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8 episodes with freeconferencecall
2 episodes with freeconferencecall
2 episodes with freeconferencecall
8 episodes with freeconferencecall
Dave Erickson founder of FreeConferenceCall dot com is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances Heroes radio show. They discuss the middle-of-the-night inspiration for FreeConferenceCall and how he's able to keep the service free for customers.
On today's episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with David Erickson who is the Co-Founder & CEO, of Phound and the Founder & CEO of Freeconferencecall.com. I spoke with Dave about telecommunication and what is happening with the industry. Additionally, we spoke a lot about privacy and what we should expect. Check our Dave's company Phound: https://www.phound.app/ Powers safer multimedia communications and protects you from being found and scammed.
Video - https://youtu.be/PBevpGlz99Q On April 1, 2023, Avast discontinued this program. Since April 1, 2023, my presentations are now done via ZOOM, FreeConferenceCall, and other platforms that make remote interactions possible. I am still highly active on the Avast customer support forum and am still a staunch supporter of the free version of Avast Antivirus which protects my computers and mobile devices today. My lates presentation is "AI- A Closer Look" and the following link will give you more information about this ever-changing topic. https://bit.ly/bob3160AI --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/norbert-gostischa/support
Meet BobBob is an experienced technology leader with 25 years in executive roles in cloud-based SaaS companies, including InterCall, West Corporation, http://freeconferencecall.com/ (FreeConferenceCall.com), and now Notiphy. Always taking a collaborative approach and being involved in all areas of the businesses, he endeavored to always improve decision-making with data. This led to starting Notiphy which tells you what your people did, where and when they did it, what data they collected, and how long they did it for. With an aging workforce and hiring being an issue today especially in industries like manufacturing and warehouse/distribution, how can technology help?Well, it's a great question. I've spent a lot of time really looking at, you know, all different areas of the labor force and work workflow, process management, and have had the opportunity to speak to so many people in manufacturing and other areas of the supply chain. And, and found, I mean, obviously, you know, there's been difficulty in hiring, especially now post-COVID. While we're sort of toward the tail end, but in this time period, it's been so hard for manufacturers to get frontline workers, and hiring young workers is, you know, to make it attractive, and manufacturing has been very difficult. And, you know, as you probably know, I mean, there's so many different factors that go into maintaining and hiring people, but you have to really show them that you've created an environment where people and technology are really balanced. And so they can see that they can safely and effectively perform their job and be, you know, and be a differentiator in the company. We know technology in general and the technology that we've developed can make workers more accountable, which by all studies is what they want. They can make them more efficient, productive and safer. And, you know, people have, you know, listened. We know that people have good days, people have bad days, you can't rely on them to remember everything, retain information on a stressful day, or execute the work without, you know, having information and the access to information at their fingertips. We don't need to replace paid people, but it really needs to enable them to be able to increase their performance and increase the company's performance. You know, additionally, technology, you know, helps maintain data that they didn't have before. So workers can, you know, input data into technology, transfer that data to other people. So as people leave, that data can be shared and not, it doesn't walk out the door as people are leaving the workforce. Where can technology help companies and their people be more productive and efficient?Well, you know, technology can really help tremendously. But people being more productive can really help the companies understand their data, so they can understand the labor efficiency, the actual labor, labor efficiency of their workforce, so they can continue to, you know, sort of move the ball forward and to what their expectations are. When you look at a lot of what happens on the floor of manufacturing or other areas of the supply chain, oftentimes, you know, you're gonna see a little chaos, right? I mean, you're gonna see people running around, you know, looking for paper, looking for manuals, waiting for somebody to answer a question to help. I mean, there have been some studies out there where people spend, you know, over five hours a week waiting for assistance, and, you know, two thirds of the time that can take, you know, a lot more time. I mean, as I sort of said before, I mean, technology can put that information, those videos that people might want to access, and those manuals at their fingertips, and really help them to, you know, to get that information while they're doing the job. It also can help with more on the job on the job training. And so gives them the ability to access that information while they're working. So it helps them be much...
Traditionally people reexamine their job or career path as part of new year's goals-setting. This year, reactions to economic, pandemic, and workplace changed lead many to join what the media call the "great resignation" as 100,000s of workers quit their jobs and begin looking for new work.We concur that the end of the year provides an excellent opportunity to consider what you want to BE professionally in 2022. Professional BEING includes job titles, professional identities, and work situations. This episode shares the example of 3 people who changed what they were (BE past tense) to Beining something new. We highlight how our model provides structure to achieve our dreams. We also invite you to draft a dream job description to ensure you get as close to your dream as possible. Your dream job description includes 7 elements to assure your satisfaction:What would BE your purpose for your dream job? Your dream contributions?What would BE the responsibilities, tasks, and skills you would dream of performing?What would BE the top 3-4 industries for your dream job? What would BE the ideal size of the organization in which you would like to work?Who would BE the owners of your dream organization?What location would BE your dream country, state, city, or locale?What would BE the dream environment, culture, management style, and rules for you?Join our group call each Wednesday at noon (Mountain Time) on FreeConferenceCall.com Access code: 624209. Learn more or share your questions at LetYourDreamsWork.com.
We all encounter limitations (problems, challenges, or barriers) that may affect our dreams. Being able to label those limitations provides clues on how to handle them. This podcast outlines the two basic categories of limitations and shares examples of each;Desired Limitations are also called scope. We need some limitations to focus our dreams. Scope may include time or the deadline by which you will accomplish your dream. It may also define how much money you are willing to spend on the project or locations of the project.Undesired Limitations may include two types: real limitations or windmills (false limitations appearing real).Real limitations respond to plans to overcome them. Your dream may realistically be limited by money, time, expertise, or more. Windmills generally occur because of some experiences that pre-programmed illogical or irrational responses. Windmills do not respond to rational plans. but irrational or illogical ideas seem to help get past them.Optimizing connections helps you label limitations and act consistently to let your dreams work. Join our group call each Wednesday at noon (Mountain Time) on FreeConferenceCall.com Access code: 624209
Sean Michael Lewis launches a new segment on Screen Printing Marketing analyzing the effectives of Emails that are sent to him. Check out this episode and see them impact from the 5 most recent marketing emails sent to his email address. Here is the list to be evaluated: 1. www.FreeConferenceCall.com 2. Otto International 3. www.ups.com 4. Road & Track 5. Motely Fool Stock Advisor
Today's guest is Mario Faciane, who is the VP of Strategic Partnerships at FreeConferenceCall.com. One of the most recognized conferencing brands in the world. He began his digital marketing career in 1997 at AOL and spent over seventeen years there. For the past fifteen years, he has been leading marketing teams working with Fortune 200 companies and their agencies developing and delivering on marketing objectives.Mario thank you for this amazing and refreshing conversation we had towards the end of 2020. Key Takeaways: In building teams, it's important to really understand your team on a personal & professional level. Expanding on this it can be their motivation, expectations, and what drives them within the industry. Just because we're not in an office doesn't mean we can't have teamwork, motivate & give recognization. The future is all about TALENT and now more than ever you have access to talent that may be outside of the 30-50mile radius of where the office is, due to the virtual culture. Connect with Mario on LinkedIn
Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Tools are important for running a deal-flow process. You’ll need tools for managing deal flow, running diligence, and tracking the portfolio. For deal flow, there needs to be an application process for capturing the essential information and pitch deck. Examples include Proseeder, Gust, and there are others. For diligence, you need checklists to share with the fundraising company and a set of instructions for the investors performing diligence. For the diligence report format, you should set up a standardized template for the final report and a way to combine the work of several investors. Google docs can be helpful in sharing documents and compiling the final report. Finally, you’ll need a way to track your portfolio for performance and generate reports to the investors. Seraf is one tool for portfolio tracking. Also, you’ll need a conference call and online webinar accounts for running the meetings. Zoom, FreeConferenceCall, and Hopin are examples. Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.Let’s go startup something today. ___________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: Check out our other podcasts here: For Investors check out: For Startups check out: For eGuides check out: For upcoming Events, check out For Feedback please contact Music courtesy of .
In today's episode, we share some helpful tips to make the most out of this crazy holiday time. 6 tips for a safe, fun, and festive Thanksgiving holiday1. Organize a virtual family Thanksgiving meal This year, minimize risk by moving the celebration online and organizing a virtual gathering. Even if it's not the same as being in the same room, setting up a group video chat still allows everyone to be together. To help things go smoothly on Thanksgiving, test your chosen virtual gathering method ahead of time to work out any kinks. To improve the video conferencing experience, consider: Enlarging your viewing screen by https://www.wikihow.com/Use-Your-TV-as-a-Second-Monitor-for-Your-Computer (using your TV as a computer monitor) Using a laptop or tablet instead of a smartphone Using a larger smart display device like the https://amzn.to/2I31vNB (Amazon Echo Show with 8 inch display), https://amzn.to/2GyfM4C (Facebook Portal Plus with 15.6 inch display), or https://store.google.com/us/product/google_nest_hub_max (Google Nest Hub Max with 10 inch display) Note: To include older adults who aren't able to set up or use technology devices due to dementia or other health conditions, we've got detailed suggestions for how to video chat with them https://dailycaring.com/best-way-to-make-video-calls-to-seniors-with-alzheimers-or-dementia-in-nursing-homes-during-coronavirus/ (here). And here are a variety of ways to gather virtually. Group video calls: https://jitsi.org/jitsi-meet/ (Jitsi Meet) – a fully encrypted video conferencing solution that you can use all day, every day, for free, with no account needed https://zoom.us/ (Zoom) – here's a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i-NA563Ojk (helpful video tutorial) on using Zoom with multiple people, their group video calls are free for 40 minutes (hint: start a new call after 40 minutes) https://meet.google.com/ (Google Meet) – anyone with a Google Account can create a video meeting, invite up to 100 participants, and meet for up to 60 minutes per meeting for free. https://www.uberconference.com/ (UberConference) – free videoconferencing with no PINs or downloads needed Free one-on-one video calls: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/facetime/id1110145091 (FaceTime) on Apple iPhones https://zoom.us/ (Zoom) https://www.messenger.com/ (Facebook Messenger) https://www.whatsapp.com/ (WhatsApp) Skype (https://www.skype.com/ (Web) / https://apps.apple.com/us/app/skype-for-iphone/id304878510 (iPhone) / https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.skype.raider&hl=en (Android)) https://meet.google.com/ (Google Meet) If video doesn't work for everyone, set up a free conference call phone line so everyone can dial in and hear each other. Free conference call services: https://www.freeconferencecall.com/ (FreeConferenceCall.com) https://www.freeconference.com/feature/free-conference-calls/ (FreeConference.com) https://www.freeconferencecalling.com/ (FreeConferenceCalling) 2. Order and/or send food This year has been stressful and exhausting. Give yourself more time to relax on Thanksgiving by cutting back on the cooking. Instead of cooking all day, order food from a local restaurant or grocery store, either an entire Thanksgiving dinner or just the side dishes. And for family or friends who live in other cities, sending food from a restaurant in their area is a wonderful gift. Ordering from local restaurants is also a wonderful way to support small businesses that have been hit hard by the pandemic. For nationwide delivery, here are some delicious ideas: Make it easy by ordering the entire meal: turkey, sides, and dessert from https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/money/a2923/fully-cooked-thanksgiving-dinner/ (one of these 13 places) Order a pie for dessert – we love https://www.foodandwine.com/holidays-events/thanksgiving/best-pies-order-thanksgiving (these
"I talked to a guy who told me that Telecom is a cool thing where money can be made even while you are asleep & that triggered my entry into telecom" says Dave Erickson, Founder & CEO of FreeConferenceCall.com. I tell my employees that in trouble and in good times, 'I can't wait to see what happens next'. If you are someone struggling with a Startup then you should know that things not happening cannot be the reason for not being prepared. It is all about what is going to happen. When opportunity presents itself , you cannot be flat footed. You should be ready for the next thing and make it in to Sunshine.
As Christians, we rack our brains for ways to build trust and relationships with people in our neighborhoods and cities. And we often hide behind the facade of, “Everyone’s just too busy to get together much…” Not anymore. This week on the Lifeschool Podcast, we ask, "What would Jesus do during this pandemic?" What would he focus on, and how would he prioritize his time with his disciples and those that did not yet believe in him? In This Episode You’ll Learn: How Jesus stayed radically focused on his mission–all the time. Why what you do with people right now makes a huge impact. How to recalibrate Jesus' UP/IN/OUT priorities during this pandemic. 30+ ways to be with and bless your community and others while being safe, yet intentional. (https://lifeschoolpodcast.captivate.fm/listen) (https://lifeschoolpodcast.captivate.fm/listen) From this episode: "After all of the mandated isolation and fear is starting to go away and people are dying for closer connections and time with people, who will they be thinking about? The people that socially distanced themselves from them, the folks they’ve not heard from much for several weeks or longer? Or will they be drawn to those who loved them and treated them like family, like they cared about them during this scary time?" Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started. (https://123lifeschool.clickfunnels.com/big-3-download) . Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…Thanks for Listening!Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Join us on Facebook and take part in the discussion! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of this page or right below. Also, please leave an honest review for (https://lifeschoolpodcast.captivate.fm/listen) Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: For Episode #261 (https://123lifeschool.clickfunnels.com/big-3-download) Freeconferencecall.com (http://Freeconferencecall.com) (http://123lifeschool.com/coaching) (Cohorts starting in April) (https://www.everydaydisciple.net/boost) (https://www.everydaydisciple.net/boost) 5 HUGE Leadership and Discipleship Mistakes (https://www.facebook.com/groups/lspodcast/)
Dave Erikson, CEO of FreeConferenceCall.com and John Kim, a litigation partner at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden want what is written on a napkin is not enough what is needed to start, manage a small business
Dave Erikson, CEO of FreeConferenceCall.com and John Kim, a litigation partner at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden want what is written on a napkin is not enough what is needed to start, manage a small business
Educational Podcasting Today – The TeacherCast Educational Network
In this episode of (http://www.edupodcasting.com/) , Jeff sits down with podcaster Daniel Downs to discuss how to create multiple podcasts that hit a vastly different audience. Additional topics include Educational Branding, Staying Consistent in your message, and his advice for new podcasters looking to take over the world. Today's show is brought to you by (https://studentreasures.com/teachercast) If you are a new listener to TeacherCast, we would love to hear from you. Please visit our (http://teachercast.net/contact) and let us know how we can help you today! In this episode, we discuss: Digital Learning By Design: A Podcast About Digital Transformation In Education Personalized Learning In Education-MAPLE Podcast Tips for new podcasters Popular Video Editing Tools iMovie (https://www.apple.com/imovie/) Lightworks (https://www.lwks.com/) OpenShot Video Editor (https://www.openshot.org/) Video Pad (https://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/index.html) Podcasting with Anchor (https://anchor.fm/) www.FreeConferenceCall.com (http://www.freeconferencecall.com/) Recording Podcasts with Zoom Substack (https://digitallearningbydesign.substack.com/p/using-design-thinking-to-support?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=twitter) Synth (http://www.gosynth.com/) Developing a Website using Blogger About Daniel DownsDr. Daniel Downs is currently the Director of Digital Learning in the North Reading Public Schools. In this capacity, he oversees the facilitation of a Digital Learning model that robustly incorporates robotics, digital literacy and digital research skills across K-12. An advocate for increased data analysis tools and streamlining education dashboards within K-12. As an EdTech consultant, he has worked with districts to expand computer science and digital learning curriculum offerings and holds research interests in Project-Based Learning and expanding digital resources and connectivity for students in underserved populations. About Guest Digital Learning By DesignDigital Learning By Design: A Podcast About Digital Transformation In Education Welcome to Digital Learning By Design! Tune in for resources, discussions, and updates in the world of digital learning, education and robotics. Topics will also include Project Based Learning With Technology and 21st Century Pedagogy. Links of InterestHomepage: http://www.danieldowns.com (http://www.danieldowns.com/) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danielmdowns (https://www.facebook.com/danielmdowns) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1DnWfnN37vc9GqUvrfoxgw (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1DnWfnN37vc9GqUvrfoxgw) Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/danieldowns (http://www.instagram.com/danieldowns) Apple Podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-learning-by-design-podcast-about-digital-transformation/id1370380152?mt=2) Follow our PodcastThe TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network | @TeacherCast (http://www.twitter.com/teachercast) @PodcastingToday (http://www.twitter.com/podcastingtoday) Follow our HostJeff Bradbury | @JeffBradbury (http://www.twitter.com/jeffbradbury) Explore these ResourcesIn this episode, we mentioned the following resources: Learn how to create your own Podcasts with these great resources from TeacherCast (http://educationalpodcasting.today/) Join our brand new Facebook Page! (http://educationalpodcasting.tips/) Join our PLNAre you enjoying the TeacherCast Network, please share your thoughts with the world by commenting on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/educational-podcasting-today/id972444781?mt=2) today? I enjoy reading and sharing your comments on the podcast each week. Let’s Work TogetherHost: Jeff Bradbury (http://twitter.com/jeffbradbury) Email: (mailto:info@teachercast.net) Voice Mail:...
Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my September Income Report! Each month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! If you want to learn step-by-step how to build a website so that you can start a side hustle and make money online, check out this blog post on how to get started! View all of my income reports here! IMPORTANT THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN SEPTEMBER I sent out a market research survey to my email list. I blocked time for planning 2019. I launched the Web Designer Academy with an email series and a no-pitch webinar. I went to Austin for a long-weekend for a mastermind retreat. I brought on an intern. I brought on a new VA/project manager. Notes I found to myself in my planner: “I have another commitment.” *Schedule MY time* REVIEW OF MY GOALS My goal each month has been to generate $10,000 in revenue because my rough breakdown to replace my old paycheck, cover business expenses and pay taxes is: $5000 – Income to cover my old paycheck. $2500 – Expenses $2500 – Taxes WHAT I FOCUSED ON IN SEPTEMBER Coming off of August into September I was still totally in GO mode. I was determined to plan out my entire 2019, so I blocked a few days in the first week of the year to review my metrics and send out a market research survey to my email list all about their opinions on the 5 Day Website Challenge and my Serious Side Hustlers membership. In that first week I also contracted with a new virtual assistant who is all the things that I’m not: organized and detail oriented, and now I have enough hours of help every month. I also posted a listing for an intern at a few of the local colleges and received a few excellent applications, and got some interviews scheduled for the end of the month. I knew I would have to slow down enough at some point to train and onboard people… but instead of slowing down I just added more hours to my day. The second week of September I immediately got to work on my Web Designer Academy launch – which coaches web designers through marketing their businesses and managing clients and projects. In August I’d written a few blog posts related to running a freelance web design business and ran Facebook ads to them in an unsuccessful attempt to start building up an email list before my launch… More on that later… And then in mid-September, I kicked off the launch using a strategy that I’d never tried before – a 3-week long email-only launch with a no-sales-pitch webinar in the middle of the launch. The launch campaign itself was designed only to be sent to people who continually expressed interest in the content all along the way – instead of spamming everyone with irrelevant emails – which felt amazing to me!! I spent quite a bit of time visioning my ideal client for the Web Designer Academy and writing emails that I felt would really speak to them and what they could get out of the program. For the first time since I launched the program the very first time, it felt really authentic and not salesy. During the launch I had several small client projects that booked, and also continued to work on the new project that was booked in August, and I was still recording 7 episodes of my podcast, Pep Talks for Side Hustlers, every single week. Go. Go. Go. And just as I was at the point of opening the cart for the Web Designer Academy, I hopped on a plane to spend a weekend in an AirBNB with 5 girls I’d never met before to mastermind and talk about the future of our businesses… Which was the reset button that I needed. More on that later. Upon returning from the mastermind weekend, I interviewed a few interns (although one really stood out and I hired her on the spot). And then I wrapped up the most successful launch of the Web Designer Academy to date! So with that, here’s how much I made in September of 2018, my ninth month of running my online business full time. INCOME BREAKDOWN PASSIVE INCOME: Affiliate Income – $2340.49 5 Day Challenge Upgrade – $406 Serious Side Hustlers – $899 Individual Courses – $0 Individual Serious Side Hustlers Workshops – $70 Web Designer Academy – $2907.88 Websites That Make Money Beta – $194 WordPress Protection Package – $299.65 PASSIVE INCOME TOTAL: $7407.02 TIME FOR MONEY INCOME Done For You Projects – $3090 Consulting – $2500 TIME FOR MONEY TOTAL: $4267.25 TOTAL INCOME: $11314.27 EXPENSES BREAKDOWN TOOLS 1Password for Teams – $0 AccessAlly (Membership plugin for all of my courses) – $79.00 Acuity Scheduling (Done For You Consultations) – $10.00 Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, etc.) $56.96 Amazon Web Services – $0.77 (no idea what this is for LOL!) Auphonic (audio optimization for podcast) – $11 Bluehost – $15.99 ContentSnare – $29 Cookiebot (GDPR Compliance) – $24 Drift Pro – $50 Dropbox (File Storage) – $19.99 Elegant Themes – $89.00 Flywheel – $110.00 FreeConferenceCall.com (Coaching & Client Calls) – $3.00 GoDaddy – $45.51 GSuite (wp-bff.com Email) – $10.76 HelloSign (Contract Software) – $300 Infusionsoft (email marketing, automation, e-commerce & customer management) – $321.34 LibSyn (Podcast Hosting) – $30.00 ManageWP (WordPress Site Management for Clients & WordPress Protection Package) – $109.07 Smart Podcast Player – $12 Soundup (Alexa Flash Briefing Hosting) – $9.99 Temi Transcription – $3.20 Typeform Pro – $35 Zapier – $15.00 Make Developer Renewal – $224 TOTAL: $1614.59 Marketing Bonjoro (Video Welcome Service) – $25.00 CoSchedule (Social Media Scheduling) – $59.00 HauteStock (Stock photos) – $0 LinkTree Pro (Instagram Profile Links) $6.00 Tailwind (Pinterest) $29.96 Facebook Ads – $315.26 Creative Market Templates, etc. – $8 TOTAL: $443.22 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: Bench Accounting – $135.00 TOTAL: $135.00 HELP: Subcontractors TOTAL: $1623.05 LEARNING/MENTORSHIP Misc Audiobooks – $0 Courses – $97 TOTAL: $97 TRAVEL $198.09 – Southwest Fees Girlboss Retreat in Austin in September FEES Credit Card Processing Fees: ~400 OFFICE SUPPLIES $0 TOTAL EXPENSES: $4111.05 NET PROFIT: $7203.22 BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED I had a freaking awesome month revenue-wise. In fact, it’s the best month I’ve ever had in my business. I’m gonna pat myself on the back for this one… My Web Designer Academy launch was the most successful yet, and it was the smoothest launch for me because I felt awesome about HOW I was promoting the program, and at the time of this recording we’re a month into the program and the students are amazing. That work fuels me! But my “success” came at a physical cost. At the beginning of the month, I was worn out physically. My eyes hurt and felt heavy. I was EXHAUSTED constantly. Even more alarming, my left thumb was really sore and it was hard to move my fingers on my left hand… Am I seriously working so much that I’m going to get carpal tunnel and have to wear a wrist brace like all the secretaries at my first job? And then I went away to the mastermind weekend, and was challenged on the way I was thinking and working, and reminded that I’m in control of all of this, and I have to take control of it starting now. I needed to take more time for myself. For self care. For the reason that I started this business in the first place. And for me, that meant going from 7 podcast episodes a week down to 3 so that I could go to hot yoga twice a week and actually move my body aside from walking my dog. And to put intentional effort into mentoring my team so that I have people I can rely on to help me. Nine months in, I feel like I’m really hitting my stride, and despite all the ups and downs mentally and physically, I wouldn’t trade this or go back to my day job for anything!!
Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my August Income Report! Each month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! If you want to learn step-by-step how to build a website so that you can start a side hustle and make money online, check out this blog post on how to get started! View all of my income reports here! IMPORTANT THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN AUGUST I booked one new Done For You client. I participated in the Thrive Virtual Conference. I worked 12 hour days, 6 days a week. I came to the realization that I needed more help in the marketing/admin side of my business. Notes I found to myself in my planner: “Take the first estimate that comes into your mind and double it. That’s how long it will really take!!!!” “ASK FOR HELP!!” “Today will be calm chaos.” “I need someone who can work 15 hours a week for me – maybe start with an intern?” “I own a web design agency instead of I am a web designer” “Hold your boundaries and guard your time like a bulldog, not a butterfly” REVIEW OF MY GOALS My goal each month has been to generate $10,000 in revenue because my rough breakdown to replace my old paycheck, cover business expenses and pay taxes is: $5000 – Income to cover my old paycheck. $2500 – Expenses $2500 – Taxes WHAT I FOCUSED ON IN AUGUST As I mentioned in my July income report, once my vacation was over in July, I jumped right back into the grind, working 12 hours a day 6 days a week in an attempt to do all the things. I put a ton of time into my Pinterest scheduling. I didn’t have many guests scheduled for my podcast which meant I was writing every episode myself. I had booked a new client who was very, very eager to get started, which is awesome, but on the flip-side when I’m already at capacity, it was challenging to fit the work into my schedule. I felt like I was all over the place and not very focused at all in August. I was just trying to keep up with all of my commitments in August and not let any of the balls I agreed to hold on to drop. That being said, here’s how much money I made in August 2018: INCOME BREAKDOWN PASSIVE INCOME: Affiliate Income – $1735.30 5 Day Challenge Upgrade – $319 Serious Side Hustlers – $1111.00 Individual Courses – $144 Individual Serious Side Hustlers Workshops – $0 Web Designer Academy – $197.00 Websites That Make Money Beta – $594.00 WordPress Protection Package – $419.38 PASSIVE INCOME TOTAL: $4519.68 TIME FOR MONEY INCOME Done For You Projects – $3090 Consulting – $2500 TIME FOR MONEY TOTAL: $5590.00 TOTAL INCOME: $10109.68 EXPENSES BREAKDOWN TOOLS 1Password for Teams – $43.16 AccessAlly (Membership plugin for all of my courses) – $79.00 Acuity Scheduling (Done For You Consultations) – $10.00 Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, etc.) $54.73 Amazon Web Services – $1.47 (no idea what this is for LOL!) Auphonic (audio optimization for podcast) – $45.00 Bluehost – $0 ContentSnare – $29 Cookiebot (GDPR Compliance) – $24 Dropbox (File Storage) – $19.99 Flywheel – $110.00 FreeConferenceCall.com (Coaching & Client Calls) – $3.00 GSuite (wp-bff.com Email) – $10.76 HelloSign (Contract Software) – $300 Infusionsoft (email marketing, automation, e-commerce & customer management) – $321.34 LibSyn (Podcast Hosting) – $30.00 ManageWP (WordPress Site Management for Clients & WordPress Protection Package) – $98.60 Smart Podcast Player – $12 Soundup (Alexa Flash Briefing Hosting) – $9.99 Zapier – $15.00 Misc Plugins – $89.00 TOTAL: $1305.11 Marketing Bonjoro (Video Welcome Service) – $25.00 CoSchedule (Social Media Scheduling) – $59.00 HauteStock (Stock photos) – $99.00 LinkTree Pro (Instagram Profile Links) $6.00 Tailwind (Pinterest) $29.96 Facebook Ads – 31.50 Creative Market Templates, etc. – $0 TOTAL: $250.46 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: Bench Accounting – $135.00 TOTAL: $135.00 HELP: Subcontractors TOTAL: $1470.55 LEARNING/MENTORSHIP Misc Audiobooks – $7.00 Courses – $97 TOTAL: $104.00 TRAVEL $11.20 – Southwest Fees Girlboss Retreat in Austin in September FEES Credit Card Processing Fees: ~ $200 OFFICE SUPPLIES $0 TOTAL EXPENSES: $3433.16 NET PROFIT: $6676.56 BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED As I review my numbers for August, I totally hit my revenue goal!! Which is super exciting, because that means that all my my hard work, hustle and 12 hour days resulted in me reaching my goal. However. That pace isn’t sustainable. It cost me physically. I was exhausted. I got sick that first week in August. I wasn’t making time to walk Scarlett every day so I’m literally sitting at my desk or on my couch for 12 hours a day. That’s not healthy. And while I have an awesome VA team, I really needed more time from them than I could afford at their current rates. Which sucks, because I love them, but running a business is about making decisions that help me create a stable, sustainable business. When led to the note in my planner about bringing someone on for 15 hours a week instead of the 15 hours a month I was currently getting. I have to be strategic, and I have to look out for myself, and so you’ll see in September’s income report the changes that I made. So this out of control, exhausted, overworking myself thing comes up for me from time to time in my business. It’s a conversation I’ve had several times with my business coach and that’s why I have the note “Guard your time like a bulldog, not a butterfly” written in my planner. I have a tendency to say yes to everything, and then put my own wellbeing aside to make sure things happen for other people. And it’s not a selfless thing. It’s actually very selfish, because I get a lot of validation from coming through for people. It makes me feel important. It’s 100% my ego at work. I had a call with my business coach in August where we talked about how much I’m working, and she asked me a question that was really hard to hear: Who is Shannon when she’s not working? What kinds of things does she like to do? And I couldn’t answer her. It made me feel really sad that I couldn’t. Because what is all of this for? My why has always been freedom, flexibility and financial independence but for some reason I keep trapping myself. So my homework has been to take Friday afternoons off and go do something by myself, in my city, that I like to do. Like, go be a tourist in Columbus, Ohio. Because this is a totally awesome city, I’ve lived here all my life and there are so many things that I’d love to do that my friends aren’t into, my husband’s not into, but I never make time to do myself. And so that’s what I’ve been doing. Exploring my city, taking time to do things by myself and just spending time not working. I’m a work in progress. I know I’ll never have it all figured out, but the important thing is that I know how I want to feel, and how I don’t want to feel, and as long as I’m taking the time to reflect and make adjustments, I’ll be okay. Change doesn’t happen overnight, which is something I keep reminding myself. Three years ago I dreamed of today. And then I made it happen. So if I can dream of the next iteration, and really focus on how I want it to feel and start putting a plan into motion, there’s no reason why I can’t work less and live more. Today’s pep talk is brought to you by Bluehost. Go to www.peptalksforsidehustlers.com/bluehost and get 36 months of web hosting for just $2.95 a month. That’s less than one trip to Starbucks a month – and if you’re anything like me, you’re at Starbucks more than that! Then you can sign up for my Free 5 Day Website Challenge at www.peptalksforsidehustlers.com/5day and I’ll show you step by step how to get started building your new website for your side hustle.
Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my July Income Report! Each month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! You can check out Part 1 where I review my income and goals here. If you want to learn step-by-step how to build a website so that you can start a side hustle and make money online, check out this blog post on how to get started! View all of my income reports here! EXPENSES BREAKDOWN TOOLS 1Password for Teams – $143.64 AccessAlly (Membership plugin for all of my courses) – $79.00 Acuity Scheduling (Done For You Consultations) – $10.00 Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, etc.) $54.73 Auphonic (audio optimization for podcast) – $11.00 Bluehost – $0 ContentSnare – $29 Cookiebot (GDPR Compliance) – $24 Dropbox (File Storage) – $19.99 Flywheel – $100.00 FreeConferenceCall.com (Coaching & Client Calls) – $3.00 GSuite (wp-bff.com Email) – $10.76 Infusionsoft (email marketing, automation, e-commerce & customer management) – $321.34 LibSyn (Podcast Hosting) – $20.64 ManageWP (WordPress Site Management for Clients & WordPress Protection Package) – $98.89 Smart Podcast Player – $6 Soundup (Alexa Flash Briefing Hosting) – $9.99 Zapier – $15.00 Misc Plugins – $135.00 TOTAL: $1091.98 Marketing Bonjoro (Video Welcome Service) – $25.00 CoSchedule (Social Media Scheduling) – $59.00 LinkTree Pro (Instagram Profile Links) $6.00 Tailwind (Pinterest) $0 Facebook Ads – 186.66 Creative Market Templates, etc. – $34.70 TOTAL: $311.36 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: Bench Accounting – $135.00 TOTAL: $135.00 HELP: Subcontractors TOTAL: $1645.00 LEARNING/MENTORSHIP Misc Audiobooks TOTAL: $39.98 TRAVEL $300 – AirBNB for Girlboss Retreat in Austin in September FEES Credit Card Processing Fees: ~ $200 OFFICE SUPPLIES $0 TOTAL EXPENSES: $3618.16 NET PROFIT: $3859.01 Save BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED As I reviewed my numbers for July, I see that my expenses are still higher than I want them to be for what I’m generating in revenue. And while I do believe that I must invest in my business in order to grow, I have to invest wisely, with focused intention. That philosophy applies to both time and money, because not only am I spending more money than I want to and not getting the ROI I want to get, I’m also spending more time than I want to and also not getting the ROI… So you know whose fault that is? Mine. My July income report is a clear representation of me winging it. Giving into the relief of not worrying about money and then making totally random decisions about how I spend my time (I’m looking at you, Bluehost Birthday Sale) and chasing shiny objects (Pinterest, that’s you. Definitely important, but I didn’t plan for you, Pinterest!). Yes, I’ve got my schedule and I was planning my week every week, but if how I’m spending my time doesn’t tie out to an overarching, clear goal? What’s the point? Oh my gosh, imagine what I could do with solid systems, a concrete plan, and laser-focus? That’s exciting to me. And that’s why I’m planning to do my own little mini-retreat so that I can go off and make some decisions about what I want to focus on for the rest of the year and in 2019 and create a plan, a budget and BOUNDARIES to make it happen. And as I plan for the rest of 2018 and for 2019, while I have a strong focus on increasing revenue, I’m going to look at realigning my spending on expenses to make it happen.
00:28 School Days: Nicole's daughter is starting her senior year, and Catherine's paying fees for the whole year to come. Mentioned: Last week's Speed Round on morning routines (https://www.spreaker.com/episode/18922361). … 07:43 Parenting Tiny Tots: We had to comment on this article (https://www.scarymommy.com/why-i-dont-miss-having-little-kids/), in which a mom claims not to miss even a minute of her kids' baby and toddler days. Mentioned: Another speed round from last week, on revisiting our younger selves (https://www.spreaker.com/episode/18922402). .. 19:29 Speed Round: Kids' TV: It turns out we do miss some of those little-kid moments, especially the ones that involve TV (aka "parent respite," but also cuddle time). Mentioned: Our Round 2 on Phineas and Ferb (https://www.spreaker.com/episode/18922641). … 29:36 Roundabout Roundup: Nicole discovered Facebook Messenger's Reminder function (https://www.techjunkie.com/set-reminders-facebook/); Terri likes a Pomodoro productivity app called Focus To-Do (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/focus-to-do-focus-timer-tasks/id966057213?mt=8); and Catherine rounds out the tech roundup with FreeConferenceCall.com (https://www.freeconferencecall.com/). … 34:26 Shameless Self-Promotion: "Having Friends Boosts Kids' Well-Being" (https://www.highlights.com/parents/articles/having-friends-boosts-kids-well-being) by Catherine, Nicole in Brookes Publishing's downloadable inclusion calendar (http://blog.brookespublishing.com/its-here-download-your-2018-2019-inclusion-calendar/), and a new post at Terri's blog, Parenting Isn't Pretty (http://mamatude.blogspot.com/), probably. For quotes, archives, and more, visit us at http://parentingroundabout.com.
Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to Part 2 of June Income Report where I’ll tell you exactly how much money I spend and what I spent it on, plus lessons learned along the way! Check out Part 1 of the June Income Report where I break down my income and how I earned it in Episode 115. If you want to build a website and learn how to make money online, check out this blog post on how to get started! View all of my income reports here! EXPENSES BREAKDOWN TOOLS AccessAlly (Membership plugin for all of my courses) – $79.00 Acuity Scheduling (Done For You Consultations) – $10.00 Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, etc.) $54.73 Auphonic (audio optimization for podcast) – $11.00 Bluehost – $0 Dropbox (File Storage) – $19.99 FreeConferenceCall.com (Coaching & Client Calls) – $3.00 Cookiebot (GDPR Compliance) – $24 GSuite (wp-bff.com Email) – $10.76 Infusionsoft (email marketing, automation, e-commerce & customer management) – $330.66 LibSyn (Podcast Hosting) – $16.83 ManageWP (WordPress Site Management for Clients & WordPress Protection Package) – $101.61 Smart Podcast Player – $6 Soundup (Alexa Flash Briefing Hosting) – $9.99 Zapier – $15.00 Client Plugin Renewals – $30.00 TOTAL: $1108.09 MARKETING: Bonjoro (Video Welcome Service) – $25.00 CoSchedule (Social Media Scheduling) – $59.00 LinkTree Pro (Instagram Profile Links) $6.00 Tailwind (Pinterest) $8.61 Facebook Ads – 241.89 Creative Market Templates, etc. – $108.59 TOTAL: $449.50 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: Bench Accounting – $135.00 TOTAL: $135.00 HELP: Subcontractors (VA Team, Graphic Designer, Web Developers) TOTAL: $940.55 LEARNING/MENTORSHIP Brock Johnson Hashtags – $27.00 TOTAL: $27 TRAVEL None FEES Credit Card Processing Fees: ~ $200 OFFICE SUPPLIES Toner, 2019 Planner and replacement Command key for my laptop: $196.54 TOTAL EXPENSES: $2515.71 NET PROFIT: $5656.04 BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED June started out tough, then I had a turning point mid-month and it ultimately ended on an amazing note. AN EMOTIONALLY TOUGH MONTH It was tough because I had to come to terms emotionally with having to cancel a couple of large contracts. Even though they were monthly, cancel at any time contracts, I just felt like I was letting those people down and not meeting my obligation to them. But once I cancelled them, I felt such a sense of relief knowing that I’m doing what’s right for me and my business so that I can grow and I can actually help others achieve their goals. That sense of relief helped me come out of a fog of fear that had settled over me since I first left my day job in January. I hadn’t realized how negative my mindset had gotten because I was constantly worrying about whether I’d be able to pay myself on the 1st and the 15th of the month. And because I was in a constant state of worry, I was consuming as much information about business as I could, hoping that magic answer that would just make it all come easily would be out there. I was also gaining weight from the stress, which to me was crazy because the main reason I started my business was so that I could be in control of my time so that I would have time to eat healthy and work out. I had removed every single roadblock to losing weight, and yet, I still wasn’t doing what I know I needed to do to make it happen. I was still making excuses. BUSTING MY EXCUSES So one morning while we were camping, I opened up a Google Doc and I just started typing out every single reason why I couldn’t lose weight. I mean, I just let everything out on the page. Every single excuse that had piled up over the years, I just listed them out, one by one. And after I ran out of excuses, I went back to the top of the list, and starting with excuse number one, I wrote down all the reasons why that excuse wasn’t true. It was as if I wasn’t talking to myself, it was like I was talking to my best friend who I knew was struggling and really needed someone to give it to her straight in a really caring, compassionate way. And for the next week, every morning before I started work for the day, I pulled out that list and read it. It was a long one too. And before I knew it, those excuses began to sound ridiculous. And the truth I wrote below the excuses started to become my new story. And oddly enough, my actions began to follow. All the things that were hard before just weren’t hard. I just did them. And that continues still today. MY NEW BUSINESS STORY Seeing how much mental relief and traction I got from busting all my weight loss excuses, I decided to write down all the things I believed were making it really hard for me to reach my income goals each month. All my stories. All of my excuses. And then, like a kind friend, I told myself all of the reasons why those things weren’t true or they really didn’t matter. And I wrote my new story. I read it a few times a week in the morning to remind myself of what’s true, to keep me from slipping back into the fear. CHASING RELIEF After writing my new business story and ditching all those fearful excuses and beliefs, I felt even more relieved. I didn’t have too many projects vying for my attention in June. It felt like things slowed down a bit. More relief. Who is putting all of this pressure on me, anyway? Hmm… That’s a question I’ll have to explore another time
Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Expenses Breakdown Tools: AccessAlly (Membership plugin for all of my courses) – $79.00 Acuity Scheduling (Done For You Consultations) – $10.00 Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, etc.) $64.48 Auphonic (audio optimization for podcast) – $11.00 Bluehost – $79.76 Dropbox (File Storage) – $19.99 FreeConferenceCall.com (Coaching & Client Calls) – $3.00 GDPR Compliance Plugins – $76.61 GSuite (wp-bff.com Email) – $10.76 HauteStock (Stock Photography) – $99.00 Infusionsoft (email marketing, automation, e-commerce & customer management) – $341.45 LibSyn (Podcast Hosting) – $8.00 ManageWP (WordPress Site Management for Clients & WordPress Protection Package) – $102.77 Popup Ally Annual License Renewal (List building plugin) – $99.00 Soundup (Alexa Flash Briefing Hosting) – $9.99 WP Imagify (Speed Optimization) – $9.99 WP Rocket – 2 Licenses (Speed Optimization) – $78.00 Zapier – $15.00 Client Plugin Renewals – $263.30 Total: $1381.10 Marketing: Bonjoro (Video Welcome Service) – $25.00 CoSchedule (Social Media Scheduling) – $59.00 LinkTree Pro (Instagram Profile Links) $6.00 Total: $90.00 Professional Services: Bench Accounting – $135.00 Total: $135.00 Help: Subcontractors (VA Team, Graphic Designer, Web Developers, Pinterest Specialist) $2040.00 Learning/Mentorship: Mindmeister Annual Subscription – $35.94 Sally Hogshead How to Fascinate – $27.99 Total: $63.48 Travel: None Bank/Credit Card Processing Fees: Credit Card Processing Fees: $188.74 Office Supplies: None Total Expenses: $3898.32 Net Profit: $5656.04 Biggest Lessons Learned The biggest lesson I learned as I reflected back on May is that when I protect my time, I feel more in control. When I started scheduling and blocking my time in this new way, I felt more in control. When I was able to work on the projects that I love, like the 5 Day Website Challenge and Pep Talks for Side Hustlers and marketing, it all feels right and worth it. And that it’s very important that I write these income reports and review them sooner than three months behind. Because they help me get so much perspective and even some clarity about what to do next. Remember how I almost spiralled out of control in April from taking on too much client work? Well, I was still hungover from that in May and it really clouded my decision-making. I had a few Done For You proposals still out there that I decided to put some intentional effort to follow up on these projects and book them… “but if I do this,” I thought, “I’m going to need to bring on a project manager to manage them.” And I was really torn, because I know bringing someone on is going eat into my profit and I NEED to put a paycheck into the bank every two weeks… But I’m also trying to put my time into raising my passive income, and part of that could be hiring a team to run the Done For You projects, raising prices and me just selling them and coaching a team through the actual work. I don’t have to be the one doing all the things, I just need to slow down enough and make space to hand things over to people who are better suited to do them than I am – and on a per project basis rather than a monthly contract until I have a consistent, stable income. I can’t (and shouldn’t) do every single thing in my business. That’s how I end up making $15.62 an hour. Because honestly, I feel like if I give up on client work, I gotta shut down the Web Designer Academy too. Right? And am I ready to do that? No, I love mentoring other web designers that are just getting started. I would NEVER coach them to build the situation I had created for myself. But for some reason I was just not taking my own advice!!! So I posted a position to my Web Designer Academy students, and three amazing candidates applied!! “Okay, so now what? How do I choose?” I thought. Oh, and I had no guaranteed work to give to them because these proposals – where I had gotten a verbal yes that prompted me to even post this job description – hadn’t yet signed a contract or paid a deposit – which means they’re not actual jobs on my schedule. So I asked each candidate if they would be willing to do a trial project and I told them that it wouldn’t be until I booked a new project. Guess what? I didn’t book a single new project in May. And I’m not at all surprised. The energy I was putting out closed off any possibility of that happening. In fact, I was relieved. Relief wins out over everything. But I felt bad about getting three awesome people all excited to work with me and then womp womp, nevermind! I don’t have any projects for you after all!! Running a business is HARD when there are other people besides me involved! So I put my head down into redoing the 5 Day Website Challenge and adjusting the marketing, the sales funnel and the pricing strategy. I took a deep dive into Nathalie Lussier’s AccessAlly and implemented all kinds of new features that weren’t there when I first started using it three years ago. It was a total blast, and things started to feel right again. But I knew deep down, I was still going to have to make some cuts, that my expenses were still way too high especially with no new Done For You Clients coming in to cover them. And when you look at my income reports, you can see that there’s one clear place to make a few cuts that have a big impact. Independent contractors. The people I pay to help me with day-to-day stuff and DFY projects. Ugh, these are real people whose contracts I need to cancel. It’s not like just cancelling a subscription, it’s like telling someone “Hey, remember I used to pay you X? Well, you can’t count on that anymore… Hope you can still pay your bills!!” And I know it’s my own hangups around money that make me feel terrible, that make me dread having those conversations, because I feel like I’m putting that person in a bad spot. And because I’m afraid of not having enough money and I’m projecting it onto other people. But it’s not personal, it’s business. But it is personal, to me. I’m sensitive. I care about stuff like that. But I also have to put myself and the health of my business first. So I cancelled my Pinterest management contract and took that on myself with the goal of learning exactly what I was outsourcing. I honestly feel like I made a mistake jumping into that one so quickly, but that’s a blog post for another time. And again, I felt relieved. Some of the financial pressure was lifted. I had two more contracts to cancel… But those, I still had to muster up the courage and it took me until June to do it. All in all, I’m proud of myself. I have consistently shown that I know how to make money. When I quit my day job because I had maxed out my ability to grow my side hustle, I thought “If I just had more time I’d be able to generate $10K a month.” And I was right. But it didn’t turn out the way that I thought it would. It’s not all smooth sailing. And the reasons why I love writing these income reports is because most of the time, this feels hard. Like, when I’m in the thick of it. But then when I reflect back on the month, I think: “Wow, Shannon. Look what you were able to accomplish in 30 days. And you’re pushing through the hard stuff and you’re not giving up. And here’s a little perspective for you: And in the past four years, you haven’t gone into debt, you haven’t dipped into personal savings, you’ve been profitable from day 1, and you haven’t missed a paycheck. You are so powerful. You are going to eventually get this working the way you want it to work so that it FEELS the way you want it to feel and you’re not worried about money all the time. I wouldn’t change a thing about this journey. Not one thing.
Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Expenses Breakdown Tools:AccessAlly (Membership plugin for all of my courses) – $79.00 Acuity Scheduling (Done For You Consultations) – $10.00 Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, etc.) $64.48 Auphonic (audio optimization for podcast) – $11.00 Canva for Work Annual Subscription – $119.40 Dropbox (File Storage) – $19.99 Elegant Themes Marketplace – $7.00 GoDaddy (Domain Names) – $40.17 FreeConferenceCall.com (Coaching & Client Calls) – $3.00 Gravity Forms Developer License Renewal – $97 GSuite (wp-bff.com Email) – $10.76 Infusionsoft (email marketing, automation, e-commerce & customer management) – $321.44 ManageWP (WordPress Site Management for Clients & WordPress Protection Package) – $94.78 Social Warfare Pro License – $29.00 Soundup (Alexa Flash Briefing Hosting) – $9.99 Zapier – $15.00 Total: 932.01 Marketing:Bonjoro (Video Welcome Service) – $25.00 CoSchedule (Social Media Scheduling) – $59.00 LinkTree Pro (Instagram Profile Links) $6.00 Recurpost (Social Media Scheduling) – $25.00 Total: $115.00 Professional Services:Suzanne Dibble’s GDPR Pack – $228.80 Bench Accounting – $135.00 Tax Filing Fee – $145.10 Total: 508.90 Help:Subcontractors (VA Team, Graphic Designer, Web Developers, Pinterest Specialist) $2040.00 Learning/Mentorship:Nathalie Lussier – Online Courses Simplified – $97 Travel:None Bank/Credit Card Processing Fees:Credit Card Processing Fees: $188.74 Office SuppliesOne giant box of mechanical pencils because Scarlett keeps stealing and ruining mine: $23.64 Total Expenses: $3905.29 Net Profit: $5111.42 Biggest Lessons Learned I met my goal, but at a great emotional and physical cost. Nine projects is way too many to manage at one time. I did have one awesome person helping me, but it was still too much for both of us. I began to feel very overwhelmed at the thought of taking on even one more client, and fearful of what would happen if the few proposals out there actually booked…it might send me over the edge. That energy definitely leaked out into my interactions on client consultations that I did in April. I spent most of the first camping trip of the year working on writing blog posts and producing Pep Talks for Side Hustlers, and creating a content calendar for the quarter, not relaxing or just chilling out like I used to do. While it felt freeing to be able to nap whenever I wanted, it should have never gotten to the point where I needed to nap. My written planner in April looks a hot mess. It’s chaos. It reflects someone who is barely hanging on. I was eating like, a quesadilla a day, drinking too much on the weekends, and gaining weight. I took on GDPR full force. I spent at least 25 hours researching and writing an epic blog post on it for my community and planning my re-engagement campaign. Feeling the way I felt in April is not why I left my day job. It felt very much like having no freedom, no flexibility and no independence. What am I creating? Is this what I want? Is this worth it? I started discussing with my business coach that I was struggling with managing all the client projects. I shared that while I felt that the new Done For You Method I had created resulted in projects that were on track, my prices aren’t high enough for it to be worth it to me to feel this way, and they weren’t high enough for me to be able to bring someone on And people knew I was totally frazzled, but I would brush them off. I would say things like, “I’m at this weird place in my business where I have too many clients but I can’t afford help, so I can’t complain. It’s a good problem to have.” No, Shannon. It’s not a good problem to have. It’s a problem that’s grinding you into the ground and you have to do something about it. My mindset at that point was again to wrap up these client projects and simply not take on any more. I couldn’t fathom in my brain how to make it worth it. I thought about raising my prices since I do so much more than just web design for my clients, but the bully in my head got to me. “No one’s going to pay you that much for a website…” he said. I thought about bringing on a project manager, but my expense budget was already totally out of hand. So I tabled that idea. I wanted to shift my efforts into growing the passive income side of my business so that I wouldn’t need to work 80 hours a week and feel stressed and exhausted. I had a frank discussion with my business coach about it, and she told me that in order to do that, I needed to prepare for a significant drop in income because right now, these projects are my bread and butter. I should have moved more swiftly to cut back expenses so that I could start that shift, but I wasn’t mentally ready to face it, as you’ll see in my May income report. So yes, I had a totally profitable month. I’m grateful that I netted over $5,000… but working 80 hours a week? That’s $15.62 an hour. I don’t want to work 80 hours a week, and my time and expertise is worth way more. So, you’ll see how I’ll start to dig my way out in the coming months!
Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! EXPENSES BREAKDOWN Tools:AccessAlly (Membership plugin for all of my courses) – $79.00 Acuity Scheduling (Done For You Consultations) – $10.00 Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, etc.) $64.48 Bluehost (Web Hosting) – $59.40 Dropbox (File Storage) – $19.99 FreeConferenceCall.com (Coaching & Client Calls) – $3.00 GoDaddy (Domain Names) – $36.51 GSuite (wp-bff.com Email) – $10.76 Infusionsoft (email marketing, automation, e-commerce & customer management) – $353.80 ManageWP (WordPress Site Management for Clients & WordPress Protection Package) – $90.77 Soundup (Alexa Flash Briefing Hosting- $9.99 Templates, Graphics, Fonts, Etc. – $54.81 Vimeo Pro Video Hosting – $199.99 Zapier – $15.00 Misc Plugins – $8.00 Marketing:Bonjoro (Video Welcome Service) – $25.00 LinkTree Pro (Instagram Profile Links) $6.00 Recurpost (Social Media Scheduling) – $25.00 Help:Subcontractors (VA Team, Graphic Designer, Web Developers, Pinterest Specialist) $2377.00 Learning/Mentorship:Business coaching: $2,400 Travel:Social Media Marketing World Hotel & Uber – $882.66 (I use Southwest points for all of my flights). Total Expenses: 6731.16 NET PROFIT: 3151.11 BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED By the time I hit March and I was watching my bank account and my sales and expenses, it was pretty clear to me that my expenses were way too high and I could not continue at this level of spending and still meet my goals. There were a few places that I needed to either cut back in order to make ends meet… or I needed to significantly raise prices and bring in more one-on-one clients to offset the imbalance. But since my time was already maxed out, in my mind all that would end up doing is adding more to my subcontractor expense because I’d have to outsource the work anyway to make ends meet. If I’m making $3093.86 on Done For You Projects but I’m turning around and paying out $2000 to subcontractors to help with them and I’m spending 60 hours and month working on them myself, that means I’m making $16.67 an hour. Not why I left my day job, and not sustainable. So it was time to raise prices significantly on Done For You projects – or consider pressing the pause button on them altogether because I’m losing money on them, and put my time into more scalable revenue streams. I felt very overwhelmed and confused about what to do, and even though my business coaching is a pretty big expense each quarter, it’s critical to me that I have the guidance to help me work through this stuff for as long as I can swing it. I also came pretty close to burnout in March. Maybe I actually reached it… I don’t know. What does someone do when they are burnt out? Ignore it and keep pushing? That’s what I do… As I look back through my planner, I can see that I had not yet implemented my new practice of blocking my time and I was trying to cram in way more work than humanly possible into every single day. I was distracting myself from dealing with the emotions of losing my aunt by putting my full attention into Pep Talks for Side Hustlers (I’m sure there are more unhealthy ways of avoiding emotions than working, but still not something I want to make a habit)… And here’s why I tell you all of this: We see so many people talking about how much money they are making online, but we never see the behind the scenes. They don’t share the emotional toll or how much it costs them to make that much money. We don’t see the mistakes and missteps, and it’s just not possible that you and I can have the exact same outcomes, even if we follow the exact same steps, because LIFE!! I just want to pull back the curtain, take off the makeup, and let you see what this really looks like for a real person behind the scenes. So to end this income report on a positive note, March was a profitable month, and I’m very glad I had a cushion in my bank account for months like this when I don’t hit my profit goal. I accomplished quite a bit, I planted many, many seeds for future growth with my podcast and other projects, and I’m learning how to run a business as I grow. And as you’ll see in April, May and June income reports, I’ve got some tough decisions to make ahead of me…
Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Expenses Breakdown Tools: AccessAlly (Membership plugin for all of my courses) – $79.00 Acuity Scheduling (Done For You Consultations) – $10.00 Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, etc.) $64.48 Bluehost (Web Hosting) – $30.87 Dropbox (File Storage) – $19.99 FreeConferenceCall.com (Coaching & Client Calls) – $3.00 GoDaddy (Domain Names) – $5.17 GSuite (wp-bff.com Email) – $10.76 Infusionsoft (email marketing, automation, e-commerce & customer management) – $321.43 ManageWP (WordPress Site Management for Clients & WordPress Protection Package) – $88.09 Templates, Graphics, Fonts, Etc. – $54.81 Zapier – $15.00 Misc Plugin License Renewals (for clients to be passed on to them) – $257.90 Marketing: Facebook (Ads for Website Monetization Master Class) – $493.02 LinkTree Pro (Instagram Profile Links) $6.00 Recurpost (Social Media Scheduling) – $25.00 Websites That Make Money Design – 162.00 Business Cards – $63.12 Help: Subcontractors (VA Team, Graphic Designer, Web Developers) $1607 Learning/Mentorship: Online Courses – $1451.99 (Amy Porterfield’s Webinars That Convert plus Templates, Jenna Kutcher’s Pinterest Lab, Udemy CSS course) Travel: Thrive Conference/Bluehost Meeting in Austin – $303.83 not including flight and hotel – Hotel was $600 and paid back in December, for the flight I used Southwest points Refunds for duplicate payments: $58.00 Total Expenses: $5163.40 Net Profit: $3791.78 Biggest Lesson Learned I’m writing this income report in mid-April, so I’ve learned a lot of lessons in my first three months in business which I outlined for you here in this blog post. My biggest takeaway in analyzing February’s income report is that I invested over $2000 into promoting Websites That Make Money, from investing in a course to help me improve my webinar game, creating new graphics and content and spending money on Facebook ads. My goals were to have 500 people register, 150 attend live, and make 10 sales. Here’s what really happened: Registered – 368 Showed Up – 114 Watched Full Webinar Live – 39 Watched Replay – 74 Sales – 1 I didn’t meet my goals and I didn’t come anywhere close to recouping my investment in the program with my big, tech-troubled launch. However, instead of deeming it a failure, feeling like I wasted $2000, and moving on to the next shiny new fun project that’s going to be a sure-fire success (like I might have done in the past), I made the decision to leave the program open and promote it monthly with webinars. In other words, I’m playing the slow and steady game instead of trying to create windfalls – and that $2000 really was an investment in the foundation of the marketing of that program. So obviously my expenses in February were double what my benchmark expenses are, and while I know I needed to make an investment into Websites That Make Money for the long-term, I didn’t specifically plan to do it in February. In fact, buying the webinar course and investing that much in Facebook ads was a knee-jerk reaction to the uneasiness I felt about meeting my income goals rather than a planned expense, and if I continue to operate that way going forward, I’m going to see some tough times ahead in my business. I also can look back on these spending patterns and see that just like I was winging it with my content and marketing, I was also winging it with my spending because I didn’t have a real plan in place. I still paid myself two paychecks of $2500 in February, which was more than my net profit, however, I planned ahead before quitting my day job and do have money set aside in my business for this exact scenario so that my income remains consistent when my revenue and expenses are not consistent. Thankfully, I’ve gotten a handle on my anxiety, I now have a spending plan and creating these income reports is a fantastic way to keep myself accountable and on track! So thanks for reading, and I can’t wait to continue sharing this journey with you!
The Top Entrepreneurs in Money, Marketing, Business and Life
David Erickson is the Founder and CEO of FreeConferenceCall.com. His simple ideas and deft execution have transformed the telecommunications industry to better suit the needs of consumers and businesses worldwide. Dave founded FreeConferenceCall.com on the simple principle that collaborative communication should be available to everyone, both affordably and efficiently. He purchased a $10 URL, which sparked the first viral movement in the telecommunications industry to support free conferencing around the globe.
Taylor Walker - CoFounder of Earth EncountersDamon Brown - CoFounder of CuddlrDavid Erickson - Founder & CEO of FreeConferenceCall.com
Taylor Walker - CoFounder of Earth EncountersDamon Brown - CoFounder of CuddlrDavid Erickson - Founder & CEO of FreeConferenceCall.com
Bryson Strauss - Founder & CEO of Schlep & FetchJared Kleinert - CEO of Kleinert Ventures and Author of 3 Billion Under 30Shaun Neff - CEO of Neff HeadwearDavid Erickson - Founder & CEO of FreeConferenceCall.comAlex Bayer - Founder & CEO of Genius JuiceJordan Plosky - CoFounder & CEO ComicBlitzAudrey Bellis - Founder of StartUpDTLA
Bryson Strauss - Founder & CEO of Schlep & FetchJared Kleinert - CEO of Kleinert Ventures and Author of 3 Billion Under 30Shaun Neff - CEO of Neff HeadwearDavid Erickson - Founder & CEO of FreeConferenceCall.comAlex Bayer - Founder & CEO of Genius JuiceJordan Plosky - CoFounder & CEO ComicBlitzAudrey Bellis - Founder of StartUpDTLA
As small business success stories go, it’s hard to do much better than David Erickson and his FreeConferenceCall.com service. Launched 15 years ago, David has amassed an amazing record of success that includes serving millions of global users daily; adding more than 100,000 new customers a month; counting 800,000 other businesses as customers; processing more than 1.5 billion total calls; and doing it all without taking on one cent of debt. David had one secret weapon since day one, the word “free,” which he swears is the best marketing word in the universe. On this edition, David shares many of his best entrepreneurial insights with host and reputation coach Dean Rotbart. Like FreeConferenceCall.com, this podcast is coming to you for FREE. Photo: David Erickson Posted: November 21, 2016 Monday Morning Run Time: 34 minutes 33 seconds
Dave Erickson founder of FreeConferenceCall dot com is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances Heroes radio show. They discuss the middle-of-the-night inspiration for FreeConferenceCall and how he's able to keep the service free for customers. He tells David the importance of a great team, organic growth and not having to answer to anyone with the direction of the company.
Madeline Haydon - Founder & CEO of NutpodsNancy O'Connell - CoFounder of WinecrasherShaun Neff - CEO of Neff HeadwearDavid Erickson - Founder & CEO of FreeConferenceCall.comJoel Flory - CoFounder & CEO of VSCOGreg Lutze - CoFounder & CCO of VSCOHarmonie Krieger - Founder of Pop Your ShopNate Holzapfel - CoFounder of Mission Belt Co
Madeline Haydon - Founder & CEO of NutpodsNancy O'Connell - CoFounder of WinecrasherShaun Neff - CEO of Neff HeadwearDavid Erickson - Founder & CEO of FreeConferenceCall.comJoel Flory - CoFounder & CEO of VSCOGreg Lutze - CoFounder & CCO of VSCOHarmonie Krieger - Founder of Pop Your ShopNate Holzapfel - CoFounder of Mission Belt Co
Cara Santana - Founder of The Glam AppDamon Brown - Founder of CuddlrChris Wong - CoFounder & CEO of LifeSite Jason Sullivan - Founder & CEO of Viral On-DemandDavid Erickson - Founder & CEO of FreeConferenceCall.comDan Schindler - CoFounder & Executive Vice President of Donuts Inc Nate Holzapfel - CoFounder of Mission Belt Co
Cara Santana - Founder of The Glam AppDamon Brown - Founder of CuddlrChris Wong - CoFounder & CEO of LifeSite Jason Sullivan - Founder & CEO of Viral On-DemandDavid Erickson - Founder & CEO of FreeConferenceCall.comDan Schindler - CoFounder & Executive Vice President of Donuts Inc Nate Holzapfel - CoFounder of Mission Belt Co
Hello! Welcome to another episode of Real Fast Results. For this episode, I have somebody that I really look up to and have for a very long time. I also follow him. I believe you should follow him very closely as well. That's my good friend and mastermind partner, Jim Edwards. In today's episode, we're going to cover how to go about putting together and writing your book, your eBook or your Kindle book, in 3 hours or less. Let's face it. We want a book and hardly any of us have the time to actually write a book. Anything that can manifest that result quickly. In other words, have a book that represents you and your company and your ideas well, and do it quickly. That's what we're all about here at Real Fast Results. Jim has a very streamlined process that has this ability to crank out a high quality piece of prose or a high quality manuscript that's suitable for publishing as an eBook, a Kindle book, etc. People Publish Books For Different Reasons I think the number one reason why you want to have a book might be different for different people. However, it comes down to increased credibility. Everybody respects somebody who's got a book. If you've got a book and you can hold it up and show it to somebody. Here is my most recent one. Making Money with Kindle Books: Myths, Misconceptions, and the Truth Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know. The gist of it is that if you're a coach, it gives you the credibility to attract new coaching students. If you're a speaker, it gives you the credibility to be speaking on a topic. If you're an info marketer, it gives you something to sell. If you're a professional of any type in business, it gives you massive credibility. Example I'm going to tell you a real quick story about my very first book that I self-published. The reason I self-published it, was not to sell the book, but it was actually to use it to help me get business. At the time, I was a real estate agent. I wrote a book on how to sell your house yourself. The whole reason I created the book was to be able to use it as a tool to meet people who were trying to sell their house themselves. I would give them a copy of my book. Show them I was an expert. If they ended up not being able to sell their house themselves, or once they read about exactly how to do it and they decided, "Hey, I don't actually want to do this." Then I was able to successfully list a lot of their houses because they trusted me. I ended up being an award-winning realtor and winning tons of different listing contests because I was able to leverage that book. There are a lot of ways to use a book. It really just depends on whether you want to use it to sell it to make money, use it to build your list, use it to increase credibility, get more clients or a host of other reasons. Nothing bad comes from having a book that you can hold up and show somebody, "Hey, I've written a book. I have a book on this topic." Especially if they're in your target market. 8 Steps To Turn An Interview Into A Book One quick thing before I give you the steps. You need to reprogram yourself. Stop thinking in terms of writing a book, and start thinking in terms of creating a book. Writing a book is hard. It means sitting down and typing at 40 to 50 words per minute for days and weeks on end and driving yourself nuts. When you think of creating a book: creating a book means that you create the content. We'll do that by actually just talking the book out. Literally talking it out by having a conversation with a friend over the phone. Something all of us have been doing since we were 5 years old and figured out how to dial the phone. On overview of the 8 Steps: Step one is to define your audience. Step two is to prepare the interview that's going to become your book. Your book's content is going to be created as an interview. Step three is to order your book's cover before you even create the content. We'll talk about why. Step four is to actually record the interview for free using your phone. I'll show you a couple of ways to do that. Step five is to have that conversation, that recording transcribed. Step six is to do a light edit of that transcription. Step seven is to hire somebody to format that transcript and turn it into a book format, which is only going to cost you 5 or 10 bucks. Step eight is actually pretty anti-climactic because you're just going to upload a couple of files to Kindle. Poof or I should say presto. Not poof. Presto, you are a published author. There are a couple of other things you can do to actually turn that Kindle book into a print book that will cost you not very much at all. Step 1 - Define Your Audience Step number one is define your audience. People talk a lot about audiences and segmentation. It actually comes down to just 3 simple questions. Who are you creating the book for? Who? Who's the audience for this book? What are you creating the book about? What's the topic? The best topics to create books around are problems. To solve somebody's problem is the number one thing you want to do. I don't know the exact statistics, but I think it's four times as many people will act to solve a problem or to avoid pain than they will to get a result. Your best topics are solving problems. What do they want? What's the payoff that they're looking for? It should be something that's pretty severe as far as the problem goes. I like to use this metaphor: If somebody's in a chainsaw accident, they're not going to ask the ambulance driver how much is this ride to the hospital going to be or how much is that tourniquet going to cost me. That's a real problem as opposed to somebody who's got a hangnail. They're comparison shopping for band aids at the Walmart while they're sipping their double latte cappuccino. That is not a problem. You want a severe, pressing, painful problem that you really want to solve. It's a very specific audience that you're targeting. Step 2 - Prepare The Interview Step two is you need to prepare the interview. That's really 2 parts. Part 1 - You want to have an angle for your interview. Number one, you want to have an angle for your interview. Are you going to be talking mainly about mistakes? Are you going to give people a road map? Are you going to give them a beginner's guide? Are you going to give them tips, tricks, and secrets? You need to have a track that you're going to run down for doing an interview. It can't just be a series of random questions. It's got to have a track, so that it takes them from A to B to Z in an organized way that makes sense. That's how books are put together. Part 2 - Put together the questions. The second part is to put together the questions. Most people talk between 110 and 150 words per minute. Which means a 60 to a 90-minute interview is a perfect length for a Kindle book. A good length for a Kindle book is somewhere between 4,000, 5,000, and 10,000 words. Let's say, between 4 and 10,000 words, which typically comes out to be an hour, hour and a half of talk time. Parts of an interview: Your interview needs to have an introduction that obviously introduces you, who you are and why they should listen to you. You have the body of the interview, which is basically just a series of questions, again, along a track. What's the first mistake people make? What's another mistake that people make that cost them time? What's another mistake that people make that they think is actually the right thing to do, but is the worst thing they could ever do? Those types of things. You have a conclusion. The conclusion is basically, "Thanks for joining us. Here are some instructions for how to get more results or take the next step." That's where you really want to drive people to your website and get them to sign up with you. Step 3 - Order Your Book Cover Step three is to actually order your book cover before you actually do the interview with your friend over the phone. The reason you do that is twofold. Number one, it keeps you from having to wait to get your cover once you've done the interview and have the book ready. Number two, it helps you to build momentum. I order my covers from Fiverr.com. At Fiverr.com, Kindle covers will cost you $10 or $20 depending on the options that you use. If you know you want to turn your Kindle book into a print book, there are a lot of people that'll do a cover for you that's a Create Space cover and a Kindle cover. You kill 2 birds with 1 stone. That'll cost you about $20 or $30. The only caveat to that is if you're doing Create Space, you're going to have to write some back cover copy. One of the easiest ways to do that, is just to tell people, "These are the questions we're going to answer in this interview." They're the bullets for your back cover copy. You don't have to make it tough. This really helps you build momentum. Step 4 - Record The Interview Step four is to actually record the interview for free using your phone. You do the interview as a conversation over the phone. There are 2 methods you can use: You can use your smartphone. Smartphones actually have amazing microphones in them. There's an app called the RINGR. It works on iPhone and Android. The gist of how it works is, you get on the phone. Your friend gets on the phone. You push a couple of buttons. RINGR will record both sides of the conversation. When you're done with the conversation, both phones upload the recording to the RINGR website. RINGR emails an MP3 file, an audio file of both those mashed together. It sounds really good, almost as if you two were in the same room. It's absolutely free. FreeConferenceCall.com. If you don't have a smartphone, then you can log on to FreeConferenceCall.com. You can create a free account. You have a phone number and a PIN number. You both call in. You're on the web at the same time with your little interface on FreeConferenceCall.com. You hit the record button. You talk. Ask, answer questions. You're done. You hit stop. You download the MP3 file. It's super easy and simple. Everybody can talk on the phone. If you can't talk on the phone, you probably can't write a book. I'm assuming you can talk on the phone. Don't try and do it with Skype. Use the phone because you can talk on a phone, and everybody has a phone. It takes between 60 and 90 minutes to have the interview conversation. Step 5 - Have The Interview Transcribed Step number five is you send that MP3 audio fileto a site called Rev.com to have it transcribed. I like Rev.com because it's really easy. Some people ask, "Why couldn't I go to Fiverr.com?" Or "If I've got this" or "I go to that" etc. Rev.com is like the Walmart of transcriptions. They have a bunch of people doing transcriptions. If you have a problem, you can get it fixed. They charge a dollar a minute. If you're going to do a 60-minute transcription, then it costs you $60. You'll know exactly how much it's going to cost you because when you upload it, they'll see how long it is and they say, "It's 61 minutes. Give us $61, and we'll have it transcribed." Daniel and I have both used Rev.com a lot. They are an excellent service. Step 6 - Lightly Edit The Transcription Step six is you do a light edit of the transcript when you get it back. Now, here's the thing. I have seen this is where a lot of people get derailed. You need to understand that the way you talk is different than the way you're going to write. You're not going to rewrite what you've spoken. What you're going to do is go through the transcript and check for spelling and punctuation. Or if you have a friend who's better at spelling and punctuation than you are, then do that. I always like to just hit F7 in my Word because that's a spelling and punctuation and grammar check from my buddy, Bill Gates. The other thing I like to do is break up what I call "chunky paragraphs." With eBooks and books now, the rules of paragraphs and grammar learned in high school don't apply as much as they used to. I like to break up anything that's over 4 lines into its own paragraph, 4 or 5 lines. I don't worry about proper paragraph structure. I just break them up, especially for Kindle. A very important thing you need to do is add your author bio. You're going to want to add a call to action. A call to action is basically "go to my website and register" or "this book is one of the easiest things" or "go to my website and get a video" or "one of the easiest things you can do," etc. Here's a cool tip. I wasn't actually planning on revealing this. Listen very carefully because this is super cool. The whole reason you're writing a book, in many cases, is to get people onto your list. We have created this book by doing an audio interview. Therefore, the audio book version of your book is already done. You have the audio done. What you can do is offer the audio book version for free, if they will go to your website and register. That's a neat little tip. You can offer that right at the beginning of the book. One of the important things you want to do is add a cover letter that explains to people right at the beginning of the book, "Hey, I just wanted to let you know that this book was originally created as a live interview. That's why it reads as a conversation and maybe a little different than what you're used to with a regular book." As soon as people read that, they go, "Oh, okay. I understand. Now, this reads like we're having a conversation," as opposed to "Hey, this doesn't read like a book." If you just add that simple little cover letter and explain that it was done as a live event or a live conversation or a live interview, people are totally fine with it. That's an important thing to remember. Don't forget the cover letter that it's a live interview format. Step 7 - Hire Someone To Format Your Book I like to think of this like a bobsled run. We're coming into the homestretch because now that you've got this thing edited, all you have to do is get it formatted for Kindle. That's we're going to go back to Fiverr.com. Where we got our cover made. We're going to hire somebody to do formatting. You just do a search for Kindle formatting or a search for Create Space formatting. If you're going to have somebody format it for Create Space, which is Amazon's print on-demand arm, then you can often find people who will do a 2-for-1 deal. "I'll format for Create Space and Kindle for $20." $10 or $15. I don't know. Whatever it is. It's usually based on the number of pages. Typically though, doing an interview for 60 or 90 minutes, puts you at the lower end to the mid-range of what people are charging. It's not very much money. Here's the tip. Make each main question in the interview a chapter. That's how you have a book with chapters. Each question is a chapter. Now, it might only be a page or 2 pages long when you get it back from Rev. However, by the time somebody gets through formatting it, it can turn into 5, 6, 7, 8 pages in a print book. In a Kindle book, they really don't have pages. They just have percentage finished in the book. That's key is to make sure that each main question is a chapter when they're formatting the book. Step 8 - Upload Your Files Once you get that back, it's as simple as you log on to KDP.Amazon.com. If you don't have an account, you can sign up for one. You just upload your Kindle book. Like I said earlier, it's anti-climactic. It is because all you're doing is just copying and pasting stuff in. You paste in the title of your book. You paste in the description of your book. You paste in the 5 keywords or the 5 keyword tags that make the most sense. The one thing I would tell you is that typically, when they ask you to choose 2 categories for your Kindle book, they'll make no sense because the ones you think it should be in, they won't be there. Kindle or Amazon will assign you categories later. Don't spend a ton of time on the category thing because it never works out. I've never had anybody said, "They had the perfect category right there for me, Jim. It was amazing." That takes 5 minutes. All you're doing is just uploading files by selecting them from your hard drive. It's super fast. If you want to upload to Create Space, it's equally as easy. You're just copying and pasting in the forms. Literally, uploading and publishing on Kindle takes 5 minutes. Congratulations. You are now a published author with a new, original book. The Interview Process Is One Of The Fastest Ways To Create Content Thank you, Jim for sharing those incredible 8 steps. The main thing I want everyone to understand is that the interview process is one of the fastest ways to create very valuable, compelling content very quickly. I'd like to highlight a few things Jim discussed so you understand their importance. The cover letter at the very beginning of the book that lets people know, "Hey, this really is a conversation," "that's what this book is." It does save you lots of time trying to rework the prose and what not. That's one of the reasons why you can do this whole process in 3 hours or less total time. That's a very important thing I wanted you to understand. The other thing that I really want to highlight here is the cover. Having that cover created beforehand, also very crucial in my opinion, gives you a lighthouse, a target to aim at as you actually produce the rest of your book. As you do your interviews, as you set up your questions and so forth. Super important. I love the tip Jim gave of taking and using the audio book. The audio that you created to create the book, as your opt-in. That makes perfect sense. I've been saying all along, within the Real Fast Results podcast, that you need to be using your digital publications to not only create revenue and royalties, but also build your list. Build your platform and your community. This is a perfect way to not only create the book quickly, but also have something to give away on the back end. It's form-fitted to that particular audience. It's not like, "Would they be interested in this other thing that I might have? Maybe and maybe not." You know for a surety that they're interested in the content that they just received. Chances are very high that they will take you up on that offer to get the audio book version because they're already reading text of that same material. That's masterful. Thanks, Daniel! One cool thing that you can do, if you know you're going to use the audio for free, when you're having your cover made, you can have one of the those starburst or seals that says, "Bonus: Free audio book version available." Kindle Wizard by Jim Edwards What we have is a piece of software. It's called the 3-Hour Kindle Book Wizard. It's available at 3HourKindleBookWizard.com/Daniel. What it does is it makes this whole process even easier because all you do is fire up the software on either a PC or a Mac. Basically, it walks you through some steps, asks you some questions about your audience, about yourself, about your topic and other things. It creates everything for you. It has 11 different interview tracks that you can run down that'll create all the questions that you need to have somebody interview you. It does the intros and the conclusions and everything. It writes all your sales copy for you. It writes all of your back cover copy for you. It creates all the emails that you need to announce your book to your list, to get other people to announce your book to their list. It'll even create an entire Power Point slide deck that you could use if you wanted to present your interview as a webinar. It writes all your ads for you for your book. It literally does everything you need to prepare to do this process even down to writing the thank you note. Thanking the person who interviewed you. It's that level of detail I would definitely tell you to go and check out that link: 3HourKindleBookWizard.com/Daniel, because you can see how the software works, what's entailed, all that good stuff. Literally, in 10 to 12 minutes, you can fill out the software and have every single piece of the puzzle done and ready to go for you to then jump on the phone with your buddy. Have them interview you. Order your cover, and you're on your way, and all the other stuff that you need for this process. It is pretty amazing. Thanks, Jim! The software is awesome. It actually takes what you've taught us here today to a whole other level. One of the things that I personally love about it is the fact that not only does it do all this other great stuff, as you say, but it actually writes your Amazon description. All of this stuff is done for you. By the way, the link that Jim gave you is my affiliate link, for full disclosure. To keep the lights on around here, we're giving you that affiliate link. Daniel's Real Fast Results Tips: Turing An Interview Into A Book When you're doing your interview, just have a conversation. Make sure you know your target audience and what problems they want solved. Whether you'll look into Jim's software or not, what you learned was completely A to Z. You can definitely do it with what you learned here. Resources Software Program - 3-Hour Kindle Book Wizard Book by Jim Edwards - Making Money with Kindle Books: Myths, Misconceptions, and the Truth Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know. Order Covers - Fiverr.com Free Recorder For Your Phone (Find in the App store) - RINGR App Free Online Recorder - FreeConferenceCall.com - Transcription Service - Rev.com Kindle Digital Publishing - https://kdp.amazon.com/ -
Jessica expands the Kingdom of God over the phone through prayer conferencing and free messaging. Anyone with a phone can participate! Talk about AWESOME! Check it out: http://www.renewedvisionministry.org/ Ministry page: http://www.renewedvisionministry.org/the-ministry/ To join in the Renewed Vision Ministry prayer together, every Thursday at 7 pm Central Time, call: 712-775-7031, and then enter code 605985470 when instructed to do so. ConradRocks.Net
Jessica expands the Kingdom of God over the phone through prayer conferencing and free messaging. Anyone with a phone can participate! Talk about AWESOME! Check it out: http://www.renewedvisionministry.org/ Ministry page: http://www.renewedvisionministry.org/the-ministry/ To join in the Renewed Vision Ministry prayer together, every Thursday at 7 pm Central Time, call: 712-775-7031, and then enter code 605985470 when instructed to do so. ConradRocks.Net
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