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Lee: Before we kick off the show, can I encourage you to listen back to episode 200, where I share how to transform your agency? It’s a combination of my own story, but also five pillars of transforming your business. Really, really useful episode. We’ve had tons of amazing and encouraging feedback, so I just want to encourage you, if you’ve not listened to episode 200, please download that and go ahead and check that one out. Now. Welcome to the Agency Trailblazer Podcast. This is your host, Lee. And on today’s show we are talking with Dave Foy from No Stress and WordPress and No Fear Funnels. He’s going to be filling us in on what’s been going on over the last couple of years. So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Welcome to a conversation with me, Mr. Lee Jackson. And today, back from many, many years ago. Well, two years ago at least. It’s Mr. Dave Foy
Dave: Hello there sir.
Lee: How are you, Mr. episode number 75?
Dave: I am awesome, thank you very much. Brilliant. I can’t believe it’s two years ago.
Lee: It’s ridiculous. We talked to each other literally every week. Yes, I think that’s why we don’t. It doesn’t feel like it was two years ago.
Dave: Yeah, it is absolutely crazy. I think just it’s like we were saying it’s like in internet years. I think two years is just an eternity, isn’t it? So.
Lee: Well, they’ve invented all sorts of, like, responsive web designs, a thing now apparently.
Dave: Oh, incredible. I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m looking into it at the moment.
Lee: Page builders.
Dave: I’m looking into it. I’ll get back to you and let you know.
Lee: Apparently you’re meant to generate leads from websites as well. Now that’s.
Lee: That’s that’s what they’re all talking about. And funnels and all sorts of stuff.
Dave: Are these kids.
Lee: Like kids nowadays? So good job. We’re keeping up to date, isn’t it.
Dave: Definitely. Good. Good job. I talk to you occasionally.
Lee: That’s right, folks, if you don’t know who Dave is, go and check out episode number 75 and you will hear the original Dave Foy story of two years ago, back when his voice was a little bit higher. It’s broken since. You can also find out more information on designbuildWeb.co. Whatever you want to do and find him on the Twittersphere and the Facebook’s, we will make sure we put links to all of those in the show notes after this. So Dave, it literally has been donkey’s years and I would love to know. First of all, for the people who don’t know who Dave is, can you let us know who you are, what you do, your favorite color and all that sort of stuff? And then let’s just find out a little bit about what’s been going on over the last couple of years.
Dave: Yeah, I’ll have a quick catch up. My name is Dave. Hi. Hey, Dave. I teach online, basically. I teach designers, business owners how to use WordPress to make better websites, better performing websites, better looking websites, focusing pretty much on WordPress and Elementor. I do lots and lots of kind of free YouTube stuff. I sell online courses and support students in those as well. And, uh, I absolutely love what I do. That’s the that’s the kind of the elevator pitch, I like it.
Lee: Now let me let me just try and see if I remember correctly. I remember two years ago interviewing you and you telling me you used to be a teacher. Am I wrong Or is it.
Dave: That’s exactly right. Yeah.
Lee: What a memory.
Dave: Yeah.
Lee: And I promise I didn’t listen to the episode in advance. It just came to me when you started talking about it. I feel like you used to be a teacher. And then did you go on a course or something to start learning? Building websites.
Dave: Blow my mind. Um, I was a teacher for ten years. I worked in schools for for a years before that as well, actually. But then I kind of became a qualified teacher, and I did that for ten years. And cut a long story short, but kind of a lot of bureaucracy and issues with that, how education seemed to be going. So I basically taught myself web design. This was back in well, I officially made the leap in 2003, which is a long, long time ago.
Lee: Holy crap, you are totally aging yourself, mate.
Dave: I know, but I’ve been making websites since 98. I think something like that since 1998.
Lee: In front Page.
Dave: In front page. Yeah. Soon got rid of front page. But front page was the one for me at the time. Yeah. And did that and just I just wanted to do something honestly that was creative. And you know, I could actually create something that was, was finished and that I could be proud of and that other people would be proud of as well. That was my main goal at the time. And, uh, I always love messing around with computers. I always love design. I always, always love code. Kind of going back to watching that WarGames film and whenever it was 1983 or something. Is it Matthew Broderick kind of tapping away on his computer with the.
Lee: Computer and the telephone modem?
Dave: With the telephone modem? Yeah, that was, uh, that was the dream.
Lee: The funny thing is, the technology didn’t really even exist back then, but we all believed it.
Dave: Yeah, exactly.
Lee: Like, whoa, I need a computer. I’m going to go buy myself a Commodore.
Dave: Yeah. Which which I did. Did you? Yeah.
Lee: It’s Yes. Amazing.
Dave: I had a Spectrum. I had a little rubber case spectrum at first and then moved an awful, awful. Anyway, since we digress.
Lee: What we always do that that’s what this show does. We spend at least four minutes at the beginning of the podcast talking about absolute twaddle, but it’s interesting. And then you get all the old folks going, yeah, yeah, I remember the spectrum. I remember the rubbery keys. Yeah, yeah, I remember the tape drive anyway. Right. So I’m really intrigued. I remember two years ago when we did the interview, you were looking at launching your first course. I’m pretty sure that was the very early days of everything getting started. So can you kind of give us a whirlwind tour over the last couple of years? Because things have gone crazy for you. Yeah, and I’d love to know as much as you’re willing to share about how it’s all gone and some lessons you’ve learnt along the way.
Dave: Oh yeah, I’ll share everything. I’m an open book. I share too much. Yeah. At the time we we spoke, I think I’d been doing, I’d kind of started the business this the business teaching online design, build web. And at the time I was doing kind of a lot of free stuff, teaching people Elementor and WordPress. I doing kind of a lot of webinars and sort of building my email list, basically. Actually kind of building a marketing funnel, which was helpful for what I went on to doing more recently. But so, yeah, I was kind of doing that at the time and wasn’t really, really sure about where I was going to go with everything. Fast forward to the end of 2017 and I launch my first course, No Stress WordPress, which was kind of just just very briefly, was I had spotted a lot of people getting into the whole kind of page builder thing, thinking that page builders were the with the answer, and unfortunately, realizing that there’s this whole kind of WordPress ecosystem underneath that they didn’t understand, didn’t kind of understand, didn’t have a proper framework and kind of conceptual understanding of how all this stuff fit together to deliver finished, functioning websites beyond just pretty individual pages. So that was my kind of attempt to to address that. I, I tend I’m not going to be doing too much of this this year. I’m moving to a different model, which I’m happy to explain. But last year, and when I first launched my first course, I kind of had this kind of launch cycle, which is basically the courses are closed most of the time, and then they kind of the doors are open for, you know, a week or something like that. And then they shut again for another few months. So I only actually launched no Stress WordPress twice, I think once in November and once in February 2018. And after that everything changed. You know, we had Elementor introduced the big theme builder feature, which is amazing, but it kind of made chunks of no stress WordPress a little bit obsolete in places, you know, Gutenberg came along and Elementor changed the interface a about a thousand times.
Lee: I remember that conversation, actually. I remember saying, we’ve just done this course, just launched it. They’ve just launched version two. It’s completely different.
Dave: He’s completely different. So I mean, such is, you know, such as, uh, making tech tech tutorials and things like that, which is fine. I’ve come to accept it. So I couldn’t really I couldn’t I haven’t actually been able to sell that again. It’s not been on sale at all again since. I’ll tell you what I’m doing with with that in a moment, but okay. I then moved when Elementor went to version two, and I then did a pre-sale for a new cause called No Fear Funnels, which was really just I almost kind of scratching my own itch, really. I’d noticed that a lot of, a lot of web designers and a lot of people in business generally had no concepts of how to actually make a website that performs, you know, that gets actually gets results, actually gets return on investment. And I know from my work with clients, when I worked, when I had a web agency working with clients and also for my own business and the and the funnels that I set up for my own business now, I thought, I, I can really, really help people who maybe haven’t got a marketing brain, you know, maybe can’t don’t kind of, put maybe a little bit put off by a lot of the, the really kind of heavy sales stuff. So I made that course No Fear Funnels that’s launched one, two, three times now and has just been are just fantastic. I absolutely love it. I mean, the students have responded brilliantly. The results that the most important thing is that the results that the students have had have just been incredible. You know, it’s just a lot of it is just mindset stuff. In fact, a lot of No Fear Funnels actually isn’t tech related at all. It’s strategy. It’s mindset. It’s it’s it’s process. It’s things like that. So it’s sales psychology. So there’s um, so a lot of that is kind of like the tech is in there, but it’s not actually a tech course as such. So that was an interesting kind of departure. So I’m currently now just just in the process of actually completely revamping no stress WordPress to version. We’ll call it 2.0. So um, and that’s just a complete, basically a complete rewrite, a complete remake, but, you know, kind of bang up to date. So hope to have that live and ready fairly soon, probably like within the next month, something like that’s awesome.
Lee: And I don’t think elements are going to significantly change their interface for a while because they’ve they’re going down on specific features, aren’t they. Now, like your pop ups and the fixed, you can have those fixed assets or animated assets and all sorts of stuff like that. So they’re going way beyond what they ever were. Probably a bit too complicated for some people, but uh, certainly they certainly, I think fixed on that interface for a little while.
Dave: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I’d agree.
Lee: So basically, you like launching courses with. No, as the first word is what I’ve learned. No stress. No. Yeah. No fear. What’s next I want catchy.
Dave: Yeah yeah I like well I mean honestly my kind of aim at the start of this year was to not make any more courses because they are incredibly, incredibly kind of, oh, they’re exhausting to make.
Lee: I think that’s why I went for the membership model for us. So we’ve got agency trailblazer membership, and people expect that it’s coming out over the period of there’s going to be calls and there will also be modules once every month, etc. that are added to the system. So there’s not that pressure of building everything in advance, because obviously you’ve got multiple modules in both of your courses. Exactly. Now with regards to no fuel funnels, obviously you’d you’d got used to building your own funnel. I understand that no stress. WordPress blew up, as it were. It was very, very successful for you. And then when you then built the no Fear funnels, you were able to apply everything you learn in in your no stress WordPress into the funnels. How successful has it been? You don’t have to share numbers necessarily, but is it allowing? Is it allowing you to be self-sufficient as a business and not having to do any work on the side? I mean, what sort of business have you been able to build for yourself based on these two primary courses? Oh, yeah.
Dave: I’ve, I’ve, I’ve been able to build, build, build a business that I, I couldn’t have possibly have dreamed of before, to be honest. I mean the money is not my driver. And you mean you know that well enough anyway. But my my driver is is absolutely just helping people. Yeah. Seeing people kind of transform as it is you as well, we’re very much on the same page but yeah, it’s they’ve they’ve been tremendously successful. I was I mean, the first launch of No Stress WordPress actually. So we’re going back November 17th. I was actually really shocked, really, really shocked. I know that I shared my numbers and the whole thing with with you at the time as well, and it’s kind of with each successive launch, it’s kind of doubled every time, which doubled on, you know, on, on the previous, um, on the previous launch, which has just been incredible. I think that’s partly because I’m getting better at it, partly because there are more people with word of mouth talking about talking about their experiences with the course as well. But I have also been able to take on help, which has been phenomenal. So while I’m not actually employing anybody as such, You know, I’ve been able to, to hire, you know, admin assistants, uh, you know, copywriters for some of my kind of sales stuff and email sales stuff. Facebook ads manager, you know, just just things like that really to so that ultimately I can focus on the thing that I’m good at, which is the teaching.
Lee: I’m really glad you said all that. Yeah. Because that actually sets me up to be able to explain the purpose of the agency transformation event as well, which is when you have a very clear mission and when you love what you’re doing and when you’re working to your strengths, then it’s not necessarily easy, but it’s certainly more viable to build a business around that. And you’re it sounds like from our discussion here, now that you are able to support yourself and have help in to continue to build a business that’s driving your primary mission, which is helping business owners generate leads, grow their business, learn things you know, change their mindsets, all of these really powerful impact of things. And the big difference for you is perhaps yes, in 2003, you were building websites and making some money, but this time you have a real hyper focused mission. And before the call, you told me that you had the whole year planned out. I presume that’s all around again, your mission of helping others.
Dave: That’s it entirely. That’s it in a nutshell. Yeah. I mean, it’s a lesson that I learned kind of fairly late on actually. Mhm. And I know that when I hear, you know, I’ll listen to your podcast and I read your stuff and you know, the stuff that you talk about as well kind of really resonates with me for exactly that same thing. But yeah, it’s that for me, if I can actually get rid of everything that that doesn’t have, you know, me focused on that singular mission, I want to get rid of absolutely everything around that. And that’s what actually the success of, you know, the cost launches and things like that. That’s what that is. That is definitely all about. Yeah.
Lee: Ultimately phenomenal. Dude, you’re a legend. Now. I coyly invited you to speak at our event, which I’m very excited about. I’m going to read what you sent in about the, uh. About the about the. Well, sorry. I’ll. She’ll read out the notes that you sent, and we were just having a left before the show that we forgot to put any punctuation in. So. So it was, uh, how to generate leads automatically showing how you identify your ideal clients and then roll out a super simple marketing funnels to continually attract and nurture those leads to become. Oh, it’s very. I had to breathe to become your most loyal customers. And we had a real good joke. So, um, my lesson is check, copy and resolve it. So we’re going to do that and make sure that that’s live on the website. So I would really love it if you could just share with us a little bit about what you’re going to be talking to us about at Agency Transformation Live.
Dave: Yeah. Well, my remit really is to talk to people about talk to web designers about how you generate leads for your business. And it’s not just about generating leads, it’s about generating the right leads. So the kind of people that you actually want to work with and that you actually feel that you can help and and doing it in such a way that is completely scalable. So it’s actually not taking up all.
Lee: Your, your day.
Dave: And it’s allowing you to actually get on with the thing that you want to do. You know the bit that you’re good at, the bit that is your mission. So it’s um, it’s a big it’s kind of a big topic for, you know, for, for half an hour or whatever it is. But yeah, that’s that’s the thing really. It’s just it’s just about how, how do you actually, how do you actually generate those leads in this kind of the simplest, easiest way that is scalable?
Lee: I think as well, the beauty of this is you’re going to be able to draw from the experiences you had with both, uh, no stress, WordPress and No Fear funnels because you’ve done that exact thing. You’ve you’ve created this, this system, haven’t you, for being able to attract the right sort of people who get value from you, and some of them will take that value for free from the free content that you do. And that helps you with your mission for helping people. But equally from that large audience, you’ve been able to produce this successful business where you’re working with people, the right side, right type of people. Yeah, exactly. You know, every single month, which is is phenomenal.
Dave: And I think the thing is, I’m just going to say that, I mean, partly for me, I’ve been on the other side. So I was a I was a web designer for hire, looking for work constantly for 16 years, 15 years, 16 years. So I’ve been on that side. I’ve been on that side of just putting myself out there telling people that I do everything for everyone, for any price.
Lee: I used to say that.
Dave: Yeah, you know, I’ve been there, I.
Lee: Quit. I mean.
Dave: I specialize in this enormous long list of services.
Lee: Yeah.
Dave: Uh, so I’ve been on I’ve been on that side. I’ve, I’ve been on the side. I’ve actually figuring out what my, you know, mission is and how to generate those leads and how to put those automated systems in place. That’s, that’s really the key. Yeah. But I’ve also had a lot of experience now with supporting students in know fear Funnels, especially the web designers and the agency owners and the, you know, those those type of people, especially who I hear the same struggles constantly, constantly, constantly, constantly. And it’s it’s the it’s in different guises. It’s exactly the same problem. So I feel pretty well placed actually to, um, to help.
Lee: It’s awesome. And I can’t wait to hear your your talk folks. If you are not registered for Agency Transformation Live, then you can check out the details in the show notes or visit Agency Transformation Dot live. And also top tip if you want to go with your best prepared head to this event. Then I highly recommend you listen to episode 200 How to Transform Your Agency. And as a reward for listening to that, you will get £75 off of your ticket. So go and have a look at that episode. Consume that content. Get that special offer so you can get that £75 off your ticket. And that means that you will be in the right headspace and prepared for the event. So if you can invest in yourself, I’ll invest in you and give you £75 off the ticket. Right, Dave? Thank you, first of all, for a coming on the show, be coming and speaking and sharing all of your expertise and all that’s left for me to ask is, where are the best places for people to connect with you, mate? And then we shall say goodbye.
Dave: Yeah, probably the best place is actually, um, my website design build web co. If people want to catch me on Twitter, it’s twitter.com design build web. I think he’s my username and uh, on Facebook as well, which is just design build web.
Lee: Now do you still have the YouTube channel going as well?
Dave: Oh yes. Yeah, I should mention that actually that would be good wouldn’t it? My my YouTube channel has kind of suffered a bit really over the last few months or so, but purely because I’ve just been so busy. The courses are kind of all all consuming, sometimes making them, supporting them and everything else. But yeah, my YouTube channel as well, I actually, I think I, I think I got an email, it’s been a bit of a blur. I got an email the other day saying I’d broken sort of 10,000 subscribers or something, which what I was really, really delighted by. So yeah, YouTube, I intend this year to do a lot, lot more on YouTube. So yeah.
Lee: So yeah, if you just go into YouTube and tap in Dave Foy Design build Web and he has over 10,000 subscribers and lovely artwork with his beautiful face on there. I’m loving that. And I was just chuckling at the URL for your channel link, which is something like capital U, capital C number six. K Captial R.
Dave: I have Got a proper one actually. Yeah. It just never appears. I think it’s.
Lee: I don’t know why.
Dave: I think it’s whatever it is. And then it’s slash design build web at the end. But whatever it is I don’t know I have got one. Yeah. I just don’t like to brag about it, you know.
Lee: Yeah. Well you should because 10K subscribers is pretty freaking awesome. So yeah. Check the show notes, folks. You can check out his channel. There is tons of really good information on the YouTube channel as well, and that’ll give you a flavor as well for this beautiful man and how good he is at teaching. We talked about responsive right at the very beginning, you know, and how that’s kind of caught on in the last couple of years. Obviously we’re joking. That’s been around for a while, but you can go and check out stuff from building responsive websites. Um your dynamic generate press headers, uh, lots of Elementor stuff in here as well. Leveling up your elemental skills help. I can’t access my local web sites. I’m loving the picture on that one. Basically folks, if you want to go and see some awesome cover art, go and have a look at his YouTube channel and you promise, don’t you, to put more videos up? Uh, at some point this year.
Dave: There’s a lot more going up there, as you.
Lee: Say, with 10K subscribers, mate.
Dave: I need to I need to get on it. Definitely.
Lee: Thank you So much. Have a wonderful Day
Dave: Yeah. I just want to just say just really quickly because I know that we’re I know that we’re kind of running out of time, but I just wanted to say a massive thank you for asking me to speak at the conference. I think it’s going to be an awesome event and just a big I just wanted just to say as well, a big thank you from me, because for me personally, you are a huge inspiration. You’ve been hugely supportive to me for over the past two years. You’ve introduced me to certain people. You’ve been incredibly generous and supportive to me personally in thousands of different ways, and I’m sure that tons and tons of other people can say exactly the same thing as well. So you’re a you’re a beautiful man, and I just want to say a massive thank you.
Lee: That’s lovely. Thank you very much. Try not to cry. I shall give you a nice big hug. Thank you. That was really, really good.
Dave: No worries.
Lee: Uh. I love you lots, man.
Dave: And you too.
Lee: Cheerio.
Dave: Catch you soon.
Lee: And that wraps up today’s show.
Lee: There are only a few days left for you to grab your ticket for agency Transformation Live. If you want to come in here. Dave’s story. If you want to come in and learn from Dave, as well as hang around with people like Troy Dean, Chris Ducker and the likes. So find out more on Agency Transformation Dot live. If we don’t see you at the event, we will see you in the next episode.
