEO geek, meaning search engine optimization. I know all about how Google works. I can reverse engineer the Google algorithm and get you highly ranked in Google in no time. And I've been doing this for a long, long time—since the 90s, I've been doing SEO. But I've been a lifelong learner and optimization geek outside of search engines forever, right?

For example, when I first had a kid, I was 20 years old, and I did not know what I was doing. So, I got the Parent Effectiveness Training book, and I went to parenting classes, and I learned all the stuff that I should have gotten as a kid from my parents but never did so that I could be a much better parent for my kids. 

You know, when you're 20 years old, you don't really know what you're doing. So, I've been studying from the gurus. People like Tony Robbins and Brendon Burchard are just working on making myself as optimized as possible. In fact, I have this huge transformation story where I went from somebody unrecognizable to my current self. If you look at my before-and-after photo on my getyourselfoptimized.com website, which is on the About page, it will make your jaw drop.

Yeah, I saw that when you, I mean you, I saw that picture. I'm like, there's no way because I've seen you before we've chatted before, and I'm like, there is no way that that's who that is. It's unbelievable. Unbelievable, it's eight years right now or even sooner, probably. I mean, was that eight years after the transformation took place?

It was 2009 and 2010, so like seven years ago, six, and yeah, six-ish years ago. I went through this big transformation that took about, I mean, I'm still transforming. I mean, I'm a different person than I was a year ago. Spiritually and metaphysically, I'm a different person. I'm vastly different. So that's pretty cool. But the external changes, like I was unrecognizable. People would not know who I was when I walked up to them at conferences because I speak at a lot of conferences. And it was a lot of fun. Like, "You know who I am, right? No. Do I know you? I'm Stefan. Oh my god." That was fun. Can't do that anymore because now everybody knows what I look like. But yeah, it was pretty fun.

So, what do you think of when it comes to learning? Because I've read some of your work, I've listened to some of your stuff, I've seen you talk about stuff on even on television and broadcast in places that, you know, I'm like, "Hey, look, there's some. There's Stephan on TV again, one of those other clips that you put out there." How do you balance the learning with the execution, though? A lot of people will happen if they learn, and then they don't really. They don't execute it, so they absorb it, but they don't. In act in act is how do you manage to make that kind of, you know, transformation happen where you're not just absorbing and learning, but you're also taking action with it.

Yeah, so I have a team of people. I'm really good at structure. I'm really good at kind of formulating machine systems to get stuff done. But as far as getting in the trenches and doing things, I want to have leverage. I want to have a team that I can utilize. So, I have multiple virtual assistants. I have multiple consultants. I have multiple coaches; in fact, I kind of think outside the box. I mean, that's what I do all the time: I'm thinking outside the box for myself and my clients. But as far as balancing the learning and execution, I've seen this trap that people get into where, like, I was in this thing called Platinum Partnership. Tony Robbins has this mastermind year-long program. You spend six figures a year to be in this thing. It's crazy expensive.

I did it for almost three years. People would go for a year, and their business would go on autopilot while they were traveling the world, following Tony, doing all these different events, and then taking four intensive trips per year. Then they'd be like, okay, I need to implement. I need to quit Platinum Partnership, and I need to implement. I cannot take this much time off from my business.

If that's how you were running, being part of Platinum Partnership, you're doing it wrong. So, I was able to take almost three years to focus on both Platinum Partnership and making all those trips, keep my business going, and keep my clients happy. I had some of my most productive years in terms of revenue, opportunity creation, and so forth while I was following Tony around the world. It was at least one of these different intensives or public seminars a month, and you got platinum seating in one of the first X number of rows within spitting distance of Tony.

That was a lot of fun. You can't just sit on the sidelines and let your business run without you that whole time, but I was able to pull it off. If I hadn't had a team in place so that they would respond to my emails for me. And I'm not just talking about having an admin email address. I have that. However, having my main, in fact, only email address managed by my team of virtual assistants is critical. I would never go back to managing my own email. So people would be like, are you crazy? You're giving people access to decades' worth of your archives and emails, and you get your accountant sending you your tax returns and all the stuff, the personal stuff, and everything; you're just handing the keys over. 

And I'm like, yep, they have to earn their trust or earn the trust that I give them. It's not automatic, but I have assistants who have my credit card numbers, who are purchasing stuff for me all the time, and not just small things, big ticket stuff. I don't want to manage my own travel and book all that stuff myself. I don't want to sign up for different tools and services and renew things. No, that's not my highest best use. So leverage, leverage, leverage.

What do you say to somebody who, and you know I come across this too, we've talked about this before privately, but what do you say to somebody who goes, I don't have time to do all that, I don't have time to settle that stuff up, it takes too long. How would you get them started in terms of optimization? Because in my experience, that's what happens: people say, well, I don't have time to set that up, or I don't have enough money to do it. There are two, but the first one is time.

Yeah, so there's this idea that Tony talks about called Net Time. Stands for no extra time. What can you do that you're doing anyway so that you can incorporate a new approach that doesn't cost you extra time but takes you several steps forward? So, for example, if I'm training somebody anyway, I'm onboarding a new staff person. Why am I not recording that? Let's say I'm doing a screen share, like a go-to-meeting, on Skype with screen sharing. Why am I not recording that and putting it in a library of training materials for future VAs that I hire? I don't have to keep doing that over and over again. I can do it once, do a good job, use this later on, and then have no extra time. I got an extra piece of training material that I can use for future onboarding.

So it's future-proofing yourself, really. That's really what it is, right?

Yeah. You're thinking forward of what the future is going to hold and how you might utilize these things in different ways.

Why do you think people are so resistant to doing this? They don't, I mean, because they, I mean, they don't set up the time to do that kind of stuff. Is it just that we don't take enough time to? I mean, you did; you traveled and spent time thinking about this stuff. Why is it that people don't take the time to think and process that for themselves? I mean, is it, in your experience, what have you come across when people said, "Hey, you know, I want to optimize, but I just can't slow down enough to kind of make that happen, or I just don't have the bearings to make it happen."

Well, people have all these stories that they feel like they're telling themselves lies, essentially. And they don't separate the stories from the facts. Somebody would tell me, for example, "Oh my god, Stephan, I cannot believe that you were able to pick up and move to New Zealand just because you wanted to and lived there for almost eight years. That's incredible. I wish I could do that." Well, I did it, yeah, and I had never been there. I applied for residency, I got in, and then I took a trip out to figure out where we were gonna go. But I just had it. It wasn't a whim; it was like this intuition that I knew I wanted to take my family there and raise my kids there. And it was amazing, it was magical.

 But I didn't have that blockage of this belief system, these stories that say, I can't do that because of my business, because of this, that, or the other thing. People tell me you need to move from Madison, Wisconsin, to San Francisco, to the Bay Area, not to New Zealand. You're going to destroy your business by doing this crazy move halfway around the world. In actuality, I was able to massively grow my business. Because I was able to leverage the price difference between hiring top-notch talent in New Zealand and the favorable exchange rate between the US and New Zealand dollar at the time, it was incredible. It was like 40 cents to the dollar. 

And give them really intellectually stimulating work to do US-based projects, but they were based in New Zealand, and we had an office a block from the beach. I mean, talk about lifestyle and career opportunities and mental stimulation and everything. It was just, it was amazing. And so we hired the top talent way better than we could hire in the US. It was amazing. And that wouldn't have happened if I would have been in this little box thinking, well, this is just what you do. You gotta get out of that because our stories just keep us captive. Like, "No, I can't do that because I have family who live here nearby. I have my job. 

I have all these people I have to look after in my business." You know, while I kept a U.S.-based business, I still had an office in Madison, Wisconsin, but I was in New Zealand. And then, I hired a big team in New Zealand. And then I decided, you know what? I don't even need to be in this office in New Zealand. Let's move to the South Island. I'll keep the team going in Auckland.

There's a general manager. That was the first hire, by the way, hiring my general manager before I had a whole team of people for him to manage. So I could just say, you know what? You figure out how to hire all these other people because that's not something I want to like, and I don't enjoy that. And he did all that work. And within three months, we had eight really awesome staff that he had handpicked working with a recruiter. 

After four years of doing this, of being in the Auckland office, I was like, okay, let's move the family down to Christchurch because the South Island is amazing and even more spectacular than the North Island. It was just me and the family moving down, not any of the staff. I was able to do that, but I was down on the South Island for three and a half years. So those barriers, those belief systems. You know BS equals belief system. So the BS we tell ourselves is the stuff that keeps us trapped.

Let's talk about automation, too, because I think that what happens is a lot of people figure that if they just simply automate, then that's Optimization; what do you find the difference between? What role does automation play in optimization in your mind, and also, what are the dangers of automation? You know, if it goes unchecked.

Optimization is about systems, processes, and methodologies. So automation has that component, too, but it's how you think through the process that makes all the difference. So, let me give you an example that's not automation but a process implementation. So there's this idea of you having a thinking chair. There's no automation in this. You have a chair that you will only sit in. When you are going to do deep thinking, deep work, right? So Cal Newport.

Yes.

So I'm only gonna sit in that chair when I'm gonna be in the zone, and I'm gonna think big picture, like what's the next ten years gonna look like? Like how am I gonna change the world? How am I gonna transform my business or whatever, right? Not like, okay, I need to figure out what my next couple weeks are gonna look like and what the content of my presentation is going to be at next week at such-and-such conference. No, that's not big thinking. 

You're thinking chairs for big thinking, and there's no automation for that. It's just discipline. So optimization is discipline and automation works in conjunction with that discipline to help further scale and systematize. But without the kind of thinking behind it. The little gray cells are the big difference here. So you could automate anything. You could automate your coffee being made in the morning for you. And that's not going to move your life forward. So you've got to automate things that are going to substantially move your life forward, as well as your business, your family, your community, and so forth.

And I think coffee is a great example. I have people that have said, well, for a time saver, why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you get a coffee maker that has an alarm on it that just starts? And I use an AeroPress every morning, I said because it's part of my morning routine. I make an AeroPress. I love making AeroPress coffee. If I don't do that first thing in the morning, and I'm sure you've come across this too, if you don't do something that you consistently do on one day out of that multitude of days that you have, do you feel weird? Does it feel off to you? It feels off to me.

Yeah, it does. It does. But some things are kind of automated, like you can use if this then that sort of rules, and yeah, okay, I do that. But my morning routine is not about automation and little things that will make my life a little bit easier; it's about getting in the zone and connecting, connecting with my higher power, with my best self.

And not just, I mean, so there are habits that are important to this. I'll do connection prayer, meditation, and so forth, which gets me in the zone. And if I have to skip that, then my day is off. If I have to, like, I don't drink coffee, so it's not like it would be a big deal. You know, some smoothie or whatever that I normally have to skip out on because I'm running late for a meeting or something, but if I'm missing that morning connection, my day is totally drastically different.

That's why I love the idea of morning and evening routines; they open and close your day. Similarly, the middle of your day is always gonna be different, right? So, let's talk a bit about being deliberate because it sounds like I look at all the stuff You're putting together. You know you've got your optimized geek. You know you've got so many things. If you go to StephanSpencer.com, you're going to find so many things that you've got going on. How are you able to deliberate on all of those things? I think I know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask it anyway. And yet have them all, you know, have a level of quality that you are proud of.

Yeah. So, I believe that you should kind of see yourself in X number of years time or whatever and what that person's life looks like, like visualize that compelling future. If you want to do a vision board, it is the way to do that, but just some sort of guided visualization or vision board or your own meditation or whatever so that you get in sync with the identity of your best self. And that best self for me is somebody who is changing millions of people's lives. I'm not here on this planet to change a bunch of people's Google rankings. I'm here to change lives and lots of lives, millions of lives. I mean, that's like part of my mission. 

And so being deliberate means I get in touch with that mission, and I move that forward every day. So, I started this podcast called Get Yourself Optimized. Not so I could get leads, not so that I could, you know, further my business, but because I wanted to have an impact on people and a lot of people and, you know, make a difference. So, all growth happens outside your comfort zone. And if you stretch outside of your comfort zone to do things like, for me, I was a tech geek who was like a tech and marketing geek who went through a big transformation, as we just discussed, and I wanted to help other geeks transform their lives as well. So, I do a life reboot, and so I figured let's go outside my comfort zone, and I'll be kind of a self-help guru for geeks. So, I started that podcast last year and am getting some really top-notch guests like Dave Asprey, the bulletproof coffee, and Phil Town, the investment guru.

And you had Tim Ferriss on the show.

Yeah, that was an older interview before I actually had the official Optimized Geek.

Still, it's there.

Yeah, it's a great episode too. I really asked him some great questions. I've interviewed David Allen, getting things done. I've interviewed Byron Katie, who's one of the top self-help gurus of our time. I don't know how many of your listeners will have heard her name; she has had such an impact on so many millions of people. It's just amazing. I've heard her speak before, and so what a gift it was to have her on my podcast. And I'm not making any money off of this. I'm just changing lives, and I'm fitting it into everything else I do. And like getting on TV, as you were just alluding to a few minutes ago, why am I doing that?

I'm not making any money off of it. It's so that I can get the word out about my podcast. Out of the seven segments, five of the segments, I've done seven segments in three months on different TV networks and different stations across the country. Five of those were about Get Yourself Optimized. So they were different hooks I had, like are you geek, take the quiz, or I had like a geek formula. I had the instant geek transformation where I would transform guests. I mean the host.

Live in front of the audience as an optimized geek. And so I brought all these gadgets, like a Zeo sleep tracker and a Muse meditation helper, all these different things. And then I brought an Iron Man costume that I'd get them to put on. So it was a lot of fun, and it's not about making money, although as a side benefit when you're in your gifts when you're changing lives.

There's this karma that happens. The universe rewards you. So, I've gotten clients because I was on TV. Totally kind of happenstance, but it was not happenstance.

 I mean, that's the universe just giving you a high five, right? That's saying good job. So I happen to be at the right place at the right time, and somebody reaches out and says that they want to meet with me, or I notice that somebody who likes this is a real example. This guy became a client because he wanted to get a refund on a course that a business partner and I had ended up canceling. We gave him the refund, and I noticed, "Oh, you're based in Sacramento." I knew this guy from Platinum Partnership Days. And I'm like, you're in Sacramento. I'm gonna be on Good Day Sacramento on Sunday doing a TV appearance. We should get together.

We met up for lunch or something, and we became a client two weeks later. So, You know the synchronicity and all that just happens, but get in your gifts and focus on your bigger mission. What is the reason for you being on this planet? That's how you are deliberate. You just you're intentional be intentional in everything you do, which means no downtime. This might seem like sacrilege to people like I need to decompress. I need to be able to veg out in front of Netflix or whatever.

Well, you can if you want. I actually canceled Netflix, and I haven't had cable for so many years I can't even count. But I schedule time for entertainment. If I want to watch a movie with my fiancee, we schedule it. We don't just veg in front of the TV. That idea of downtime where you just. You schedule this stuff because you're intentional with everything you do.

Right. Absolutely. Stephan, thanks for joining me this week on the show. Where can people find your stuff? Where do you want to send them to so that they can learn more about you and more about how they can optimize themselves on any front, really? Because you cover a wide gamut.

Yeah. My main site is StephanSpencer.com, and from there, you can find my podcast. I actually have two of them. Get Yourself Optimized is just one of them. I also have Marketing Speak.

That one is all primary internet marketing related, but I've had some really amazing guests on that one, like Jay Abraham, and yeah, that's a great one as well. If you look in the resources library on StephanSpencer.com, you'll also find a bunch of really awesome white papers, checklists, and things like that, archived webinars, and video training, but a lot of free stuff.

So one thing I'd like to offer all your listeners, I think they're gonna really enjoy this. So, I'm the co-author of two books and the author of a third book. So I've got three books to choose from. And I will gift an electronic copy of one of these three books to all your listeners.

Wow, that's awesome. Thanks, Stephan. That's great.

Yeah, and one of the books is really a heavy read. It's a thousand pages. So, you might not. If you're not gonna like really read it, pick one of the other two books. So, I'm talking about The Art of SEO. That's a thousand pages. It's the Bible on search engine optimization and how to get to the top of Google. And it's according to Amy Africa, a good friend of mine, it's better than Ambien. Is that what she says?

Wow.

I don't know if that's a compliment, but I will take it as one. So, there's The Art of SEO and Social Ecommerce, which is all about leveraging social media to drive online sales. And then there's Google Power Search. That's the smallest of the books. That's not even 100 pages. And that's how to be a power user of Google, finding anything from forest to research reports that cost thousands of dollars. You can find them for free if you know how to search or if you're a ninja at searching.

Confidential business plans, marketing plans, and so forth. It's all just a Google search away if you know how to search. So that's Google Power Search, and you can get a free book. Send a text message to the number 33444 with the word super geek. Or if you are not able to text, let's say you're international and you wanna send an email instead, email my assistant admin@StephanSpencer.com.

Awesome, thanks for offering this, Stephan. That's really awesome. You bet. Thanks so much for joining us this week on the show, Stephan.

Thanks for having me.

Big thanks to Stephan Spencer for joining me this week on the podcast. Of course, you can check out all the links and everything that we discussed in the show notes, which are available on the website. If you just go to the podcast link at the top, you can check all that stuff out there. Of course, it's also in iTunes or your podcast aggregator of choice.

Now, if you want to get more content, Stephan and I also talked about his book, The Art of SEO and why he finds SEO so fascinating. You can get that, but you need to become a member of the productivity podcast community.

Head over to patreon.com/productivityist, and you can learn more about how to contribute to making the show better and get exclusive content while doing so.

If you're not able to contribute in a monetary fashion, rating and reviewing the show on iTunes or your podcast aggregator of choice is another way that you can help out the show. And I'd love to get more people listening to the show.

So that's one way for the discoverability of the show to increase. That's it for this week's episode. I'll have a shiny new episode for you next week. Thanks to John Poulster, my podcast producer. Thanks to all of you for listening. Until next time, I'm Mike Vardy, reminding you to stop guessing and start going.

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