What went well and what didn't. My hits and misses, wins and losses for 2015. How did I grow my business over 400%? Here's my 2015 Year in Review

Do you have $371,100 to open a franchise?

How about $80,000 to invest in your own restaurant?

So, You Want to Open Your Own Shop

Once upon a time I thought it would be fun to open a restaurant. After all, the franchise model is a popular and proven way to get started in your own business. However, after flipping burgers for a few years and having responsibility for the grease bucket, I decided the food industry wasn't for me.

Though I have nothing against restaurants, fast food or franchises, the costs associated with those types of business opportunities aren't appealing to me.

According to Jamba Juice's website, a new franchise owner must be ready to spend a couple hundred grand to open a store. To open a Firehouse Subs (one of my favorites), in addition to your love and devotion to sandwiches, you've got to have a "minimum of $80k to invest".

So, You No Longer Want to Open Your Own Shop

If managing rent, warehouses, supply chains, utilities and overhead don't sound appealing to you, maybe an online business is more your style. Before I purchased my first domain, I had NO idea how much anything would cost. And the more people I talk to, the more people I find who are in the same boat - we just don't know the cost of starting an online business.

To help demystify the costs and clarify what's needed, I've put together a list of the absolute essentials.

Yes, some of these links are affiliate links, but I only provide links to services I use and recommend myself. And, these links won't cost you anything extra. So dive in!

What You Need

Starting an online business is similar to starting any other business with a physical location or storefront. You need a name, a place where visitors can browse your products and a way to accept payment. Almost everything else just adds to the ambiance and personality of your business.

Things like window dressings, a smiling hostess and knowledgeable staff all help people feel safe about buying from you. Their online equivalents - landing pages, appealing design, and a blog - achieve the same goal of helping people know, like and trust your business and brand.

Every business needs a blog. CLICK HERE to see why.

How Much Money You'll Need

If you signed up for every service I recommend below, you could start an online business for $1,344.38 and have most of your costs covered for multiple years.

Hosting ... $125.64

Domain ... $9.99

Landing Pages ... $97.00

Email Marketing Service ... $91.80

Premium Theme ... $99.95

Legal Work ... $800

P.O. Box ... $120

Grand Total = $1,344.38

For less than $1400, you could start an online business, sell your products, and own your business from the front door to the back warehouse and not have to pay anyone royalties, fees, or other startup costs (other than maintenance) for years to come.

Will it be easy? Hell no.

Will it be the ride of a lifetime? For sure!

How does this $1345 break down?...

... Let's take a look.

The Details

When I started my online business, I bootstrapped as much as possible. You're more than able to do the same thing yourself, but you'll eventually get to the products and services I've listed below. I spent as little as possible on my business until my client Larry called me up and told me I was running my business with a flat tire, and I should fix it.

I won't go into all of the free versions here because this is about starting a high-quality, professional looking online business the right way, not just the fun way that looks like you built it in your mom's basement.

Here's what you'll need...

Would you cancel your podcast after 100 episodes and tens of thousands of downloads?

About once a year I take a close look at the state of my show, the Empowered Podcast, and the direction it's heading.

Pivot One

The first time was after Podcast Movement 2014. Up until that point, I'd been focused on motivation, encouragement, and helping listeners realize that if my guests had overcome significant obstacles, then they could too. This strategy was fun, but I felt it lacked... purpose.

It took me a couple of months to generate new content and produce what I'd already recorded so the show could change directions. An observant listener might notice the shift beginning around episode 50 and in full-swing by episode 56 with Jon Harrison.

I realized motivation is cheap, but someone who can help people make a needed change is in high-demand.

Pivot Two

The second time I made changes to my show was in January of 2015 when I began to incorporate live Experts Calls from my Membership Site into the podcast. These calls are with business owners who are in the trenches and doing what my members and listeners want to be doing.

These Experts Calls stripped out all theory and got to the heart of entrepreneurship and building a business. I was worried these episodes would be too technical for the average listener because they were edited versions of the full calls which are members only.

But they weren't.

In fact, the podcast episodes which featured these in-depth business cases have become some of the most popular! It turns out, people are tired of fluff and theory. What listeners crave are real, relevant case studies that help them get meaningful results.

Pivot Three

The third time I decided to make changes in my show was after Podcast Movement 2015. It was at that time that I realized I didn't want to be "another podcaster," but that I really wanted to double-down on helping people start businesses that will allow them to develop an exit strategy so they can leave their crappy jobs.

But, this left me wondering how to best accomplish this goal. Since August, I've released a total of 4 episodes instead of one every week. Consistency went out the door, but I was focused on only producing the best possible content which I knew would help people in meaningful ways.

What Do I Do Now?

A couple of months went by and I still didn't have a clear path on how I wanted to move forward with the show. Do I continue doing interviews? Do listeners want shorter episodes? What type of help do they really need?

So I asked them.

I sent this email to some of the most active members of my community and asked them:

What would you like to see from the show moving forward?

Here's what they said...

Marketing. Sometimes the word itself can be intimidating enough to scare people away. But, marketing your brand doesn't have to be scary or complicated.

When I started building my brand in 2012 I didn't know what I was doing. But, I invested the time, energy, and sometimes money, to learn about branding, business, and marketing.

Prior to starting my own company, I was in sales. I was told what to sell, how to sell it, and even when I had to stop selling certain things. After several years of success, I learned how much marketing and branding I was doing all along.

Before you dive into these six things you should know about marketing, I want you to keep a word in the back of your mind. That word is "mindshare" and it's similar to market share but better for people who want to build and market a brand.

Kleenex has mindshare. Whenever someone wants a tissue, they say, "I need a Kleenex." Market share is what Puff's has when they say 2.5 people out of 10 purchase their products.

As a business owner, you want mindshare. If you have the mindshare of your customer and clients, you're the person they think of first when they have a problem and are in need of a solution. They don't know if you have a product to meet their needs, but they'll come to you for help.

The goal of this post is to show you six things you should know about marketing your small business or brand and to help you cultivate positive mindshare for your business. Let's go!

6 Things You Should Know about Marketing Your Brand...

Sometimes we need to become experts and become them fast. If you need to become an expert on any topic so you can hold a conversation, speak in front of a large group, or prepare for a presentation, I'm going to show you five ways you can become an expert on any topic.

9 tactics that have helped Pat Flynn build an audience in the hundreds of thousands, helped him generate millions of dollars in affiliate income, and help him become one of the most sought-after speakers in the world.

Details are either the things that will make you successful or they're the things that'll keep you from getting where you want to go. How do you know what to spend your time on? Do you focus on the big picture? Or, is it the details that make the difference?

Have you ever met someone who was "toxic?" Not every personality type is one that you should keep around.

Have you ever met someone who was "a little too happy?" Not every world-view will help you and I become successful people.

If you agree with Napoleon Hill when he says that our personalities and levels of personal growth are influenced by the people we do hang out with, don't we also have to agree there are certain types of people we should not hang out with?

Every business wants more leads. But few businesses understand what goes into creating a lead magnet that will convert visitors to leads.

And that's what you want, right? We want to convert visitors to leads, leads to customers, customers to raving fans and repeat buyers?

That's the golden process that enables every business to grow. But when your business, blog, podcast or e-commerce site is online only, how do you bring in new leads? The answer: Killer Lead Magnets

It's not easy to get more blog traffic to your site and get more visitors to your content. Sometimes it can be downright difficult to increase your traffic month over month and show growth as a result of your work.