The Amy Porterfield Show

I love these opportunities to answer your questions directly. And lately, the questions have swirled around a specific theme. (It seems we're all on a very similar wavelength right now!)

What's the theme, you ask?

How to grow your business to the next level. 

Whether you're just getting started or have been in business for years, the steps that take you from where you are to where you want to go remain pretty consistent.

In other words, we have a lot in common, you and I.

Question #1: What is the first thing you do before you start a brand new project?

The answer here may surprise you...unless, of course, you've participated in one of my programs in the past couple years. (I kind of can't shut up about it.) It's incredibly simple and incredibly effective cornerstone of every project that makes my process absolutely fly by. I can't live without it.

...and neither should you! Sign up for my free training to own this strategy for yourself!

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Question #2: What is the biggest struggle in your business right now?

Glad you asked. This is something I've been thinking a lot about. It feels like I'm missing something important in my team--some vital role isn't being filled. As a result, it feels like there's a "chokehold" in my business.  After much deliberation, I think I've figured out what it is.

Question #3: What’s one challenge you have overcome this year?

I am really proud of this answer. (And guess what? It involves you.) And in overcoming this challenge, I've learned that it's not always a matter of changing something in order to make the challenge go away. Sometimes it's a matter of changing the way you look at the challenge.

Question #4: I've noticed you haven’t been traveling much lately. Why the change?

Aren't you observant? It's true--I've scaled way back on the travel commitments. And no, I didn't develop a fear of flying or lose my interest in participating in big events. Instead, it was a shift in my focus, and a commitment to doing even better at the things I do best.

Question #5: When you were first starting out did you feel a bit alone in your business?

Not at first--I was so relieved to be out of the busy corporate environment, a little isolation was fine. But over time, yes, I felt the need for more company in my solo-preneurship. Feeling alone squashes your creativity...so don't go there! (Click here to listen to the full episode, where I break down my strategy for keeping good company.)

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Next time you're networking with a group of entrepreneurs, keep your ears peeled for a certain word floating above the conversation.

The word is "mastermind," and it's a concept that is trickling down from the multimillion-dollar start-up set to homegrown entrepreneurs like you and me.

If you're not familiar with the term, the term "mastermind" can have a very "Great and Powerful Oz" sound about it. Simply put, a mastermind is a small, very focused group of business owners who meet regularly to sharpen and strengthen their business strategies.

One of the biggest advocates around for mastermind groups is Jaime Tardy, founder of EventualMillionaire.com. Jaime is the kind of person anyone would want in their mastermind group--she has razor-sharp focus, unwavering commitment to her goals, an insatiable appetite to learn...and she's also a lot of fun to talk with!

Jaime joined me this week to talk all things mastermind, and the takeaway is hugely informative. If you've been thinking about creating or joining a mastermind, or even if this is the first time you've the term, this episode is going to spell out exactly what the benefits are, what kind of mastermind you should be looking for, and how to conduct operations once you get started.

Jaime also put together a worksheet for forming your own mastermind, complete with email scripts for contacting potential members. Click here to download it so you can get started right away!

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Should I Pay to Join a Mastermind?

"Peer masterminds," as they're sometimes called, have these advantages over paid groups:

Should My Mastermind Only Have People from My Niche?

Definitely not! Jaime is in a mastermind with a financial advisor, an internet marketer, and a professional sword swallower! What they do have in common is a high regard for systems and processes, and a level of success that they're trying to reach.

How Do I Know if My Mastermind Is Working?

The same way you know if any relationship is working--if you feel mostly positive effects from being involved with it.

There are definitely masterminds that are not a good fit for you, that just don't offer what you're looking to get out of it.

Or perhaps it's going great for you, but someone else in the mastermind is routinely late to meetings, participates minimally, or contributes negative energy.In either case, a few meetings is usually all it takes to know that something's not working right.

Get Jaime's insights for keeping your mastermind on track! Click here to listen to the full interview now.  

Commit to Your Own Success

It can take one or two tries to find the right group of people for your mastermind. But from my own experience, I can tell you that my entire business changed when I finally locked into the right group.

I want you to have the same experience, so if this is something you have been thinking about for a while, commit to yourself:

"In 30 days I will have created my own small mastermind of five people."

Best of all, forming your mastermind is so incredibly easy if you follow Jaime's step-by-step worksheet. Click here to download it now!

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If you’ve sought out training to help you build your business, or tracked the success of other entrepreneurs, you have firsthand experience of the power webinars have to not only engage and excite an audience, but to convert them to into paying clients.

Maybe you’ve even been one of those people who signed up for a webinar to get a little free education, and ended up making a purchasing decision that you were genuinely excited about!

So why does the idea of putting on your own webinar have you quaking in your boots?

Let me guess...

Busy entrepreneurs (like you and me) don’t have a SECOND to waste on activities that aren’t directly linked to profit. If you’ve ever tried creating a webinar before, you know that sinking feeling of waiting, as the seconds tick by, for your sales to pick up speed. (Ugh! It’s the worst, isn’t it?)

In my experience, I’ve found that four major myths are to blame for a poor conversion rate.

I’m going to debunk those myths for you, and show you how to replace them with truly effective practices that will not only reward all your hard work, but have you out of your chair with excitement.

Myth #1: Webinars are just a marketing strategy (and not a whole system).

Myth # 2: Webinars are a TON of effort and involve too much expensive technology.

Myth #3 - I’m fine; I learned about webinars a few years ago.

Myth #4 - It’s too late. I already missed the boat on webinars.

If you’re reading this post RIGHT NOW, then you’re in a unique position to catch wind of this new strategic approach before anyone else in your niche does, and in doing so, claim your stake in the rich blue ocean ripe with sizeable and scalable profits.

So chances are that even if your competitors are already using webinars (the old way), you can gain a competitive advantage by being the FIRST to build a complete webinar funnel based on the proven frameworks, techniques, and strategies that I’m about to share with you.

Keep reading . . . now that you know the 4 webinar myths, I've created a DETAILED, free cheat sheet to help you with your first (or next!) webinar . . .

My wish for you is to sidestep the countless traps that make most webinars epic disasters, and instead learn how to create a masterpiece.

I’ve been doing webinars for over 5 years now and I’ve made MANY mistakes along the way. You don’t need to do the same! I’ve compiled a list of 5 of my biggest webinar mistakes over the years and how to avoid them before your first (or next!) webinar. Click here now to get that list!

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When I say the word “blogging,” what’s the first emotion you feel?

If you’re like many entrepreneurs, it’s probably stress, mixed with a little bit of guilt.

Even if you truly love writing, keeping up a blog for your business can be one of the hardest things to get done…if you even get it done at all. Your business might be running full steam ahead, but your blog is lagging months behind!

Today’s episode is all about getting your blog back in gear, minus the stress. I’m talking to one of my favorite people in the online marketing world, Darren Rowse, the founder of ProBlogger.net and one of the first people to recognize the potential of blogging for entrepreneurs.

He’s going to walk us through the bare necessities of blogging, and show you how to streamline your process so that you gain traffic, convert leads and build community with every post you write.

Despite having written an encyclopedia's worth of information about blogging over the past few years, Darren is no stranger to the stress around blogging:

“It’s pretty easy to get to a stage where your blog is running you instead of you running your blog.”

So why keep blogging at all?

Simple—your blog is the cornerstone of your branding foundation. It's the best way to get your name out there, and to help people get to know you.

Reinvent the SWOT Test

Would you believe that when Darren started ProBlogger, he’d only been an actual pro blogger for less than a year? With so little experience under his belt, he was fearful of being called out for not being a seasoned expert. (I’m sure we can all relate to that!)

But rather than let his inexperience hold him back, Darren used this “weakness” to his advantage. He was transparent in his posts about aspects of blogging that he didn’t understand yet or was just learning about.

As it turned out, the transparency was a big hit with his audience, and earned him even more followers.

“To position myself as someone who was on the journey, maybe a few steps ahead of you but I still haven’t gotten it all together, really resonated well with my audience.”

Once you’ve run a SWOT test (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats) on your blog, go back and reconsider the weaknesses and threats you found. They can actually be the ideal ways to differentiate yourself in your field. So many people out there position themselves as bulletproof experts, that your audience may find your “inexperience” very refreshing.

Become a Title Master

Darren leaves no uncertainty about the importance of titles:

"The title of your post changes the destiny of your post. …can be the difference between somebody reading it and sharing it and it just sitting in the archives and never being read again."

How to Find Readers (Without Google’s Help)

The constant changes in how Google ranking works mean that SEO tags and hyperlinks don’t work as well anymore for getting your blog to show up in a keyword search.

According to Darren, that doesn’t matter as much as knowing who you’re trying to reach with your blog, and showing up where those readers hang out online.

"I am a big believer in adding readers one by one. I don’t think you need to be attracting thousands of readers everyday to your blog. For me it’s really about building a presence in the places that my potential readers are and being useful in those places."

Try watching on Twitter for people who use your keywords and respond to them. Be helpful in forums. Join Facebook groups that are on your particular topic and add value to the conversation. What you’re looking for is the opportunity to bring a new reader on who will love your blog and bring their whole network along with them.

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A lot of you have asked me if it's a good idea for you to start planning live events. You see the entrepreneurs you admire staging weekend retreats where they get up and set their audience on fire with excitement, education and motivation. Maybe you've even been to one and thought "Hey, I could do that!"

The short answer is Yes! I started planning and participating in live events very early in my business, and while my inexperience made it a little terrifying at first, I couldn't deny the powerful boost it gave me--not just in terms of leads, but also in terms of confidence.

That's why I invited Rich Brooks to join me on the show today. Rich is a small business owner who just happens to be an event-planning powerhouse. I asked Rich to let me pick his brain for the fundamentals of planning a successful live event.

The Who and the Why

If you've ever attended Rich's amazing Agents of Change conference in Portland, Maine, it may surprise you to learn that his live event track record began with a simple lunch meeting.

The purpose of a live event isn't to wow everyone with your multimedia presentations and dynamic speeches. Those are great bells and whistles to add as you gain experience, but the real heart of a live event is to do four things:

The more you work on your online marketing, the more you start to notice how crowded it is out there. It's getting harder and harder to get noticed in people's social media feed, no matter how valuable your content is. So why not get the edge on your competitors and take your message directly to your audience, face to face?

Yes, it takes more time and effort to plan an event than to post something on Facebook. But, Rich says,

"A live event could be that thing that really separates you and raises you above all of the other people out there in your industry. If you are looking to kind of change up the way you engage with people, a live event may be the perfect thing for you."

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3 Phases of a Live Event: Speakers, Sponsors and Seats

Rich says that all live event planning boils down to these three phases.

First Things First - Who Is This For?

Before you start worrying about getting people to show up (we'll talk about that later), spend some time thinking about who you want to show up. The key thing here is quality over quantity. Here's what Rich has to say about it:

"The #1 is that you are putting on an event for people. Who is this audience? What do they look like? Who is your avatar? What kind of information do they want to consume? What are they looking to accomplish? What are they looking to do?"

As in all other forms of marketing, you need to narrow in on your ideal audience member, and design the perfect event for them. I know it's counterintuitive, but being super specific will actually help you attract more people.

Once you know who you're planning this event for, you'll have a firm foundation to build on with the three phases.

Phase 1: Speakers

Phase 2: Sponsors

Click here to download this week's free giveaway.

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Phase 3: Seats

Find out more ways to fill the seats at your live event! Listen to the full episode here.

...And Just One Two More Things

What do I charge?

How much should I promote?

Try to time your more obvious promotions around FOMO-inducing moments in the sales process. Announcing Early Bird discounts, One Day Only specials, "Seats Are Rapidly Selling Out!" messages, etc. are perfect opportunities to jog people's memories that they want to attend.

Do you ever find yourself in the middle of a challenge with your business and wondering,

“How did I get here…again?!”

Nothing feels worse than the suspicion that you’ve been spinning your wheels for the past month. (Or quarter. Or year.) The last thing we want is to get caught in a downward spiral, where we never get to overcome our struggles and rise past a certain level.

But what if that spiral was actually going up, not down?

I spoke with Nathalie Lussier, world-class digital strategist and email building expert, about this problem that confronts all of us: how to understand the recurring patterns in our business.

Not only does she give some sage advice on how to deal with these patterns, but she shows how embracing them can actually help you build your business by narrowing your niche.

We usually think of business strategy as being a line between Point A and Point B…and measure our success by how straight that line is.

But in real life, Nathalie says, the path is more like a spiral staircase. As we make our way up to the next level, we revisit the same issues, challenges and themes over and over again. 

When you come up against circumstances that make you think “How did I get here again?”, flip the way you’re looking at them. Even if it’s the same issue, you’re in a different place with it than you were six months (or even six weeks) ago.

What’s more, each time you revisit that same situation, you learn something a new and deeper lesson about it, which you can then pass on to your target audience. They’re all climbing spiral staircases of their own, and they need your story to help them keep going.

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Narrowing Your Niche Helps You Ask for What You Want

Think about some of your mini-goals for this quarter. Maybe you want to get published in a prominent magazine or website. Maybe you want to speak at someone’s live event, or host an event of your own. Maybe you want to join forces with another business.

These kinds of opportunities don’t usually come knocking—you have to ask for them. Chances are, you’re one of several people asking.

But when you have a clearly defined, highly specific niche, you’re bringing something to the table that will stand out. 

Your niche gives you leverage to show why what you have to say matters, who is going to listen, and how success in that opportunity can be measured. Those are win-wins for you and the person you’re asking.

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Narrowing Your Niche Reconnects You with the Deeper Meaning of Your Business

Take a minute to really search your soul. What are you really passionate about changing in the world? Whom do you feel the most empathy for? Whose troubles do you burn to solve?

Your compassion is a powerful indicator of where your niche really lies. Identify the people whose struggles motivate you the most, and let them become co-creators of your business by defining your work around their needs.

“A lot of times, we get caught up in the logistics and the analytics, what’s the conversation rate, what’s the opt-in rate… Just remember that there’s a human being on the other side of that screen who has their own heartbeat, hopes, dreams and goals. When I’m sending an email, I’m not sending an email to my list—I’m sending an email to all these incredible human beings.”

Next time you find yourself in an all-too-familiar position in your business, don’t lose heart. Look for the opportunities it offers—opportunities that you’d never have seen last time you were in this place. There’s nothing wrong with a spiral if it’s leading you upward.