Steve is now running Appmasters.co, an app marketing agency that helps clients with Apple features, App Store SEO and driving cost-effective downloads.

Click to tweet: Fire Nation, Steve shares his incredible journey on EOFire today!

Time Stamped Show Notes

(click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.)

[00:53] – Steve was a regional FNE (Fire Nation Elite) member from way back
[00:59] – He married his high school sweetheart and they have 2 kids
[01:17] – FNE was a mastermind JLD and Kate ran for 30 months
01:36 – Steve proposed a flip of the switch and interviewed JLD on EOFire
[02:39] – Steve’s area of expertise is in helping app companies with marketing
[03:13] – One BIG and Unique Value Bomb: The exclusive strategy: give a big publication an exclusive and if they don’t respond, get another publication
04:06 – Planet of the Apps
- [04:18] – New show coming out that’s like Shark Tank, but for the app space
[05:16] – Worst Entrepreneurial Moment: In 2014, Steve left his corporate life. He made up his income while he was still working – he was working half client, half digital product. 3 months later, his client told Steve they couldn’t afford him anymore and he lost half his income
[06:22] – Nothing worked until Steve decided to help people with app launches
[06:41] – Losing his client took a toll even on Steve’s marriage
[07:21] – The path of least resistance is the way to go
[08:08] – A part of Steve was against the agency and trading time for dollars
[08:20] – But, the agency is what really made Steve who he is today
[09:03] – JLD doesn’t love it when people let others “should” on them—don’t tell me I “should” do something, let me think about it and decide
[09:50] – Entrepreneurial AH-HA Moment: The ah-ha moment came to Steve way back in 2012, when he was listening to 30 episodes of EOFire, back-to-back. He realized everybody was talking about fear and he thought, maybe he, too, was afraid. That could be why he kept everything on the side
[11:16] – Fear is huge
[11:37] – There’s a lot of sabotage that happens in the world when you start getting traction
[11:58] – There is fear of failure and fear of success
[12:23] – Ask yourself, why haven’t you taken the leap?
[13:00] – If you don’t think you’re afraid, you really might be
[13:31] – What is the one thing you are most FIRED up about today? “I think we live in one of the greatest times in our era”
[14:29] – Interview and learn from your heroes
[14:42] – Listen to EOFire episodes 1-50 and hear how JLD has changed from then to now
[15:44] – Steve is working on Copy Masters for podcasters who want to turn their audio clips into blog posts
[17:00] – The Lightning Round
- What was holding you back from becoming an entrepreneur? – “All my side-hustles”
- What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? – “If we’re going with opinions, we’re going to go with mine, because I’m the boss”
- What’s a personal habit that contributes to your success? – “I host monthly dinners with other entrepreneurs”
- Share an internet resource, like Evernote, with Fire Nation – Rapportive
- If you could recommend one book to our listeners, what would it be and why? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things – “This is a guy who’s running a multi-hundred million dollar business and still has the same insecurities as someone like me”
[19:43] – You’re going to have to eventually take the leap
[20:01] – Side hustles will only turn to something big if you decide to make it big
20:13 – Connect with Steve via email
20:42 – Listen to Episode 150 to hear Steve interview JLD on EOFire!

3 Key Points:

Building a business doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch—start with the resources you have.
You can only make your side hustles big if you decide to take the leap.
It’s not only fear of failure that holds you back, it’s sometimes fear of success.