From prison cell to $2 million business (The "No excuses" blueprint) | A systeme.io success story

Welcome back to another success story with system.io. I have the privilege of

with system.io. I have the privilege of interviewing Joel Vasquez or the infamous Joel on YouTube today as he shares the behind the scenes of how he built a $2 million business with

affiliate marketing and how he scaled it with the simplicity of system.io.

But he's not stopping there. He's going

to share how he is also shifting the perspective of his own business. And if

you want to go and follow him on Infamous Joel on YouTube, you can hear all about it as he starts sharing the deep secrets of what he's learned from years of affiliate marketing and now

helping coaches do the same thing and scale their business, ditching the chaos, and creating automated systems so that you can get paid while you sleep.

All right, let's jump into today's interview. Welcome back to another

interview. Welcome back to another success story with System.io. We have an incredible transformational story with Joel Vasquez as we dive into how he's

using system.io with digital marketing ranging from affiliate income to your own digital products, coaching businesses and using their tool and budget friendliness and their to turn it

into digital products, coaching programs, all the things. So Joel, thank you for joining us today.

>> Well, you're welcome. Very welcome. I'm

excited to be here. Well, um I'm sure everyone listening is going to be really interested in how you got started and I don't want to call it a rags to riches because you you talk about Rich Dad Poor

Dad on your YouTube and you've shared your story. So, could you give someone

your story. So, could you give someone maybe the bullet points or summary of like where you were to where you are now?

>> I'll try. It's a very long story that starts back in 2012. I was locked up in prison. I committed a crime. I deserved

prison. I committed a crime. I deserved

it. There's no innocence here. But in

that time frame, I was in there for seven years and I got myself right. I

got off drugs, alcohol, started reading.

I had a help from other great people in there who probably some point might watch this, which like, hey, shout out to you. Thank you for helping. Great

to you. Thank you for helping. Great

guys in there that got me back on my feet. Went to AA meetings, all that

feet. Went to AA meetings, all that stuff. And so I read, like you said,

stuff. And so I read, like you said, Rich Dad Poor Dad. That was the main book that changed my entire way of thinking and life. And I said, I'm going to start a business when I get home.

That business I started when I got home was affiliate marketing. And so in affiliate marketing about two years later I was making around 30k per month with affiliate marketing. I was so good

with it that other people came to me and said I need you to coach me. Please show

me what to do. Blah blah blah blah. So

that transition naturally into a coaching business. But now I was

coaching business. But now I was mentoring and coaching other people and glad to say I've had hundreds of success stories there. Got them to quit their

stories there. Got them to quit their job making 510 15k per month. And so I made a million dollars doing that. and

the coaching part. And then a year later, I made another million dollars there back there with System I.Oio. Hard

to see, but with System IO, I got the award for that as well. So,

so, so, but now I'm transitioning out of it. I feel like my skills are better

it. I feel like my skills are better suited for more like B2B, helping coaches, consultants build their businesses online. But affiliate

businesses online. But affiliate marketing is my bread and butter. That's

that's my roots. That's where I started.

So, that's where I system.io came into play.

>> That's awesome. So, um, rags to riches, right? That it I love that you share

right? That it I love that you share that piece because I think a lot of people are looking and said, "Who am I to do this? I can't overcome this. I I I messed up too much." But again, the freedom that digital marketing can give

people the opportunity. And with the tool of system.io, literally there's no barrier to entry, especially when you get a good coach like you.

>> I appreciate it. Yeah.

>> Okay. So um were you when affiliate marketing was it like a coaching program that you were affiliated with or Amazon shopping like little affiliate links there? Can you explain like which

there? Can you explain like which direction you went with affiliates?

>> Oh god. Well there's a lot of mis uh misinformation in the affiliate space and not not necessarily always misinformation but just bad ideas.

There's a lot of stuff out there. Uh

first of all the low ticket like you said Amazon, Walmart, all this stuff.

Can you be an affiliate? Yes. Most of

the big affiliates that are that are making serious money with those programs are probably like uh stores or like uh uh blogs that have been around since like the 90s and they have a million

pounds of traffic to be able to get that kind of income. And I told all my clients, skip all that small stuff. Go

for high ticket. Anything at least $500 and above for commissions is going to be well worth your time because look, most of the time you're going to convert about 1% of the people that see your

stuff ever anyway. So if you're if you're depending on like $10 $15 little commissions here and there, it's going to take a thousand years to get out of your job. So I always told them start

your job. So I always told them start with something high ticket, preferably $1,000 or more would be fantastic. And

that's how I was able to get people removed from their business in about a month or two. Same amount of work, just change what you're selling, so you're selling more lucrative luxury stuff

instead.

>> Wow. H how how did you coach people through finding those types of products?

Oh, I've I've been doing it long enough where I found them all the time. I knew

them.

Most of the time they're going to be digital courses. That's just a a fact

digital courses. That's just a a fact because they're going to have like an 80 90% margin for the course seller. You

know, the courses that they're basically invisible, right? They just live on the

invisible, right? They just live on the digital space somewhere. And because of that, there's no overhead. So, if you're selling courses or coaching programs or sometimes services like travel services and stuff like that, there's very little

overhead. So, you want to aim to sell

overhead. So, you want to aim to sell those because they're often going to give you a lot more commission for your work instead of like, you know, 2% or something crazy like that.

>> Okay. All right. So, looking for those coaching programs, would you say it's numerous? Is it hard to get into? Is

numerous? Is it hard to get into? Is

there a barrier?

>> Oh, no. Uh, I would say it's a lot. I

think the digital coursing space, uh, coursing coaching and courses space is growing like year by year. So, it's it's insane. And at this point, you can

insane. And at this point, you can pretty much find a coaching or course type program in any niche. I know that on school, for example, which is a membership platform. Like one of the big

membership platform. Like one of the big one of the big plat uh one of the big schools in there is a pickle ball membership. Like they they have

membership. Like they they have memberships for like golf swings. Like

like there's a million things you can sell online, but that oftent times is the problem for somebody who's brand new because they're overloaded with information. And what human beings when

information. And what human beings when we're given a lot of options, we make no options. We make no choices at all.

options. We make no choices at all.

>> So that that's one of the main things that I would fix when I would get a new client. It's like, look, drop all these

client. It's like, look, drop all these options. Here's a list that I have. I've

options. Here's a list that I have. I've

done this for years. Here's what you should grow up.

>> And so you you already had the list. You

already had social proof, the receipts saying this is possible. And you scaled that to a million dollars. Now, did you utilize system.io at the beginning,

midway, or near the end? I would say I would say midway. So I used to use a competitor. I won't say their name. So I

competitor. I won't say their name. So I

I used to use someone else. But here's

here's the main part. Especially when I was in a coach like more of a coaching role. Um 3% of people ever finish any

role. Um 3% of people ever finish any coaching program course. It's just

natural. People just get excited in the beginning. Go, wow, my life's going to

beginning. Go, wow, my life's going to change. And then they fall off because

change. And then they fall off because they realize it's work. It's the same thing as that when people, you know, buy exercise equipment and then it goes collects dust in in the garage. There's

a huge mindset that you have to have going in every day and like this is work, this is work, but it's going to be worthwhile. It's going to change my

worthwhile. It's going to change my life. People just want the magic button.

life. People just want the magic button.

But that's neither here nor there. Um,

the competitor cost money upfront. So,

what I kept finding was that this was a barrier to getting people results because they would get the software and they would start building funnels and doing all the things I'm instructing

them to do. And that and because of the cost it would put a lot of pressure on them like I need to get something done now. And I told all my clients if you

now. And I told all my clients if you focus on making money you won't make any money.

>> Focus on making money.

>> Yeah.

>> You won't make any money.

>> It's the craziest thing because pe people people do this all the time. They

watch a few YouTube videos. They think

they're an affiliate expert all of a sudden and and they go, "Okay, I'm going to focus on making money. I need to make lots of money right now." And what happens is you get into the scarcity mindset. It's like that little mouse in

mindset. It's like that little mouse in the woods like being attacked by a tiger. Oh my god, I need to make money

tiger. Oh my god, I need to make money right now. So when you do that, you you

right now. So when you do that, you you miss all the important stuff like the skills that you have to build to become this person that makes money. You have

to learn copywriting. You have to learn proper funnel building. You have to learn how to build an audience. You have

to learn good content. You have to learn all these things. So when you focus on the make money, make money, make money, you miss all the stuff that you actually have to learn to make the money. I hope

that makes sense.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. So, the the competitor being like a cost upfront was a huge barrier because now it's like I'm already sinking money into this and I'm not focused on the things I have to learn.

So, what Systemio with their premium pricing model was a blessing because it helped. Oh, don't worry. The tools are

helped. Oh, don't worry. The tools are taken care of. Blah blah blah blah. It's

free for now. And as they would start and grow and build and I actually had gave them the time and the space to actually learn the skills and say shut up and learn these skills now they

actually started making money and then they were able to upgrade their account you know go all the way up to the unlimited which is great but but that that is a fantastic pricing model for someone who's just starting so

that they can focus on the things that are important to actually build these skills. They think if I'm just going to

skills. They think if I'm just going to be an affiliate marketer, people click a few buttons and money shoots out of my computer. No, that's not how it works.

computer. No, that's not how it works.

So, yeah, you have to wear a few hats and you have to actually get good at a few things.

>> I'm sure you failed a lot in the beginning right?

>> Oh my god. Yeah.

I remember making my very first funnel and like it took me weeks. No lie,

weeks. Cuz when I first came home, I didn't know how to turn on a phone. Like

that was my level of technology and knowledge and stuff like that. So, when

people come on and they're they're starting their first business and they go, "I'm not good with computers. I'm

not good with the tech stuff." Blah blah blah blah. Get good. Okay? Just like

blah blah. Get good. Okay? Just like

anything else, if you pick up a guitar in life, you don't expect to be a rock star the next day.

>> So, that's the mentality I went in with it. I said, "Let me build this funnel."

it. I said, "Let me build this funnel."

I spent weeks doing it. I was in in a Facebook group when Facebook groups were a big thing >> of funnel builders. And I said, "Check out this funnel. I finally finished it.

It's amazing." and I put it out there and a bunch of people clicked on it and checked it and all the comments were horrible. I felt like crap. They were

horrible. I felt like crap. They were

like, "What is this? This is garbage. It

looks like a like a two-year-old made this." So, I've been there. I've done

this." So, I've been there. I've done

that. And then I made way more money than them after a while. So, it doesn't matter >> because you didn't give up.

>> You didn't give up.

>> I didn't give up. That was the key point right there. It was like, don't I just

right there. It was like, don't I just kept going. I got better as time went

kept going. I got better as time went on, but I was terrible at it. So, It can happen to you, too.

>> Yeah. You fail forward. It was like, I've already been there. I'm not going to do that. You know, you shared a story um on your Facebook page talking about when you were working as a forklift

operator. Was that also right after you

operator. Was that also right after you got out and you were, you know, learning digital marketing? So, you were you were

digital marketing? So, you were you were hustling. You were doing everything you

hustling. You were doing everything you could >> to take care of, you know, your home, your family >> and and then there was a a a day where an accident happened and you found out

like you were replaceable.

and and they didn't care about you.

>> Not at all. Yeah. So, um, with the forklift driver thing, I obviously when I came home, affiliate marketing, any business is going to take time to build.

I didn't make anything for my first maybe seven months or so. I made a dollar after that. I made like one sale for a dollar and I said, "Oh my god, I ran for the hills." I was like super

happy. But, but in the meantime,

happy. But, but in the meantime, obviously, I still had to pay bills and do all these things. So, I worked as a forklift operator when I came home and this is the important part about having a goal because I knew I wanted to build

this affiliate thing and nothing was going to stop me. When you have that mindset of it's going to work, it's just a matter of when. It's a different thing than when people join these programs, courses, they learn affiliate marketing

and go, "Well, if it works." If you join it and say, "If it works, I'll try." And

you have that mentality, you are going to fail. I'm just telling you right now,

to fail. I'm just telling you right now, you're going to fail. Forget it. Throw

your money away. give it to the guru and run away. You're never going to see it

run away. You're never going to see it again. You have to have the mentality of

again. You have to have the mentality of it's going to work. You don't know when right now, but it's going to work. So,

that's the mentality that I had. And

because of that, when I was working my forklift job, I was still working on my business every chance that I could. I'm

like driving around with my phone.

Obviously, the supervisor see me and yell at me, "What do you have your phone for?" And I'm like doing Facebook lives

for?" And I'm like doing Facebook lives and I'm putting content out there and I'm like I didn't even have a car so I'm walking to and from work and I'm I'm putting content on Instagram about me walking to and from work. I was like you

said hustling. I didn't have that

said hustling. I didn't have that mentality of I'm nervous. I'm scared I'm going to fail. I didn't care. It was

just you you have to hit that wall in life where you just say I don't care. So

I got in trouble a lot at work. I found

little secret spots to hide somewhere and do my content and do my affiliate marketing stuff. Uh, you know, maybe

marketing stuff. Uh, you know, maybe some people are still there and they they'll see this, they go, that's where he was. He wasn't doing any work. He was

he was. He wasn't doing any work. He was

hiding because in my mind, this in my mind, this is just temporary. It's

paying the bills. I have an ultimate goal. I have a destiny. I'm going to

goal. I have a destiny. I'm going to reach it and that's it. So, yeah, that that's kind of how all that happened.

I okay I think there's gonna be plenty of people who are listening who are stuck in the grind and they're like how when am I going to have time lunch breaks the five minute break you know the walking back and forth to the bus or

to the house because you know my husband when we got married he didn't have a car when he first started he was driving his bike >> you know driving his bike riding his you know and he talked about how hard it was

and his boss said you know because he's in manufacturing well you know what Target's always hiring you know or you know like put in the work keep pushing, don't give up. And because

you know he was raising a family, getting his masters and all these kind of things. So like

of things. So like >> there's a time where you just have to grind and and there passive income the sells the myth that you're just going to passively start getting it, but there's

so much work that has to go into it first. So can you talk about how

first. So can you talk about how affiliate marketing uh and how when you made the transition to system.io, what was it about it that pulled you in the premium that you talked about? like

did you already learned how to make funnels at the other place and you got ripped apart with your first one, you didn't give up. What What was it about System.io with your affiliate marketing?

>> Well, I did pretty well with the other software eventually. But but the main

software eventually. But but the main thing with Systemio and why I just stopped first of all, customer service was way better, way better. I would

write tickets, something's breaking, whatever. And and it would be like weeks

whatever. And and it would be like weeks by the time that they fixed it. It was

like weeks later and I already fixed it.

I'm like, I don't even need this anymore. And then on top of that, the

anymore. And then on top of that, the other software was great at building funnels, but that's all it did.

>> So, when someone introduced me to System.io, they're like, you know, you can just replace these 95 other tools that you have right now for email and course hosting and all these other things. They said, there's one tool that

things. They said, there's one tool that just does all that stuff. And I was like, okay, what is I saw system.io and I'm like, I'm moving all my stuff over here. Like this is great because when

here. Like this is great because when you have an established business like that, I went from beginner to established business and and you get a you get a new problem. Always new

problems arise and that is when one thing breaks the entire system breaks.

So so like my emails, whatever, my text, whatever all breaks, everything goes downhill. So by having it all under one

downhill. So by having it all under one software where it was all taken care of, system.io, that was a huge, huge benefit. Now I only have to worry about

benefit. Now I only have to worry about one software that houses all of my marketing, all of my backend, all my sales, all my stuff. That was huge for me. I was like, "Thank God the headache

me. I was like, "Thank God the headache is gone. I don't have all these other

is gone. I don't have all these other things to worry about." So that was that was big for me. That's why I moved all my my entire business moved over there overnight. Cancelled like 50

overnight. Cancelled like 50 subscriptions.

>> Now, did you use their transfer migration service to do that?

>> They didn't have it back then.

>> That's how far back you go. Got it. You

owe me.

>> Yeah, they didn't have it back then. I'm

like, "Oh, damn it. THEY GOT IT NOW."

OH, MAN. I spent all this money. I was

paid VAS to move all my funnels and all these things. That would have been

these things. That would have been awesome.

>> Well, they probably heard people like you say, "Hey, could you help us out?

I'm bringing everything over." And they did. That's That's a beautiful thing.

did. That's That's a beautiful thing.

They listen and they implement.

>> They do. They absolutely do. Yeah.

>> All right. So, uh before we jumped on, I was asking about your YouTube and your affiliate marketing and you shared that you're in a transition yourself. Not

only did you transition from software, you know, and from a forklift operator to digital marketing to affiliate income to a new platform, >> you're doing it again.

>> Yes.

>> Talk to us about it, you know, like what what's the infamous, you know, Joel doing now?

>> Well, I think that in in business and in life, you're always transitioning. The

only thing that never changes is change, right? So, I'm changing now. I worked

right? So, I'm changing now. I worked

with affiliate marketers, beginners online for years and years, and it was great. had wonderful clients. I had

great. had wonderful clients. I had

hundreds of people who quit their job and they were great to work with. But

there's also about the 80% or so and this is just the the nature of that industry is that it attracts a lot of people who don't really take it seriously. And I think that my skill set

seriously. And I think that my skill set and where I am in my business, a few months ago, I just decided I'm going to start working with other coaches like myself because as I was scaling and growing my coaching business, I was

hitting walls like 30k, 40k, 50k, and then beyond that hitting to like 100k, 200k, which I eventually got to. It was

hard. It was very hard. And everyone and their grandma had different advice on how to get theirs like hire a team, run Facebook ads, do all these things. And I

found so many different problems with all of them. And I can list them, but we wouldn't have time to list how many freaking problems it's so it was keeping me up at night all the time. And so what

I ended up doing was just using a very simple YouTube system. I eventually

landed on, hey, YouTube, this is where I'm getting my best quality clients or co, you know, leads from because they're watching my videos. They're spending

time getting to know me, know the results. We're posting testimonials and

results. We're posting testimonials and case studies on the YouTube channel. And

they come to the the calls to buy my program, which at the time was seven grand. They were like, yes.

grand. They were like, yes.

They were there was no I need to talk to the wife. I don't know blah blah blah.

the wife. I don't know blah blah blah.

They I I noticed that now in 2025 and beyond, people like doing their own research.

>> They like to learn about you. They like

to trust you. They don't like hard sales tactics and high pressure stuff. I'm

telling you, we got so many people from YouTube where over time it was like forget these Facebook ads. Forget all

this stuff. This is where we're getting the I need to talk to my wife crowd and just people ghosting because and I get it because they just saw an ad, they clicked it and you book a call and that it

>> that's it, you know, like, well, I don't even know you. I'm going to fork over $7,000. I don't know what this is.

$7,000. I don't know what this is.

>> But when you prioritize YouTube as I did, everything got so much easier.

That's when I was hitting the 100K months and and it was like it was like this makes it so much simpler. I wonder if other coaches know

simpler. I wonder if other coaches know about this. And as I look around the

about this. And as I look around the marketplace and how there's a lot of programs out there, agencies that are pitching them, we'll do ads, we'll do this, we'll give you closers and and all this stuff, I'm like, they don't know about this.

>> A lot of coaches don't even have a YouTube channel. And I'm like, what are

YouTube channel. And I'm like, what are you doing? Y

you doing? Y >> So that's what I've been doing lately.

Yeah. That's what I've been doing lately is is we call it the YouTube trust funnel. And we're showing uh coaches how

funnel. And we're showing uh coaches how to utilize YouTube and how to use that and a little bit of paid ads. we can

speed it up a little bit because a lot of coaches also say, "Well, doesn't YouTube take forever?" Not if you do it right. It's not true. I used to think

right. It's not true. I used to think that too and that's why I prioritize ads and stuff and it it's just not true.

>> So, so you do that and then we give them very we get them very very warm leads because now they're actually putting the trust forward. So, by the time they get

trust forward. So, by the time they get to the call, you're getting like 60 70 80% close rates, which is, if anyone doesn't know watching this, unbelievable.

Like, you know, it's like super high.

And they don't believe me at first, but when they get their first client on on a call and they're like, "Hey, I'm in.

Just skip to like how much this is. Send

me the invoice now." Like, don't you want to have a whole hourong sales call?

No, no, no. I'm in.

>> And I'm like, there it is. That's the

magic of it because you're giving people the opportunity to to get to know you and trust you first. Everything is

handled by YouTube. So, it's so much better. So, that's what I'm doing now.

better. So, that's what I'm doing now.

>> All right. The YouTube trust funnel. So,

what if the person who wants to do coaching doesn't mind talking to people on camera like this in a Zoom or a chat, but they don't want to sit down and film content? How do you coach those people

content? How do you coach those people into putting content on?

>> Get over it. Because a lot of times they film content for ads anyway, right? And

I'm like, well, you're doing it anyway, but you're doing it in snippets. Just

sit down and explain what you do on YouTube. So, the the co there's cost to

YouTube. So, the the co there's cost to everything. I'm like, sure, you can do

everything. I'm like, sure, you can do that, right? But I'm telling you, the

that, right? But I'm telling you, the cost is going to be very high ad cost, low ROI, pissed off sales teams because nobody closes. So, so you got to pick

nobody closes. So, so you got to pick your poison in business. And I

eventually had to. And I tell I'm telling you, I was scared to death to cut off my ads because I'm like, well, we're getting all these all these leads and all these uh calls booked and all this stuff. What if I just turn them off

this stuff. What if I just turn them off and we get nothing? When I turned them off and I prioritized YouTube, I still use ads on YouTube >> a little bit. But but when I prioritized YouTube, not only were we still getting

calls, we were totally fine. But by

doubling down on YouTube, we got more calls and they were way higher quality.

So, I just tell them, get over it. If

you're just going to sit down and have hourlong calls all the time anyway, take that every day 50-hour long calls and prioritize YouTube. You can make a 30

prioritize YouTube. You can make a 30 minute video and now it sells for you every day all day in the background.

It's just crazy to me that someone would think that. I mean, if they do, that's

think that. I mean, if they do, that's fine. They can go somewhere else. But

fine. They can go somewhere else. But

I'm here to speak to that benefit of like cut that out. That way it fixes all of these other problems in your business and you're able to to scale more predictably. You're not starting every

predictably. You're not starting every month from zero going, "Oh my god, I hope my ads work again. I don't know what's going to happen." I get it. I've

been there. And it's like, we don't have any closes yet. Now the the Facebook shut us down or something crazy. Now

you're crying. Now you're you're running down the street going, "Oh my god, my business is dead." When you have a YouTube channel, your business is not ever going to die. And you have that predictability. You can wake up every

predictability. You can wake up every morning knowing we're going to get leads. We're going to get sales. It's

leads. We're going to get sales. It's

working perfectly fine.

>> Okay. All right. Yeah.

>> So, let's walk through this trust funnel, you know, as much as you uh like to share here. So, you got your content on YouTube. Are you pulling them into a

on YouTube. Are you pulling them into a cold um you know, complimentary call or do do you give them a value exchange like a freebie or something like that?

And how is system.io utilized? Do you

use their coaching calendar? Like I'm

intrigued. What are the steps?

>> Yeah. Yeah. So, we use the calendar. Um

I have taught some people to do the the lead magnet thing. It depends on kind of how their business is structured. Mine

goes straight to a call. Period. And

then all of my YouTube videos are I look at it like this. I look at YouTube like a funnel itself, right? And the funnel people have no idea who you are. You

need something cold. They're probably

searching on YouTube to solve a problem.

So this is where you have to know your clients, know your perfect person that you serve. It's like, okay, what

you serve. It's like, okay, what problems are they having that they're likely searching on YouTube right now?

Right? So, you make a few videos on that, seven to 10 videos. It's a nice sweet spot. Hey, are you this person and

sweet spot. Hey, are you this person and you're going through this problem? Let's

solve it right now. Just a mini problem in their business. Maybe it's uh their calendar is is not working right, you know, whatever the hell. Maybe they're

using Calendarly or something. They're

using too many softwares or something.

Maybe you can make a video about system.io and show them how it fixes the problem. And that little bit, just that

problem. And that little bit, just that little value exchange builds that trust internally. It just like like, okay,

internally. It just like like, okay, that person gave me great value. They

helped me fix a problem. I have trust with them now. Then the next video, you can actually retarget them with some ads, $5 a day or something small. Since

they watched that first video, hey, you might be interested in I could actually increase your call booking rate, right?

Here's a here's five tricks that you can actually increase your call booking rate. By this time, they saw something.

rate. By this time, they saw something.

you solve the small problem in their business. So, the next video that is

business. So, the next video that is recommended to them by YouTube or you can use some ads, it makes logical sense for them to move to that next step. It's

like, hey, there's that same person I saw before. They're going to teach me

saw before. They're going to teach me some tips and tricks in like every time that you hit them with a new retarget, a new like $5, $2 ad. I use ads a lot, but I don't spend as much as I used to

because I'm using the the YouTube algorithm the way it's designed for teaching, for education instead of book this call right now. They will book a call when they've decided you're the person,

>> right? So, there's like final

>> right? So, there's like final retargeting phase where it's like, hey, >> this is for the hottest of you. It's

like, hey, you're probably this kind of coach stuck in this position. You're not

seeing the consistency, blah blah blah.

Here's my video. Here's what I do. I'll

take them over to my page on on system.io. IO, they just see a VSSL.

system.io. IO, they just see a VSSL.

Likely it's like 5 to 10 minutes. It's

nothing super long because they don't have time, but but also because by this time they've already seen all my stuff.

So that they're going to sit down, watch the whole thing, and they're going to go booking a call, 80% close rate. So all

of my my entire funnel built the trust before they ever got to me or anyone on my sales team. And it's huge. It's a

huge huge night and day difference. And

in that, we spent, you know, who knows?

But $800 was originally like my my cost per client acquisition and now it's down to 250, you know. So, we're we're scaling this thing. Yeah, it's insane.

It was scaling this thing and it it's growing and growing. I am making new content now, so that's what's kind of slowing it down. But, if you look at my affiliate marketing content over the years, at a certain point, I would say

like a year or two ago, I started doubling down on the affiliate marketing content. We started running a lot of

content. We started running a lot of ads. Some videos have way more views

ads. Some videos have way more views than others.

>> Yeah.

>> In my channel, there's a reason for that is because we ran ads to them >> strategically.

>> So, when we ran Yeah. So, we ran those ads. YouTube will give us that data.

ads. YouTube will give us that data.

Who's watching? Uh how long they're watching. That tells us, hey, this is

watching. That tells us, hey, this is the warm audience. We need to retarget them with more ads. And we would just use these very lowbudget kind of uh systems and strategies and eventually

get them to the call. and they were like in already. It was so much easier on on

in already. It was so much easier on on our sales team. So much easier. I don't

even have setters anymore. Just got rid of them.

>> You got rid of >> I was I was a tyrant. I said, "Everyone go. Only sales guys."

go. Only sales guys."

>> Really?

>> Yeah. Because there was no need. The

videos were already setting people for us basically. And it was so much easier

us basically. And it was so much easier to get the closes. Unfortunately, I also let go some some closers. So, I had a very lean and small team. It was just me and two other closers and a VA. That's

it. That was the entire team, >> you know, doing 100k plus per month.

That was the entire team and system.io.

>> Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

>> Yeah.

>> So, you slim down your team, you slim down your software, and so now with your coaching approach, uh, you know, targeting coaches, how big is your team today?

>> Today, it's just me because I'm I'm switching back over. Yeah,

>> there you go.

>> Yeah, just me now. So, but I'm also just now doing the coaching and consulting business. This is new. Uh, literally as

business. This is new. Uh, literally as we booked this call and as we were talking, I was like changing my YouTube banners and stuff. So, so the other closers, I'm like, "Hey, I'm doing this transition. I'm stopping the affiliate

transition. I'm stopping the affiliate stuff and all these things." I'm like, "Go work for somebody else because I'm not I'm not going to have any leads or anything coming in and all that stuff."

So, I'm like, "Go do something else." If

like you want to come back when things start picking back up again, you're always welcome, you know? So, they're

waiting. They're like, "Start picking back up." But and this in this

back up." But and this in this transition, I'm making new content. I

just uploaded a brand new video yesterday, actually, about how bu how to build an offer for coaches and stuff like that. So, I'm just getting my feet

like that. So, I'm just getting my feet wet in this new niche and and starting to attract a different type of client.

You know what I mean?

>> Yeah. Yeah. Do you

>> I know the funnel works because I've done it. So, now I'm just going to apply

done it. So, now I'm just going to apply it to a different audience.

>> Okay. And then what's the product that you're funneling um your viewers to? Do

you already have that built out?

>> Eventually this Yeah, eventually the YouTube trust funnel. It's like

eventually I want to convince these coaches and consultants, hey like everything you're being taught about like run ads, build a big team, do all this extra stuff, forget that. Just

build a YouTube trust funnel. It's 10

times easier. Here's how it works. So

I'm building out the content now.

>> Okay. That is so exciting. A look I have to have you back on, you know, in a year to evaluate how this has grown.

>> Get another award. Yeah.

>> Yes, >> that's the goal. Let's do it.

>> So the award behind your head that system.io IO diamond award.

>> There you go.

>> That's the diamond. Yeah.

>> That was for your affiliate program when you brought all that over >> and now you're going to transition. Are

are you going to do a whole new branding reset like new domains and stuff like that?

>> Just me. It's always been personal brand. I've been a fan of personal brand

brand. I've been a fan of personal brand from the beginning because I looked at Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad Poor Dad.

He's just him, right? Just a personal brand. And what's cool about a personal

brand. And what's cool about a personal brand is that it's a real asset that'll never go away. you can just keep on selling over and over maybe different products, services. So, people know me

products, services. So, people know me now. There's there's some luckily

now. There's there's some luckily there's some affiliate marketing type crowd and people that have been with me forever that want to transition into becoming a coach now because they see how I'm I'm doing this stuff. I'm

actually very soon I'm launching a three-day challenge to show those people how to launch their own coaching offer.

>> So, we're getting some signups for that.

I'm excited about that. But at first I was really nervous cuz I built up everything that I that I'm associated my personal brand with for years of like affiliate marketing, affiliate marketing, affiliate marketing. I'm like

guys, you know who's really making lots of money online? The people selling affiliate marketing. It's like and I'm

affiliate marketing. It's like and I'm always just dead honest with people.

It's like the people selling information, courses, coaching. This is

like you can track the diamond awards, all the other awards online. Who's

making those award? Who's getting those awards? the info businesses, the people

awards? the info businesses, the people selling the information. So, you know, to to peel back the layers is like don't do this. Do what they do, not do what

do this. Do what they do, not do what they say.

>> Ah, so that that's kind of the new movement now is like um they know I'm the infamous Joel. They know I'm going to tell them exactly what it is. No

fluff, no lies. And it's like, >> you know, I said affiliate marketing for years and yes, that's a very good beginner business, but like it's not that hard to just start your own thing.

It's really not. Um, so I want to show them that in this challenge and hopefully at least some of them come over and start working with me on the coaching thing as well. If not, that's okay. There's plenty of co affiliate

okay. There's plenty of co affiliate offers out there. I'm just not going to focus on that anymore.

>> Okay. So, when it comes to coaching, is it going to be are you going to help them create their own digital product or is it onetoone services or a one to many kind of service?

>> Well, the cool thing about the digital product, right? So, courses, for

product, right? So, courses, for example, I launch courses all the time.

I always have new courses um and I sell them as courses, but what I don't do is I don't record them ahead of time. I

think that's the worst mistake a course seller could ever do. Why haven't you sold your course yet? Well, I haven't recorded it yet. Why would you record it before you even know someone's going to spend a dollar for it? So, all course

creators should and often do start as coaches. They sit down with someone with

coaches. They sit down with someone with one-on-one or maybe in a group setting and they teach it live. They might go through some slides. They might show examples. whatever they're doing, that

examples. whatever they're doing, that is the recording for their course eventually. Now, at least you've proven

eventually. Now, at least you've proven the offer first, right? It's like here, they've already spent money buying this event or this challenge or whatever. The

challenge itself probably will be a course I release later. So, that that you know what I mean? I'm doing it live.

I don't have to prepare anything. I'm

just going to talk. But recording that then becomes the product you can resell over and over. You never have to do it again. That's the cool thing about

again. That's the cool thing about digital courses and the right way to do it. You want to do it once, get paid for

it. You want to do it once, get paid for it, and then never have to do it again.

A lot of them record first and and they end up nobody bought it. Well, why don't you make sure someone bought it first?

>> Yeah. This is a great vetting process.

You know, I I I did this recently. I got

a course and I got in there. She's like,

"We'll record these course, you know, modules on this day." And so, literally every live she did went into her course and those are I'm like, "Oh, I was I was sitting live on that one >> and and now it's sitting there." And

then she just revamped it every two or three years, you know. So

>> that's it. Yeah.

>> Your art. Yeah. Be do what they're doing, you know, and create your own uh program. So whenever you do this,

program. So whenever you do this, >> what tools are you going to use inside of system.io? Their community, their

of system.io? Their community, their calendar, their funnels, their email.

>> They have course hosting. Yep. They have

they have everything you need. So um SMS is a newer one that they added. Um and I used to use SMS as a separate service for another like app. and it was like,

"Oh my god, they have SMS now." So

that's huge because you're booking calls, you know, you're ch sending people reminders and things like that.

It's going to be huge if you're a coach and you're selling a course or a coaching onetoone offer, any of those things. So, uh, being a coach, you can

things. So, uh, being a coach, you can really run the spectrum. You onetoone

group courses. I tend to sell all three.

And I tell people like, yes, sell all three. Maybe in the beginning, you'll

three. Maybe in the beginning, you'll start one to one, but you'll record those sessions and start productizing and monetizing those things.

All right, that is amazing.

>> All right. Can All right. As we start to kind of land the plane, uh I mentioned your personal brand. Uh can you explain the little verb or you know description in front of your name? The infamous

Joel.

>> So the the funny part about the uh the infamous part is it was invented by another inmate when I was locked up.

So, it was funny because he was like I was telling him my plans and and by the way, when I was in jail, I I got so good at business, at least on paper, because I was reading about business all the

time. Like, every entrepreneur book

time. Like, every entrepreneur book you've ever heard of, I probably read it. I read a lot of books. But, I

it. I read a lot of books. But, I

started teaching a class when I was in jail. So, I started I we got the

jail. So, I started I we got the approval of the warden who call the superintendent now. And it was like,

superintendent now. And it was like, "Yeah, we got because we did this naturally on the block as they call it.

We had our books out. we were studying stuff. So, we're like, "Let's make this

stuff. So, we're like, "Let's make this an official class." And they they elected me to be the teacher. And it was awesome. Um, long story short, I'm

awesome. Um, long story short, I'm telling him about my plans. I'm like,

"When I get home, I'm going to have my own YouTube channel. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that." And I'm

this. I'm going to do that." And I'm like super excited. And then he shut my dreams down as a lot of people do when you're when you know, crabs in a barrel.

Well, what if people Google you and find out you have felons and felonies and all these things? And I was like, "Oh, man."

these things? And I was like, "Oh, man."

I was like, I guess I'll just have to be honest about it. Like, can't really hide it. And then he was like, "Oh, okay. So,

it. And then he was like, "Oh, okay. So,

you're you're not going to be famous.

You're going to be infamous." And I was like "Infamous?"

like "Infamous?" Because at the time, I was looking for like a brand name, like what what am I going to call my company or myself or something? I can't just be Joel Vasquez.

something? I can't just be Joel Vasquez.

It just didn't sound right to me. I

don't know. I I' I've always been a fan of like WWE wrestling and I like like the character. I like that kind of

the character. I like that kind of thing. So, I'm like, what can I have

thing. So, I'm like, what can I have like a character name like a fun name people can remember? And when he said infamous that day, it just stickked. It

just stuck. I was just like in the infamous Joel. That sounds really good.

infamous Joel. That sounds really good.

>> So, yeah. And it it fits perfect for the people that have been following me for a long time. They know I'm very counter to

long time. They know I'm very counter to what they learn everywhere else. They

know I'm very brutally honest. They know

they're going to get the brashness and all that stuff. So they they get it.

They're like, "That's why you're infamous." I like that.

infamous." I like that.

>> I love that actually because it it again it speaks into redemption.

>> Yeah.

>> And getting ahead of it, you know, like instead of trying to hide your dirty skeletons in the closet or under the rug, it's like >> I I can't change it, but it changed me.

>> Yeah, for sure.

>> And so I thank you for sharing that and being so transparent. I really think people are going to get a lot out of this. So, what's your expectations with

this. So, what's your expectations with this course as we kind of land this down this new, you know, direction? Are you

still making affiliate income or has that completely died because you walked away or are you getting a little revenue because it's it is but it is. So, now

you have margin to do this.

>> Yeah. The fun part about that is uh just on on on one side, I also am an affiliate, right? So, I've always been

affiliate, right? So, I've always been an affiliate myself. That part has never died for my business. And I tell other coaches the same thing. Like the

affiliate side, the affiliate revenue of your business. Should like what are you

your business. Should like what are you why are you not just making recommendations? That's all it is to

recommendations? That's all it is to your clients. You know, why are you not

your clients. You know, why are you not just making referrals for different tools they should use or you know, whatever else?

>> Um, so I've always promoted System.io.

And as I've been transitioning, Systemio is still sending me a check every month.

So, so I'm like, hey, I'm comfortable.

I'm fine. I'm still getting a check. I'm

still getting the passive income. It

took obviously years to build that up, but that's been amazing. And that's

never going to go away. I'm always going to make recommendations to my clients, what tools I think are the best, you know, to get the job done. That's that's

what I think affiliate marketing should be. You're helping someone get to from

be. You're helping someone get to from point A to point B, but what are the tools and what are the systems they need to get there? Those are your referrals.

>> Yep. Yep. There you go. Work smarter,

not harder.

>> And Absolutely. and that and once you've built that up, it does continue to just keep pouring in and pouring in.

>> So, >> what is the gift that entrepreneurial, you know, what is the gift that being an entrepreneur has given you?

>> Oh my god, it's numerous. I I feel like I'm an entirely different person than I used to be. Um, I know that's like cliche to say, but it really is true. I

don't think the same. I don't approach things the same. Uh, I don't have the same perspective as I used to. I used to be very like a victim mindset.

>> Oh, why poor me? All the society does this and the police do that and whatever else, you know. But when I when I decided to become an entrepreneur, what comes with that is that a rising tide

raises all boats. So, I looked at my kids, I looked at my family, I said, you know, this is because of me. And that's

a good thing. A lot of people in that victim mindset, they're afraid to point the finger at themselves because it's like, well, that means I'm wrong, but it also means you're in control.

So, it's huge when I when I decided that, hey, I am wrong, but also I'm in control. I can choose different in the

control. I can choose different in the future. And so, that that's been the

future. And so, that that's been the biggest most like transformative part is when something goes wrong in business, in life, whatever, I did it and I can fix it. Mhm.

fix it. Mhm.

>> That's that's very that's a very beautiful, you know, sword to walk around like I can do things on I don't need the all these excuses. And everyone

has different circumstances. Don't get

me wrong. You probably, you know, whoever might be watching this probably has some kind of a a crutch or something. Well, this is holding me

something. Well, this is holding me back, that's holding me back. That's

fine. That's okay. It anything in life worth doing should be hard.

>> If it wasn't hard, why would you do it in the first place? you know, lifting weights and going to the gym is hard, but you get great results.

>> So, same thing in business and in life.

You got to take responsibility. I'm

doing the same thing. I've done the same thing. Um, and that's been the biggest

thing. Um, and that's been the biggest shift for me is getting that that victim stuff out of my head. I'm not a victim.

I can make decisions today that'll impact me tomorrow. That's been huge.

>> That's amazing. Now,

if you could use one word or maybe one sentence, how would you describe system.io?

>> Simple.

Simple. I love simple. Yeah,

>> that is amazing. Amazing.

>> Yeah, simple because there's too many tools out there. I love that they make it nice and simple and clear and crystal, here's what you get. Easy for

anyone to pick up. Love it.

>> I I Right. I I I'm sell it all the time to people, too. I'm like, "Y'all stop overthinking it. You system." And

overthinking it. You system." And

they're like, "What is that?" There's

still I feel like in America, we still have so much opportunity to share about this new program. Um, and so with our last question, if someone, and you've already kind of touched on it multiple

times, if someone's sitting on the edge of their seat, they haven't quite dipped their toe into digital marketing, affiliate coaching, you know, whatever it may be, what would you say to them to

get started?

I think earlier I said it best when the only thing that doesn't change in life is change.

>> The world is crumbling down around you and if you don't I mean this is true. AI

is doing a lot of things in the job play in the job marketplace. Uh a degree doesn't mean the same thing that it used to 20 30 years ago. There's so much that is like you're in a burning building

right now and if you stay stuck and you're looking around and you're going what do I do next? And you just keep running back into the burning building.

I don't understand that mindset. There's

there's a very clear path forward, right? On the internet, on computers,

right? On the internet, on computers, all like what where are people actually gathering? What's actually what where is

gathering? What's actually what where is the market actually moving, >> right? They're everything's moving

>> right? They're everything's moving online. Amazon proved it. All these

online. Amazon proved it. All these

other businesses proved it. This is

where everything is going. So, if you're not dipping your toe in the water, at least, and I say go all the way in, but at least dip your to at least try one $5

course or something. Just learn

something. Then you're going to be left behind. That's just a reality. You know,

behind. That's just a reality. You know,

I I I have heard a lot of people, even in my old audience, like, "Oh, I looked into this for 20 years and I never got started. I should have got started so

started. I should have got started so long ago."

long ago." >> Yep. Well, the boat's not going yet. You

>> Yep. Well, the boat's not going yet. You

can jump on. Come on.

>> Yeah. Time does not wait, you know. So,

you have to make that jump. Uh I think someone taught me a long time ago said entrepreneur comes from a French word that means risktaker.

>> Naturally, it's going to feel scary, >> you know? It's like jumping out of a plane. But that's a good thing. Why live

plane. But that's a good thing. Why live

your life and be like 80 in your deathbed and go, I never took any risks.

Good for me.

>> Good for me.

>> Yay.

>> I played safe.

>> Yeah, exactly. So,

>> a this was so much fun and uh I'm so thankful that you shared so much of like your transformational story and then how you've used it in a very simple way. So,

anyone listening, I hope you got some key takeaways for maybe starting your own affiliate, you know, income business, um starting your own coaching business. And so, if someone's

business. And so, if someone's interested in learning how to use YouTube as their vehicle for coaching, how can they get a hold of you?

So through my YouTube channel, I almost always pitch my free school community.

So you get a double dose there. Uh you

can either just watch my YouTube videos where I give a lot of free training, free information, or in my community, you can even talk to me directly in there. I hang out with my community

there. I hang out with my community every day. Uh we post funny stuff. So if

every day. Uh we post funny stuff. So if

>> if you don't have a sense of humor, maybe it's not for you.

>> But we definitely have a good time. We

learn stuff in there. And it's free. So,

just join and and kick back and have a good time.

>> All right. Well, thank you. Um those

links will be down below in the description box. And make sure you go

description box. And make sure you go check out his YouTube channel, right? Is

Infamous Joel.

>> That's right. Yep.

>> All right. And thank you for being here and working through those technical glitches at the very beginning, which y'all didn't get to see. Uh and so he he's also very patient. That's a great

quality in a coach.

So, all right. Thanks for joining us in another success story from system.io.

And until next time, keep creating.