Work Less, Earn More

“This is it. I’ve figured it out. I know exactly what I need to do now,” I told my husband one day in the fall of 2016.

I’d just returned from a women’s business conference in San Diego. It was the first “big” event I’d attended, and I’d learned a lot.

Including, as it happened, the “missing piece” I needed to finally start making money with my online business.

My puzzle seemed so complete, in fact, that for the next few weeks I struggled to feel motivated to work on my business at all. There was no more mystery to it. No more curiosity driving me forward.

Once I got over that, though, I took my business from earning $0 to over $10K/month in just 18 months.

Sometimes there really are secrets to success…

In this week’s podcast episode, I teach YOU this missing puzzle piece: what it was, why it mattered so much, and how I found and fitted it into my business puzzle to get the results I did.

If you’re wondering why you’re struggling to grow and get the results you’re looking for, this episode is for you.

Hope this lesson has as much impact on YOU as it did on me a few years ago. <3

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If you’re trying to grow your audience on social media, then you KNOW that there’s one thing that matters more than just about anything else…

Engagement.

It doesn’t matter what platform you’re on, the algorithm cares about the same thing: how much people engage -- or don’t -- with your content.

More engagement means people are paying more attention to your posts (good!) and the algorithm rewards that with more reach (good as well!). And that then results in more followers.

The GOOD news is that more people see your “best” posts.

The BAD news is… even if you’re sharing something valuable, important, and potentially impactful… if people don’t actively engage then your results will be lackluster (to put it gently).

Engagement. It’s the name of the game.

The big question is… how do you get more of it??

Well, that’s where my friend Kat Gaskin comes in.

She’s known around the internet as “The Content Planner,” because that’s what she helps entrepreneurs do: plan their social media content.

But when I reached out to her about coming on the podcast, there was something a little different I wanted to talk to her about:

HOW has she built such an incredibly engaged community of raving fans??

‘Cause Kat doesn’t just have followers on Instagram.

Nope. Her audience is full of the hard-core, ride-or-die type.

And I wanted to know how she’d done it.

You’re welcome. ;)

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First off, isn’t it so cool that we live at a time when information is so readily available?

The answer is out there to any question you might have… and it’s probably even just a Google search away!

But with more content created every day than you could ever possibly consume, this abundance of information can also be… overwhelming.

Information overload is real. And it can really hold you back.

You’re trying to build your business, but there are millions of articles, podcasts, and courses all giving you different [conflicting!] advice.

How can you possibly decide which advice to take or what’s your best next step?

If you’ve ever struggled with this, I can relate. And… I can also help.

Turns out, there’s a framework for exactly this. A simple, 2-step process for figuring exactly which aspect of your business you should work on next in order to reach the next level of growth… and I’m going to walk you through everything in this episode.

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One of the toughest parts about being “young and broke” is not having the money to do some of the responsible things you know you should be doing. Stuff like:

I hope you’re in a place right now where you can afford most of these things... because I know how tough it is to do without them. Both because they’re helpful basics, but also because you know you should be doing them, and it’s stressful to be “letting things slide” -- even when you don’t have much choice.

But if your business is still in its infancy, you might still be cutting a few corners, sticking to a tight budget, and DIY’ing, well… everything.

Kudos to you. Seriously.

The early stages of building a business are tough, but if you can stick them out (and I know you can!!) they will eventually be worth it.

But what’s to be done in the meantime??

Especially when it comes to managing your finances, you can’t just ignore that aspect of your biz until you’re earning enough to hire a pro.

Because let’s face it… if you do that, you might never get to that point at all.

Fortunately, you have options.

On this week’s podcast episode, I interview Mark Butler, CPA and the founder of Let’s Do the Books, a bookkeeping service for brand new companies.

In the episode, Mark shares exactly how to DIY your bookkeeping -- and how to do it right. So that when you eventually are ready to work with a pro, you’ll be PROUD to show them your books and there won’t be any awkward conversations.

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One of the toughest parts of building a successful YouTube channel is just getting your first 1,000 subscribers.

Once you hit that coveted 4-figure mark, the algorithm takes over and (as long as you keep posting consistently...) practically grows your channel for you.

But how can you get those first thousand??

Everyone does it slightly differently, but hearing their stories can help you figure out the best path for YOU.

On today's podcast episode, I'm interviewing YouTube creator Marissa Romero, who's successfully grown a channel of 120,000+ subscribers in a competitive niche.

We'll talk a little about the strategies she's using to grow it these days... but we're going to focus mostly on how she got started.

After you listen, I'm sure Marissa would appreciate hearing what you got out of the episode! You can reach out to her @marissaeromero on Instagram.

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As you’re likely aware, we’re currently in the process of guiding a group of 130 students through the VALIDATE accelerator program, helping them figure out whether or not there’s demand for their business ideas.

I shared a lot last month about why this process is so essential--including the fact that it protects you from possibly wasting countless hours (even years) of your life on an idea that never pans out.

I’ve seen one (or 100…) too many entrepreneurs wind up feeling like failures because they can’t turn their business idea into a success -- when, in reality, they aren’t the problem at all -- they’re just trying to build the wrong business.

What makes it even worse is that this problem is 100% avoidable.

I know not everyone was able to participate as a student in VALIDATE, so today on the podcast I’m doing something very special: offering a crash course on how to do the validation process for yourself!

If you’re a DIY’er then you’ll love this episode. Not only is it the “do it yourself” guide to testing your biz idea, but it’s also going to ensure that all your future business DIY projects have much greater chances of being successful!

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What's more profitable, online courses or self-published books?

A lot of people who are interested in making money by selling information (either as a course creator or author) consider these two options.

To some, the choice is obvious.

Of course it's online courses!

After all, everyone knows that "authors don't make anything."

And we've all heard plenty of stories of course creators who are killing it online.

Here's the thing -- while it's true that courses tend to be more profitable than self-published books, this question ("What's more profitable?") kind of creates a false dichotomy.

In other words: it makes it sound like you have to pick one or the other.

But, in reality, these two strategies can work together to create far better results than either typically does on its own.

(It's like asking, "What's better: YouTube or email marketing?" And the answer is, "Neither, they're just different. They serve different purposes in your marketing.")

This week, on the podcast, I interviewed my friend Chandler Bolt, founder and CEO of Self-Publishing School, a $15M Inc 5000 company.

Self-Publishing School primarily sells online courses -- and it's one of the biggest and most successful such companies out there!

So, how'd Chandler do it? Well... by practicing what he preaches: self-publishing books on Amazon!

Chandler's been a friend of mine for the past three years (I first met him in San Diego at Hal Elrod's "Best Year Ever" event) and it's been so cool to watch him scale his company so incredibly fast.

If you don't already know Chandler, I'm honored to introduce you. But, either way, I know there's a LOT we can all learn from his story.

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Behind every successful entrepreneur… there is a team supporting them.

In my first few years of business, it was just me – wearing all the hats, doing all the things, and responsible for everything.

But, as my business grew, I knew that I needed help; both so that I could keep my sanity and to be able to continue to grow.

After several failed attempts to hire help (mostly VA’s that I didn’t know what to do with), I finally found a few contractors who supported me by editing my videos, taking care of tech work, writing content, and other small projects.

Then, in 2019, I knew it was time to get a new kind of help: management help. Otherwise, I was going to find myself working more than ever before, managing the people who were supposed to be reducing my work load.

Enter Cortni Loveridge.

I hired Cortni to be my project manager and “integrator” (a concept I explain in this episode) -- but she turned out to be so much more than I’d anticipated. She stepped into my business and immediately started organizing everything from top to bottom -- making it SO much easier to run things in far less time and take on more profitable projects than ever before.

In fact, the year that followed – 2020 – was our best year to date.

Today on the podcast, I’ve invited Cortni herself to join me in sharing exactly what we did in 2020 that had the biggest impact on the company’s bottom line.

I hope you find the episode very insightful and that you’re able to use these strategies to turn 2021 into your BEST year yet.

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One of the biggest changes we’re making in 2021 is how we run the podcast. Instead of pre-recording and editing all the episodes before we release them, we’re now recording the show LIVE each week inside Startup Society, so that the members can listen in and participate by asking questions.

As I write this, I’ve just finished recording the first of these live sessions, and what a great interview it was!

In today’s episode, I sat down with Keina Newell, financial coach and founder of Wealth Over Now. Keina works with professional women and solopreneurs to create new possibilities with their money so they can save more, pay off debt, invest in themselves and stress less about money.

Keina is passionate about her work and finds no greater satisfaction than helping her clients start managing their money with joy because they’ve learned to feel possibility where they once felt shame, guilt, overwhelm, and anxiety.

We had a great discussion about how she’s built her coaching practice to $10K months -- while maintaining her full-time corporate job.

Keina shared a lot of great insights into how to market yourself as a coach (or freelancer) and how to balance a side-hustle with a full-time job.

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Will 2021 be any different?

Who’s to say…

Personally, as much as I’d love to think that 2021 will fix everything, what I really believe is that “a day is a day.” It doesn’t matter the label we put on it, it’s just a 24 hour period in which anything can happen; 24 hours we’re given to make the most of.

Or, in the words of Master Oogway:

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

Anyway, 2020 is one for the books, and to wrap it up, I’m opening up my books to show you how we fared.

I’d like to wrap this up by sharing that my hope for 2021 is that it is truly our best year yet. We learned SO much in 2020, and I know that if we apply those lessons this year then we’ll be in good shape.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

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