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rmil2k · 6 years

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The 1-Page Exercise to Help You with Any Business Decision: Mission > Method > Mechanism

If you can rock with me for just a few moments, I will explain a simple framework to help you make business decisions . . . of any kind . . . at all . . . ever.

It’s so tempting as a business owner to go back and forth on deciding between two software tools (“Do I need MailChimp or ConvertKit?”) or between two different methods of accomplishing a goal (“Do I want to connect more deeply with my audience through an email list or a Facebook Group?” // “Should I blog or do Facebook Lives?”) . . . when really, the question as is will waste your time because it’s likely that your overall mission or problem wasn’t well defined.

Meaning: The more defined and clear a business question, problem, or goal is, the more the clear answer is and the faster the best choice will make itself seen.

I want to introduce you to the Mission > Method > Mechanism framework.

This model (a.k.a.: short adult homework activity) will help you with all of your business decisions . . . and honestly, your life decisions as well. It helps you define your mission (goal), decide on the method (way) you will go about your mission, then (and only then) select the mechanism (tool) to carry out the chosen mission in the chosen way.

Your mission is more important than the means or method you go about doing it in, and your chosen method is more important than the tool you decide to execute with, so Mission > Method > Mechanism. Let’s begin. Or, grab the PDF framework (it comes with a few pages of instructions as well:

Now, let’s begin.

1. Define your mission.

The first thing to do is choose a key business mission (goal) you want to focus on. You’ll go through this process multiple times for different goals, so just start with one.

Create a statement that has a clear, measurable outcome.

Examples of business missions (goals) that are NOT clear and will lead to foggy decision making:

“To become an expert in my field.” Hard to measure. Hard to know when your audience or the world at large feels this way about you. Terrible goal that can leave you feeling unaccomplished.

“Empower women to be their own boss.” Get back to me when you can measure this.

“Create an engaged, trustworthy email list.” Not the ‘trustworthy’ word though.

“Stop trading time for dollars with my services.” But like, how?

And so on . . .

Examples of great missions (goals) that are CLEAR and will lead to epic decision making:

“Build an interest list of 100 people for my new online yoga course before it launches.” Simple to measure. You either end up with 100 people, or 0 people, or 2,730 people, etc. on your interest list. Good job, friend.

“Help one woman transition out of her full-time job into running her own freelance business that makes as much or more income for her within six months.” Go on with your bad self. Super measurable, super clear.

“Create an email list of 500+ people in the next 6 months.” Those numbers are clear.

“Release an online workshop (for around $100) teaching people how to DIY the home organization service I currently do in a DFY (done for you) capacity. Test the workshop out by pitching it to my current email list (140 people) to see if they buy and speak well of the product.” Yeah, I know, these “clear” goals can take up more space sometimes than vague ones, but it will be much easier to develop a strategy and select the tools to help make them happen.

Now that you have your mission statement . . .

2a. Decide on any critical features of your mission that will benefit you and your brand and work toward the larger purpose you have for your business.

Examples of critical features (hint: you’ll go back and refine your mission statement at times after writing these out):

To attract engaged subscribers . . . so, not just “build a list of 500+ people in the next 6 months” but instead, build a list with 500+ people and a 40% or more open rate . . . which allows you to stay ‘top of mind’ for your audience’s yoga needs.

Must choose an infoproduct that won’t take more than a month to create and will show me how interested my audience is in learning this from me . . . so, I should make sure the format of the infoproduct is something they like to consume.

What are some critical features of your goal that will help this current mission actually grow your brand or fulfill the purpose you have for it? Once you can answer that, it’s time to . . .

2b. Decide on any critical features of your mission that will benefit your audience.

Examples of features you consider critical in serving your audience:

“Offer info and experiences they don’t get elsewhere. Stand out from the regular email/broadcast updates with ‘3 yoga poses for energy’ and delight them with more.” You could choose to make this critical feature measurable by surveying your audience once per quarter to find out how they like your updates/broadcasts. Or, you may just know what other brands are doing in the space and know your content stands out. You might just track open/view/conversion rates and judge by the “I love you” emails you get.

“My information product must be simple for them to understand, purchase, consume, and then execute on within the week. People will benefit from immediate changes to their health routine.” This might help you decide not to make your content an 12-week online course, but instead a 3-day online summit or mini-course with clear activities suggested throughout and incentives for trying them out.

Think about your current mission (goal) and ask yourself if there is any need/idea that is critical to making your goal as amazing as possible for your audience? Once you feel you’ve though through this clearly . . .

3. Write down any key constraints (limitations or boundaries) for your goal/mission.

If your goal was related to engaged subscribers, a constraint might be: “Must be able to create time-sensitive broadcasts for my audience likely to be seen by the 100 people I’m trying to get on my interest list.”

If your goal was helping women transition out of their 9 – 5, a constraint might be: “Must not develop a service package that won’t require more than 30 hours of work per week at my ideal client load of 5 people, so that I have time to develop my first eBook and audio book combo at the same time.“

If your goal was to create your first “passive income” information product without pouring more than a month into an effort you’re unsure will perform well, a constraint might be: “I have to be able to create it in two weekends flat.”

4. Refine your mission statement (as necessary) based on the critical features and constraints you identified in 2 + 3 above.

Let’s say you initially had your goal as “Get my first 100 subscribers.” but after writing out the critical features of this goal for your brand and audience, you realized that you want 100 people on an interest list specific to your product (so, not just a general list). If you know you’re building this list to test a product you want to introduce, you’ll want a mission that reflects that.

Ex: “Build an interest list of 100 people for my new product, pre-launch, so I can see a clear conversion rate of buyers and figure out if this is a good product for this audience.”

Alright, so 1 – 4 helped you nail down the “mission” of Mission > Method > Mechanism (hint: you can always refine/define more later), so now it’s time to move on to “method.” We’re gonna seemingly go out of order here (and don’t forget to sign up for the PDF framework at the top or bottom of this article to keep track of all this), because before you decide on the method (way) you will accomplish your mission (goal) . . .

5a. Write down any critical features of your method that will benefit you and your brand.

Examples of critical method features for a brand:

“Gotta be able to deliver info and offers to audience at all hours of the day because I expect people from multiple time zones. This will need to be automated so I don’t have to be ‘at it’ 24-7 and so that I don’t have to hire support help when I haven’t made income yet and don’t have the budget for it.” Psst, this might guide you to choose a method of communication such as automated chat bots or automated emails and triggers so that when someone presses a button on your site and “signs up” things start happening immediately for them.

“I need to offer guidance for women transitioning out of their careers in a way that allows me to have in-depth convos with this type of woman . . . I want to learn enough about them that I can eventually ‘productize’ my knowledge into a helpful course or book.” Hint: This might cause you to choose services such as 1-on-1 coaching, or a group program with small breakout sessions of 5 people or less so that you can do more than read an email or two from your audience to get to know their needs better.

Think about the way you want to execute on your (hopefully) clear mission/goal—what critical or important needs do you have for this method? What does it need to provide you with? Or make simpler? Or do for you?

Got it. Now it’s time to . . .

5b. Write down any critical features of your method that will benefit/affect your audience.

Examples of critical features that will affect your audience:

If your goal was 100 subscribers on your product interest list, a critical feature might be: “Communication must happen in a platform or tool they already use regularly and enjoy.” Thus, your audience won’t have to sign up for new accounts or go to unfamiliar places to hear from you. Because let’s be honest, that just might not happen . . . and then your mission is in jeopardy.

If your goal was to develop and deliver workout plans online based on each audience member’s specific body and goals, an example critical feature of the method you choose might be: “Client has an easy way to ask clarifying questions in a format they prefer, so they feel and know their individual needs matter to me and that I didn’t just sell them a stock template.” This might cause you to choose a method that allows your client to send text/audio notes to you.

What does your audience need (or what will they highly appreciate) within the way (method) you choose to help them and execute on the larger goal (mission)?

Now it’s time to:

6. Write down any key constraints (limitations or boundaries) for your method.

If you’re the person with the goal of 100 subscribers on an interest list for your yoga course, an example constraint might be that the method of communication “Can’t involve a lot of writing. I hate it.”

If you want to stay “top of mind” for your audience and their fitness coaching needs, you might say your method “Can’t be solely dependent on a single social media platform’s algorithm since I have a small following right now and won’t likely have my content shown to enough of my subscribers.” Hint: This might mean that you eliminate “Instagram” as the chosen method to gain your 500 followers in the next six months, and instead you might opt for an email list or Facebook Messenger marketing instead.

Got your constraints in mind?

I’m gonna give you this P.S. now instead of waiting until the end.

P.S. If at any point in this process (ex: when you’re choosing a method, or defining the critical features of your method/mechanism, or any of the numbers 2 – 10 in this process) you have a hard time answering something, it’s probably because more clarity was necessary in the stage before.

If you can’t come up with a key feature your method must have in order to serve your audience best, you probably don’t have a clear handle on your mission/goal and need to go back up to that step and dig deeper.

If you’re having a hard time with even Step 1, you might need to go back to your business planning to make sure you understand the audience you want to serve, how you are a good fit to help them, and what your business model is.

7. Choose the method (way) you will execute on your mission (goal).

Based on your well thought out critical features and constraints, it’s time to decide the method (way) you will carry out your larger goal.

For example: You might decide that you want to gain Facebook Messenger subscribers for your yoga product interest list instead of email list subscribers (you might also choose to do both) because you like the fact that Facebook is a platform your audience already uses, you know the messages will appear in their notifications (“top of mind”), and you love that you’ll be able to send memes, GIFs, videos, or short text snippets about yoga instead of creating longer-form emails (“I hate writing soooo much.”).

Okay, let’s recap then move to our final stage. Steps 1 – 4 helped you nail down the “mission” of Mission > Method > Mechanism, Steps 5 – 7, helped you select the best “method” you will use to accomplish your mission (goal), so now it’s time to figure out the “mechanism” you want to employ for your method and mission.

And, you might already get the point of this whole exercise . . . most people start by asking what tool they should use, when actually that’s the last question in this logical decision-making framework. A tool is only as good as the way you use it and the goal it supports.

8a. Record one or more critical needs/features that your brand has in relation to the mechanism (a.k.a. tool) you’ll execute your method/strategy with.

Example features of the tool you will choose in Step 10 that are critical for your brand:

“Allows segmented leads and multiple ‘tags’ for each subscriber, so I can target them with the info that makes most sense.” Instead of dumping all your contacts into one list where you can’t tell if they’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced yoga practitioner, you might want a tool that allows you to tag them, so you won’t send your Yoga 101 message to someone who doesn’t need it when you can instead send them a relevant offer they may want to snatch up.

Or let’s say you had a mission and method that led you to decide to write and publish an eBook, a critical “mechanism” feature for you might now be: “Allows me to start from a template to lay out the book because I don’t have the budget for a designer and don’t have the time or design skills to start from scratch.”

See what we’re doing here at each level? We’re making questions such as “What tool should I choose?” so much easier to answer. You can go the no drama route and do it confidently because even if “Shelly n’ them” are using some other fancy pants tool, you’ll know the one you chose is right for you. Even if “Mark & company” have chosen a different method, you’ll feel great about your decision to start _____ or do _____ because it aligns so well with your measurable mission. Right?

8b. Write down one or more critical needs/features that your audience has in relation to the mechanism (a.k.a. tool) you’ll execute your method/strategy with.

Here are some example features of the tool you will choose in Step 10 that are critical (or even just nice to have) for your audience:

“Content must be easy to interact with, view, and understand so the interactions don’t frustrate them.” So, knowing your audience is above the age of 60, or that they’re 28 – 43 on average but spend most of their day in a corporate environment where email is the comfortable norm, you may choose to send content as text-based emails without fancy widgets and scrolling banners, and confetti delivery options. This may convince you to use Drip or ConvertKit as your email provider instead of one that has a primary selling point of how easy it is to make fancy emails.

If you’re the person who needed segmented leads and tags, but you also decided that Facebook Messenger is the best place for your audience, then your additional critical tool/mechanism feature might be: “Audience member can take a 3-question ‘quiz’ within Messenger that tags them in my system as beginner through advanced and lets me know if they’re more interested in movement or meditation. Then the software should immediately deliver a free lesson to them to get started based on their preferences.” And perhaps in knowing you want this level of ease for your clients, you choose ManyChat as your Messenger marketing tool.

Two steps left.

9. Record the key constraints (limitations or boundaries) you want/need to apply to your mechanism/tool.

Some examples might be:

“The broadcast/communication software can’t cost more than $20/month unless I’m seeing a return on investment within the first six months that shows me the tool helps me make more than it costs me to use.”

“The tool must have a visual building feature because I know that my brain works best when I can see a process/path laid out as an image.”

“The tool I use for client calls must have an easy-to-use recording feature that creates a video and audio file of my client meetings so I can send those to my client to review and keep.”

10. Choose the mechanism (tool) you will use based on your epic thoughts on any critical features and constraints.

When you are considering tool options now, you know the key features each tool must have to help with the method you’ve chosen to execute the larger goal. If you find that a tool doesn’t have a critical feature, it’s probably not a good fit. If you find two tools that both meet your feature and constraint requirements, then you can pick the one that is easier to use, or looks better, or is less expensive, or whatever you prefer because it doesn’t matter once your needs are met.

So, if you’ve ever asked, “Hmm, Teachable or Thinkific?” or “I don’t know if I should be writing an eBook or creating a huge signature course . . . universe?” then back up and try these steps of this framework first.

This process will help you define your mission clearly, choose goals that tie back to the greater purpose of your brand, choose methods that make the most sense for you and the people you serve, then get you out of comparison shopping mode for tools and into a state of action.

Download the Mission > Method > Mechanism PDF below. It has a few pages of reminders/instructions and a single page that you can use over and over and over again for ANY decisions EVER.

What do you think? Will this save you time and headaches with choosing between methods or tools?

The post The 1-Page Exercise to Help You with Any Business Decision: Mission > Method > Mechanism appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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rmil2k · 6 years

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How to Start Pitching Guest Posts (Even If You Are A Complete Online Business Newbie)

Psst—This amazing guide on how to pitch guest posts the smart way is by Sana Choudary (catch her bio at the end of the post). Her mission is to help humans like you build your email list and revenue by getting guest posts.

Do you feel like a total newbie online? Or maybe just a newbie to building your email list through guest posting?

Do you want to guest post but aren’t sure how you can sell influencers on the benefits?

I get it. I used to feel the same way.

I had no idea:

How to find the right sites for guest posting?

How to sell them on the benefits of my guest post?

What to have in place before I pitch?

What to research or be aware of before I pitched?

What to include in the pitch to make them believe my post was a fit for them? Even though I was a total newbie with no readers, credentials, or other guest posts and a site so new it still had demo content!

Then one day I realized…

All my problems boiled down to one thing

Not knowing how to sell my guest posts to influencers in a human way.

I did not want to come across as an obnoxious salesperson pushing a guest post they didn’t want.

Neither did I want them to think I was some sleazy hustler goading them into accepting a post that didn’t really benefit them.

Instead, I wanted influencers to feel excited about my guest post right away!

I wanted them to know without a doubt that my guest post would be immensely valuable to them and their audience.

If I could do this they wouldn’t care that I was a newbie.

Neither would I have to take lots of time away from building my own blog, because the guest posts I’d pitch would get accepted.

And this started my journey of figuring out how to pitch guest posts in a more human way.

Even though it took a long time and a lot of work, in the end, it was all worth it because…

Selling my guest posts in a human way changed everything

I have since guest posted at:

Adweek even though at the time I had just started my site and didn’t have any other guest posts

Well-known sites like VentureBeat, NavidMoazzez.com

Ryan Levesque’s Ask Method community which led to the invitation to speak at their 1000 person ASKLive conference

These days I don’t need to pitch guest posts often.

Because the ones I do pitch get accepted– I get 4 out of every 5 guest posts accepted.

How would you like to get 4 out of every 5 guest posts accepted?

Today I’m going to show you my three best ideas to make this happen. I also have 3 very special FREE gifts to help you even further. Make sure you read all the way to the end to get those.

Table of Contents

How to sell your guest post the human way. Hint it’s more than just building relationships

How to get your online headquarters ready for pitching

Most influencers will never read your blog

What influencers are looking for

#1 Who you help

#2 What problems you solve

#3 How you help your audience

#4 Your values

How to find the right sites for guest posting

Found a site where you can add value? Don’t stop there!

#1 The site may not have your ideal audience

#2 The site’s audience problems might be different than those of your ideal audience

#3 You may not get enough people joining your email list

What you should look for when finding sites for guest posting

How to pitch the right way

Why credential packing your pitches does NOT work

What should you include in your mouth watering pitch cake

#1 Solid Rapport Base

#2 Quantifiable Demand Icing

#3 Distinguished Credibility Topper

Your next steps + 3 more gifts to guide you along

Don’t have time to read the whole guide right now? Download the full 3,600+ word guide as a pdf here.

How to sell your guest post the human way. Hint it’s more than just building relationships

The most pervasive advice about guest posting is that you should pitch an influencer only after building a relationship.

As a result, many people spend months building relationships.

But when they finally pitch, they get rejected. Or worse get ignored.

The reason?

Even though building relationships is important to selling your guest post the human way, it isn’t the only thing you need.

You also need to show influencers that your guest post is a fit for their audience.

Typically this involves:

Your online headquarters

Your pitch research

Your pitch itself

In the next few sections, I will share the biggest misconceptions about each as well as what you should do instead. Let’s start with your online headquarters.

How to get your online headquarters ready for pitching

The other day I was talking to my friend Tim about his business.

Tim is a fitness coach, actively trying to sell more of his online fitness programs.

Since I believe guest posting is the quickest way to build an email list that buys, I asked Tim if he had started guest posting.

He said no and then he asked:

Ok we weren’t actually doing yoga on a beach during this conversation. But in my imagination…

“Why do you think you need content on your site first to guest post?” I asked.

“Well if I have enough content, influencers I’d reach out to would realize my work is good and is likely to provide enough value to their audiences,” said Tim.

Tim’s reasoning is sound. But it comes from the flawed assumption that influencers assess your guest post fit by reading your blog in-depth.

The reality is very different.

Most influencers will never read your blog

I mean place yourself in their shoes for a second–imagine that you are a popular and busy influencer.

Would you have the time to go read the blog of everyone who pitches you a guest post?

Probably not.

The truth is influencers try to assess the fit of the guest post based on what is written in the pitch.

In the situations where they do visit your site, they are most likely only looking at your home or about pages. Because these are the fastest ways to learn about someone and what they do.

But before you go polish up those pages up check out the four critical areas influencers are assessing on those pages, so you know exactly what, if anything, you need to improve.

Pro-tip: What should you do when your online headquarters is not a website? What if it is a podcast, Youtube channel, Facebook page or group? Don’t worry. Just apply the ideas you are about to read to the sections of your online headquarters that people would check out for a quick overview of you. For example, for a Facebook page, it might be your cover image, about section, story etc.

What influencers are looking for

When influencers visit your home and about pages, they are trying to assess how well you fit with them in four different areas.

#1 Who you help

The first thing most influencers do is try to understand who you help. They are trying to see if the people you help is either their exact audience or an audience that significantly overlaps with their own.

What type of people are your ideal clients? Is it specific to a gender, an age group, a life stage, or any other audience group?

For example, do you help women or men? If you help women what kind of women? Are they students, professionals, business people? Are they single or married? Are they younger women or older women? Do they self-identify with any particular groups? Eg. ADHD, introverts, extroverts, badasses?

#2 What problems you solve

The second thing influencers look for is an understanding of the problem or category of problems you help your audience solve. For example–do you help them with weight loss, career advancement, starting their business, growing their business etc.

In the back of their heads, they are asking themselves if the problem you solve one their audience struggles with? If yes, they then move on to the next criteria.

#3 How you help your audience

The third thing influencers look for is your unique method for helping your audience.

They are asking themselves is this a method that they don’t usually cover? Haven’t covered in a while? Or aren’t interested in covering themselves?

For example, the method I use to help with list building is guest posting. Since Regina doesn’t usually cover guest posting, we had a possible fit.

I say possible fit because it can all go south if you aren’t a match for the next and final criteria.

#4 Your values

The fourth area influencers try to understand are your values.

Specifically, they are trying to confirm that you don’t have any of their deal breakers.

For example for Regina it is: Given this, it stands to reason that Regina won’t be taking any guest posts from people who only care about making money at any expense possible.

Your Action steps

Influencers may only spend a few seconds on this assessment of fit.

You wouldn’t want to lose a guest post opportunity simply because the possible fit wasn’t immediately clear to them, would you? So take a few minutes to make sure it is.

Want a free 9-day cheat sheet with the specific actions to take to get your online headquarters ready? Click here to download.

How to find the right sites for guest posting

Yes, the bubble-head me loves hair bands as much as I do…

A short while ago I was chatting with Priya.

Priya is a personal finance blogger, who has been trying to make guest posting work for months.

She’s contacted over 20 bloggers. But for the most part, has been met with a miserable radio silence which in her words has sent her into dark spirals of self-doubt about her business.

I knew Priya’s content was solid. I suspected her issue was pitching the wrong sites, so I asked:

“What is the most important thing to look for when finding a blog for guest posting?”

Without missing a beat she replied–“finding a site where you can add value to the audience.”

While that’s certainly important if it is the only thing you are looking for you will get in trouble.

Found a site where you can add value? Don’t stop there!

Here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t stop screening a site the moment you determine you can be of value to its audience.

#1 The site may not have your ideal audience

Just because you can add value to a site with your guest post, does not mean it is a site where your ideal audience hangs out.

Let me give you an example of one of my students Leila.

Leila helps stay-at-home-moms rejoin the workforce by finding remote work opportunities.

Recently she pitched an influencer who like her was in the career advice space, but unlike her, his focus was on helping professionals currently at a job get their next promotion or a raise.

While her advice on finding remote flexible work would add value to the blog, young professionals are simply not her ideal audience. Because of this, the blog was not a good guest posting opportunity for her.

#2 The site’s audience problems might be different than those of your ideal audience

Just because you think you might be able to add value, does not mean you can solve the specific problem a site’s audience may be having.

Going back to our example of Leila for a second. Even though both stay-at-home-moms and young professionals are interested in finding remote work, the problems each audience faces in finding remote work are completely different.

For eg. stay at home mothers often don’t feel confident that lucrative remote work opportunities exist. Young professionals, on the other hand, are concerned about the negative impact working remotely could have on their career advancement potential.

If Leila were to guest post on that site, she would have to spend a lot of time and effort making her solutions work for the problems faced by young professionals. And even then she might miss her mark.

#3 You may not get enough people joining your email list

If the site’s audience and their problems are very different from your own, your guest post won’t help you attract a lot of people to your email list.

Let’s go back to Leila’s example one last time. Imagine if Leila’s guest post got published–do you think the guest post’s audience would have resonated with her story and her advice?

Probably not.

Mothers resonate with Leila because in her they see another mom who has already gone through the doubt and rejection fears they face. They see in her someone who despite these challenges figured out a way to make remote jobs work.

Would a young professional resonate with the same problems and story?

Not likely. And because of this Leila would not have gotten too many people joining her email list from that guest post.

So what should I look for besides my ability to add value when finding sites for guest posting, Sana?

I’m glad you asked.

What you should look for when finding sites for guest posting

I recommend my students look at four different areas when researching sites for guest posting.

Audience fit

Take a few minutes to understand who the site is focused on helping and then confirm this includes your ideal audience. For example, let’s say you focus on helping introverted entrepreneurs. A site focused on entrepreneurs (particularly one that has a more human brand) likely includes introverted entrepreneurs, and so is a good site for you to guest post at.

Values fit

Confirm that you agree with the influencer’s most passionately held core values. Personally, I think it is unethical to guest post with an influencer if you know you don’t agree with their core values.

But even if you keep that aside for a second, posting at a site where you don’t agree with influencer values is unlikely to bring you the list building returns you really want. For example here are some of Regina’s core values: Say for some reason you happened to disagree with these values but somehow miraculously still managed to guest post with Regina. Because most of Regina’s audience agrees with her values, chances are your post would not attract a meaningful number of people to your email list.

Even if they did join, the moment they would notice you don’t have the same values, they would immediately unsubscribe.

Strong audience relationship

Confirm the influencer has a strong relationship with their audience.

To an audience with a strong trusting relationship with an influencer, your guest post is seen as the influencer’s endorsement of your brand. This alone would inspire them to join your email list.

But when an influencer does not have a strong trusting relationship with their audience, your guest post will not lead to any list building returns.

One of the best signs of strong relationships is the level of engagement with their content. Fortunately, that is very easy to figure out using online tools. Here is a screenshot of Regina’s engagement on one of her articles using Epicbeat.

Evidence of promotion

Confirm that the site you want to guest post with promotes the author’s site and/or giveaway gift.

If you don’t, you might end up like Sam, with a hit guest post that does nothing for you: Talk about anti-climactic!

Protip: The reason why some sites don’t promote your site or giveaway is not that they are purposefully malicious. They simply assume your main reason for guest posting is credibility, not list building. This is why you should look for evidence of promotion and avoid guest posting at sites like that.

Your Action Steps

When it comes to guest posting for list building, guest posting with the wrong site is one of the most time-consuming mistakes you can make.

So take some time to make sure you have the right site before you pitch.

Want a cheat sheet of the action steps my students use to find the right site= for them? Click here to download the free 9-day cheat sheet for this post.

How to pitch the right way

Around two weeks ago I was conducting a pitch makeover session for my student Logan.

Even though Logan has a lot of success in helping her clients end relationships compassionately, she does not feel that she has the right credentials to sell influencers on her guest post.

To compensate for this she has been packing the first 3 paragraphs of her pitches with all the credentials she can.

Her hope is that doing so will show influencers that she’s really legit so that they should let her guest post.

But her pitches have been falling on deaf ears.

I’m not surprised because time and again I’ve seen credential packed pitches backfire.

Why credential packing your pitches does NOT work

Even though most people think that packing a pitch with credentials, is the best way to logically sell the influencer on the value of their guest post, that approach rarely works.

Before an influencer can assess your pitch logically, their emotional brain needs to greenlight it first. And unless you know that your credentials have a personal meaning for the influencer, you can almost bet that it won’t.

The reason? A busy influencer’s emotional brain sees your credential packed pitch as yet another distraction from their important goals. And that can kick off a fight, flight, or freeze response. For your guest post pitch that could mean being harshly rejected, silently ignored, or placed in a deal-with-it-later-pile. Fortunately, you can avoid this by using what I call the mouthwatering pitch cake.

What should you include in your mouthwatering pitch cake

A mouthwatering pitch cake has 3 core layers.

#1 Solid Rapport Base

The first layer of the mouthwatering pitch cake is building a solid rapport base.

You can do this by showing how you are like them. Did you happen to go to the same school? Live in the same place? Have a similar annoying family member? Struggle through a similar life experience?

You can also build rapport by showing genuine empathy and interest–What do you most resonate with about the influencer’s journey? Their advice? Their teachings?

Now is the time to share what you most relate to and its impact on you.

Pro-tip: To increase the chances of your pitch success, do rapport building pre-pitch. This is especially important when you are pitching busy influencers who are bombarded by a lot of asks.

#2 Quantifiable Demand Icing

Persuade the influencer’s emotional brain of the value of your guest post by showing them quantifiable demand.

Your goal here should be to show the influencer that the audience demand your guest post fulfills is a big one.

This is important because even if you are absolutely certain that your guest post fulfills a big audience need, they may not think so. Showing them their audience’s demand eliminates this problem.

One way to do this is by asking their audience directly within the communities they nurture their audience.

Not sure how to ask their audience? Check out how I did it for this post below.

#3 Distinguished Credibility Topper

The final layer of the mouthwatering pitch cake is what I call the distinguished credibility topper.

The distinguished credibility topper shows them why you are the best person to guest post with them on your topic.

Here is where you should use your credentials. But don’t pack in lots of credentials, instead focus on a maximum of three.

Make sure these credentials are the highest value credibility markers you have. For example, you could include names of well-known companies you have written for or worked with.

Pro-tip: haven’t worked with any related well-known companies? Replace these with one or two strong testimonials of results you have bought your audience.

Your Action Steps

My students tell me that figuring out the right angles to build rapport and the best credibility markers to use is one of their biggest challenges when it comes to selling guest posts.

Do you relate? If you do, click here to grab the 9-day cheat sheet where I help you find the best rapport angles and credibility markers for you.

Your next steps + 3 more gifts to guide you along

In the last few sections, I showed you how to start pitching guest posts, even if you are a complete online business newbie. I covered every part of proper pre-work including:

What to improve on your site

What to research about the influencer AND

What to include in your successful pitch

But you know that these ideas will only help if you put them into action.

To help make it as easy as possible to take action, I have created not one but three special gifts for you.

First, I’ve put together a PDF version of this post that you can print out to jot down your biggest takeaways and ideas on.

Second, I’ve created a 9-day cheat sheet with the specific actions steps you can take to get your online headquarters ready, research your influencer, and craft your successful pitch.

Third, I’ve put together a list of The 8 ways to find the time for guest posting while building your own blog (even if your business isn’t at a full-time income yet).

Click here to download all three gifts and use them to pitch your first guest post this week!

Sana’s mission is to help humans like you build their email lists and revenue by getting guest posts. She does this by writing guest posts like this one, fueled by so much tea she might create a worldwide shortage. Download her free 9-day cheat sheet so that you too can sell your favorite influencer on the benefits of your unique guest post (and write funny bios on their site).

The post How to Start Pitching Guest Posts (Even If You Are A Complete Online Business Newbie) appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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#Start A Blog #Blogger

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rmil2k · 6 years

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16 Things You Can Do This Weekend to Streamline and Scale Your Business

Just in case at any point this year you’re sitting around wondering if there’s a unique weekend adventure you can embark on to help scale your business, I recommend bookmarking and saving this article. There’s lots to come back to. And if you experience a slow point with your business, you can use one of these activities to make sure you’re still growing and building.

P.S. This post was originally published in January 14, 2014, but has since been revamped and republished.

P.P.S. If you want a book version of this post with 36 more weekend activities (so yes, 52, one for each weekend of the year), please sign up below and I’ll send it over when it’s ready—which will be early January 2018.

16 Ideas You Can Choose from (This Weekend) to Help Streamline and Scale Your Business

1. Launch the MVP (minimum viable product) version of your course.

If you want to test out a course/training idea before building the full thing, then creating a landing page and minimum viable product version of your course is your new best friend.

Check out the checklist below for an idea of what goes on your MVP course landing page, but also check out the video directly below (ignore my voice that sounds like I’m fighting allergies—I was) that reviews some of my favorite MVP landing pages people made (some, in just one weekend) during a challenge I hosted.

The MVP Course Landing Page Checklist Here’s what you’ll want to have on hand or do:

working title for your course

URL for your landing page

rough outline of course content

optional: hashtag for your course

trademark check and Google check  (this is a good idea because you will be using this course name and brand in commerce)

bonus freebie related to your course topic  (think: checklist, tutorial, workshop, challenge, mini-course, or other resource you can send via email to interested audience members in exchange for their email address)

mockup of your bonus freebie

professional email address  (this can be at your main business domain or your new course domain)

marketing email delivery platform (such as: ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, or MailChimp)

high-quality photo of a scene related to your course topic or of you to use on your MVP course landing page and/or in your marketing emails

content idea list related to your course topic  (you can use this to send out engaging resources and keep your audience members engaged before your course launches)

optional: info packet about your course

optional: link and payment method to reserve a spot

2. Make a plan to crowdfund something.

Crowdfunding is kinda what it sounds like—a crowd (whether 10 people or 10,000) funding your idea. You can use sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter to run your own crowdfunding campaign (which usually includes “prizes” for people who fund you, since the money is not a loan, you don’t have to pay it back).

Crowdfunding campaigns are not just good for the $$, but also the exposure. Several products have become somewhat to all the way “Internet famous” after a crowdfunding campaign.

Why? Friends, and even people who don’t know you, are motivated to share your brand and your campaign if they connect with something about it. You can use one of these sites to launch/re-launch a business, a book, a product, a product line, a creative project, really almost anything. 90% of the projects that I’ve supported are by people I don’t know at all.

Crowdfunding even allows you to get out there and start providing consulting services if you want to. Two examples for you: (1) A woman I know in real life “sold” $1000 consulting packages as some of the prizes for supporting her book release. No seriously, look at this thing. She raised almost $12,000. (2) A couple who wrote a children’s book also listed $1000 consultations, among other prizes, for the release of their book and raised over $10,000.

3. Create an online quiz with helpful results or a “prescription” of sorts.

One of the most irresistible types of audience magnets or freebie opt-ins (translation: something people will give you their email address to access) is an online quiz people can take to get some clarity in a field/goal they’re interested in.

Examples:

Discover Your Brand Tone: Are you a Serious Sally or a Irreverent Irene?

Take the Content Prescription Quiz—Know What to Send to Your Audience via Email and Why

What’s Your Dating Style? Take This Quiz to Find Out Why You’re Getting Bored So Fast

Why are quizzes so powerful though?

Well, not only do they appeal to the thing most humans have where we like to talk about ourselves and understand ourselves better, but they also provide you as the brand owner a unique opportunity that few other “opt-in magnets” offer: you can easily create some “next steps” prescriptions or recommendations based on the results people get from your quiz.

One thing I highly recommend, always, is to know where your customer is in their journey of whatever it is you help with. Let’s take a slide from one of my recent presentations to illustrate this point and tie it into the power of quizzes.

Let’s say you’re a personal trainer or a nutritionist (or both) who is specifically helping people with weight loss. Your clients may be at many points on the “Interest to Action Spectrum” . . . and keep in mind, there may be even more points/stops than the illustration below, this is something each brand owner must logically imagine, experience, and build for themselves.

Can you imagine how the free content, and perhaps even the paid product or service, you’d want to serve to a person in Position A (truly making up their mind to lose weight) should be different than the content and product you present to someone in Position C (already committed, already on some sort of program)?

To A, you might want to create a series that helps them envision the benefits of weight loss then talks about the healthiest ways to go about it. You might pitch a low-cost eBook or consultation session. To C, you might want to create a series that helps your audience see the benefits of the methods you teach and builds on their spirit of commitment that is already present. You might pitch a free coaching call or 3-month online program to this person who has already shown the ability and desire to act.

See what I mean?

And guess what?

With a quiz, you can use your magical genius mind and ask questions that help you see which place on the “Interest to Action Spectrum” your new audience member is, and you can create multiple different follow-up sequences (via email, for example) and content pieces to meet them where they are and move them towards where you are.

Awesome, right? I like to use Typeform for quizzes, but you might also try Interact. And psst—if you are a part of PublishYourThing.com, one of the first lessons inside Audience Magnet Arsenal contains two tutorial videos that show you exactly how I designed my popular quiz with 16 different results paths.

4. Create some standard reply emails that you can quickly personalize whenever a potential client emails you.

I use the Gmail extension/app called “Canned Responses” to have some pre-loaded emails ready to go that I can customize for the person/situation I’m responding to. This saves me (or perhaps even a virtual assistant you hire to help you) a ton of time in my inbox.

Think of creating standard responses for:

someone asking you if you have any openings in your coaching/freelance schedule

someone asking for recommendations for _____ (whatever question you get frequently)

someone who wants more information about your _____ (most popular product or service)

times when you’re not taking on new clients and want to direct people to other options or to your waitlist

emails in which someone is thanking you for your work/articles/resources/etc. and you want to respond graciously

emails in which you need to urge your client to get back to you in a more timely manner for a project you’re trying to complete for them—drafting this beforehand will make it not as painful/hard when you have to actually customize and send it

when you are a bit overloaded but want to acknowledge that you got the person’s email

any other situations/needs you run into frequently with your particular brand and audience members

5. Take an online class this weekend to learn a new helpful/creative skill.

Skillshare is highly recommended for online classes. You can also find amazing things on Udemy and through a general YouTube search.

You can even Start Your Book This Weekend with moi, or go for something not directly related to what you do that will help spark some new creativity. Think about:

hand-lettering courses

graphic design courses

speed reading courses

meditation courses

dating or self-love courses

etc.

6. Volunteer some pro bono work to a charity, business, or other organization.

Now only will it be good for the world and good for your portfolio, but a little free work for an organization can:

offer you further experience in something you want to do more of

get you some referral clients from the client you do pro bono for

allow you to possibly offer the free work as a giveaway that people can nominate their organization or that of a friend for

etc.

In these ways above ^^, you can use pro bono work to grow your business, even if it just expands your portfolio or the roster of client logos and testimonials of entities you’ve done work for.

7. Create an engaging challenge for your audience.

A while back, when I was studying for one of my fitness certifications, we spent a good portion of time on the science of motivating people to do things that are good for them . . . even when they might not feel like it or might not know exactly what to do.

This certainly fits for working out for many people, but it can also fit for other things . . . like getting clearer skin, or becoming profitable with your craft business, or learning how to do your own home repairs, or mastering a new language . . . we want the end result, but sometimes the frustrating or repetitive training/actions to get there are not desirable.

But, even if you teach people something they absolutely love every single step of the way, motivating people in smart ways can definitely be worth your time.

Challenges are so powerful because they organically help motivate people by providing small wins, which helps people increase their self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy is basically your confidence in your ability to achieve a specific goal or complete a task. Think about something that is either a bit daunting or that seems wholly insurmountable to you at times. For some people it might be achieving fluency in a new language, for others it might be switching to eating a vegan/plant-based diet.

Now, think of someone extremely approachable and friendly coming along . . . someone who used to be equally overwhelmed by the same task but has now mastered it. Pretend they take you step-by-step through it. Maybe they start by explaining everything vegans can eat and they make you a delicious dish that’s better than anything you’ve eaten in months.

Maybe you think, “Okay, well, I can do it for a day.”

Then, maybe they come over and show you how to prepare an amazing vegan breakfast and lunch. All you know are those two meals, but you get good at them.

Maybe you think to yourself, “Okay, well, actually, I can do this for a few days.”

And so on. When the person showed you how to make two meals that you were able to make well, your self-efficacy increased. You believed in your ability to make an enjoyable vegan meal. And this probably also led you to logically believe that there are other vegan meals you can prepare well.

Even though it may just be a week’s time, how much would your outlook on trying to switch to a plant-based diet change after those successful experiences?

You can design your challenge to create small wins for your audience that majorly affect their beliefs about their capabilities. This can have a lifelong affect on someone and increase their overall confidence so much.

That is powerful . . . and should not (in my opinion) be taken lightly.

The first challenge I crafted for my audience was what I like to call a “happy accident.” You know those times when you mess up something in Photoshop and end up loving it? Or those times when you plan a 30-day challenge that you think only a handful of people will care about and it turns out to be one of the things that grows your brand the most in a certain year?

Yeah. Creating my 30-Day Creative Business Cleanse was my happy accident of 2014, and I want you to have one too, except on purpose.

Planning what you want your audience to accomplish, what you want them to feel, how involved you will be during the challenge, and the format and delivery of the challenge content will help. Head to the next page for info on the types of challenges you can create.

Types of Engaging Challenges You Can Try With Your Audience

1. Habit-Forming Challenges  (typically spread over a specific timeline)   Ex: 14 Days to Yoga (for newbies who’ve never done yoga)

2. Habit-Changing Challenges  (usually done over a specific number of days/weeks)  Ex: The 6-Week Sugar Elimination Challenge

3. Cleanses or Detoxes  (which can really fit in as one of the above challenges)  Ex: 30-Day Creative Business Cleanse

4. Goal-Based challenges  (with the ideal final result of goal completion)   Ex: Sew Your Own Dress Challenge

5. Activity-Based Challenges  Ex: February Photo-a-Day

6. Knowledge-Gaining Challenges  Ex: Learn Spanish for Tourists in 3 Weeks

7. People-Based Challenges   Ex: The 4-week Date Your Spouse Challenge  Ex: 30-Day Business Cleanse for Freelancers

8. Fun Challenges   Ex: The 30-Day Guide to Getting Flirty in Your Thirties

9. Awareness Challenges   Ex: Live Trash Free for a Week

8. Spend some time learning (really, really learning) a social media platform you think might be valuable to your business.

For example: Play around in Pinterest for a few days. Note the pins that draw your attention, read descriptions and see which ones are most effective, find some top pinners in your industry and see what they’re doing right.

Learn the slang, etiquette, and way of life on the social media channel of your choice. Read a book on it, find some good blog posts on it, and then dive into creating content for your business social media profile/page.

9. Get some new photos of you, your products, your office, or your customers enjoying your products. Doing this in a large weekend batch will give you content for weeks/months to come.

Whether you get some professional photos taken (which is a great idea to lend credibility to you) or you learn a few photography tricks with your iPhone or Android device, new pictures always entice readers, regular visitors, new visitors, social media followers, etc.

Plus, have you ever noticed that you’re more excited about promoting something when you have an awesome image of it? Even if you offer a digital service (such as online coaching or a freelance service), you can get images of you at work or images that represent the kind of work you do. If you’re a digital business owner, you have the opportunity to get creative with how you present your work visually.

10. Create an arsenal of visual templates that complement each other.

For some examples, check out the list of “5 Graphic Templates to Make and Use for Your Brand” below.

1. Article, podcast episode, or blog post templates  Shoot for a well-designed graphic that is perhaps Pinterest-friendly (so maybe 800×1200 pixels) that you can use for posts, articles, or other resources you will create more than once. When you make templates (like Jorden of WritingRevolt.com does), you will save yourself tons of time and create brand consistency.

2. “Click to share” graphics As an attractive way to encourage more people to share your blog posts, emails, and other resources, consider making “click to Tweet” or “tweet this” graphics. You can even consider making share graphics for Facebook or other platforms—just make sure you link the image to Facebook/Twitter/etc. with a ready-to-go post to be shared. You can use the site clicktotweet.com to help.

3. Infographics When you want to display information graphically (which of course explains the term: info-graphic), there are a few tools (my favorites are Piktochart and Canva) to help you. They make creating attractive infographics fun and fast.

You can use infographics inside emails and blog posts, on your funnel signup page or sales page, and so much more.

4. Facebook ads Whether you create an image like the one below to promote your free meditation series or you dip your toes into video ads, budgeting a little each month to boost your Facebook Page posts or to create custom ads can be a very solid idea when you’re trying to grow your audience and sell your products. Having some pre-designed templates can drastically cut down the time and hassle to get a successful ad up and running.

5. Email headers Though you don’t have to use images in your emails, if you choose to do so, creating a header (like the example above to the right) for your content can help remind your audience member what they’re receiving, re-engage them in your content, and get them excited to scroll down and read.

To discover 5 more types of graphic templates I recommend making during your weekend of creating your Visual Arsenal, don’t forget to sign up for the 52 Things You Can Do for Your Business This Weekend to Scale It eBook.

11. Create a physical product that you don’t have to carry inventory for or fulfill orders on.

Not only can you create services, digital tools, and scalable “passive income” information products for your audience, but you can also consider:

Physical tools or products that help your clients

Physical products that have branded themes or fun messaging

Printed books, workbooks, etc. that customers can use

And the awesome thing is there are ways for you to get other companies/providers to process your client orders, create the products, and ship them to customers for you. This is called 3rd-party fulfillment. What kinds of things can you get created for you?

Here are some ideas of products you can create (and get fulfilled for you):

Tote bags

iPhone + iPad skins

Art prints

Wall art

Mugs

Posters

Canvases

T-shirts

Throw pillows

Hats

Fabric

Leggings

Board games

Laptop sleeves

Wallpaper

Calendars

Planners

Aprons

Bibs

Sunglasses

And so, so, so much more

To create products like the ones listed above, check out companies such as:

Printful (pictured above)

Print Aura

Society6

Red Bubble

Spoonflower

PrintNinja

And if you’re creating books or workbooks, don’t forget companies such as:

CreateSpace

PrintNinja

Blurb

Lulu

IngramSpark

12. Spend the weekend “Buffering” all your current posts/videos/audio/resources to your social media accounts. Use unique phrases and schedule enough content for 1 – 3 months.

There are many scheduling tools you can use for this, but my favorite is Buffer.

13. Create a funnel to educate and entertain your audience as well as to sell to them.

A funnel is simply one or more of your ideal audience members being drawn in by an amazing resource or gift you offer, then being taken through a series of content pieces you’ve created, in which each piece is meant to: (1) educate and motivate your audience to act on something helpful to them, and (2) accomplish a specific brand goal for you.

My belief is that even though your funnel may have one general goal, the most feel-good, customer-centric, and sensitive funnels are ones that are highly valuable even if someone doesn’t purchase anything and/or ones that have a few stop-off points for people just in case your end goal is not what they need.

To illustrate what a funnel is, let’s take the example of my totally real friend (I didn’t make him up or anything) named Theo to illustrate extremely helpful funnels. In this content series, Theo is not only selling his $35 guide to being a digital nomad in Playa del Carmen, but he is also dishing out essential, valuable information for people who might only need a few additional details or for people who can’t yet afford his book.

That funnel looks super sexy and helpful, right?

But you may have noticed a very key thing is missing. “Traffic” as the marketers say. Humans as I like to call them. How are human-actual-people going to become aware of Theo’s amazing free video on “A day in the life of a digital nomad in Playa del Carmen” to begin with? Head to this post on funnels for more details/ideas on this.

14. Develop your first teaching + sales webinar (combo).

There are two main ways to arrive at a really great topic for your sales webinar—obviously assuming you know exactly what you’re selling. Okay, so you have a product or service that (in theory) you can:

outline the steps or sections of; or

come up with a clear end result or goal for (ex: you’ll know how to sew your own dress after you take this course, your website will be built when I’m done building it for you, you’ll have a healthier mindset on what to eat now that you’ve gone gluten-free after we’re done with my coaching service)

. . . then you have everything you need to come up with your webinar topic. Simply outline your product or service (by breaking it down into steps or topics), whether it’s something you do for a client or something you teach your client to do for themselves, then do two things:

Think about what it would be like to deliver/teach the first 10 – 30% of your product (give or take—you can of course go outside of these numbers) as a webinar.

Think about what it would look like to teach/present 10% or more of each section or step of your product or service as a webinar.

One method takes people on a deep dive of the first parts of your product and the other method gives people an overview and actionable information on your whole process. Either way, your audience will have enough information/ideas to get excited and know what they need, so your “job” with the webinar is to present your product or service as the logical way for your audience to get the rest of what they need.

15. Create a smart content plan, with your business goals and business model in mind.

You can watch the secret, unlisted video training below to find out the five questions you’ll want to answer to create a content plan that won’t waste/suck your time and that will be on target with your business model.

16. Create an epic email course that you can use as an audience magnet or even a funnel, of sorts.

You can download the planning sheets below by just clicking here or clicking the image, then you can head to this article on creating an email course.

Don’t forget that you can get 52 Things You Can Do For Your Business This Weekend to Scale It for free, below. I’ll send it to you as soon as the book is ready.

Which weekend activity will you try for your business? Please let me know in the comments below. Oh, and, quick favor: Please share this post with other business owners or freelancers you know, so that they can add some fun to their weekend or be inspired during lulls in business. Thank you!

The post 16 Things You Can Do This Weekend to Streamline and Scale Your Business appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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#Start A Blog #Blogger

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rmil2k · 6 years

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The “My Listings, My Leads” Promise

Leads

The KW Lead Generation Network gives you presence and power in online searches. Combined, there are well over 200,000 sites in our lead generation network.

Listings

The Keller Williams Listing System (KWLS) protects you when you decide to syndicate your listings. It guarantees that our associates maintain ownership and control of their listing data and gain maximum exposure for their listings online.

The “My Listings, My Leads” Promise

You work hard to get your listings and deserve every lead that comes from them. Our entire online lead generation system is built around this philosophy. Whenever listings are marketed on the KW network and listing syndicates, all the leads go directly to the listing agent.

The post The “My Listings, My Leads” Promise appeared first on .

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#Start A Blog #Blogger

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rmil2k · 6 years

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FSBOs hit record low for third straight year

BYMARIAN MCPHERSON Staff Writer

OCT 30

For the third year in a row, for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) transactions accounted for only 8 percent of recent home sales, the lowest share that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has recorded in its annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers since the report was first released in 1981.

FSBO sales hovered between 12 percent and 14 percent from 2001 to 2008. In addition, the share of recent homesellers who sold with an agent remained at a record high of 89 percent in the last year.

NAR Managing Director of Survey Research Jessica Lautz says FSBO sales have flattened due to current market conditions where sellers need a competitive edge that only an agent can provide.

“What we do see is that sellers are working with agents to help market their homes to potential buyers, sell it in a specific time frame and price the home competitively,” she said. “Pricing the home competitively is really important for sellers today, especially because everything is rapidly changing with prices.”

“So knowing how to price that home so they can sell quickly is important, and that’s difficult for FSBOs to do,” she added.

Fifteen percent of FSBO sellers said getting the right price was their biggest obstacle, followed by selling it within a certain timeframe (13 percent) and understanding and performing paperwork (12 percent).

According to NAR, the median FSBO sales price rose slightly from $185,000 to $190,000 last year, compared to the median price of a home sold using an agent, which stands at $250,000.

FSBO homes sold more quickly on the market than agent-assisted homes. Fifty-eight percent of FSBO homes sold in less than two weeks — often because these homes are sold to someone the seller knows. The median age for FSBO sellers is 55 years. Seventy-four percent of FSBO sales were by married couples that have a median household income of $103,100.

The post FSBOs hit record low for third straight year appeared first on .

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#Start A Blog #Blogger

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rmil2k · 6 years

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Team Members

The post Team Members appeared first on .

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#Start A Blog #Blogger

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rmil2k · 7 years

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Create a Feel-Good Facebook Ads Funnel for Your Course or eBook

Long before I could even begin to define a Facebook ads funnel, from the moment my first $3 sale showed up in my eCommerce dashboard for an eBook I’d written out of pure necessity (to help potential clients plan their brand fully before I started working on their website), I was amazed at the magic/science of someone who doesn’t know you one day, purchasing from you and passionately sharing your stuff all over the web the next day.

I made up my mind to get a Ph.D. where I could research the factors that go into the purchasing decisions of consumers buying from infopreneurs, influencers, and “authorities” online. Still working on that whole Ph.D. thing, but until that time, I have some 80% nerdy, 20% hip, but 100% mind-blowing examples and trainings for you if you want to start selling your programs, services, or digital products online . . . on autopilot . . . while remaining very human and in touch with the people you are serving.

We’re gonna get into actual funnel examples, and so much more . . . you’re ready, right? Oh, and I told you about the free case studies and masterclasses to help you learn Facebook ads from scratch, right? More on that later. And more on these mysterious sheets in a second.

First, it’s time to briefly review what a funnel is and why I go through an intense period every 2 years or so where I desperately try to think of a different name for “funnels” because of the way people abuse, misuse, overuse, etc. the term.

What is a funnel, really?

Which is why I’m always trying to rename “funnel” . . . people in the online marketing space seem to love to abuse the word . . . by offering little value, lots of pressure, and only high price point resources. Funnels don’t have to be ridiculous. They can be some of the most amazing experiences for your audience . . . something that you get thank you emails and fire emoji tweets about.

Back to the point of this article . . .

Let’s get to an example funnel, eh?

We can take the example of my totally real friend (I didn’t make him up or anything) named Theo to illustrate extremely helpful funnels. In this content series, Theo is not only selling his $35 guide to being a digital nomad in Playa del Carmen, but he is also dishing out essential, valuable information for people who might only need a few additional details or for people who can’t yet afford his book.

That funnel looks super sexy and helpful, right?

Getting people to the start of your funnel . . .

There are countless ways someone can become aware of Theo’s video (or his free checklist, or his workshop, or whatever he chooses to share):

Theo might share a link to his video in a Facebook Group for digital nomads that he’s a part of

Theo might share his link on Instagram

Someone might tweet out about Theo’s video/resource

People could find his video from a pin on Pinterest or a Facebook Live video

. . . and so on

BUT. How can Theo create a consistent stream of the right kind of people landing on his resources? People who are interested in travel, digital nomading, living abroad, doing freelance work on the Internet, etc.?

One seriously epic way is to invest a little time learning how to target, and scale with, Facebook ads.

And I have some seriously cool examples for you in this article. But first, know this: I used to be so epically scared of Facebook ads. I was 100% sure (in my state of ignorance) that they were going to waste my time and money.

Then I started paying attention to various friends of mine online. Like Aby Moore, second from the right in the image below—she drove hundreds of dollars in sales on a workbook from $130 in Facebook ad spend. Or like the amazing Kimra Luna, on the left below—her love affair with Facebook ads started when she spent $400 and got 1000 people signed up for her first business webinar. P.S. The thing all these screenshots have in common is the fact that they’re all case studies and masterclasses you can access in Social Ads School.

I watched how my friend (and former client) Courtney Sanders absolutely blew up online—the good way—with Facebook ads funnels like the ones she shares in Social Ads School. She didn’t start testing out thousands of dollars. She started testing out a $100 ad spend and getting back $196 in sales of a 7-day challenge—as she explains in the slide towards the left above.

And of course, I’ve been watching two people I admire a ton, Verick Wayne (my friend since undergrad)—as he got more and more passionate about Instagram and Facebook and paved the way for me to use them more effectively, and Andrew Hubbard—a genius Facebook ads strategist who works with course sellers, event hosts, and more.

And after all these examples and lessons, I decided to give Facebook ads a serious try. The results have been kinda magical, and today I want to be a ShareBear and share as much as possible with you.

Facebook ads funnels aren’t scary, and they can be totally human and warm.

Over the next few articles on this site, we’re going to get into four super clutch examples based on four pretty common product/business models that you might be pursuing or considering. These are the same four “tracks” or “streams” used in Social Ads School, so that you can find the sessions most relevant to your business (but of course you can always watch all 30 sessions).

You may be selling:

Courses and eBooks

1-on-1 services like consulting and freelancing

Masterminds or group coaching programs

Tickets to live and virtual events

We’re going to take some examples from a book I created on funnels, example avatars—one for each of the product models above—and trace out a full, epic, profitable funnel that starts with a targeted Facebook ad. Today we’re starting with Facebook ads funnels specifically for course creators or book sellers.

How to Create a Facebook Ads Funnel to Sell Your Course or eBook on Autopilot

Let’s revisit this Theo character from one of my books. Remember . . . he is selling a digital guide (eBook and an accompanying video or two) on living and working internationally in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Step 1: Create a Compelling Offer to Start off Your Facebook Ads Funnel

Theo might start with a simple Facebook ad that he targets at anyone who has similar habits (on Facebook) to his website visitors—he can do this by installing a piece of code on his site (a Facebook pixel) and then creating a “lookalike” audience in his Facebook ads account.

In addition to the fact that the people he targets “look like” people who already visit his website, he might also make a condition of his ad that it’s only shown to people who also like a popular digital nomad Facebook page, are between the ages of 23 – 38, and use Gmail as their primary email provider.

His Facebook ad can be a simple 90-second video (maybe where he’s simply holding his phone on a selfie stick and walking around key spots in his city during the day—with good light—sharing 2 or 3 key tips about being a digital nomad).

His video ad can direct people to a landing page on his website where they can sign up (with their name and email address) for two more videos in his series—one that explains the ways you can make money as a digital nomad and one that explains the basics of living internationally.

Pro tip: Theo can use the “thank you” page after people sign up for his free videos to lightly (or fully and directly) mention the $35 guide he sells. This can help sales trickle in immediately and pay for his Facebook ads. But, since he’s still giving free value, it won’t turn off most (reasonable) people to get a special offer of an affordable digital guide.

Personal story side note: I’ve used this “redirect to special offer” method before to drive over $10,000 in sales of an online course immediately after people signed up for a free workshop series. It’s also a method that Tamra Floyd, Courtney Sanders, and Claire Pelletreau use often and show you how to work during Social Ads School.

Step 2: Follow Up with a Reminder and Some Helpful Info/Resources

Since Theo recently collected people’s email addresses, he can send a follow-up email, 3 days after they initially signed up for his list, re-linking to the videos (in case his subscribers missed them), and giving some new, relevant information to his audience.

^^In this email, Theo is combatting a common objection/fear he hears about moving abroad through a well-researched government report on the low crime rates in the city he lives in. He’s also giving people a chance to check out a free podcast series he created with some amazing fellow digital nomads, or to join his free Facebook group and/or buy his $35 guide.

Personal story side note: Theo’s funnel is very similar to how I’ve sold a graphic design course in the past. Facebook ad >> to workshop >> to helpful email chain with more videos/info >> to purchase. The course was priced at $175, and even though only a small percentage of people purchased it, it was enough to pay for the ads and make a nice profit.

Oh, and: If you want some case studies and masterclasses that talk about selling digital courses and eBooks using Facebook ads, check out the sessions in Social Ads School by Melyssa Griffin, Kimra Luna, and Aby Moore, among others.

Step 3: Re-Target People on Facebook AND Send Another Educational/Motivational Email

Here’s where some next level cool stuff comes in. You may or may not know that most entrepreneurs and businesses online are getting open rates on their emails between 17% and 25%. No, I’m serious. Check out this report (updated in 2017) by MailChimp.

That means that for every 100 people you send your emails to, 80 of them don’t open it. That’s serious.

But, it’s not the end of the world. There are almost 2 billion people on Facebook, so it’s a good bet that a lot (if not all) of your ideal audience members are on Facebook.

So, instead of relying solely on email to deliver your funnel (let’s say it goes out to 1000 people one month . . . you want more than 170 or 200 people getting it, right?) . . . why not add a Facebook ad into your funnel?

You’re increasing the chances that the right person will see your content at the right time. So, let’s look at what Theo does and see if it can give you some ideas.

We know that Theo already had people landing on a “thank you” page on his site after they signed up for his video series that they learned about through his Facebook ad (and/or some other means—he can always share his series using free methods as well).

Let’s call that thank you page http://ift.tt/2f54Qdy. Someone would have only landed there if they’d signed up for his series.

Theo can go inside his Facebook ads account and now create an audience (basically, a group of people to show ads to) that will only include people who’ve seen that specific page on his site . . . so the audience consists only of people who signed up for his offer.

And here’s where he goes NEXT LEVEL.

Theo can create that audience out of people who’ve been on that page at least 3 days ago, but no longer than 10 days ago. Or whatever numbers he chooses. Why would he do this?

If he knows he’s about to spend money to show an ad to people in his funnel, why not make sure they signed up for his resource at least 3 days ago (meaning they’ve had time to watch the videos and “warm up” to Theo) but not longer than 10 days ago (so he can keep the audience relevant and fresh—someone may not remember him from 33 days ago or may not be as concerned about the topic anymore).

He (and you and I) can essentially then spend money on just the people who have already shown a high level of interest in what we’re talking about. And because of the way Facebook “Audiences” work, people will automatically be added and removed from the group of people we’re showing ads to based on the conditions we set up.

So on Day 11 after signing up for Theo’s resource and landing on his “video” page, that person will no longer be shown the ad for the second piece of the funnel (let’s say piece #2 is a case study). If they haven’t taken advantage of it by then, why spend money trying to make them? Also, Theo can add a condition that this audience he’s showing an ad to on days 3 – 10 doesn’t include anyone who has already visited the case study’s landing page.

#Brilliant.

So to summarize, 2 – 5 days after someone initially signs up for a resource from you, you can start targeting them with an ad that takes them to the next content piece in your funnel. Simultaneously, you can schedule another email that also takes them to the next piece in your funnel. Adding in the *hopefully* high-converting ad to your email plan will increase the number of people who actually see your next funnel piece.

Step 4: Continue to Use a Combination of the Custom Audience “Hack” in Step 3, and Funnel Emails Spaced a Few Days Apart, to Deliver a Few More Resources

Remember, Theo still has a blog post on how to get great Internet speeds in Playa, his own case study of how he lives and works for under $1500/month, and a lesson on getting the proper visas and permits to stay legally in Mexico.

He can choose to create an ad for some, none, or all of his remaining funnel content pieces (videos, articles, podcast episodes, and more)—pieces that always link or invite people to purchase his guide or a different resource/course he sells. And, he can definitely, for free, create an email to go out every few days for the rest of his funnel content.

If he’s using email software like ConvertKit (the one I use), then as soon as someone buys his guide, he can make sure they stop receiving funnel emails to promote the guide—all of this is done “automagically” with no extra work from Theo after he initially sets up the action/reaction in ConvertKit.

And that my human friend, is how someone can use Facebook ads to sell a course or eBook on “autopilot.” Cool, right? Want more examples like this? Make sure you are:

Signed up for business notes (emails) from me—you can do that at the top of this site

Signed up for Social Ads School—it includes 30 masterclasses and case studies to help you grow your business with Facebook ads and smart funnels

I’ll see you super soon for Part 2 of this series. Excited? Leave a comment below with a funnel idea you have for your own content (no matter how rough an idea) and on September 10 at 7 p.m. Eastern, I’ll pick one person to send $130 in ads budget to. Why $130? Because that’s the amount my friend Aby used in her Social Ads School Case Study to see some amazing results for her brand.

Regina out.

The post Create a Feel-Good Facebook Ads Funnel for Your Course or eBook appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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rmil2k · 7 years

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Why Self-Serving Refund Policies Make Me Cringe

P.S. For you fellow Drake fans, I was considering titling this post, “If you’re reading this, it’s not too late” but then I realized you would have no idea what the article was about.

P.P.S. I am seriously open to debate on this topic. I will present my views but I am deeply interested in learning from the way other people see the world.

There is one reason (you—if you’re someone who is busy building a meaningful business) I was inspired to write this, and I have a few quick illustrations below to show my reasoning. Hopefully you won’t hate me when it’s over.

Why I’m strongly against online course and digital product refund policies that make people do X amount of work or jump through fiery hoops to get a refund.

You.

I write this blog for you. I create tools for you. I stay up at night dreaming, scheming, and creating for you. Not just in the “I say this because this is how online marketers are supposed to talk” way, but in the “No, literally, I relate to where you are and who you are, and where I had to come from to create various businesses and products I love” kinda way.

Refund policies that make clients submit worksheets, and modules, and proof of this and that and the other rub me the wrong way.

If your entire audience consists of people who don’t care about money at all, then cool.

If you have people in your audience that care about spending their money on things they get value out of, or who are on a specific budget, or who may, despite your wishes and requests, spend their last dollar on your program, then hmm.

If your audience potentially includes people like the people I know . . . where an emergency may come up a few days after they purchased your truly great program, but they need money all of the sudden and you advertised a “100% money-back guarantee” . . . then let’s talk about the real reason you make it a chore to get that money back. It’s not like everyone is going to have an emergency.

Let me not get too deep into a rant just yet, and actually outline my reasons for saying that self-serving refund policies disturb me, plus tell you why I think they are so self-serving in the first place:

1. They are not what people expect, assume, or want.

I was at a vegan restaurant in Playa del Carmen, Mexico the other day and I ordered some pie. Let me be honest here. It was disgusting. I didn’t want to be rude to the chef so I took two bites instead of just one, but then I just couldn’t do it anymore.

Laura, a super kind lady who works there, noticed that I didn’t eat the pie when she brought me the check and asked if it was okay. I was honest that it wasn’t my favorite, but that I was of course going to pay for it. She said, “No. If you didn’t like it, I’m taking it off of your bill.”

This is the level of service that sticks out to clients. (I’ve been back to that restaurant 25 times since the pie because I have a new level of trust for them.) The average consumer who buys online courses and digital programs is used to being able to take any item back, whether food, drink, clothing, or otherwise, within a reasonable amount of time to get their money back. We don’t expect you to come to our homes, make sure we’re using the new boots we bought, but have a $50 refund waiting in your pocket if we aren’t using them, but we do expect to be able to bring the boots back if we don’t use them or if they hurt.

When you want something removed from your bill at a restaurant, they don’t make you eat the pie in front of them, or try at least 50% of it to make sure it really doesn’t work for you. The attendant at the clothing store doesn’t make you wear the blazer for 25 minutes in front of them and stare at yourself in the mirror the whole time to try to assess your deep wounds/reasons for not feeling you look good in said blazer.

We expect to be able to return something we don’t want anymore, or gasp, realized we really couldn’t afford (we’re human; we make mistakes and miscalculate) or fit into our lives, but we were carried away with the hype or sales tactics.

2. They serve the course/product creator solely. They do not serve you, the customer.

I’ve yet to meet the person, not saying they don’t exist, who loves the fact that they wanted to get a refund for a course, but were told they had to submit 5 screenshots of work, 22 pages of the workbook—completed, and a statement that they really gave it their best. Perhaps there is one story of someone who did the work and then realized, “Oh no. I love this course and the creator for making me do this.” I’ve just never met that person.

You are the one investing hard earned money and time into the program. I personally believe you should have the right to change your mind, run into an emergency and need the money back within a reasonable amount of time, or realize you made a rush decision or a decision off of faulty/incomplete information that the course’s affiliate, sales page, etc. gave you.

If you think of my ridiculous illustration above of trying to return a blazer and the store representative making you try it on and stare at yourself for 25 minutes, the store is now moving into the realm of life coaching, psychiatry, and spiritual healing.

I can hear the person saying, “Why don’t you feel like you deserve this blazer? Why are you not willing to put in the work to make this blazer everything it can be in your wardrobe?”

And you’re like, “Umm. I just didn’t realize it had purple polka dots on the back and that it is a little too loose in the front.”

3. They establish a mother-child relationship with you, the client. The one paying money. From one adult to another.

Here’s my favorite thing ever. Extreme sarcasm. I saw a headline a few months ago for an old interview session that one big name industry person did with another big name industry person. The headline was interesting, “How SoAndSo lowered return rates . . .”

I clicked. I read the text that went with the session so you could get a gist of what would be talked about. I almost threw my computer across the room in disgust. I showed my friend what I thought was the most outlandish, ridiculous stuff ever. He agreed that it was terrible business.

The person lowered their return rates by making it harder to return the course. That was not even the hidden message of the “resource,” it was the very highlighted and praised message of the interview session. Something about how it makes people be more responsible for actually doing the work. Nothing about how the course creator invested time in improving the experience of the product.

My thinking (as someone who has both people who’ve asked for refunds AND amazing super supporters who buy everything, happily): If 20 – 30% of the people who invest in a program want their money back (first off: I would die, then need to be brought back to life to fix the issues), it is less likely that it’s related to the client and their sense of personal responsibility, and more likely that they can’t understand the value of the program yet, or that they were confused during the buying process, or that the program doesn’t do what it said it would. All of those things are on us as the course creators.

So, turning a refund into an “opportunity” to teach a grown adult a lesson about personal responsibility is a little too “Am I 7 years old?” for me.

4. They’re a bad business practice.

A couple of months ago, I felt like I was frozen in time/twilight reading a horror story when someone linked to the Facebook post of a course/program creator they used to love (someone I’d never heard of, but has a large following online) when this course creator went into a long story about refusing to refund a woman who said she needed the money back for a health procedure.

It was so painful to read. Even if this woman completely made up a medical condition and wanted the money back to buy 1,000 yo-yos for herself and 53 chew toys for her dog.

The course creator framed her adamant, “No.” as the best thing for this client, as standing up for herself, and as believing in the strength of her program and not being bullied by people who don’t want to do the work.

I expected the comments on this post to be FIRE DRAGON level. And indeed, many people expressed dismay and extreme disappointment in the course creator (to which she replied individually something along the lines of “Look inside yourself to see why you have a problem with what I did.”), but what surprised me is that the post had a few, “You go girl!” comments. “Way to not back down.” “You showed her.”

I believe in my heart that most course creators, even those who have a “You have to send me a blood sample and gold doubloon to get a refund” policy would choose to give back the money to someone who says they’re in need, so I really use this just to show that making refunds hard typically isn’t good business.

Why?

Do you get to keep the money? Yes. But at what cost? You are creating an environment where people speak poorly of your brand.

I was teaching an in-person workshop on online courses (ahh, the irony) last year when a few attendees went on a rant/tangent when they discovered they had all purchased a certain course from a specific brand online . . . had all not liked the experience . . . but had all been unable to ask for a refund in time because of the work they had to submit (that they didn’t realize) or had decided to just forego the refund attempt because of how much work it was.

Did they have anything positive to say about this course or the brand behind it? No. Did they pass on a certain impression of this course and brand to those of us listening in amazement? Yes. Was that good for that brand? No.

Oh, and here are a few personal reasons not everyone will agree with:

5. The refund policies are usually enforced by people who don’t need your money.

Whether the program is $250 or $2500, the person usually doesn’t need your money to survive.

6. These policies don’t put much pressure on the course creator to create something amazing that is easy to understand. And then motivate people to begin.

It places the pressure on the client to begin, progress at the rate the course creator would like, then submit proof if the materials don’t work.

7. The refund policies seem lazy.

Whereas if you run a business where you’ve incurred significant extra costs to take on a new customer (renting a physical space for an event that can fit everyone, creating a gift bag, etc.), it can make total sense to not allow certain refunds, but for online course creators delivering a digital product, the marginal cost to bring on one additional student isn’t (to me) justification for keeping their registration amount if they want it back.

As the product provider, wait until 30 days after the person has purchased, and then on the 31st day count the income as real. If you’re not as attached to it and to making a specific amount, it won’t be a big deal to process the few refund request you might get.

To be honest, I much, much prefer when people state that there is no refund (where legal), and I’m pretty sure I bought a digital kit with that knowledge before, over people using language like “100% satisfaction guarantee” or “try this risk free” or any number of phrases, when the fine print is that we really have a few days with your program to figure out if we like it, then we have to do the most to detach from it.

If you’re in the online business space, you might wisely be asking “Why in the heck would you write a blog post that is going to cause big industry names to not ever want to work with you, Regina?”

Great question.

1. If the industry person is someone who actually finds they agree with some of the points above, and decides they don’t really need their return policy the way it is, then we all win, because more information is available truly risk free.

If the industry person is someone who reads this and hates me, then I’ve successfully helped to disqualify us as awesome collaborators in the future. I would have views that they hate, and they would have views that I don’t believe serve the people I want to serve.

I’ve accidentally introduced you to (through this blog and past collaborations) brands that don’t stand for you the way I would want anyone I introduce you to to stand for you, and I don’t want to do it again.

2. I’m going to be very frank and “nontraditional Regina” here, I don’t need one specific relationship with one specific industry name in order to make money and live. I need you. And I need to continue to build a brand through which I can help you create a business that doesn’t rely on one specific industry person for you to make money and live either.

3. Lastly, if I don’t use the platform that I spent long hours and actual blood, sweat, and so many tears building to ACTUALLY serve you and to take a moment to say, “Hey, there’s another way. Anyone who will listen, check out what message you might be sending with your return policy.” then what am I doing?

Pause. Let me not be 100% rant-y and 0% helpful in your quest for the perfect return + refund policy. First, if you are the creator of courses and digital products, if you are an infopreneur like I am, then I would suggest thinking through your different policies and preferences for eBooks, email courses, online courses, templates, and events.

As an example, my refund policy on eBooks is 14 days. I figure that’s enough time for most people to get use out of, and make a decision on, a book that’s 100 pages or so.

My refund policy for courses is typically 30 days. There are exceptions when there are in-person components (and I’m literally holding one of 5 – 10 spots for you), but I try to give people enough time.

My policy on live events is that you can request a refund through the end of the day of the event. If you wait until the day after, it’s a bit odd since the event has already been delivered. But, if someone told me they watched my live event and didn’t get value out of it, I’d give them their money back and truly question what went wrong for them.

These weren’t always my refund policies. I had to live and learn through some silly phases of mine (like a 10-day time period—for what, Regina? . . . or a 14-day refund period but then the course doesn’t even start for 10 more days). This ridiculousness was a result of moving too fast through everything I had to do, or being shorthanded and leaving administrative details until the very end.

I recommend really taking some time to think through what you want, what your client wants, what you need, and if your fear of refunds is based more on your feelings of how hard-working your audience is going to be (eye roll emoji) or of how incomplete/confusing/etc. your product may appear to someone.

Do the things on the presentation side (what you tell people before they buy), the experience side (how you treat your students and how you guide them through the materials—I’m still testing the best ways to do this), and the backend of your product (its organization, ease of use, completeness, and more) to alleviate your stress and fears about refunds. Build a product so good that if someone asks for a refund, it has nothing to do with you.

P.S. Here’s a tool/product you can use to generate your return policy—among other policies and legal language.

P.S. Image (c) TermsFeed

Let me end by saying . . .

People who have jump-though-hoops return policies are not necessarily bad teachers, bad people, or people who don’t care about others. That is NOT the message I’m trying to send. Also, there are a lot of people doing returns in super ethical ways. Ways that inspire me and that I can learn from.

This is a call for anyone who will listen to not take a practice into your own business or life simply because that’s what some big names do. If you want to have a course with a specific refund policy, I’d encourage you to think about why you want that policy, who it serves, what you would want if you were the client, and how to explain your reasoning plus create an environment where someone is not both pressured into the sale and then told they have to do the most to get a refund for the item.

I am certainly against these policies because of the people I serve, but if you have reasons for supporting these policies, please do not be afraid to share them with us below. I think we can all benefit from hearing each other out and from critical thinking, so please don’t take my rant as a closed issue. Yes, I have this platform so that I can talk about things I believe affect you (the people I write for), but I love to hear and learn from you and others as well.

Seriously.

The post Why Self-Serving Refund Policies Make Me Cringe appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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rmil2k · 7 years

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How to Start a Profitable Online Business for $50 in 3 Months or Less

This post is for your eyes only if you are currently trying to start an online business (a profitable one) from scratch . . . and you want to do it in three months or less . . . oh, and you only want to spend about $50.

Whereas this post (originally published in April of 2015) used to link to a podcast episode on this topic, I decided to completely revamp the post. Why? I think the first chapter of my newest book (which you can find out more about at the bottom of this post) might inspire you and help you to create an amazing online business this year. Ready?

Let’s only assume 3 things as you start your business:

You have access to a computer and the Internet a few times per week.

You have access to a smart phone (yours or a friend’s) that can take pictures and connect with social media.

You either have your closest friends’ and family’s email addresses, or you’re connected with them on Facebook, or through some other electronic means. As in: You can get in contact with your people—whether that be 10 people or 1000, for me, it was more like 10 when I first started. Or, if you’re not connected with friends and family, you’re okay with building a presence online and engaging with strangers (who will totally become your friends, don’t worry).

Now, let’s get into the first chapter.

Chapter 1 of Build Your Freedom Business for $50 in 3 Months or Less: How to Start Coaching, Freelancing, or Selling Information Products Online

“What have I gotten myself into?” you may be asking. A lot of things. But the main one is discovering a new system for starting a business you love. Really, a way of thinking and moving through the very involved, and intricate, and amazing world of creating a profitable online brand or empire.

After years of creating various businesses, years of creating websites for clients and personal projects, and most recently, years of creating and running online businesses full time, I can without doubt tell you I’ve failed a lot.

Wait, what?

Yes. I’ve failed miserably, I’ve failed publicly, and I’ve failed my way to success. Let me explain. Because I believe the lessons learned can help you create your own business online with less stress, fewer headaches, fewer sleepless nights, fewer mistakes, and less time. It will still be a lot of work, but man will it be worth it.

Let’s explore.

The Internet created a whole new world of possibility and completely changed the way we (1) get information, (2) make purchasing decisions, and (3) operate businesses . . . among other things.

The online space as it is today makes it possible for people like my friend Erika, a mother of three adorable kids, to make a living online training people how to provide better customer service. The Internet allows my friend Mike to provide coaching for mind, body, and emotional health. It allowed my friend Kelsey to create and sell planning templates to busy women for a full-time income until she decided to also show people how to design their own (which gave her another full-time income). My friend Ivan sells design and brand strategy work online. My friend Aislinn markets and sells her freelance writing skills online for a living. And I could go on . . .

I have friends doing everything from teaching yoga, and selling interior design or architecture services, to creating fabric patterns and selling cookbooks online. I myself write and publish books on business and marketing, plus create courses on starting and running a business, getting better at conversations as an introvert, and using yoga and movement to increase your flexibility, durability, and range of motion as an athlete or gym rat.

How is it possible to make and sell the types of products and services all of these people are creating? How can you really create significant extra income each month or perhaps even work for yourself full time online?

There is more than just one way to accomplish this goal, and in this book, you and I are going to explore the “system” I’ve used to create a full-time income online in the following ways: through freelancing, through online coaching, through self-published books, and through online courses.

Please be mentally prepared that this process is not easy and will require consistency from you, and that the “system” I’m showing you is a solid framework that you can modify and mold to fit you.

Here’s an overview of the system that we will dive into deeply within this book:

Step 1: Start with PASSION.

As cliché as it sounds, I think that the passion you feel for a hobby, a cause, a people group, a certain subject, or a specific skill will be a key driver of creating something meaningful and awesome.

In this book, we will get into a questionnaire to help you discover some of your true passions plus a list of 1001+ niche topics to help you pinpoint what interests you, what you want to talk about and create content on, and what you love.

As an example, for the purposes of this overview, let’s take a woman named Frankie who is a yoga + fitness instructor, a woman named Ingrid who is passionate about the uniqueness and strength of introverts, and a man named Paul who has transformed his health and body by becoming vegan and eating an amazing plant-based diet.

Frankie identifies her passion as helping people get fit.

Ingrid identifies her passion as helping introverts embrace + use their personality traits and succeed in life.

Paul identifies his passion as the power of veganism to transform your internal health and your body.

Step 2: After identifying your passion, identify your PEOPLE.

Part one. When you have a specific topic/niche in mind, it’s time to start imagining the basic details and habits of the type of person who will be interested in your topic or who needs help with what you provide content on.

Paul might assume that women (and a few men), between the ages of 24 and 50, who have had digestion issues or who are having a hard time losing weight or staying energetic throughout their day might be in need of his information.

Frankie might start to realize she really wants to work with martial artists and other athletes in need of strength and agility. She might then assume most of her clients or audience will be between the ages of 20 – 40, and she might also assume that many of her clients will be men.

Ingrid might realize that most of the people she’s ever talked to about extreme introversion are women, between the ages of 25 – 50 who are tired of being made to feel like their personalities are weird or bad.

Part two. Once you have the basic details of your people in mind, you can head to the Internet (and to in-person events, hangouts, or organizations) to actually find these people and engage with them. In fact, you may already be involved in groups either online or in real life that hold your ideal audience members.

Ingrid might find a Facebook group or another type of online community for introverts and join it. She might also start reading the comments on top blogs about being an introvert.

Paul might find a Facebook group for people trying to lose weight or struggling with digestion issues (there are groups online for all types of needs, people, and interests).

Frankie might connect with people in her gym or people who regularly comment on a popular MMA Instagram account or a men’s health magazine’s Instagram account.

Part three. After you’ve engaged with your people a bit, it’s time to learn more specifically how to help them. This may include working with them pro bono, providing free content to them, or even creating some low-priced services or products to test the waters.

Paul might offer to coach one of the women in an “Overcome IBS” group online through a plant-based diet for 30 days. He might also create some free meal plans and share them with his friends on Facebook.

Frankie may decide to offer a few free sessions to a martial artist at her gym who she has seen lifting in such a way that will slow his progress towards becoming more quick and agile. She might also decide to do a “10 Days of Basics” series, where she covers some foundational lifts, exercises, and principles for people who want more speed and agility—then she might share her videos or pictures with an online group she is a part of and invite people to ask any questions they may have.

Ingrid may start asking questions in the “Introvert Power” Facebook group she found about what people’s biggest struggles are or where they feel most misunderstood. She might then create and share several new blog posts that address the topics the other women have brought up.

Part four. Once you’ve worked with your people a bit, it’s time to go back to that basic description you created of your ideal audience, and truly take time to expand it. Understand your people fully, ask them questions, draw from your experience of working with them for a while, and confidently move into the next stage of your business with the knowledge that you can really help the people you want to.

Ingrid may figure out that the majority of people’s issues (at least, the people she’s connected with) stem from their discomfort in social situations. As a fellow introvert, she knows the value that introverts present to friendships, organizations, and the world in general, so she wants to help introverts function better socially—and be able to get more and give more in their time around “strangers.”

Frankie may come to realize that she’s most passionate about working with mixed martial artists and basketball players. She might decide to start pitching freelance content to elite gyms, sports magazines, or popular Instagram accounts in her niche. She might continue to work with athletes and listen to their questions and frustrations intently.

Paul may start to realize he really wants to work with people who are having troubling stomach issues and not people who are only interested in weight loss. He can start to engage even more with people who fit this description, he can take notes and learn from the questions and ideas of the few people he worked with for free, and he can ask lots of questions of the people he’s finding.

Intermission—It’s time to figure out which product(s) will get the information or help you offer (from your passion you identified in the first step) to the people you came to understand in the second step.

At this point, you will likely have some idea of how to best help your people. Is your topic/expertise something you need to walk people through step by step? Maybe a coaching program is best for you.

Is what you do so specialized and fun for you that you want to just create it for your client instead of helping them create it? Perhaps freelancing (graphic design, copywriting, interior design, etc.) is best.

Do you want to take all your knowledge and package it up as videos, audio, or even text and images that people can access anytime, anywhere to help them accomplish a goal? Perhaps creating an online course will help you reach the most people.

Or, would you like to find ways to communicate through text and images and create a low-cost product with zero to no ongoing maintenance? Perhaps writing and publishing your own book is your best bet.

Paul might decide that the hand-holding and emotional support of a coaching package is the best way to serve his clients during such a sensitive time in their lives. He wants to offer 1-on-1 options (for those who want privacy) and group coaching options (for those who want to meet and learn from others going through similar issues).

Ingrid may decide that a book (a very non-invasive learning tool for introverts) on better conversations and socializing will serve her audience best.

Frankie may come to discover that one-on-one coaching is super effective but that an online “Need for Speed” course is a great way to transform athletes from a distance who desperately need her knowledge.

Step 3: Now. Once you have a grasp of your passion and your people, it’s time to create the rough draft version of your PRODUCT.

When I say “rough draft” know that this can actually mean anything from a landing page with information on your service or product plus a place for people to request more information and get a free resource while they wait . . . all the way to a site for full-blown, fully published book on the topic of your choice.

The great thing about the Internet though . . . is it lets you test out ideas before you sink a ton of time, money, or work into them.

Paul might build a landing page for a new 90-day transition and healing program he’s outlined (but hasn’t finished creating all of the content for yet).

Ingrid might put up a blog post and pre-sales page on her website for her new book. She might even give away the first chapter for free.

Frankie might create a short introduction video series for her “Need for Speed” course that athletes can get for free when they sign up to her email list. She may then email them information on a full-blown course/program and see how many people click a special link to say they’re interested in the program at the price point she’s suggesting.

In this book, I will show you how to set up your minimum viable product (MVP) or rough draft product for four of the things I’ve done online for a full-time income: coaching, freelancing, book publishing, and course creation. Keep in mind though, you can also choose to create physical products out of your passion, or hold in-person workshops, among many other things.

Checkpoint—It’s time to establish an entity, brand identity, and content plan (this is what will consistently show people you know what you’re talking about and attract people to your brand).

Oh, and here’s the good news. In this book I show you a few different models of content creation. There is more than just the strategy of creating tons of blog posts or podcast episodes consistently. I promise. I’ve seen it and I’ve done it multiple ways.

Ingrid might start her business, brand it with very soft, neutral colors, and start creating a conversation tips series as downloadable audio files that her audience can listen to as they commute, work, run errands, or relax.

Paul may decide to form a legitimate business entity, name his business something catchy dealing with gut health or veganism, and start interviewing people on plant-based diets twice a month.

Frankie might start her business, name it after herself, and start recording videos of some of her most fun workouts.

Step 4: After you’ve got your minimum viable product (or idea for it) and your brand in place, it’s time to really focus on creating a powerful PLATFORM for you and your information.

You will want to consider creating “audience magnets” (content to draw the right people to you online), organic search engine traffic to your site (by playing nice with Google and Pinterest), regular social media posts in the right channels, and even online events to drive awareness of your topic and brand.

Frankie might create an eBook called “Speed for Martial Artists” and another one called “The Baller’s Guide to Agility” and release both for free, sharing them consistently. She may release some of her workout videos on Instagram and on YouTube and start hosting regular live informal “workshops” or Q+A sessions online to attract athletes with questions.

Ingrid might create a quiz called “What type of conversation introvert are you?” that helps people identify their major fears or blocks when talking to strangers, networking (psst—as an introvert, this word makes me cringe), or meeting new people.

Paul may decide to create “The Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Plant-Based Diet Healing” for free and release his interviews regularly on YouTube and as a podcast on iTunes. Paul might also start creating custom graphics for each episode that he can share on Pinterest.

Psst—you and I, and Frankie, and Ingrid, and Paul, will all probably benefit from creating an actual editorial plan (as in: a super professional, and well-thought-out schedule) for our content so that it all fits together nicely and works toward common brand goals. You don’t want to create individual pieces that don’t fit well together or serve a greater purpose.

Step 5: Now that you have your online platform planned out and rolling, it’s time to discover how (and what types of) PROMOTION can consistently point interested people directly to your epic solutions for their needs.

You may want to set up something like content funnels (ex: a set of automated emails that happen after someone signs up for one of your resources or online events) to consistently create sales of your product or inquiries from interested parties about your service. Or, you may want to master the basics of email marketing, high-energy online events (think: webinars, workshops, summits, or challenges), or sales for sensitive people who don’t want to seem “salesy.”

Paul may decide to host a “Quit Effing Around with Your Gut Health” webinar once a month for people who are in desperate need of change. During and after his webinar he might create some automated pitches of his full coaching services (or a cookbook he’s since developed) to encourage consistent sales.

Frankie might decide to use her eBooks as the start of an automated funnel, but also set up a “Speed Challenge” that starts on the first of every month as a Facebook group for athletes. She can pitch people her course during or after the guided challenge that familiarizes people with her teaching style and effectiveness.

Ingrid may also create a challenge that helps people spark up conversations with strangers. She might design it as five days of unique activities, and each day that an automated email goes out (as in: she can schedule it in her software and doesn’t have to press “send” each time for each person) she might also offer a discount code for her full course.

Ongoing tasks: It’s important to keep accountability partners, and a plan for the organization + auditing of your life (self-care, balance) and business as you go.

If you let things “progress naturally” with no plan of accountability or organization, you may end up as I did . . . with a business that is running you, with tons of stress, and with more work than is reasonable for one person.

Ingrid may join a weekly mastermind group for support and hire a virtual assistant to help with recording expenses and organizing her email inbox.

Paul may look into getting a business coach and joining a few key business support groups on Facebook.

Frankie may set up a plan to do her own home practice of yoga and fitness so that her own body is not neglected while she serves others.

So, what do you think about this framework? Are you willing to try it? Can you see the image of something epic brewing on the horizon? (Way to mix metaphors and sound silly, Regina.)

If you think you’re ready to begin this journey into creating a profitable business online, the next chapters of Build Your Freedom Business await you.

We’ll begin at the beginning. With your passions—the things that you love and live, the things that drive you and make you want to create.

Let’s begin, my ninja friend. Sign up below if you want information (and an offer for an epic price) on my newest book before it’s released in a few days. I’ll send you an email with some goodies soon.

The post How to Start a Profitable Online Business for $50 in 3 Months or Less appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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#Start A Blog #Blogger

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rmil2k · 7 years

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23 Types of Audio, Video, and Other Media You Can Add to Your Course (or Blog) to Make It Even More Epic

Not that text lessons and articles aren’t super valuable, but in the interest of making your online courses (or blog in general) more accessible, delightful, and useful for different learning styles, it is a good idea to explore the many types of media you can create—easily—and most often without any investment at all other than your time.

Check out the 23 types of media below that you can add to your online course, website, blog, landing pages, and more to create a more valuable and user-friendly experience for your students and audience.

Video

1. Animated videos with voice narration or an epic lesson

A nice change from slides (or from only including video of yourself), animated videos can be a great, clear way to communicate short lessons, to advertise your course, or to help students learn how to use your course dashboard. And yes, if you are wondering, I show you how to make animated videos from scratch, with a $0 video budget in The Epic Business Lock-In™.

2. Recorded presentations—video of your slide deck with narration/lesson audio

I use these a ton in my online courses. Even for lessons that you already have completely written out as text lessons . . . if it’s something that looks good as slides, and will offer a different learning experience for your students, why not record a quick presentation? You can use QuickTime for free, or get software such as Camtasia or Screenflow to do this.

3. Live online workshops

One way to build out the modules of your course, or add valuable bonus content to them, is to create live online workshops on your course topic. You can use them as your main course sections by releasing them on a schedule and making them only available to your students, or you can use them as standalone content pieces (either paid or free) to build your email list or to have additional surprise content to offer your students or blog readers.

Even as a super duper introvert, I’ve now done more live workshops than I can possibly count. They are a wonderful way to get used to teaching, test out content, grow your email list, or build your course. If you’re considering doing your first live workshop, check out The 7 Types of Online Workshops You Can Use to Grow Your Brand, or my article on How to Create + Host Online Workshops (or Live Classes) for Free.

4. Online workshops, edited and repackaged (with extra goodies) after the initial recording

This is one of my favorite ways to create NEW value and new content out of something you’ve already done. You can take one or all of the live workshops you created in #3 above and make them awesome by:

Editing the recording down and taking out unnecessary dialogue, time-specific references that don’t apply anymore (ex: “Next week I’ll be doing another workshop on X topic.”), and any sections you don’t feel went well.

Adding in a re-recording of any sections that you want to redo. You can also add in corrected slides (if you noticed an error after it was too late to fix it), or entirely new sections that you think of by simply recording your screen (talked about below) and audio at the same time.

Adding in a workbook to the workshop. Now that you’ve done the live event, you know exactly what you said, all the points you shared, and you have all the content done . . . why not make an actionable workbook or follow-along notesheets for your workshop? If you were rushing to get a workbook done before the event, you can now go back and make it everything you want to.

Creating a PDF export of your slide deck (if you have one) for people to download and use after the fact to follow along with your workshop.

Getting a transcription of your workshop, or transcribing it yourself, so that you have a text version of everything you said. This is something I’ve done by hiring someone form Upwork.com. Once you have a transcription, you can provide a more accessible version of your content to people.

5. Screencasts

Videos of your screen (often called screencasts) allow you to provide software tutorials, or tips/hacks on how to do any type of computer task, and much more. In the example below, I’m talking through a flow chart for a business. Screencasts are one of my favorite types of videos to create and teach because they don’t require much tech (plus they don’t require you to have your face on screen if that’s not really your style) and can be done for free.

6. Interviews

Whether you’re leaning on an expert for great tips to share with your audience, interviewing people your audience will find interesting, or creating case studies out of the conversations you have with others, videos that feature you and one to two other people can be an amazing form of content—one where you don’t have to do all of the work, and one where you get to add more value to your students through the experience and knowledge of others.

Kimra Luna, shown below, is someone who creates regular video content and frequently adds videos as bonuses or resources within her courses.

7. Videos of yourself

When many people think of making videos, they think of the “traditional” course/lesson videos that show a person, talking on screen, for anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more. And even though there are many other types of videos you can create (as evidenced by this post), videos of yourself can still be some of the most personal, helpful, meaningful type of content you can create.

Your videos can be inspirational messages, quick lessons, course updates, answers to audience questions, and so much more. Plus, they don’t have to be difficult to create. I love how Bunny White, shown below, records some of her videos for her new mastermind brand with simple tech such as an external webcam and QuickTime software.

8. Tutorial videos

Whereas videos of yourself are traditionally though of as sitting in a well-lit space talking to the camera, you can also create videos of yourself that are tutorials on how to do something, like Joanna Egwuagu’s videos (shown below). You can even create tutorials that only show your hands, or that feature someone else, or that are screen recordings instead of recordings of you.

YouTube is often used as a search engine for people who want to learn how to do something (change a tire, install a plugin on their website, use their new camera, do a fishtail in their hair, etc.) so using some of your blog or course videos on YouTube to attract more people to your brand can be an excellent idea. But whether you host them on YouTube, Vimeo, your website, your course site, or all four, tutorial videos can help add to the positive user experience for your audience.

9. Live mobile broadcasts

Live mobile broadcasts are a quick, informal way to add value to your audience or create your online course content. You can use them as Q+As, you can share quick points, updates, and ideas, or you can create whole lessons or interviews/collaborations with them. Several live mobile video apps such as Twitter Live (Periscope—shown below), Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and more, allow you to provide this form of course content for free.

10. Live mobile broadcasts, repackaged and repurposed after the initial recording

One of my favorite things to do is edit former Periscope broadcasts (I like to cut out some of the unnecessary banter or distractions) and add additional downloads, infographics, or content to them, then use them on YouTube, on landing pages, or in various resources and courses. You can view one of my repurposed Periscope broadcasts right here.

11. Videos that show how to use ______ (your course workbook, course website, etc.)

Video walkthroughs of how to get the most out of a book, site, or feature included in your course can be used to help your current students, but can also cleverly be used on social media, landing pages, or in a blog post to entice people to check out your course.

As an example, I show people how to use Epic Blog (a one-year blog planner and editorial planner) in the video below.

Audio

12. Audio lessons (standalone files)

You can either create an audio version of every single lesson or blog post (something I’m working on doing now), or create certain lessons or bonus resources as downloadable or streamable audio files. Creating audio allows you to switch up the format for people who want to or need to learn through listening to a lesson as opposed to reading or watching a lesson. Making your work more accessible is one of the most awesome things you can do for your community.

13. Audio interviews

All the same principles and ideas from point #6 above apply to audio interviews. You can host interviews with expert tips, case studies, or lessons that you co-create with another person in an interview-style format. Check out some of Jen Carrington’s interviews with other creatives as an example.

14. Audio Q+A files

You can set up a place within your course (or on your website) that allows students to ask questions that you respond to with short audio files, text, or even a new course lesson. Responding via audio allows you to create answers quickly, informally, and accessibly for many of your students. Getting real answers from you will add incredible value to the experience of your course.

Slides

15. Slide presentations (standalone slides that don’t require additional voice or video)

Using a service such as Slideshare.net, you can upload your slides (including text, infographics, charts, and more) for people to flip through and learn from. For lessons and challenges that are really information-based, or even ones that have some information but are really communicating steps or actions to take, allowing your students to thumb through your slides at their own pace can be a great learning format.

During the Epic Business Lock-In™, I go into epic detail (with multiple tutorials) on how to create beautiful slides with various tools. Attractive, easy-to-follow slides have made a huge difference for my brand during workshops, in courses, and for various public speaking engagements.

16. Slide files as a PDF download

Below is an image of the slides from my FREE Blog Like a Mag course—they’re provided as a download within the course dashboard, so that people can follow along with them while watching the workshop, or use them as a way to jog their memory without having to re-watch the whole 4-hour training.

17. Masterclass-style slides

Masterclasses are like online workshops except they traditionally include students/viewers/participants doing work during the event and thus leaving with some tangible, real progress. So, if you develop masterclass-style slides, you might create “work breaks” within the slides that prompt certain actions, or you may even create blank slides or space on the slides for students to write their ideas, answers, or notes digitally or by printing the slides out.

Transcriptions

18. Transcribed text of anything that includes audio

For people who won’t be able to hear your content, and for people who prefer to be able to read your words and take their time with your content, consider getting a transcription made of any/all of your content. This can make your course more attractive to people, and will also make it actually usable to many people it wouldn’t have otherwise been accessible to.

PDFs

19. Course manuals, books, or book-like documents

For those extremely long lessons or blog posts, why not use a tool like beacon.by to create an eBook out of your content? It’s something downloadable, it puts all the info together in one neatly-packaged place, and it increases the value of your resource in your audience’s mind.

One popular thing that I’ve been developing lately is course manuals. A book that a student will use for the entire course. It helps students keep track of where they are in the course and not have to print off 1.5 million different documents.

20. Worksheets or notesheets

These popular adult homework facilitators can also be a really key part of how you promote your course or materials. Worksheets and notesheets make great mockups (like the example one below from one of my courses), but they are also an effective way to help students or audience members take action on the information you are giving them.

Templates

21. Style guides

Whether your course is about redesigning a home and you choose to create a template that your students can fill out with color preferences, lighting choices, and more . . . or you’re like me and want to give your students a way to keep all their course materials consistent, creating a sample style guide (as a document, an editable image, etc.) can be simply amazing for your people. My example is the bottom right image—it’s a course style guide made with Google Sheets.

22. Document templates

Another helpful type of media you can provide to your students or audience is a document template relevant to a goal they have. The image above includes my blog business plan template and a lesson planning template.

23. Plug-in-and-go files/templates

One other type of resource or multimedia goodness you can develop for your students or audience are plug-in-your-own-stuff-here files. Like graphics where people can add their own information, or patterns, or a brand video “formula” where people can supply their own content in the order/way you specify for an amazing finished product.

Which of the 23 media types above can you see yourself providing for your students or for your audience? Is there one you can pick that you can get done in the next 7 days?

Oh, and for in-depth tutorials on how to create animated videos, screencasts, interview videos, slides, audio lessons, audio interviews, and entire course/membership websites, check out the Epic Business Lock-In™.

The post 23 Types of Audio, Video, and Other Media You Can Add to Your Course (or Blog) to Make It Even More Epic appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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#Start A Blog #Blogger

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rmil2k · 7 years

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6 Steps to Get Your Finances in Order for Tax Time

Psst . . . I’m going to let an actual accountant and super smart person take the reins on this one . . . meet Janet, of Paper + Spark.

Hi! I’m Janet and I’m an accountant, serial-entrepreneur, and mama of two living in Texas. My passion is helping creative entrepreneurs feel more confident and empowered when it comes to their money. After a winding journey of selling jewelry, stationery, and spreadsheets (oh yeah!) online for the past five years, I’ve noticed that creatives tend to avoid the financial side of their biz. I’m here to help with bookkeeping templates, tips, and tools that are both pretty and in-plain-English.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year . . . time to finally total up all those numbers and see how your business really did this year. If you’re like many creative entrepreneurs and you don’t look forward to this process, you might’ve fallen a little (or a lot) behind on your bookkeeping work over the course of 2016. No guilt trips here; instead, I’ve got six steps to help you get your finances in order. Start taking action now and avoid the stress and overwhelm before taxes are due!

1. Come up with a plan and write it out.

Be honest with yourself—figure out just how behind you are and craft a plan. How much work is going to take to compile all the data you’ll need before taxes are due? Do you need to get started like, yesterday? Or is it not as bad as you thought?

Examine your calendar from now ’til the tax deadline (2016 taxes are due April 18th, 2017) and sketch out how much work you’ll need to do each week in order to get caught up in time. Actually putting it down in writing in your planner will increase your chances of really doing the work.

Here is a very high level view of what you may need to know for your tax return:

Total sales and refunds

Total business expenses (sorted by expense category)

A year-end inventory count if you deal with physical inventory

Expenses related to your car if you used it for business purposes

Expenses related to your home office if you have one

Info on any business assets (think like big equipment) you bought or used during the year

2. Set yourself up to succeed.

That means 1) holding yourself accountable and 2) figuring out how you’ll stay motivated. To prevent yourself from saving all this *boring* accounting work til the last minute (and creating more stress), you need to figure out the best way to hold yourself accountable.

You know yourself best—whether that means sharing your accounting “to do list” with your mastermind group or promising yourself a big reward upon completion. In order to complete any task I really don’t like doing, I’ve got to stay motivated. I personally like to treat myself with a small reward each week after I’ve made progress; this way I keep working on the goal in small, manageable chunks until the deadline. {Note from Regina: Ditto! I like to get myself vegan brownies, yoga gear, new notebooks, or other “school supplies.” Find your “thing” to reward yourself.}

3. Gather all that paperwork.

Just start by getting all your junk together! It’s time to scrounge up all those receipts you’ve been (hopefully) hoarding throughout the year. Don’t forget to organize your digital receipts and documentation as well. Go through your email and “star” any business expense receipts, take screenshots, or print to PDF and save in an easily accessible folder on your desktop.

You can also physically or digitally print your bank statements, PayPal reports, etc. if you want to have these on hand for easier data entry later. Having all your documentation sorted and organized will make life easier when it comes time to record all these transactions.

4. Do the grunt work in pieces.

First—do you have a bookkeeping system, or at least a place to record your sales and expenses? If not, I suggest you set something up and quick. You don’t necessarily have to scramble to research accounting systems or apps right now; a simple spreadsheet can suffice.

Second—it’s time to play catch up. That means entering ALL your transactions for 2016—sales, refunds, shipping, expenses . . . everything. Entering transactions is probably going to be the majority of your bookkeeping time, so try to break it up into small, manageable time chunks.

Remember that plan you made? If you start early enough, you can give yourself a timeline that is actually doable for playing catch up. I’d suggest making it a goal to enter one month’s worth of transactions every week, and go one week at a time. If you start in December, you’ll be done before the April deadline with a few weeks to spare.

5. Make sure to record all your business expenses.

Most legitimate business expenses are also deductible on your tax return, and deductions are a good thing since they reduce your net profit and lower your tax bill. One of the biggest mistakes creative business owners can make is to not take advantage of all the deductions available to them. This often happens simply because you forgot you paid an expense in the first place!

When you’re recording your transactions for the year, make sure you’re recording every expense you paid. You might need to go on a bit of a treasure hunt through your inbox to make sure you’re not missing a business expense you paid last February, for example.

Here are just a few items to get your wheels turning:

Shop fees (like transaction & listing fees or monthly payments for Etsy, Amazon, eBay, Shopify, etc.)

Payment processor fees (Stripe, Square, Etsy Direct Checkout, Paypal, etc.)

Advertising expenses (don’t forget the cost of giveaway items)

Monthly subscriptions (masterminds, resource libraries, stock photography, etc.)

Photography expenses like apps, props, lighting, etc.

Shipping expenses for postage and packaging if you sell a physical product

Professional help for design, SEO, copywriting, accounting, or legal work

Printing costs for business cards and promotional materials

Web costs for domain registration, plug-ins, themes, etc.

Education and training expenses for ebooks or courses (like all of Regina’s goodies!)

Cost of scheduling or email apps (Hootsuite, MailChimp, Schedugram, etc.)

Software expenses (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.)

6. Create a packet of all your bookkeeping totals and supporting documentation.

Once you finally finish getting caught up, make sure you’ve got your sales and all your business expenses totaled up nice and neat. Don’t forget that you’ll need documentation (like a receipt) for every business deduction you claim on your tax return.

I’d suggest printing out your yearly sales and expense totals (like a profit and loss statement basically) and organizing your supporting documents. You are basically creating a nice little packet of all your valuable accounting totals for tax purposes. Hand this packet over to your tax preparer or accountant, wrapped up in a nice little bow (just kidding), and they will be so impressed with you! Now breathe easy and go have a glass of [insert your favorite adult beverage or fancy coffee shop drink here].

Quick note from Janet: After learning that my customers’ biggest obstacle was simply taking the time to *do the work* each month, I recently debuted my first course—the 2016 Bite-Sized Bookkeeping Bootcamp. The bootcamp is designed to help creatives catch up on their 2016 business finances in the least stressful way possible. I take you from blank books to ready for tax time in small, doable steps. Consider me your personal accountant guiding you step-by-step through this stressful time of year . . . keeping you motivated, holding you accountable, and leaving you with a polished spreadsheet that includes all the numbers you’ll need to know how your business did in 2016.

Note from Regina: Check out Janet and her awesome bootcamp-style course for more money help—and please feel free to give her a shout out in the comments below.

The post 6 Steps to Get Your Finances in Order for Tax Time appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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rmil2k · 7 years

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Be consistent and small. That’s how you win at business.

These are the words I will pass on to my daughter or son (if I have a child in the future) should they ask me about how to be successful, or start a meaningful business, or build a purposeful life.

I have actual tears in my eyes as I begin to write these words. Partially because I was humbled and unable to speak after reading your comments on yesterday’s post (thank you, forever), and partially because I am overwhelmed with the simple, powerful truth I’m about to share.

These words probably won’t be new to you. No words really can be. But it’s the decision to embrace and apply them that matters.

Raise your hand if you are like I am when it comes to ideas—you have 1.3 million of them . . . every single time you blink or inhale.

They crowd your mind, excite you, drive you, wake you up, prevent you from sleeping, and honestly . . . eventually overwhelm you.

Your ideas are great. And any one of them CAN work. Any one of them CAN be the thing that helps you create a lifestyle where you’re able to breathe, take breaks, provide for your family in new ways, actually go on a vacation, etc. ANY single one of your ideas can do that.

But they’re likely all missing the thing that all of my ideas were missing a few years ago before I started this brand.

Consistency and smallness. “Mom, what can I do to be great? Even when all the odds are against me?” asks my fictional child. Let’s name him Emmanuel—obviously we can all refer to him as Manny. Or, “The Man.”

“Son,” I reply slowly. “Be consistent, and be small. Every single day.”

Be consistent.

Show up. Consistently. Keep creating content. Speak passionately to a crowd of 0. Until you’re speaking passionately to a crowd of 3. That’s 3 whole people, with whole lifetimes of experience and memories, who have chosen to tune into your words. That’s an honor.

Create. Consistently. When everyone else has gone to bed. When everyone else has stopped paying attention to your dreams. When absolutely no one seems to care. When someone has recommended to you that you stop or that you move onto something more logical (to them—major eyeroll emoji).

Love. Consistently. Until your love finds the community of people it’s most needed by. Until people can’t help but take your concern for them seriously. Until someone, somewhere believes in themselves again.

Listen. Consistently. Not just until you hear the one thing you choose to respond to. Not just until it gets uncomfortable. Not only for the sake of appearances. Not only to focus on how someone else’s words make you feel. But also to focus on how they feel. But also to understand what people need from you. But also to know what to create consistently, where to show up consistently, and how to love consistently.

Be small, son.

In the way you approach an important goal. Because if you focus only on the grand dream . . . And if you focus only on the one outcome you’re hoping for . . . And if you care most about the final destination . . . Then you miss the opportunity to take the steps to get there. Then you miss the stops along the way that were meaningful and beautiful for you and for others. Then you miss the signs that were pointing another direction—where more purpose and greatness were hiding.

Be small, son.

Let the giants and the bullies be big. Yes, they’re hard to miss, but they’re also hard to miss. That was a play on words son. I’ll teach you how to do that one day. Let the talkers and the faux-greats be big. Take your small steps every single day and one day, you’ll have to look far, far, far, far back to even see a hint of the others on the horizon. Don’t despise the small tasks you’ve been given. They are the places that form you.

Be small, son.

Because then, your beautiful, consistent, loving, wise self can surprise everyone, even yourself, with your unmatched strength.

Be consistent.

Everything else is the easy choice. Everything else makes you feel good in the moment.

Consistency makes you do good and be good in the long run.

Consistency and small steps aren’t sexy. But anyone who has built anything worth anything in life has lived in a small, consistent, hard, ugly, grueling, confusing, wonderful place before. And not just for a day.

Wake up every single day and do the small, consistent things if you want to win at life.

. . . and that’s what I would tell my son. Because that’s the message I ignored for too long. Maybe you’ve been ignoring it too. Maybe consistently creating, and showing up, and doing the small tasks, and listening with an open heart have gotten hard . . . tedious . . . boring . . . seemingly impossible.

Maybe publishing and performing for crickets and doing things that no one sees, ever, is the last thing you want to continue to do.

But, my small ninja friend, those consistent, tiny actions all add up. As you already know, but sometimes ignore.

Have you heard the phrase, “They may have won the battle, but we’ll win the war.” or something like that? Here’s the deal. That saying can be a little misleading because the fact is, you have to show up and fight all of those small battles, and then win a lot of those small battles to actually win the war.

Show me the war where someone lost all the battles but still won. Actually. Let me quit playing like I know history well enough to know all of the wars—just roll with my point because it’s a good one.

I say all of this to ask you, the same question I had to ask myself recently, what’s the action you need to be consistently taking that you are not? For me, it was writing content on this blog again. Do you have the patience to outline and understand the small steps that go into getting control over your (a) finances, (b) business, (c) relationships, (d) house, (e) etc.? It’s been a rough journey for me to even begin these things, but I feel much better, and am much better, than when I was just sitting on the sidelines of my own game feeling sorry for myself about how much work I had to do. Work I caused by not doing all the small things each day leading up to that day on the sidelines.

Are you able to save the small amount each week, or create the extra content for your business each day, or put in the 30 minutes at the gym each day all to see . . . not immediate improvements by any means . . . but instead to see the version of yourself in the future who is grateful to the past you for doing something that seemed insignificant?

Be consistent, and be small. That’s how you win at life.

Okay, I’m done. I promise. I sat down to write a blog post filled with tips and logical points, like all my other posts, and this came out.

So I press publish not because I think this is the best blog post ever in the history of blogging, but because maybe you needed to hear it.

The post Be consistent and small. That’s how you win at business. appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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rmil2k · 7 years

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My Top 8 Business Mistakes of 2016

Oohey. This one is going to be a whole load of honesty, with a side of realness, and a smidgen of TMI for dessert. But hey. My goal is to present the behind-the-scenes truth, so that, if applicable, you can make decisions and take action based on a realistic picture. Not a world full of staged images (which I take sometimes too—so I’m not judging), embellished income reports, and all that jazz.

My Top 8 Business Mistakes of 2016

1. Not choosing the right path during the ultimate debacle and disaster that consisted of offering services and accidentally selling more spots than I intended.

All my close friends and family know of something we affectionately call #Project50. Which was a time when my sales software was supposed to limit registrants to under 20 people (for a custom content plan I was putting together for each person), but it didn’t shut down until I noticed the error and did it manually . . . when over 55 people had registered.

Cue panic music and nervous laughter.

You see. I really hate to disappoint people. There are some parts of me that want to be “so above” caring what other people think, but at the core of who I am, I just do. I don’t like hurting people’s feelings (which makes me the worst and most confusing girlfriend ever when I’m trying to break up with someone), and I don’t like the feeling of letting someone down.

So, instead of refunding the last 30 or 40 people and potentially disappointing them because they wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the crazy price I was selling the package at, I decided to just clear my schedule (which meant not creating as much content), let people know the delivery time would be a little longer (and also offer them a refund if they understandably didn’t want to wait), then get to work trying to finish each plan—but still give each one the attention it deserved.

It was a disaster. Some people got their plans on time, other people kept getting offers to either (1) get a refund and accept a free eBook as my apology, or (2) wait a little longer and accept a free eBook as my apology. It drug on and on. I kept hoping people would just ask for a refund. And in the end I had to “force” refund a few people because I just couldn’t finish each plan. It was so ridiculous of me. I couldn’t see how deeply I was damaging the brand by trying to keep everyone happy. I thought I was helping people by trying to get everything done, but I was not helping. An unasked for refund on Day 2 is way better than late deliveries, stress, and forcing a refund on someone on Day 31.

Get it together, Regina. Sheesh. It’s so embarrassing to tell this story, but I want to be honest with you and show you what’s really going on behind the scenes at times. People who should know better, making really silly mistakes.

Also, if you were a client of one of these content plans and you missed my many apology messages, please let me apologize now. I know many of you got and loved your plans (thank you!), but I apologize for disappointing and delaying you if you didn’t get one.

2. Running the same email/organization systems that worked when I had a much smaller brand.

I get a couple hundred emails each day. But it wasn’t always like that—obviously. In fact, I’m very much like the frog in the pot with the temperature raising slowly—have you heard this one? The poor frog doesn’t know he needs to hop out until it’s too late.

I didn’t realize I needed a new system, even though I was constantly frustrating myself by not being able to get control of my inbox (or even see all the important emails coming in). One day, just to assess what kind of inbox problem I was having, I counted the number of emails I’d gotten that day. Then I calculated how long it would take me to reply to each one at an average of two minutes per email—it was literally going to take 11 hours. To respond to one day of emails.

I finally got it. It was mathematically insane to try to get through even 1/4 of that number of emails each day while still expecting to work. Had I acknowledged this problem earlier on in the year, I could have been seeking out a solution. I was nervous about allowing someone into my inbox, allowing someone to speak for me . . . so I had to find someone I felt cared about people’s goals in the same way I do, someone who had similar business ethics. I realized that person was my friend Bunny and each day we work to find intelligent ways to keep people happy. It will be a process, but I can almost breathe finally.

3. Not prioritizing my health + fitness enough early on in the year.

During the past two years of working from home, I spent one year way toooooo sedentary. I woke up. Worked a lot. Often sitting in just one or two spots all day. I ordered meals to my house so I didn’t have to leave. I didn’t like having to drive anywhere. I just wanted to stay at home and get my work done.

I looked up after a year of this and noticed “the Freelance Fifteen” (which was actually 17 pounds of additional weight—#ExtraCurvy). I also noticed that I simply didn’t feel as healthy as I’d like. Also, I was stressed. Also, I started caring less and less about how healthy my food was. I was treating my body how I felt—like crap.

I saw all these people online who were all, “Yoga is the answer. I do yoga every single day before I work. It’s changed my business.”

I used to laugh. And hate it when people offered this up as a solution. I would even cringe a little bit on the inside. Like, “Come on y’all. Yoga doesn’t solve your life.”

And it doesn’t. But you know what, team? It is currently one of my favorite prescriptions for work stress. Not yoga in and of itself if you hate yoga, but doing something that helps you:

1. Get active—which will help with your mood, your creativity, and your overall health.

2. Take time to reflect—it can be painful to lay down in savasana at the end of a class to rest or to “meditate” for five minutes, just like for someone I’m sure it can be hard to take a walk alone in nature and be there with just their thoughts. Forcing yourself to slow down your pace and see that the whole world doesn’t fall apart when you take time to think and be the best version of yourself . . . is amazing.

4. Continually working with people who weren’t doing a good job. Multiple times. Like. I didn’t learn my lesson.

You know what? I’m not gonna sugar-honey-syrup coat this one. I’m going to say something in a very direct way that may seem out of character.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for a person is fire them from whatever role they are filling in your life or business when they are unwilling to do a good job or are incapable of doing a good job.

If you want to preserve the relationship, communication is so essential. If communicating doesn’t work, over long periods of time even, you won’t be preserving the relationship or doing anyone any favors by becoming sour or bitter towards the person.

Trust me. I got confused in there for a bit. Since I also had/have wonderful people I’ve worked with this year, I kept holding onto the hope that certain people would just start caring more . . . it would have been much smarter to just part ways and find people who wanted to do the work well.

5. Failing publicly a lot without apologizing quickly enough.

In the world I’ve described to you above, where I was drowning in bad decisions, emails, not-so-great health, and tons of stress, I naturally missed some deadlines and put some projects on permanent backburner.

Now. If I backburnered a project I’d never announced, no big deal. But when I had to backburner cool events and things I’d planned, and had also announced, it was a bigger deal.

But, remember the part from business mistake #1 about how I hate disappointing people? I wouldn’t want to announce things. Like, “Hey remember that free event I was planning and hinting at and that other free event I put up a landing page for and then never did anything with? Oops, y’all. My bad. I’m too swamped and stressed and behind to even go to sleep and dream about a world in which I could host that event.”

I felt like I would sound like such an ultimate loser to let people down. So instead, I just hoped no one noticed and I quietly moved on to doing the next thing that needed my attention.

But guess what? People noticed.

My lesson? Apologize if something doesn’t feel right. Apologize even if you feel like you could “get away” with it. Honestly usually sits better with people than secrecy, ambiguity, or just a lack of a decent explanation. To be clear—I’m not recommending that you announce the 53 life problems you’re feeling at the time you decide you can’t do something and you need to apologize, but I am saying that some type of honest explanation will make people feel better and trust you more.

6. Not balancing the negatives I ran into with positives.

There’s a balance between (a) paying attention to injustices in the world or negative/sketchy trends you see happening so that you can speak out on them and (b) making sure you focus on positive things and build ethical practices, great content, and amazing vibes for the world to enjoy. There’s a balance, and I focused on the negative side for too long.

I am still a tiny bit sick of the way some people do business online, hence this post, but I realized that the most productive thing for me to do is to focus on you, and the way I want to do business with you, and what we can all possibly create together.

People will always be shady. People will always lie. People will always do super annoying things like imply you’ll get certain results or like report their income in the most fishy, inaccurate way ever. But, those are not my people. And spending time worrying about them is spending time not worrying about you. I am so sorry for every extra second I could have been spreading light or creating something meaningful that I was instead stewing in a dark corner over people and things that really don’t affect your life.

When I say it out loud like that . . . or rather, type it into a post for you to read . . . it seems so dang simple. Just don’t do that, Regina. EVER.

Here’s what I do instead now, and what I prescribe for you to reduce business stress:

Set guiding principles.

Change your business model to meet them.

Change your lifestyle to complement the creative, multi-passionate, insane, beautiful, loving, weird person you are.

Go to Mexico.

Speak up when things aren’t right.

Fall in love. Wait. I haven’t done that one yet—but it’s cool, you can get a head start on me.

Do yoga. Unless you hate it. In that case, go rock climb, or do Jiu-Jitsu, or go discover the magic of kettlebells. Or, we can be insane twinsies and you can become a certified yoga instructor and kettlebell specialist, then go get a boxing for fitness certification like I did.

Meet more real people and don’t stay behind your computer all the time.

Eat well. Why do you treat other people so much better than you do the body that will allow you to stick around longer for those people? Logic fail.

Take breaks.

Hug strangers.

Smile first—don’t wait to see if the stranger in the hall is friendly or not. Be the friendly.

^^Look ma, I made some friends, and got healthy, and took breaks. If it’s on Instagram, it’s real.

7. Listening to people who sell different and just are different than I am.

I could tell you stories about the online friends who adopted me and (out of their desire to help) gave me advice and urged me to do things a certain way—and how their ways were so different from what I naturally wanted to do . . . but, instead of telling stories, I’ll share the picture on Instagram (that I posted as a part of my friend’s campaign to show that we are all imperfect) that sums it up pretty well.

“I’m embarrassed that I lost sight of what matters most to me in my business to hang out with the cool kids who aren’t even cool. Being cool means making other people feel good about themselves and helping people.”

Don’t go through all of the trouble, sweat, long nights, tears, blood, coffee, et cetera, required to build a business only to look up and realize you’ve built something you don’t want to run. I almost turned my business into something that I didn’t like.

Oh, man. I never thought I’d even come close to doing that.

8. Keeping the same course release model for certain courses that worked when I had a much smaller brand.

When I was getting 10 emails per day (and not going to the gym or spending enough time with friends), it was fine for me to launch a course that was 0.0% complete and put a “one month away” date on it, because, I could get it done. But somewhere in my crazy, stressful, need-better-systems year, this method stopped working. It started adding stress and opportunities to disappoint.

So, my “Jay Z style business retirement” (as I like to call it) that I announced in an email a couple months ago is about you as much as it is about me. It’s actually a decision I made for you that will benefit me greatly as a side effect.

So no, I’m not retiring the byRegina.com brand. Anything but. I am simply restructuring it, organizing it, and making sure you can get what you need from it. I am taking the time to reorganize and add to my courses—even though I feel they are some of the best content on the Internet. I am building programs that are 80% – 100% ready instead of just 10% or 30%, expecting to make up the last 70% before the release date.

I’m building a better ship for you and me and all are ninja friends to sail off on if we so choose.

Sheesh, Regick. Did you do anything right this year?

Haha. Great question. I definitely feel I got a few things right, but . . .

The one thing I really feel like I do consistently get right with my brand, is . . . (even if I begin to get off track) I prioritize your needs over trying to roll with the big dogs or make a ton of money. Money and connections just kind of naturally happen, but I am quick to turn them down when you would be the one to suffer or when it would send the wrong message to you.

What do I mean?

I mean I stepped away from a major collabo I had already agreed to because one of the other people involved was more disrespectful to a certain people group (publicly even!) than I could possibly stand by or stomach.

I mean I created high-value resources for free or for a low price point, even when other people in my industry literally complained to me about it.

I mean I don’t ever create things that don’t make sense on the #StayScrappy level that I so often talk about. I didn’t have $100,000 to start a business the first time I started a real, real business. I took money from my paycheck, bought a vacuum and some cleaning supplies then started cleaning a friend’s house and expanded from there.

Hi, I’m Regina. This is my life. Some people call me Regick. (Okay, only my friend Tiffany calls me that, but I’m still hoping it will catch on.) I’ve made tons of mistakes. Tons more to come, but know this . . .

I am still the girl who didn’t even own a laptop in college. I couldn’t afford one. I am still the girl who had to work two jobs at a time to go to college and who had to take semesters off just so I could finish paying my tuition from the previous semester so I could register again. I am still the one who drove around my same goofy car for 10 years until a drunk driver totaled it. I am still the one who stayed up until 5 or 6 a.m. to finish some of the blog posts on this site, then had to wake up again at 8 a.m. to work or fulfill some or another responsibility. All the time.

I am still the daughter of a man who worked four jobs in school and got his Ph.D. dissertation done on a typewriter that didn’t have the “backspace” function. If you messed up a word, you had to retype the whole page. I am still the daughter of a woman who hasn’t backed down from a hard day’s work (all while trying to further her education and understanding of the world at the same time) ever in her life.

So . . . here’s the deal.

You mean the world to me. Thank you for sticking with me during this crazy year of learning and growing (painfully and slowly at times), and I hope you will allow me to still be a part of your journey next year too.

I can’t do it alone. In fact, I would love your help.

In the form of comments on this post. Sure, they can be testimonials if some of my content has helped you (i LOVE getting those messages!), but you can also tell me . . .

If you’re still upset with me about something. If you have a question. If you want to tell me you dislike my curly hair. If you think I use the word “epic” too much. If you want to come do Jiu-Jitsu with me. If you never want to see me again. If you think we should probably get married next year. If you’re interested in my almond butter brownie recipe. If you don’t understand something about me that really bugs you and you want to ask about it.

ANYTHING that’s not negative racial profiling is allowed.

Actually. If you have some possible misconceptions about “race,” let’s just get those comments out there too.

So.

ANYTHING.

The post My Top 8 Business Mistakes of 2016 appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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rmil2k · 8 years

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A case study on my first $1350 online course launch

So, you may not know this, but the first paid online course launch I ever did (about 2.5 years ago) was to an email list of only 71 people. For a total of $1350. And some recurring revenue of about $1000 per month after that. And guess what? I ran exactly zero high-pressure webinars (or webinars at all) for my launch, and I sent zero pesky emails, just emails filled with value and information.

It was a crazy time. In which I had no idea what I was doing, but I desperately wanted to get my valuable, organized information out to more people at once—more people than I was able to reach through 1-on-1 coaching and small in-person workshops.

“But, what’s up on this case study though?” You may be wondering.

It’s funny. I was having a conversation with one of my best friends not too long ago—a friend who was definitely around me all the time when I was launching this first product—and they had absolutely, 100%, no idea that my email list had only 71 people on it when I first released this course. And then, they told me it actually inspired them a ton.

That meant so much to me. And also made me realize that the few Periscope broadcasts I’ve shared this in before are not enough to really help and (hopefully) inspire others. I knew I had to make a case study out of it.

And so I did. I made two versions even. A shorter one that you can consume as a podcast and cheat sheet and a longer one that you will be able to watch as a workshop in the near future. For now, may I please introduce you to the audio version.

You can catch it as a podcast episode here (it’s even downloadable). And you can download the accompanying cheat sheet here. Or, you can read below for some of what I cover in a Q+A style. It’s not the whole episode and all the tips, but if you’re short on time or only want to read, the cheat sheet or summary below is for you.

So, some of the main highlights of what I cover are in this episode are:

What it means to “scale” a product. (Hint: Scalability does not mean passive income.)

How I built my (super small) audience before my launch.

How I decided on the topic of my first course.

What exactly my first course consisted of.

How much (if any) money I had to spend to make the course.

How I picked the price for my first course.

How long the course took to make and if it was finished when I launched. (Hint: No. It wasn’t.)

How I promoted the course and which promotion efforts gave the best results.

How much (net) money the course brought in.

What % of my total list purchased.

What I did after my launch.

And more.

And here’s a summary of some of the episode’s points as a Q+A of sorts:

How long ago was this course launch?

2.5 years ago

What does it mean to scale something?

For something to be “scalable,” it has to be able to be sold to more people. Scalability does not necessarily speak to how passive or active the income is.

How did you build your audience and brand before the launch of your first paid online course?

I had around 17 blog posts live on my site when I launched to offer a solid foundation for all of my promotion efforts to lead back to.

I created a free, online 90-day course (say what? that was way too long) that people signed up for (on a separate page/URL before I launched) to kind of test out this new brand and inadvertently kick off my list of contacts beyond my mom, dad, brother, and best friends.

I promoted said free course from my personal Facebook page (~250 friends at the time). I promoted the blog posts from my page as well.

I messaged acquaintances and friends I was comfortable with and sent a personal note letting them know what I was doing and asking them to please share the brand with any friends they felt needed help with starting a business or a blog. I was a web designer before this so I had created probably hundreds of sites.

Did you decide your course topic based on something you struggled with or did you solve a problem?

I created my first paid, online course by looking back at what I had done, unintentionally, and thinking, “It would be cool to teach this.” At the time, I was still happily meeting with some clients (in person and online), doing in-person classes, and selling a physical and digital book. The thing that I saw as most repeatable (at the time) should someone wish to start their own business that provided them more freedom, was the client work I was doing. Hence my course, Creative Coaching from Scratch was born.

What was the product, exactly?

The first version of the product was an online 7-week course, where 3 lessons (or mini-modules) would be released each week. It was a total of 21 lessons on starting and growing your own creative coaching business.

Did the course cost money to make?

I did not want any recurring fees when I didn’t know how much income I would make, so I didn’t sign up for anything that had unending monthly fees.

I had previously purchased a $99 course plugin on WordPress, for when I had my free course. So I used that.

I was on the free MailChimp plan—I was too scared of the commitment to $10/month. Even though I was making money in my business, endless monthly money commitment scared me. I didn’t think it was necessary or wise at the time.

I created all the worksheets myself in Apple Pages, and at the time, I was still using iMovie and QuickTime to make videos (screen recordings and otherwise) for free.

How did you pick the price for your course?

Out of complete fear. But check out the podcast episode for the two things I feel I did do well with the pricing of my first paid course.

Was your product finished when you launched?

Absolutely not. At all.

How long did the course take to make?

Since I didn’t have to do research, read books, etc. for the information—it was all coming from my experience of doing it myself and helping other people do it, each lesson took between 2 – 5 hours to outline and create.

How did you promote your online course?

Through blog posts on the topic of the course, my newly formed Pinterest account, and my 71-person email list.

Which course promotion efforts gave the best results?

The blog posts were clutch because my blog had the widest reach (of any of my channels) at the time.

Pinterest was key because a $75 product from a source that had some decent design and great information wasn’t too insane. My first one or two sales cane from a Pinterest pin.

And my email list was super important because everyone on that list REALLY wanted to be there at that point. I hadn’t graduated to using opt-ins or attention-grabbing promises to get people to sign up for my list.

What really helped the course sell?

I will address more of this in the workshop version, but for now, I can say what people told me at the time:

The solid outline of what the product was made a huge difference.

The supporting content (in the form of blog posts and worksheets) made it seem valuable and actionable.

The visuals and great graphics on my blog really helped.

How much did you net from your first paid online course?

$1350.

What percent of your email list purchased your course?

I didn’t have great sales origin point tracking in place at the time, but from what I remember about 11 of the people who purchased were people whose names I recognized from my list. So 11/71 = 15.5%.

What did you do next?

Well, the $1350 helped me to not take on as many clients the next month and free up my time. So, I revamped the course a little. Bought a domain. Got better design popping. Made more materials for a second soft launch, which helped me make about $1000 per month with the course for the next few months until I stopped selling it to do a FULL revamp.

How did you use it to continue to grow your audience?

I was able to take some of the content from the course and form it into different materials—I used some for blog posts (like the one on 30 ways to find your first clients) that became some of my most popular pieces. That one has around 47,000 repins right now.

What are some absolute “must knows” for first-time course creators?

Help people visualize themselves with your product. With information products, you don’t have the “luxury” (if you will) of being able to take epic photos of people wearing or using your products the way traditional product makers do. “Look at happy Sally on her beautiful yoga mat.” “Look at Edward using his new man journal.” So you have to get creative about HOW you help people visualize themselves using and benefiting from your product.

Have a before and after product—whether paid or free—for people to use or move into/from.

Psssst. I hope this helps. I discuss more in the podcast episode, and EVEN MORE in the workshop that is coming up soon. If you’re signed up for emails from me (there’s a signup bar at the top of my website), then you will get an invitation to watch this one-time-only-no-replays online workshop on my full case study.

Questions? Anything else you’d want to know about someone’s launch? Please leave a comment below so I can try to add it to the full case study! Thank you.

The post A case study on my first $1350 online course launch appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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#Start A Blog #Blogger

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rmil2k · 8 years

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10 Epic WordPress Themes for Infopreneurs (Under $50 Each)

As I’ve been creating some new secret brands and helping both clients and friends build more clarity and profitability into their businesses and websites, I’ve noticed something major. It’s HARD to find good WordPress themes for infopreneurs.

As someone creating valuable content and selling your knowledge as information products, it’s extremely important to have a website that is attractive, functional, and organized in a way that helps direct your audience to what you need. And if you’re like me, in love with WordPress and all its capabilities (not that I don’t frequently build Squarespace sites too), then you may be lost on what themes best suit your needs.

And I wouldn’t be a proper co-host of #InfopreneurMonth (P.S. it’s free; check it out and register here) without putting together a list of amazing themes that you can use for your information business.

Hey, did I mention that it’s #InfopreneurMonth?

Okay, now that we know all about the exciting content of this month, let me introduce you to my 10 favorite themes for infopreneurs . . . all available for under $50 from Creative Market . . . one of my favorite sites to get business goods from.

1. Wildfire

I love the intelligent design of Wildfire. It brings in the popular trend to highlight one main call to action (CTA) at the top of your site with a large hero image, but it also allows you to highlight other content and resources quite nicely on the home page (in the 3 boxes below the hero image).

As an infopreneur, you could use the top CTA to direct people to your newest, best free resource that serves as an opt-in for your email list. Perhaps it could be something like:

a free email course (here’s an example email course of mine about becoming an infopreneur + here’s a post and free bootcamp on how to create email courses)

an eBook on your topic of choice that’s of interest to your audience . . . hint–that’s what you get when you sign up at the top of my page

your latest workshop or online event that you’re hosting for free (like #InfopreneurMonth), or a recording of a past event

etc.

2. Maryanne

The Maryanne theme is perfect for infopreneurs who want to highlight both key blog posts and an email signup area. This is a great theme for when you’re first building up the amount of content you’re creating as an infopreneur. Perhaps you don’t have a major opt-in you want to highlight, or perhaps you don’t have amazing photos other than stock photography yet and thus don’t want a huge hero image of yourself at the top of your site . . . perhaps you only have a handful of blog posts and want them to be the center of attention. This theme is great for that.

Another thing I love about Maryanne is the fact that the author realized the value of multiple page templates. There are tons of way to style your home page, landing pages, and even your primary blog page. Go check out Maryanne’s preview site and click around to all the pages in the top menu to see what I’m talking about.

P.S. This theme also adds an extra layer of epic for those of you who really want to highlight the different categories of information/posts on your site, because it has the second menu where you can help your audience navigate only to the topics they want (ex: beginner’s yoga sequences, advanced yoga sequences, yoga for your back, etc.).

3. Boss Lady

The Boss Lady theme does an amazing job of highlighting your email list signup box well, while still allowing for a separate call to action with the very top bar, an optional compelling message in your hero image, and a blogroll loaded underneath with an attractive sidebar.

This theme definitely strikes me as something you can both start with AND grow with as your information product business expands.

4. Lucie Grasso

The Lucie Grasso theme is beautiful, clean, and helps you get straight to the point. Not only can you epically highlight your blog posts at the top of your site, but you can also develop three attractive info boxes to draw people towards your most important resources, events, or products.

The Lucie Grasso sidebar is very attractive, but the theme author also fives you a full-width home page option without the sidebar. This theme is definitely worth exploring, especially if it already fits with the aesthetic you’re going for.

5. Penryn

I love the Penryn theme for almost all the same reasons I love the Lucie Grasso above. Penryn gives you the unique space to highlight recent blog posts up top, but it also has many options for how you can display blog posts on the rest of your main page.

#Epic.

6. Sophie

The Sophie theme has so many amazing options.

You can style your home page with or without a slider.

You can highlight blog posts or you can highlight resources and a primary call to action.

It looks great with a shop (where you can sell your infoproducts) integrated in.

Check out the Sophie demo for a better idea of all you can do to highlight your information, content, and passions.

7. Fowey

The Fowey theme is most ideal for an infopreneur who is focused heavily on epic, free content and who desires to get amazing photos to accompany each resource. The unique design of this site will help your content stand out–and the highlighting of the social links up top makes this theme great for infopreneurs who plan to have other platforms be major parts of their brand (ex: a vegan blogger + infopreneur who is mainly building his audience on Instagram but needs a great website to back it up).

8. Monsterra

Monsterra is one of my favorite themes on earth right now. There is a lot to love about this theme as someone who is monetizing information (and the presentation of that information) for a living.

The archive page is a beautiful beast of a page. Check it out on the Monsterra demo site.

The home page is super smart. You can highlight key blog posts, then include three info boxes that take your audience wherever you first need them to go, but then you can also include a simple, clean message about who you are as a brand or what you provide, followed by more blog posts and a beautiful footer. #WINNING.

It’s simple to integrate a beautiful shop–for all your eBooks and email courses.

The prominent social media menu up top is killer, but you can also switch out those links for something else.

Bam. That’s a powerful theme.

9. Minimal Chic

Minimal Chic can work well as your infopreneur theme because of its clean layout, simple yet attractive sidebar, and its great use of space (the menu and logo don’t take up a lot of room so it allows you to get directly into your content).

If you like a black + white aesthetic and want to build simple pages that allow your content to take center stage, this could be a great them to check out.

10. Chanel

The Chanel theme has multiple options for how to use your home page, but I’ve chosen to display one of my favorite (in the image above) with the three promo boxes that you can use. If you are an infopreneur with multiple free courses and resources, you might want to consider a theme that allows you to highlight your options clearly so first-time visitors know where to go and can get obsessed with your brand, fast.

I love that the Chanel theme not only has a very attractive sidebar, but that it also presents your blog posts in a great way underneath the top content on the home page.

Soooo, any other great themes for infopreneurs you’d like to suggest? What did you think about some of the ones above? And hey, don’t forget to join us for all the free workshops and resources happening during #InfopreneurMonth.

Main blog post photo: (c) Brett Donar via Stocksy.com

P.S. I am a Creative Market “partner” who makes commission if you buy something from one of my links. Just thought I’d let you know. Oh, and no, you don’t pay any extra for using these links. These are the same low prices you’ll find on their site regularly.

The post 10 Epic WordPress Themes for Infopreneurs (Under $50 Each) appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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#Start A Blog #Blogger

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rmil2k · 8 years

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Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!

from startablog http://ift.tt/29l1F26 via Start a Blog Escape the 9-5 grind videos from Blogger http://ift.tt/29hnpe1 via Start a Blog,Escape the 9-5 grind videos

#Start A Blog #Blogger

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rmil2k · 8 years

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The 6 Most Profitable Blogger Career Paths (and How to Get Started in One)

Oh man. Listen. I 100% believe what I’m about to say and it IS big. I’m not even necessarily being the overly dramatic version of myself that I normally am.

Here it is.

There are six distinct blogger career paths, which if you understand and work on, can absolutely change your world.

I’ve been down each one of these paths in the past, and it is time to share them . . . and to change the careers that we consider, pursue, and build for ourselves.

P.S. Everything below and more is available as a podcast episode. And here is the flowchart I reference and show.

For years, and years, and years society has been quick to teach us the traditional career paths of lawyers, and teachers, and plumbers, and even professional basketball players. We know which schools we need to go to, which judge to get an internship with, how to get certified during night school, which recruiters and game stats we should shoot for, etc.

We know that once we become a lawyer, we can look forward to either practicing law at a major firm and trying to make partner, or starting our own firm, or teaching law, or working as a public defender, or working for a major corporation as an attorney, or doing pro bono, or advising a non-profit, or getting into politics and perhaps running for president of our country one day.

Great.

But, what about career paths for bloggers? For content creators? For some of these positions and interests that are popping up, making money, and sticking around?

Just as becoming a lawyer doesn’t guarantee you money or clients, but it does provide many paths to monetize (explained above) and many specialties to focus on (family law, corporate issues, intellectual property, taxes, tort law, etc.) and is thus considered a legitimate career . . .

becoming a blogger doesn’t guarantee income or fame, but it does provide many paths (explained below and in the podcast episode) and practically endless specialties to focus on (food, business, travel, crafts, fitness, accounting, fashion, etc.) that make money and should thus be considered a legitimate career.

I hope they start teaching it in schools everywhere soon. But until then, may I please present my shiny new Blogger Career Paths flowchart with some explanations and notes (if you’re taking them) that I hope will blow your mind? Okay. Let’s get started.

The first thing to understand is what is happening in any career path, anywhere, at any time, on any day. You are learning something new in one of two ways. You are either:

Acquiring a skill. or

Acquiring information.

Right? And, depending on which one you are doing, there are quite a few ways that your career path can develop and morph. Plus, keep in mind that you can continually add new skills or information to the mix to tweak your path as new interests and desires come up.

So, let’s break down what the 6 most profitable career paths for bloggers are, and then, you can optionally decide to head over to the podcast where I break down these Blogger Career Paths into the two actions of acquiring a skill or acquiring information as a starting point.

The 6 Most Profitable Career Paths for Bloggers

1. Becoming a freelancer.

“I like to do X, so I’m going to do it for you, in a customized way.”

Ex: A copywriter for your sales pages. A document designer for your book. An interior designer for your daughter’s room.

2. Becoming a coach or consultant.

“I like to show you how to do X successfully.”

Ex: A divorce + transition coach. A yoga coach. A brand or content coach. Like my girl over at JenCarrington.com.

3. Becoming a speaker.

“I want to talk about X to help make it better and advance the way we think about X.”

Ex: A speaker who raises awareness of the dangers of childhood obesity. A speaker who talks with corporations about how to motivate their team members.

4. Becoming a spokesperson.

“I like to do X and talk about X, so I partner with brands that allow me to do so.”

Ex: A food blogger who is an affiliate for products and gets food brands to pay them for special recipes. A fashion blogger who gets money, clothes, and accessories because they make brands look good. A travel blogger who becomes a brand ambassador for a boutique hotel chain (yes, I actually know someone who did this and their niche is not even travel). Me, when WD sponsored me to talk about their personal cloud device.

5. Making products.

“I want to create a way for people to do X better.”

Ex: A blogger who creates an editorial planner (haha, shameless—that’s my editorial planner for sale on Amazon.com). Or a fitness blogger who creates an app to help you track your fitness goals. Or a yoga-loving blogger who creates more versatile or sustainable yoga gear or bags. Or the blogger behind the food blog Inspiralized.com who made a popular kitchen tool and cookbook.

6. Becoming a publisher for profit.

“I want to teach a lot of people how to do X in a clear way.”

Ex: A course creator who teaches yoga for rehabilitating a weak back. Or my friend Heather who teaches how to style a bookcase. A blogger-author who sells books on financial planning and independence. A blogger who has published multiple books and now teaches a course called Zero to Self-Published Book. You get the point—there are a lot of ways to publish for profit.

Soooo, when you learn by acquiring a new skill, what are the blogging career paths available to you? And what about when you learn by acquiring info?

I’m so glad you asked this question, ninja friend. I get to that in the podcast episode–I just have a few more tips for you here in this post.

But, let’s take a #secretbreak real quick. Which is, get this, a break in which I tell you a secret.

I’m desperately passionate about helping you find the blogging career that makes sense for you, your learning passions, and the people you like to talk to and help or entertain. I’m passionate about it because I have tested and seen many monetization methods in each career path (as in: there’s more than just one way to make money as a “spokesperson”), and at some point in the last few years, I’ve done each of these careers for full-time income. #CommitmentPhobe #Can’tMakeUpMyMind

No seriously, it was just about learning and growing.

And testing. And you know what?

It IS possible to pursue blogging as a career . . . it just needs to be approached wisely.

So, you will notice, especially as you listen to the episode and take a gander at the flowchart, one common theme that helps you monetize scalably is to figure out a process with what you do, and then figure out how to make it better (through products, or tools, or coaching/guidance), how to explain it better (through organized information), or how to present it better. These ALL deal with publishing information.

Visual information.

Written information.

Information as tutorials or videos.

Audio files.

There are a lot of options.

And I want to help you navigate them. I’m not gonna just leave you like “Yay. Blogging careers are real. Go find one.”

Here’s the deal. Carving a career for yourself out of this new industry requires (1) something you are passionately interested in—and p.s. you can test things out and binge-do the Internet to start finding out what that is if you don’t already know, and (2) being consistent about creating value out of what you’re passionately interested in. How to create content that wins will be a focus of the next few episodes of the #StayScrappy podcast and of the posts on this blog . . . but . . .

At the very least . . . you can start by taking my Free Blog School where you’ll get an overview, several training videos, a workbook, and more, that will ACTUALLY help you build a WordPress or Squarespace blog.

Then, if you’re feeling good about your setup and wanting to move forward, please feel free to check out ALL the free content here on the blog to see if that gives you what you need, or, if you’re ready to super duper pursue this, you can come join me in The Profitable Content Workshop where we expand on this episode and go through a five-step process to plan profitable content based on the blogging career path you choose.

It’s going to be epic. Know what I’m saying?!

Regina out.

The post The 6 Most Profitable Blogger Career Paths (and How to Get Started in One) appeared first on by Regina [for infopreneurs + independents].

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#Start A Blog #Blogger

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