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From 1k to 10k a month (by structuring & systemizing)

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

NanetteD

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Hi all!

Been lurking in the background, but no more. I removed TikTok from my phone and replaced it with a link to this forum. So I guess it’s time ;P

Let’s keep it lean and mean.

What
After five years in business (content marketing, sales & copywriting) I am starting a project to structure & systemize. There is no juice left in me to keep winging it. I want strategy and tactics, also because I want more downtime.

At this point, mentally I work 24/7. It’s wearing me down. It’s not good for my energy. I skip fun. Inspiration. I skip meals sometimes.

Up until now I made 45k Euro’s in revenue but I am building my whole business back up again after a major hit that wasn’t C0VlD-19.

Why
In January I hired a business mentor for exact the same thing as I’m posting for today.

After divorcing my ex-husband early this year I suddenly felt the urgency to find someone to help me strengthen my business. Well. Looking back, I can see that I was a wounded animal desperate for someone to cling onto.

It resulted in a very intense and maybe even symbiotic partnership in which I found myself relying heavily on his expertise, giving him half my revenue but doing the majority of the work in my company. He still plays a part in two particular clients, however I brought down his ‘salary’ to 600 euro's a month. Which also feels like way too much, but I don't really know how to break it off when i had clients 'buy' him too.

Let’s call this my most expensive and insightful lesson in an old pattern of Shame/guilt/fear of not being good enough. And in finding my own true value. He helped me see how ffing professional and skilled I am myself. Not to brag, it’s just a comparison I can now make.

My goals
Financially: I want to make 10k a month for the rest of this year. My mortgage and food is safe in a buffer. 60k would help me to grow that buffer and to be able to delegate and do things like advertise and stuff.
Personally: I want to take time off and get inspired again by life, art, fun, sports. If I’m off, I don’t want to work. I want to be available for my kids (and for myself. In my head I work 24 hours a day. It affects my sleep, my mood & energy more than I admit)
Business: I want structure and systems both strategically & tactically so that there’s more room for creativity, play and experiments. I want to lose the feeling of rigidity and pushing hard.

HOW (and: loose ends)
  • Develop my pilot product further - I recently launched a pilot called the Killer Salescopy Kit. It is 7 weeks of research into buyer’s motives + value proposition + salescopy. I designed it to be sort of scalable, by following a very neat and structured process. Also it has canvases for the copy my clients will be writing. I LOVE this product, delivering it and selling it. It’s really about helping entrepreneurs get their messaging crystal clear and out in the world, which I feel is a major contribution, certainly in these times. I have 3 pilot clients. It sold for 1500 euro’s which is a bargain.
  • Launching strategy for my Killer Salescopy Kit in September. I launched the pilot by doing daily stuff, unstrategized.
  • I want a follow up product so that my sales funnel and product ecosystem is complete. After Killer Salescopy Kit ends in July I could help people build their authority with content marketing & management. I could help them with social selling/sales activities. I could help them with a product eco system, funnels, etc. I have a client that I sold a three month package to in february. He should logically be onboarded onto that same follow up product after July.
  • Content strategy - Systemize and strategize my content into monthly planned pillar pieces and branched off posts. Now I write daily. Major mental load.
  • Declutter things. I have a deteriorating LMS somewhere that I need to revive or something. It has massive knowledge that just sits there.
  • Redo my current quiz funnel. It’s still based on wthe expertise of that mentor that I mentioned above. I need to redo it to my marketing expertise.
  • Find an offloading strategy. Like I said. I mentally work 24/7 and I want it differently. I want to visit museums again, nature, watch some arthouse movies, dance in my living room. Now I work or I parent (luckily they are young so there is playtime).
    At the end of my day I schedule my next day (One Thing-style by Gary Keller). Do some chores. On good days I do half an hour of yoga I nmy living room. Otherwise I try to read but I fall asleep exhausted. It’s not how I want to be. I would love to take a week off this summer. Thinking about it brings me light panic mode.
  • I need a plan for the 6 weeks of summer. There will be weeks with/without the kids. There will be weeks where I have two days for my business. And launching my product on the 1st of September, well. I need a plan.
  • Advertising. I once paid for a short marketing campaign but that wasn't on point and didn't do anything. Now my messaging is so clear that I could launch a strategy again
  • Financial planning. I am working through an old belief of not being able to do basic math. I am basically scared of numbers and of making mistakes with them. As you can see early on in my post, there's evidence of making mistakes ;) So I need a plan for my 10k.
  • The partnership. I am pressing the hired mentor for hours that he spends in my business, serving clients. To be able to tone his payment down further.

My plan for this thread
Oh overwhelm how I know you! Luckily, I’m a process geek. What I will do, is structure everything in bitesized pieces. And I want to use this thread for my progression. So a battle plan on Monday. A reflection on Friday. And maybe some ponderings mid-week? I tend to structure my thoughts while writing. But I will need to choose sharply on how I spend my time. Don’t want to bypass doing stuff by talking about doing stuff.

Thank you for reading this far :) Do you see any blind spots?
 
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RazorCut

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Love your breakdown.

My goals
.....Personally: I want to take time off and get inspired again by life, art, fun, sports. If I’m off, I don’t want to work. I want to be available for my kids (and for myself. In my head I work 24 hours a day. It affects my sleep, my mood & energy more than I admit)

The one blind spot I see is that it looks like you are planning the time off for some time in the future. You need a balance now. Build time out into your working day. Taking time out can help with clarity. It helps productivity, it doesn't hinder it. Being super busy doesn't allow you the opportunity to really step back and evaluate properly which can see you running round in circles or making mistakes and getting into deep water.

Following and looking forward to your updates.
 

Sean P

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Been lurking in the background, but no more. I removed TikTok from my phone and replaced it with a link to this forum. So I guess it’s time

Glad to hear that The Fast Lane Forum can easily replace TikTok! Hardly a comparison actually.

At this point, mentally I work 24/7. It’s wearing me down. It’s not good for my energy. I skip fun. Inspiration. I skip meals sometimes.

This has to change as soon as possible. You can take good care of your clients if you take excellent care of yourself first.

Not to brag, it’s just a comparison I can now make.

I think you have a senior business partner who is providing his expertise and is part of your service, not a mentor. If clients are 'buying' him too, he is an integral part of your business and should receive his due.

You have mentioned "that mentor" quite a few times, all pointing to his indispensability. So you may need to answer a question first, "Is he indispensable?"

If indeed he is, then you may need to rework the terms and conditions including roles, responsibilities and tasks. Keep in mind your financial and personal goals while doing so.

If it does not work out, you may need to change your business plan.

I want to make 10k a month for the rest of this year.

10k a month in dollars or euros? Big difference.

You need to be extremely clear about your goals. Work backwards from there and calculate how many clients you will need per month, how much you need to earn in a day/ week.

Make your goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely). Google it for more information on how it's done.

It's not mere jargon. It works, people succeed with it.

Do you see any blind spots?

You may not have given enough details, understandably, but you may need more clarity pertaining to several aspects.

If you're working with a partner, first you need clearly defined roles and responsibilities. If you are the sole owner of the business, anyone working for you is your employee. An employee works as per a job description or a contract that clearly defines his tasks and responsibilities.

If you are considering an employee who is working for you a mentor, there could be a disconnect that could lead to a conflict. This should have been addressed at the very outset when he joined the business.

In your earlier post, you wrote that you work 2 days a week on your business. If you are serious, you need to have at least a 5-day work week to start with. You can wind down once your business is well established, at which time you could delegate tasks to well-trained subordinates.

You could also outsource work at that stage. But not before hitting and exceeding your initial goals. You need short-term and long-term goals and devise ways to keep yourself accountable.

And I want to use this thread for my progression.

Feel free to post your progress here for accountability and feedback. But don't forget to take action and abandon the thread.
 

NanetteD

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About last week.

Lessons
- started friday with a walk. was quite difficult to let go of negative thoughts like should/shouldn't, but after 15 mins it all cleared. planned walks in my calendar, planned free time & sports, booked a holiday for July with kids.
- overworking is another way of committing to my old pattern of fear
- did a review of my numbers with my new accountant. have insights now into income/expenses.
- i will offer my killer salescopy kit to other trainers/coaches, creating a win/win for their customers
- smart goals. the thought of it made me immediately search for someone i can hire to help me do that. recognized the pattern. will do it myself.

Next week prio's
1. financial plan for 10k a month
2. exit strategy/plan for partner
3. sales: reaching out to prospects & business owners who serve my ideal client
4. redo my quiz funnel
 
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Andy Black

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I tend to structure my thoughts while writing.
I do the same... hence so much writing in the forum.

Don’t want to bypass doing stuff by talking about doing stuff.
Do both?

Saw mills (if that's what they're called) take in trees and out pops cut timber. They also produce a lot of sawdust. Smart sawmills sell that sawdust ... maybe to farmers as bedding for their animals (or whatever).

I do consulting work at the coal-face. I can record me doing the work, or reuse emails I send to clients, and post to my paid newsletter and/or post to my courses platform.

My paid email newsletter is currently like a progress thread of me chattering about what I'm doing and what I plan on doing. Some people like it enough to pay monthly to read it.

launching my product on the 1st of September
Launches can work of course. I prefer "releasing" things into the wild and seeing how it goes. I prefer to "make a sale this week", and then scaling.

Example: Myself and @Lex DeVille are setting up new paid email newsletters. We're both seeing if we can make our first sale (from cold traffic) within the next week or two. When I get my first signup I'll be popping open the champagne, and knuckling down to go to the next step.

I'm going for a simple squeeze page where people "Get XYZ tips straight to your inbox" and people signup to a free list. Only after I get a signup will I figure out what to send them. From there I'll think about getting them onto a paid list.

one of my VIP clients is getting very good results and two new clients are very happy after onboarding. the process i designed clearly works.
Ah. I didn't realise you had consulting clients as well as your product. Perfect. You're at the coal-face. People who want to follow in your footsteps may well pay to follow your bread-crumbs. What about a simple paid email newsletter? Get revenue sooner, and start building relationships with your subscribers sooner. Some may want to buy your higher priced products.

Consider the rule of thumb that 10% will pay 10x. Have you got offerings for all those different pricepoints?

What would your tiers be (roughly multiplying by 3):
  • $3/mth = basic email newsletter?
  • $9/mth = ?
  • $29/mth = ?
  • $99/mth = ?
  • $299/mth = ?
  • $999/mth = ?
  • $2,999/mth = ?

Planned a few masterclasses and YouTube videos for the week after my holidays
Good stuff. I've a Trello board with over 100 items listed. I'll start producing when I get some email signups. I'll email people and link to a video on YouTube.

have a ton of ideas to turn into online/offline courses. I need to clone myself. My ideas come faster than my ability to execute.
So do mine. As @Kak said in one of his episodes... "You can do them all." It's down to building repeatable processes and maybe a team to execute them. I put those ideas onto a Trello board called "Business Ideas on Hold". They're now out of my head so I can keep focused. I'll come back to them later.

why not kill bigger? Listened to the Kill Bigger podcast. Made me think. I have been hunting crumbs for the past years, by serving high end clients 1 on 1. Why don't I niche down on salescopy alone and kill big on that domain. With a highly scalable product and solving two specific problems: conversion too low + writer's block
Again, why not do both? I have 1-2-1 consulting clients, am building productised services, have a course(s), and am bringing out a paid email newsletter. All these offerings are based on the same skill, but serve different sections of the market. I see it as different legs to the same stool. I wrote about it here:


Here's a couple of progress threads about paid email newsletters and growing an email list with Google Ads:
 
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NanetteD

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About past week:
- tore down 7 funnels from my site and mailresponder and put up one new one
- designed a 'soft' launch strategy for my new product ecosystem incl financial goals for the second half of 2020
- sold and developed a new online course
- started reading Unscripted by @MJ DeMarco (currently at the point of the 3B's)
- planed my content in a nice overview in Excel now

Next week:
kids wll be back after two weeks (jiggidy jig), so there'll be just two workdays which i'll spend on client work, direct sales activities and getting reviews from (past) clients

Insights:
- i see now that i have been paralysed in production panic for the past four years. if i look back i have been mostly just making stuff instead of focusing on contributing daily. this is flipping the script for me, the mere thought of 'what do ppl need to hear' gives such a different thought process (over 'i need to..'/'i should've..')
- i'm going to base my content marketing efforts around youtube and spin off what i do there to different channels. a call with @Andy Black (and his analogy of the sawdust) made me realise that I could simplify my process way down
- this was the absolute last time that i spend my 'summer downtime' (when the kids are with their dad) working so much. it's fine now because the end result is a lean & simple product ecosystem that i WANT to put out there and that i KNOW it's valuable.
- F*ck webinars. i'm not doing it anymore. replacing it with a salespage roast on youtube.
 
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Champion

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Hey Nanette, I find myself in a similar position to you right now, way overworked and wishing I had taken more time out to automate more parts of the business. Im into E-Commerce, but I think what you are doing, this breakdown would work for you too:

I suggest you divide your business into the following 4 sectors:

1) Marketing System
2) Sales System
3) Fulfillment System
4) HR, Finance & Administration System

For each of those systems, break them down even further into all the general tasks that keep coming up, etc etc... and think about how you can automate each one of them (either by hiring or by using software). This is how im currently approaching things, would love to hear others feedback and ideas.

Best
 

NanetteD

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About last week.

financial plan for 10k a month - 100% done. Have a plan for the coming months, including priorities, a metric and daily actions now.
exit strategy/plan for partner - 100% done. I feel so relieved.
sales: reaching out to prospects & business owners who serve my ideal client - reached out to two entrepreneurs and to prospects. no sales unfortunately. will reach out more next week.
redo my quiz funnel - 50% done.

Lessons learned:
- walked/ran almost every morning and planned some private activities. my mood was so much better this week
- next up i need an intervention on bedtime
- made a 0.3 version of a social media calendar + an editorial kanban
- one of my VIP clients is getting very good results and two new clients are very happy after onboarding. the process i designed clearly works.

Next week prio's
- redo funnel
- sales activities/direct outreach
- social media
- strategize social media calendar further for launching my core product again in september
- pack and plan for a week off after next week
 
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NanetteD

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Well survived that Earthquake Week. The untangling of the partnership.

Lessons
- my only/last subscription based customer onesidedly 'paused' our collaboration this week, after being informed about the 'breakup' with partner. Which is sad (I could have helped him get even better results) .
- Also a bit strange because despite the great results he achieved, he suddenly focused on my pricing & trying to lower it. I just couldn't, it's just not an option because I would have to lower my standards/intensity. Strange sensation to feel so clear about my value and how to deliver it.
- not to plan a vacation in the first week of summer holidays
-. Eisenhower matrix saved me in this hell week
- Planned a few masterclasses and YouTube videos for the week after my holidays
- have a ton of ideas to turn into online/offline courses. I need to clone myself. My ideas come faster than my ability to execute.

Next week:
- quality time with my kids. Felt the urge to bring my notebook on this holiday. But fighting it since I'm dead tired and clearly in need of downtime and familytime.
 

NanetteD

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A few ideas that came up:
- why not kill bigger? Listened to the Kill Bigger podcast. Made me think. I have been hunting crumbs for the past years, by serving high end clients 1 on 1. Why don't I niche down on salescopy alone and kill big on that domain. With a highly scalable product and solving two specific problems: conversion too low + writer's block
- maybe it was just one idea, branched out :)
 

kleine2

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Your breakdown is amazing.

I strongly agree with what @RazorCut said.
When there is less time (also with kids home etc) you learn to prioritize even better and focus on what is key.

In addition what is your agreement with this partner\mentor?
Do you have a complete exit strategy for that over time as needed?
 

NanetteD

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Tx for the time you took to read & reply!

The one blind spot I see is that it looks like you are planning the time off for some time in the future. You need a balance now. Build time out into your working day.

Agreed. Thanks. I carved out time in my calendar for morning walks, days and weeks off for the year (following the holidays of the kids).

In addition what is your agreement with this partner\mentor?
Do you have a complete exit strategy for that over time as needed?

I hired him as a mentor. Then it became more of a partnership. Now he is my employee. More on that below.

you may need to answer a question first, "Is he indispensable?"

He is not indispensable. My expertise and his are highly overlapping.

In March, I reworked our partnership into paying him by the hour. We agreed on roles, resp & tasks. But its just not working out. This conflict that you mentioned, it's here. Bringing all kinds of trust issues.

This whole transition from mentor into partnership was done in an impulsive way. There still is no contract. No terms.

Me getting into this position is exactly why i want my numbers and strategy to be in place for the next half of 2020. I want to be a business owner instead of an artist. More on that in my reflection on this week.

In your earlier post, you wrote that you work 2 days a week on your business. If you are serious, you need to have at least a 5-day work week to start with.

I have 31 hours available in my business, over 5 days. It's different in school holidays, then I have 2 days secured and can get babysitters (and possibly the kids' dad) to get more business hours.
 

NanetteD

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What do you mean, sales copy for your own business or become a copywriter?

Salescopy as my niche product range.

I was a copywriter and editor for 20 years before I started my business. The first year as a consultant. The last four years I have been starting and stopping: developing and marketing products. From sales/marketing, lead generation, mindset, business coaching. I've basically been all over the place, not seeing anything through.
 
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RazorCut

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have a ton of ideas to turn into online/offline courses. I need to clone myself. My ideas come faster than my ability to execute.

Be careful with this thought process. Trying to execute on too many ideas dilutes everything, including your ability to focus on 'The One Thing'. From personal experience, and observing a multitude of others doing the same thing, juggling multiple businesses or niches within one business is a recipe for disaster. Or at the very least leads to mediocre results.
 

NanetteD

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Oh boy. I have been devouring the golden nuggets along the path you pointed me to for the past few days. Oh boy. Thank you @Andy Black.

A few insights:
- the word 'releasing' instead of launching hits home brilliantly. I tend to get a deep 'felt sense' with/of words. launching has all the energy around 'risky', 'stressful', 'results' and other yuck that 'releasing' doesn't (i get a visual of cows that are released into the pasture after a long winter inside, which is well... festive to say the least.) Apart from that, it's only obvious to work with a release calendar, since i was in IT for 90% of my career.

- Content strategy is something I want to straighten out asap. For the past few years i have been squeezing out content. There was no central idea behind using different channels but there WAS me using all those channels . Resulting in:
A) one way communications (and thus mostly a one woman show)
B) burnout and boredom at the same time
C) writing tons of half-finished content that never got anywhere
D) a barely 'used' mailinglist (200 subscribers)
I had the idea of recording and sharing my own progress/insights before. I just didn't know how to get it going. That and the fear of not knowing enough or needing to know everything.

- So there @Andy Black put the idea of that paid INSIDERS realm in my head. I love that. It feels simple and fun. It has the whole content strategy thing flipped upside down, because it puts your process in the middle instead of your 'expertise'. I could make it all about strategizing and systemizing all processes. Could offer content upgrades, since i love breaking chaos into simple actionable steps (and 'templatising' stuff). BUT. How does this relate to my free mailinglist?

- And to my social media stuff? Do I need to keep posting weekly? I kind of hate it. It's rigid. It's so much broadcasting. I shouldn't feel like I have to publish OR ELSE <insert hell and freeze and comparison paralysis> @Andy Black i would love to hear your thougts on this. On what platforms/channels do you post and how often/how strategized?

- On to my super skillset. It's copywriting. And i'm a questioner. I break stuff down. Basically I broke down making your value proposition into super easy & actionable steps, following the hero's journey so you get a very clear sense of your customer and what is needed to calm his reptile brain down. Also choosing USP's and a signature system. Asking the right questions at the right ppl. I have templates and canvases for every step. And for putting all that into clear salespage & homepage and e-mailmarketing. So there's researching involved, then it's 'translating' into a clear communication structure and then the actual writing of the copy is a breeze.

- So. I love the analogy of the stool and the legs. But I feel like I'm carrying a sofa.

- Back to the legs and their price points.
INSIDERS's circle (10 p/mth)^
Positioning/Branding assessment (60 flat)*
Salescopy online course (300 flat?)^
Content strategy & accountability & review (500 p/mth)
Salespage rewrite (1500 flat)
Sales story Kit (2000 flat, 10 weeks, in a group)*
Sales story VIP (1500 euro p/m, minimum 6 months, 1 on 1)*

*) is something i have on the shelf, with salespages and processes ready
^) feels exciting

Isn't this overcomplicating things? Thinking about Ryan Levesque's basic model of IN (product for leads) -> UP (core product) -> MAX (product for clients). On the other hand. It feels exciting to think about courses and structuring my business around externalising what i know. Overwhelm slaps me in the face with a large trout thinking about it more.

- I need to go back to the drawing board on my financial plan. Looking at it now... It's at most just a series of intentions instead of a solid, grownup plan. Keepin' it real.

Upcoming week:
- Youtube video's
- promo's for my webinar
- strategy for releasing something...
- ...during my webinar on Friday (need to prep that as well)
 

NanetteD

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the idea of that paid INSIDERS realm in my head. I love that. It feels simple and fun.

But then it hit me. This is it. My jumpy, trigger happy, shiny object hunting that I have been doing for the past three years. Adding things to the mix instead of building out what i already have. It has a bodily sensation on it's own and it affects my mood too much. Putting a paid newsletter on the backburner for now.

Still. A few very solid insights that i'm taking with me:
- flipping my content strategy is gold. Base it even more around helping others. I'm doing salescopy/website roasts on Youtube this coming week. Have a few people that want to be 'roasted'. The takeaways will give me new content to publish/share.
- my webinar is a bit clickbate'y (the secret behind salespages that convert) but I feel very excited about the subject and about offering a course on writing salespages during that webinar or even just my salespage canvas that I have readily laying around. After that I can sell my salesstory kit.
- Instagram is where i share my best content at the moment, very actionable & engaging, even though my following is still very small. Especialily my stories is something I like doing. I could bridge the gap by offering content upgrades or more personal insights on my free mailinglist.

I’m still figuring this stuff out. Happy to have a chat sometime.
Likewise!
 
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NanetteD

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Ok. First week without the kids.

Lessons of last week
- my following is way too small to do webinars. Did promo's but had very little subscribers
- did sell a bunch of salescopy reviews (conversion 40%) so that's not bad
- which is a product i didn't have before last week, so that's good news as well
- the (first) problem i solve for my clients is that their salespage doesn't get them leads/clients. I fix that with a review.
- during review i show them that they lack market intelligence + a clear brand positioning. for which i have a solid process.

BUT...
- someone in the grant cardone academy advised me to stick with sharp pricing for quick fixes. That got me all confused. Because my positioning product is not cheap. it involves my brain & time. Still i love that product and want to sell it so so much. Maybe I could offer it with different servicing levels and make it more scalable. DIY, DWY, DFY.
- until i have my products in place, i don't see how i could make a financial plan so i don't just yet. instead i'll focus on sales activities.

Next week:
- prospect list
- following up, reaching out, etc
- salespage up for the salescopy review
- release calendar for my youtube video's and other content
 

Odysseus M Jones

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Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
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A) one way communications (and thus mostly a one woman show)
B) burnout and boredom at the same time
C) writing tons of half-finished content that never got anywhere
D) a barely 'used' mailinglist (200 subscribers)
I don’t write to a blog. I write in the forum.

Maybe these will help?

I’m still figuring this stuff out. Happy to have a chat sometime.
 

NanetteD

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Because my positioning product is not cheap. it involves my brain & time. Still i love that product and want to sell it so so much. Maybe I could offer it with different servicing levels and make it more scalable. DIY, DWY, DFY.


Oh dear. I just heard myself sell a DIY version of this product. Releasing it into my new LMS'ish system.

Decided to leave Learndash which has been a major headache for the past three years. Onto Podia. Which I'm very much in love with.
 

NanetteD

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Breaking down my F*ck This-moment. Hoping it could be beneficial for others who are struggling with creating habits around certain 'programming' with which they sabotage themselves.

Yesterday was a shitty day. I had planned on taking the day off after working my a$$ of for two weeks. Sure, I took some down-time. Had a lot of fun cooking food, making clothes, reading, dancing, meeting people. But breaking it all down: yesterady I felt sleep-deprived, sympathetic nervous-system very much ON and that continuous hot breath of overwhelm in my neck. And I couldn't stop working. I just couldn't.

At 23h00 I closed my laptop with a BANG after reading a post on this forum about the Pareto Principle and getting more done in less time. I felt exhausted. Listened to some meditations, but the hunt was on, my mind was racing and so did my heart. F*cking hopeless.

So at 1 or 2 in the night I got out of bed, took out my fountain pen and wrote.

What I found was that at the base of my frantic racing is a deep belief about my capacity for dealing with numbers. Goals. Finance. Numerical things.

Of course the contrast is where the magic happens.

Because if there's one thing that my life proves, is that you can turn around every bad habit. I'm the queen of intervention. Over the past 20 years I've stopped abusing various substances, overcame an eating & an anxiety disorder, being unfit, eating unhealthy food and being a shitty, yelling mother. I'm a questioner pur sang. I question things. And then I decide to change whatever bugs me.

But never EVER with numbers behind it. I decide on an outcome (ie. do less of this. be more of that), design a process and act and pivot my way to it. This makes for a lot of good stories btw, because it's got a big gung-ho vibe to it which can obviously trigger a lot of welcome and unwelcome by-effects :) (Such as welcoming business partners without thinking it through)

Also it's what my clients value so much. Let me just break monstrous chaos down and jolt you into taking action. In the process I'll have my intuition and questioner-mind dig up the things that matter and put that into words that work.

Now, that's all good. But my anxiety about numbers needs to go. Because the areas in which numbers define outcomes, I sabotage myself.

For example:
- Following/creating a strategy for sales/outreach which i know is the fastest route to getting new clients (i do have 25 snippets with halfassed strategy outlines in my onenote)
- Putting my efforts into a smooth content process. Instead I create new stuff every F*cking time. I have 20 halfassed workflows in Trello, Office, offline notebooks, various trials with online editorial systems/apps and 1000 concepts in different clouds
- Taking time 'off' feels like luxury because all the blind spots I have make me want to keep my attention on my business/clients 24/7. I force myself to do this, but it's not structural
- I see valuable threads on this forum about ads or metrics and tweaking things like ctr or lifecycle value or you name it. And my mind just blocks like a stubborn donkey.
- I help clients to put their 'why' + their market needs into salescopy. I currently don't guarantee anything with that copy (results/conversion), which i see as a weak point in my business.

Here's the villain that I have to slay:
- action-faking. I found myself migrating from activecampaign to a new system yesterday. that was not planned. that was not necessary. i shouldn't be doing that with my valuable time. luckily i caught that systemjunkie just in time and stopped it.
- an inner dialogue. 'You'll never get this. You lack the brain capacity. This is what's forever keeping you from blablabla'

Here's what's hopeful about my situation:
- as soon as i see it, and stop those villains i am able to take a stance of 'amused wonder' which helps, also in silencing the inner critic.
- I am an action-plan-designer.

So here's my action plan :)
1. FInd three bèta testing clients that have good traffic and offer them to help them improve their salescopy conversion by rewriting + tweaking and testing.
2. Design a small ad and monitor and tweak the results.
3. Check my own conversion and tweak and test (so so simple)
4. Define my ONE THING to get to that 10k and keep at it.
5. Print 100 copies of this new daily planner that i found that helps me 'pick apart the elephant' and use that to... pick apart the elephant and keep on track
6. Ask my business buddy (she's in sales) to keep me accountable for my financial goals + content calendar + sales activities

God I love elephants. But they're so F*cking big.
 
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NanetteD

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Just a quick reply because this thread kind of got stale but i didn't.

After a lot of self-inquiry over the past few months I realised I was so much more committed to old beliefs than to growing/changing. And that writing about it was basically an ego trap that kept me in that old situation.

So I am currently in the process of quitting as much bullshit as i can, by questioning all the ego debri & layers that I placed there to cover up uncomfortable feelings around a core limiting belief. It's liberating. There is no single thing in my life that looks and feels the same as half a year ago. Covid helped enormously, creating urgency to find truth within instead of outside of myself.

Yes, the business is growing. I found my Zone of Genius, which i'm currently marketing instead of all the things other people do way better.

More on results & strategy later.
 

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