The Enlightened Entrepreneur - Free and Low-Cost Tools and Resources for Small Businesses!

Emails are “fleeting” documents. Once they are opened, unless it is something that someone wants to take action on at that exact moment, it risks never being seen or thought of again.

But that statement just applies to emails that they DO receive – what if they don’t even receive the emails you are sending?

I use various autoresponders and third-party mail services to deliver my promotional emails and I want to make sure that the emails I send get through and they are read, and I really love this program I am about to introduce you to and it works with any email provider or service...

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

MailGenius: https://www.mailgenius.com/

"ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!"

If you are enjoying these weekly tips containing free and low cast resources that will help your business, then you may want to pick up a copy of our best selling book “ “ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!” It contains 50 programs, tools and resources that are all free or low-cost – and when I say low-cost I mean under $20! Get your copy on Amazon today!

Available on Amazon.com - HERE

Why would you need a URL "shortener"?

If you want to include a webpage that has a LONG URL into an email or text, it would be unsightly and hard if people had to somehow “type” it out or write it down. Also, if you are posting on Twitter with the limited number of characters they allow you to use and you wanted to send someone to something like your Facebook event page – like the one I am looking at right now for the Texas Bluebonnet Festival, the URL am looking at is 405 characters long! – It wouldn’t even fit on a tweet that only allows you 280 characters!...

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Bitly:  https://bit.ly

"ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!"

If you are enjoying these weekly tips containing free and low cast resources that will help your business, then you may want to pick up a copy of our best selling book “ “ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!” It contains 50 programs, tools and resources that are all free or low-cost – and when I say low-cost I mean under $20! Get your copy on Amazon today!

Available on Amazon.com - HERE

One way to build your list is to create a “Lead Magnet” – something of value that pertains to your product or service so that prospects will give you their contact information in exchange for information that they consider valuable.

If you have an idea for a useful and helpful lead magnet that will help your prospects and make you stand out while allowing you to build your list, but don’t want to go though the expense of hiring a designer and building a series of pages – or a “funnel” – to deliver that lead magnet, then you are going to LOVE what I am about to introduce you to...

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Beacon:

https://beacon.by/

Autoresponder Episode #126

https://www.podpage.com/enlightened-e/126-a-free-autoresponder/

"ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!"

If you are enjoying these weekly tips containing free and low cast resources that will help your business, then you may want to pick up a copy of our best selling book “ “ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!” It contains 50 programs, tools and resources that are all free or low-cost – and when I say low-cost I mean under $20! Get your copy on Amazon today!

Available on Amazon.com - HERE

If you are familiar with Amy Porterfield, Ryan Levesque or Neil Patel, you may be familiar with how each of them recommends the power of using quizzes in your marketing. It’s a great way to engage prospects, encourages them to share their results and quizzes with others-- all the while qualifying them and those they share it with while building a list of qualified prospects for your business.

Quizzes engage people either in a fun way or in an informative way and take advantage of people’s natural curiosity. If your opening question stirs their curiosity, it creates an “open loop” where people don’t want to be left “hanging” – they really want to find out the answer to the quiz question – and if your quiz compliments your product or service – bingo. You have a viral way of getting qualified people on your list!

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Interact:

https://www.tryinteract.com/plans/

"Ask" by Ryan Levesque’s (Amazon Book)

https://www.amazon.com/Ask-Counterintuitive-Discover-Customers-Business/dp/1939447720/

Neil Patel Article

https://neilpatel.com/blog/quizzes-for-your-marketing-strategy/

The ULTIMATE Lead Magnet - Paperback Book - FREE (Just pay shipping & Handling)

Let me show you how to create the ULTIMATE lead magnet without any technical skills or artistic ability as both a downloadable report that is extremely professionally laid out, and as a BOOK -- a PHYSICAL PRODUCT that people will PAY YOU FOR!

And with it, learn how to create the same marketing system that millionaire marketers and coaches like Jeff Walker, Anik Singal, Russell Brunson -- and even ANTHONY ROBBINS spend THOUSANDS of dollars for -- and I'll show you how you can do the same thing for FREE!

This is not a downloadable report, this is PAPERBACK BOOK that I am offering to my subscribers for free that will explain the process – Just go to our site the enlightened entrepreneur at www.enlightened-e.com and look for the link to “The ULTIMATE Lead Magnet”

Get the FREE BOOK Here:  https://go.oncuepro.com/ULM-FreeBook

Want to see the Webinar?: https://go.oncuepro.com/ULM

(Also available through our link on our website: https://www.enlightened-e.com )

Rarely – if ever do I recommend books on this podcast. I prefer to reveal programs and tools that you may find to be the perfect fit for use in your business. Every person and every business is different and I think that if there are specific things that you need to learn about marketing – whether it is direct mail marketing or video marketing or YouTube advertising - you will search them out and find them.

But these two books are perfect for new businesses, entrepreneurs or businesses who may be struggling, and will give you a real-world up to date marketing education that will propel your business way beyond your competition -- and I recommend them highly.

Links mentioned in this Episode:

"SELL LIKE CRAZY: How to Get As Many Customers and Sales as You Can Possibly Handle” by Sabri Suby

Sells on Amazon for $19.95, but get your copy for Free using the link below ($6.95 Shipping and Handling):

https://selllikecrazybook.com/new-offer/

Paperback = $9.95, Kindle Version = $4.95

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MSLH02G

"ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!"

If you are enjoying these weekly tips containing free and low cast resources that will help your business, then you may want to pick up a copy of our best selling book “ “ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!” It contains 50 programs, tools and resources that are all free or low-cost – and when I say low-cost I mean under $20! Get your copy on Amazon today!

Available on Amazon.com - HERE

The most important thing you can do in your business is to get people to know about you, your product or your service — and if you can get them to refer you to their friends or acquaintances … and then have those people refer you to their friends or acquaintances -- then you have created a viral storm!

I was initially leery of this service because I didn’t see any pricing on their website, but I discovered that there is no pricing — it is free, and when I went through the system and viewed their presentation and they mentioned that Michael Hyatt (an author and marketer who I respect) uses their system — I was impressed...

Links mentioned in this Episode:

Go Viral!: https://goviral.growthtools.com/

"ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!"

If you are enjoying these weekly tips containing free and low cast resources that will help your business, then you may want to pick up a copy of our best selling book “ “ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!” It contains 50 programs, tools and resources that are all free or low-cost – and when I say low-cost I mean under $20! Get your copy on Amazon today!

Available on Amazon.com - HERE

I keep thinking that many of the programs I use regularly people already know about – but just because I know about them and use them doesn’t mean that others know about them or use them as well.

I was introduced to this program from software programmer who wanted me to send him a quick video of a problem I was having with their software. When I first tried it out, I was impressed on how easy it was to use. 

Video files can be enormous, and although I have video software that allows me to record screen shares and personal videos whenever I want to, what I like about this program is that everything is done online and the videos don’t take up valuable space on my hard drive.

I know you will find great ways to use the free version of this handy video recording tool!

Links mentioned in this Episode:

Loom: https://www.loom.com

"ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!"

If you are enjoying these weekly tips containing free and low cast resources that will help your business, then you may want to pick up a copy of our best selling book “ “ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!” It contains 50 programs, tools and resources that are all free or low-cost – and when I say low-cost I mean under $20! Get your copy on Amazon today!

Available on Amazon.com - HERE

I think in today’s day and age, an autoresponder system for your business is a MUST. In the same amount of time it takes to write one email to a prospect, you can send that same email to hundreds – or thousands of your prospects efficiently.

But what if you don’t have hundreds or thousands of prospects? Is it worth investing $30 or more per month in an autoresponder system? What if you have a club or organization with 100 members, or a mailing list of 500 prospects? Sure, it would be great to stay in touch with them professionally using an autoresponder, but do you want to invest $360 a year or more for that privilege?

I’ve got good news! Here’s a professional and highly rated autoresponder system that is free and perfect for new businesses and has features that most autoresponder systems lack...

Links mentioned in this Episode:

MailerLite: www.mailerlite.com

"ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!"

If you are enjoying these weekly tips containing free and low cast resources that will help your business, then you may want to pick up a copy of our best selling book “ “ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!” It contains 50 programs, tools and resources that are all free or low-cost – and when I say low-cost I mean under $20! Get your copy on Amazon today!

Available on Amazon.com - HERE

If you are not already adding it to your marketing mix, you should consider adding postal mail to your marketing as well. Unlike email messages, Flyers and postcards can be filed away where they can easily be retrieved later – and even put on bulletin boards and refrigerators waiting for the proper time to take action!

I often mail letters and flyers to my prospects, but only after I have spoken to them on the phone first to determine if they are a viable prospect.  The stationary is relatively inexpensive to print as is the full color flyer…but believe it or not; the most expensive printing cost is the ENVELOPE!

To give you an idea of the costs, doing a quick search on the internet, 500 sheets of stationary (printed as “matte” flyers) can cost $31.80.  --  500 printed envelopes can cost $166.99 – 4 times the cost of the letterhead!

Now you can certainly buy a box of blank, plain white envelopes from a stationary store for about $30 and run them through your printer mail-merging the address perhaps with a logo as well, but that looks “home made” and screams “junk mail”.  Here's a great economical solution that looks slick and professional!...

Links mentioned in this Episode:

CLEARBAGS.COM: www.clearbags.com

Here is the direct link to clear sleeves sized to fit and 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper folded in half (Item number B59S) :

"ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!"

If you are enjoying these weekly tips containing free and low cast resources that will help your business, then you may want to pick up a copy of our best selling book “ “ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!” It contains 50 programs, tools and resources that are all free or low-cost – and when I say low-cost I mean under $20! Get your copy on Amazon today!

Available on Amazon.com - HERE

This is almost IDENTICAL to a paid system I am currently using – and they are offering it to you FREE to use with up to a MILLION contacts!

A Contact Relationship Management system (CRM) is an effective way to keep track of prospects and clients. In fact — I would say it is vital for your business to succeed!

Some of the amazing features they have built into their system for FREE that many other CRM’s do not, include:

• An easy to use graphic email designer to send marketing messages and newsletters out to clients.

• The ability to send meeting invites by email.

• A way to communicate with contacts through Facebook Messenger (from right inside of HubSpot).

• A code you can put on your site that will let you know how many times a contact has visited your website.

• Subscription forms and pop-up forms for your website.

• And even a “Live Chat” feature for your website where people can ask you questions right from your site! 

Those are just a few of the included FREE features — but don’t be overwhelmed, you can add those and other features slowly as you feel more comfortable and you feel the need.

It is definitely worth trying out!

Links mentioned in this Episode:

Hubspot: https://www.hubspot.com

Salesmate: https://www.salesmate.io

Pipedrive: https://www.pipedrive.com

"ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!"

If you are enjoying these weekly tips containing free and low cast resources that will help your business, then you may want to pick up a copy of our best selling book “ “ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!” It contains 50 programs, tools and resources that are all free or low-cost – and when I say low-cost I mean under $20! Get your copy on Amazon today!

Available on Amazon.com - HERE