If you ever sat down to create a sales message, you’ve probably gone through a process to discover a few vital things about your target audience.   You’ll want to know:   Vehicle-Based False Beliefs   Internal False Beliefs   External False Beliefs   Which Stories to Craft   The Source of their Current False Stories   ...there's a lot of things that go on behind the scenes in the pursuit of a message that sells.   All of which is great! HOWEVER, (all caps for emphasis) a lot of times marketers skip over one VITAL area along the way, and that is…   Who's already highly likely to give you money?   *THIS IS SO IMPORTANT*   If you ignore this question you’re going to create a customer who:   Takes a lot of convincing to buy   May not be ready to buy   Is high maintenance   I'm not saying you're NOT in the right market, I'm saying, you're selling the wrong person in that market.   CHANGING MY TARGET AUDIENCE   I actually went through this situation at the beginning of this year... During January, February, and March of 2018,  I was selling in the wrong zone. I was like, “Crap, I’m selling the wrong customer. I'm selling a more challenging customer.”   It's not that I'm NOT willing to help those people...   But I'm here to make a change in Steve Larsen's world before I make a change the world business, and you should be doing the same.   Before you focus on ‘changing the world’ you need to cash out hard and make a lot of money. Capitalist Pig, Baby!     So now before I even decide to start selling a product, I run through this brief checklist so I know if it's even worth pursuing… and that’s what I’m going to share with you today…   BUT FIRST, how’d you like to join me for a mud run?   MY MUD RUN FUNNEL   You may not know, but probably the third funnel I ever built was for a charity 5K warrior mud run.   We had fire pits, mud pits, and crazy obstacles where you put on armor to tackle them. All the money went to the charity for the Fisher House Foundation which helps support bring family members to the bedside of injured service members.   I was still in college, and it was my first event funnel. The funnel worked and the way we promoted it worked very well. We got on the news several times, and 650 people show up for the event. Then we used the funnel after the event to raffle off some cool items too. I enjoyed it a lot. It was very validating for me to sit back and be like, “Oh crap. I knew this would work, but man this funnel stuff really works.”   Looking back, it's funny how long it took me to build a simple two-page event funnel. I remember finding random places on campus with fast, free internet. I think it took me 40 hours to build!   SELLING MUD RUNS TO COUCH POTATOES     I have a question for you:   Q: If I'm selling a mud run, who is the easiest person to sell?   A: Somebody who already does mud runs, right?   If you’re thinking, “Yeah, Stephen, No Duh!”  You’re right, it is, “No Duh!” But a lot of the time, people don't have that approach with the products they sell.   Now let's flip this a little bit…   Q: Who would be the most challenging person to sell a 5K warrior mud run to?   A: Someone who’s never run a race in their life:   They like being clean all the time   They don't own a pair of running shoes   They don’t like being outside   That person is gonna be a hard sell - they don’t even WANT to do a mud run.   Let's talk cookbooks:   Q: Who would be the best person for me to target if I'm going to sell cookbooks?   Yep, you’ve guessed it…   A: Somebody who already buys cookbooks.   ...BUT there's a lot of marketers out there who create their product, and it's a freaking 5K warrior mud run, they're like, “I want to change the world.”   So they focus on selling to somebody who has literally lived their entire life on the couch...  Because it means they’re changing the world while they do business.   I'm NOT saying you shouldn't try to change the world. I want to change the world too. BUT as far