Questions I’ve avoided - Web Designer & Online Business Q&A
Prefer to watch?
Here’s the video!
Mentioned in the Video:
You Are a Badass - Jen Sincero*
$100m Offers: How to make offers so good people feel stupid saying no - Alex Hormozi*
Think & Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill*
10% Happier - Dan Harris*
*Those are affiliate links - my margarita fund thanks you kindly!
Rather read all about it?
I have published over 500 blog posts and 100 YouTube videos, but still y'all have questions. So this video will be wide-ranging from business advice to mindset to how I manage certain projects in my business.
You had questions about
figuring out your audience
finding masterminds
managing fear
and what I would do differently if I had to do it all again!
So in today’s post I'm going to answer your questions while bringing you along with me for the weekend!
We are just about to head out of London and we are headed off to the Cotswolds for a nice little like countryside hike weekend!
So let's get packing and I'll answer your questions too, now my laptop is staying at home, but I’m bringing the book $100m Offers: How to make offers so good people feel stupid saying no by Alex Hormozi*. I'm reading it right now and it's incredible! I’m most of the way through and would highly recommend it. It's given me a ton of ideas.
Question One: What is the best way for creating connections with other online business owners? I've seen that you have partners that you team up with and I would love to know how to do this.
So the good news is that the entire time I've run my business, I have lived abroad!
And so I find a lot of the business owner events tend to be in the US and I don't tend to be in the US that often…
Actually, I think I haven't been a single time since the pandemic actually, so it's been years, but pretty much all of the business friendships I've made have happened online - so there’s hope for you even if you live miles from the closest big city or networking hub!
Sometimes I've met the people in person, but most often it didn't start that way.
When I met Louise Henry, for example, she just sent me an email. She asked for an online coffee date. That's how I met her! Even though we’re actually from the same hometown. And then we did meet up in person like multiple times - she’s so lovely! But it all started online.
Then the Bucketlist bombshells, the way that I met them was I literally saw 'em with their Facebook ads, sent them an email and said
“I love what you're doing in your business - it’s fantastic and praised what they were doing!”
And I think Cassie got back to me and then eventually they mentioned that they’d love for some people to come talk in their Facebook group about running a business online abroad.
So that's how that one happened!
Those are just two very small examples of many business friends I’ve made in a similar way up until now.
I’ve also found being in a mastermind is also exceptionally helpful - but make sure it’s one with an in person element!
So I would encourage you to know that these ladies are also running their businesses. They also potentially want some business friends or need some business friends!
They might not have anyone else to bounce ideas off of or help them make decisions or anything.
So they're probably also very down to make friends!
Oh, another thing is if you have a podcast, that's a great way to like ask people to chat for a purpose!
Okay. Two-hour drive later we made it! Check out this hotel room - how gorgeous is that!!
Okay, enough room tours. I've only answered one question.
This next one I love.
Question Two: What's next? You've gone from services to education. What do you plan to do next?
I plan to YouTube! YouTube is my thing. This year. I'm so stoked about YouTube!
The other thing, which is a thought in my mind is how I can create a recurring revenue stream that will allow me to take potentially months at a time off in my business - for example if I choose to have kids. I’ve heard a lot of women say that it’s just not been possible to launch at the same frequency and so I wanna think about some other ideas for recurring revenue.
I'm not in love with the traditional membership option, and I feel like that's like the thing that everyone does to the point where I'm like, do I really wanna do that?
So I am at the moment, literally right now, thinking up creative, recurring revenue streams that I could add to this business so that if I wanted to take many months off at a time, that would be a possibility without having any significant revenue concern.
So that is, those are the two things that I'm thinking about right now.
What exactly that idea is I'll be sharing in future videos. It's developing at the moment. So I don't wanna share anything yet, but I have a couple of kind of unique ideas, which I'm excited about! Stay tuned friends!!
Question Three: Do you plan your work week in advance and how is your average working day?
So, this year specifically, I feel like I got into the best flow of work that I have literally been in ever in the business, and I'm very thrilled about it!
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I focus on creating content.
On Thursday I do anything related to like course updates, doing Q&A calls with students, preparing things for our next launch, those sorts of things.
On Fridays I'm doing the (super fun!) admin type stuff in the business.
And that’s how I batch my week and do I plan the days in advance.
So I guess I kind of always know
“it's whatever day of the week it is, this is the thing I'm working on”
And say if I don't finish something I planned to do that day, I put it to the next time I have a day working on that type of batch.
So recetly for example I had a landing page to do, and I didn't finish it on the Thursday, so I just put it onto the next Thursday!
So I already know in advance that I'm gonna be working on that next Thursday.
So it is kind of planned in advance, or at least batched & themed & I find that so efficient!
Question Four: what are the best forms of passive income that can be created in less than a year?
Good one!
I had a think about this on the drive.
I love that they said within a year, because I feel like that is, some people are like within two weeks, and I'm like, well, that's not realistic!
I feel like within a year you could launch most passive income products!
When I think about me getting into courses, I spent a year building an email list, and then I launched a course three months into the next year. So by March the next year, making it like 15 months, but I could have probably started sooner.
And then within nine months of that I was fully into like passive revenue streams and courses. So I feel like you could launch within a year is like a realistic timeframe to like build an audience and launch a something!
Maybe not a software - that might take longer than a year, but like your typical online businessy things, templates, getting affiliate income courses, digital products, those I think could definitely be created, an audience built and launched within a year!
Wanting to start building a list… content creation is the way to go!
Grab my free content creation outlines to get you on your way!
Question Five: How do I find a good mastermind? I tried Google and I was unsuccessful.
I feel like I totally understand this question because it is a real challenge to find a mastermind!
There aren’t not that many out there, and the ones that are out there tend to be for larger & more established entrepreneurs, but there are a few things for if you're like around the six figure mark or so.
That seems to be where kind of masterminds start.
You could always form your own mastermind literally by just reaching out to like two or three other people.
I actually did that. I took a course once and I formed like a little mastermind with other people who were doing that same course! So I literally just searched through the Facebook group and found people who looked interesting, who I would be like, I'd also be down to be friends with you!
Actually, one of those people was Kadie from Drop Cap Design. We were kinda like each other's accountability buddies, and then we became friends!
But in terms of finding actual masterminds, I would say your best bet is look to the entrepreneurs who are a bit further along than you in business and get on all their email lists because that is the place they're gonna announce mastermind opportunities.
And oftentimes, these things they will fill up without even being made like super public on social or any sort of big launch or anything.
So look to the entrepreneurs for bigger than you find their email list. Get on their email list and keep your eye out!
Another thing you could do is ask the entrepreneurs who you would want to be in their mastermind if they have a mastermind or considering creating one - it might be that by asking them you encourage them to do it!
Okay. I'll do one more question then I should get ready for dinner.
Question Six: What is your step-by-step method for writing a blog or making content and then sharing that with the world?
So the first thing that I do is think up the content idea.
This sometimes involves research.
This sometimes involves just me walking down the street and thinking up things.
This sometimes involves me seeing other people's videos and me inspired me like, oh, I wanna create my own like version of that. Or me thinking I have a different thing that I would wanna say on that topic or whatever.
So that's kinda like thinking up the ideas!
And now we have a ginormous list of ideas that we have in our asana now, which is amazing. So we can just like pull from those! (Wanna see how I organize my content calendar in Asana - check out this post!)
So every like month-ish or so, I look at the list of ideas. And I pull from said list of ideas and I also take into account, the criteria I’ve made for myself to choose from.
I did some hardcore YouTube research one time to find out the things which people's most successful videos all have in common.
For example the topics or the words or keywords that they all tend to have - and here are a couple of the themes I found:
Tours
How I do XXX thing
Doing stuff faster…
There are like 10 other ones too…
So I use these themes along with the things we have launching soon and trying to connect content to those.
Then I write a script, which becomes the blog post.
So I literally write and script the entire thing.
And then I film the videos which I tend to batch.
If I can do multiple in a day, that's good because it just takes time to get pretty set up your filming equipment, lights, camera, making sure everything's charged etc etc!
Then I think of thumbnail idea, & potentially take a photo for the thumbnail.
And then finally I pass it off to our video editor.
She edits the video, she puts together the blog post, which is kind of already written from the script, pops it into our emails, sends it to our email list a week after it's gone live on the YouTube channel and boom! We’re done!
We don't actually do anything about like repurposing on social media or anything cause I'm just not on social media.
Question Seven: If you were, for whatever reason to go back to one-to-one services, what would you do differently?
I think I would do them way faster!
I would definitely implement things like, like a, maybe a one week website design or a one day service.
The other thing which I realized, I actually had a student ask me this on a Q&A call recently. They asked whether instead of doing a mood board she could just do the homepage and then show that kind of like to give them the idea of the style and everything.
And I was like, Yeah, you could totally do that!
And also… why did I not think of that before?
That's a much more effective way of doing things!
So I would shorten timelines.
I would niche even further into an industry because I think then you can raise prices further.
And I would look at more efficient ways to get to the outcome!
Question Eight: Where do you want to travel to next?
And the answer is nowhere! (haha!)
Lemme explain… all of our friends' weddings, which didn't happen in 2020, happened last year.
So we moved to London and then from May to September we were on trips somewhere, like either business trips or weddings, and so we weren't actually home very often and we just got really sick of constantly being away!
So right now, I don't have any travel plans! I would, I would like maybe like a week in the Mediterranean!
But otherwise, like I'm good for the foreseeable future for going places! (Except for lovely weekend trips like this weekend - it’s great getting out of the city and into the countryside for the weekend!
Okay - weekend update! It’s still wet and gray outside, so we decided to come to a National Trust property, and I’m going to answer the next questions from there!
Question Nine: How do you get over fears & limiting beliefs? How do you just start and launch?
There's like three different people who asked basically the same question! So clearly it’s on your minds!
I found some books very helpful for this one. You Are a Badass - Jen Sincero* was incredible.
Also I always say that I'm very grateful that I didn't really have the choice because I'd moved abroad and I had to make money!
And so I think that that was a real gift because if I had been in a more comfortable situation and had a nine-to-five job, it would've been harder to do the uncomfortable thing, which starting a business is definitely not comfortable!
So I have to say I feel I cheated on that one (or was given a real guft!) a little bit!!
Ok, it’s cold out here, let’s get back to the car!
Question Ten: How do I stay focused on the bigger goal and not get overwhelmed - I'm in the startup phase of my business.
So I think the thing which I do when it comes to not getting overwhelmed and figuring out what I should be working on and what I should be spending my time on, is I really evaluate, well.
I think in business there are three main things that you need.
Something to help people, help product or service.
A marketing strategy
An ideal client.
So if you don't have those three things figured out yet, I would definitely start there!
And then after that what do you do next?
Let's say there are 50 different things in front of you that you need to do when you start a business.
You need to create an Optin gift
You need to get our CRM
You need to take a course
You need to start a Stripe account and all these different things…
I would just make yourself a to-do list!
Ask yourself “Hey - what logically makes sense in what order?”
And then when it comes to making choices I would start evaluating them by things like
How excited am I by this thing?
What's the earning potential on this thing?
Could this make passive income in the future?
Think about your criteria in terms of what defines a good or bad income stream to you, and then rate each one accordingly.
And it’s really important to know that you just do one thing and then the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. It's not all gonna happen at once, and that's fine! You need to be kind to yourself!
If you also have a burning question, then definitely feel free to hop over to youtube & comment it below the video because I will use it for the next time that I do a Q and A video.
I hope you enjoyed coming on a little weekend trip with me, and as you may have noticed in this post, we are no longer in Germany!
If you want the full details on exactly why we made that decision, definitely watch this video next and I'll lay out the whole long story of how this happened!
