Meet Bart Miller.  He has built several brands and sold them. He’s won the Clickfunnels award for creating a $10 million dollar sales funnel (something less than 1% of their clients has done). 

In this interview, we will talk about:

• How to build a brand that sells,
• What your clothing says about you to clients, and
• The secret message behind what you wear and how it impacts your credibility and authority.

A very unique but refreshingly entertaining interview with this serial entrepreneur.

 

TAKING ACTION:

• Want to know what’s keeping you from doubling your sales in the next 12 months? Take our quick QUIZ to get answers: Howtodoublesales.com
• If you’d like to have a profound breakthrough in your business, schedule your breakthrough call with a LIVE expert here: Chetholmes.com/Breakthrough
• Claim your FREE chapter 4 from the top 10 most recommended marketing and sales books of all time! Visit: Ultimatesalesmachine.com to find out how you Create 9X More Impact from every move you’re already making to win clients!

 

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TRANSCRIPT:

Amanda Holmes: Hello everyone. Amanda Holmes here, CEO of Chet Holmes International and I had the funnest time meeting Bart Miller. It was – well first, tell them a little bit about you so we know how amazing you are. 

Bart Miller: Oh, thank you. So, internet marketer, I coach a lot of the top internet marketers in the space. Also been blessed to have a $10 million funnel, received YouTube awards for huge YouTube channels, developed several brands and sold them, but really claim to fame is four amazing kids, amazing wife, all that fun stuff. So, internationally traveled, I speak Japanese and love culture and, living the dream. 

Amanda Holmes: So someone says, “Oh, we need to meet”. We come up and you tell me this crazy story about my father.

And then we circle, we closed the loop.

Bart Miller: But yeah, this was a really crazy thing. It was a big impactful event in my life. So I didn’t tell this part of the story, but I’ll tell it to you guys cause it’s important. So I was laying in bed and at this point, I’d lost everything to me – everything in life, like I’d lost everything.

I was so poor and I was still digging up money to make things happen. And I remember laying there and honestly I was ready to kill myself. Like at the point, I was just, I’m done with life. And I remember this voice coming to me and saying, “You will hire mentors and coaches to push you at a level that no one would be pushed.”

Right. I mean, if I hired a man to, for example, my expectation is you better beat me up. You better be taking me to that next level. Right? And I expect that. Yeah, because you want, but you want a coach that’s really driving, you know? If I have a bodybuilding coach, you know, I want to push to me, not if I have an excuse, it’s like no excuses, right?

I remember in any says you’ve hired these coaches, but yet me as God universe, when I put you through this, you’re mad at me. You’re cursing me. You’re chastising me and you’re ready to kill yourself. And I was like whoa, like, whoa. I mean, it was one of those moments I got out of bed and I’m like “Whoa, like, no, like I want the universe to push me to my highest level. I want to become the best me. Like, what am I thinking? This was for the –  this was for me.”

And it was like a game-changer. So let’s go on. So then all of a sudden, I found John Ezra and I was like, “Oh, this is a cool program. I’m going to go to this.” Then all of a sudden I found a program called “The Ultimate Sales – wait it wasn’t the Ultimate Sales. It was ‘Business Mastery’. Yeah. Excuse me. I’m getting all things skewed cause I’m getting excited about this. 

So found this event. It was the very first time that Tony Robbins and Chet Holmes had teamed up to put this on and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I got to go to this thing I want to go to this thing.”

Well, anyway, you had to apply, they had to look at your business. There was quite a long process to go through. Long story short. I went.

And there’s more to that story, but while I was there, it was a unique thing. I was not supposed to meet Tony and Sage, but I ended up having a friend there that knew them and we had connected and he’s like, “Would you like to meet him?”

And I’m like, “Like for reals?” And he’s like, “No, like for reals.” And I’m like, “No, this cannot happen.”

Well, anyway, long stories, I did walk backstage. Got introduced to them while Chet was there and he was standing on the other side. I was over here if you can see this, I don’t know if you’re listening. I was on the far left, Tony was there. Sage was there and then Chet was on the far. right. 

He walks around behind us, comes over on my left side and he asked me for my hand and I’m like, okay. And so I’m talking to Tony like this is a moment of getting pictures. I was like blown away. Anyway, my mind is just going a million miles an hour, but it’s Chet Holmes.

I mean, what am I going to say? No? You know, like of course! You know? And so I’m like, he’s got my hand and all of a sudden, he drops my hand and I’m like wrapping up here and I’m thinking like I’ll find out. Well, he got, I wouldn’t say sidetracked, but he was talking to somebody else. And so I was like, “Okay, I wonder what that was all about?” Really weird but like universe, you know, all these things, no clue what that was all about. 

Go back, sit in the audience, right? Because you know how the bodyguard thing is around all that. Like that was a one-time opportunity for me. Like I was like, “Oh my gosh.” So I wasn’t going to get like backstage again. I knew that.

So I was like, well, I wonder what that was all about. Like you just kept in my mind as I’m sitting there. All of a sudden he brings up that he was a professional poem reader. And I’m like – then anxiety, panic, like what did he see? Like, oh, well, I mean, I like – I was freaking out like, here I am at this event, I’m like –

Well, long story short, I still never get to see him. I never, – yeah. I never have had closure on this. Then I’m sitting there. Robbie goes, “Hey, by the way, there’s an amazing person here that you need to meet.” Like who? He goes, “Amanda Holmes”. And I’m like, like, he’s like, “Yeah.” And I’m like, “No”, like no. And so we meet and I tell her this story and she goes, “Bart, can I read your hand?”

And I’m like, the universe is speaking again. Like, this is a critical moment in my life. And here you are with your father’s background with everything. And you fulfilled that not only for me but for my amazing wife. And so this is one of those moments that I was just like –

Amanda Holmes: How crazy 12 years later, my father reads his palm and never gives him the message. And then I get to read his palm and tell him the message. Oh, that’s so amazing. 

And you’re in such a magnificent place as we saw from your palm. So with this wonderful story, which I’m sure everybody was like, “Yeah, that’s great. What a funny story.”

Let’s dive into – I love what you were saying about attracting or I’m sorry, becoming the, I would say the best version of you to get – you say it, you say it better than me.

Bart Miller: So here, here’s the thing that I, so I’m in the ClickFunnels world. So I’ll use kind of some of their language because we’re doing that right now, but there’s, there’s the attractive character, right? Becoming the attractive character.

And in any business, I mean, Chet Holmes was the attractive character of his brand. Right? So whatever that becomes, like, there are certain things that come along with becoming your attractive character. People struggle with this.

Now, the first thing I want to just really preface this with is most people think once they become the attractive character, they’ve always got to be that same character forever. In fact, 24 hours a day, some people.

But that’s not true. I want you to think about this. Does Superman stay Superman 24 hours a day?

Amanda Holmes: No.

Bart Miller: Interesting. How about Spider-Man? 

Amanda Holmes: Nope.

Bart Miller: No, isn’t that interesting? But we want to be a Spider-Man but yet we’re so afraid to be that. We’re so afraid to say, “I live this other life.”

Why would you be afraid of that? All your superheroes do it.

Amanda Holmes: Right. Interesting. 

Bart Miller: I mean, it can be extremely exhausting trying to always be the attractive character. Like I want to live different lives. There’s things I want to experience. So for example, if you go do some research on me, you’ll see right now I’m going by the billion-dollar cowboy. I’m team roping.

But if you looked at me right now, I’ve got Mickey Mouse signature, Gucci shoes on and Gucci belt, Mickey Mouse shirt on – like totally different. Like, I would never, like, I’m not a rodeo cowboy today, but yet I style Russell Brunson that sits in there and everybody’s like, “Oh, this is so crazy. You’re a stylist, but you’re a cowboy but you’re a bodybuilder and I’m like, “Isn’t it awesome? I can be whatever I want to be.” 

Okay. So there’s some cool things that we have to do though in learning this. Okay. So one of Chet’s cool things, right? Was he was a, what? A palm reader. Well, is that not unique?

Amanda Holmes: So unique and it was such a great way to break rapport or build rapport with people, right?

It doesn’t matter who you are, what your worth is, right? Anybody wants their palm read. Majority of them.

Bart Miller: I love that. So what I do is when I’m styling somebody or looking at their attractive character is – so let’s take Russell Brunson cause I styled him. Let’s just use him since we’re here.

So Russell’s an introvert. Russell really doesn’t like to talk about things that are not in his wheelhouse. Okay. So what I do is I put things on him, so he loves watches. He’s a watch nerd. So guess what? If I buy the right watch, if anybody comes up, they know the watch. Can he talk about it? 

Of course, he can. And it brings them on to task because if I know the watch, I already connect. See that?

So I wear a big elk tooth ring, like it or not. It’s a big bull I shot. It’s in the Idaho greatest out book, but that tooth is on there – it’s ivory. But if you know that ring, if you know what an elk tooth is, you will come across the room to speak to me. Is that my attractive character? Is that the person I want to talk to? Of course because I can talk about that all day long.

See, so I’m wearing certain things that people that I want and what things I want to talk about. If they know, they know, you see what I mean? So they instantly said, when you’re building your brand or your attractive character, don’t put yourself in situations where if you were in an event, you walked off stage that people wouldn’t have things that they could relate to or that they draw to.

So Russell loves wrestling, you know, there’s certain things I’m always looking at. He loves shoes. So if you look, every outfit has a shoe change – always. There’s always a certain shoe for a purpose. Okay. Everything has a purpose when I’m styling somebody. Okay. So he’s in a lot of video, right? So building his brand really needs attractive character.

If I put him in a lot of loud clothes, trust me, the videographer right here is like, “Yeah, I get what you’re saying right now.” Like, I’m on – cameras don’t like that. So I have to be very conscious of not only what he’s doing, but what’s his background. How many colors are behind him? And who’s filming him? How much is he going to be on there?

Oh, but let’s think about this. All of a sudden who’s coming tomorrow? Tony Robbins – what can I guarantee Tony Robbins is gonna be dressed in?

Amanda Holmes: Black.

Bart Miller: Absolutely. So why would I dress Russell in purple or something that’s not going to work with him. If I know he’s going to be at a thousand pictures and Tony’s going to be here, I need to style him accordingly so that he looks the best version of him with these people.

Today, he’s going to be taking thousands of pictures when he gets done doing this pitch out here. So if you go look at the outfit he’s in today, you will see it will go with anything, but it looks baller, but it’s still on point with the brand. Does that make sense?

So there’s a lot more to this. So when people hire me there, they think what we’re doing, we’re just going shopping when reality is what we’re really doing is we’re digging into. Okay. So do you like to weightlift? What’s your hobbies? What are the things that if somebody came up to you, you would like be like, “Oh my gosh, you want to geek out on wrestling talking, let’s do this.” Or “You want to talk about shoes like I’m in”, or, you know what I’m saying? 

Amanda Holmes: Yes. It’s an expression of you. It’s an extension of you. And it’s what you want to also discuss. I love that. I love that. So I always wear a scarf and it’s because I studied under an Indian Saint for 10 years now. And I was very involved with buying scarves and how important they are to your wardrobe. For her – it’s her robes. 

So for me, it’s a very sacred thing. It’s not, it’s not about my brand per se. It’s just about what I feel comfortable in and what it represents to me is that that dedication and devotion to my own spiritual path.

Bart Miller: But what’s cool about that is though people will look at that as a signature piece.

Those will be the things your kids want to take with them if you know what I mean or whatever it may be because it is your brand. It is who you are.

Now, I will want to stress one of the things that’s really cool. I want you to go look at the original characters. Be it Spiderman, Superman. Doesn’t matter who it is.

Look at their first outfits. Do you think they were comfortable the first day they put their attractive character outfit on?

Amanda Holmes: No.

Bart Miller:  Right? And how much have they advanced since the day, first day? How far have they gone? So if you look at Russell, the very first event I styled him at, you’ll go say, “Wow. He looks really sharp.”

But go look at him now. Look how much it’s evolved when Russell would never, never tell this year. Last year I got him in one for a little bit. This year, I’ve had him in two jackets, hates jackets. Okay. So as a stylist, it gets hard because what do I really have to work with? 

I’ve got a shirt. He untucks his shirts so I can’t use belts, so I’ve got shoes and I got a watch. But yet I got to make this man very presentable. I got to make it very plain. There’s only so dang many blues and things I can do. Right. I mean, you know what I mean? Like, there’s, there’s a point when we’ve done a lot of fun with it, but like jackets give me a whole another world.

But if you wouldn’t evolve, I couldn’t do it. Right?

Amanda Holmes: I love it. And it’s so funny before I even met Bart,I thought – seeing Russell on stage – I thought, “Wow, he’s looking really good. I bet you, he has a stylist.” And then I met you!

I never think about these things. And yet that I saw him, I’m like, he is really put together well, and it was the jacket. So it was interesting.

Bart Miller: Yeah. And I got 40 texts as soon as you walked on. Yeah, like this is his best outfit. It looks so amazing. 

Now I will tell you another funny story about this when you’re going through this process. So I pay Russell a lot of money to be in his programs and we do that. Right? And I do what Russell says, right? Cause I invested in him.

When we were in our first big event and then there was a pair of shoes that were a little out of his comfort zone. So he’s getting ready to go on stage. And I get a voxer for me and it says can’t wear the shoes like I’m out. I can’t do this. 

And I’m like, this is what I said to him. Now I want to tell you when a great leader like Chet, Tony, I will put Russell in there. Like they’ve led a lot of people right there. They’re amazing leaders, but what makes a great leader is also somebody who’s coachable too. And I want you to think about that for a minute.

So I was there and I was thinking, you know what I said, no, that’s unacceptable. I said, you pay me a lot of money to make you look the way you want. Please do what I’ve asked you to do and you’ll see the result. I ask you – that’s why you invested in me. 

Guess what he showed up on stage in? 

Amanda Holmes: The shoe. 

Bart Miller: That shoe. Guess what he got a million comments on?

Amanda Holmes: The shoes?

Bart Miller: The shoes. But see if he hadn’t been coachable and he expected me to be coachable. Right, right? He’s expecting me when I buy his programs. Just like we all are. He wants me to be coachable. But he followed.

What a great leader, right? It’s okay to question. It’s okay to be insecure. 

Amanda, you can see things in me that I can’t see in myself. I guarantee you, I just know you, you’re looking at me saying, oh my gosh like I can see these things. But I can do the same for somebody else. That’s what’s great about leaders, right? 

Amanda Holmes: So tying that back then too, on the business side, I love what you had said to these business owners that are trying to adapt to online or trying to adapt to a new way of thinking and you distinguished between one office and the other.

Can you go into that a bit? Because I thought that was so great. So you said coachable. 

Bart Miller: Yeah. So one thing that we just talked about is, is if you decide to do something like that, a great coach is coachable. Now, when we were talking a little bit about, I coached some brick and mortar people, and I also love the internet marketing world, but I come from brick and mortar, traditional old fashioned marketing.

I worked for a TV station. Like I sold real advertising back in the day. Right? So that all being said, I get a lot of older clients that come to me and say, “Hey, I really Bart want to get in online.” And I look at them and say, “Now, do you really honestly want to do this?” “Yeah, I want to. I’ll do whatever it takes.” 

And I said, “Okay, well, this is what it takes. I want you to separate and create a new company within your company.” And they’re like, “What?” And I’m like, “Yes”.

I said, “you cannot look at your traditional brick and mortar the same way as you look at your online business.” Now, are they the same? Yes, but they’re not the same. And I want you to totally put a new hat on.

I want you to become the new, attractive character of learning this online space. They’re like, okay. So some of them put a division like their marketing teams, everything are separate. Honestly. Like I separate the company, then we separate them into a different room. Some of them actually have to get another building. Like, that’s where they need to go.

Like, I’m not kidding around, but when you do this, what happens is your mind shifts, steps out of business A into business B. Now what I really want to reference this too, is like there’s pet names for people. Like, so if you’re like some person, like you give them a pet name, they react totally different than if they’re called the regular name.

It’s kind of weird, but I have pet names for certain people and they’re always like, “I love this”. Like, you know, it’s kind of cool, right? But that’s what you want to do in this is like, you almost need to name it something else. So when you’re there, you’re like energized about this new thing, even though it’s the same products, the same everything, because really what you’re stepping into isn’t – it’s not a new way of marketing but a different way for you to get your mind wrapped around this new world. 

Amanda Holmes: I love – what I took away from that when you shared it was just keeping an open mind to a new possibility and honoring those people that are around you to hear their feedback and really listen to them because when you’ve been running a business for so long and you have it in a certain way, it’s hard to take that step back and then have a fresh perspective and something that’s very new and it’s very fast-paced and it’s constantly changing.

So having that learning mindset and that open to coaching is great. So you do it with styling and you do it with your online marketing. You do it within your organization. If you –  if you are a student of life, then everything can be interesting and appealing and keep your interest because there’s so much to learn.

Bart Miller: Yeah. And one thing I’ll add that for you, Amanda, is that a lot of times in the brick and mortar world that I find is it’s – we’re a little more established, so we’re a little older, but all of a sudden we’re walking into a younger world. So if I went to my daughter and said, “Hey, I’m going to teach you how to run the cell phone.”

She’d look at me like “Really dad? Like for real” I’m like, “I’m going to tell you what you need to do on the cell phone.” I mean, she – right? – she’s gonna laugh just like that at me. But I really think a lot of businesses, I think about this, I’d give the analogy to these older business owners. Like you’re walking into a world that’s theirs and you’re telling them how to run a cell phone when the reality is, you need to be saying, “Hey, look, I want to run this ship. I need your help but honey can you” -, like, my daughter would say “Honey, can you really teach me how to run the cell phone as full as capacity so that I can be more successful with what I’m doing?”. 

Then I need to sit back. I needed to learn. I need to go practice. Then I needed to come back and say, “How am I doing?” But it’s sometimes harder when we’re older because we get so rigid that we want to go in and say, “I run the cell phone. I have – I’ve been on calls my whole life. Like come on like this new technology, you kidding me? Like, what could it really do for me?”

And then all of a sudden, like my daughter’s like, “Dad, it can do a million things for you.” And I’m like, “My gosh, it really can.” 

Right? So it’s just something to think about when you’re going through this process and it’s not always easy, but it’s kind of fun actually.

Amanda Holmes: love it. I love it. And I think those are the most successful too are those that are able to adapt and shift and learn. And that humility too is nice to see. Yeah. 

Thank you so much, Bart. It was so great.