Podcasts about preselling

Send us a textWelcome to Beyond the Clinic! I'm Sarah Almond Bushell, and I'm thrilled to have you here for another inspiring episode. Today, I'm joined by Rosie Martin, also known as Plant Dietitian Rosie on Instagram. Rosie has an incredible journey from burnout to successfully launching an online course that transformed her business and her life. If you're thinking about adding a course to your business or need some motivation, you won't want to miss this episode.Summary:In this episode, we dive deep into Rosie's journey as a plant-based and vegan dietitian. Rosie shares how she transitioned from one-to-one client work, which was leading to burnout, to creating a successful online course that aligns with her passion and expertise. We discuss the importance of market research, how to validate your course idea, and the power of pre-selling. Rosie also opens up about the challenges and rewards of launching and running a group program, and how it helped her reclaim her time and energy.Key Takeaways:Market Research is Key: Rosie emphasises the importance of understanding what your audience truly needs before developing a course.Pre-Selling for Validation: Pre-selling your course is a great way to gauge interest and ensure that your efforts will pay off.Work-Life Balance: Creating a course allowed Rosie to reduce her one-to-one client work and regain control over her schedule.Launch Strategies: Rosie shares her experience with webinars (or "masterclasses") as an effective way to launch a course and engage potential clients.Continuous Learning: The journey of building and launching a course is intense but rewarding, especially when you see the impact on your clients.Thank you for tuning in! Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoyed this episode. If you want more insights, head over to my website and book a free discovery call.Connect with Rosie Martin: Website: https://www.rosemarynutrition.co.uk/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plantdietitianrosie/ Website: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusinessFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/beyondtheclinicbusinessYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast The Master Plan - Discover the 22 steps you need to take (in the right order) to build a successful business so you can earn enough to live the freedom lifestyle you dream of. https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan

How To Build Wealth Through Speaking: Learn to Craft Your Message, Get Booked, and CHANGE LIVES: https://www.sixfigurespeakerchallenge.com/3-day-six-figure-speaker-challengemptp352n?affiliate_id=4267709GET COACHING & MENTORSHIP 

#068: Preselling your online course before you create it can feel like risky business. But it's actually riskier not to presell. In today's episode, I share simple tactics that are going to help you do it with confidence. In this episode, you will uncover: Simple tips that are going to help ease the discomfort around preselling and make it work well for you AND for your audience. If you should share that you're preselling the course with your audience Setting up your own systems in advance so that you can create with ease.  Check out Create Your Dream Offer here:https://loublakely.thrivecart.com/dreamoffer/Check out the free email series I mention in today's episode: https://www.loublakely.co/knowledgeView the shownotes here:https://loublakely.com/presell-online-courseEnjoy the episode! Lou xx 

Want direct access to Noah's brain? Join us for our first dream mentor group chat in the C-Suite with Noah Kagan on February 22nd, 2024! Go to https://ellenyin.com/csuite so you can get more of his exclusive business insights.Connect with Noah:Grab a copy of Noah's book, Million Dollar Weekend: https://amzn.to/488UP6Thttps://milliondollarweekend.comGet his weekly newsletter: https://noahkagan.com/View the transcript for this episode at: https://otter.ai/u/XkKesgjK2XRp4pyNleujMbWe8bo?utm_source=copy_urlIf you enjoyed today's episode, please:Post a screenshot & key takeaway on your IG story and tag me @missellenyin & @cubicletoceo so we can repost you.Leave a positive review or rating at www.ratethispodcast.com/cubicletoceoSubscribe for new episodes every Monday.Join our C-Suite membership to get bonus episodes! Check out everything our members get at https://ellenyin.com/csuite

At the start of 2023 we never could have predicted that we would have shut the doors to our seven figure program and would have completely switched business models… but here we are, and we have some lessons to share with you! Whether you're on the verge of “burning it all to the ground”, or are just looking to add a new revenue stream to your business, you'll definitely glean some new perspective from this episode   We talk about: Change is scary, especially for your team. The less time you have to market 2 offers, the better! Done is better than perfect. Preselling is your best friend. Prepare to build a new audience. Hindsight is always 20/20, and there are always things we would do differently with the information we have now… but since we don't have a time machine the next best thing we can do is share what we learned with you!   You can visit www.runlikeclockwork.com to learn more about us.  

Preselling fitness over the phone for a yet-to-be-opened facility is as challenging as it sounds. But here at Alloy Personal Training Franchise, we have perfected the art of preselling, often opening new franchises at or near full capacity.Adam Blankenship, Alloy's presale specialist, joins Rick in this episode to share the exact process, how we do it, and why it is so successful.The first thing you must do in a call is set the right expectations.One common pitfall people make in phone sales is immediately diving into providing information when a prospect gets on the line. The key here is to set the stage for the call right from the beginning. Begin by explaining the purpose of the call.For instance, you can say, "During this call, I will ask you some questions to understand your needs and answer any questions you have. Our goal is to determine if our services align with your goals." Doing this lets you gain the prospect's permission to guide the conversation and establish yourself as an expert.The aim is to prevent the conversation from becoming transactional, focusing solely on price and services. Instead, you're setting the tone for a value-based conversation, emphasizing the importance of understanding the prospect's specific needs.Tune in to this episode to hear our exact process to conduct phone sales!Key Takeaways- Meet Adam Blankenship (00:00)- The challenge of preselling through the phone (08:25)- Setting the right expectations for a call (10:58)- Find the "why" (16:42)- How to ask them to join (23:50)- Overcoming the 3 most common objections (25:12)Additional Resources:- Alloy Personal Training- Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity---------You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

Step 3 of 8 in the 8 part series. The $100,000 Haircutter Success Sequence. JOin me! Get a FREE month of my online academy. - Details here... LINK Get a copy of my Be A $100,000 Haircutter book. - LINK HERE

You're trying to figure out HOW to grow your business. You need the help to grow but you need to grow to get the help. This is a vicious cycle that small business owners get stuck in. Today, we're talking with Steph Tuss about shifting your mindset and business actions from the HOW to the WHO.In this episode, you'll learn:Taking big risks: Steph's $100,000 learning experienceThe power of pre-selling to combat your resistance around salesShifting from the HOW to the WHOGoing from doing everything yourself to the magic of delegatingOpportunity costs, increasing your income, and your first hireLook at your business like an elite sports team versus a familyHow to have hard conversationsThe importance of clearly communicating expectations Steph is the CEO of multimillion-dollar global consulting company Life Is Now, Inc., and frequent stand-in co-host of Business Daily News' top-ranked podcast - The Successful Mind. Steph discovered her love for teaching at a young age. From there, Steph went on to launch a holistic nutrition health practice where she hired Life Is Now founder, David Neagle, as her business coach. She sold her business at the age of 33 and joined Life Is Now, Inc. as the Director of Sales, taking on the CEO role in 2016. Resources from this episodeMind Fuckery: 3-day Live Workshop to help you overcome the shitty thoughts that keep disrupting your progress, have you second guessing yourself, and are stopping you from having and feeling what you truly want.Take Life Is Now Inc.'s Visionary Leader Assessment and discover what type of leader you are, and what the superpowers and pitfalls of your leadership archetype are.Check out Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer's book No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention.Join the Gutsy Collective - a community of energetically driven female entrepreneurs + visionaries who desire meaningful growth – mentally, physically, and energetically. Join us online or in person for monthly mentorship to reignite your fire and get the answers you seek.Alignment Sessions: get fast + clear answers – 90-min individual coaching sessions designed to help you realign your energy and get a clear action plan so you can save time and start growing.1:1 Coaching with LauraAura – Together we'll acknowledge the limiting beliefs and habits that may be holding you back while leaning into who you truly are and how you work most efficiently.Connect with Steph TussInstagram: @stephtussPodcast: The Successful MindWebsite: lifeisnowinc.comConnect with LauraAuraTikTok:  @thatlauraauraInstagram: @thatlauraauraWebsite: LauraAura.comSupport the showTHANK YOU, GUTSY TRIBE!We love, love, love to read your comments, feedback, and reviews. If you haven't yet, drop us one below! Your review might even get highlighted within one of our gutsy love posts or on our website.https://podcasts.apple.com/ar/podcast/the-gutsy-podcast/id1445481970

Let 2023 be the year of passive income. In this podcast episode with Morgan Nield, we talk about how to create an easy passive income stream with these 10 tips. I define passive income as "making money while you sleep." This is why I'm such a big fan of bloggers selling digital products (ebooks, guides, templates, workshops, courses, etc.) because these products can be a great way to start building consistent passive income online. Morgan and I talk about how she teaches people to create quick and easy online courses. Many of you know, I'm not a fan of people spending lots of time creating online courses and classes because there they take a lot of resources upfront, and you don't know if they will pay off. Morgan and I, however, see eye to eye on how she teaches course-building. Her strategy is all about: Validating your course idea before you create anything Preselling your course Building off of where you find traction Getting feedback from your customers Avoiding shiny object syndrome Giving your customers a quick win And much more! If you're looking to tap into new passive income ideas in 2023, I think you'll find this episode unbelievably valuable. Show Notes Digital Product WORKSHOP REPLAY – How to Turn on a New Income Stream MiloTreeCart MiloTree Pop-Up App Morgan Nield Simplify Your Sales Podcast Join Jillian's Newsletter to Hear about the MiloTreeCart Black Friday Sale Become a Blogger Genius Facebook Group All Blogger Genius Podcast Episodes Subscribe to the Blogger Genius Podcast iTunes Stitcher YouTube Spotify Amazon Music Other Blogger Genius Podcast Episodes You'll Like: How to Sell and Win Big on Etsy with Morgan Nield The Truth About Courses Vs. Memberships with Alisa Meredith Why the Blogging Riches are in the Niches with HollyAnne Knight (Part 1) How to Launch a Successful Course Through Trial and Error with HollyAnne Knight (Part 2) Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Decided to try preselling the database of plugins and APIs for no-code apps that I've been working on instead of slugggggging away to finish it since it's taking a lot longer than I originally thought. Jamming in this episode on thoughts around that.

Amanda Hadzimichalis shares her inspirational story and how you can use preselling to signup more people into your network marketing businessWho is Amanda Hadzimichalis?Amanda Hadzimichalis was an overweight drunk who weighed almost 300 pounds and depended on alcohol everyday. She has 3 DUIs on record and was waitressing to survive and had only $25 to her name.Amanda always knew she was meant for more but she just didn't know what her calling was until she discovered network marketing.Today she's a 6 figure earner who's been able to stay sober and finally move out of her parent's house and purchased her own home.She has a team of over 8500 customers and over 280 active promoters across 7 different countries.Favorite QuoteEverything happens for a reasonRecommended Books Millionaire Success Habits by Dean GraziosiLeadership BooksAudible Recommended Online AppPic Collage and WordswagRecommended Prospecting ToolATM (Add Tag Message) using Facebook Groups Contact InfoAmanda Hadzimichalis on Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok

Some of the best tech stacks that you should be having as an MSPIn today's episode, the geeks talk about tech stacks. While some of us in the MSP haven't heard of this term and can't tell what it means, tech stacks still remain a key part in the alignment of clients and ensuring a flawless service provision. Tune in as the geeks share the tips and tricks on picking the best tech stacks and learn about what categories and MSP you should be making sure you've got coverage. They also dive into mentioning some of the best vendors they see when we work with MSPs. Key topics discussed:  Per device and per user general stuff you need to supply as an MSP The next generation of combined RMM and PSA tools. Some of the great Microsoft tools you need My Key for Password management How is cyber awareness training important? How do you afford all these tech stacks? How to minimize the number of vendors you have. Picking the right tool for your business. Enforcing new tools on existing customers   Best in breed vs. the culture of the supplier you're working with. Preselling new products to clients Cloud file backup tools Mobile app/device management multi-factor authentication tools Email antivirus, antispam, and filtering tools DNS and SSL management tools Unusual adds to the tech stacks Links and Resources:Richard's Stuff:✅ Rent Richards Brain: https://www.tubblog.co.uk/rrb/✅ Richard's Blog: https://www.tubblog.co.uk/blog/✅ Richard's Podcast: https://www.tubblog.co.uk/podcast/Pete's Stuff:✅ Coaching & Mentoring: https://notabusinesscoach.com/ ✅ Personal Youtube: https://youtube.com/petematheson✅ Not a Business Coach Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/notabusinessc...Scott's Stuff:✅ Cloud Nexus: https://cloudnexus.co.uk✅ Youtube: https://YouTube.com/cloudnexus✅ LinkedIn: https://LinkedIn.com/in/scottriley76Nigel's Stuff:✅ The Tech Tribe: https://thetechtribe.com/geeks (40% First Month Discount)✅ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelgmoore/

Show Notes:What I want you to think about today is what you can sell people before they buy your course, product, or service.   How can you use courses to help prime your audience for the courses you really want them to buy that might be bigger, or more expensive, or that they aren't ready for yet?   These are likely to be freebies or lower priced programs that are an ideal lead into something you want them to buy next. There are a couple of ways you can do this:1.       Alternate smaller courses.  If a client lands on your sales page, has requested information and shown a lot of interest but doesn't finalise the sale, you could offer them a smaller program instead.   The person was obviously interested or curious, but they weren't quite ready for your larger, more expensive product or course. 2.        Using a course to help clients get ready for the thing that you want them to buy.  Having a course that is a bit of a downsell or a presell helps potential clients get ready to use your products and services and they are more likely to come back to you for the big purchase because they know you and they trust you. This is a great way to warm your leads and also a great way to pre-qualify them so they are ready to purchase from you. Action Steps:Take a moment and think about what you are selling that some people are not quite ready for yet.    Could you offer a free or low-priced program to help people get ready so that they are able to purchase your signature program from you?  Is there something people need to know or have done, or is there a system or a process they need to go through before they are ready to work with you?   I get so excited because there are so many opportunities to support your clients to get them ready for you & your product that aren't being taken advantage of yet because you just haven't thought about it. Connect with Sam Winch About Your Online Course:FacebookContent Into Courses Facebook GroupInstagram

In questo episodio, registrato sabato 11 maggio 2021 (giorno dopo la chiusura del primo preselling del quaderno di marca personale), ti confido quelli che sono stati gli errori che ho fatto quando ho voluto immettere nel mercato nuovi prodotti e servizi. Se anche tu stai pensando di lanciare qualcosa, presta molta attenzione: oltre ai miei passi falsi troverai tutta una serie di consigli che ti aiuteranno a prendere la mira e proporre così al tuo pubblico il tuo nuovo prodotto/servizio nel miglior modo possibile.[Vuoi continuare a lavorare alla tua marca personale? Scarica l'audiotraining "Introspezione & Prospettiva" visitando il sito marcapersonale.com, è gratis!]

Bootstrapping is when entrepreneurs find a way to self-fund businesses instead of accepting investment from outside sources.  “Bootstrapped startups have a long history in the U.S., with many of the biggest companies in the world starting just from one good idea and no initial funding.” (source: USchamber.com) Successful Bootstrappers The history of business is filled with many successful entrepreneurs who bootstrapped their businesses. For example, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built their first computers in Steve Jobs' parents' garage. Their first computers, the Apple I, were MVPs (or minimum viable products) through which they could quickly generate the capital they needed to build their business.  Basecamp, formerly known as 37 Signals produces award-winning project management and team communication software that is trusted by millions of customers around the world. Basecamp was bootstrapped by providing web design services to other companies. According to Jason Fried, one of Basecamp's founders, the company grew from $1 to a $100 billion valuation without any external investment. MailChimp helps companies send email newsletters and generates about $700 million in annual revenue. They were bootstrapped by co-founders who had been laid off from their web design jobs. They were named Inc's Company of the Year in 2017 and are still 100% owned by the founders.  Tough Mudder produces extreme races. “Thousands of people will pay good money to run the most grueling obstacle course ever invented, which will include ice baths, extreme hill-climbing, and electrical shocks” (source: USchamber.com). The two founders each invested $10,000 of their own money to start Tough Mudder, and with no venture funding, more than 2 million people have now run Tough Mudder races.  Why Do Businesses Bootstrap? Why do businesses turn to bootstrapping? Sometimes entrepreneurs don't have a sufficient track record to secure venture funding. "Someone once told me that the probability of an entrepreneur getting venture capital is the same as getting struck by lightning while standing at the bottom of a swimming pool on a sunny day. This may be too optimistic.” - Guy Kawasaki Entrepreneurs who are successful at bootstrapping their ventures can receive many benefits, such as retaining more ownership, decision-making authority, and creative control over the business.  “A slow bootstrap worked really well [for GoPro]… As long as you can bootstrap not at the sacrifice of competitive advantage, bootstrapping is a really powerful thing because it allows you to be totally devoted to your vision.” - Nick Woodman (GoPro Founder) 4 Bootstrapping Strategies I Have Used to Help Fund My Businesses I have created and sold three digital ventures that used bootstrapping for all or part of their funding. Here are 4 strategies I have used for bootstrapping my businesses:   Arbitrage   We can bootstrap a business through arbitrage. According to Wikipedia, arbitrage is “the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets: striking a combination of matching deals that capitalize upon the imbalance, the profit being the difference between the market prices at which the unit is traded.” In other words, arbitrage is the process of finding something we can purchase at a low price from one source and resell for a higher price to a buyer. For example, in the early days of my Adoption.com venture, my best way to bootstrap was to sell domain names. Back then, Network Solutions was the only domain name registrar, but people didn't really trust the internet to buy and sell yet. So, when Network Solutions let people like me register a domain name, they would physically mail me a paper invoice for that domain name. They gave me 90 days to pay for the domain name. If I didn't pay for a domain name within 90 days, they would take it from me and put it back into the pool of available domain names for someone else to register. So, I would register large groups of domain names. Then, during the 90 days of free ownership, I would contact potential buyers and try to sell the domain name. If I was able to sell the domain name, I would pay the Network Solutions bill, then transfer the domain to the new owner. If I was unable to sell the domain, I generally let the domain name expire instead of paying for it.  Years later, as I had a little more money, domains had become much more scarce and were increasing rapidly in prices. So, I developed a list of hundreds of short domain names I felt would be very valuable. I then reached out to the owners of all those domain names, and I found the best deals. I purchased those deal domains, held onto them for a little while, and then sold all of them to help fund my business.  Over the years, I sold millions of dollars of domain names, which provided needed capital for my growing businesses. My goal was not to be a domain broker. I always saw this as a short-term arbitrage to help fund my long-term businesses. This concept of arbitrage can work well in many different niches other than domain names. For example, many people buy products at thrift stores and then resell those items on eBay for a profit. As another example, I know someone who has family connections in the diamond wholesale market. So, she buys diamonds through that wholesale connection and resells them in her small-town college market.    Professional Services   I have helped bootstrap three of my startup ventures over the years by providing professional services to other organizations. I provided digital development, marketing, and monetization services. For example, in the early days of Adoption.com, I helped a lawyer build a website for lawyers. Also, through the years, we have done consulting and web development for adoption agencies and attorneys. The funds from that consulting and web development work were used to bootstrap the core Adoption.com business.  Years later, I started a venture to create and grow niche online communities. To fund that venture, I did extensive consulting work for businesses in Brazil, such as Azul Airlines. I spent about ½ of my time over about 3 years working for other companies in Brazil. This method of bootstrapping can often be the most lucrative in the short run. For example, when I was doing consulting in Brazil, my business partner and I generated more than $1.5 million in consulting revenue our first year. However, bootstrapping through professional services does have its pitfalls. Because professional services usually trade hours for dollars, this type of bootstrapping can consume a lot of time. As a result, there may not be enough time left to effectively grow the core business. The reason this worked for me is that I had a tremendous business partner named Brad Pace who stayed in the U.S. and ran the business while I was consulting in Brazil.  Also, bootstrapping through professional services is only available when the entrepreneur has developed sufficient skills and experience to sell the professional services for a substantial fee. Young entrepreneurs without a track record may not be able to sell professional services for a large enough fee to make this worth their while.    Business Plan Competitions   Prize money from business plan competition wins can be incredibly valuable for startup ventures because it is an investment that never has to be repaid, or for which we don't have to give away equity. Further, it builds credibility and gives exposure when a group of expert judges proclaims to the world that we have the best business plan.  In the early days of my first business, Adoption.com, I helped bootstrap the business through business plan competitions. I submitted business plans to two competitions and won both. In addition to the prize money, in both cases, I was offered unsolicited investments shortly after winning the competitions.  I remember one night a business plan competition application was due. The plan had to be postmarked that day. I had gone home to get some dinner, and after dinner, I was going to finish up the application and take it to the post office. As I was on my way back to the office, I was rear-ended. It took forever for the police to arrive and take care of the situation.  When I was able to leave, I raced to the office and printed the application. Then, I headed to a post office in Phoenix that gave postmarks and was open until midnight. By the time I arrived at the post office, it was after 12:20 am. Remember, the business plan competition application had to be postmarked the previous day.  As I walked up to the post office, I found it was dark and locked up. However, I saw an employee leaving an employee entrance. I walked over and handed the postal worker the application, and I said “This has to be postmarked yesterday. It's to help children find loving families through adoption.” The postal worker looked at me, then took the package, and went back inside. Not long after, the postal worker came back out the employee entrance and said “You are in luck. The person in charge of turning over the date stamp was at a baby shower in the post office and hadn't done it yet. So, I was able to postmark it yesterday.” There are ethical issues related to that postmark date and the fairness to other applicants I did not consider at that time. I should have been more prepared, and I should not have arrived at the post office so close to the deadline. However, the bottom line is the money, exposure, and credibility from winning that business plan competition was ridiculously valuable for our company, and played a huge role in helping us bootstrap, survive, and grow.    Preselling   After I had been running Adoption.com for a few years, we had a very kind but pesky competitor running a site called Adopting.org. That competitor was undercutting us on price and making our monetization more difficult. I really wanted to buy this competitor, but I didn't have the cash to do so.  However, because I was running a business in the same niche, and already had all the technology and relationships to monetize the site, I knew how much money I could generate per thousand page views. In the negotiation process, my competitor shared with me her site's page views and her revenue, so I was able to calculate her revenue per thousand page views to use as a comparison. I believed I would be able to implement our revenue streams onto her site after the purchase and make more money from her site than she was making.  To test this theory, we went to our advertisers and pre-sold essentially all of the advertising on our competitor's site before we even completed the purchase. Preselling helped remove the risk of this transaction and allowed me to bootstrap the purchase of our leading competitor.  Many businesses today have seen a lot of success bootstrapping their ventures by preselling through crowdfunding platforms such as IndieGoGo and Kickstarter. One of my past consulting clients named Inergy Solar wanted to make industry-leading, light-weight portable solar generators. They had designed the product but needed the capital. So, they created a great video, put it on IndieGoGo, pre-sold a huge amount of generators, and started production. They secured the capital they needed without having to take out a loan or give away any equity.   I recently interviewed Eric Farr for the Monetization Nation show. Eric is the Owner and Executive Officer of Brainstorm. Eric told the story of how they found a client who wanted a specific software solution. That client agreed to pay enough money that Eric and his company could build the software. The client retained the right to use the software for their business, and because they funded the software development, they had a lot of say in the features and roadmap for the software. It was a win-win because the client received exactly the software product they wanted for a fair price. However, Eric retained the right to license the software for other businesses and started his software company. This type of preselling is a common way that software companies bootstrap themselves.  Cost Containment In addition to generating capital through bootstrapping, another essential element of bootstrapping is cost containment. Because bootstrappers don't have all the financial resources of venture-funded companies we have to be more frugal and find less expensive ways to do things.  When we bootstrap, we will often have to forgo the perfect team with seasoned track records. Instead, we will need to find “young and hungry” members of our team from college campuses or overseas who are able to work for a price we can afford at the beginning, with the hope that they can grow their compensation as the profits of the organization grow.  Getting to Profitability as Fast as Humanly Possible If we choose to bootstrap, we must get to profitability as fast as humanly possible. In this situation, we must remember that cash flows don't start until we start shipping. So, bootstrappers don't have the luxury of being perfectionists. Bootstrappers usually have to be willing to sell and ship products that are “good enough” and not wait until a product is “perfect”. Bootstrappers have to remember that good enough is good enough, and that perfect is the enemy of cash flow.  Conclusion Bootstrapping a business is probably going to take more time and than taking an investment. But in the end, we may have a lot more control over our businesses. We will probably be retaining the ability to run the business the way we want to run it. We probably won't have investors pressuring us to make short-sighted decisions to make quick profits. We will instead have the freedom to focus on the long game if we want to. “When someone says ‘Think of all the things you could do if you raised a ton of money,' I instead think of all the things I couldn't do. I value independence more than any check anyone could ever write me.” (Jason Fried) Key Takeaways Many of the world's most successful companies have used bootstrapping. Successful bootstrapping can have great upsides, such as retaining more ownership, decision-making authority, and creative control over the business.  Bootstrapping can also have downsides, such as slower growth, more personal risk, and distraction from our core focus.  Bootstrapping through arbitrage is when we buy something inexpensively from one source and sell it to a different buyer for a higher amount.  Bootstrapping by providing can often be the most lucrative in the short run, but young entrepreneurs without a strong track record may not be able to earn enough money from this to be worth their while. Also, this may distract the entrepreneur from their core business.  Bootstrapping through winning business plan competitions can be a great strategy because we never have to give away equity or repay this investment. Plus, the credibility from winning the competition can give us strong credibility.  Bootstrapping through pre-selling products and services can also give us the capital we need without having to give away any equity or taking out a loan. Crowdfunding platforms can be a great way to do this.  In addition to generating additional capital through bootstrapping, cost containment is also an essential element of bootstrapping. Because bootstrappers don't have all the financial resources of venture-funded companies we have to be more frugal and find less expensive ways to do things.  If we are going to pursue bootstrapping we have to be laser-focused on getting to profitability as quickly as possible. Bootstrappers have to remember that good enough is good enough, and that perfect is the enemy of cash flow.  Want to be a Better Digital Monetizer? Did you like today's episode? Then please follow these channels to receive free digital monetization content: Get a free Monetization Assessment of your business Subscribe to the free Monetization eMagazine. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.  Subscribe to the Monetization Nation YouTube channel. Follow Monetization Nation on Instagram and Twitter. Share Your Story  How have you bootstrapped your business? Please join our private Monetization Nation Facebook group and share your insights with other digital monetizers.   Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/64-how-to-bootstrap-a-business/ 

I don’t believe there is a “secret” to successful sales calls. But if there was one, it’d be pre-selling. Effective pre-selling is getting a potential client into a position where they’re at least 80% or more sold on working with you. They’ve been taken through the customer journey of Know → Like → Trust, and they’re pretty convinced. The only bit missing is the sales call :-) We’ve all been there on sales calls with people who haven’t completed the customer journey or still need more time and information. It can feel like an uphill struggle and be really demotivating. But pre-selling means those kinds of calls can be a thing of the past! I also share some exciting updates on the book launch, website and my long-awaited return to work! Don’t forget to share with anyone who might benefit from this week's insights.  Happy Selling!

“The initial seed capital that you need to go from zero to one is usually something you will have to raise on your own.” @DanielRodic #DTCPOD“The most important thing is not the dollar amount or the valuation tied to funding, but that every single line in a contract technically has some cost related to it.” @DanielRodic #DTCPOD“At Clearbanc, we don’t make founders give personal guarantees or make liens on assets. We just charge a flat fee.” @DanielRodic #DTCPOD“Clearbanc funding is built to fund repeatable forms of growth and investment where you have a pretty predictable rate of return.” @DanielRodic #DTCPOD“We see a lot of founders leave money on the table by not taking funding when the business economics say they should and the money could help scale.” @DanielRodic #DTCPODWe Speak About:[01:10] About Clearbanc[03:00] When should eCommerce brands consider funding[04:05] What VCs are looking for if you’re trying to raise equity financing[04:50] When equity dollars make sense[06:15] Hidden traps to be aware of when receiving outside investment[08:50] How Clearbanc’s financing is different from other financing and funding [09:55] Clearbanc’s investment decision process[11:50] How Clearbanc helps founders win[16:10] Daniel dives into matching investor expectations with a business[18:15] The key growth metrics you should be following[19:55] Preselling and how Clearbanc accelerates presells for brands[23:05] What brands should spend Clearbanc funding on[25:10] What brands should spend equity funding on[26:45] What to look for when spending and marketing and creating sustainable growth[30:30] Common mistakes by founders when it comes to fundingEverything you need to know about when to raise money for your brand and where to spend itDaniel Rodic, Head of Market Development at Clearbanc, joins the POD to talk about growth capital and equity funding for DTC brands.Clearbanc is the biggest eCommerce investor and has invested over $1 billion in over 3,300 companies!Daniel is a Forbes 30 under 30 alum and former podcast host himself.Many fast-growing consumer brands often raise money through equity financing. This is when investors trade money in exchange for equity from the founders.This is a common way for brands to help fund growth expenses and reach goals faster. Although equity funding is a common way of scaling a DTC brand, it’s not the only source of funding brands should be looking for.That’s where Clearbanc comes in.Clearbanc offers non-dilutive funding for brand founders looking to scale fast. Instead of taking equity, they charge a flat fee to brands. Clearbanc helps brands get capital and helps them spend it the best way possibleClearbanc doesn’t just give capital to brand founders. They also help them to succeed.Founders can decide to spend the money the way they want. If they are looking for guidance on where to spend though, Clearbanc has tools and people ready to help.Their data-driven platform can help founders understand where they rank among other brands. Also, they have strong partnerships that provide brands the people and tools they need to execute.Clearbanc’s goal is to make sure that once you receive capital, you’re able to use it to continue to grow your business.Stay tuned as Daniel also discusses what key growth metrics you should be looking at, when to get funding, and where to spend the dollars you get.If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.Mentioned Links:Clearbanc and Trend’s partnership: https://beta.clearbanc.com/techpartners/TrendClearbanc’s website: https://clearbanc.com/Get funded by Clearbanc: https://my.clearbanc.com/direct/signup-valuationConnect with Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielrodic/

The time is nigh.   Jason and Russ take a few minutes to reflect on tips for agents working this AEP.  This is our 13th AEP...we know a thing or two 'cuz we've seen a thing or two.   In this episode we give you a few simple tips surrounding - Preselling best practices - Referrals and compliantly working them - Replacing your appointments - Defining an appointment-by-appointment "agenda" - Rolling with your MVP's Happy Selling!  If you enjoy our show please drop us a review and a 5 star rating!  Thank you!

Warm up your cold traffic with pre-sell pages to get more visitors to convert into sales.Most health supplement businesses struggle to convert cold traffic until they make one simple change to their pre-sale funnel. The part of the funnel before your sales page that includes the ad and the pre-sell or advertorial page.Brought to you by http://www.creativethirst.com The revenue optimization agency for health supplement companies. Specializing in split tests, funnels, upsells, and direct response copywriting so you can maximize profitability and scale.

Try it for yourself. LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit LinkedIn.com/HACK. My guest today is an investor, triathlete, lover of handstands and and an entrepreneur who truly believes you can get paid to be yourself – and she's living proof that this is true. In 2009, she left her corporate job and started a blog called The Suitcase Entrepreneur, that became a full-time business and enabled her to travel the world for 7 years. She was a digital nomad before being a digital nomad was a thing. Today, she has settled down on a homestead in New Zealand and has refocused her attention on showing others how to build businesses around their unique skillsets. Now, let's hack... Natalie Sisson.

I recently listed a book for pre-order on Gumroad, created a book cover in 90 seconds, and got a few sales within a few hours. Here's how and why I picked Gumroad over Amazon KDP for this new book.

Hey everybody! This week, I’m joined by Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of Rent 2 Rent Success and HMO Heaven and creator of Rent 2 Rent Success Kickstarter. For your business to grow, you have to grow – dream bigger, be bolder, and be a game changer.Being a property investor, Stephanie believes in creating value for everyone she works with: tenants, landlords, investors, and partners. Her online course, Rent 2 Rent Success Kickstarter, helps people create and grow a profitable rent-to-rent business -- fast and stress free. With her system, you can kickstart your property business in no time, and with minimal experience. Tune in to hear Stephanie’s story, her marketing tips, and how to have the right mindset for success.  Episode Quotes"You can presell your course. All you just need to do is be transparent about it.""In creating a course, just do it.""For your business to grow, you have to grow.""All you have to do to start is connect with people.""Our vision going forward is dream bigger, be bolder, and be a game changer." Listen to Learn00:40 - Rapid 5 Questions, Stephanie's entrepreneurial journey 09:43 - What is rent-to-rent?12:51 - How Stephanie created Rent 2 Rent Kickstarter 18:20 - Preselling and course goal24:32 - Lessons learned and stuck zones30:46 - Marketing funnels and channels, plus YouTube and Facebook tips35:58 - DIY vs. hiring a coach38:38 - Why mindset is vital for success 43:33 - Online course essentials to get you started 48:14 - Exciting things coming up from Stephanie Connect with Stephanie:Rent 2 Rent SuccessGet the Rent 2 Rent GuideSee Stephanie over on YouTubeJoin the Rent 2 Rent Success CommunityHMO Heaven Looking for the Transcript?Episode 122

Rebooting the economy - should we look at 9/11? Prior to 9/11, New York was not a friendly community, but it had changed. It was a totally different culture. Will our culture change? Small businesses will need to look at core customers first and determine wants vs needs. How to reboot your high-contact service business? Preselling gift cards for future services. Prior to this - personal service jobs were solid because jobs could not be outsourced - but now those are affected too. Shows off who can and cannot be resilient Bosses are going to have to fight to get office workers to come to the office. We will have a much different workforce going forward. People are struggling to balance work and home on either side of the "commute wall". Like a psychological boundary. People will need to adjust their home social psychology Atomization of work HR movement based on value not on time A lot of business is based on want not need - they will look at things differently. What regulations no longer apply. Many people do not segment their time via a work breakdown structure Kids wont listen anyway

Some believe launching their own product will require a lot of time, preparation and stress! When it comes to launching a product, there’s always a level of fear.  And some may have a great product idea, but not a clue about launching it. Most business owners have been through this. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and you can change it over time. You just need to take the first step and create the product. Listen to today’s podcast as Bobby Hoyt and Mike Yanda share how they launched their own minimum viable product. They give plenty of ideas on how you should be doing it and what you should focus on.

Click on the link below to discover the #1 skill to making money with affiliate marketing. What do you think it is? http://www.trustthelink.com/ Hello, today I want to answer the question what is the best affiliate marketing book. When it comes to affiliate marketing there are not that many books that are good. There are a few books that I really like, but if I had to pick one it would be “Internet Marketing Secrets” by Russel Brunson. Russel Brunson is the creator of Clickfunnels and he made hundreds of millions of dollars from his software. What I like about the book is that it talks about having low ticket items to sale towards the front of a sales funnel and then towards the end you want high ticket items. This doesn't just apply to affiliate marketing, but can be used for many business's. In the book he shares a story about a chiropractor and how this sales funnel can be used for his business. As far as the software goes it's very expensive. You are talking about at least $100 a month and upwards. Instead of buying the software, what I recommend is partnering with another marketer and using their sales funnel. If the marketer is very good you can piggyback on their success and you can still make lots of money without risking at least $100 a month. Still, the best investment you can make is in yourself and in education. My second favorite book would be “Jab, Jab, Jab left Hook” by Gary Vee. This stands for give, give, give and then ask. This has been his number 1 philosophy that helped him in business. It does work online as well because it takes a while to build trust. You just have to be a little bit careful of being a patsy I think. Most people are cool, but there are some people who will steal from you, rob you in a heartbeat. The third book I would recommend would be anything from Joe Sugarman. The book “Triggers” is very good as well as “The Adweek Copywriting Handbook.” Joe Sugarman is a copywriter and this means he knows how to sale using the written word. Getting better at copywriting can obviously be helpful to promoting products online. One of the most interesting things I remember is the whole point of the first sentence is to get someone to read the second sentence. The whole point of the second sentence is to get someone to read the third sentence and so on. Copywriting is a slippery slope and once someone has read a few sentences they are more likely to continue. There are many other books I could mention like “Differentiate or Die” by Jack Trout that I really like as well as “Preselling.” The problem with many of the books is that they are not targeted to making money specifically for affiliate marketing. If you are serious about making money with affiliate marketing there is 1 person I recommend. The reason why is because he has been doing it for 20 years and he helped me out a lot. If you want to know who this person is just cick on the link below or go to http://www.trustthelink.com/. I hope this video or podcast was helpful, if it was please hit the thumbs up button. What about you? Have you read any books that have helped you in affiliate marketing? What books do you recommend? Please share below in the comments section. I wish you the best and bye for now.

Exclusive Download: Idea to Exit Mini-Course – Learn How To Build a Product Without Spending Money & True Customer Validation - http://bit.ly/2OSOGqm -- Pre-selling your software before you’ve even built it is a very attractive idea. Think about it: You get people to buy a concept, take that money and use it to build the software, and then you launch it to everyone else. …All with no money out-of-pocket. But the reality of actually PITCHING the pre-sell is hard! I mean, how do you get someone to buy into an idea based on the few minutes you spend with them? Well, this week’s video is gonna save you a lot of pain, because I’m giving you the exact script you can use for your next pitch. Essentially, there are two distinct parts to this pitch. The first will get them to practically describe what your product should do, and the second will help you get a real commitment from a potential customer. There’s 5 stages you’ll want to move through for this pre-sell pitching style, and it’s like this for a reason. They are: 1. Early Adopters Filter 2. Offer The Value 3. Part 1: Customer Development 4. Part 2: Pre-Sell 5. Take The Money This bullet list doesn’t do it justice. Part 1 and Part 2 work together (obviously) and they are where the real magic happens. Even if you don’t get a buyer every time, which – let’s be honest – will happen, you’ll still walk away with AWESOME insights into what you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong and how to make your software the best it can be. When you start to approach pitching this way, it’s actually… fun. Rather than fearing rejection, you can safely know that it doubles as customer research… and only good things can come from that. Don’t skip out on this video. If money is an obstacle to reaching your software’s potential, then this could really make a difference. And leave me a comment under the video to let me know what your experience with pitching has been. -- Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter @danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome. + Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell + Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell + Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell Exclusive Download: Idea to Exit Mini-Course – Learn How To Build a Product Without Spending Money & True Customer Validation - http://bit.ly/2OSOGqm

2019 Topps Update and Thoughts on Preselling on EBay Follow me on Flick Chat - https://flick.group/svacardcollectors My Website - https://svacardcollectors.com

Das Thema der heutigen Podcastfolge: Das Quick Business. Wie baust du ein Unternehmen innerhalb von wenigen Wochen auf und womit startest du am besten? Das Zauberwort heißt Dienstleistung.  Wenn du schnell starten willst und eine Kompetenz in einem Fachbereich hast, dann kannst du mit deiner Dienstleistung extrem schnell loslegen – ohne große Anfangsinvestition. Geschwindigkeit ist auch ein wichtiges Kriterium, um erfolgreich am Markt zu sein. Je schneller Du Feedback vom Markt bekommst, desto schneller weißt du, ob die Kunden das wirklich haben wollen, was du ihnen anbieten willst.  Zu diesem Thema bzw. zum Preselling hab ich ja schon mal eine eigene Podcastfolge aufgenommen. Falls du die verpasst gerne, höre gerne jetzt mal rein (https://www.it-founder.de/folge54/). Bei einer Dienstleistung musst du nicht sehr lange recherchieren, was die Leute brauchen. Es ist keine Prototypen- bzw. Softwareentwicklung notwendig, sondern du kannst sehr schlank starten, was einen riesen Vorteil in Bezug auf das Budget hat. Außerdem kannst du Dienstleitung auch zeitnah abrechnen. Wenn du zum Beispiel einen Paketpreis mit Vorkasse anbietest, dann hast du das Geld schon, bevor die Dienstleistung erbracht wurde.  Über deine Dienstleistung kannst du dir dein Marketing bzw. deine Kundenbeziehungen aufbauen sowie Cash-In generieren. Wenn du dann raus aus der Zeit-gegen-Geld-Falle möchtest, kann dir ein Produkt helfen. Allerdings, wenn du ein Produkt entwickelst bevor du weißt, was die Leute brauchen, dann ist die Gefahr sehr groß, dass du viel investierst und du dann feststellst, dass die Kunden es so gar nicht wollen. Deswegen ist es sehr gut, wenn du mit einer Dienstleistung startest und dann ins Produkt shiftest.  Du kannst jetzt auch aus der Zusammenarbeit mit den Kunden profitieren und die Fragen, die sie Dir gestellt haben nutzen. Welche Probleme hatten sie gemeinsam? Welche Lösungsansätze waren für sie valide. Brauchen sie dich vor Ort oder war es in Ordnung, es remote zu machen? Aber auch Grenzen kristallisieren sich heraus. Wo hast du Erwartungen gehabt, die der Kunde ganz anders sieht? Es wird spannend aus dem Dienstleistungsmindset in ein Produktmindset zu kommen. Das kann bedeuten, dass du bewusst einen Dienstleistungsauftrag ablehnst, damit du Kapazität hast, um mit deinem Produkt zu starten.  Ich hoffe, diese Episode hat dich wieder inspiriert und du bist auch beim nächsten Mal wieder dabei. Ich wünsche dir viel Erfolg dabei, deine Dienstleistung erfolgreich an den Markt zu bringen und den Shift hin zur Produktentwicklung zu schaffen. Wenn du noch Fragen zu diesem Thema hast, komm am besten in unsere Facebook Community bzw. Facebookgruppe (https://www.it-founder.de/go/group/). Da sind ausschließlich IT-Unternehmer und -Gründer drin und wir helfen uns gegenseitig bei den unterschiedlichsten Fragestellungen in Bezug auf IT-Startups. Ich freue mich auch, wenn du mir auf Instagram eine Direktnachricht hinterlässt und mir deine Gedanken zu dieser Folge schreibst. Und wenn dir diese Folge gefallen hat, würde ich mich freuen, wenn du mir eine 5-Sterne-Bewertung auf iTunes hinterlässt.  Folge uns gerne auch auf unseren verschiedenen Kanälen: Website: https://www.it-founder.de Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itfounder/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itfounder/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqWUr76dUv-T2JKdyYx1Zsg

Mit dem MVP letzte Woche (Folge #53) haben wir schon die Vorstufe zur heutigen Podcastfolge gemacht. Denn heute geht um das Thema Preselling. Kann man ein Produkt schon verkaufen, bevor es fertig ist? Ja!  Überleg doch mal: Wenn du auf ein Konzert gehen willst, wann zahlst du den Eintritt? Meistens kaufst du doch die Konzertkarte davor, obwohl es noch nicht stattgefunden hat.  Das geht auch z.B. bei IT-Dienstleistungen, bei Webdesign, bei Softwareentwicklung uvm. Warum ist Preselling überhaupt so interessant?  Der erste Grund ist, Liquidität (ich erinnere an Folge #52 zum Thema Kennzahlen). Du bekommst Geld auf dein Konto, mit dem du deine Produktentwicklung finanzieren kannst.  Der Zweite Grund ist: Es reduziert das Risiko. Die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass du danach auch wirklich Kunden findest, ist viel höher, wenn du schon mal fünf oder zehn Kunden gefunden hast, bevor das Produkt fertig ist.  Hinzukommt, die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass dein Produkt auch wirklich an den Bedürfnissen des Marktes orientiert ist, ist auch viel höher. Du redest ja mit deinen Kunden, die dir ihr Feedback geben, das du wiederum in deiner Produktentwicklung berücksichtigen kannst.  Es ist einfach eine Mindsetfrage und wenn du dich davon lösen kannst und davon überzeugt bist, dass du dein Produkt oder deine Dienstleistung vorher verkaufen kannst, geht es im Kern um die Frage: Was braucht ein Interessent heute, um sich zu entscheiden? Er braucht auf jeden Fall, dass du sein Problem verstehst und dass du ihm Mehrwert in Aussicht stellst. Auch mit speziellen Goodies bzw. Anreizen könntest du arbeiten: Du bist der erste, der dabei ist Sei Teil der Launch Community Du bist in unserem Beirat der Produktentwicklung und darfst das Produkt als Erster nutzen Du bekommst den Einstiegspreis, der für dich ein Leben lang auf diesem günstigen Niveau bleibt – jede Preiserhöhung geht an dir vorbei Wenn du Lust hast, das zu üben, komm am besten in unsere Facebook Community bzw. Facebookgruppe (https://www.it-founder.de/go/group/). Dort findest du bestimmt jemand, der mit dir ein Preselling testen möchte ;-). Wenn du nicht weißt, wie du das Preselling aufbauen sollst und Fragen dazu hast? Teste das Preselling gerne mit mir. Geh dazu einfach auf https://www.it-founder.de/go/call/, suche dir den für dich passenden, freien Termin aus und buch mit mir den Startup Coaching Call.  Ich hoffe, diese Episode hat dir wieder weitergeholfen und du bist beim nächsten Mal wieder dabei. Ich wünsche dir viel Erfolg und viele glückliche Kunden, die dich weiterempfehlen. Und wenn dir diese Folge gefallen hat, würde ich mich freuen, wenn du mir eine 5-Sterne-Bewertung auf iTunes hinterlässt. Als Dankeschön nenne ich dich persönlich in meiner nächsten Folge. Folge uns gerne auch auf unseren verschiedenen Kanälen: Website: https://www.it-founder.de Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itfounder/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqWUr76dUv-T2JKdyYx1Zsg

Travis, James and Kevin are taking on a listen-suggested topic today, and we likely all know at least one... PHONE COMMANDOS. The good, the bad and the ugly... Including:  When it make sense to use your phone while buying Researching hard to find comps The world of Preselling auction wins and buying for others How your cell phone can COST you money The buyer/seller who does it all in one day Hosted by Travis Landry, James Supp and Kevin Bruneau   

You've built your slides. You've checked your storyline. But that doesn't mean you're ready for the big meeting. As award-winning Kellogg School of Management marketing professor Tim Calkins describes in this episode, it means you're ready to start "preselling" your presentation. Listen to Tim break down the science of soliciting feedback ahead of a big presentation, including the strategy behind whom you meet with, what you show them, and what you do with their input. Tim recently wrote the popular business presenting book How to Wash A Chicken: Mastering the Business Presentation. Interviewed by Abe Lubetkin.

Navigating the digital ecosystem, preselling, and the problems with the culture of free with Robin Harris in this episode of the LMScast podcast with Chris Badgett of LifterLMS. Chris and Robin dive into why cultivating a community around your product is important, and what the state of the online education industry looks like in 2018. Robin is the founder and CEO of 3Hellos.com she works with experts and businesses to better market themselves and their services online. With all of the technology tools available today, it is not hard to put your services online. The challenge is in the marketing … Navigating the Digital Ecosystem, Preselling, and the Problems with the Culture of Free with Robin Harris Read More » The post Navigating the Digital Ecosystem, Preselling, and the Problems with the Culture of Free with Robin Harris appeared first on LMScast - LifterLMS Podcast.

The power of preselling and freemium with John Turner of SeedProd, a coming soon page and maintenance mode plugin for WordPress in this episode of the LMScast podcast with Chris Badgett of the LifterLMS team. Chris and John discuss how you can succeed in niche markets, manage a freemium product model, and much more in this episode. SeedProd is a coming soon, single web page that you can put up when you start setting up your website while it’s under construction. You can use it to collect email addresses and start generating interest for your site. There are also paid … The Power of Preselling and Freemium with John Turner of SeedProd, a Coming Soon Page and Maintenance Mode Plugin for WordPress Read More » The post The Power of Preselling and Freemium with John Turner of SeedProd, a Coming Soon Page and Maintenance Mode Plugin for WordPress appeared first on LMScast - LifterLMS Podcast.

Click Above To Listen In iTunes... So the big question is this, what would you do if money didn't matter? So you had millions in your bank account, what would you focus on? Would you spend more time with your family, with your wife, with your kids? Take family vacations. Would you pursue your gifts and talents and dreams? Serve your local community, teach others, serve your church. You see if what you would do if money didn't matter, it was pursuing your gifts and talents and dreams to serve others, and that is probably what you should be doing. The problem is most people are in the rat race, living five inches in front of their face with no time to pursue what they were born to do. That is the problem, and the solution is to develop enough passive income to replace your working income so you can quit your job and be free to live your life the way you were created to. That is a solution and this podcast will show you how... Ryan Enk: What's up everybody? This is Ryan Enk with Cash Flow Dad Life coming at you with another awesome episode. We have a really awesome guest with us today, Chris Prefontaine. He has a family real estate company, they're doing, you know, they don't just a mentor people, but they're also out there in the trenches. They're doing two to four deals a month. They also partner with students in certain geographical areas and what they really specialize in is buying on terms. So a super excited to have him on our show today to share with you guys some of the wisdom. I always talk about a different creative ways to purchase real estate. It's always awesome to get as many brains together to put that wisdom together to see if there's new ways of doing it that, that we may be not be exposed to before. So it's a huge pleasure to have on the show Chris Prefontaine. Chris, can you hear me all right on your mic? Chris Prefontaine: I can, if you can hear me, we're good and thanks for having me. Ryan Enk: Awesome. So, uh, so give me a little bit about your backstory. How did you, you, you've got a family owned company. How did you get started in real estate? What was the appeal there? Chris Prefontaine: Well... so this business was 2013, but I'm going back to. I'm gonna date myself here in 1991. So I started building homes. We, I called spot building back then we would just put signs on people's lots and not buying a lot. Preselling it over that with a new construction package. And then everybody cashed out at the end. It was pretty cool. I know money to start it. So that's how we had started it... Chris Prefontaine: Did that all through the early nineties where you put signs on other people's lots without owning it for nothing but to sign on, get a building and put a package together on it and presold that whole package and everyone, including the suppliers wait until the very end to get paid. So it was pretty neat. So that was just kind of like a wholesaling type thing. Ah, actually we built, we actually built the home to visit and I a back then. So that's what got us started, a 95. I bought a realty executive franchise. So I put the rail to hat on back then. And then 2000 and I sold that to coldwell banker and then in the early two thousands we were doing a bunch of the condo conversions, you know, two, three, five, six, 12 unit building, turn them into condos, resale macros, crank. Chris Prefontaine: And then it was good. And then in the lovely, a 2008 debacle, a causes to reevaluate --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cashflow-dadlife/support

HOW TO PRE-LAUNCH YOUR BOOK IN AMAZON #142: Daily Mentoring with Trevor Crane on GreatnessQuest.com SUMMARY Today I’m giving you a strategy about how to get your book up on Amazon - before it's written. It’s called a “PRE-LAUNCH.” And you get to PARTNER with a BILLION DOLLAR COMPANY. That company is AMAZON. You don’t need a website. You don’t need a shopping cart. You don’t need ANYTHING… except, what I call the 3D’s: 1. DESIGN your cover 2. DESCRIBE your book 3. Pick a DATE. Well, the only other thing you probably need, is some HELP, to make sure your book is BADASS and make sure you turn it into your MOST POWERFUL MARKETING tool. Details about that here: www.EpicAuthor.com (check out the FREE TRAINING) GET THE APP: Text: TREVOR To: 36260 #greatnessquest #trevorcrane #unstoppable #idealbusiness #ideallife

Welcome to Marketing Monday here with The ILEAD Company LLC®, where we help authors leverage marketing their written knowledge and stories to grow their influence, impact and income..Topic: “Preselling Your Book”.Influence Building Services:Learn about the Book-in-a-Weekend 2.0 program here: http://bit.ly/2018-Book-In-A-WeekendTwo Complimentary Services:(a)Free Speaker Coaching Series: www.leadershiptkoforspeakers.com(b)Influential Speakers™ Group Coaching program: http://leadershiptkoforspeakers.com/index.php/group-coaching/.Stay plugged by downloading the TKO app on your Android phone? Grab the Leadership TKO™ app here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spreaker.custom.prod.app_c_47224.Connect with the host on Facebook:Lakeisha's FB Profile Link: www.facebook.com/theleadershipspecialist Cheers to you and your leadership journey!Lakeisha McKnightLeadership Strategist | CEOThe ILEAD Company LLC“Building Winning Leaders Globally”

On this episode I'm coaching Lisa, who is herself a coach—a parenting coach. Her website is BratBusters.com. She helps parents understand how to discipline children while still having fun and keeping those relationships strong. She's having trouble converting her one-on-one coaching to passive income, like an online course, and finessing the messaging of her brand. I'm going to walk her through that process today. If you want to be considered for a coaching session, apply via the form at AskPat.com. Today’s sponsor is FreshBooks, who make the best financial management software out there. It’s ridiculously easy to use and their interface is highly-visual and super-intuitive. You can actually get an unrestricted, thirty-day trial for free; just go to FreshBooks.com/askpat and enter “Ask Pat” in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

On this episode of AskPat, we're talking to two people—Michael Allen and his partner Ri'keam Kenebrew, of 2023 Vision—a business with a YouTube channel that helps people create music videos. Recently, they validated and launched an online course . . . but it didn't go so well. How can they make their next launch more successful? If you want to be considered for a coaching session, apply via the form at AskPat.com. Today’s sponsor is FreshBooks, who make the best financial management software out there. It’s ridiculously easy to use and their interface is highly-visual and super-intuitive. You can actually get an unrestricted, thirty-day trial for free; just go to FreshBooks.com/askpat and enter “Ask Pat” in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.

In this Friday bonus episode of Subscription Boss, Jacqueline and Minna answer: How can you set yourself up to sell more at the launch of your subscription box? They chat about how to presell better - going beyond the email opt-in landing page that we talked about last week. These additional ideas will help you build the buzz leading up to your launch - in hopes of selling more. Links mentioned: The Empowered Publicity Podcast with Amanda Berlin Canva -- This episode was brought to by Subscription Boss, our special series with Cratejoy, where we combine our product-based expertise with Cratejoy's mega visibility to help turn you into a successful subscription box biz owner with reoccurring revenue and more sales. Get more info at: www.theproductboss.com/cratejoy

Here's my plan for preselling my SaaS to early adopters for validation and cash flow.

This is part 2 of our interview with bestselling author, Trevor Crane. Listen first to part 1, episode #59 so you’ll have a complete and cohesive system to help you decide what to write about, how to write it, and how to use your book to market and grow your business.   Episode Discussions Book publishing on Amazon - tools, tips, and money-saving secrets Dealing with trolls and one-star reviews Structuring your table of contents Tips on effectively titling your book 4 questions to help ensure you’re writing the right book and what leads to writing the wrong book How to profitably presell and market your book on Amazon Takeaways from Tim Ferriss and The 4-Hour Work Week Leveraging interviews into new clients and prospects Analyzing titles and subtitles and how they should correlate Tony Robbins, The Wizard of Oz, and Tesla What to do if you want to change the original topic of your book, even after you tell people what it's about Writing a description prelaunch and before you know all the details The serious problem of being ashamed of your published book Converting readers into customers and using your book as “bait” How to be confident about publishing your book A step-by-step process to getting a rockstar promotional partner A pep talk to get you motivated to start writing your book today   5:16 You can pre-sell your book on Amazon without a website as long as you have a cover and a description.   10:25 4 questions to ask your interviewee to make sure you write the right book: Who? - Who is the best person to read this book What? - What is this book going to be about? Is it properly titled? Why? - Why does your perfect reader care? Two reasons: 1. This book solves problems 2. It delivers results. When you talk to clients, look for language that triggers them. What's next? - What do you want your readers to do next?   22:26 Before finishing your book: Talk to people Leverage those conversations into new clients, prospects, and promotional partners Ask the 7-magic word question at the end of the interview even if they're a leader in the industry…   25:17 Trevor's client, Lisa Chastain, made at least $60K while figuring out what her book was about.  Within 24 hours it was a #1 bestseller in 4 countries.   26:09 Preselling and free marketing via Amazon How Trevor's wife published her book and made money: Solidified a title and subject Created the cover (title and description) Listed book for preorder on Amazon (without starting it) Amazon will market for you internationally as a Hot New Release and email people who are searching for certain terms (problems, results). One reader booked consulting sessions, purchased programs, and referred more customers to her generating around $30K total.   28:25 If the right person reads your book, they'll want to work with you.   30:14 "Your book is bait." Provide value to people by giving them your best content Have a path that leads them to your products and services   32:19 How to write the description — prelaunch: It won't come from you. Ask people what they want and give it to them. Post on your favorite social media channel and ask if anyone wants to join your book launch team. Test it and write it the best you can. “Can I send you chapter one and see what you think?” Develop the cover, title, and description based on feedback from you book launch team.   32:53 "My first review on my first book was a one-star review. It hurt my soul!"   33:41 "Most people write a book in silence without anyone knowing. If somebody says they don't like it, what ends up happening is they get ashamed of it."   34:14 How to be confident about publishing your book: By implementing this research process, you know without doubt that people want your content. Your ideal audience has already told you they care, like it, want it and have preordered.   36:04 "I want my book to attract a certain type of person, my favorite client, and repel all the yahoos."   37:23 The wrong sequence leads to writing the wrong book.   37:39 Trevor’s ‘declaration’ challenge to Adam Are you going to be an example for your audience, put your money where your mouth is, take advice and say you're publishing a book? I'm afraid I'm going to have to when you put me on the spot like that.   38:10 The last ‘7-magic word’ question to ask when you're interviewing a prospect or potential client for your book: "Would you like some help with that?" -  If they do, book a time.   Follow up question: Who else do you know? (asking for referrals) Remember: You're not trying to sell them. You're there to really honor them and discover what’s making them tick. They'll appreciate you and see that you care. This is a strategy that never goes away.   40:56 How to land the promotional partner you want Go to a networking event or conference to see incredible people speak. Bring your journal and take great notes. Wait until the end of the presentation when people line up to talk to speaker. To set yourself apart, honor them and say, "Thank you for that presentation. It was amazing. I learned some great stuff I want to implement. But I have a question/favor to ask. I'm writing a new book about ______ and you would be phenomenal. Can I potentially interview you for my book?"   43:32 Main takeaways Make a declaration that you're writing a book Read The Big Money Book   Bonus tip: record your interviews. They can be used in your book or given as bonuses for your book.   47:51 “Trying to do something is failure until you've achieved it.”   48:58 If you've ever had the dream, goal, vision of one day writing a book of your very own… Today is likely the very best day to start. In fact, there's probably no better time than right now so make that declaration, get it out there in the world and share your thoughts, insights, wisdom, and stories. There's definitely people who would benefit from it and who would want to hear from you." – Adam Erhart   Mentioned in this Episode: TrevorCrane.com Big Money With Your Book Without Selling a Single Copy Print copy - (just pay shipping) Free digital download version   Click here to subscribe via iTunes Modern Marketing on Stitcher Modern Marketing on Pocket Casts 

Even if you have the best business idea in the world, analysis-paralysis can stop you in your tracks You feel frozen, not sure what to do. So you research. Then you do some more research and educate yourself even more. But that doesn't get you very far, does it? Even famous people like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo would get stuck in this mode, just like you. But they still went on to create great art. So how do you create great “art” as well? Find out and beat the analysis-paralysis once and for all. ----------- In this episode Sean talks about Part 1: Two ways to validate your business idea Part 2: What makes a viable product? And how do you validate it? Part 3: How to deal with analysis paralysis? Click here to read online: https://www.psychotactics.com/validating-business-idea/ ----------- How do you go about validating your business idea to give yourself the best chance of success? Can you think of a TV series that's generated over US$ 3.1 billion so far? If you answered, Seinfeld, you're perfectly right. Except for one little fact. Seinfeld almost didn't get off the ground. As author Adam Grant mentions in his book, “Originals”, two entertainers got together to create a 90-minute special. Despite their abilities, they couldn't find enough material to fill the 90-minute special, and so they decided to create a half-hour weekly TV show. And that's precisely where all the trouble began. The TV Network folks looked at the script and thought it was terrible Undeterred, they went on to create the pilot for the series. A hundred viewers dissected the strengths and weaknesses of the show. The majority of the test audience decided they wouldn't watch such a show. But a test audience in one city may hate the show and others may love it, which is why the pilot got screened at four diverse cities. Six hundred people in all saw the show, and the results were dismal. They all thought it wasn't something they'd ever watch again. And at that point, Seinfeld should have simply died. And it might have if it wasn't for one network executive who doggedly campaigned for them to make and air four more episodes. The drama didn't stop there, and Seinfeld lurched back and forth, always threatening to tip itself into oblivion. Johannes Sebastian Bach is considered to be one of classical's virtuosos He wrote over a thousand pieces of music in his lifetime. Not far behind was Beethoven and Bach who composed 650 and 600 pieces respectively. And yet, despite their voluminous body of work, they were as unsure as you and me about what would work and what wouldn't. Beethoven, for instance, trashed the final movement of his most celebrated work in the Fifth Symphony. Only later did he decide to put it back. Could he not tell right from the start that it was an amazing part of the musical piece? Throughout history, experts have failed to spot the superstars. J.K. Rowling, the Beatles, Elvis Presley. History has hundreds of examples of bad calls, and it's not as though the crowd does better. Despite what you hear about the wisdom of crowds, the crowds are pretty hopeless at it as well. Which is why Seinfeld's early episodes got panned so badly. 1) If everyone is guessing, how would you ever be able to validate an idea? There are two ways to validate an idea, and they're both reasonably bizarre. —The first way is not to do any testing with audiences at all. Instead, there's another group that can help you with greater accuracy. —The second way is to create whatever you jolly well please, but then link it to an existing problem. Let's start with the first point and figure out which group tends to be more accurate than others When we sit down to create a product or service, we instantly realise that we're not alone. If you're in marketing, there are thousands, if not tens of thousands of books on marketing. If you're in health, fitness, nutrition, programming, illustrations—it doesn't matter what you pick—it's all been covered. It's at this point we feel the need to stand out and fit it as well. There's a reason why we need to fit in If we go too far away from what everyone else is doing, it might just not be viable. Novelty is hard to cope with because we don't know what to make of it. If you ask an expert, they don't see the world the way you do. Back in the early 2000s as we started an earlier version of Psychotactics, there were already solidly entrenched marketers such as Jay Abraham, Dan Kennedy and Brian Tracy. They were well-established in the field of seminars, delivered their content through massive bookbinders and cassette tapes. If all of these methods of delivery sound archaic to you, it's only because you're looking back in time. Almost no marketer wanted to explore the Internet. It's the very entrenchment that causes you to see something new as a novelty. It's a blind spot. If you were to ask the experts or the audience, you still wouldn't get the validation you seek. But there's another group that seems to understand the novelty factor a lot better They're called “fellow creators”. Fellow creators in the very same field have a sense of what's going to work, long before the audience or the experts do. When peers evaluate each other, they are twice as accurate as anyone else. When Justin Berg, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior, studied circus acts he found the ones who best predicted whether a video would be liked, shared or funded were when peers evaluated each other. As a cartoonist, I know this to be true When one cartoonist sees another great cartoon, the instant reaction is: “I wish I'd thought of that joke”. The same concept applies across industries. Comedians look to their fellow comedians for approval. One of the greatest tribute you can get isn't from an audience or experts, but from a group—yes a group—of fellow cartoonists. Cartoonists who have the same calibre or even higher. Peer judgments—when evaluated in groups—are more reliable because they see the very same idea through different eyes. So the first thing you've got to do is seek out peers; people who are in the same field and approximately with a similar mindset. Yet, that's just one way to handle validation The other way is not to validate at all but to create what you pretty well please but then match it up to the existing problem. Let's take a company like Tesla. What product are they making? If you think of the cars they're producing, you'll be likely to say: They are building electric cars. Electric cars aren't a new thing. They existed long before the gasoline car and still failed repeatedly. But apparently CEO, Elon Musk doesn't care about the failure because he's not building “electric” cars. If you pay close attention to Musk, you'll notice he harps a lot about the speed. It accelerates from 0-60 in 3.2 seconds. You see the problem, don't you? He's not drumming the “save the planet” message, is he? Instead, he's building the car of his dreams, and tackling the problem of speed. And if you happen to sit in a Tesla, notice what the owner tends to drool about—yes, speed. Which tells you that if you build a product, they will not come. But if you link the product to an existing problem, you can instantly attract attention. If we were to go back to the much-used case study of Domino's Pizza, you'd notice the same thread of creating what the owner wants. They just wanted to create a pizza, using their own method. Is that a feasible or viable way of succeeding? Of course not. But marry it to a problem and see what happens. The problem was: the client was hungry and hence the pizza needed to get to the customer's place as soon as possible. You're likely to have read this or heard it before at Psychotactics, but the product on “The Secret life of Testimonials” isn't exactly what you're thinking about, are you? It's got over a hundred pages, but it's a product I wanted to write about. And so I did. But where's the problem? We found, quite by chance, that better testimonials get us better clients. Clients that respect our work pay in advance, etc. And so the problem is “crappy clients”. You see what's happening when you launch a product? You're trying to make the product or service fantastic, and so it should be. The Tesla, Dominos Pizza or the Secret Life of Testimonials has to be a solid product. But that's not enough. What if it doesn't sell? It won't sell if you simply talk about the obvious. In every instance, whether it be the first car, the first plane, the first trip into space—they're all beyond the imagination of the audience. However, the moment you link it to an existing problem, you immediately get their attention. 2) What makes a viable product? And how do you validate it? If you're into testing, find a group of your peers. Your peers are big fans of the profession. A  group of chefs, evaluating your work individually, are more likely to know more accurately which dish will be a hit than just a group of diners frequenting the restaurant. However, if you care two hoots about testing, go right ahead and create your product or service and then link it to an existing problem. When clients get excited about the problem, you know you have a winner. One last word about how this validation bit works For years I've wanted to write a book about “how to teach more effectively”, and it's called “Teacher vs. Preacher”. But who's interested in such a book? I've done an informal evaluation with others who teach online. Those who do courses, workshops, webinars, etc. This group are likely to be clients, but they're primarily a group of teachers that really care about their students. They don't just want to sell a course or home study version of their product. They want their clients to be able to get the skill. They love to sell out their courses, but their bigger focus is to be able to transfer the skill to their students. And when I bring up “Teacher vs. Preacher”, they love the idea. So on one front, that's validation. But what if I wanted to write the book anyway? In such a scenario, I'll write but then connect it to the problem that we at Psychotactics solve so well. Though our courses are higher priced than most on the Internet, we can sell them out faster than practically anyone else I know. A $3000 course sells out in less than 30 minutes, and with a single e-mail, while other marketers take weeks of endless e-mails, affiliates and joint ventures just to get any traction. That's the problem the book solves, doesn't it? Validation can come from two fronts: peers or problem. Try both if you need to be doubly sure. But we're still stuck with the concept of analysis-paralysis. How do we get over that major hurdle? 3) How to deal with analysis paralysis? What trigger played a significant role in human evolution? If we go back three million years ago to our early ancestors, Australopithecus, we find them to be more like a chimpanzee. Its brain volume is a bare 400cc. If we were to fast forward to 1.8 million years ago, suddenly there's an abundance of hominine species, including Homo erectus. And the brain size is double of Australopithecus. If we move further to 800,000 years ago, we get Home heidelbergensis and another remarkable growth in brain size from 800cc to 1200cc. And finally, 200,000 years ago, we find a skull called Omo 2, and it has a brain size of approximately 1500cc, which is remarkably close to the brain size we have today. But what caused those changes in brain sizes? Each one of those brain sizes occurred when the Earth was at its most elliptical and the climate was horribly harsh and changing. Rivers dried up; food was scarce, temperatures rose and fell in rapid succession. Human evolution is considered to have a direct line to volatile do-or-die situations. Good times, on the other hand, don't seem to lend themselves to rapid change Think about your situation on a daily basis. As long as you have enough food in the pantry, it seems perfectly reasonable to lounge on the sofa. The moment you're out of food, there's no analysis-paralysis. In fact, even dwindling supplies causes you to act with increasing focus and rapidity. While there are many reasons why we get into a rut of analysis-paralysis, the biggest reason for the rut is the glut or excess. So what does this excess look like in real life? Let's say you walked into an ice-cream parlour and you have to choose between two flavours: mango and strawberry. How long did you take to make that decision? If we wanted to add confusion, we simply have to add excess. Let's add 18 flavours to that list. Now you have twenty flavours to choose from, and you go, at least partially, into analysis-paralysis. You want the coffee flavour and the mango at the same time. You can't decide whether they are suitable, and so back and forth you go. In reality, you're going through a series of rejections To get to your unique flavour, you have to, theoretically, reject 19 flavours to pick one. A similar set of phenomena plays itself out when you're trying to achieve a goal. You've been told it's important to learn about Facebook advertising, that e-mail is important, storytelling is critical and so on. It's normal to jump from one thing to the other like flavours of ice-cream. What you really need is a lack of choice People who get things done are not hampered because they create situations where they can't do everything. They are forced to do just a few things, with usually one thing as the big focus. And if you want to get out of paralysis-analysis, here are three elements you need to consider. They are: a) Drafts b) Information c) Deadline a) Let's start with drafts Michael Lewis is a relatively unknown name as authors go, but his projects are well known because they're quickly transformed into Hollywood blockbusters. “Moneyball”, “The Big Short” and the “Blind Side” are reasonably well known. When interviewed about the struggle involved in writing, Michael gets slightly philosophical. “The writing isn't a problem,” he says. “Instead, it's the drafts that require work”. Lewis talks about the multiple numbers of drafts he has to make to get a project going. And in layman's terms, that's simply an outline. Yes, the very same outline most people hated to do when in school, and still avoid doing whether it involves writing an article, creating a product or giving a presentation. It's one of the biggest hurdles that get in our way time and time again. An outline has stages of clarification. When we first begin the draft, we are grasping at straws. With every following outline, the brain has a chance to get a greater level of clarity. Three, four, six, eight—it doesn't matter how many drafts you create, as long as you create drafts. Drafts seem like such an odd idea when you're dealing with analysis-paralysis When we think of it as a grocery list, it's easier to understand the concept. Show up at the supermarket randomly, and you either end up buying stuff you don't need or end up totally confused about what you have to buy. But a little prep work goes a long way. When you consider a grocery list, it's a reasonably uncomplex set of items. An article, a project, a book—they're so much more complicated and we merrily walk into these projects without going through a bunch of drafts. J.K. Rowling had zillions of drafts for Harry Potter. Michael Lewis pretty much works his way forward through drafts. Pixar, Disney—every animation company will create storyboard after storyboard. The reason why professionals work their way through drafts is for one simple reason. When you start a project, your brain has random sets of ideas. Without the drafts, it's easy to get stuck, and no one; not you or me likes being in that situation. So we move along to something else easier to cope with. And the failure looms large, resulting in almost certain analysis-paralysis. But drafts are only one of the elements we have to deal with when working on a project. The second super-duper favourite has got to be the lack of information. Let's look at information, shall we? b) How information plays a role in analysis-paralysis Back in 2009, I re-wrote Version 3 of the book, The Brain Audit. It should have been an easy task, shouldn't it? After all, I'd been through hundreds of examples of clients using The Brain Audit. I'd also spent years refining the concepts over and over again as I implemented them in my own business. But even as I'm describing the trouble of writing Version 3, you get a feeling of déjà vu, don't you? And it's because most of us have experienced this struggle of having to explain the same thing in a different way. We know too much. We have the curse of knowledge, and it's slowing us down considerably. Knowing too much means you feel the need to stuff everything into your information Let's take The Brain Audit itself as an example. The book is pretty comprehensive all by itself. However, if you look at the chapters (and there are about seven main chapters), every one of those chapters can be a book all by itself. How do we know this to be true? Let's take the chapter on uniqueness. We've conducted a three-day workshop on uniqueness alone with separate audio and notes. If we were to choose the topic of testimonials, we have 100+ pages on testimonials in a product called “The Secret Life of Testimonials”. Any of those chapters in The Brain Audit could be expanded into 100-150 pages each. In reality, The Brain Audit could easily be a 1000 page book. As a writer there's too much information floating in your head If you were to take any topic, be it photography or karate or any topic you're familiar with,  you'd find a consistent problem to nail down what you're going to cover. I remember taking on an esoteric topic like feedback, and that generated well over ten chapters. The more info-product you have in your head, the more you're going to get derailed. Which is why it's a good practice to write down all your ideas, and then just choose three of them. Which three? It doesn't matter. Any three will do. Any three will connect. All of the three are valuable to clients, but more importantly for you, as the creator. Most software is bloated; most books are loaded with information we can't use. If we just had three topics to focus on, we could get going as creators, and the client would be happy. A vague topic like feedback can be a monster in itself. But really, can we pick any three? Try it yourself, and you'll see you can match any three together. And just in case you think I wrote this up right now, I didn't. I made this mind map back in early 2016, and because I didn't pick three, I've still not started. The irony is not lost on me. However, what if you're just starting out? Back around 2008, a client of mine wrote his first book. In it, he put everything he knew, which wasn't a lot. He was exhausted by the time he finished the book, but he was also scared. He felt he'd given his all and there was nothing left in him. When I wrote The Brain Audit back in 2002, I felt the same way. I couldn't manage more than 16-20 pages (and that included fillers and cartoons). Today, you can see I have the problem in reverse. If I were to write The Brain Audit like it should be written, I'd struggle to keep it to fewer than 1000 pages. All of us believe that we either have too much in our heads or too little But there's also a third factor that comes into play. Take, for instance, the series on pricing called “Dartboard Pricing”. It shows you why people pick your product over others, how to construct the pricing model and get 15% more, as well as the sequential pricing structure. In short, it's a very solid (and entertaining) series that pretty much guarantees you'll get higher prices than whatever you're charging today. When I sat down to write the book, I wasn't sure it needed to be written. If you head to a search engine and type in the terms “Psychotactics” and “pricing”, you'll get enough content to fill up at least a day of reading and listening. What else could I write, I wondered Information stops us in our tracks on multiple fronts. We know too much, seemingly know too little, or we've given away so much that we feel another book or course won't make a difference. Incredibly it does make a massive difference. I could sell the Dartboard Pricing series as it is, and do a webinar series and clients would sign up. If I did a workshop in your city, you're likely to attend. How do we know this to be true? Because when I was presenting The Brain Audit workshop in Washington DC for the first time, many years ago, I was going through the same fear-ridden routine. Most of the attendees in the room had not only read The Brain Audit, but many of them had read Version 1, Version 2 and Version 3. What else could I bring to the table? There's always a new angle, new examples, new insight that you as a creator don't even realise you're putting forth. Even if you've published a lot of the information before, the audience receives it from quite another angle. To get going, you must start with drafts Write down all the ideas in draft after draft. Even so, that draft must have a deadline by which you start writing. When you write, put everything down into three categories. What can you fit in those three categories? You'll see how we've done this on the Dartboard Pricing page and also the ‘Black Belt Presentations' page. Those topics, like any topic, are vast and the only way I know of getting them down to size is to pick three topics and write about them. If I need to write more, I can just write three more later. Or you can expand the topics all by themselves as we have done with The Brain Audit, where topics like uniqueness or testimonial now have their own books or courses. Easily the biggest thing that stops us in our tracks is that the information already exists. Either we have put the information out there, or someone else has, and no one really needs our product or service. As alluring as this fact may appear to us, it's patently false. There are many ways to present the very same product or service and clients want to find out all the possible ways. But even if we were to conquer our fear of drafts and information, we still have one great hurdle to conquer. A barrier called “deadlines”. c) Why External Deadlines Reduce Paralysis-Analysis Imagine gong to the supermarket with a list. Yet it's not a typical list. That list has about 150-200 items which you'll need to purchase. Notice the fact that you're not doing anything overly dramatic. All you're doing is picking the item from the shelf and putting it in your shopping cart. Even so, as you get deeper into the list, there's this overpowering urge to quit the task and do something else. A decent sized project usually has about 150-200 embedded tasksWe start off most projects with a fair bit of gusto, pretty much like picking items off the shelf. Then for no particular reason, we seem to lose momentum, and we get distracted. The more distraction we run into, the more we seek to do some more research. We somehow feel if we do our homework, things will get better. And they rarely do. The only consistent way to get things done is to adopt the mindset of a programmer Any programmer on a project knows there's a date to ship the software. Will the software have bugs? Almost certainly it will have a fair number of bugs. A programmer has little choice. They've promised the software will be ready on a particular date and so it launches more or less on time. But this deadline isn't restricted to programmers alone You get to your destination, because planes, trains and buses are mostly based on a non-negotiable deadline. The Olympics don't start one week later than planned. And even those 200 things you had to get off the shelves needed to be put there by someone who was following an external plan. If you make internal plans, paralysis analysis is the default setting When I first started out writing articles for Psychotactics, I hated writing with a passion. It would take me two days and would involve an enormous time and energy. However, I'd promised that I'd deliver the article on a twice-monthly basis and so I had to finish the job. I'd battle through the process, hating every fifth word with a passion, but the job would get done. Almost all of us start off a project with a lot of excitement and then struggle to get to the finish line When we have nothing to lose, we fill our days with something else. The only way anything can done is to have this external deadline in place. Most of the time it involves a cash transaction. When you sell a course, you have to show up and conduct the course. When you promise to deliver software you'd better be shipping on the day itself or clients will be on your tail. Is all of this a source of constant pressure? Sure it is, but then great work is usually not done with a lot of leisure in hand. The advice being given to you isn't particularly new. You already know that a project is going to have 200 sub-tasks. You have to work out the tasks and go at them with gusto. You also know that if you keep the project to yourself, nothing is going to happen. Very few people have the ability to finish anything if there isn't a fixed deadline, often with a penalty if the job doesn't get done. And whatever you're shipping is going to have bugs. You can fix those bugs later. There's just one tiny note We often underestimate the time we need. We take on too much and we struggle. Over the years, I've had to learn that making space is an important part of getting things done. If you're constantly battling all sorts of deadlines, you're running out of energy on a monumental scale. Without space, you have no recovery period. So I create space and set an external headline. And things get done. Too simple? Well just as a parting thought, Michelangelo didn't want to paint the Sistine Chapel. Neither did Leonardo da Vinci wanted to paint the Last Supper. They were made to do it. That's why we have these works of art. Now get your work of art finished. Epilogue: The Segway Syndrome One of the most spectacular failures of modern times has been the Segway. In a world that longs for non-polluting transportation systems, the Segway seemed like the perfect answer to our travel woes. It moved swiftly, quietly and after a bit of practice, was easy to handle. Even so, Segway sales barely got off the ground and have stayed relatively stagnant If it's evident that the Segway solves a problem, why should it have failed? Sometimes the problem lies not in the product or service itself, but in the distribution or infrastructure, instead. Take for instance the electric car. In 2017, a Tesla now has the ability to go 335 miles on a single charge (compare that with a gas-burning-fuel car that can only do 300). That, to many people is the infrastructure part that needs to be taken care of. Superchargers have to be built so that they quickly replace gas stations and these super-chargers need to sit near cafes or stores, or in a parking lot. Without all of these elements in place, the car itself becomes redundant. The Segway struggled for many reasons, including its high price However, even if you did own a Segway, you couldn't use it on the road or on the pavement. Without setting all the infrastructure and paperwork in place, it was doomed to failure. And this brings us to an important point: creating a factor of destruction. When we try to validate an idea, we head in one direction We list all the reasons why the idea, product or service can and should succeed. But we rarely, if ever, create conditions for failure. If you're about to do a copywriting course, what can you do to cause the course to fail? What infrastructure would you need to remove so that the course crashes and burns? If you're starting up a website business, what would you need to have in place so that clients show interest but don't do any work with you? These are the elements we have to consider before we put our product or services into the marketplace. Ideas are super fragile The creator of the product or service may waffle between fear and reason when in fact everyone who launches a product is fearful. Everyone, without exception, feels the same uncertainty. Then we have the issue of validating the product or service, which for the most part is impossible. However, your peers review can help and it's a powerful form of feedback. Later, when the product launches, clients will tell you what you need to fix. Instead of pretending like the problems don't exist, we need to roll up our sleeves and fix the problems. Finally there's the issue of analysis, and yes, paralysis. Those that do endless research and wait for the right moment, almost always fail. Instead you need to set a deadline, get your product or service into the market and fix the glitches later. Preselling the product or service ensures that you keep to a deadline and don't wait forever. The great works of genius in science, maths, language, arts of business weren't fully formed. They were mostly half-baked and got better as they went along. You may decide to start later, when things are perfect. It's a decision that almost never has a good ending! Summary: Imagine if you invented a set of tyres and they were ridiculed. They called them pudding tyres”. Would you go ahead? Now you can because of the information we've covered so far. So what did we cover? -How to distinguish between your own voice of fear, and voice of reason -How to go about validating your idea to give yourself the best chance of success -Tips for getting over analysis paralysis Next Up: How to Make the Mental Leap From a Job into Entrepreneurship You don't know if it's the right time to jump into being an entrepreneur. What about the mortgage, the family and the bills? And how do you deal with the fear? How do you stay steadfast to your vision? And what about focus? These questions spin in your head over and over again. Click here to: Understand how to keep true to your vision, stay focus in a distracted world and when to take the leap.

Anthony D. Vaughan is 3X founder and the current CEO of Cognizance Capital Consulting, which focuses on bringing new and innovative content to first time entrepreneurs as well as marketing disciplines to small business owners. Cognizance Capital has served will over 600 entrepreneurs. Anthony has had the privilege of speaking at Colleges such as Towson, Maryland and Mcdaniel University where he shared his 4+ years of experience. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/anthony-vaughan-business/ What You Will Learn From This Episode Why 90% of Anthony's clients are not ready for business. Why technology professionals tend to work on the wrong things when launching their business. Examples of how other entrepreneurs pre-sold their ideas before building them. Why getting "rejection proof" is critical to succeeding in business. The differences between influencer marketing and context marketing and when you should use both.

Should you sell stock before it arrives in your store? What are the pros and cons? Pre selling stock before it comes into your store can generate significant cash flow for you. Just look at any Apple product. People line up, sometimes for days, in order to purchase their products, and quite often, they don’t even get to walk away with a physical product . Sometimes it’s months, before they receive the goods they’re pre-purchasing. Apart from having an amazing brand, Apple creates demand by releasing snippets of information in the lead up to the event. They don’t just go hey, here’s a new product, you can have it in 3 months. They create hype and demand. They trade on FOMO, the fear of missing out. Apple use this as a status indicator. Another benefit of preselling, is that it creates scarcity. Similar to FOMO, creating scarcity increases a product’s desirability, and prompts customers buy, even if the product hasn’t arrived. Preselling an item can also validate the viability of a product. If lots of people are talking about it, and buying that product, it gives the product credibility. We call that social proof. Speaking of validation, when you presell a product, you are able to forcast a level of demand. True, the urgency to buy a product will start to dwindle once the product is actually in your store, but using pre-selling as a validation technique, will help you to work out, just how much stock you should be bringing in. Are you on trend? Are you stocking exactly what your customer wants? Pre-selling shows your customer that you’re paying attention to what they want, that’ you’re up to date with the latest styles, trends and products. But arguably, the biggest benefit for preselling, is that it brings revenue into your store. Being able to use that money to pay for the stock, to have guaranteed sales, is a massive benefit and sanity saver. So let’s recap on the strategies you should focus on, when it comes to preselling. Advertise the product, don’t keep it a secret Create hype and demand Use social proof to increase credibility Create scarcity Maximise FOMO Be a trend setter Generate cash flow Often, people have already made a decision, even if it’s subconsciously, about whether or not they are going to buy a product. When you’ve created a buzz, when you have that social proof, you increase your odds of a successful product pre-sale. If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. You’ll be joining a bunch of retailers from all around the world chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free. Download "How to Make Pre-selling Work For Your Retail store! Retail Biz Strategy

We look at a growing industry in the business world and ask what it is and how it works

Hi, welcome to the online marketing show, this is Joey Bushnell. And welcome to the next episode of the online marketing club mini-series. We're currently exploring my top 9 ways to drive traffic which are SEO, Search advertising, Display advertising, content marketing, organic social media traffic, social advertising, email advertising, affiliate traffic and retargeting. In this episode we will be looking at Content Marketing. What is Content Marketing? Content marketing is a way of reaching your target audience by providing information they find valuable, with no cost to them, it's a successful first interaction with your brand. From there people can find their way into your funnel, get in contact with you, look around your website and buy something, there's many possibilities, but the idea is you help them up initially with the content you give, and after that they may become a customer because they realize that you can help them even further. Why is Content Marketing good? Content marketing is a great way to establish credibility and expertise. The person consuming the content can get a feel for whether they think you're knowledgeable or not. Because you're putting yourself out there in this way the majority of people will just assume you are an expert or you wouldn't or couldn't be doing content marketing. Content marketing is a great way to build trust and rapport. If someone reading your post or watching your video likes your style, what you're saying, the way you're saying it, it can be a unique selling factor which no else in the world can replicate, there's only one you. So their question becomes not just is this person knowledgeable but do I like them? It's inbound marketing, it draws people to you. Because people often resist selling, content marketing is a great way to take someone from being a cold lead to a warm lead without hard selling. They can see how you can help them and you're not annoying them or frightening them you're doing the exact opposite, you're attracting them to you, making them want to hear from you rather than turn and run in the opposite direction. Another cool thing about content marketing is that it get's shared because people love to share good content so you get even more exposure to your market for free. What's bad about Content Marketing? Content marketing if not done correctly can be time consuming. If you do even just 2 blog posts or videos a week, that's going to take up quite a bit of time, coming up with the content, creating it, publishing it and marketing it, this all takes up your time and on this show we aren't fans of that are we? This isn't about doing more. So if you do content marketing make sure you have a team to help, ideally all you would be doing is creating the content and the rest is done by your team. Even some content like writing can be outsourced. The only thing that can't be outsourced is you appearing on a video or talking on a podcast but that doesn't have to take too long and can actually be quite fun anyway. Another potentially bad thing about content marketing is that some aspects of it are long term and the ROI isn't immediate. It's a strategy where you need to be patient. Just because you wrote great blog post or video, even if it got a great reaction, it doesn't always mean it blows the doors off your sales sales figures that same day. Content marketing strategy varies and sometimes it leads to an immediate boost in profits and sometimes patience is required, you need to be in it for the long game. Not necessarily a bad thing anyway but some people want instant results. If you want instant results, there are other traffic methods like search ads, display ads or social ads which would likely lead to profits quicker. Who is Content Marketing for? For me, any business can use content marketing to some degree or another. Sure some businesses are far more naturally suited than others but I believe any business has a level of expertise that their customers do not have and therefore can use content to educate them about how they can help them. Businesses that are in the expert space or in an interest or long term problem market are the most natural fit. But even businesses where content marketing may not be quite so obvious you can always base content around the frequently asked questions that your customers have. How to do Content Marketing? Content marketing comes in many shapes and sizes. There's blogging, a part of your website where you can regularly publish new content. I love using wordpress for this. I publish helpful content and then give calls to action to sign up to my list. In fact even the lead magnet to sign up to my list is content marketing, the free report, ebook, videos or email newsletter I give away is content. The content in your funnel should be pre-selling content, it's leading to the sale but in a very helpful, informative way. Video marketing is a great way to give content and people love to consume content. Create a video then publish it to Youtube, your blog and other social media and video sharing sites. Again give a call to action within the video itself or in the description underneath the video. When people do product launches it's based around content, usually 3, 4 or 5 videos in a series which give great info away and then pre-sell you on the offer. Podcasting just like I'm doing now is a great way to give away good information that helps people to see that you can help them. That's just some of the ways, it doesn't matter if your content is audio, video, text, email, in a book, the main thing is, you should be giving away good content that leads towards someone knowing how you can help them better, like I said before this is called pre-selling. The best thing to do is answer the common questions that the people in your market have, find out what those questions are and then answer them, that's your content. Then use your channels, email, social media, video sites, your blog, a podcast, to get your content into the hands of as many people in your market as you can. If you would like to learn how to produce content that sells, how to make a podcast, create amazing videos, run a blog or surround yourself with the right people on your team who can help you with your content marketing so it gets done quickly and effortlessly then check out the online marketing club, it's for you.