The HustlePost Podcast

In this episode, Saloni talks about the strategies that one should keep in mind when they are on a lookout for a mentor to guide their career. She shares her experience of being both - a mentor & a mentee - and everything else that you can expect when you embark on this journey. Happy listening! :) 

At a time when the market is witnessing a crazy influx of online course creators, it is so important for you to make an informed decision before you end up buying the wrong online course. In this episode of The HustlePost Podcast, I've come up with a secret cheat code that you will remember for life, and greatly benefit from. It's called I Care To Learn, People Care Also! Wanna know what it means? Then stream the episode titled 'How To Know If An Online Course Is Worth Your Money' right now! Happy listening & learning :)

At the back of your mind, a thought lingers - “maybe I've missed the bus”. Maybe it's too late to start the online business. Maybe all the profitable niches are already saturated. Maybe there's so much competition out there that it's impossible to make space and stand out. But wait, is it the truth? Really, is it too late to start your online business now? Umm, will you believe me once again if I tell you along with stating the facts and figures that today is the best time in the history of the internet to start a business online! Well, if you're curious to know why i said so, listen to today's episode of “The Hustlepost Podcast”, where I will share in detail with you about why it's not too late to start an online business and instead why today is a perfect time. Major takeaways from this episode: Offline markets have existed from centuries, and 100s or 1000s of new stores open up in your city every month and some of them thrive as well. Then, what makes you think that it's too late to start an online business when the entire game of running online biz has started just a couple of decades back. It's too late to start an online business which solves NO problem.  If you think your favourite niche is saturated, wait. Think again about the country/ world's population. Don't predict your customer's behaviour based on our behaviour as a customer. Millions of people are coming online every month. It has become more natural to buy online than ever before. People are actively using the internet to search for information. Elearning has become a multi-billion dollar company. Digital courses and e-learning programs are skyrocketing and they are among the fastest-growing business models on the internet at this time and age. Ecommerce is growing at a staggering rate. It is not a temporary boom or seasonal trend anymore. Ecommerce has become a necessity and business reality of today's world.  Growth is typically slow and profits are slim for a while. Everyone thinks that having a site is 'make money while I sleep' and it isn't. You need to be realistic, solve problems, and work hard to thrive in any business. Complications of starting an online business have been reduced. Because of the internet, multiple new niches come up every year giving more opportunity to you to take the first-mover advantage. There has never been a better time to make money online and not only change your life but also impact millions of people around the globe by offering actionable solutions to their problems. From the context of 2020, most people are waiting for the dust to settle before making the next move. And waiting is the most dangerous position to be in. 2020 has given birth to new problems and it's time for you to come up with solutions to new problems or else come up with new solutions to old problems.

You might have a great idea, a lot or a few decent customers, but scaling your business to another level is spine-chilling. It requires you to automate most of the business to grow at a faster speed. Automation technology can streamline mundane tasks, consolidates resources, and gives you the ability to focus your time, energy, and money on high-returning tasks that allow you to scale in an efficient manner. For startups or businesses, automation is the key ingredient to success.  The point is that I know that you're a hustler and exactly that's why you deserve to know that if you miss on automation, you miss on scaling your business forward. It might require your immense effort, but you cannot overlook the power it comes with. Hence, in today's episode of “The Hustlepost Podcast”, I will share with you  5 things you need to automate in your business to grow and scale faster in the right direction. Major takeaways from this episode: Automation technology has the power to make or break your business. Most of the startups don't fail because of the terrible idea. They fail due to lack of planning and automation. They fail because of not being able to use their time to grow business and instead of wasting it on things which can be automated. The most basic automation you can use in your business right away is welcoming your new customers. Your customers spent their money and it's your duty to tell them that you've noticed their action. Let them feel precious through your welcome or thank you email/message when they make a purchase. Your business must not require you to sit for hours every day and create fresh content. That's where the automation in content creation comes into play. For content curation, use apps and websites like Stackla, keyword planner, Ubersuggest to find ideas which are trending. Or use Instagram hashtags to see what people are creating around your niche.  For content creation, purchase Canva templates through websites like creativemarket.com and then create posts for your Instagram for the whole month in one go. For content scheduling, use tools like Buffer and get rid of the habit of devoting a few minutes every day to posting on your feed. Once you've figured out where you get customers from, you can then think about automating the process required to get customers. For example, Facebook,  Google ads, Email marketing or a combination of all. Create an automated funnel, test it for a few days and keep it running on automation. Automate the tracking of your team performance. Who is doing “what and when” is something you should know. This will help you to assign the right roles to the right people when your business grows.  Accounting is often one of the most feared parts of running a business. Hence, never miss on the relevance of automating it. It just seems to send business owners into a panicked frenzy. You can use tools like Xero, Botkeeper, etc. to keep a record of your daily expenses. But if you're still afraid, to begin with, automation, start slow and go step by step. As you become familiar with one tool, consider adding another. 

It is tempting to look at others who quit their full-time job and build profitable businesses. Probably, your current goal in life is to ditch your 9-5 and build your business and to be honest, there's nothing wrong in that. But you need to know the complete truth about leaving a job before you make this decision for yourself. The point is, quitting your 9-5 doesn't guarantee you success in life. Instead, it can lead to a whole disaster if done wrong.  Well, if this sounds dreading, there is no need to worry. Because in today's episode, we will get real and talk about the 5 things which you should do irrespective of age and experience before you hand in your four-weeks notice period. Major takeaways from this episode: The very first and most relevant thing you must do before you quit your 9-5 is to perform the activity of “risk assessments”. Risk assessment is a systematic method of looking at life and considering what could go wrong, and deciding on suitable control measures. Line up your savings before you quit your 9-5. Start living like a minimalist and cut your unnecessary expenses. Start a side hustle alongside your 9-5 and test your idea. Try to make your few thousands from your side hustle before you quit your 9-5 job. This will not merely save you from being in a dangerous state, but also helps you boost your confidence. Content creation is the seed for any business and your personal brand is the water bucket. Content is how people find you. Your personal brand is how people choose you.  Your skills will fuel your confidence and your bank account. Having profitable skills is the only hack to quit your 9-5 with confidence.

Success begins with transforming the thinking process and bringing a shift in the mindset. Well, we all know that entrepreneurs are created, not born. And the one thing they have in common is the growth mindset. Now, the good news is that you're not stuck with the mindset you were born with. You can change your thoughts and attitudes to become more like successful entrepreneurs. But for that, you have to pay keen attention to your thoughts, habits and behaviour. You can use the mindset hacks prepared after years of research to eliminate the limiting beliefs and habitual patterns that can keep you stuck. Therefore, in today's episode of “The Hustlepost Podcast”, we will discuss the 4 mindset hacks used by most successful entrepreneurs for thriving in their businesses and how you can use it for yourself and your business growth. Major takeaways from this episode: Basic qualities like intelligence can be strengthened just like body muscles. You're not stuck with the mindset you were born with. You can change your thoughts and attitudes to become more like successful entrepreneurs.  You should accept your limitations openly, but don't let them stop you. Successful entrepreneurs accept their weaknesses, they look for tools and people who can help them overcome their weaknesses.  The entrepreneurs with a growth mindset compensate for what they are fundamentally incapable of doing. Don't view promoting yourself as showing off, start viewing it for what it really is i.e an opportunity to make an impact or change someone's life. Similarly, if sales feel like an exchange of goods for the money, view it as a product/ service which can help others solve their problem. The market keeps changing on a consistent basis. Hence, learn more to earn more. Manifestation can change your life if done right. You have all the power you need to shape your life and business the way you want. 

Starting a business looks fascinating. Isn't it? But the journey isn't that smooth. Entrepreneurship can be a tough game. Embracing rocks and bumps in the journey is the only way to go ahead. Well, there's quite a lot that I have learnt now. But I really wish that I knew a few things before I started my business. And that's the exact reason why in today's episode of “The Hustlepost Podcast”, I will share with you about the 5 things I wish I knew before I started my business. I am going to share this with utmost honesty so that you know the truth before you get started with your business idea. Major takeaways from this episode: Entrepreneurship isn't going to make your life glamorous. Sign up for this journey for the right reasons. Know you ‘why' before you get all into entrepreneurship. Hiring is the most difficult part of any business. Yes, it's not an easy task to get people onboarded with the same vision and energy is so difficult.  You have to be very meticulous with your business expenses. Don't miss the track on it in the business success excitement. Self-care is so important. The whole process of entrepreneurship is so tiring. If you don't prioritise self-care from day one, you will enter the burnout stage very soon. Take incremental steps one day at a time. Don't rush. Always over-deliver to your customers. Make them feel worth their money and time investment.  Over-delivery of value and information is the only hack to get repeat customers. Become an army of happy customers. If you do so, you don't need to invest in marketing.

Social Media is an amazing place to start and grow your business. But if it is handled incorrectly, it can serve as a loss of time, efforts and money. That's the exact reason why in today's episode of The Hustlepost Podcast, we will dive deep into the five (5) rookie mistakes made by businesses, startups and solopreneurs when starting a business on social media. Whether you're a service-based business or a product-based, this episode will serve as a powerful step by step guide to avoid all the rookie mistakes when starting a business on social media. I am going to spill all of the secrets and information I have gained over years of handling my businesses on social media. The most rookie mistakes to avoid when starting a business on social media is: Starting on social media without a strategy.  Making it all about yourself. Not targeting your target. Measuring the wrong KPIs. And, not giving a human touch to your social media accounts. Don't worry, I will share with you how I plan and prepare my smart social media strategy so that it can help you massively. Major takeaways from this episode: Power of social media has left no one. Whether it's a doctor, writer, lawyer, marketer, traveller, or anyone else - social media can do good for you and help you increase your revenue. 80:20 rule of social media strategy which says that 80% of your online content should provide value to your customers and add something informative in their life and rest 20% of your posts should directly promote your business. Having a generic audience in social media is like shooting in the dark.  Your metrics can be measuring the number of clicks on the link of your IG Bio. This will actually tell you how many people are interested in your business.  Shareable content is another metric which can help you define which content piece performs the best and whether people are able to share it or not. On social media, the secret ingredient to your growth is having a human touch associated with your accounts.  Leads are another most important metric which every business should measure after a certain point of time on social media.  Doesn't just give your customers something to talk about, give them somebody to talk about. If you see from a broader perspective, social media is for socializing and not for marketing and product pitches. Therefore, use it to engage with your audience and show them that your brand is a social creature just like them and that's how you build trust with them.

In 2018, I started my online journey as a youtube content creator alongside my full-time corporate job. Back then, I was exploring Youtube and experimenting with different styles, but merely as my side-hustle. Only after a point of achieving a solid foundation on Youtube, I quit my corporate job and went full-time into my passion for video creation. Since then till now, gratefully, I built one of the fastest growing online communities in India.   Everything was going as planned in my Youtube career. Over time, I managed to have a team a videographer and an editor and life were moving pretty sorted until COVID-19 came into place.   25 March 2020, the country lockdown was announced and everyone's life came to an abrupt pause. My team was unable to come to the office, it was getting hard to record videos, my youtube income came to nil and the negative news all around was catching my attention + draining my energy.    During that phase, I questioned myself - “Saloni, you can either blame this scenario and cry or create something and find joy, choose one”   Of course, I chose the later category and to bring a conscious change in my life, I decided to pick my journal and read it throughout. If you are wondering why? This is because I have always been a crazy human who comes up with tens of ideas every day and journalises them.   Therein, I came across the idea of HustlePost. It felt so perfect for the time and I suddenly decided to go all into it.    Initially, it was merely a plan to help Millenials live the best version of their life. I onboarded a team of amazing writers and launched the website with tens of outstanding blogs and a freebie on “20 side-hustle ideas' ' and within a minute of launch, 1000+ people downloaded the e-book. This was insane and an ultimate confidence booster for me.    Anyway, again, all was running great, but from the business perspective, I was paying somewhat around 60k to the team of writers, but my business was not generating any revenue. To be honest, I was happy for the impact created on the Millenials because of HustlePost but I was not making money in this entire process. Not even a bit.    Therefore, to sustain and help Millenials at a larger scale, I decided to bring into execution one of my 2-year-old idea of launching an online course and link it to HustlePost. The fire in my belly was so high that within the 2.5 weeks, the massive HustlePost academy course was ready to go live.    I invested close to 2,00,000 INR on the preparation of the course with no clue, whether this course will generate the revenue or not. It was my gut and I was following it.   Finally, a day came when I launched the course in the market. Due to the anxiety, I ended up closing up my phone just after the course launch, slept with fear and decided to check the response in the morning. Well, of course, I was quite nervous and in the self-doubt stage!   My life turned 180 degrees when I woke up the next day. I had 20,00,000 in my account in just one night. Whaaaat?    I was on the edge of my seat when I saw that 800+ students already enrolled in the course at the span of 8-10 hours.   How insane is this? I was amused and grateful to the universe.   Since that day, course testimonials are working in itself as marketers. Students from the HustlePost Academy course started observing the curriculum impact with 8-10 days. They started launching their online course, youtube channel and freelancing businesses. Seeing them start and grow their online side hustle justified my efforts.   Nowadays, on a continuous basis, students are enrolling in the HustlePost academy. We are launching one power-up course every month and receiving a huge response from the audience.    If you want to know how this magic happened and how I made close to a crore within 1.5 months as a business coach by helping my community and charging a tiny fee, listen to this episode of The Hustlepost Podcast.  “In today's episode of The Hustlepost Podcast, I break down every phase of how I built a massive online course in the COVID-19 lockdown period. The course has impacted the lives of 1200+ Millenials and generated a revenue of 1 close to CR in just 1.5 months of launch. If you listen to this podcast, you'll get a clear picture of how I started as a business coach and step by step came to a phase where everything seemed possible and a tiny business idea turned into an outstanding business venture.”   Major Takeaways from this Episode: Embrace your small ideas for a big impact. When everything seems impossible and dark, leave life on to the universe. One must never stop journalising and thinking - original ideas come in the midst of the daily routine. Your business can make millions if you focus on helping more people than making more money. You don't have to be perfect to take action and impact someone's life. You simply have to be real and a step ahead.