From:
Jason Stapleton
Scottsdale, AZ
Friday, 12:37 p.m.
Hello again my friend,
There’s a lot of bad information about how to start a business online these days.
A bunch of 22-year-olds claiming they have “the secret to building a six-figure business”.
Their advice looks like this:
Get on Twitter (or Instagram, or YouTube…)
Make sure you’ve got a good profile page that tells everyone what you’re going to try and sell them.
Wave Maker huh? If you were going to hire someone to transform you into an “impactful creator” wouldn’t you expect them to have done it themselves first? How much impact can you make with 266 followers?
Not to worry! There’s a solution.
Document your Journey.
If you haven’t actually done anything worth talking about, just share every detail about your lack of accomplishments. Because your journey is what people care about. 🤮
Here’s an example:
This is what passes for ‘content marketing’ in most circles.
Ask your audience what they need help with.
Great idea. Let’s ask a bunch of random people on the internet what problem they have that they’d pay money to solve.
Nothing says professional like a guy who doesn’t clearly understand the customer’s needs.
Sell your product to your followers.
You’ve spent months or even years building your following, now it’s time to reap the rewards.
Start blasting your feed and blowing up your followers’ DMs with offers to BUY YOUR STUFF!
Go ahead. Give that a try and let me know how it works.
Most People Who Offer Advice Don’t Have
Any Idea What They’re Talking About.
Most of them are recycling advice they heard from the last no-talent-ass-clown who wanted to make a name for himself.
You may think I’m being harsh. But this advice causes a great deal of harm to new entrepreneurs trying to learn the skill of content marketing.
This week a follower DM’d me and said this:
First, it’s nice to know my evil plan to earn your business by being honest and helpful is working. 🙂
But here’s a guy who’s spent the last 6 months building a following of over 1,000 people and thinks he should give up.
According to him, he doesn’t feel like he’s getting anywhere.
I can understand why he feels that way. If you don’t know where you’re going it’s hard to know if you’re making progress.
So this week I want to give you a step-by-step roadmap to growing an E/M business using social media.
If you’re not familiar with Entrepreneurial Minimalism yet you may want to read this first.
Otherwise, let’s get started.
1. Identify Where Your Skills and Interests Intersect
If you don’t already have a product or service in mind it’s best to start with your skills and interests.
Find the Value You Can Offer When Your Skills and Interests Intersect.
Everyone has something to offer. I call this your Unfair Advantage.
Your job is to figure out what yours is. No one can do this for you. But there are some things that can help.
I have an exercise in my Leverage Coaching Group that walks you through a series of questions to help flush out your Unfair Advantage.
2. Decide on a Distribution Channel
A Distribution Channel is a fancy word for a place where your prospects hang out.
That might be YouTube, LinkedIn or X. Find the one you think makes the most sense and set up an account.
3. Create Content On Subjects Related to Your Unfair Advantage.
Come up with a list of 10 topics related to your Unfair Advantage.
Here’s an example of mine.
Next, create 10 pieces of content for each topic.
When you’re done you’ll have 100 pieces of content that are laser-focused on a subject where you can provide value.
4. Create an Ethical Bribe
Also known as a lead magnet, an ethical bribe is something you offer in exchange for someone’s email address.
Every Ethical Bribe Must:
- Be highly valuable to your prospect
- Be easy to consume
- Be FREE
5. Let Your Following Know About Your Bribe
You can link to your bribe in your profile, in the description of your video, or promote it in a post.
Don’t be pushy or uncool. Just say, “Hey, if you’ve been liking my content on XYZ, you’ll love this other thing I have. Check it out.”
You’ll be amazed at how well this works. And before you know it you’ll have an email list full of people who want to hear from you.
6. See How People Respond
In this phase, you might create 2 or 3 different bribes until you find one that performs well.
Think of it like going fishing. You’re trying different kinds of bait to see what attracts the best fish.
Most new entrepreneurs try to monetize their audience before they know the buyer’s problem well enough to create a solution. There’s nothing worse than spending months creating a product that solves a problem nobody cares about.
7. Create a Low-Priced Product to Test.
Again, most new entrepreneurs get into trouble here. They try to create some big, comprehensive solution to the prospect’s problem.
Instead, create something small. Something that solves a piece of the prospect’s problem. You can always expand on the product if it sells well.
8. Offer the Product to the Subscribers on Your Email List
Don’t make the mistake of trying to sell your product on social media. Social is NOT a place to sell. It’s a place to get attention and build trust.
Instead, market your product in your newsletter and other email content.
How to Do It All For $45 a Month
It sounds crazy but the price of software has fallen by 10x in the last decade. A business that used to cost $1,000/mo to run, now costs $100 or less.
My entire tech stack to run my E/M business only costs me $312/mo. But if you’re just getting started there are free versions of the software you can use.
Here’s my entire tech stack. All the software in red has a free version.
The Most Important Thing
Above all else, you must start. The business isn’t going to create itself. No one is going to do the work for you. Tomorrow is always one day away. So start today.
Finally, don’t give up. You can shift direction, try new things, and even start over. But never quit.
At times you’re going to feel like you’re failing. Like everyone around you is doing better than you are. Just remember, in the game of business there’s no finish line. Just run your own race and enjoy the process.
Talk soon,
Jason
READY TO BECOME PART OF THE E/M CREW?
- Enroll in the Bootstrapit Program . It walks you step-by-step through the process of identify your unfair advantage, create your product and taking your sales from $0 – $1,000/mo in recurring revenue.
- Join the Leverage Coaching Group and work with me personally while you network with other Entrepreneurial Minimalists.
Leverage combines on-demand training, tactical live sessions, individualized coaching, and an incredible community to ensure you can leverage every opportunity to build an amazing life. Get the details here.
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