Rock Your Brand Podcast

Welcome to this week's Friday jam session. It's one of my favorite times of the week when I get to hang out with some incredible people and answer some great questions. To join us, head over to takeactioncrew.com to sign up for free. We'd love to have you! I also wanted to let you know that moving forward, we'll require an application process for our Brand Creators Acamedy to make sure that we're bringing in people who are ready for the program.

 

Today we're going to talk about what to do after you create an email list. I'm going to share with you how to send something for sale without your subscribers getting mad at you. This is one of the most common questions that I get, and I am excited to break down the process for you today.

 

If you are looking for additional help, I encourage you to head over to takeactioncrew.com. So you can join our Facebook group where you'll receive additional tips and communications from me and others within our community. It's a great place to network and meet other people who are working on growing their own businesses and learn from each other. Just make sure you have a profile picture and can answer the three simple questions that we ask. This gives us the ability to make sure we don't get people spamming our group.

 

Build a Relationship With Your Subscribers

 

The mistake a lot of people make is to start an email list and strictly focus on launching a product and selling it to your subscribers. However, it's important to remember that each person that you're communicating with has certain wants and needs. They are real people with real feelings. Make sure that you deliver something of value before you ask them for anything in return.

 

While you're providing value, you can also offer something to your list as long as you weave in a subtle offer and avoid making it solely about asking for them to give you something. People who sign up for an email list are usually looking for help in solving a problem or want to learn how to do something. Make sure that you're providing your list with a solution to their problem and always start by providing goodwill. Don't worry about giving out too much information because you can always go deeper.

 

The key is to attract the right people and repel others. I recommend always start by selling passively, and as you get closer to the launch of your product, you can transition to a hardcore sell. I do this in my own businesses and have seen a lot of success. As you start out by selling passively, you're going to show that you can deliver goodwill and establish yourself as an expert within your niche. When you're ready to start promoting your products more aggressively, most people on your list will be found with it. Especially if they see the value that you can offer them. You can sell all you want, but you need to deposit goodwill into your list beforehand if you want to see the best results.

 

How You Can Sell From The Start

 

If you want to start selling right off the bat, there are ways to do that. Just make sure that you do it strategically. For example, when a person sign-ups for your email list, you can send them to a thank you page with an exclusive offer for a paid product. They'll get something for free, and you're simply informing them about a special offer after they've received their goodwill.

 

For the most time, people are going to be ok with it, and if they aren't, then repeal those people. Remember, you only want to focus your time and efforts on those who are interested in what you have to offer. From there, your audience will know about the offer, and you can continue to subtly touch on your paid products moving forward.

 

You can't do any of this if you don't have an email list, so it's time to start growing yours today.

I want to help you build an email list with up to 500 subscribers within 30 days. We do all of this within the Brand Creators Academy. We have a full community who are sending out emails, running promotions, and building their website. Every time I send an email, there is a marketing lesson, and you can always learn from what I'm doing. So even if you're a part of the Academy, I encourage you to take time to read over my emails and take what you've learned to create emails for your own list.

 

Questions From Our Take Action Crew

 

How do I decide how much to charge for membership fees?

 

I would recommend starting out by looking at what others within your niche are charging for similar products. This will give you a better idea about what people are willing to pay and how your competitors are successful. I would always start by offering an early member price to get some founding members on board. They will be able to help you build and grow your community and get reviews in the process. You can always increase the cost as time goes on, and you build up your library of content and what you have to offer.

 

Do you have any advice about what to include in emails sent to my subscribers?

 

Keep your emails light and simple. Don't use spam keywords so you can avoid getting sent to the junk folder. I also recommend only including one or two links, especially when you're starting out. The goal is to get your emails through the spam traps, so moving forward, your emails will be sent directly to your subscriber's inbox moving forward, and you'll be able to reach more of your subscribers.

 

Do you plan out your year per quarter?

 

Right now, I'm thinking about Q4 but am also looking forward to what I'm going to do in the beginning of 2021. It's always flexible, depending on what we have going on and the opportunities that come up.

 

Should I test my lead magnets before adding a bump?

 

An order bump is offering a promotion on a more expensive product during the checkout process. The thing is, if you don't have the front edit converting at a decent rate, order bumps and other things you've added to the backend won't matter. Start by getting the front end built out and working well before adding anything else to the backend. Always start with a lead magnet, create a landing page for it and start driving traffic to it. You can always build out from there.

 

Do deadlines really help?

 

Yes, it's important to set deadlines for yourselves to keep yourself accountable. You'll be able to get much more done this way.

 

Final Thoughts From Scott

 

We have to take what we learn and put it into action because actions bring results. The quicker you get in the game, the better. If you're interested in joining us for our next coffee talk, head over to takeactioncrew.com. We'd love to have you, and you'll be able to ask your own questions if you have any!

 

I wanted to let you know that our new workshop is available, and it's one of the best investments that you'll ever make for under $50. There is so much helpful information and will be very helpful. Head over to brandcreators.com/list to get access to the course. It'll only take you a couple of hours to go through the course, and within a couple of days, you should be able to get everything set up so you can get started on building out your email list.

 

As always, I am here for you, I believe in you and am rooting for you. Now it's time for you to take action and go rock your brand.

Take-Aways From Today’s Episode

  1. Build a Relationship With Your Subscribers (4:51)
  2. How You Can Sell From The Start (13:38)
  3. Questions From Our Take Action Crew (18:14)

 

Quote

The key is to attract the right people and repel the others.

or

We have to take what we learn and put it into action because actions bring results. 

 

Links

 

 

Direct download: RYB901.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

I’m excited to announce it’s our one year anniversary of launching Brand Creators Academy. To celebrate, we are open for registration from October 26th-October 30th. Head over to brandcreatorsacademy.com. After we close registration, we’re going to change the process and will start taking applications. This will allow us to see where you are in the process and if you’re a good fit to join Brand Creators.

 

Today we have Nathen Hirsch on the podcast. He recently sold his company, “FreeUp.” He’s going to share with us why it happened, how it happened, and what he is working on now. He’s also going to share his tips on how to build a successful business and what it takes. Let’s get right to it!

 

The Process of Selling FreeUp

 

When I originally started FreeUp, I wanted to build a sellable business and have the opportunity to sell it if the time was ever right. Last year I had a client reach out to see if my partner and I would be willing to sell the business. The offer we received was very reasonable. It required a lot of due diligence on both ends but turned out to be a win-win situation for both the buyers and us. There are only so many ways that you can grow a business, and I knew that I wouldn’t want to take on investors, so selling the business was always something that I had been willing to consider.

 

How We Expanded FreeUp’s Target Market

 

Once we decided to expand our target market with FreeUp, we went after the marketing niche. We were able to get a lot of influences to promote us. It’s a lot easier to get in with tier A influencers within the eCommerce community vs. the marketing space. However, we slowly chipped our way up, and by the time we sold the business, we were focused mainly on the eCommerce and marketing space.

 

We were also very diversified in our marketing efforts. I would say the most successful marketing efforts came from podcasts and affiliate links. We also had success with content swaps and networking on social media. We actually scaled the business without any paid ads. It was tough to track ROI with paid ads with FreeUp, but with my new business, we’re starting to test out paid ads now that we have the other aspects of our business figured out.

 

How Nathan Handled Tough Times In His Business

 

I realized that FreeUp couldn’t scale when I was the one taking all of the calls and talking to everyone who wanted to join. By year three, we had to hire VA’s to take calls to streamline the process. It also took us a while to work with developers to create a better experience. It just took us a while to figure that all out. It was also stressful during the sale of the business. It was tough to spend so much time selling the business and balancing managing the business at the same time. It was overwhelming to know that they could back out of the deal at any time. It was really tough when the sale was finalized because we had to tell our entire internal team. We hadn’t told them until it was final in case it fell through.

 

It wasn’t until a few days after we signed the agreement that we were able to celebrate. We sold our business in November of 2019. I spent some time with my family, and after that, my business partner and I decided that we wanted to continue working together. I spent the next few weeks listening to quite a few podcasts and learning about managing properties to see what we wanted to do next.

 

However, around the same time, we had a lot of people ask us if we could share with them how to hire a VA. From those questions, we create and launched a course the week that COVID hit. Our goal was to get 100 people to sign up, and we were surprised that we hit that number within a week. From there, we created Outsource School to create a community and a membership platform. Our goal was to make sure we had a steady stream of revenue coming in, and a subscription-based business allowed us to do that.

 

How Nathan Met His Business Partner

 

Conner was my first hire back in college. I was running my Amazon business, and he worked with me for a while until I decided to bring him on as a partner a few years later. We have the same values, and we both care more about the bigger picture and treating people well. We have completely opposite skill sets which has worked really well for our business, and that’s what makes us work so well together. If you’re looking to bring on a business partner, remember that it’s important to work together before becoming partners to see how you work together through both the good and bad times. You may get along well when things are going great but may discover later that you don’t do well when faced with conflict.

 

The Goal For Outsource School In The Next Two Year

 

We currently have 400 members within our community, and our goal is to get to 1000. We’ve been working on making updates to our messaging, pricing, creating a library of resources, Facebook group, offering live coaching calls, and perfecting our software. Our software is meant to bring all your SOPs into one place and allow it to connect to your other tools. It also makes it easy to update videos, specifically certain video clips, when parts of your process or business need to be updated.

 

The Importance of Social Media In Your Business

 

After I started FreeUp, I started posting to social media every single day. Every single thing that got engagement, I would create additional posts that were similar and remove any posts that didn’t gain any traction. I learned as I went. Consistency really is everything. I have rules for each platform and always schedule posts in advance. We run our ads from our business page, but many people engage with me directly from my social media profiles.

 

People don’t want to just hear your advice all the time. So I talk about podcasts that I’ve been on, tips for hiring a VA, and highlight things Conner and our other partners have to say. I also ask my community a lot of open-ended questions on social media. You want to always ask questions and include a call to action to get the best results. People love talking about themselves and giving feedback, so I’ve found that it’s been really helpful for our business. 

 

The Secret to Creating a Successful Business

 

In order to manage a successful business, you need to have streamlined processes in place. Break it down into why you are doing this task and how it impacts the big picture. Make notes on how to complete each task and reminders of how to do it accurately. It’s also important to make sure that your business can run without you for the most success.

 

Feel free to follow me on any social media channel if you’d like to connect. You can also try a free trial of Outsource if you’d like to easily find some rockstar VA’s to help you grow your business and make it easier on you. We give 3% of all of our sales to one of our favorite charities, “Teach for the Philippines.” They help children give an education who may not have an opportunity otherwise.

 

Final Note From Scott

 

There you have it. Nathan is an amazing guy. It was great to learn how he always tries to focus on recurring business or products that the customer needs to buy time and time again. Think about that in your own business and how you can incorporate a similar strategy.

 

If you’re interested in building your own brand and want the support of a community dedicated to helping you take action, you’re going to want to head over to brandcreatorsacademy.com.

 

As always, I am here for you, I believe in you and am rooting for you. Now it’s time for you to take action and go rock your brand!

Take-Aways From Today’s Episode

  1. The Process of Selling FreeUp (4:30)
  2. How We Expanded FreeUp’s Target Market (11:28)
  3. How Nathan Handled Tough Times In His Business (16:35)
  4. How Nathan Met His Business Partner (27:49)
  5. The Goal For Outsource School In The Next Two Year (30:48)
  6. The Importance of Social Media In Your Business (35:15)
  7. The Secret to Creating a Successful Business (45:09)

 

Quote: In order to manage a successful business, you need to have streamlined processes in place. Break it down into why are you doing this task and how it impacts the big picture.

Links

Outsource School: https://www.outsourceschool.com/

Brand Creators Academy:

Direct download: RYB900.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

I’m excited to share a recent coffee talk I did, sharing a hot seat session I did with Dino, a member of Brand Creators. He recently purchased a niche site that is currently getting 65,000 page views and 7,000 unique visitors per month. Today I’m going to share some low-hanging fruit that he can take advantage of and how you can do the same in your own business. I wanted to provide you with some key takeaways, so you know what to look for and how to successfully build your own brand.

 

My Initial Evaluation of Dino’s Website

 

When you’re looking to buy a website, you need to start by looking at the opportunities that could come from the current site. Can you increase the value? The key is to know the building blocks and principles, so you’re off to a good start.

 

Dino approached me and asked if I thought he should buy a particular website. When he was looking at the site, it was making $800 a month in ads. Now he’s making over $1,500 a month in ad revenue alone. The one thing I saw when I was evaluating the site was that there was no lead magnet. The previous owner never had one. My first recommendation was to get one up asap. It’s important to capture leads from website visitors so Dino can instantly start to grow his email list. Over time, he’ll build a nice solid list from the steady flow of traffic he has coming to the site. Every time he posts new content, he can send it out to his email list so it’s essential to get one started.

 

Don’t Wait to Create a Digital Product

 

Dino had a digital product that the previous owner had created but never sold. He needs to get that up on the website for sale soon. He can always play around with the guide's price later, but it’s important to get a digital product up on the thank you page once a visitor has signed up for the free lead magnet to give them a follow-up call to action.

 

I also want you to keep in mind that Dino took a shortcut by purchasing a website that already had a library of content already created. The website started out with content only until Dino purchased it. He is now starting to add additional elements. Whether you start your site from scratch or purchase one, you’re going to have to pay for it either in money or time.

 

Brand Creators Virtual Event Take-Aways

 

In our recent Brand Creator online event, we had Cassidy Tuttle come on as a guest speaker. She shared how she has been able to take advantage of selling her own digital products and uses email funnels to make over $15,000 a month. If you missed our Brand Creators event, you can purchase the recording now. There are some great insights that will help you grow your own brand. We walk you through how to create content and how to get traffic and monetize your site.

 

 

There you have it! I hope you learned something from our hot seat session reviewing how to take existing traffic and turn it into profits and a growing email list. Remember, business drives traffic and offers. Whether you start a brand from scratch or purchase a website, it’s important to understand what areas of the business to look at and where to focus your attention so you can grow your brand from the start.

 

As always, I am here for you, I believe in you and am rooting for you. It’s time for you to take action and go rock your brand.

Take-Aways From Today’s Episode

  1. My Initial Evaluation of the Website (3:59)
  2. Don’t Wait to Create a Digital Product (10:10)
  3. Brand Creators Virtual Event Take-Aways  (11:50)

Links

 

Quote: It’s important to understand what areas of the business to look at and where to focus your attention so you can grow your brand from the start.

Direct download: RYB899.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

How To Choose Your Digital Product 

Every person will be in a different part of the process. However, it's important to understand that whatever digital product you create should be something that your audience wants. There are three simple ways that you can find inspiration on what type of digital product you should create. 

Investigate Your Market Place 

To start, I recommend heading over to Amazon and taking a look at Kindle books within your market. See what content has already been created. This will give you a better idea of what people within your market are looking for. I also recommend heading over to your competitors' sites to see if they offer any digital products. 

Send a Naked Emai to Your List

Another great way to get ideas for content and needs in the market is to send out a naked email. Ask your email list what type of content they are looking for to better serve them. Even if you have a small audience, get their opinion. Having an email list when creating a digital product is going to be huge. 

Use Your Own Experience For Content Ideas 

If you've been in the shoes of your audience, use your own experience to come up with content ideas for your digital product.

Identify Your Digital Product's Purpose 

Your product needs to solve a problem or improve a person's life. Make sure that you identify the main purpose of the product before you start to create it. It's important to highlight the product's features to show how it'll solve a problem or make their life easier. 

How to Promote Your Upcoming Workshop 

Start by announcing your workshop, talk about it on your Facebook profile, fan page etc. From there, you reach out to each individual that said they were interested. You would simply send them the link to your PayPal account and collect payment that way. Keep it really simple from the start. When you're ready to take it to the next level, you can directly create a sales page within ConvertKit. 

To promote your course to your email list, you could easily pull small take-aways from your workshop to send out. You can share bite-sized pieces of content pieces from the workshop to show that your course will provide value and give them a sense of what to expect. Just make sure that you always have a home base. Somewhere that people will always be able to find your digital products and courses. 

I hope you enjoyed this week's edition of our Friday jam session. Until next time, remember, I am here for you, I believe in you, and am rooting for you. It's time for you to take action and go rock your brand! 

Take-Aways From Today's Episode 

  1. How To Choose Your Digital Product (3:24)
  2. Identify Your Digital Product's Purpose (15:35)
  3. How to Promote Your Upcoming Workshop (21:10)

Links

Quote: 

"Your product needs to solve a problem or improve a person's life. Make sure that you identify the main purpose of the product before you create it". 

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