Transcript of How the Mentor of Mentors Monetizes Expertise - Victor Damasio

Welcome to The Proven Podcast, where we don't care what you think, only what you can prove. On this episode, Victor Damascio, the Brazilian attorney who walked away from law to build a 700,000-person following and a 7-figure mentorship empire, shares exactly how to get paid for what you know, how to land your first client, build a high-ticket offer from scratch, and create a community that sticks around for over a decade. The show starts now. All right, everybody. Welcome back to the show. I'm excited to have Victor, who arguably has the best energy I've ever met in my entire life. Victor, thanks for being on the show, man.

I'm so grateful for being here. So thanks for having me.

So for the 4 or 5 people, I know you're huge in Brazil, but you're not huge in the United States yet, which we're working on fixing that. Can you kind of tell people who you are and what you've done and kind of give some insights?

Okay, so I'm from Brazil. In Brazil, I have a huge audience, 700,000 people on Instagram, 200,000 people on YouTube. I guess there's something here, but in US, no one knows me yet. So yeah, I love what I do in Brazil. I'm an attorney. I'm a lawyer by default. So that's what I studied. That's what That's what I graduated from, but that's not my life now. What I do now is that I teach people how to be paid with their knowledge, to be paid for what they know and not what they do.

It's one of the things that you've been proven with is you turn your passion into profits, which a lot of people talk a lot of trash that they can do it. You're the only person I know that actually can do it. So walk me through that. If someone wants to turn their passion or what they're good at into a profit. How do you do that? How do you walk them through that process?

There are several ways of doing this, but one of those is just teaching people what you know. I don't believe that you need to be number one to teach people. You just need to be a couple of steps ahead than the people you want to help. So if you are like a medical doctor for 10 years, maybe you can help someone that just graduated. So you don't need to be number one, you just need to be eager to help those people. And how do you do that? You just extend your hands. You just say, hey, I'm here to help XYZ. And if you've been seeding people, if you've been helping people throughout time, if you've been just like all over and sharing with people what you know, sooner or later, if you make an offer, maybe they could just say yes to whatever you're selling. Could be a course, could be a mentorship program, could be a mastermind or something like this.

We, yeah, we talk about this all the time. An expert is someone who knows one more thing than you do. As long as you know one more thing than me, then you're probably an expert to me. Because what is, what is east to me is, is west to you. However, it's very challenging for people to understand this and to monetize this. So if you're in a situation where someone's like, listen, the economy's changing, AI is coming in, things are rough at my job, or my business is currently tapped out at about $7 million, I want to get to $12 to $20 to $100 million. What are the actual tactical steps that you do to get people to get to those next steps? What are the things that you do better than anybody else? How do you walk someone through this?

So the thing I'm very good at helping people out is to making the first offer if they don't sell yet online and way of doing that, people try to do courses, but they have to record, they have to have the lighting and the setup, everything. But if you sell a mentorship program, you can charge higher and you can have lower expectations about the surrounding because because the audio doesn't matter that much. What matters is the relationship, is what you create with them. So instead of you creating a course and trying to be perfect with this and trying to face like the blank sheet of paper and trying to figure out what would be perfect for them, you just spend time with them and then you talk to them and then you help them out. So I created a program several years ago called Vita de Mentor, something like Mentor Life, and there I teach people how to create, sell, deliver, and scale high-ticket offers. And when people bought my program and got on the first class and they paid like a high ticket and they was a bit nervous, oh, am I on the right program or not?

I said, hey guys, do you wanna see what I got prepared for you? And then I showed my iPad to them and it was blank. I completely blank, nothing. And then people thought, oh, maybe it's, I'm on the wrong spot. Maybe I didn't do the right thing. I say, hey guys, for you to be a mentor, you just need to have one mentee, someone that paid you for you to help. Them out and you should be eager to help. I'm here to help. Who here are eager to know, to learn and to improve? And they said, yes, I am. And then we started. So I didn't know exactly what I would teach. I knew that I would teach how to create, sell, deliver, and scale. So the first meeting, create. And then I ask, what is your questions regarding creating your program? And then they started asking and then I started answering and then it was a mess. I did this 24 times since 2020. So the first time was the messier because the second time I did it better, the third time I did it better, and then I kept on improving throughout time.

So you don't need to figure it out, or you don't need to spend a lot of time with ChatGPT trying to figure out the modules and everything. You just need to find the first buyers and then connect with them and ask them what they need because you don't need to know it all for being a mentor. You're not meant to be Google or ChatGPT. You just need to know what brought you here. So if you are a lawyer, if you're a medical doctor or an engineer, and someone that has less experience than you, they have the questions to extract your method from your mind. You don't need to have your method figured out. They're gonna ask the questions and then you'll figure out your method. If you get results, and there's no substitute for being good, if you're good, you have some kind of method. Maybe you just don't know quite yet how to grasp it or how to teach. But if you sell first, they're gonna help you to extract this from your mind. Does it make sense?

It does, but I think the question people ask is, okay, that's great, but how do I get the people? How do I get my first clients? How do I get my first mentees? Because that's what people get stuck all the time. Like, hey, I know how to be a plumber, I know how to be a doctor, I know how to be a scaling expert, whatever it is, but they don't know how to get the first people. How do they get the first people?

Yeah, so this is the part that I like the most. Most of the internet marketers, they teach you like traffic sources and paid ads and all this stuff. I do all of those. I invest a lot of paid traffic on Instagram and on YouTube, on Meta, and I teach people how to do that too. But I always share that your first mentee, you already know them personally. Probably they're on your WhatsApp list or your own phone. You have their phone numbers. Maybe you already shook hands. So instead of trying to sell for someone that you don't know online, maybe you should try to sell to someone that you already know. Maybe someone that already admires you and you're already in touch. Maybe they, from time to time, they reach out to you to ask some advice or any kind of questions. So just by sharing this, I know that our audience, they're thinking, oh, I have this guy that he keeps on pinging me and asking some questions. So this is your first mentee. You just need to make an offer. I know that people invite people to have some coffee. Let's grab some coffee.

So if they invite you to coffee, They don't want coffee. They want your brains, right? So let's put a name on that. That's a mentorship relationship, right? And at first, no one invites you to coffee because you're not that valuable, right? And then people start inviting you to coffees and stuff, and then you feel good. Oh, they invited me to coffee. Now I'm important. Now I'm someone, right? And then you do some coffees and then you realize that people, they don't value your time. So they ask for free advice. You advise them. And they don't do anything about it, right? Yes. And then you start saying no. You start saying no to coffees. Oh, I don't do coffee. There's a guy whose email is idontdocoffee@something.com because people keep on asking for coffee. I don't do coffee. And I understand that because you need to be picky with your time. But there's another level, which is charging for coffee. So whenever people ask you for coffee, you say, yeah, let's do this. Let's do for $5 an hour, $5,000 or $1,000 or $10,000, depending on what you do and how you can help them out. Does it make sense?

It does. It does. How do you convert them? If you're in a situation where this is a friend or this is someone that you casually know, how do you take them? What do you say to them to convert them from, hey, we're friends, to now I'm going to charge you? Because a lot of people have that resistance of doing that. And it could even be business partners. When we run into situations all the time, where there's people that we work with in my organizations that they are vendors of ours and they'll come to me and they're like, hey, your businesses are crushing it. How do we, how do we do that as well? That's easy because they're approaching me. I don't have to approach other people. If you're in the situation where you're having to approach people, what do you say? How do you open that conversation up?

So this is funny because it's always better when they chase you instead of you chasing them. So I was young when I learned that better than hunting for butterflies and trying to catch them, I should create a nice flower place. How do you call this?

A flower garden.

A place where you get flowers so that the butterflies come to you. So instead of you trying to chase them, you just create something that is attractive enough for they to come. And there comes creating content, there comes podcasts like this, there comes creating videos and posting on YouTube and all of this stuff. But there are some people that do a lot of this, they create a lot of content, they deliver a lot of value, but they don't know how to convert. So what I teach them is instead of trying to sell for those that they don't know, is to reach out to people that they already know and then try to sell them on that something. That something could be like a 4-week, one call a week thing, could be like an 8-week, like 2 months, once a week or every other week. So you're online and they ask their questions and you teach something and then you create something together. And here's something important. People ask about guarantee. So I don't, I don't, I don't advise people to offer a guarantee on their offer, but they can have a guarantee for themselves. So if they're a medical doctor for 10 years, they don't want to pick someone else's money if they don't deliver value.

So if they're afraid of being an imposter, because some people are, they can just know that they have a guarantee. If they don't think that they really give value for those who pay, they can give their money back. There's this thing, the imposter syndrome, you know, the thing that you're not quite sure that if you're a good person or not, or if you can deliver value or if you're a fraud. So if you, if you're facing this kind of thoughts is because you're not an imposter, because the imposters themselves, they know they're an imposter, right? Those are the only ones that never feel this feeling, right? So if you're a good person and you're afraid of selling, just remember that if you don't like the experience, you can always give their money back. So about converting, the thing I do is there, there is a psychology of instead of selling to people, you can reverse polarity. And I didn't invent this myself. There's a guy called Andrei Parabelum, which was the number one marketing name in Russia, and he sadly passed away on COVID. He's a huge friend of mine and he taught me a 4-questions process that reverses polarity.

And instead of you trying to pitch them, you make your possible clients to pitch themselves to you. So the way you do this is that instead of doing a VSL or sales video or a sales pitch or a sales letter for your program, you just make a funnel, kind of funnel-ish. It's actually just a questionnaire, a questionnaire, a survey, just, just like 4 questions. So if you just reach out to people, say, hey, I'm creating a small group where I'm gonna teach them XYZ. Are you interested in that? Yes or no? And I post this on Instagram. I ask some friends on WhatsApp or text them. I'm creating this program on teaching people how to be a better a better lawyer, a better engineer, a better drawer, a better whatever? Are you interested in improving your game on XYZ? Some people are gonna say no, some people are gonna say yes. And for those who say yes, I send them to an application form and I would say, hey, just fill this first and then I'll talk to you. And the 4 questions are, first, why do you think this program is the right thing for you?

When you ask this, even if you didn't explain the program, they're gonna share because they, they already admire you. They already know you. So they're gonna say, I believe your program is gonna help me out because I know your results. I know you got this, this, and this result. And if you're eager to share, I'm here to learn. I'd love to know this, this, this, and that. So I believe you. I trust you. I'd like to know more about how you do this. So that's why I believe your program is the right fit for you. The second question could be, why do you think you are the right fit for this program? And then you reverse polarity because they start selling themselves to you. I'm coachable. If I have a plan, I can follow a plan. I'm positive that if you pick me, I'm gonna be a case study. I, I can follow instructions and I'm gonna do whatever you tell me to do, and I'm gonna get results. So this makes people start pitching themselves to you. So it's not you pitching them, it's them pitching you. And then I ask them, this costs XYZ, $20,000, $10,000, $1,000, $100,000, it doesn't matter.

But I say the price up front. And when I do that, most of people, they just say no. But the minority, they say yes, which is good because The thing that is the biggest bottleneck of those mentors is time because you have your profession, you have your day-to-day routine. So if you're starting out as a mentor, this is gonna be a plan B. You're gonna be like on your, your spare time. So you don't wanna waste a lot of time trying to find clients. Some people, they teach for you to hide the price as if you could be on a call and then convince them to join whatever you're gonna say, you're gonna sell. This works. But I don't like the idea because if you hide the price, 10 people are gonna be interested, 8 of them would be interested on a call, and then 2 of them are gonna no-show, and then you're gonna waste your time, and then you're gonna talk to 6 people for 1 hour each. So you're gonna spend 6 hours and then you're gonna convert 2 of them if you're lucky, right? And then after 1 hour with someone, and then you present your program and say, oh, I don't have the money to pay, and say, oh, I waste my time with you.

But actually you waste your time because you hop on a call without having even the idea of if they could pay or not, right? So when I say the price upfront and I get like 10 interested people, maybe 6 of them would fill the form and then maybe 3 of them would say yes to the price. And then out of those 3, I would convert one, not two, I would convert less, but I would just have to talk to 3 people for 20 to 30 minutes because it's not a strategic session. It's not a discovery call. It's not a bullshit blah, blah, blah. It's just a filter call, a vetting call. It's just, I'm gonna call you just to check the energy and see if I vibe with you or not. And if I do, you're in. If you don't, you're out. So 20 minutes, 3 people. So 1 hour and I sell 1. Me, I'd rather talk to 3 people for 1 hour total and sell 1 than talking to 6 people to sell 2. Does it make sense?

Right. 100%. So when you're doing that, when you're, when you're doing that, are you running ads? When you talked about before, you're running ads, you're doing, you know, funnels, are you doing cost per click? Are you doing Facebook? When you advise people who work with you who want to turn their passions into profits, who want to turn their talents into that income stream, when do you tell them, okay, now it's time for cold outreach, now it's time to do these type of things versus warm? Because what we've been talking about this whole time is warm outreach, people that are connected to you. When do you switch over to cold outreach?

Okay. So, so this is one of the things I like the most about my business and the way I do things. So why do I have 700,000 followers on Instagram in Brazil? Because I distribute my content through paid ads. So I post some content on the hopes that it goes viral and reach people organically. But most of the times, those who perform better, I boost them. I boost them so that Instagram shows to more people. but instead of doing an ad that will send them to a page with a call to action or a funnel, I just invite them to follow me. So my, my reel would be, hey, I, I'm Victor Damasio. I, I'll just record like, like this. So I'm Victor Damasio, and for the last 14 years, I've been helping people how to be paid for what they know and not what they do and monetize their passions, as you said. So if you wanna see the backstage of how I do that, to me and to my clients, just give me a follow and we're gonna stay in touch and shoot me a message. So I invited people to reach out to me.

I don't cold outreach. I don't message people I don't know. I don't try to sell to the cold. I just make a, a curious reel inviting people to my world. And when they follow me, I reach out to them. So you can do this through automation or you can do it yourself. So here's what I love doing in Brazil. So I just got to 700,000 followers and every day, every day I take a look at my followers. In Brazil, Instagram is something, right? I guess it's maybe more important or relevant than, than what it is in the US, right? And here's the thing. Some people, I look at them, they don't have a professional profile. They don't have a verified account. They don't have a link in bio. They don't have some posts. They look like fake accounts. And then I just don't, don't spend time with them because they're not doing a lot. But some of those people, they have verified accounts, they have a couple followers, they have like a link in bio, they look like they're the real deal, whatever they do. And for those, I reach out to them and then I send a message.

And the message is very simple. I didn't invent this myself. I learned with a guy called Taki Moore, and I guess he, he, I learned with Taki and with Dan Martell. So the thing is, whenever someone reaches out to me and starts following me and they look like my clients, I welcome them and say, hey, I just saw you're following me. Are you here for the content or you want my help scaling your digital business? Most of them, they just say they're here for the content, but some of them, they say they're here because they want to help scaling. And if they say that, I just engage with them. So are you already selling or is it going to be your first program? Oh, I already sell. Okay. Where are your conversions? Where's your bottlenecks? And then I just engage in an informal conversation. And if I see that I can help them out, I just ask, do you need some help? And if they say they do, I send them to the application form. There's no VSL, no webinar, no strategic call, just the VSL, just the 4-question thing, which I just shared the first 3.

There's the 4th one still, right? Just don't let me forget. So I send them to my best sales process. Because my best sales process is the form, is the questionnaire, is the survey thing, is the 4-question form, application form. This works for me better than strategic calls, better than webinars, better than launches, better than anything I've ever done ever. So I send them to my best sales process. So that's how I do instead of coding outreach, cold outreach, I just reach out to people that reach out to me first because when you cold outreach and try to, to get on people's time or on their people's schedule, you came from behind, right? Right. When you let them reach out to you, you're in a different position. So it's better. It's just better. Right. And it helps on the reverse polarity too.

It's interesting that you say that because I purposely on my Instagram haven't posted for 2 years. I'm not verified. I don't have a link in bio. I did it on purpose because I wanted to reverse it because everyone was using that, that that thing where they reach out and they say, hey, what are you doing? True. You know, are you here for content? Are you here for this? You're here for that. So I know it works for both sides because I've done it from on the client side that they do it. It works like magic. And then the opposite, because I purposely don't post and I'm not verified, I'm not doing anything else, people leave me alone. So it works out really well. So there are, there's tactics that works both ways. So that's what, that's how I learned how to work. I was like, leave me alone. I don't want to be bothered by people. So we mentioned the 3 questions. What is the fourth question?

The fourth question is very important and some people just, just overlook. The fourth question is, if I take you into the program, if I accept to work with you, what must have happened after this 2-month period? What must have happened after this 6-month period? What must have happened after 1 year? Depending on what you're selling, if it's like a small coaching group, if it's a mentorship program, it's a mastermind, So if I take you as a client, what must have happened by the end of the program so that you think it was worth it? And this is the part that protects you because there are some crazy clients out there, right?

Yes.

It's like crazy expectations, right? The only way you can mess it up being a mentor is if you overpromise and over or underdeliver. Then you're dead, right? Or if you promise something that you can't deliver at all, or if you take a client that is never satisfied. Correct. Does it make sense? So this fourth question, it helps you protect your brand, your time, and your energy because just by seeing how people answer this question, you can already notice who's delusional, or who is like on track, right? And whatever they say is their goal, whatever they say is what they expect, you lower their expectations, right? You don't lower their ambitions, but you lower their expectations. So for instance, some of my clients made millions. I just came out of my event and then I gifted them with the awards and all this stuff. This is the one Russell Brunson gifted me for the $10 million. But I give those to my clients too, if they can verify the result. So I deliver a lot of results, but whatever they say they want, I say, well, what if this doesn't happen and actually you get this half of it?

How do you feel? And then they can behave two ways, right? They could say, no, I need to make this. No, no, no. I can't do less. I need to do that. Yeah, so it's worth it. And then I see that they're not coachable at all. If they're not being coachable on the first call, they're not being— they're not going to be coachable throughout the program. So I just check the vibe and energy. What I expect as an answer is, so you're expecting to make like $200,000. What if you just make $100,000? How do you feel? And they should answer something like, well, I know it's a beginning. Well, I believe in continuous improvements. So I believe in keeping on track. And if I go out of the program better than how I got in, I'm happy. I'm already good, right? Just by learning how you think and how you share your stuff, just by being closer and understanding the way you think, it's going to be worth it for me. So this is the kind of client that you want in the beginning when you're just starting out. And even when you're a pro, when they expect too much of the coach, of the mentor, they're probably not the best clients you can have.

So in the first moment, you don't know yet what's your program gonna be. So you need people, they are the early adopters and they don't need a lot of promise, right? And I really advise people to, on the first cohort, on the first first group they get as mentees, they underpromise a lot. I even advise them to share with the public, share with their audience that they don't know what they're doing. So instead of trying to trick people and pretending they know it all, no, I'm doing this and this and that, they should rather say, hey guys, I don't have idea. I don't exactly know what I'm gonna do here. It's a test. If you guys want to be my guinea pig, it's just my first try on this. So I've been a medical doctor for 10 years, but I wasn't ever in class giving classes and teaching. It's going to be my first time. So I don't know exactly what we're going to get out of it. But if you want to be part of this experience, just fill out the form. So instead of promising a lot, you underpromise like crazy. And those early adopters, they don't need a lot to be happy.

I know there's some people there, they need more explanation. And if they need more explanation, you just tell them, okay, in 6 months from now or 1 year from now, I'll have an idea of my offer, but now I don't. So when I'm ready for you, you're gonna be ready for me if you wait. But now I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm just gonna jam. So we're gonna write this with 4 hands, with 8 hands, with 10 hands. It's just not me. We're gonna do this together. It's an experiment. And if you don't like it, I just give your money back. So I love this approach of laid back and relaxed in a market that people overpromise and underdeliver. It's always better to just underpromise and then deliver your best, right? That's what I believe.

Absolutely. The thing is, after we put people through this filter, it doesn't mean that they actually are the best clients for us. Not everyone's a success. When you've had clients fail and you've had mentees make mistakes and they don't succeed, what normally are the issues? What are the normal problems that they run into that really stops them from being successful?

First, they don't follow the program, right? And sometimes they don't follow because they don't believe the program or they don't believe themselves. And then you need to make them recommit and just talk to them. Sometimes people pay the program and don't even open, or they don't, don't even join any of the calls. Maybe they just got too busy. Maybe something got in their way. So your role as a mentor is just reaching out to them and to see if you can help in another way. Sometimes people, they can't follow instructions in a way, but if you provide any kind of extra support, this is good. So I have a team of 30 people. So whenever I feel that someone's not connected to the program, I ask my team to reach out to them individually and help them out. So for instance, one of the things that they need on my program is to create a page, right? So on my program, I teach them how to have a page. Now it's easy with AI and all this stuff and all this page makers, page builders. But when I started back in 2012, it wasn't like this.

Much harder.

And I know that even nowadays, even with a lot of technology, some people still struggle with technicalities, right? Oh, I can't create a page and stuff. So for me, it's very important for them to have the page up. So if they messed up on this, I ask for someone of my team to make it for them. So it's better to learn how to do it themselves. So they're not dependable on anyone else, right? So I teach them how to do it, but if they don't do it themselves, I'd have to do it myself or my team so that they keep on improving because if they don't do this, how they're gonna follow through the program. So I don't, I can't allow a bottleneck that is so simple to me and my team to be a bottleneck for them. So my program is done with you, right? I help them out doing that. But if they mess up, I pick some done for you. Does it make sense? Because I need them to follow through. So gotcha. Sometimes they don't. So there's another problem where people, they think they're following the program and they're not. So Victor, I'm doing exactly what you say and I don't get results.

Dude, I'm gonna share something. Back in 2000, I guess 2022 or something like this, I had a mentee that she was one of my best students. She never missed one of the meetings. We meet every other week, so we have like a routine. She was always there. And some people, they show up, but they never ask questions. They just hide. They just listen, which is okay. They're more passive. Some people are always asking, right? She, she was always asking. Her name is Gabriela. And then she asked a question. We were in April, April. And she asked, hey Victor, I'm always here. I'm always asking questions. Whatever you tell me to do, I do, but I'm not growing. Dude. I felt terrible. Everyone listened because everything I do is group. In Brazil is group, in the US I'm still figuring out if it's gonna be one-on-one or group, but in Brazil it's group and everyone was listening. And that was true. She was always there. She was always coachable. So whatever I advised her to do, she was always doing. And then she said, I'm not growing. I said, come on. And I was feeling so bad.

And I said, are you comparing March to February and February to January? How are you doing this? Because the right way to do that is to compare your March with March of last year and your February with February of last year and your January with January of last year. So I don't compare myself month-to-month basis. I compare myself to the same month of last year. And then I ask her, January to March this year, how, how, how are you compared to January to March last year? And she didn't know at the time. And then last, next day, it was Wednesday. So it was Tuesday, then Wednesday, I was surfing. I do a lot of wake surfing and then I was on the boat and then she, she shoot a message into the group and said, hey Victor, I figured out my numbers and not only I'm doing more from January to March, I'm doing more than January to March of last year, but January to March this year, I did more than the last year as a whole. I beat my whole last year. I said, come on, you said you were not growing. And here's the thing.

She was growing clearly, but she wasn't seeing clearly. So she was growing, but the feeling was terrible because she was struggling. She was working hard. She was putting a lot of effort. She was putting some, some, some hours, some extra hours, but she was growing. She wasn't just looking at the right spot. Doesn't make sense.

Yeah, she was looking at the wrong metrics.

Yes, sometimes people think they're not improving, but if you look at the right places, they are. So it wasn't her problem. It was my problem as a mentor because I was used to not track. I wasn't used to track their numbers. And because of Gabriela, now every month they share how much they spend with ads, how much did they grow, how much did they profit, so I can help them see how they grow. Now with AI, we want to create something like a dashboard or something for them so that we can keep an eye and help them out even better, right?

Gotcha.

So that was a messy, messy experience.

What are the things that they do that you'd like— if this person does ABC, they're going to improve all day, every day. If they do these 3 things, these work better than anything else.

I always share with my people that I only have two goals, which is take care of my past clients and find my next client. So if I deliver to my clients of now and I look out for my clients of the future, I'm good. And that's what I do. So the way I do is that I'm always just answering people. I know that 700,000 people might look a lot in Brazil, but I still answer them. Even having a team of 30 people, I'm the one who answers them. And someone could say you could outsource this or automate this. Guys, I just love doing what I do. I was now on my 3-day event and I had more than 300 people in there, like a couple of them were already clients and I had 140 possible clients to enroll my program and more than 40 enrolled. So I got my best result of my life. And after that, I was grabbing some pizza with my wife in a restaurant, and in the other table, there were some of my people there in the room, in the table, grabbing some pizza too, and said, oh, Victor, you might be tired.

I don't want to— hey guys, I'm not tired at all. I've just been to my 3-day event, but instead of being like tired or something, I get energy. I don't know how. But all those things that for most people they look like work, for me, for me, it's a pleasure. I used to be a lawyer. I didn't love my life back then. So when I find this way of teaching people how to monetize their passions, I did this myself. So I didn't have a knowledge, so I partner up with my guitar teacher back in 2012 and we created the first guitar course in Brazil. Brazil ever in 2012. There were some DVDs and stuff like that, but a course with like your email and password and then you have a member's area, it was the first in Brazil back in 2012. And then suddenly I was making more with a guitar program than with all the whole years I studied law. So this thing was a game changer for me, and I just wanted to share with other people so that they can, they could live with what they love instead of wasting their life.

Some people ask me, oh, are you just trash away like 5 years you spent studying law and say, hey, I'd rather trash those 5 years than the next 50, right? So I think it's never too late for you to pursue your passions. It's never too late for you to monetize your talents. And I really do believe that if the whole humanity, the whole humanity starts to pay people, they're doing better. To help them out and start charging people who didn't got to the point you got so that you can help them out. If the whole humanity started doing this, we as a species, we would uplift, we will grow, we will go faster and better. And that's what I really do believe.

If we wanted to sit down and someone wanted to do this, how would you map out their next 90 days? How would you do that? Like, like, this is what you do day 1, day 2, day 3. How would you map out the 90 days for them?

First thing, some of my clients are starting from scratch. They've never sold anything online, right? Some of them already have like a course, but they don't have a high-ticket course. They don't have a mentorship program. They maybe have an ebook or they have clients, but they don't have like this kind of group setting. And some of them are already mentors, already coaching groups and stuff. So those are my 3 avatars and all of those cases, I would just see what they have. So do you have a list or not? You're starting from scratch. Do you have clients or not? Because if you have clients, the first thing I would do is to reach out to your previous clients and just invite them to this more premium experience. I crafted an email. It could be a message. It could be a text. It could be a phone call. It could be an email. And email works very well in the US, right? So the email is to giving, offering back what they paid you. So for instance, if you have a course of $1,000 or if you have a client that paid you like $500, you can just send a message, oh, here's your $500 back, or here's your $1,000 back, and they just paid you.

So if you have clients, just send them a message saying that you're offering back their money. And on the body of the email, you'd explain further. So I got this subject line to catch your attention. I guess it works because you're reading this, but yeah, I, I wanna give your money back. Here's the deal. I'm creating a more intimate, more exclusive group for those of you who wanna go deeper on XYZ. What is XYZ? The thing they hired you first for. So it's not a new desire, it's not another angle. Is not another dream, is just the stuff they got. So if they bought your program to get fit, you say, hey, I'm creating something more exclusive, more premium for those of you who want to go deeper on getting fit. So it's more of the same. It's like deeper on the same. It's not something new. It's not another angle. It's more of the same. So whenever you have a group of people there's always a smaller group that are eager to pay more to get more, regardless of what you do or what you sell. Whenever, like here on this audience, you, if I ask this for those people, say like, I don't know how many people are gonna watch this.

I hope a lot. So some of them would be eager to get more. Some of them are not listening yet. They just left on the, on the, the halfway from here, right? Some people are gonna watch it all, are gonna follow me and are gonna ask about the program, right? So whenever you have a group of people, there's always a smaller group eager to pay more to get more. So I would invite my clients, I'll ask the clients, say, hey, you want to go deeper on this? So this program costs $5K, but since you already paid $1,000, you just need to pay the difference, pay the balance. So you can apply this $1,000 to this $5K opportunity. You're gonna see me pitching that for $5K, but for you it's just $4K. I know it's not for everyone, but maybe it's for you. If you're in, just tell me a message, just shoot me, yes, I'm And if they do, what do you do? Send the application form because it works, right? Okay. So that's what I do with those who already have clients, but they don't have high ticket. If they do have high ticket already, I help them stopping churn.

I help them making them renew. I have some clients that are active on my program for 12 years. They renewed 11 times and they're with me since 2014. One of them spoke at my event yesterday. So I know how to make people renew.

How do you do that? I'm going to interrupt. How do you get someone to commit for 12 years? That's wild.

I have 4 of them on the 12th year. The thing I do is that I understand that they change throughout time and I change throughout time too. And I just respect those changes. And I'm connected with them. Sometimes they're more engaged, sometimes they're less engaged. Sometimes they show up, sometimes they don't. But here's the thing, I'm always there for them. And I don't create my program as something that they need to check in. There's no presence list. Oh, you're here or you're absent. It's not school. They are sometimes afraid of being able to follow through the program or just to absorb it all or to be on time with the program. But it's not about that. Actually, being on a program like this is just like a layer of support. And then I keep on just showing them that they can count on me. The way I do business is as I'm a fractional advisor or something like this. And then they can reach out whenever they want. So for this guy, Miguel is his name, he spoke at my event. I don't remember saying no to him ever. So if he wanted me on his events, I would be there.

If he wanted help on a crazy time, on a crazy— I never said no to him because I didn't have to, because he was reasonable. Here's the thing. If you're truthful with what you do believe, your principles, and if you attract the clients in the right way, not with a strong offer, but with a strong personality and sharing who you are, those who are gonna get closer to you, they vibe the same way as you. And if you actually vet people, you're only gonna work with people that you don't love, but at least you like, and some of them you love. This guy, Miguel, he ended up being the, the, the, how do you say that, in my, my marriage, but in my, my party, He was, he was the best man. Is this how you call?

So yeah, so he was the, he was, he was the most important groomsman because there's groomsmen and then there's best man.

Yeah, he was one of the groomsmen. In Brazil, there is not one of these. There's just, yeah, there's just, they're all equal. He was one of the groomsmen. That's how you say. So he became one of my best friends and all started with a professional relationship. We met in an event. Do you know Brandon Burchard by any chance?

I do. I know Brandon.

So we met at Brandon's event back in 2013 or something, and then he became a client, and then we became friends, and then we, we're doing life together, right? So the way, the way I do with my people is that I, I do my thing, they do their things, and whatever that I do right, I share with them. Whatever they do right, they share with the group, and then we grow together. And whenever it's hurting, they tell me and the group and we help them out. And whenever it's hurting on me, because sometimes, sometimes it's hurting on me too, instead of pretending I'm Superman, I'm just vulnerable. And I share, hey, it's hurting in here. So for this event, it was a huge success. It was my world record, like my best event ever. Two weeks ago, I was feeling terrible. People because I wasn't filling the room. I wasn't getting people to subscribe, to get into the event, right? Instead of hiding, instead of pretending, instead of anything like that, I shared with my clients, hey guys, it's never been so hard to sell an event. So what are you guys doing that works?

So not only they learn with me, but if you do this the right way, You are gonna learn with them. I learn with my clients because they're, they're on the field too. People believe that maybe a mentorship program is something that those smart people teach the not so smart people. The way I do, I have those programs too for people that are just beginners, but on my mastermind, all of them are better than I am at something, and I get paid to learn with them. So I have different tiers. So I have my, my entry-level program. I have a mentorship program and my mastermind. On my entry-level program, I teach from top to bottom. Does it make sense? On the mentorship program, I do with them and share with them. On my mastermind, I learn with them. Most of them are doing better than I am doing because they spend 100% of their time on their business. Me, I spend a bit of my time on my business and a lot of my time on their business. So there, I'm less of a mentor I'm more and more of a facilitator, and I just hold the room, sometimes physically, but most of the time virtually, so that they can thrive.

And whatever they do that is right, they share with the group. And whenever they need help, they ask for the group, and then I hold the space for them to grow. That's what I do. And that's how I run a mastermind for 12 years in Brazil, one of the most, like, long-lasting masterminds in Brazil and maybe in the world.

So yeah, because that's what really got my attention, that you've proven with one of the longest masterminds. When you go through that, everyone wants to be a friend, everyone wants to connect, everyone wants to give value, everyone wants to do those things. However, when we're doing this, most people can't succeed that way. So you've got something special. Do you have any idea what that would be? Do you think it's personality? Do you think it's value? What are the things that you're doing that provides more value than anyone else so that people do stay with you for over 12 years?

After this event, this 3-day event, what I keep on hearing them say is that I care. I actually care for them. And I lead those who are more interested on the transformation they create on their clients than the transformation they create on their pockets. I was poor. I used to work at the pub crawl and getting like $70 a night Brazilian, so $15 a day. I used to sell a newspaper in the subway, and now I'm a millionaire. So my best year I did $4 million. So I don't know if I can put into words, but I feel like my work is a blessing. So I never feel like working. It's so different than my previous life as a lawyer when I graduated and stuff, sit the bar exam from Brazil, and I could be living a far worse life than I am. And I'm living the best life I could live. And it seems like a fair trade to use part of my time to empower people to find their best lives too. And I know it sounds cheesy, But if you just tap into the people that I know in US, I commit to start putting some content out there and see.

But in Brazil, it's very clear. So I'm gonna post some of my stuff from Brazil in my profile in English. It's funny because I feel like Superman in Brazil, 700,000 followers. But in US, as we're recording this, we have like 200— no, 200 followers, not 200,000, 200. So I'm just starting out. But I am this. I am a mentor. I decided to become a mentor. I invest a lot lot, like multi-six figures every year on being a better mentor. And sometimes people, they want to sell high ticket, but they don't want to pay high ticket, right? It never works. Me, I invest in everyone's program to try to get the best out of it, but not about what they teach. I don't copy their content. I, I'm more interested on see how they teach. What are the exercises? What are the structures? What are the frameworks so that I can help my people to find theirs, not copy mine? So I empower them to be the best mentors they can be. And most of the times they just need to connect more and deeper with their clients. If they're smart enough, this mentorship program or mastermind they're gonna create, it could be like research and product development But instead of they investing on that, they get paid for that.

More than that, it can work like a motor, like an engine too, something that is going to drive growth for their business because some of those mentees, they can become an expansion partner. They can be a franchisee. How do you say that? They can buy your franchise or they can expand to other countries. They can put your message out there. You can grow because of them. You can learn with them and do better. I've seen some miracles. Comes out of it. So I am biased, I know, because I'm more romantic than most people. But maybe the things that make me special on that field is that I value connections, I value people, I value people over money, people over results, and people can feel it. And if they vibe, if they're made of the same stuff I am, we can do some nice stuff together.

Yeah, I think a lot of what, what you do and who you are, because we get pitched all the time for people wanting to come on the podcast. You're the only one we're like, okay, we have to move things around. Let's make this happen because of who you are and how you show up and how that, and I think that's a huge part of it because I could go out and I could teach exactly, you know, we both know Tony Robbins. I could go out and teach what Tony teaches. I'm not Tony Robbins. You're not Tony. Nobody's Tony. Let's get that out of the way right now. So everyone understands that tone is tone. That's just, it is what it is. You know, in this case, Victor's Victor. You can't bottle that up. You can use some of the strategies, you can use some of the tactics, but sometimes the most proven thing you have is the person. So here in the United States, if people want to track you down, if they want to connect with you, if they want to learn more about you, what's the best way to do it? Is it Instagram?

Is it LinkedIn? How do people find you?

On Instagram, and I know that for some people it's not the main place, but I promise that if you follow me on Instagram, and you shoot me a message, I'll reply to you in person. I know it's a small profile, but in Brazil I have 700,000 followers and I'm gonna answer you in person. So just reach out to me at @victordamasio and that's it. So @victordamasio, @victordamasio. So shoot me a message and tell me you came from here. Do like a print screen, Hey, Charles sent me and I'm gonna give you special care and just tell me what you've been doing or you want to create. So if you're starting from scratch or if you're already selling online and want to grow, or if you're like an old gangster and want to scale, I can help you. Well, I did a couple, a couple million dollars. This is my $10 million one, but I did far more than that. But I don't care if you're starting out or if you're I can help you see an opportunity for you with the assets you already have without investing in traffic and just being paid for what you know and monetize your passion and your purpose.

Victor, I want to thank you for coming on and sharing all the insights and your 4 questions. I thought it was a really valuable thing. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you, Charles. Thanks for having me. That meant a lot for me, and I'm so Kung Fu.

Knowledge over hustle. That's Victor's game. He went from selling newspapers in the subway to a $4 million year by teaching people that you don't need to be number one. You just need to be a few steps ahead. Find your first buyer, show up for your people, and get paid for what you already know. We'll catch you on the next episode.