Podcasts about total revenue

This podcast is brought to you by the Clare and Gilbert Valleys CouncilIn this episode, Council CEO Dr Helen Macdonald explains:Post budget details - Rates, Annual Service Charges, Total Revenue and ExpensesClare Town Hall Stage UpdateOld Town Hall fix up - in the courtsBuild to Rent Proposal - partnering with not-for-profit housing provider to  increase rental housingFuture of Clare Boardwalk along Hutt RiverAfter 7 years, Council resignation newsLibrary profileHow often do you visit your local library? Do you still borrow books or do you use the library for another reason - attending events, participating in computer skills training, or visiting a justice of the peace. The role of libraries has changed markedly over the years, there's so many services that our libraries offer to the community, that you may not be aware of. You will hear from Clare and Saddleworth Library Manager Catherine Driscoll about the myriad of services it offers. Dinosaur OlympicsMost  of us Aussies are immersed in Olympic fever at the moment with our athletes battling it out over in Paris, so the Clare Valley dabbled in its own Olympic fun over the school holidays, but it was more the prehistoric Olympics.This story features Imogen and Brodie Wundke, Pop Events, Charles the Librarian.Links:Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council Meeting Agenda: July 31sthttps://www.claregilbertvalleys.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/1650082/31-July-2024-Special-Meeting-Agenda.pdfClare and Gilbert Valleys Council Meeting Agenda: July 17thhttps://www.claregilbertvalleys.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/1643504/17-July-2024-PUBLIC-Ordinary-Council-Agenda.pdfClare and Saddleworth Libraries: https://www.claregilbertvalleys.sa.gov.au/library/clarelibraryPop Events: https://www.popevents.au/

Hi, welcome to another Expert Insights discussion Today we continue our conversation around Revenue Management. Having discussed Total Revenue last week, today we are looking at Net Revenue. In this discussion we ask is Net Revenue easier to achieve than Total Revenue? Do we know what Net Revenue actually means? And do hoteliers have a handle on their direct booking costs? To share their insights and experience, we are joined again by: Karin van Rhee of Juyo Analytics Amrita Makkar of Virgin Hotels Jens Egemalm of Pandox NB: Juyo Analytics are one of our Expert Partners Finally we will hear a little about the journeys both Amrita and Jens have been on as they move towards implementing Total Revenue and Net Revenue. Really hope you enjoy the conversation

Can College Football be able to keep their revenue with NIL deals?

Today we follow upon our video from yesterday looking at Total Revenue Management In today's video we take a wider perspective - from a Chief Executives viewpoint. We are joined by Vassilis Syropoulos , Founder and CEO of Juyo Analytics, one of our Expert Partners We ask for his thoughts on some of the points made in the recent discussion with Karin, Amrita and Jens We question why department silos are still so prevalent, how hotel contracts and kpis influence the hotel performance focus, and where technology, specifically BI tools, can have an impact on (eventually) achieving total revenue management Really hope you enjoy the conversation.

Hi, welcome to another Expert Insights discussion Today we look at Total Revenue Management Yes, that topic that which has been discussed for years and years but still remains a dream for most. In today's discussion we actually look at the reality of the challenge and why it's easier to talk about it than to do it. To share their insights and experience, we are joined by:

Meet (Anad Rolyat) Construction supply business serving a local region (Anad Rolyat) Female owner, married with two children Retail and supply business serving a local region Been in business for 11 years Massive reputation for community engagement Working 6.5 days per week Thinking about work even when at home The bigger problem was this…when we reviewed her 2015 P&L…here is what it said… $5mm worth of sales… $50k of Net Profit (1%) 1%! $5mm worth of effort, work, marketing, sales, coordination, fear, worry, concern, frustration, stories, and people… $50k worth of Net Profit to show for it…she could go work for someone else and yield far more in far less time.   TO add insult, Anad's employee turnover was similar to a Taco Bell… Employees coming and going, turning over like a car that just would not crank. Anad was suffering from a variety of ills that plague the majority of business owners.   Only 4% of businesses ever see their 10th birthday?   NO…#1 reason is = they get tired and pull the plug Tired of hoping that next employee hire will fix everything and then left feeling broken Tired growing sales and rarely seeing or enjoying the profit Tired of being blind sided by the constant details of their business Tired of showing up to events hoping for a silver bullet and realizing that the only silver bullet available is that is relentless implementation of the basic fundamentals how business operates. Everytime you feel momentum, you are short circuited by chaos lurking around the corner in your blind spot.   “But I don't have a blind spot”  I didn't think I did either. But you do… The human eye has a location that cannot pick up light even why the eye is wide open…google it. I want to reveal four business blind spots that we all suffer from, and what you can do to solve them so that you can… Find and retain talent Grow your CASH profit (not just your P&L) Be liberated from chaos to make time for what matters most FIRST blind spot is our unspoken commitment to chaos…chaos has almost become a defacto strategy in our day to day business “Scott, I'm so addicted to chaos I don't know what I would do if things were slow and quiet!” Khaos = Chasm or a gaping hole. The sweat, effort, attention, and focus you give chaos is guaranteed to return very little long term.   SOLUTION #1 Commit to clarity over chaos.  How? Clarity comes by illumination, and illumination comes through light and understanding foundational things Many of us started a biz without even considering how the organism of a biz is built CONSTRUCTION OF A BUSINESS 5 Foundational Cornerstones Vision Mission Values Team Meetings Hiring Process Concrete Slab of documented processes 4 Systems (walls) of a business: Marketing, Sales, Operations, and Administration Stop obsessing over your product, and commit to building your process TRUTH: “Your product is not your product…your process is your product.” ACTION → write a clear and compelling vision of where your business is going is seven categories SECOND blind spot is micro-management We say micro-management, but no one has defined it. Even The Office tried to get it right, and here is how it sounded, (RIP AUDIO FROM THIS YOUTUBE (:00 to :13) (INSERT BLANK SLIDE) Why does talent fly fly away?   Is it because nobody wants to work anymore?  NO…millions of people want to work and want new challenges It is because they don't want to be babysat, or left all alone…they want leadership, and leadership is not micro-management.  They showed the RPM's of great leadership… Repetition - they did the right things over and over and over Predictability - they provided stability by doing those repetitive things Meaning - and they baked a professed meaning into the repetition and predictability I want you to think about your situation. Would you be accused of doing meaningful things, repetitively, in a way that creates the peace of predictability? Or… Would you be accused of reacting to small fires, chaotically, in a way that makes your team, your customer, and your partners confused? One simple way to avoid micro-management is to simply ask the right questions at the right time and avoid the wrong questions at the wrong time. The THIRD blind spot is admitting how much time is wasted everyday… Putting out fires that would put themselves out Recreating the wheel that could easily be delegated You bring someone new in who has “experience” and you expect them to know how to… Run a job like you run a job Run a report like you run a report Talk to a customer like you talk to a customer It must be trained at EVERY level of your business. Coach Bill Walsh is one of the most Repetitive, Predictable, and Meaningful coaches in the history of the NFL. In a book Coach Walsh co-authored he shares that he was so meticulous about scripting that… he would script the first 10-15 plays of every game He scripted how the 49er's receptionists answered the phones Is the first 10 to 15 days of a new employee scripted day by day?   Or do we practice the more popular strategy of “throwing them to the wolves”?  And excusing it with “well they said they had experience!” Or hiding behind the excuse “that's just common sense!” Potential employees can smell chaos, and all existing employees will eventually run away from chaos at their first opportunity. Want to retain the team you have so that it doesn't cost you a minimum of $10k to $20k per lost employee? SOLUTION #3 is to create a Master Process Roadmap so you can move to higher value tasks. ACTION → Write out a simple Master Process Roadmap, and brain dump every possible process you can think of. Review the MPR weekly during your team meetings and pick one process and take 3 to 5 mins to train on it every week.   You will bypass the crippling blind spot of wasting so much time, and create clarity for your team. CLARITY will keep your team more than any other strategy.   The Final Blind Spot is the myth that all money is your money. We all suffer from the same challenge as business owners.  When a receivable comes into our one or two or three bank accounts, our brains believe that most if not all of it is ours.   And because it is all lumped into 1, 2, or 3 accounts we feel way more cash heavy than we really are. Anad was generating about $420,000 EVERY MONTH…and yet only about $20,000 of it was actually hers to retain BEFORE taxes, depreciation, etc.  $420,000 → $20,000 Her brain said she was rich…her bank sent a very different message. Ever feel like the front door of your business is really small (where the money comes in)... And the back door is twice the size and WIDE OPEN? How can you increase your cash, and actually not have to increase your Total Revenue? You must begin a) subdividing every dollar that comes in, and then b) directing those subdividing dollars into their individual homes.   Do this over time and track it every week…you will watch your cash so it doesn't leak. Anad was totally unaware of her blind spots, but once she allowed someone else to open her eyes to them, she implemented these four solutions, and today… employes 65 people,  has 5 locations has a net income to sales of 9% (AND THE CASH to prove it)...up from 1% (with no cash) Every year takes 4 to 6 weeks away from her business while it grows without her Are you ready to be liberated from the chaos of your blind spots and creating a culture where people want to stay?  

We welcome back the ever-popular Billie Anne Grigg, Profit First Professional's Chief Profit Guide. Together, Danielle and Billie Anne dive into the intriguing world of "above the line" expenses within the Profit First framework. The episode covers above-the-line expenses, such as materials, subcontractor costs, pass-through expenses, franchise fees, and more.  They also emphasize the importance of understanding your financial numbers and owning allocation day to achieve permanent profitability. IN THIS EPISODE: [00:55] - Explanation of "above the line" expenses and real revenue. [01:47] - Common mistakes made with above-the-line expenses. [03:27] - Handling W-2 employees and commissions. [06:16] - The importance of pass-through expenses. [06:56] - Managing franchise fees. [07:50] - The role of a deposit account in organizing expenses. [09:00] - Simplifying allocation day using a spreadsheet. [12:19] - The freedom and clarity Profit First brings to managing finances. [14:02] - Success stories of large businesses implementing Profit First. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Above-the-line expenses should be items directly tied to revenue, such as materials, subcontractor costs, pass-through expenses, and franchise fees. These should be deducted from total revenue before determining real revenue. Profit First simplifies financial management by reducing the need for complex budgets and allowing you to focus on one key number – the total amount available for allocation. Profit First is not just for small businesses; it's essential for large businesses, especially due to the complexities involved in managing cash flow and expenses. The principles of Profit First can benefit businesses of all sizes.   GUEST BIOGRAPHY: Billie Anne Grigg   Billie Anne has been a bookkeeper since before the turn of the century. She is a QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor, LivePlan Expert Advisor, FreshBooks Certified Partner and a Mastery Level Certified Profit First Professional. She is also a guide for the Profit First Professionals organization. In 2012, she started Pocket Protector Bookkeeping, a virtual bookkeeping and managerial accounting service for small businesses.   Billie Anne Grigg - Linkedin  Pocket Protector Bookkeeping - Website    ABOUT THE HOSTS:   Danielle Mulvey is a former flight attendant-turned-entrepreneur and owns multiple businesses doing $50 million in annual revenue. She is one of the exclusive, select group of Mastery-Certified Profit First Professionals worldwide and the go-to “HOW TO IMPLEMENT” workshop facilitator for Profit First and WSJ Journal best-selling author Mike Michalowicz following his keynote speeches. Danielle is currently running multiple businesses, from start-ups to mature businesses with 10-year plus track records and revenues ranging from $1M to $40 million in annual revenues and is a certified numbers geek about Profit First, leveraging the DIY cash management system for small business to achieve maximum profitability. She can personally guide business owners to achieve maximum profitability based on her 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur who has been there and done that.   Additionally, Danielle authored the book The Rapid Read™ Guide to The 5-Star Employee Rating System™ and is currently collaborating with Wall Street Journal best-selling author Mike Michalowicz on his new book, to be released in Q1 2024, titled ALL IN: How Great Leaders Build Unstoppable Teams. Mike Michalowicz is an entrepreneur and New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Profit First, The Pumpkin Plan, SURGE, Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, Clockwork, Fix This Next and Get Different. BusinessWeek called Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, a business cult classic. His books have been translated into ten languages, and Mike has had the privilege to speak on stages worldwide because of his passion for connecting with entrepreneurs.   As the founder of Profit First Professionals, he empowers accountants, bookkeepers, and business coaches with the tools and techniques to maximize client profitability, allowing them to uplevel from being one of the 83% of small businesses operating check-to-check and struggling to be profitable to becoming one of the 17% of thriving and highly valuable businesses with cash in the bank to correlate to profitability. Mike also co-founded the business growth consultancy Provendus Group and has successfully founded, built, and sold two technology service-based companies. He is passionate about sharing his experiences and advice with entrepreneurs and sits on formal and informal advisory boards while maintaining relationships with angel and early-stage investors. RESOURCES: Danielle Mulvey - Website Danielle Mulvey - Linkedin The All In Company - Website Profit First Nation - Website   Mike Michalowicz - Website Mike Michalowicz - Linkedin Mike Michalowicz - Twitter Profit First Professionals - Website Mike Michalowicz - Books  

In the first part of the show I try to simplify farm accounting by giving you an easy way to measure the profit per bed:  Total Revenue - $225 = Profit per 100-foot bed.   If you used this formula on most of your low-labor crops (not tomatoes), your profit margin will be fairly accurate.   14:19 Farmer Jodi Roebuck @roebuckfarm talks about how they grow Salanova on their farm: direct seeding, soil preparation, amendments, and harvesting.   Kwik Hoops are eligible for NRCS low-tunnel grants. Protect your valuable crop from rain, wind, cold, and insects using Kwik Hoops and InsectaNet.   Learn more about Jodi: https://www.roebuckfarm.com/ @roebuckfarm

Check Out Our Socials Here!! Colour Plane Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/colour.plane/ Discord Server - https://discord.gg/bbxNMdHXHt LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/colour-plane/ Jack Instagram - https://instagram.com/jackmaccas LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-macdonald-426677147/ Jesse Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jesse_toniolo LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-toniolo-207b95122/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/colourplane/message

This edition we dive into: • Proactive Mediocrity to Proactive Excellence • Re-Onboarding idea • Should you have a navigation menu on landing pages? • Total Revenue field on company records • Workflow action Copy and Paste • Content Assistant (ie AI in HubSpot) • Wishlist: Import WordPress Comments into HubSpot • Midjourney prompts • Meta Threads: The Kindness Before the Storm • Unclogging your Stuck Pipeline • HubShots Framework poster Full show notes available at: https://www.hubshots.com/episodes/episode-301 Recorded: Wednesday 12 July 2023 | Published: Friday 21 July 2023

In this episode the second of a mini-series on revenue management and pricing strategies, we speak with Radisson, Preferred Hotels and IDeaS RMS about the hotel performance metrics and how they are changing. In a recent survey between IDeaS RMS and The Caterer, responses show that independent and regional hoteliers look at hotel revenue and  commercial metrics differently. Key insights include:Despite over 7 in 10 (70.9%) claiming they have an integrated revenue strategy - also known as Total Revenue which incorporates all hotel departments - RevPAR (30.6%), Occupancy (22.2%) and ADR (17.6%) remain the dominant metrics for measuring business success. Profit, a better reflection of a hotel's overall business performance, is used by 16.7% of respondents, with TRevPAR used by just 4.6%. For branded hotels, RevPAR is preferred by 42.4% of hoteliers while occupancy (28.3% in rural, coastal and beach hotels) is the prominent metric for independent regional hotels.We are joined by Michael McCartan, IDeaS, Area VP EMEA, Raimund Notz, Director, Hotel Revenue Optimization - Central & Eastern Europe, Preferred Hotels and Dario Artiola, Senior Director Revenue Performance, Radisson Hotels Group to discuss:What is an integrated revenue management strategyRole of F&B and ancillaries in profit optimisationHow to have the right strategyFocusing the team on the right approachUsing technologyFor the full survey insights visit:Listen to all our episodes and subscribe to our content and newsletter http://travelmarket.life/ Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest updates https://www.linkedin.com/company/travel-market-life/Do you have a story to share about technology, digitalisation or culture changes within the hospitality and travel industry? We'd love to hear what your company is doing and the impact it is having. Please contact us through http://travelmarket.life/

Today's Co-Hosts: Ben Criddle (@criddlebenjamin) Subscribe to the Cougar Sports with Ben Criddle podcast:Apple Podcastshttps://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cougar-sports-with-ben-criddle/id996764363Google Podcastshttps://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvMTM2OTkzOS9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVkSpotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/7dZvrG1ZtKkfgqGenR3S2mPocket Castshttps://pca.st/SU8aOvercasthttps://overcast.fm/itunes996764363/cougar-sports-with-ben-criddle-byuSpreakerhttps://www.spreaker.com/show/cougar-sports-with-ben-criddleStitcherhttps://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=66416iHeartRadiohttps://www.iheart.com/podcast/966-cougar-sports-with-29418022TuneInhttps://tunein.com/podcasts/Sports-Talk--News/Cougar-Sports-with-Ben-Criddle-p731529/

Do I have a goodie for you with this episode!This has been on my podcast planning for a little while now and I am so excited to be finally sharing this with you.We are coming off the back of our biggest launch EVER (recap coming soon) and I've been taking a lot of time to reflect on how WILD this whole journey to 1.3 million in total revenue has been.This episode and all the goods that I'm sharing is going to be so incredibly supportive for you in the way that you're thinking, the way that you're showing up and the way that you're taking action in your business regardless of the stage of business that you're currently at to be able to grow and scale to a tonne of money in a way that you actually ENJOY!Tune in to learn:The BIGGEST external + internal strategies that I DID NOT DO to grow my biz to over 1.3 million of total revenue in under 5 yearsOne challenge that ALMOST made me want to pull back and stop growing + why I haven't been able to share this until nowThe most surprising thing that held me back and what I DID do to overcome this and how you can leverage my lessons to scale your business to your next 6 figures or million or whatever the F you desireTune in to this episode of The Things We Didn't Do now to hear what really goes on to grow and scale a business, what I have seen to be the needle mover for myself and my clients, and the BS that I have moved through.This episode is going to help you see that being in business isn't about being perfect and be so permission giving for you to make mistakes and get sh*t done.And don't forget to DM me on IG to let me know your biggest takeaway from this episode!PS..I've created a BRAND NEW 1:1 program that is the MOST affordable way to work with me since my first year in biz.If you're ready to propel the heck out of your profits, find YOUR way to scale that makes you serious money and feels seriously GOOD to make, demystify once and for all WTF it actually looks like to create 6 Figure launches on repeat.. Run, don't walk and head below to get the deets + apply  to find out more specifically about what this could look like for you!https://www.elisedanielle.com/propel-your-profitLINKS:Website: https://www.elisedanielle.com/DM me on Instagram: @elise_danielle_Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/purposedrivenbadasswomen

Justin Turner returns with details on 2 new acquisitions by his holdco Traction, plus updates on the existing 4 portcos. Topics in Justin's interview: Justin helps run investment firm Traction Capital Partners How Traction is different from Private Equity The risks of buying into a franchise network How he bought one of his vendors Lessons learned from buying 6 businesses Driving sales in a disaster restoration business  Doubling revenue in 5 years for a Fire Department supply business  Facing the post-Covid economic downturn Rising competition for acquiring a business Trends in the blue and white collar labor market Links and How to Contact Justin: LinkedIn  Twitter Traction CP  Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund TeamLearn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:The Acquisition LabConnect with Acquiring Minds: • See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel • Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn • Follow Will on Twitter

It's my 5 year biz anniversary!And to celebrate I'm sharing with you my biggest money making lessons after 5 years in this business.We're diving into HOW we've been able to grow and scale to over $1.3 million in total revenue without the need to add more hours to my week, without increasing our expenses and without me needing to manage all the things.Despite our huge growth in business, I have been able to find more ease each year in the way that I hold and run my business and I want to share these lessons with you so that you can find the ease in running a business of any size.I'm talking about the things that I have found to be absolute non-negotiables, how I execute the key aspects of my business that make it sustainable and why intuition and strategy are both so incredibly important when it comes to a purpose driven, sustainable and profitable AF business.I cannot wait to share these lessons with you!And because celebrations are always better together, I have a HUGE announcement.It's a big deal to not just still be standing in business 5 years later, but what makes me so grateful is the women I get to support, the impact I've been able to make and the way I've been able to grow the business so that it feels so aligned, so purposeful and really something that gives back to me as much as what I put into it.Tune in to this episode of The Things We Didn't Do below now to find out how you can apply my 5 lessons from 5 years in business so that you can start creating more simple scalability this week AND to hear my huge announcement

We achieved this with a 16% drop in ACoS, and, after implementing some best practices that include campaign structuring.Read the full post here.5 Amazon ad lessons. 2 minutes read. 1 weekly email.https://georges.blog/subscribeFind every wrong with your Amazon ads in under 72 hours.https://georges.blog/audit

1. Reddit Launches Reddit for Business Website - Reddit's launched a Reddit for Business website, which provides a heap of insights, tips, and notes for prospective Reddit ad buyers, which could help them with their paid Reddit marketing. The mini-site includes usage stats, tips, case studies and educational resources to help guide you on your Reddit ads journey. In the announcement, Reddit wrote that:“90% of users trust Reddit to learn about new products and brands. For context, that's higher than Google, Amazon, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. The communities' trust turns into action. Redditors tend to be more informed consumers, more valuable buyers, and they go hard for their favorite brands. They're also more likely to recommend the products they love - which never hurts”If you're thinking about Reddit ads, it's definitely worth a look, with the case studies, in particular, acting as a guide book, of sorts, for effective, creative Reddit marketing. Listen to the podcast to hear what I feel about Reddit Ads.2. Instagram ‘Group Profile' - This week, Instagram updated its group chat function and are now calling it ‘Group Profiles'. Content inside the group profile will only be visible to group members, and Collaborative Collections. Group Profiles are effectively shared profiles where you can post content for the entertainment of the group (that won't be shared with your followers), while Collaborative Collections will enable you to save posts to a private collection within your group chat. To me, this is just the beginning of IG Group since Meta (parent company of Facebook) has realized that a lot of IG users do not use Facebook thus need a way to keep them on the platform longer.3. GA4 Now Has A Built-In Landing Page Report - A landing page is the first page someone lands on when they visit your website. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is rolling out an out of the box functionality that allows users to generate landing reports. Before this update, which is being rolled out to users gradually, landing page reports had to be manually constructed. This was an confusing process, which required multiple clicks. Use the report to evaluate the effectiveness of your landing pages. The default, automated report includes metrics for Views, New Users, Average Engagement Time per Session, Conversions, and Total Revenue. However, these fields can be modified and customized to business needs.4. Google Launches Search Status Dashboard - Google has launched a status dashboard for Google Search at status.search.google.com. The Google Search status dashboard will show you if there is an outage or issue with Google Search. Specifically, Google will confirm if there is an issue with crawling, indexing, or serving in Google Search. Google wrote, “as we head into 2023, we want to introduce another tool for the public to understand the most current status of systems which impact Search—crawling, indexing, and serving… while system disruptions are extremely rare, we want to be transparent when they do happen.”5. Google Ads Introduces Simulation Tool For Data-Driven Attribution - Before making a purchase or completing another valuable action on your website, people may click or interact with several of your ads. Typically, all credit for the conversion is given to the last ad customers interacted with. But was it really that ad that made them decide to choose your business? Data-driven attribution gives credit for conversions based on how people engage with your various ads and decide to become your customer. It uses data from your account to determine which keywords, ads, and campaigns have the greatest impact on your business goals.Google has already made it clear that they prefer advertisers use data-driven attribution as their preferred model. To convince Advertisers on the benefits of using Data-Driven Attribution, Google is rolling out a simulation tool for eligible advertisers that will allow them to see how automated bidding would have reacted to data-driven attribution over the last seven days. P.S: Google is also working to bring data-driven attribution to more advertisers and more ad types. Historically, data-driven attribution has supported Search, Shopping, Display and YouTube ads. Google is expanding its support to app conversions and will begin supporting Discovery formats (including those in Performance Max) next year.Google claims that “Advertisers who switch to data-driven attribution from another attribution model typically see a 6% average increase in conversions.” You can read the announcement from Google here.6. Google Ads Introduces Four New Features To The Insights Page - Google has introduced four new features to the Insights page in Google Ads - search terms insights, asset insights, audience insights, and change history insights.  Search terms insights let you see what your customers are searching for without having to examine every individual search term, Google explained. By grouping these terms into broader, intent-based categories, you can easily identify which themes are most popular with your customers along with metrics like conversion performance, search volume and search volume growth. Asset insights helps you learn about the creative assets that "resonate with your potential customers," Google wrote. This is an easy way to identify highly-engaged audiences, and can be used to inform the assets and landing pages you create for these groups, or even shift your entire marketing and product strategy. Using our previous sporting goods retailer example, you might see that bicycle-related image and video creative resonates with “Green Living Enthusiasts.” Based on this insight, you can pair these assets with a landing page that prominently features your sustainability efforts, or go one step further and use the insight to build out a completely new product line, Google added. Audience insights, was recently added to the account level on Google Ads. This insights page helps you understand the characteristics of the people who engaged with your business. These insights give you a better idea of what your customers care about, making it easier to tune your creative for their unique interests and traits. Change history insights help you identify how changes you've made in your account may impact performance. When there's a significant shift in your campaign's key metrics, this insight can help you find out which changes you made that may have caused this shift in performance — and then figure out how to proceed. 7. Google Rolls-out December 2022 Link Spam Update - Google has rolled out a December 2022 link spam update. In the announcement, Google wrote, “Our launch today, which we refer to as the December 2022 link spam update, will take about two weeks to fully roll out. Ranking may change as spammy links are neutralized and any credit passed by these unnatural links are lost. This launch will affect all languages.”This update is leveraging Google's SpamBrain - Google's AI-based spam prevention system that the search company launched in 2018. SpamBrain is credited by Google for catching about six times more spam sites in 2021 than it did in 2020, reducing hacked spam by 70% and reducing gibberish spam on hosted platforms by 75%.In the announcement, Google wrote that SpamBrain can not only “detect spam directly, it can now detect both sites buying links, and sites used for the purpose of passing outgoing links.”To avoid getting into trouble, follow the advice from July 2021 : “Site owners should make sure that they are following the best practices on links, both incoming and outgoing. Focusing on producing high quality content and improving user experience always wins out compared to manipulating links. Promote awareness of your site using appropriately tagged links, and monetize it with properly tagged affiliate links.”8. Google Recommends You To Stop Chasing Expired & Repurpose Domains - In the SEO world, expired domains are a big thing. So much so that there are forums and secondary marketplace to buy and sell expired domains with good Domain Authority (DA). Google's John Mueller said that using expired domains, and repurposed domains are "SEO-flotsam, index-cruft." John went on to add that search engines have had a lot of practice with dealing with that appropriately. John went on to add that you can "build a new site if you want," but he said, "don't assume there's old & tasty SEO-juice to lick up just by placing a site on an old domain."Back in Jan 2021, Aaseesh from the Google Webmaster Trends Analysts team said in a Google Webmaster Help thread that "Google understands when domains change ownership so it won't necessarily rank for the queries it used to rank pre change of ownership. So if the sole purpose of buying a domain is to get search traffic from the old domain, I would suggest against doing so since there's no benefit."There you go, another SEO myth busted. 9. Google: Diverse Content Can Also Rank If You Just Write For Your Readers - Danny Sullivan, the Google Search Liaison, said on Mastodon that your content does not need to be on one topic, one niche topic, for it to rank well. You can write about diverse topics on your site. The main thing, Danny said, was that you should write content however you want for your people and not for search engines.10. Google On Why Your Page Pops On/Off From The Search Index - When @seowolf asked John Muller what could be the reason for his page to shown in search results at a low position and then not showing up at all in search results. John responded “That can happen, and probably isn't particularly uncommon. Things can pop into the index for a bit, and then pop out again. When things are on the edge and the system has to make a yes/no decision, sometimes it goes one way for a while, and then the other way again. The web is noisy, I think that's fine.”Last year, John talked about “edge of indexing” - your pages are on the threshold of having enough quality to be in the Google index and not enough quality to be in the Google index. If you're teetering on the edge of indexing, there's always fluctuation.It basically means you need to convince Google that it's worthwhile to index more.What John is sharing aligns with Gary Illyes of Google shared about being on the edge of quality - if your pages disappear from Google Search and then reappear when you manually submit them to Google, that means you're on that edge. In fact, John Mueller of Google also said that if you need to submit pages to Google manually, it is likely a sign of a quality issue with those pages.11. Google Adds ‘Experience' To Search Quality Raters Guidelines. EAT Becomes EEAT. - In addition to AI based ranking, Google also leverages third-party Search Quality Raters (spread out around the world and highly trained using the Search Quality Raters Guidelines) to evaluate and rate a website. So Search Quality Raters Guidelines is considered as the Google Search Bible. If you want to rank higher and better then you have to read through the guidelines and make sure you are following it.Now. Google has updated the Google search quality raters guidelines and added a new E to E-A-T. Google is adding experience on top of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Google said that trust is the most important of all four elements here. What is Google looking for with experience? Google said when you write the content, does that "content also demonstrate that it was produced with some degree of experience, such as with actual use of a product, having actually visited a place or communicating what a person experienced?" Google explained that there are "some situations where really what you value most is content produced by someone who has first-hand, life experience on the topic at hand." Google shared this example, "if you're looking for information on how to correctly fill out your tax returns, that's probably a situation where you want to see content produced by an expert in the field of accounting. But if you're looking for reviews of a tax preparation software, you might be looking for a different kind of information—maybe it's a forum discussion from people who have experience with different services."Google said in the updated guidelines that Experience, Expertise and Authoritativeness are important concepts that can support your assessment of trust, with trust being the most important member of E-E-A-T. Google said, "trust is the most important member of the E-E-A-T family because untrustworthy pages have low E-E-A-T no matter how Experienced, Expert, or Authoritative they may seem."But how does "experience" differ from "expertise?" Google said, "pages that share first-hand life experience on clear "Your Money or Your Life” (YMML - pages or topics that could potentially impact a person's future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.)  topics may be considered to have high E-E-A-T as long as the content is trustworthy, safe, and consistent with well-established expert consensus. In contrast, some types of YMYL information and advice must come from experts."The latest (Dec 15, 2022) version of search quality raters guidelines is 176 pages long and can be found here. If reading this update is making you nauseated then reach out to us for a complimentary consultation. 

I recently live launched my evergreen program, and in today's episode, I am breaking down the results of that launch!In today's episode you'll learn:How I was able to make $841 before the launch even startedMy new launch mechanism strategy that is converting like gangbustersWhy live launching AND evergreen together is the secret to successHere are all the numbers from the episode:The offer:$297 Course$30/mo upsell with DFY templatesLaunch Mechanism:5-day live seriesTotal Leads: 297Total Ad Spend: $1482.20Leads from ads: 165Cost per lead: $8.89VIP upgrade $29Chance to win programAccess to recordings of the 5 daysBonus masterclassVIP sales: 29 $841Conversion rate: 9.7%VIP to BOB: 15 or 52%Total Leads: 297Total Sales: 75Sales from Leads: 25Challenge Conversion Rate: 8.4Sales from past Evergreen leads: 50Upsells to membership: 23Upsell conversion rate: 31%Total Revenue 23,359Total Cash Received: 10,369Total Profit: $21,876.80When you finish listening, I'd love to hear what you think! Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, share it to your Instagram stories and tag me, @jess.oconnell_! Or join us in the Facebook group to share your takeaways! Or slide into my DMs, I'd love to hear what your biggest takeaways are! Subscribe and Review!Thank you so much for tuning in, and see you here next time on The Quantum Course Creator Podcast!! Make sure you're subscribed so you're the first to know as soon as new episodes drop, and to get access to exclusive bonus content we reserve only for our subscribers.When you leave us a five-star review, we might feature it on an upcoming episode and give YOU a shout out right here on the show! Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what you love most about the podcast. Your reviews really do help people find the show, and I LOVE hearing from listeners like you!Follow us!www.jessoconnell.comhttps://www.instagram.com/jess.oconnell_/https://www.facebook.com/groups/thelaunchfixpodcast

Guest: CEO Zak Calisto | CEO of Karooooo| See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Hero We Need Is Starting a Movement This week on the podcast, Brian and Darryl are talking about the success of The Rippaverse’s initial campaign and what’s next. Episode Index Intro: 0:07 Rippaverse: 1:48 The Rippaverse The Rippaverse Has Arrived! https://rippaverse.com/ Campaign update… * Total Revenue: $2,553,311+ Total Purchasers: 28,994 Days To Go: 67 (*as of publication of this episode) Welcome to the Rippaverse https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDnPMdhIX-bM0t9T5Q6i3ZA Isom #1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPRJXDDRAL8 Rippaverese Banned on Reddit by Racist Mods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaZXlbEPhf8 Infamous Shirts for Naked Bodies… You’ll feel “shirty” when you buy our gear from the Flying Pork Apparel Co. New Comics This Week – Sponsored by comiXology Brian Contact Us The Infamous Podcast can be found wherever podcasts are found on the Interwebs, feel free to subscribe and follow along on social media. And don't be shy about helping out the show with a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help us move up in the ratings. @infamouspodcast facebook/infamouspodcast instagram/infamouspodcast stitcher Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play iHeart Radio contact@infamouspodcast.com Our theme music is ‘Skate Beat’ provided by Michael Henry, with additional music provided by Michael Henry. Find more at MeetMichaelHenry.com. The Infamous Podcast is hosted by Brian Tudor and Darryl Jasper, is recorded...

FansUnite Entertainment President Darius Eghdami joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share Q-1 2022 results that showed a very healthy increase in total revenue. The company saw total revenue of 9.67 million dollars in Q1 2022 which is an increase of 804% over Q1 2021. Eghdami telling Proactive the company also saw gross margin of 5.90 million or 61% in Q1 2022, as compared to 0.54 million or 51% in Q1 Fiscal 2021. The company says they saw increase in all business unites including the recently acquired American Affiliate.

Vejii Holdings CEO Kory Zelickson joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share news the company has reported record revenue as the company announced its Q1 financial numbers. Zelickson telling Proactive the company saw total revenue of 1,547,795 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, which was a 541% increase over March of 2021. Zelickson also shared consolidated gross margin percentage for the three months ended March 31, 2022, was 38% compared to 11% of March 2021. That amounts to a 242% increase.

Kidoz (KIDZ: TSXV) owns the biggest mobile advertising platform for kids and families. How big? There are almost 4,000 apps around the world using Kidoz, reaching over 300 MILLION kids. The company works with top brands, including Disney, McDonald's, Hasbro, and Lego, and is a trusted partner of Apple and Google. The company recently released Kidoz Inc. Announces Record Full Year 2021 Financial Results We sat down with Kidoz Inc. Co-CEO Jason Williams to discuss their recently announced financial results. Select Fiscal 2021 highlights: Total Revenue of $12,475,480 an increase of 75% over fiscal 2020 Total Revenue of $7,148,029 Ad Tech Advertising Revenue of $12,243,866 an increase of 81% over Ad Tech Advertising Revenue of $6,748,064 for fiscal 2020. Adjusted EBITDA of $1,507,951 compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $771,236 in fiscal 2020 Jason Williams, Kidoz Co-CEO stated: "Fiscal 2021 saw Kidoz's growth, profitability, and revenues reach new heights… The Company's continued and increasing pace of growth is attributed to potent market and consumer forces both from the wider digital economy and also specific to the Kidoz niche of private, safe, and contextual advertising. One of the key factors driving growth is the ever increasing dominance of mobile usage and mobile entertainment across all age groups. Mobile is consumers' preferred choice for entertainment and Kidoz provides a safe and high performance platform to reach hundreds of millions of consumers on their mobile devices." KIDOZ IS A GLOBAL PLAYER Eldad Ben Tora, Kidoz Co-CEO stated: "We continue to invest heavily into our systems and technology to increase our network reach and solidify our position as the market leader. The latest Kidoz technology that was released in 2021 has the power to further increase our growth rate and fill the billions of impressions exposed monthly on the Kidoz network. The most powerful new product is Kidoz's COPPA compliant programmatic technology solution: Kidoz Connect. Kidoz Connect creates a safe pipeline of advertising sources to be connected to the Kidoz Contextual Ad Network and funneled to the thousands of apps currently utilizing Kidoz monetization technology. Kidoz has also developed new tools for enabling the growth of performance campaigns and the Company has now expanded its offering to include both the teens (13-19) and parents' markets. Kidoz finished 2021 with exception growth, and we've carried that momentum into 2022 as we look to expand our market share and increase our rate of growth in 2022." Now sit back, relax and watch this powerful interview with Co-CEOs of Kidoz Inc.

Asset optimisation and investment diversification are the main supportive factors. #dusitinternational #DUSIT #EBITDA #revenue #SuphajeeSuthumpun #dusitthani #Thailand #hozpitality https://www.hozpitality.com/dusithotels/read-article/dusit-s-strategy-to-sustain-business-through-the-pandemic-results-in-ebitda-up-by-130-9-yoy-and-total-revenue-up-by-3-7-6802.html

Greg Madison, CEO of Shield Therapeutics #STX discusses the progress on the commercialization of their lead product Accrufer®/Feraccru® in the U.S. Trading Update Highlights - Unaudited, Revenue and Cash for the year ended 31 December 2021: Total Revenue of £ 1.5 million in line with market expectations (FY20: £10.4 million) including: ·    Net product revenue of £ 0.1 million from U.S. product sales (FY20: nil) ·    Royalty revenue of £ 0.9 million from product sales in the EU (FY20: £0.7 million) ·    Milestone payments of £ 0.5 million from the upfront payment of Korea Pharma on signing of the license agreement for commercialization in the Republic of Korea (FY20: £9.7 million from ASK Pharma in China) Cash on hand of £ 12.1 million (30 June 2021: £22.6 million; 31 December 2020: £2.9 million) U.S. Update: Shield launched Accrufer® in July, 2021 and reports: ·    Payer coverage increased since last update in December, now covering 60 million commercial lives resulting from several additional contracts being executed including Cigna, Humana, and Highmark ·    Awareness of Accrufer® among target prescribers doubled since launch to 65% ·    Healthcare professionals generated approximately 2500 prescriptions for Accrufer® since launch into our patient assistance and reimbursement hub with significant growth seen from 3rd quarter to 4th quarter

Kidoz (KIDZ: TSXV) owns the biggest mobile advertising platform for kids and families. How big? There are almost 4,000 apps around the world using Kidoz, reaching over 300 MILLION kids. The company works with top brands, including Disney, McDonald's, Hasbro, and Lego, and is a trusted partner of Apple and Google. The company recently released Record 2021 and Q4 Results. Select Q4 2021 highlights: Total Revenue of $5,883,484 - growth of 109% over $2,814,642 in Q3 Profit of $990,302, an increase of $1,065,342 over a loss of ($75,040) in Q3 Adjusted EBITDA of $1,353,442 - growth of 409% over $265,984 in Q3 We sat down with Kidoz Inc. Co-CEOs Jason Williams & Eldad Ben Tora to discuss their recently announced financial results. Select Fiscal 2021 highlights: Total Revenue of $12,433,573 - growth of 74% over 2020 Revenue of $7,148,029. Adjusted EBITDA of $1,507,720 compared to $771,236 in fiscal 2020. Jason Williams, Kidoz Co-CEO stated: "Kidoz occupies the perfect position as the leader in safe contextual mobile advertising. As broadcast television continues to decline and mobile apps continue to rise, the demand for safe advertising opportunities on mobile has never been higher. Advertisers are looking for brand-safe media with the widest reach and Kidoz is the solution. Kidoz is able to work to the specific requirements of leading family brands to build awareness and create engagement with every campaign and feature product." KIDOZ IS A GLOBAL PLAYER Eldad Ben Tora, Kidoz Co-CEO stated: "In 2021 Kidoz launched campaigns for brands in 58 different countries. Kidoz has built a global solution and is represented by a global network of sales agents who know the local representatives and brands looking to reach kids and families in a safe and compliant way. 2022 IS OFF TO A RECORD START Ben Tora added: “While Kidoz's growth was outstanding in 2021, management believes that we are only beginning to realize the potential of our technology and the strength of our market position …. 2022 has started at a record pace and management is confident that we will be able to continue to increase our growth. Kidoz continues to expand the number of markets in which we operate and the number of products we can monetize.” Now sit back, relax and watch this powerful interview with Co-CEOs of Kidoz Inc.

Want to learn how to easily use SEO to turn your website into a six-figure passive revenue stream? Sign up for my FREE webinar 3 Steps to Creating Passive Revenue From Your Blog (and how SEO is the Secret to a 6-Figure Recurring Revenue Stream!). #34: Curious about how much money a blogger can make? It's all here. In this episode, I'm spilling the tea on my 2021 income report and sharing hard numbers on What The Fab's revenue, expenses, and some lessons learned. I get into: - Why I'm so passionate about encouraging women to be transparent about money - How much revenue my business brought in in 2021 and the details about my various income streams - Sharing my business expenses and net profit - Hiring lessons from last year as I grew my team Snap a screenshot of the podcast and tag me @wtfab sharing your thoughts on this episode, so I can reshare it on my Stories too! Make sure you subscribe to the podcast to stay up to date on the latest episodes and interviews. Lastly, please rate and review to support this podcast!

Kidoz (KIDZ: TSXV) owns the biggest mobile advertising platform for kids and families. How big? There are almost 4,000 apps around the world using Kidoz, reaching over 300 MILLION kids. The company works with top brands, including Disney, McDonald's, Hasbro, and Lego, and is a trusted partner of Apple and Google. The company recently released impressive Q3 Results. Select Q3 2021 highlights: Total Revenue of $2,814,642 - growth of 47% compared to Q3 2020 Total Revenue of $1,919,973 and growth of 29% from revenue of $2,177,505 for the second quarter of 2021. Gross Profit of $1,226,534 - growth of 34% compared to Q3 2020 Gross Profit of $914,657 and growth of 20% from Gross Profit of $1,024,333 for the second quarter of 2021. Adjusted EBITDA of $265,984 compared to an adjusted EBITDA of $16,484 for Q2 2021. We sat down with Kidoz Inc. Co-CEOs Jason Williams & Eldad Ben Tora to discuss their recently announced Programmatic Solution "Kidoz Connect". This new product release is a unique programmatic solution providing 'review & monetize' technology to enable open market ad sourcing at scale. Kidoz Connect enables any brand, agency or DSP to programmatically reach the Kidoz unique inventory of over 300 million users accessible in a fully COPPA/GDPR compliant manner, through a single point of integration. This new technology could increase impressions sold by 3-5X. Co-CEO Eldad Ben Tora commented, "Kidoz Connect is currently live with select launch partners and we are actively developing and integrating a number of new sources that will together create the pipeline of programmatic ad campaigns available to Kidoz's app publisher network. As Kidoz advances its multiple product offerings, new opportunities arise in the bountiful mobile advertising ecosystem that is projected by eMarketer to exceed over US$400 billion by 2023 (eMarketer). Kidoz is perfectly positioned with powerful technology in a booming market and management anticipates a record Q4 and 2022 ahead." Now sit back, relax and watch this powerful interview with Co-CEOs of Kidoz Inc.

Kidoz (KIDZ: TSXV) owns the biggest mobile advertising platform for kids and families. How big? There are almost 4,000 apps around the world using Kidoz, reaching over 300 MILLION kids. The company works with top brands, including Disney, McDonald's, Hasbro, and Lego, and is a trusted partner of Apple and Google. We sat down with Kidoz Inc. Co-CEOs Jason Williams & Eldad Ben Tora to discuss 47% Revenue Growth in Q3 2021 Results. Select Q3 2021 highlights: Total Revenue of $2,814,642 - growth of 47% compared to Q3 2020 Total Revenue of $1,919,973 and growth of 29% from revenue of $2,177,505 for the second quarter of 2021. Gross Profit of $1,226,534 - growth of 34% compared to Q3 2020 Gross Profit of $914,657 and growth of 20% from Gross Profit of $1,024,333 for the second quarter of 2021. Adjusted EBITDA of $265,984 compared to an adjusted EBITDA of $16,484 for Q2 2021. What did Eldad Ben Tora, Company Co-CEO have to say? "Kidoz management is excited to release another quarter of strong revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth. The market forces powering our strategy continue to increase in strength as the enormous mobile advertising industry pivots towards contextual targeting which is at the core of Kidoz' technology. Advertisers, on a global basis, are shifting budgets to mobile advertising as television's reach continues its sharp decline. As global data and privacy regulations continue to be enacted and Apple and Google advance the security and privacy of their platforms, Kidoz benefits as our offering is completely aligned with data security and offers privacy to all those who adopt or engage with our products." Jason Williams, Kidoz Co-CEO also chimed in: "The Kidoz system continues to grow in scale and has seen an increased rate of adoption amongst app developers. Kidoz is the contextual ads market leader with more than double the SDK installs over the next competitive network. As we continue to advance our products we increase the value that we can provide to our advertisers and publishers and further increases our growth. The Kidoz programmatic technology is live and actively filling publisher inventory with campaigns safely sourced from the programmatic marketplace. As Kidoz advances its multiple product offerings, new opportunities arise in the bountiful mobile advertising ecosystem that is projected by eMarketer to exceed over US$400 billion by 2023 (eMarketer). Kidoz is perfectly positioned with powerful technology in a booming market and management anticipates a record Q4 ahead." Sit back, relax and watch this powerful interview.

If you love hearing tons of numbers in your headphones, this episode is for you

We are back with Season 2!What is total revenue management? What are some missed opportunities for revenue that are common among hoteliers? And what can hoteliers do about it?  Join host Kristian Lupinski and special guest Pablo Torres as they discuss these topics and more!  Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/imeethotel)

Kidoz (KIDZ: TSXV) owns the biggest mobile advertising platform for kids and families. How big? There are almost 4,000 apps around the world using Kidoz, reaching over 300 MILLION kids. The company works with top brands, including Disney, McDonald's, Hasbro, and Lego, and is a trusted partner of Apple and Google. We sat down with Kidoz Inc. Co-CEOs Jason Williams & Eldad Ben Tora to discuss the entrance into lucrative teens and parents segment of soon to be $400 BILLION Mobile Ad Market. We discuss: New markets Anticipated growth Agencies that have already booked +more Q2 2021 highlights include: Total Revenue of $2,177,505 – growth of 196% compared to Q2 2020 Total Revenue of $736,827. AdTech revenue of $2,120,500 – growth of 247% compared to Q2 2020 AdTech Revenue $611,709. Gross Profit of $1,024,333 – growth of 214% compared to Q2 2020 Gross Profit of $325,769. EBITDA of $48,079 a 124% improvement from an EBITDA loss of ($197,057) in Q2 2020. Sit back, relax and watch this powerful interview.

Kidoz owns the biggest mobile advertising platform for kids and families. How big? There are almost 4,000 apps around the world using Kidoz, reaching over 300 MILLION kids. The company works with top brands, including Disney, McDonald's, Hasbro, and Lego, and is a trusted partner of Apple and Google. We sat down with Kidoz Inc. Co-CEOs Jason Williams & Eldad Ben Tora to discuss their stunning Q2 growth, and more. Q2 2021 highlights include: Total Revenue of $2,177,505 - growth of 196% compared to Q2 2020 Total Revenue of $736,827. AdTech revenue of $2,120,500 - growth of 247% compared to Q2 2020 AdTech Revenue $611,709. Gross Profit of $1,024,333 - growth of 214% compared to Q2 2020 Gross Profit of $325,769. EBITDA of $48,079 a 124% improvement from an EBITDA loss of ($197,057) in Q2 2020. Sit back, relax and watch this powerful interview.

Scott Neslage, Director of Revenue Management, for The Indigo Road Hospitality Group, joins Jason Emanis, from his soon-to-open, mountain lodge, the Skyline Lodge, in Highlands, North Carolina. Scott talks about his start in hospitality at Starbucks, his move into revenue management of restaurants, and now, hotels. Scott goes on to explain how the hotels that are investing in new technology within the context of Total Revenue Management, are more apt to succeed. More episodes at https://shr.global/soundbites.

Kidoz owns the biggest mobile advertising platform for kids and families. How big? There are almost 4,000 apps around the world using Kidoz, reaching over 300 MILLION kids. The company works with top brands, including Disney, McDonald's, Hasbro, and Lego, and is a trusted partner of Apple and Google. We sat down with Kidoz Inc. $KIDZ $KDOZF Co-CEOs Jason Williams & Eldad Ben Tora to discuss their explosive, unstoppable business model, their stunning Q1 growth, and more. Total Revenue of $1,55M up 58% AdTech revenue of $1,5M up 68% 2021 Gross Profit of $685,041 up 54% 2021 EBITDA of up 111%

After fourteen rejections, as I outlined on episode 247, I finally landed a BookBub Featured Deal. Once I tallied up my results, I had lost more than $4,000 running the promotion. I’ll tell you why, and why I’d still do another BookBub Featured Deal in a heartbeat. My BookBub Featured Deal Results Book: The Heart to Start: Stop Procrastinating & Start Creating BookBub Category: Advice and How-To Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2020 List Price: $9.99 Deal Price: $1.99 Territory: United States BookBub Promotion Fee: $1,008 Promotion Size: ~1,000,000 subscribers Copies Sold: 2,541 Revenue: $1,841 Supplemental Ad Spend: $4,847 Total Profit (Loss): ($4,014)   The breakdown of copies sold (across all countries): Amazon: 2,236 Apple: 204 Barnes & Noble: 49 Google: 36 Kobo: 16 Total Copies Sold: 2,541   The breakdown of revenue results (across all countries): Amazon: $1,462 Apple: $266 Barnes & Noble: $59 Google: $34 Kobo: $19 Total Revenue: $1,841   Overall ad spend results, broken down by network: BookBub Ads: $1,910 BookBub Featured Deal: $1,008 Amazon: $1,761 Facebook: $1,187 Instagram influencers: $185 Total Ad Spend: $6,051 My BookBub Featured Deal made my book a bestseller across several categories The Heart to Start ranked as high as: #136 overall on Amazon #1 in Self-Help/Creativity #1 in Arts & Photography #1 in Entrepreneurship & Small Business #6 overall in Self-Help #6 overall in Business & Investing Three reasons my BookBub Featured Deal results were poor (financially) The three main reasons I lost $4,000 running my BookBub Featured Deal are: I was trying for a bestseller list I poorly allocated advertising spend throughout the promotion I poorly allocated advertising spend amongst platforms 1. I was trying for the WSJ bestseller list Word on the street is, to qualify for the Wall Street Journal nonfiction ebook best-seller list, you need to sell 3,000–5,000 ebooks in a week, in the U.S. Supposedly you need to sell at least 500 of those copies in a single non-Amazon channel to trigger reporting to the list. I contemplated not trying for the list and instead reaping what profits I could, but decided to go for it. I felt The Heart to Start was a longshot, but was curious to learn so I could later apply what I learned on my then-upcoming-now-out book, Mind Management, Not Time Management (read about my BookBub Featured New Release results for my new book). Despite spending more than $6,000 on the promotion, I did not break the 3,000-copy barrier. Here is my sales breakdown for U.S. sales (the above sales are worldwide): Sales (U.S.) Amazon: 2,123 B&N: 51 (countries unknown) Apple: 185 Kobo: 7 Google: 29 Total U.S. Copies Sold: 2,395 As you can see, perhaps harder than selling 3,000 copies overall is selling 500 copies in a non-Amazon channel (for this book in this genre with my audience, anyway).   2. I poorly allocated ad spend throughout the promotion I broke my ad spend down into three buckets: Warm Up: Starting around 10 days before the promotion, I built awareness about my book to “warm up” the audience, so they would act more readily when the deal hit their inboxes. During: The day of and a couple days after my promotion, I advertised the discount (where possible). Last Day: The final day of the promotion, I advertised the discount, with messaging that it was the last day (where possible). My ad spend results amongst these three buckets: Warm Up: $2,225 (46%) During: $1,477 (30%) Last Day: $1,145 (24%) Total: $4,847 I do not recommend this allocation. Without much time to plan my promotion, I got overly-zealous, and spent way too much early on. By the time I got to the Last Day, I was trigger shy and didn’t want to spend more money. If anything, this should have been reversed. The last day of any promotion will generally get you more bang for your buck. In the future, I plan to spend 50% of budget on the Last Day. 3. I poorly allocated supplemental advertising spend amongst platforms I ran ads on Amazon, BookBub, and Facebook. My breakdown amongst these channels: Amazon Ads: $1,761 (36%) BookBub Ads: $1,910 (39%) Facebook: $1,177 (24%) Total: $4,847 (note, I spent $10 on Instagram ads, which went to Facebook thus the discrepancy from above “Facebook” numbers. I also paid $185 for promotion from Instagram influencers, which is not reflected in this report, for simplicity.) I do not recommend this allocation. I spent too heavily on Facebook, and I especially did so during the Warm Up phase. I do not normally advertise on Facebook, and don’t aspire to build my skills in running Facebook ads. I already run Amazon Ads regularly, but their terms and platform features make it impossible or impractical to advertise discounts, especially with “Last Day” messaging. I think you get more bang for your buck on a BookBub Featured Deal by advertising on BookBub itself. Yes, you can target BookBub subscribers on Facebook, but it’s more straightforward to advertise on BookBub. Therefore, in the future, I plan to spend 50% of budget on BookBub Ads. The long-term results of my BookBub Featured Deal Part of the appeal of a BookBub Featured Deal is not just the sales you make during the promotion. There are also long-term benefits. Amazon algorithm boost (and increased profits) Word on the street is, Amazon has 30-day and 90-day “cliffs” on their algorithms. If your book has a big sales spike, you can expect to see a lift in organic sales for 30 days, and a less-pronounced lift that lasts for 90 days. I can tell you that once Seth Godin recommended The Heart to Start on his blog, my sales were lifted permanently. In the five months before the month of my BookBub Featured Deal, my average monthly profit for The Heart to Start was $511. In the five months after the month of my BookBub Featured Deal, my average monthly profit for The Heart to Start was $633. I saw a 24% increase in average monthly profits after my BookBub Featured Deal. It’s impossible to say the deal caused my increased profits, but I’m sure it didn’t hurt. New readers It’s fantastic to get a shot of 2,500 new readers in a single week. The effects your book can have on someone can last a lifetime. It’s hard to measure the impact new readers can have on your author business, because new readers may buy every new book you publish for decades. Sales of other formats, or books BookBub Featured Deals are discounts on ebooks, but readers who like your ebook will sometimes buy other formats. Directly after my deal, I noticed a spike of a few dozen sales of my IngramSpark hardcover version. I suspect readers who liked the book picked up “souvenir” copies. I make more than $8 per book of profit on the hardcover. It can be worth losing money initially on a BookBub Featured Deal if your book is the first in a series. As a nonfiction author, I don’t string together my books into series – at least not as strongly as fiction authors tend to. It’s hard for me to say how the promotion affected sales of my other books. I was promoting a new book at the time, too, so there were too many confounding factors. More reviews You need decent reviews to get a BookBub Featured Deal, but your deal also brings in a lot of new reviews. When I ran my BookBub Featured Deal, I had 275 Amazon ratings/reviews. After the deal, I quickly gained more reviews. Now, nine months after the promotion, I’m closing in on 500. Cheaper Amazon Ads When you make more sales on Amazon, your ads run more. This also usually means you can run your ads more cheaply. As I reported in my June 2020 income report, I had a number of Lockscreen Ads set up on Amazon well before my BookBub Featured Deal. With my 18¢-per-click bid, they weren’t running. But once the promotion kicked in, suddenly I was getting cheaper clicks. More sales on Amazon leads to cheaper ads, which can lead to more sales. Why would I run another BookBub Featured Deal? My BookBub Featured Deal wasn’t pure gravy like my Kindle Daily Deal, but I would run another in a heartbeat. Why? Because I’ve learned through experience that I should have allocated my ad spend better. If I spent ads more wisely on a future book, I may be able to hit that WSJ best-seller list. And if I didn’t try for a list at all, I’d be interested to see if I could break even for the promotion – which would surely be profitable in the long-run, thanks to the effects of a sales boost. Free budget calculator To better plan my next BookBub Featured Deal, I’ve created a calculator. Enter your total budget and it helps break down ad spend according to phase of campaign and advertising channel. Get this calculator free here. No email address required, though if you’d like to get my highly-detailed income reports delivered to your inbox, I do recommend signing up for blog post updates. Want help with your BookBub Featured Deal? Call me! If you’re planning a BookBub Featured Deal, and would like to discuss it with me, I do consultations. Book a call with me on Clarity or Superpeer (recommended). The Mind Management, Not Time Management audiobook is here! Listen to the Mind Management, Not Time Management audiobook free with an Audible trial, or search for the audiobook on your favorite platform. Thank you for having me on your podcasts! Thank you for having me on your podcast! Thank you to Trey Kauffman at The Mosaic Life and the team at Domestika for having me as a Comic Sans expert on their Curious Minds podcast. As always, you can see a full list of podcasts I’ve been here. About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast, his Love Mondays newsletter, and self-publishing coaching David helps you make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher YouTube RSS Email Support the show on Patreon Put your money where your mind is. Patreon lets you support independent creators like me. Support now on Patreon »     Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/bookbub-featured-deal-results/

Everyone loves a good trinity, and Amazon PPC is no different. Maintaining control of your total ACOS is great, but remember it’s not the beginning and end of a successful Amazon PPC campaign. If you play your cards right, you can improve your bottom line by raising it. Stephen Noch returns as a guest host as we talk about the importance of paying attention to each part of this total ACOS trinity, the relationships they have, and how leveraging the trinity can increase your profits. We’ll see you in The Badger Den! Highlights: 1:05 Intro 4:02 The Rise of Total ACOS 7:27 The Trinity: ACOS, Total ACOS, Organic 11:22 Increasing Total ACOS for Higher Sales 20:45 The Second Trinity: Ad Revenue, Organic Revenue, Total Revenue 24:27 Ad Revenue % of Total Revenue 32:00 How Total ACOS Goals Relate to the Trinity 37:47 The Total ACOS Trinity in Action 43:45 Closing Thoughts + What’s New with Stephen Links & Resources All our episodes and show notes are available at https://www.adbadger.com/podcast​​​ Ad Badger Version 2: https://www.adbadger.com/pricing/​​​ Get to know Stephen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-noch-142316138/ Have a question or suggestion for the show? Leave a Voicemail: adbadger.com/voicemail or 833-BADGERZ Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno (pedrojmr13@gmail.com) Graphic Designer: Emma Walker Content Writer: Vincent Gulliver

Founder of Finimize, the world’s largest and most engaged finance community •Previously co-founded one of the largest ecommerce players in Switzerland, sold with 200 employees to the largest Swiss media house •Forbes 30 under 30 in 2016, mentor at Techstars

Episode 59 - Aaron Christy - Hit $10M in Revenue in YEAR 2 **DISCLAIMER** This was shot on the American Contractor Summit stage, as we were testing audio and video. The video is good, but the audio had some issues we hadn't worked out yet. The reason we are posting this is that the content is AMAZING! We could not keep this from you in good conscience! Enjoy and we will see you at the Summit on January 14-15. Get your pass at https://fb.me/e/3rhgZJDi6! We are gearing up for the American Contractor Summit!  We are live on the actual stage that in just a few days will feature some of the best minds in our industry! Today, we are giving you a preview and we were able to get Aaron Christy to join us!  Aaron is the owner of Indy Roof Company that was founded in 2018.  Aaron has grown his business to over 8 figures in revenue in just 2 years with no industry background or prior knowledge. This is a fascinating story to hear as he has done most of his learning by attending industry events like the American Contractor Summit, Roofcon and others! **The American Contractor Show is made possible because of our sponsors!**Atlas Roofing - Shingles - Providing premium quality roofing and insulation products for distribution throughout the world. Go to www.atlasroofing.com to learn more!Contractor Coach PRO - Coaching Contractors to Work On IT, Not IN It! Go to www.contractorcoachpro.com to learn more!Hail Trace - The most accurate hail mapping application in the world! Learn more at www.hailtrace.comC3 Group Inc. - Claims & Construction Consulting - C3 Group is a nationally connected team of Public Adjusters. They have been the industry experts on large loss, commercial claims for the past 8 years. For more information visit www.c3adjusters.com.RoofScope by Scope Technologies, Inc. - RoofScope reports compile all essential roofing measurements and images into an easy-to-read, environmentally friendly two-page report. Get started today at www.roofscope.com.CompanyCam - The only app every contractor needs. Document your jobs. Communicate with your crews. Cover your company’s butt. Learn more at CompanyCam.com. The Catalyst Group - The Essential partner for contractors! Learn more and join for free at www.thecatalystgroup.co---#stormrestoration #insurancerestoration #roofingcompany #roofingsales #stormrestoration #roofing #supplementing #insuranceclaim #insurancerestorationpro #roofers #rooferslife #artofthesupplement #jointhemovement #roofersofinstagram #hail #stormers #atlasroofing #c3group #contractorcoachpro #roofscope #americancontractorshow #contractor #construction #constructionlife #contractorlife 

Mike Ozanian gets into Forbes' NHL evaluations, with the slightly alarming insight that the top-five teams account for a quarter of all league revenues...and that other than those teams, the remaining franchises are reliant on making the playoffs to turn a profit

WE ARE GOING TO TACKLE the MOST CRITICAL STEP in IMPLEMENTING PROFIT FIRST that often causes great pause in the business owners who have read Profit First and have declared they are ALL in... but sometimes lack the confidence to commit to the reality that is there is a greater disparity between their TOTAL REVENUE and REAL REVENUE.... Download Show Notes

In the latest episode of the RevCast Podcast we caught up with Julie Grieve, founder and CEO of Criton - an award-winning technology provider based in Edinburgh. Julie discusses driving a total revenue management approach with the help of technology, what the main challenges are, how to implement this approach and what cultural shift needs to happen for a business to adopt this technology. Julie emphasises the importance of providing a service that exceeds guest expectations and makes staff's lives easier. Criton enables hotels to digitise their guest information and bring all their guest-facing technology into one easy-to-use branded mobile app. Criton's mission is to give independent hotels access to the same technology that large hotel chains already adopt.

2019 A Year in Review My word for 2019 was BOLD and it has definitely been a BOLD year, although completely different from what I anticipated. I expected myself to be more BOLD on the outside - externally and visibly - but instead this year has been more about catching up with the fast growth of the previous two years and having a BOLDER mindset. It all makes sense in hindsight but there were definitely times where I felt as if I was not living up to my word for the year. As I am writing this review, I feel immensely grateful for everything that has happened this year and I can absolutely see how it is helping me to become ready for a new and BOLD decade. Quick snapshot of 2019 $2.2M in revenue12 team members158 travel days1 new eye Big Travel Year 2019 was a big travel year and I loved every minute of it! I spent 122 days at home in Switzerland, 83 days at my second home in Iceland and 158 days on the road. What may sound exhausting to some, is exciting to me. I love traveling and it is one of the reasons I wanted to build an online business. I don't want to have a local team or a local office. I want to be able to work whenever and wherever and that's what I am doing - and I love it.  Below is my travel schedule for the year, month by month.  January: 5 days Reykjavik → 20 days Zurich →  4 days Toronto → 3 days Phoenix February: → 4 days Laguna Beach → 7 days Reykjavik→  3 days Zurich → 7 days Nendaz (Switzerland) →  6 days Zurich March: → 3 days Amsterdam →  4 days Zurich → 10 days Reykjavik → 4 days Phoenix → 2 days San Diego →  3 days London → 4 days Reykjavik → 1 day Zurich April: 2 days Zurich → 12 days Dubai → 2 days Zurich → 1 day Amsterdam → 5 days Alicante → 4 days Zurich → 2 days Ascona → 1 day Zurich → 1 days Phoenix May: 2 days Phoenix → 13 days Zurich → 4 days Valencia → 6 days Reykjavik → 6 days Brand (Austria)  June: → 3 days Chicago → 4 days Zurich → 7 days Nendaz (Switzerland) → 12 days Zurich → 4 days Brand (Austria) July:→ 6 days Zurich → 25 days Reykjavik August:13 days Reykjavik → 9 days Zurich → 3 days Reykjavik → 6 days South of Iceland → 1 day Reykjavik September:1 day Reykjavik →  3 days Phoenix → 25 days New York → 1 day Phoenix October:→ 46 days New York → 26 days Zurich November:→ 4 days San Diego → 3 days Phoenix → 9 days Los Angeles → 4 days Zurich → 10 days Transatlantic Cruise(Genova, Marseille, Barcelona, Malaga) December: 8 days Transatlantic cruise (Barbados, Antigua, St. Maarten, Martinique, Guadeloupe) → 5 days Zurich → 2 days Stuttgart → 4 days Zurich → 4 days Alicante → 8 days Reykjavik The biggest traveling highlight of the year was going on a transatlantic cruise. I had been on a cruise once before when I went on an Abraham Hicks cruise to Alaska in 2016 but Martin, my husband, had never been on a cruise before. Since we are planning to go on a 3-week Antarctica cruise in 2022 to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary, Martin wanted to go on a cruise once before to see if he liked it. Turns out that we both loved it, especially the days at sea. On my previous cruise there were 2 separate days at sea but on this transatlantic cruise there were 5 consecutive days at sea.  There was something magical about crossing the Atlantic, the soft movement of the ship and the endless sea with not a single ship in sight. Martin and I were both able to completely relax and recharge which was so needed after a busy year. We are now even more excited about our dream cruise in 2022 to Antarctica where I'll make my dream of seeing penguins in their natural habitat a reality.  Growing Pains Let's rewind back to the end of 2018. I was feeling tired. In August 2018 I started a brand new group coaching and accountability program called SOMBA Momentum and I was also running 4 mastermind groups; 2 Momentum Masterminds, 1 Accelerator Mastermind and 1 VIP Mastermind. The plan was to retire the 2 Momentum Masterminds in favour of the new SOMBA Momentum program but for 4 months I was running 5 group programs instead of ideally only 3. I was running too many programs and I was running out of energy and I realised it. The year was coming to an end so I knew I could pull through but I began to wonder about 2019.  In October 2018, I started to think about merging two of my higher level masterminds, Accelerator and VIP, into one. I wanted to have more space and time in my calendar to be creative, create more content and finally write a book. Instead of taking a swift decision I went back and forth on whether I should merge Accelerator and VIP into one program or wait and see how many signups I got. To say that I agonized over this is an understatement. Since I was so indecisive on what to do, I also didn't do my best at marketing both programs. And suddenly it was almost Christmas and I realised that I had to make a decision.  On December 23, after one more sleepless night over this decision, I finally sent an email to those who had signed up for these two programs and announced to them that I was merging the two programs and upgrading all of those who had signed up for Accelerator to VIP. Of course Accelerator members were ecstatic about the change but I didn't feel so good for those who had already signed up for VIP so I gave them an extra bonus too. I felt relieved after the decision like I do after every big decision I make in my business. And then I thought to myself, why didn't I make this decision right away in October? Besides merging two programs, I also had to take a hard look and see if there was anything that I could stop doing or at least pause for a while. Already in October I had stopped recording new episodes for Sigrun Sparks which is a 90 sec daily audio experience. Still today my team is running the 100 episodes that I created from May to September 2018. In my mind I have just paused the production of new episodes and when the time is right I will start again.  At the end of December 2018 I didn't have the energy to record any new episodes for my podcast The Sigrun Show so we re-ran older episodes that I felt were good but hadn't received the downloads they deserved - and this turned out to be a good idea. I didn't have to record 10 new episodes and these episodes got a new life.  The decisions to stop something, merge something or pause something are not easy but  through this experience I believe I am much more willing to make a decision like that and make that decision faster than I was before. I had more growing pains to go through in 2019. It had been clear since I tripled my revenue from $340K to $1M in 2017 that I needed to grow my team but still hadn't.  There was something holding me back and I couldn't pinpoint what it was. Was I worried about the investment? Not really but maybe a tiny bit. Was I worried about not finding the right people? Partly yes as I had hired and fired a lot of contractors over the years. Was I worried about the time it takes to train them? A little bit. Was I worried about changing the team dynamic? Somewhat I guess. But overall I didn't have a clear answer on why I wasn't growing my team when we so obviously needed more help to achieve all the goals that I wanted to achieve.  As I stood in front of my mastermind group in February 2019 explaining to them my vision and listing all my goals for 2019, I realised that the biggest thing holding me back was my resistance to growing my team.  My mastermind buddies were amazed how far I have grown my business with such a small team but it was crystal clear to everyone in the room that the only way I was going to achieve my goals was to build a bigger team. Then one of my mastermind buddies, who rarely speaks up unless she has something important to say, said: “Sigrun, I think the reason you are not growing your team, is that you want to prove to the world, to women, that you, as a woman, can do it all on your own.” Boom! That hit me.  Yes, I want to prove to myself and prove to other women that they can do it. And my mastermind buddy continued: “Sigrun, you've proven that you can do it, you've already built a million dollar business”. Boom! Yes, I have. “Now build a dream team to achieve your vision”. She hit the nail on the head and I felt something being released, the resistance was less. The day before that memorable hot seat I had written and published three job descriptions. We took our time with the hiring, the ad was up for over a month, we got over 300 applications and then my team interviewed potential candidates and we gave them tests to complete. We ended up hiring 4 employees instead of 3, although a few months later we had to let one of them go.  Overall I added 5 members to my team in 2019, plus I hired an event manager as a contractor and 4 new coaches for my programs. Today I feel no resistance to growing the team, actually I feel the opposite, I am constantly thinking about what role I want to hire next and if I know someone I could hire. I am really enjoying building a dream team. Living in New York In February I said to my husband: “I would love to live in New York for a month.”“Let‘s do it”, he said. A few hours later we found the perfect studio apartment in the middle of Manhattan. The dream of living somewhere else for a month was no longer a dream. It was going to happen and it happened in September 2019. We moved to New York for a month without big plans. Interestingly, I got several invitations to events even if I didn‘t tell anyone that I was going to be in New York. Somehow the Universe sent me people and/or events that happened exactly during the time I was in New York. And of course I took advantage of that.  The first thing we did was to set up our office space. As luck would have it, there were two tables in our studio and two monitors! We had to get a few things, like a stand for my microphone and keyboards as we had not thought everything through when we packed for the trip. Martin didn't mind going shopping because all the things we needed were in our favourite shop in New York - B&H. I think Martin went there at least 4 times during our stay if not more often. We quickly established a routine in our new home-for-a-month. Martin would go to Starbucks in the morning and get a Latte Macchiato for himself and a Chai Tea Latte with almond milk for me. We would work in the morning from 9am to 12pm and then go to lunch at one of the many restaurants around our area.  We would then work in the afternoon from 1pm to 6pm and then go out for dinner. Our studio apartment had a decent kitchen but neither of us like to cook and New York just has so many great restaurants. The view from the apartment was amazing so I took a picture every morning and every evening. I also used the opportunity to have a photoshoot in New York, right after I arrived. We did one inside the apartment and another one outdoors just before we left New York.  September turned out to be a great month to go to events and meet people. The first event I went to was Marie Forleo's book launch in New York were I met a few fellow B-Schoolers (I did B-School in 2013) and fans.  I met up with Jon Briggs who does trailers for people like Mark Schaefer and Gary Vee and he introduced me Steve Cohen, the most connected man in the world and producer for the Altucher Show. Steve then invited me to attend two events with James Altucher, one was were he did stand-up comedy and the second one was with Ryan Holiday where they were discussing his new book. At that event I met Derek Halpern, who sat down at my table.  And then I was invited to Selena Soo's VIP Networking Dinner with 30 other entrepreneurs and media people. You may or may not know the people I have mentioned. My point isn't the name dropping but the fact that you can meet so many people in New York is amazing. No wonder a lot of entrepreneurs live in New York! New eye 2019 was the year that I finally had an eye operation. Since 6 years I've known that I have a cataract in my right eye. I didn't see it coming, it happened gradually. I was having all kinds of issues in the right side of my body which were not all explainable so I thought about going to the eye doctor. The eye doctor didn't see anything wrong with my right eye, so I asked him to look again. And then he shouted: You have a cataract! I was in shock. Isn't that something that 70-80 year old people get? Obviously there are exceptions and I am one of them. The eye doctor wanted to operate right away but I didn't trust him. I believed him when he said I had a cataract but I didn't think operating so fast was a good idea and also not by a local eye doctor that rarely does eye operations. I got a second and a third opinion, both eye doctors agreed with me to wait. This was six years ago. What nobody told me back then is that you shouldn't wait too long. Earlier this year I had lost all sight on my right. I see a bit of colour but that's it. It is like looking through a white paper bag. Check what you see, it's not much I can tell you. My husband noticed that my right eye had started to wander off and didn't look straight. We even started to see this in pictures of me. It was time to have that eye operation. There were two reasons why I waited so long, one was that the more experienced eye doctors recommended it and second, I wanted the latest and best technology. I had done my research and found out that there is a multifocal lens you can get as a replacement when they move your own lens. And I decided that was what I wanted. I wanted to be able to walk around and use my computer and read a book without glasses. In July I had an appointment at an eye clinic in Zurich. They did all kinds of test on my right eye but it was very hard to measure anything because my right eye is like a white paper bag where I don't even see what I am supposed to be looking at. The results were devastating, even more shocking than having the cataract in the first place. You cannot have the multifocal lens, the eye doctor said. I was in shock ... and cried when I got outside the eye clinic. I had waited too long…  But I had been waiting too long to get the right treatment and was not willing to take no for an answer so I asked for a second appointment with the head doctor of the clinic. An appointment was set up for August and I flew especially from Iceland to Switzerland. At the clinic I was first sent to a different doctor who told me all about a test that we had to do to simulate the eye operation. I asked again to see the head doctor and after a bit of back and forth I could finally see her - and she agreed to the multifocal lens that I originally wanted. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ A date for the eye surgery was set - Tuesday October 8, 2019. According to the eye doctors all went well but it took me a few days to recover. Within 2 days I could see 100% with my right eye and it was amazing to be able to read a book and sit at computer without needing glasses.  A few days later though, my eye sight dropped to 60%, I noticed as we were driving that I couldn't read the motorway signs anymore. The eye doctors had warned me that because my cataract was so strong, that I would most definitely have to have a post-cataract eye laser operation about 3 months after the first operation.  Instead of waiting 3 months the eye doctors decided to do the second operation only 3 weeks after the first operation to improve my eyesight. The date for the 2nd operation was November 18, 2019. I felt an immediate improvement and in the eye test that I did right afterwards I guessed that my eyesight was at 80%.  Just before Christmas 2019 I was invited for a final check and my eyesight had improved even more. Now I have 100% eyesight in my right eye! What a relief after everything. I just need to have the left eye operated at some point but probably not until 2021. Finances When I read other people's year in review blog posts, I am naturally always curious about their numbers because I am a business coach and I help women make money. It would be weird if I wasn't interested in numbers. This is why I'm including this detailed section with my revenue and costs because I know you're curious, too. Total Revenue in 2019 was $2M The 2019 results are a $500K revenue increase from 2018 which is over 30% growth. I started the year aiming to double the revenue from $1.5M in 2018 to $3M in 2019 but already by the end of January I adjusted the projection to $2.5M, so I am pretty happy with our results, especially considering all the issues we had with Facebook ads in all of our launches. The revenue for SOMBA in 2019 was similar to our SOMBA revenue in 2018 and the key growth area was my new group coaching and accountability program, SOMBA Momentum.  SOMBA revenue was $1.1M in 2019 Although it wasn't our original plan, my team and I did three SOMBA launches in 2019. The original plan was to do two launches, like in 2018, but in January and June, instead of January and September. Our reasoning was that it would be good to have people start just before we run a 60-day summer challenge inside SOMBA called SOMBA Summer School. But our June launch didn't work out the way we wanted, partly due to Facebook ads and partly due to the heat wave that went over Europe in the week of our launch. That's why we added a September launch and were able to close off with over a $1M in SOMBA revenue. Our Facebook ad troubles started already in September 2018 when we hit an invisible daily ad spending limit and couldn't spend our ad budget. Despite talking to three Facebook ad experts, none of them could figure out what was happening.  It was actually Martin, my husband, who knows nothing about Facebook ads that figured out that there was a limit on our daily ad spend. Our Facebook ad manager was sceptical that this was the reason but after checking with Facebook, turns out that Martin was right and Facebook was willing to increase our invisible daily ad spend limit. Unfortunately this was already on our open cart day so it was too late.  In the three launches in 2019 our Facebook ads issues were around ad disapprovals. We've had to completely change the language of our ad copy and also our landing pages and sales pages to get through the eagle eye of Facebook. Getting a lot of ads disapproved increased costs so overall lead cost went up in all three launches.  A lot of time was also spent on writing ad copy, much more than in previous years, which is something we have to factor in now. In our latest launch we feel we have finally got the hang of getting our ads approved and currently our Facebook ads are running smoothly - fingers crossed! Mastermind groups revenue was $1M In 2019 we ran two group programs; SOMBA Momentum, a group coaching and accountability program, and VIP Mastermind, a true mastermind program. Both are 12 month programs but the sales process is very different. VIP Mastermind starts once a year, in January, Momentum on the other hand starts at any time. Most of our Mastermind group clients come from SOMBA and therefore we don't need to run any ads or launch these two programs. In January 2020 starts a new program, RED CIRCLE, which is for women who are already making $500K or more.  Other revenue streams were over $100K Under other revenue streams falls the Selfmade Summit, my biggest and boldest project to date, happening in June 2020 in Reykjavik, Iceland. We soft-launched our super early bird tickets during SIGRUN LIVE in October and they sold out in 48 hrs.  Net Profit was 10% or $220K When most online entrepreneurs talk about profit, they actually mean salary, they sometimes even call it take-home-profit. They run their businesses as sole proprietorships and any profit they make is actually their salary.  I've always run my business as a limited liability company and therefore any profit my company makes is not my salary but a profit that belongs to the company. In some countries it makes sense to pay yourself dividends from your company profit but in Switzerland that doesn't make sense because the tax dividends double. First you pay tax on your company profit before you can pay yourself dividends and then you pay income tax on the dividends. The best way to pay myself is through a salary. When I talk about profit, I mean company profit, after salary, company taxes, depreciation of company assets and currency losses or gains. And that's a very different profit than the one most online entrepreneurs talk about. I actually don't want a lot of profit in my business, a 5% profit is more than enough for a business that I never plan to sell.  Instead I want to invest any potential profit into the growth of my business before the end of the year. This investment can be in the form of a new project like a venue for a conference, larger ad budget, expanding my team, creating an investment fund etc.  Next time you hear someone talk about profit, ask them what kind of profit they are talking about.  If I would calculate profit like most online entrepreneurs do I could easily have a 50% profit in my business but that would not be smart business- and tax-wise and that's why I don't do it. Total costs were $1.9M Employees & contractors $700KThe biggest expense in my business is paying people. This includes me and my husband, all employees, all contractors, and all outsourced tasks. My team now consists of 4 full-time employees, 8 part-time employees/contractors, a 2-people podcasting team, 3 external coaches, and I regularly work with photographers and videographers. In addition we have several tasks that we outsource e.g. transcription services. It gives me great joy to be able to employ people and now that I have gotten over my resistance of growing my team, I love building a dream team and paying good salaries. I pay myself a six figure salary since 2017. For the first three years of my business I didn't pay myself any salary so I am making up for that now.  Live Event Cost $120K Once a year my team and I hold a live event in Zurich, Switzerland called SIGRUN LIVE for our SOMBA students and Mastermind members. This year I invested over six figures to fly in my team for a whole week and create an amazing 2-day event for our community. In 2020, Sigrun Live will be an even bigger investment as we are making it a 3-day event, 2 days for SOMBAs and 1 Mastermind day for Mastermind members. My team is already excited and I hope you are excited, too - get on the waitlist for SOMBA if you are not already a student. Facebook Ads $200K When my clients ask me which amount they should invest into Facebook ads, I tell them that investing 10% of the revenue you want to have in your launch is pretty normal. If you want to have a million dollar launch, you need to be willing to invest $100K into paid ads. In 2019 we spent 10% of our total revenue on Facebook ads and that was too much. The reason why we spent so much was that we had a lot of issues with ads in 2019. Affiliates $200K We work with affiliates to sell our SOMBA program. All our affiliates are former and current SOMBA students or Mastermind members and know the SOMBA program in and out. Their success stories are the best proof of the effectiveness of the program. Affiliates get a 40% commission for every SOMBA sale. Coaching $90K I believe in investing forward. I invest a lot of money in masterminds and coaches every year. In 2019, I invested in two masterminds, one was $40K and the other one $50K. If you want to add $500K to your revenue then you need to be willing to invest $50K in coaching. Besides masterminds I also invest in coaching and consulting when the need arrives. Travel $150K Travel is a big part of my life and business. This is one of the reasons I started my business in the first place. I wanted to be able to live in two countries and travel the world. 90% of my travel is for business and therefore my travel costs are probably higher than in most online businesses.  Both of my masterminds in 2019 were in the US so I did 6 trips there to attend retreats and other events. A part of the travel costs is travel that my team has taken. I have always had a virtual team but 2019 was the first year where I brought my team together and more than once. In February I flew to Toronto to work with my launch manager and in June I flew my launch manager and my new executive assistant to Zurich. Then for my live event in October I flew in team members to Switzerland from the US, Canada, Italy, and the UK. Under travel costs falls also accommodations and meals. Selfmade Summit I cannot end a year in review without speaking about the Selfmade Summit.  The seeds had been set for a while. I knew that one day I would do a conference but I didn't know when or what it would be about.  October 2018 I started to feel ready. My VIP Mastermind clients were in Iceland with me and I decided to show them Harpa, the Icelandic concert hall. If you haven't heard of Harpa, imagine the Sydney Opera house and then a more modern version with a glass facade at the harbour of Reykjavik. That's Harpa.  Harpa was built between 2007 and 2011. I originally studied architecture and was fascinated by Harpa from day one. I love how the outer structure of a glass facade changes with the seasons, sunlight and artificial light. It is a building that has been praised in magazines around the world, not just for its looks but also because of its sound. Harpa was designed as a concert center but equally works as a conference center. It has many multifunctional event spaces plus the main concert hall called Eldborg which translates to fire city.  When I saw Eldborg for the first time, I had to catch my breath, it was so beautiful and fiercely red. I instantly knew it: this was my event space. So when my VIP Mastermind clients came to Iceland last October I decided to show them my dream event space. I booked us a tour of the building and then we came into the red room called Eldborg. They fell in love just like me and then asked me: Sigrun, when are you going to book it? “Now,” I said. I opened up my laptop and booked the venue. I put a date on my dream, the rest is just logistics. The last 12 months have been quite a journey. It's been scary, frustrating, annoying but also so exciting which makes up for everything else.  I came up with the concept of the conference, decided on a name, worked with three different event consultants to plan the best conference experience, hired an event planner after offers and negotiations from 5 different event agencies, booked speakers and sold out super early bird tickets….  My team and I have been busy creating a one-of-a-kind conference.  And I cannot wait to see you in Iceland June 18-19, 2020. Tickets are on sale now for The Selfmade Summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. I wish you a Happy New Year and all the best for 2020.

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my October 2019 Income Report! Every month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! Important things that happened in October: I intentionally starting reducing my work hours. I did a photo shoot since my last real one was in 2016. I traveled to Colorado for a long weekend to visit my best friend and celebrate her 40th birthday. I hosted another partner webinar with ConvertKit. I recorded 9 podcast guest episodes. I hosted the third 5 Day Freebie Challenge to promote the Website Marketing Lab – and I’ll break down all the stats for you that in this income report too. Notes I found to myself in my planner: “I’m ahead!” “OMG I finally love everything I’m doing in my biz right now, I have butterflies in my chest!” “How can I show like up a boss this week and over-deliver for the 5 Day Freebie Challenge? How can I make this the best experience they’ve ever had from a live challenge?” Review of my goals My target revenue goal is $15,000 a month by March of 2020. My minimum baseline $10,000 a month – $2500 to cover my normal monthly expenses, I set aside $2500 a month for taxes, and pay myself $5,000 a month – two paychecks of $2500 each. Total Revenue: $12,018.50 Affiliate Income: $2027.86 Courses: $7490.64 Done For You & Consulting: $2500 Total Expenses: $2192.83 Out of the ordinary expenses: Facebook Ads to promote “5 Day Freebie Challenge” – $436.78 Annual fee for EasyWebinar – $500 Which means I ran the bare bones of my business for just $1256.05 in October. Good to know in case life hits the fan, and that will also help me meet some of the goals I set at my mastermind retreat, which I’ll talk about a bit later. Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here. Net Profit: $9825.67 I paid myself $6K of my profit – which I may not have mentioned this in prior income reports, but I’ve actually been paying myself $3000 a paycheck since I think June to repay myself for the Growth University investment. I now have a cushion in the bank where I’m one paycheck and one month’s expenses ahead, and the rest of my profit goes into my tax account – and after I pay taxes every year, what’s left is mine to put back in the business, do something fun, invest, whatever. Biggest Lessons Learned In September, my online courses earned more money than ever before in the history of my business. And then in October, I beat that number by $931. In September, my passive income and courses combined accounted for 76% of my revenue. In October again, passive income and courses combined accounted for exactly 76% percent of my revenue, whereas in previous months it’s never accounted for more than 50%. And I’m so pumped about that…because one of my goals when I joined Growth University was to make enough money from passive income to cover the $2500 monthly consulting gig that I have, planning ahead for when that revenue goes away because it was 25% of my month. And I’m just a few dollars shy of making that happen on the revenue side, but I’m currently totally fine on the expense side because I’ve pared my expenses down so much. Not only have I decreased my expenses, I’ve decreased the amount of time I’m working every week. I mentioned that I made a commitment to my mastermind gals to reduce my work hours, stop working on weekends, vacations and holidays and I truly did put that into practice in October. Here’s how much I worked each week: Week 1: 38 hours, 5.5 of that on the weekend (including my photoshoot). Week 2: 25 hours, Monday – through Thursday morning, then left for Colorado, didn’t work at all there. Week 3: 30.5 hours, started work late mornings, about 6 hours a day, no weekend. Week 4: 41.5 hours, 5 Day Freebie Challenge week, started later in the day, worked every evening and a couple hours on the weekend – all on the Challenge. Total Hours Worked: 135 I went to Colorado for a long weekend and while I brought my laptop with me, I didn’t even open it. For four days it sat untouched in my work bag. This is probably a first in the history of me starting this business that I didn’t open my laptop for that many consecutive days. It wasn’t easy, because I’m a workaholic in recovery, but I was able to do it because I planned ahead. I made a list of all the things I needed – not wanted – needed to get done or scheduled before my trip, scheduled time to get them done, planned time to get my inbox down to zero, put a vacation message on my email and let my students know I’d be offline for a few days. And then I practiced relaxing and unplugging, and I just told myself that what I wanted for the weekend was to be PRESENT. I’m usually distracted. I’m usually working in the mornings while everyone is sleeping… and then they get up and I’m like… “I just gotta finish this one thing…” and I wrap it up… but the damage is already done. My brain is in work mode for the rest of the day. I’m distracted. I’m checking my phone. I’m not fully there. I’m talking about work with my friends who don’t really want to talk about work, and I never feel recharged or relaxed. So this time, I planned ahead to do NOTHING. And it was AMAZING. And I came home relaxed and ready. And I know this might sound lame to those of you who aren’t planners or chronic overworkers, but that mini-trip was a test. Because I’m going on vacation for a week for my 40th birthday in less than 2 weeks at the time of this recording, and I don’t intend to open my laptop for 8 days. I don’t intend to be in any of my Facebook groups for 8 days, or responding to email for 8 days. I feel like I’m finally ready and prepared to take advantage of the life I’ve created…to go on vacation and choose to not work, to practice doing nothing, and to reap the benefits of giving my brain some downtime, and to just be PRESENT with my husband and our friends. Also in October, I ran the 5 Day Freebie Challenge for the third time, which is one of my FAVORITE things to do. I talked about this a little bit last month, I go live in a Facebook group nightly for 5 days, and I teach some core concepts about online marketing and give people action steps to take to get started, and then I give them feedback on their homework and stuff – basically giving them a taste of what it’s like to work with me inside my program. And at the end, I share more about the Website Marketing Lab and how people can continue to work with me after the free live Challenge is over, and then I’d give them a week to enroll, and then I’d close the doors and start walking the new group through the lessons. For the first time, I ran Facebook Ads to promote the Challenge – and I did that as a test. I wanted to see how much they would cost me, how many new signups I got, and how many of those signups actually became customers. So here are all the stats for the 5 Day Freebie Challenge: Total # of Signups: 641 Signups from Facebook Ads: 208 Signups from Email Invitation: 233 Signups from Courses Site: 298 (overlap on signups from email + courses site) Signups from Main Website: 40 Signups from Pep Talks for Side Hustlers Site: 8 Total # of Email Recipients: 600 (bounces, unsubscribes) # of people who joined the Facebook Group: 277 from 10 countries 3.1K likes, comments and reactions. 258 posts 249 Active members # of people who joined the Website Marketing Lab: 19 Conversion Percentage for all signups: 3.2% Conversion Percentage for active participants: 6.9% Total revenue in October from NEW Website Marketing Lab Signups: $4843 (doesn’t include future revenue expected over the next 9-12 months for everyone that opted for a payment plan). So this year, I spent $436 on Facebook ads, and again, I used Claire Pelletreau’s Facebook Ad Spend calculator to figure out my budget and my expected return on investment. I talked to Claire back in episode 231 all about when is the right time to use Facebook Ads in your business so you can go back and listen to that one here. The calculator NAILED IT when it came to my ad spend, the cost of my course, the cost per lead and expected ROI… But here’s the interesting thing about this launch – none of the people that signed up for the 5 Day Freebie Challenge via a Facebook Ad actually joined the program this time around. I mean, I know why… It’s because they don’t know me yet. I haven’t built the know, like and trust factor yet. Our relationship isn’t solidified. I’ll be interested to see if the people that signed up for those ads make a purchase in the future. If I didn’t dig in to my numbers deep enough, I might think that my Facebook Ads were successful. Because I could sit here and tell you that I 10x’d my return on investment for my ad spend… But I didn’t. I spent $436 on Facebook ads and not one of those signups became a customer. My Facebook Ads were successful in terms of growing my list and filling my challenge… So the next Facebook Ads test I’m going to do is run ads to my free content in between launches and see if that brings me my ideal client, and see if those people stick around on my list and eventually become a customer. But they had nothing to do with the results of my launch. I think what made my launch so successful is the relationship I’ve cultivated with my subscribers over time, and the live engagement in my challenge. Just like last month with the Web Designer Academy, I showed up in a Facebook group every night for 5 nights, interacted with everyone in there, shared everything I could share in 60 minutes a day, and answered all their questions and gave feedback on their homework.. I didn’t do a big sales presentation, and I also gave people a chance in every step of the way to opt out of learning more about the Website Marketing Lab. And just like I said with the Web Designer Academy – It’s so much easier to get customers when you’re not trying to sell. And that’s what I teach people to do inside my programs too. And I’m not knocking Facebook Ads at all, but it’s not like they’re magic. I still have to gain the trust of those people. And I’m still going to test out different strategies to see what if anything gets me results… So these Facebook Ad tests that I’ve done the past couple of months, they are just telling me that I’m on the right track. Because you wanna know the strategy that IS bringing me subscribers that turn into customers? Relationships. One of the core strategies I teach me Website Marketing Lab students how to leverage. Yep, building relationships with people that serve the audience I serve, creating opportunities to get in front of their audience and deliver value to them, and in the process getting new subscribers – but these subscribers aren’t coming to me not knowing if they can trust me… because someone they already trust is introducing them to me, I’ve shaved off a big chunk of the time it takes to build that trust vs. people that come in through Facebook Ads. It’s fascinating. And building relationships is free and priceless all at the same time. So that will continue to be my focus throughout the rest of 2019 and 2020 – instead of creating new courses or programs or products, I’ll be creating new relationships. Thanks so much for listening – and I’ll see you right here next week where I’m talking to Sylvie McCracken all about how to create a profitable side hustle as a health care professional. And if you need a website but have no idea how to get started, go to http://www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com and sign up for the 5 Day Website Challenge and learn how to create a website for your side hustle. And if already have a website and you want to learn how to get traffic to it, go to www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com and sign up for my free 6-part mini-course that’ll walk you through how to get started getting targeted traffic to your website.

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my September 2019 Income Report! Every month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! Before we dive in to September’s income report, I want to share an email I got from one of my listeners because she asked a really great question that I thought some of you might also have too, so I wanted to answer it for you here in case you were wondering the same thing. She writes: “I love your income reports, they are so candid & detailed, and I always got a lot of insight from it. I’m a little confused about your August report because: you stopped your 1 on 1 consulting because you prefer the Information business model to focus, as it more scalable & less time consuming but you are selling a course that teach people to be a Web Designer in one of your course (a consultant business model) – that you stops doing it :)) Don’t you think that’s a contradicting message? As a freelance web developer myself, I really know that 1 on 1 consulting work is really time consuming. Do you think I should try to pivot to an information business model too? Thanks! Here’s my response: I LOVE this question SO MUCH, and I’m really glad that you asked. If I were ONLY doing freelance web design, and I didn’t want to do the teaching, training, mentoring and podcasting part of my business, I’d keep taking 1:1 clients all day because I FINALLY figured out how to attract my ideal clients and keep my projects running smoothly. I love my clients, they’re a blast to work with – and because I figured that out and I know how much other web designers STRUGGLE with that, I want to teach them how to do it. I have bigger goals for my business. At first, it was about making a living and being able to quit my day job… and I’ve done that. Now I want to serve WAY more people than I can with 1:1 client work alone – and that’s why I’m stopping 1:1 client work so that I can help more people. It’s not all about being able to make more money with an information model for me. It’s alsp about how many people I can reach and help with an information model. The information model isn’t right for everyone. Some people don’t WANT to create that kind of content and put themselves out there like that. And the 1:1 model isn’t right for everyone because some people need more flexibility in their schedule, etc. So to answer your question – do I think YOU should change to and information model? Only YOU can answer that question. What do you want? What’s going to get you there – bigger paydays with 1:1 web design clients, or the slower growth of an information-model? I think that a blend of both at first is GREAT because they support each other. I hope that helps – and let me know if you have any other questions, I’m an open book!!! So if you guys have any questions, that goes for you too! Reach out, I’m an open book! Okay, let’s dive in to September’s income report. Important things that happened in September: I beta-launched my free “Jumpstart Your Website Traffic” mini-course to my email list. I opened enrollment for my Web Designer Academy. I traveled to Austin for a weekend mastermind retreat with my biz besties. “The thoughts that got you here are going to be the thoughts that keep you from getting to your next goal.” Review of my goals My target revenue goal is $15,000 a month. My minimum baseline is to make around $2500 to cover my normal monthly expenses, I set aside $2500 a month for taxes, I pay myself $5,000 a month and I want to build up a reserve so that I can invest in my team, give myself a raise, have a cushion to cover the ebbs and flows of revenue and eventually cover my husband’s salary. So my minimum baseline is $10,000 a month, and as I mentioned in my income report last month, I want to hit that first $15,000 month by March of 2020. So with that, here’s how much money I made in September of 2019. Total Revenue: $11,824.34 Affiliate Income: $2470.70 Courses: $6559.64 Done For You & Consulting: $2794 Total Expenses: $2482.70 Out of the ordinary expenses: Facebook Ads to promote “How to Start a Freelance Web Design Business Masterclass” – $449 Travel to Lake Austin for Mastermind Retreat – $387 Registration for a conference I’m attending in April: $497   Which means I ran the bare bones of my business for just $1149.70 in September. Good to know in case life hits the fan, and that will also help me meet some of the goals I set at my mastermind retreat, which I’ll talk about a bit later. Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here. Net Profit: $8,981.64 Biggest Lessons Learned The first thing I noticed when I pulled together my numbers for September is that my online courses earned more money than ever before in the history of my business. My passive income and courses combined accounted for 76% of my revenue this month, whereas in previous months it’s never accounted for more than 50%. And that’s so exciting!!! So I mentioned that I beta-launched my Free Jumpstart Your Website Traffic Mini Course to my email list – so let me explain what that is and why it’s so important to my overall business goals: I have a course called that Website Marketing Lab that teaches people how to market themselves online and get clients. And I only open that course for enrollment a few times a year, and how I promote it is through a live 5 Day Challenge where I go live in a Facebook group nightly for 5 days, and I teach some core concepts about online marketing and give people action steps to take to get started, and then I give them feedback on their homework and stuff – basically giving them a taste of what it’s like to work with me inside my program. And at the end, I share more about the Website Marketing Lab and how people can continue to work with me after the free live Challenge is over, and then I’d give them a week to enroll, and then I’d close the doors and start walking the new group through the lessons. And that’s great, and I love it, but I’d always get people telling me that they missed the training, that they want to enroll but now’s not the right time, or asking me when it’s going to open again because they heard about how awesome it is from a friend in the course – and I’d always have to tell them, “Sorry, it’s gonna be a few months before I open again” and they’re all bummed out because they want to get started NOW. So in working with the team over at Growth University, we came up with the idea of taking the concepts I teach in the live challenge, tweaking them a bit since I’m not there to answer questions and give the feedback like I am during the live challenge and turn it into a mini-course that’s delivered entirely via email – and at the end of the course, I invite people to who want to learn more about working with me to continue to get emails about how they can join the Website Marketing Lab. And then I have the doors to the program always open so that people don’t have to wait for my live challenges to enroll – and I can consistently bring on new students. The other reason that I’m excited about the Free Jumpstart Your Website Traffic Mini Course is that I have a new freebie I can market to help people who ALREADY have a website, and don’t need my Free 5 Day Website Challenge. That opens me up to a whole new group of people that are my ideal client. So I wrote all the content for the course, the sales emails and the sales page in August and September, and then in September I invited my current email list subscribers to sign up for the new course so that I could get a baseline: How many people that signed up for the course joined the Website Marketing Lab? Did people get what they expected out of the free mini course? Why didn’t people buy? And I can use that information to make improvements AND predict my future revenue so that I can start marketing that free mini-course on its own! And I’ll still do a live challenge twice a year because I LOVE doing those, but this way it’s a win-win – people can enroll when the timing is right for them, not me, and I can have income coming in consistently year-round, not just around launch times. The other thing that contributed to my highest-ever course income is my Web Designer Academy. I historically have opened doors to that just once a year in September and we opened again this year. And I’ve always used Facebook Ads to connect with freelance web designers who probably have never heard of me to invite them to a free training – and this year I merged all of the prior free trainings I’ve done for them into a live, 3 part masterclass series, again in a Facebook group, to teach them how to create a successful freelance web design business. At the end of those trainings, I let them know that I’m going to be sharing more information about the Web Designer Academy after the trainings are over… and the crazy thing was, this time, for the first time ever, people were asking me questions about the Web Designer Academy in the Facebook Group, on the live sessions! So this year, I spent $449 on Facebook ads, and I used Claire Pelletreau’s Facebook Ad Spend calculator to figure out my budget and my expected return on investment – and I gotta say, that calculator NAILED IT. I talked to Claire back in episode 231 all about when is the right time to use Facebook Ads in your business so you can go back and listen to that one here. But here’s the interesting thing about this launch – I had the smallest number of people ever sign up for the free training, but I sold more spots in the Web Designer Academy this year in the first 2 days than I did all of last year – and at the time of writing this income report, the launch isn’t over yet. And I think it’s because of the live engagement, seriously. I think it’s because I showed up in a Facebook group for 3 days, interacted with everyone in there, shared everything I could share in 60 minutes a day, and answered all their questions. I didn’t do a big sales presentation, and I also gave people a chance in every step of the way to opt out of learning more about the Web Designer Academy. It’s so much easier to get customers when you’re not trying to sell. And that’s what I teach people to do inside my programs too. And I’m also trying to figure out how I can let people join the Web Designer Academy all year long, and not miss out on the mentorship component – which is why I only open it once a year, because it’s really a year-long mentorship. But there are people who don’t want that, but they want lessons and strategies and templates. So I’m working with my team at Growth University on that too. But it’s gotta be a win-win for both of us, not just a way for me to sell more courses. Okay, so switching gears a little bit here… If you listened to last month’s income report, Episode 252, I shared with you that I decided to stop taking 1:1 web design clients because I spend 80% of my time on them but they only account for 50% of my revenue. In September, I’m currently working on finalizing my last 1:1 project, but I didn’t bring in any revenue from it because we’re between payment cycles. Like I said last month, I know the path forward for me and I just need to keep moving forward. And that takes me back to that quote I’d heard on a podcast all about how “The thoughts that got me here are going to be the thoughts that keep you from getting to your next goal.” For the past several months I’ve been thinking “Just keep doing what you’re doing…” and that was a great thought. It kept me focused and on track to get everything in place so that I could market my courses and grow my scalable revenue streams. But now it’s time for me to switch gears – and I talk about this all the time to students inside my Website Marketing Lab and my Web Designer Academy – it’s time for me to move out of CREATE mode into DO mode. It’s time to start marketing and getting myself out in front of my ideal customers in a bigger way. And that’s why my September mastermind couldn’t have come at a better time. Back in Episode 177, I shared with you how I went to a mastermind retreat in September of 2018 in Austin Texas with 5 strangers who became 5 of my closest friends. Since then we’ve met monthly, hold each other accountable to our goals and communicate daily via a group text and Marco Polo. We got together again this September at a gorgeous AirBNB on Lake Travis in Austin and basically had a three-day business-planning slumber party. Pretty much my dream life. The format we did this year was Friday night, we each recapped our goals from last year, what we accomplished, what we didn’t accomplish and what held us back from our goals. On Saturday, we each had a hot seat where we shared our goals for the next 5 years and what we thought needed to happen to get us there – and then we challenged each other on those goals, like, do they align with our other goals, why do we really want those goals, is that serving us, what’s holding us back from just going for it. And then on Sunday morning, we broke into groups and taught each other – because we all have a strength and skill that someone else in the group can benefit from. Sunday afternoon we had a work day where we knocked out some of those important projects that we knew would get back-burnered the moment we got home. And there was amazing food we cooked together, all planned by one of the girls who is a lifestyle and food blogger, and delicious wine, and great music, some tears and lots of laughs. So I wanted to share with you a couple of the goals that came out of the retreat for me and why I chose those goals so that if you’re thinking about what you want to work on in your side hustle next year, maybe this will give you a few ideas: Goal #1: Double my email list subscribers by September 2020. Why? Because that’s how I market and sell my online courses. I make offers to the people on my email list who have specifically expressed interest in solving the problem that my online courses solve: learning how to build a website, learning how to market themselves online, and learning how to have a successful freelance web design business. And if I want my revenue to grow so that I can hit that $15,000 a month number (and ideally all of that will come from affiliate marketing and courses with no consulting or 1:1 client work), then I need to reach more people. How? Continue doing exactly what I teach my students to do inside my Website Marketing Lab. Stop trying to build followings and relying on algorithms to connect me with my ideal clients online and start building relationships instead. But what I need to do differently than what I’ve been doing is put way more time into that. I’ve been spending a lot of necessary time shoring up my foundation to prepare for that growth, but now it’s time to grow. And that’s why the thought “Just keep doing what you’re doing…” isn’t going to get me to the next level. The thought that’s going to take me to the next level is “It’s time to show up and put myself out there.” Goal #2: Work 40 hours a week, and stop working weekends. Now that I’m not taking 1:1 client work anymore, technically I should have 80% more time… What I used to do was spend Tuesday – Friday on client work, and then Saturday – Monday on my own stuff. And if you’ve listened to this podcast for any amount of time, overworking has been a theme. It started in my side hustle days because I needed to work that much to grow the business outside of my day job. It continued through that first year after I quit my day job because I was so scared of not making enough money to pay the bills. And then it just became a habit, and a convenient excuse for not doing the other things in my life I wanted to do, but that were going to be hard. Like finally losing weight. Or a buffer to escape into when I didn’t want to think about other things. Now that I’m phasing clients out, I have no excuses. And I don’t want my whole life to be about work, even though I love what I do. And I want to see what I’m capable of when I constrain myself to 40 hours a week (I gotta make it a challenge, right?) I talked to two millionaire business owners on this podcast, Bernadette Doyle in Episode 198 and Kelly Roach in Episode 196, both who challenged me to constrain my work hours… And I did, for awhile, but then I ramped right back up. So I set a goal to reduce my work week to 40 hours, to stop working weekends, to take 4 one-week vacations a year and to not work on holidays. And part of my accountable is to tell you guys, on the podcast, of this goal and start reporting hours worked in my income reports. So you’ll start to see those in my income reports starting in October 2019. So overall, I feel like by having clarity in my business on exactly what I help people with, crystal clear goals and a step-by-step plan of action for making happen, I have no doubt I’ll reach those revenue goals… I think my biggest challenge, honestly, is going to be the 40 hour work week and taking more time off. And I want to set a good example for you guys. I don’t want you to think your dream isn’t possible because you can’t work as much as I do. You don’t HAVE to work as much as I do. I don’t have to work as much as I do! So I’ll keep you posted on that. And if you need a website but have no idea how to get started, go to https://www.peptalksforsidehustlers.com/5day and sign up for the 5 Day Website Challenge and learn how to create a website for your side hustle. And if already have a website and you want to learn how to get traffic to it, go to www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com and sign up for my free 6-part mini-course that’ll walk you through how to get started getting targeted traffic to your website.

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my August 2019 Income Report! Every month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! Important things that happened in August I decided to stop taking 1:1 web design clients for at least 6 months, maybe longer. I continued working on my “Jumpstart Your Website Traffic” evergreen course. I released a private member podcast for my Website Marketing Lab Students. I moved all my websites from my good ol’ Bluehost Shared Hosting to their WP Pro Optimize WordPress hosting. I booked a photographer to get new brand photos taken for the first time since 2016! I redesigned my Website Marketing Lab, Web Designer Academy + individual courses dashboards. “The how presents itself once the commitment is made.” Corrine Crabtree Review of my goals My target revenue goal is $15,000 a month. My minimum baseline is to make around $2500 to cover my normal monthly expenses, I set aside $2500 a month for taxes, I pay myself $5,000 a month and I want to build up a reserve so that I can invest in my team, give myself a raise, have a cushion to cover the ebbs and flows of revenue and eventually cover my husband’s salary. So my minimum baseline is $10,000 a month, and as I mentioned in my income report last month, I want to hit that first $15,000 month by March of 2020. So with that, here’s how much money I made in August of 2019. Total Revenue: $12,243.69 Affiliate Income: $2381.30 Courses: $3574.39 Done For You & Consulting: $6288.00 Total Expenses: $1953.78 Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here.   Net Profit: $10,289.91   Biggest Lessons Learned So I’d mentioned in my July income report that I’d cleared my schedule to work on content and that I only kept a few pre-scheduled meetings and blocked my calendar from anything else being scheduled. And let me tell you, it felt like a vacation. Even though I worked every single day, weekends included, it did not feel like work at all. It was invigorating. Because I was making my own schedule, setting my own priorities, and having full control and flexibility over my days. And that’s why I started this business in the first place! If you’ve been around here any amount of time, you know that my business is about 50% scalable income through affiliate revenue and courses, and 50% time-for-money through consulting and 1:1 web design work. And back in February and March, I’d gone through Nathalie Lussier’s AccessAlly advocate training to get certified to be listed on her website as someone approved by their company to build membership sites and online courses for their AccessAlly customers. And that led to a TON of new client inquiries and opportunities to work on some really cool projects… And also a ton of drama in my mind. Because my calendar starting getting booked again with tons of meetings. I started waking up with major anxiety on all the things I had to get done that day.  I started working every evening and weekend and saying no to spending time with family and friends because I needed time to get my stuff done. I’d had a few meetings with a potential client with a really big and lucrative project.  They had outgrown their current course platform and wanted to move to AccessAlly. And just a side note to those of you who want to build an online course someday…  Consider starting on a platform that can grow with you. Plug and play platforms like Teachable and Thinkific are great for your budget when you’re starting out, but know that you’ll pay the piper when it comes time to move because it’s not easy. There’s a LOT of moving pieces involved. Anyway, I had several meetings with this client to understand their needs and fully spec out their project and give them an estimate, and as I was calculating the number of hours it would take me, and then looking at my calendar to see where I’d fit this project in, I realized that in order to get it done in their requested timeline of 2 months one - it just wouldn’t be possible without me bringing on a team and getting them up to speed, two, I would have to press pause on my entire business for 2 months and focus exclusively on this client. And if I didn’t bring in help, I’d need to press pause on my business for 4 months. And deep down in my gut, I didn’t want to do it. But I thought, “You know, I need to still give a proposal, and I just need to put a price on it that would make it worth it to me to do it. And then I just delay my Website Marketing Lab and Web Designer Academy launches, or I can just fit my stuff in on the evenings and weekends.” And in that moment, I realized that I’d made the scalable revenue side of my business my side hustle, and prioritized the instant gratification and relief that comes with getting that first deposit from a client in my bank account.  It was the same fear that prevented me from quitting my day job in the first place. Why do I keep telling myself that I want to grow the scalable revenue side of my business, the side that I love, that doesn’t feel like work, that gives me total freedom, and yet my actions are to continue to take on 1:1 clients and treat my stuff as my side hustle? So I made the decision to let this particular client know that I wouldn’t be submitting a proposal because I wouldn’t be able to meet their timeline and give their project the undivided attention it would need to be successful. I updated my sales page for my 1:1 web design package to notify people that I’m not accepting projects until February of 2020 and directed them to my Web Designer Academy Expert Directory. I updated my Acuity Scheduling availability to accept consultations to 1 hour a week (and after a conversation with Rana Rosen in Episode 249, I realized that by doing that, I left the door cracked open JUST a little bit to breaking my commitment to myself.  And then I did last week’s interview with Amy Eaton, Episode 251, all about her journey from freelance photographer, trading her time for money to creating a massively successful online course teaching makers how to take photos of their products. It was an amazing interview. We talked about how you have to be crystal clear on what you want, and how we both wanted freedom more than anything else and that’s why we do what we do. And then she said that she made the decision to stop taking clients so that she could focus on growing her scalable revenue, and when she got inquiries, she’d say “I’m not taking any new clients right now…” and to me, those sounded like magical words. I’d never thought of saying them before. Because it still leaves the option open for me to make a different decision should I want to. And then she said something at the end of our interview about how she had to stop playing small.  You can go back and listen to it - it was SO GOOD, but in that moment I realized that by continuing to accept 1:1 web design clients so that I didn’t have to feel the fear of maybe not making enough money - I was playing small.  By not going all in on the scalable income side of my business and always having one foot in client work and one foot in my courses, I’m keeping myself safe. I’m staying small and not taking any risks. I’ve been crystal clear on what I’ve wanted from the moment I started this business, but I keep cheating on my dream every time I accept a new client project. So in August, I made a decision.  I’m not taking any new clients right now. I worked on finishing up the ones I have, and I started sending new inquiries to my Web Designer Academy grads who are listed in my expert directory.  And starting in September, I’m focusing exclusively on marketing my Free 5 Day Website Challenge, my free Jumpstart your Website Traffic Mini Course, and opening the doors to my Web Designer Academy twice a year instead of once, and doing consistent promotions for my Website Marketing Lab. It really feels like I quit my day job again. I’m cutting the cord and letting go of that security of the big payday to go all in on marketing myself and growing my audience. And I’m 100% confident that I have the right system, strategies and support in place to do it. So if you want to follow this new chapter of my journey, including all the wins and mistakes I make along the way, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so that you don’t miss an episode. Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you right here next week with my guest Kim Wensel from the Pattern of Purpose Podcast all about how to pivot to find your purpose. And if you need a website but have no idea how to get started, go to https://www.peptalksforsidehustlers.com/5day and sign up for the 5 Day Website Challenge and learn how to create a website for your side hustle. And if already have a website and you want to learn how to get traffic to it, go to www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com and sign up for my free 6-part mini-course that’ll walk you through how to get started getting targeted traffic to your website.

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my July 2019 Income Report! Every month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! Important things that happened in July I set a goal to complete all course content creation for the rest of 2019. I launched the all-new 2019 Free 5 Day Website Challenge I created a companion workbook for my Free 5 Day Website Challenge. I booked two new clients Review of my goals My target revenue goal is $15,000 a month. My minimum baseline is to make around $2500 to cover my normal monthly expenses, I set aside $2500 a month for taxes, I pay myself $5,000 a month and I want to build up a reserve so that I can invest in my team, give myself a raise, have a cushion to cover the ebbs and flows of revenue and eventually cover my husband’s salary. So my minimum baseline is $10,000 a month, and as I mentioned in my income report last month, I want to hit that first $15,000 month by March of 2020. What I focused on in July So I pretty much cleared my schedule of as many meetings as possible in July so that I could give my undivided attention to creating content. And I had a massive amount of content to create. I recorded nearly 100 modules inside the Free 5 Day Website Challenge with tutorials for two hosting companies, two email service providers and three different themes - plus an entirely new dashboard and design. I wrote a 300-page companion workbook with step by step instructions that’s available for purchase inside the Free 5 Day Website Challenge that my students had been asking me to create FOR YEARS. I recorded the final 6 marketing experiments for my Website Marketing Lab students, and held a live pricing workshop for my Web Designer Academy students because I needed to update that module. I pretty much put the brakes on any meetings except for pre-scheduled client meetings, podcast interviews and web design consultations. And by the 2nd week in July I’d launched my new free 5 Day Website Challenge, and by the 3rd week in July I released the workbook, and the 4th week I spent tying up loose ends on both of those and recording those Website Marketing Lab experiments. Total Revenue: $12,291.81 Affiliate Income: $1,636.70 Courses: $5156.11 Done For You & Consulting: $5499 Total Expenses: $2850.68 Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here. Net Profit: $9441.13 Biggest Lessons Learned Last month, I said my biggest lesson learned was to keep doing what I’m doing. This month, my biggest lesson learned is that when you listen to what people want and create what they ask for and not what you think they want, that it pays off. The 5 Day Challenge Workbook generated over $2000 in revenue over a weekend. That’s a huge win. And totally worth the hours I put into it. The other lesson I learned is that it’s okay to clear my schedule to work on my own stuff, and that I’m way more productive and efficient when I batch it all together like that. But the final thing I realized is that I’m actually done creating content for awhile. When I first started my business and creating the Free 5 Day Website Challenge, I launched immediately into creating a marketing course called WPOMG (Operation Marketing Genius - because I was trying to play off the BFF theme and be clever) but no one asked for it, and no one bought it. Then I changed it to the BFF Academy and added a few more courses, and I had some sales, but not many and again, it’s because I made what I thought people needed next, not what they wanted. Then I turned that into the Serious Side Hustlers membership, because I was in transition from side hustle to self employed and added a few more modules, and then I finally did a survey and found out that most of my audience didn’t think it was for them and had no idea it was about marketing. I also launched a course called “Websites That Make Money” which teaches people how to monetize from day 1, but there was still something missing because again, I created what I THOUGHT people needed next, not what they had asked for. So last year I did some surveys, and I discovered that what people want to learn is how to market themselves and be found online. And that’s exactly what every single one of my other attempts taught, but I never presented it that way. And that’s how the Website Marketing Lab was born. And THIS TIME, I actually pre-sold it and went through an entire validation process to make sure it had what people wanted to learn, and made it a step-by-step, super actionable course that wasn’t just learning a bunch of stuff and then being left on your own to figure out how to implement. And it’s doing massively well. Students are getting amazing results. And for all that time, I was in constant course creation mode. And you know what I wasn’t doing? Marketing. I talk to my Website Marketing Lab students about going from Research and Planning Mode to Create Mode to Do Mode. Research and planning is when you’re taking all the free trainings and webinars you can get your hands on, and maybe you even buy courses and actually get into them and watch the trainings. It seems like you’re doing a lot, but you’re not getting any results from it because you’re just stuck there. You never move to doing the work or making the thing. Some people move on to making the thing, but that’s where they stop. They build the website, they write all the blog posts, they set up their freebie. But they never “Launch”. They think they have to have all their ducks in a row and then they’ll plan this big “launch” but they have no audience to launch to so they get stuck in confusion and overwhelm and in create mode. Or if you’re like me, you create, create, create but you never do the work to find out if what you’re creating is anywhere close to what you should be creating. You want to skip ahead to the end where the money tree grows so you can feel the relief of everything being okay. That money tree doesn’t exist, by the way. You gotta just move from Create Mode to Do Mode. Stop working on the website, stop working on the blog posts, stop building the course that no one has asked for because you don’t have an audience yet, and start doing the work to build your audience. And Do Mode is really uncomfortable. Because now you have to put yourself out there. You have to share what you’ve created. You have to talk to other people. You worry they might say things like “Who do you think you are to teach me how to build a website? Show me your computer science degree and your extensive portfolio of uber-professional websites for millionaire business owners and MAYBE then I’ll take your free training.” But here’s the secret I’ve learned. Do Mode is where we learn the most. Do Mode is where we learn what we’re made of. It’s where we get to connect with the people we want to serve and find out how we can REALLY help them. It’s where we find out that our worst fears about ourselves either aren’t true, or that if it happens we can handle it. It’s where we stop using the excuse that we don’t have enough time or we’re overwhelmed and we just get to work. And it’s where we feel the fear and do it anyway. And Do Mode is where we get actually feedback from people who are actual potential customers and we can go back into Create Mode armed with real data about what our ideal client needs instead of creating from a place of fear and insecurity and doubt. I finally was in a Create Mode driven by data instead of “that last thing sucked, maybe this will work”. And now it’s time for me to get back into Do Mode and put it all out there. I’m Shannon, I can teach you to build a kickass website and I can show you how to market it too so that you can have whatever it is that you want out of life too. So if you’ve been stuck in research and planning mode for too long, it’s time to get to work and start creating. If you’ve been stuck in create mode, it’s time to give yourself a deadline to move into Do Mode. And if you want someone to hold your hand through all 3 phases, well, I’m your girl. Sign up for my free mini-course, “Jumpstart Your Website Traffic” at www.peptalksforsidehustlers.com/jumpstart So that’s it for my July income report. I’m getting reading to shift into full DO MODE for the rest of the year, so you’ll be seeing a lot of me! And if you or someone you know needs a website for your side hustle but you have no idea how to get started, then sign up for the free 5 Day Website Challenge where I walk you through the whole process step by step. You can sign up at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my June 2019 Income Report! Every month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! Important things that happened in June I continued the personal habits that I’ve been working on, like weekly meal prep, daily journaling and planning. I executed 4 Partnerships (Elevate, Rebel Boss + ConvertKit) I pitched no new partners (on purpose!!) I spent one full week on a project for my old employer. I recorded 4 new podcast episodes with some really awesome people. I created a new inbox + Facebook notification management strategy I continued creating the content for the Website Marketing Lab course. I started recording the content for the new Free 5 Day Website Challenge Notes I found to myself in my planner: You are booked out this week. You are booked out this week. Review of my goals When I quit my day job, I had a goal of generating $10,000 a month in revenue so that I could pay myself $5,000, have $2500 for business expenses and $2500 for taxes. Last month I hit my revenue goal, and my expenses were less than $2500 and I was so excited because I want to give myself a raise by the end of this year, and I eventually want to cover my husband’s salary. Not that he’d ever quit his job and come work with me… but hey, you never know! So there are two ways I can do that - increase my revenue, and reduce my expenses. I’m actually working on both, and my goal is to have my first $15,000 month by March of 2020. What I focused on in June So back in May, I’d opened up the doors to my Website Marketing Lab again - it’s my signature course where I teach online business owners how to market themselves and get traffic to their websites and in June, I was continuing to create tech tutorials for the tech library that’s included in the training, and to host my weekly Live Q&A where I work with the student one-on-one to help them focus, overcome obstacles and keep taking action. I also continue to contract with my former employer, which is super fun because I get to spend time with one of my former colleagues who is a blast, and we actually spent about 6 full days together on a Zoom meeting just hammering out a project together. I enjoyed it, but it took a lot of time away from all the things I do in the business, like marketing, partnerships, content creation, client work… So I totally got behind on my inbox, and Facebook notifications from all the groups I managed, and so I spent an afternoon and played what I call the Inbox Game, where I start at the very bottom and work my way up, and I can’t skip around and I have to Do, Dump or Delegate every single task in my inbox - which means if I gotta spend 15 minutes to do whatever task is in that email so I can respond, it gets done right then and there. And I win when I reach inbox zero. So I did, and then I put a system in place with my team member Laura to maintain my inbox. We set up some canned responses she can use to respond to people who ask WordPress questions to direct them to my Facebook group, and we set up colored labels so she could categorize my emails and I could easily see what emails had to-dos in them, needed my response or that she’d already handled, or that were just FYI’s. And then I scheduled from 1PM to 2PM every day to check email and respond to Facebook notifications. And let me tell you, it’s been hard picking up my phone, looking at email and not just quickly replying, but I made a rule for myself because I get sucked into email like some people get sucked into social media… And I think it’s because I have this underlying thought that “there’s money in there” and “people need me” and then down the rabbit hole I go, and before I know it, I’ve spent an hour replying to emails when I should have been working on a client project and now I’ve gotta make that time up after dinner. So that’s been working out really well, and as long as I’m committed to reserving that time every single day, my inbox is manageable. It’s when I don’t get in there for 4 days because I’ve got my head down in a project that it gives me total anxiety. I’ve mentioned to you that I’m in a program called Growth University run by Bryan Harris of GrowthTools (formerly VideoFruit) and one of the things I’m supposed to do is send one pitch a week for a partnership. I intentionally paused that in June and July, because I knew that I would have my head down updating and redesigned the Free 5 Day Website Challenge and completing the final 6 marketing experiments for the Website Marketing Lab. Once those are done - it’s pitch city in this office!! On a personal level, I’d mentioned to you guys a couple of times that I started listening to a podcast called Losing 100 Pounds by Corinne Crabtree back in January and that by May, I’d lost 17 pounds. And for the first time ever it wasn’t a struggle. I’ve done everything Corrine’s said to do on her podcast, and I’ve built some habits like weekly meal prep, planning what I’m going to eat every day before the day starts, and getting all my garbage thoughts out of my head and onto paper and working through them, and at the time I’m recording this, near the end of July, I’m 23 pounds down. So I’m really proud of that, and I finally no longer have to wonder why it is that I’m so on it when it comes to my business but never had it together when it came to my weight. Now I know why that was the case, and I took massive action to fix it, and just like in my business, I won’t stop, and I’ll reach my goal, however long it takes. And even then, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing and leveling up. So I’m telling you that, A) because I’m totally proud of myself and want to toot my own horn, and B) because there is so much life-changing information out there online - for free - and if you just take ACTION on it, you can change your life. That’s exactly why I created my Free 5 Day Website Challenge, because people that take action on that training CHANGE THEIR LIVES and I’m grateful I can contribute to that and repay the universe in a way for all the information I’ve had access to that’s changed my life, like Corinne’s podcast. Okay, enough of the mushiness. Here’s how much money I made and spent in my business in June of 2019: Total Revenue: $9368.71 Affiliate Income: $1913.10 Courses: $2354.00 Done For You & Consulting: $5101.61 Total Expenses: $2163.54 Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here. Net Profit: $7205.17 Biggest Lessons Learned Honestly, it’s to just keep doing what I’m doing. Keep planning, keep scheduling realistically, keep assessing when the plan breaks down so that I can fix the problems, and just keep showing up. I’ve got big plans for the rest of 2019, and I spent the last week of June and all of July - as you’ll hear in next month’s income report - preparing the groundwork to grow. It’s hard to believe we’re already more than halfway through 2019… where do you want to be by the end of the year? What about by the end of 2020? You totally can do it, and it’s easier than you might think when you get the right systems in place - as I’ve discovered in fitness and in business. Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you right here next week! And if you need a website but have no idea how to get started, go to peptalksforsidehustlers.com/5day and sign up for the 5 Day Website Challenge and learn how to create a website for your side hustle.

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my May 2019 Income Report! Every month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! Important Things That Happened in May I kicked off the month with a cold. I continued some personal habits that I’ve been working on, like weekly meal prep, daily journaling and planning. I completed my profile in the AccessAlly Experts Directory (even though I don’t have my full sales page done). I booked one new Done For You client, had a consultation with another, and finished up 2 other Done For You Client Projects. I continued working on my Growth University roadmap to validate my product idea. I ran another 5 Day Freebie Challenge to promote my Website Marketing Lab course. I continued creating the content for the Website Marketing Lab course. I pitched 10 new partnerships, worked on 13 partnerships (with either phone calls or executing the partnership). I accepted applications for my Web Designer Academy Expert Directory. We decided to wait til next year to build our house. Review of Goals So if you’ve been listening to this podcast for awhile, you know that my goal used to always be $10,000 a month so that I could pay myself $5,000 – and then have $2500 for expenses, and $2500 to set aside for taxes. Then I decided to actually do a Dave Ramsey-style budget every month, just like we do in our personal finances, where I project the income that I know for sure is coming in and the expenses that I know for sure are going out – including my 2 $2500 paychecks and taxes, so that I’m much more deliberate about my expenses and that I’m not freaking out at the end of every month, worried about whether I’m gonna have enough cash to pay my paycheck and paying myself late like I had been doing for several months. Because one of the goals that I set back in September of 2018 at the mastermind that I talked about in episode 177 was to cut my expenses down to the bare minimum I needed to run my business and build up an emergency fund – which is totally in alignment with my 2019 words of the year, which are FOCUS and CONSTRAINT. And May is really the first month that I saw the fruits of all of the changes I’ve made so far in 2019. WHAT I FOCUSED ON IN MAY So you may recall from my April income report that I launched my Website Marketing Lab course for the first time back in March.  It teaches you how to market your business online and get traffic to your website in authentic and algortihm-proof way. And then in my April Income report, I broke down my launch strategy and results so that you could replicate my strategy in your business. In May, I opened the doors to the Website Marketing Lab again, with the same 5 Day Freebie Challenge where I taught my method for creating a freebie that helps you grow your email list on autopilot, and then at the end, I invited anyone who wanted to continue on with the process of learning how to market that freebie to join the Website Marketing Lab. This time, it took me WAY less time to do the live challenge and the promotion, because I’d already done it once. I had everything already created, and I just had review the list of things I wanted to change after last time, then double-check everything and update dates, prices and links, and do the live trainings. This time it ran May 13 – May 17, and it was a freaking blast and a huge success!  I TRIPLED my conversion rate from 5 Day Freebie Challenge signups to Website Marketing Lab customers from my March launch. And I give all of the credit for that to the product validation process that I was taught inside of the Growth University training that I told you guys about in my April Income report. I would have totally missed some key things that led me to adjust my marketing and my pricing. I also give a lot of credit to the work I’ve been doing mentally on pricing after having conversations with some of the guests on Pep Talks for Side Hustlers like Paul Klein in episode 228, and Amanda Gallinger in episode 236 – and a conversation I had with my team member Laura after she attended a one-day workshop with Boss Mom Dana Malstaff. A comment she made to me when we were chatting about pricing gave me a nudge to test a new price point, and then an article I read from Ash Ambirge called Ten Urgent Lessons Women Need to Learn About Making Money (without apology). In May, I also continued working on creating the content for the Website Marketing Lab since I pre-sold it in March and then created the content week by week. When I launched, I was able to give the new students instant access to everything to move at their own pace instead of dripping it out weekly based on necessity rather than choice! And in addition to all of that, I pitched a bunch of new potential partners, fulfilled my end of some partnerships like doing bonus trainings for people like Becca Tracey for her Uncage Your Business Course and Suzanne Proska’s Elevate, Inspire and Build an Empire Summit, and talked to a whole bunch of new guests on Pep Talks for Side Hustlers – which is like, my favorite thing to do. On a personal level, I’d mentioned to you guys that I started listening to a podcast called Losing 100 Pounds by Corinne Crabtree. I’d heard about her on one of Amy Porterfield’s podcasts, started listening to her show and everything just started clicking for me – why I wasn’t doing what I said I wanted to do for the past 20 years when it comes to my weight, how to actually get started doing it, how to build habits, how to build motivation, how to be accountable to myself. In January and February to be 100% honest, I listened to the podcast and loved what I was hearing, but I was just dabbling. I wasn’t really implementing any of the free advice I was loving. Then in March, I started actually taking action and doing what I was being taught, every single day no matter what.  By May, I’d built some habits like weekly meal prep, planning what I’m going to eat every day before the day starts, and getting all my garbage thoughts out of my head and onto paper and working through them, and so far I’ve lost 17 pounds from my highest weight, which I logged at the beginning of December last year.  So you might be thinking, 17 pounds in 6 months, that’s not super impressive. That’s not like all the weight loss success stories you hear about where someone loses 50 pounds in 6 months. It breaks down to 2.83 pounds a month, or .7 pounds a week… But the most important thing that I have learned throughout this process is that it’s keeping my commitments to myself, creating a daily plan and following through on the plan OR not following through on the plan and diagnosing why I didn’t follow through and what I can do differently next time – those things, not what diet plan I’m on (which I’m not on one) are what is leading to weight loss that actually finally feels EASY and POSSIBLE – and I don’t care how long it takes to reach my goal. You can apply those same principles to growing your business too. What do you need to do to make it happen? Create a realistic plan. You’re not gonna go from working 0 hours a week on your business to working 20. But 1 hour a week from 0? That’s realistic. But it doesn’t feel like it’s enough, does it. So instead you do nothing. That’s what you need to overcome. Doing what is realistic, not what you think you SHOULD do. Then once you actually create the realistic plan, commit to following through on the plan. If you do follow through, why? Why were you successful? If you don’t follow through, why? What do you need to change for next time. It’s working for me in weight loss, so I’m gonna see how it works for me in business. And I mentioned in earlier income reports that last year we bought land with the intention to build a home, and we were pre-approved what we needed to make it happen AND stay in our home, but when it got through underwriting, in order to make it happen we’d need to bring a 30% down payment to closing instead of 20% BECAUSE when you go to get a mortgage and you’re self-employed, the bank will take the average of the last 2 years of your self employment – which for me is 2017 and 2018 – and in 2017 this business was still a side hustle – and it doesn’t matter what I made in my day job since I don’t have that job anymore – and I didn’t make nearly as much as I did in 2018 when I quit my day job – or what I’ll make this year. So instead of cleaning out our bank accounts to make it happen this year, we’re going to wait til February of next year when it’s a sure thing. And I’m totally okay with that – it gives me even more time to stash cash! So with all of that, here’s how much money I made and spent in May of 2019: TOTAL REVENUE: $10,384.80 Affiliate Income: $1571.30 Courses: $4431.50 Done For You & Consulting: $4382 TOTAL EXPENSES: $2274.74 Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here. NET PROFIT: $8110.06 BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED Last month, I posted a negative profit of $224.15, which I planned for to give myself a clean slate, so it’s nice that I’m making up for it this month. I’m starting to make up for those paychecks I missed, and at some point this year, I’ll be able to take home more profit or invest in more help so that I’m really, truly focused on those revenue producing activities. I feel like I’ve got all of the pieces in place to start slowly scaling, and to grow into the person I need to become to handle the success that I dream of achieving. I think that’s like, the most important lesson I’ve come to realize overall – is that I’m not going to achieve what I want to achieve if I don’t work on becoming the kind of person who can handle it mentally and has the foundation and systems in place to support it. And now that I’m aware of that, I know exactly what to focus on to grow into that person. Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you right here next week! And if you need a website but have no idea how to get started, go to peptalksforsidehustlers.com/5day and sign up for the 5 Day Website Challenge and learn how to create a website for your side hustle.

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my April Income Report! Every month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! Important Things That Happened in April We kicked off the Website Marketing Lab with a new round of students going through the 8-week program. Later in this episode I’m gonna break down my entire launch strategy for you and give you all the stats and numbers so you can see what that looked like. I started working on my Growth University Roadmap I completed the AccessAlly Advocate training. Review of Goals My goal for the month of April was quite a bit different from my typical goal of making $10,000 in revenue and paying myself $5,000 and setting aside the other $5K for taxes and expenses. And that’s because I made two pretty big investments in the future of my business in the first quarter of 2019: #1 – Becoming an AccessAlly Advocate for Nathalie Lussier’s AccessAlly membership plugin. That’s the online course plugin I use to run my Free 5 Day Website Challenge, my Website Marketing Lab and my Web Designer Academy, and it’s the online course platform that I recommend and implement for some of my clients. So basically I paid $1500 for a certification program, and I went through an 8-week training course to learn the ins and outs of the plugin. I completed the program, I’m waiting for my evaluation and then once I’m certified, I’ll be listed in the directory of AccessAlly experts for their customers who want to hire an expert to set up membership sites. I’m super excited about it because I really love the platform, I’ve seen huge success with it in my own business, and I know I’m uniquely positioned as both a web designer and someone who’s had great success with my own online courses to bring massive value to my clients. So that investment was a total no-brainer, I’m 100% confident that I’ll make it back and then some, but it was a short-term outlay of cash out of my bank account make it happen. #2 – Growth University The second big investment I made was in Growth University, a coaching program run by Bryan Harris from Growth Tools, formerly known as VideoFruit. The cost of the program at the time I enrolled was $5,000, and if you listened to my March income report, you know that I had a conversation with my husband about investing in this program, because it meant that instead of writing myself a full paycheck every month, I’d be shorting it by $1000 a month for 5 months to pay for this program, because my husband was a little iffy on me paying some random guy on the internet $5,000 for training (which cracks me up because my business is that I’m some random girl on the internet that people pay thousands of dollars to for training)! My husband is starting to understand that I do lot more than just build websites for clients I find online… Anyway, I opted for the payment plan option, but halfway through April I thought, I’d really just love to pay this off and be done with it and not drag it out, but if I do that, it means that I’ll have to short myself like a paycheck and a half. So again, I had that conversation with my husband, because really what I’m asking is for our personal bank account to pay for this training without it actually commingling our funds – knowing that I’ll do the work and do what it takes to make back the investment and then some. So we did. I paid off the Growth University investment in April, $4000. So, I think about myself in the early years of my business and my mindset around paying for coaching and training vs. my mindset now, and there’s a huge difference in my thought process – and my results. It’s not “I’m gonna spend money on this course and I hope this works for me, I hope I get the results they are promising…” It’s “I’m gonna spend money on this course, and I’m all in. I’m gonna make time for it, I’m gonna do all the steps and I have no doubt that I’ll get results because I’m not going to stop until I reach the goal I set for myself. And if I get stuck or need help, I’m going to ask for help.” Like, the way I used to think about it, it was like the results were out of my hands. And that’s why I kept thinking that things I was doing weren’t working. I’d try them once and if they weren’t a massive success, I’d declare it a flop and try something totally new. I’d think “That strategy doesn’t work, I gotta try something new.” But that’s totally not true, that’s just how I was thinking about it. And that’s not how I’m thinking about my Growth University Roadmap at all. The results are totally in my control. I’m thinking, “Everything I’ve done to this point has led me here, and my only job is to follow the plan we worked out together, and never stop until I reach my goal.” So you’ll see later on when I share my revenue and expenses that I had a HUGE outlay of expenses this month – something I may have thought about in the past as a risk that may or may not pay off. But now I think about them as a bet on myself, and those pay off for me 100% of the time. And they were planned, and I feel good about my decisions, and I am confident that I’ll reach my goals. What I Focused on in April So you may recall from my March income report that I launched my Website Marketing Lab course, which teaches you how to market your business online and get traffic to your website in authentic and algoritim-proof way. So in this income report I’m gonna break down my launch strategy and results for you so that you can do this yourself in the future. For anyone that’s new to the podcast, I have a free training called the 5 Day Website Challenge which teaches people how to DIY their website – and it teaches EVERYTHING. Like, all of the things that I do for my paying clients, I put that process together in a free training to teach people who are in the beginning stages of starting their business and really shouldn’t be investing in a professionally designed website yet how to do it themselves so they can start marketing themselves and getting clients. So I love web design, but websites are really a means to an end, and my real passion is online marketing, and creating websites that help people market themselves, and I love teaching all of those tactics to people, and showing them how to set up the tech to market themselves, because again, when you’re just starting out, you shouldn’t be hiring people to do this stuff for you because you’re testing out a lot of things, and so many things are going to change and you need that flexibility to be able to set that stuff up and make those changes yourself. So people sign up for my 5 Day Website Challenge, and they really just think of me as the tech girl, you know, their WordPress BFF. And the mistake that I’ve made in the past is to just jump straight from “here’s a free training to teach you how to build your website,” to “want to pay me to learn how to market yourself?” and there’s a disconnect. They either don’t look at me as their go-to marketing person, or they don’t realize that they have to market themselves because they think having a website will automatically bring them traffic. So I needed to do something to bridge that gap, the gap from having a website to actually getting traffic to the website, and the gap from thinking of me as your website person to thinking of me as your online marketing person. So that’s why my whole Website Marketing Lab launch strategy starting out with another free training called 5 Day Freebie Challenge where I taught my method for creating a freebie that helps you grow your email list on autopilot, and then at the end, I invited anyone who wanted to continue on with the process of learning how to market that freebie to join the Website Marketing Lab. So here’s how it worked – and I teach this strategy in depth in the free 5 Day Freebie Challenge – which by the way I’m actually hosting another free 5 Day Freebie Challenge on May 13 if you want to get in on it – just go to www.wp-bff.com/freechallenge or click on the link at the top of the show notes to save your spot. First, I have a bit of an advantage because I already have an email list, and last year I did a survey asking them what their biggest struggle has been when it comes to their business and what they want to learn next – and there were 2 things that kept coming up: how to market myself and how to get traffic. And I know that the answer to how to market yourself and how to get traffic is not what people typically think it is, like search engine optimization or blogging or social media. Those are tactics, not a strategy and I think that’s why people get so frustrated is because they go straight to tactics without having all the right pieces of the strategy. The answer to how to market yourself is building an email list, and the way you build an email list is by giving away valuable free content in exchange for an email address. And the way you get traffic is by sharing that free thing online with an irresistible call to action that makes people want to go to your website and get the free thing. And so I knew that what was going to move people from having a website and not getting traffic to having a website that gets traffic is to teach them how to create the freebie that they need to be able to execute all of the marketing tactics that are supposed to bring you traffic. And I also knew that the freebie is just one part of the overall equation, so I could deliver massive value by teaching them how to do that part for free, and then the natural next step for anyone that wanted to then learn how do all the tactics to actually get that freebie in front of their ideal clients would be to join me in the Website Marketing Lab. And if they didn’t join me, that’s okay too, they walked away learning a ton and they might decide to join the next time around, or tell other people about it. So to put together the free training, I outlined the 5 things people needed to learn to create their freebie, and then I decided I wanted to deliver the training live in a Facebook Group where I could interact with people and answer their questions instead of doing via email or prerecording it. I also created a workbook, because I wasn’t just teaching them concepts, I wanted the training to be really actionable, and I wanted them to walk away with something tangible – because I really wanted them to get a taste of what they’d be doing inside of my paid program. So here are the stats: I had 2500 people on my email list at the time. Starting about a week and a half before the 5 Day Freebie Challenge I sent out an email inviting my list to the free training. I sent three more invitations over the course of a week to anyone that didn’t sign up. I added a HelloBar across the top of my WP+BFFs site and my courses site so that any visitors there would see it and sign up. I totally forgot to put it on my Pep Talks for Side Hustlers website. I posted about it on Instagram a couple of times, and I created a pin on Pinterest about it, and I posted it in my Facebook Group a few times. And I mentioned it on a few podcast intros leading up to the start date. I didn’t run any ads for the training at all. I had 600 people sign up for the free training. So then, when people signed up, they got an email letting them know the details of the Challenge and what to expect, that I’d be sending them a workbook the day before the Challenge, and to join a special Challenge-only Facebook group that I created just for the Challenge. Then I’d go live each night at 7PM, and I’d send out the replay to them the next day if they couldn’t join me live. Out of the 600 that signed up, 350 actually joined the Facebook group, and I had about 40 to 50 people join me live every night, which was SUCH a blast. I taught my concept for 20 minutes or so, and then I spent the last 40 minutes answering questions. And by doing it that way, I learned a ton about what their needs were, and when it came time to invite them to join me in the Website Marketing Lab at the end, it was a natural next step for me to make the offer because I knew I was right on track, I wasn’t doing a hard sell, i didn’t feel like an informercial. Throughout the Challenge I let people know that on the last day I was going to let them know how to continue working with me, so it wasn’t like a bait and switch, and then I talked about the Website Marketing Lab at the end of Day 5, and then I also did a followup email sequence to everyone that signed up letting them know what kind of results they could expect by following the marketing roadmap I created for them inside the Website Marketing Lab. So out of 600 people, I had 8 new people join the program at $297 for the first month, and then $49/month ongoing – and that revenue was actually part of my March income report, it’s the $49 ongoing that you’ll see in this income report. And that’s actually in line with what I was expecting based on the price of the program. And then after it was over, I surveyed everyone who signed up but didn’t purchase and asked them what influenced their decision to NOT buy, and over 95% of respondents said that they wanted the program – and that their decision to NOT buy wasn’t motivated by price, which totally validated that I’m marketing it effectively, and that my price isn’t too high. So the key takeaways here are that when you can do something to provide massive value to your ideal client, but that’s also going to give you tons of insight on whether you’re on the right track or not, that’s always a good use of your time. I’m about to break down the revenue numbers for you in a sec, but I want to point out that when I sold the Website Marketing Lab, I hadn’t created any of the content yet. I did that for a few reasons – one, I’ve created programs before that no one purchased, and it’s a total waste of time. Two, doing a Live Challenge and interacting with the people I was going to offer my course to BEFORE I built it helped me make sure that I was creating exactly what they needed, instead of what I thought they needed. And three, it’s totally keeping me accountable to getting all the course content done, because that’s what I spent all my time on in April, was recording the modules I’d outlined, and setting them up in AccessAlly and releasing them to my students, week by week. And like I said, I’m opening up the program again in May and testing a different pricing structure –  with the added bonus for new students that all the content is done so they can work at their own pace! I’m also working on some new techniques to validate the pricing and my offer as part of Growth University so I can get that dialed in – because as those of you that listen to the podcast, I’m always worrying about my pricing. But when your students tell you they can’t believe what they’re getting for the price and that they would have gladly paid more, that’s a sign that you’re on the right track! So with all of that, here’s how much money I made and spent in April of 2019: TOTAL REVENUE: $6529.44 Affiliate Income: $1973.80 Courses: $1891.80 Done For You & Consulting: $2664.64 TOTAL EXPENSES: $6753.60 Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here. NET PROFIT: -$224.15 BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED This is the first time I’ve posted a negative profit, but I totally expected it, so it didn’t throw me into a panic like it might have had I not started actually planning out a monthly budget before the month started, Dave Ramsey style. I have an extra $4500 in expenses in April due to Growth University and AccessAlly Advocate training, which I totally planned on and knew I wouldn’t be paying myself for the second half of April – but what I didn’t plan for is a Done For You web design client not paying their invoice on time, which is why I have negative profit in April. I did get that payment, just not until May. So right now, I feel like I have a total clean slate. Everything is paid for, I’ve actually reduced my baseline expenses significantly, which you’ll start to see in my May income report which means I get to take home more profit, or bring in more help or whatever needs to happen as my partnerships start to bear fruit and my email list grows and I get more and more successful students coming out of the Website Marketing Lab and Web Designer Academy, and I start booking more lucrative Done For You projects. So my biggest lesson learned this month – and it’s one that I know I’ve mentioned before but it keeps proving itself to be true –  is that how I think, and what I believe about what is possible, is 100% responsible for my results. It’s what drives my action or inaction. It’s not that I signed up for this coaching program or that certification program, it’s that I believe that I will do what it takes to take action on what I learn inside of those programs and that I know I won’t stop until I’ve reached my goal, and that I believe that it’s possible for me. And so if you can start cultivating that belief in yourself too, that you’ll never stop trying until you get what you want, then your success is guaranteed. So if you want to sign up for my next 5 Day Freebie Challenge, even if you’re listening to this months after it was published, head on over to www.wp-bff.com/freechallenge and save your spot in the next one – I’ll teach you everything I can pack into 5 daily lessons about how to create the kind of freebie that helps you market yourself online. And if you need a website but have no idea how to get started, go to peptalksforsidehustlers.com/5day and sign up for the 5 Day Website Challenge and learn how to create a website for your side hustle.

This podcast looks at Total Revenue Forecasting (TRF) as a logical first stepping stone towards Total Revenue Management (TRM). It touches on the different areas where TRF can be applied, the challenges that can be faced and the importance of the PMS and the data it produces. Finally, it considers how the Revenue Manager needs to evolve and how TRF/TRM provides the opportunity to do that - for the benefit or themselves and their Hotel. 

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my March Income Report! Every month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! My March Goals So in my February Income Report, I talked about how instead of just saying I want to make $10,000 so I can pay myself $5K and have $2500 for taxes and $2500 for expenses and then being frustrated every month when it didn’t pan out that way because it pretty much never does, I decided to plan ahead for a realistic month in detail instead. Just like I’ve been doing for years with our personal budget, Dave Ramsey style. Write down all the known expenses, think about what other expenses might come up based on what I’ve got planned for the month, and then write down all the known income that’s coming in that month and see how it all shakes out. And then I know if I need to do any extra promotion of my products or do some extra outreach to book a new web design client instead of just crossing my fingers and hoping that it all works out! I mean, I wasn’t actually doing that, I had revenue goals and expense targets, but honestly they always left me feeling totally out of control. So I still have revenue goals, and it’s still $10,000 a month now, with the goal to have that up to $15,000 by the end of the year, but now, I feel like I’m in control from the start of the month, and I feel so much more confident. And just like my food plan and my exercise plan, if it’s not on the plan, it can’t just be added willy-nilly. The Shannon that sat down and planned out this month had her reasons why she decided this all ahead of time, and it’s my job to honor that plan. If you want to learn more about this planning mindset, go check out the podcast Losing 100 Pounds with Phit N Phat – even if you’re not into weight loss, seriously, its really really good and you can just take everything she says about weight loss, substitute business or marketing and she’ll blow your mind wide open. What I Focused on in March In March, I kicked off the month speaking at the Thrive Conference for bloggers, which was so amazing. I got to see all the girls in my mastermind again and spend time with them, I got to present on Google Analytics and what metrics to shoot for when monetizing your blog, and I got to meet some of the listeners of my podcast and 5 Day Website Challengers in person, which is always so awesome and humbling every time I meet someone in person who I’ve helped build a website and start a business. Also in March, I launched the latest iteration of my online course, The Website Marketing Lab. I kicked it off with the free 5 Day Freebie Challenge where I taught my method for creating a freebie that helps you grow your email list on autopilot. Then after that 5 Day Challenge I opened up enrollment into the Website Marketing Lab, which teaches how to actually market yourself online in a way that feels authentic, how to find your ideal clients online, get them back to your website and eventually turn them into your best customers. My big focus in March was creating all the content for the 5 Day Freebie Challenge, marketing it and getting as many signups as possible. And I’ll break down my launch strategy for you with all my numbers and results in a future episode. The other thing I focused on in March were the few open Done For You client projects I had open. I shifted around my yoga schedule so that I’d have bigger uninterrupted blocks of time to work on those projects, and I moved as many meetings as possible to start at 3PM or later so that I could have more uninterrupted time during that day to focus on getting that work done as fast as possible. Also, the fruits of my Partnership Accelerator labor were totally paying off in March because I did a TON of guest interviews for this podcast, and you’ll hear those all throughout the month of April!  You may have noticed that I’m up to two episodes a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, because I’ve had so many guests on the show if I spread them out weekly you wouldn’t get to hear from them til June – and they are SO GOOD, you guys, I don’t want you to wait to learn from all of my guests! Finally, I made the decision to continue on with the Growth Tools Team after the Partnership Accelerator, and I made a really big decision to invest in Growth University. And when I say I, I really mean we, because it’s one of those investments that’s more than just a normal online course, and I felt like rose to the level of having a conversation with my husband about it, because it’s very possible that in the short term I might have to pay myself a little less each month to cover it. So of course I took him to his favorite place to get craft beer, and then imagine telling someone who understands what you do for a living on like a very surface level – just like I know what he does for a living but I have no real grasp of the details of it – that you want to pay some guy you met online thousands of dollars to help you grow your business. So I’m answering questions like, “Okay, who is this guy?” “Bryan Harris from VideoFruit.” “How do you know him?” “Well, I heard him a few years ago on a podcast that I listen to with this other guy, Pat Flynn who’s the one that gave me the idea to start this business in the first place? I heard him on Pat’s podcast and I started following him, and taking action on all of his free advice and every single thing he ever recommended worked really well for me. So then I joined his Partnership Accelerator in January and that’s why I’ve been having so many interviews with guests on my podcasts and collaborating with all these people, and they invited me to their coaching program and I really, really think it’s going to be the thing that takes me to the next level.” And then he gives me like a long stare and is like, “I trust you, but I don’t want you to pay for it all up front just in case it turns out to be a scam.” And you guys, in that moment I felt such a wave of relief. Because this is unlike any other business coaching or program I’ve done. So when I enrolled, I had to fill out this like, super comprehensive form telling them everything about me, my business, my customers, my pain points, my goals and my dreams, my numbers, my revenue, and then they went away for a couple weeks and reviewed all of my stuff, and then came back to me with a personalized step-by-step roadmap of all the steps I need to take to reach my goal. Like, I don’t have to guess anymore. I don’t have to wonder if I’m doing the right things anymore. I know exactly what to focus on and where to put my time in order to get where I want to be. And the other really cool thing is that all of my students inside the Website Marketing Lab are getting the benefit of me going through my own process as I lead them through theres. It’s pretty awesome and I’m very excited about it – so I’ll keep you posted in future income reports. Total Revenue: $11,846.18 Affiliate Income: $1815.80 Courses: $5098.00 Done For You & Consulting: $4932.38 Total Expenses: $4714.32 Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here. Net Profit: $7131.86 Biggest Lessons Learned As I reflect on March, for I think the very first time, my online course revenue exceeded my 1:1 client project revenue, and that, my friends is SUPER exciting. That is totally my plan. I’m not abandoning my 1:1 client work, but I want the majority of my income to be from scalable sources and be consistent, recurring revenue every month that I can count on. And so I think I’m definitely on the right track. And like I mentioned last month how I felt like I was really getting behind, paying myself late and from money that’s really next month’s money to pay paychecks this month, that cash flow is easing up a bit. I’m still working a lot of hours simply because I’ve decided to take on all the client work instead of outsourcing so that I can improve my cash flow, because sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, right? But the difference between now and last year when I burnt myself out overworking is that I’m making time for me. I’m working out every day, I’m getting good sleep, I’m drinking lots of water, I’m planning my healthy meals ahead, I don’t feel super stressed out all the time. The planning method my business coach Vicki Fitch taught me – I feel like it’s finally become second nature. I’m planning ahead, I’m showing up like a boss, I don’t always feel behind and like everything’s on fire, and I have a solid plan and roadmap ahead of me. And we’re only 3 months into 2019! My Website Marketing Lab launch was so much fun, you guys. Instead of doing a webinar, or just doing it all via email, I did a Facebook Challenge where every night for 5 nights I went live in a special facebook group just for this promotion, and I taught something about how to create a shareworthy freebie that helps you grow your email list on autopilot – and the engagement and participation I had in that group was like, mindblowing! It was a total blast. And then after those 5 days, I opened up the cart, continued giving feedback and teaching in the Facebook group and then anyone that wanted to continue with the next steps in the program joined the Website Marketing. It was one of the first programs and promotions, aside from the Web Designer Academy that just felt, right. Like, not everything went right, I messed some things up and whatever, but I felt totally solid in the value I was delivering and that’s in the program. And I’ve honestly always felt a little shaky on that with the other programs I’ve done, I think because I hadn’t framed a clear outcome for my students. And in the Website Marketing Lab we have a clear goal – your first or next 500 email subscribers – with really actionable steps to get you there. I can’t wait to do it again in May! But like I mentioned earlier, I’ll do a whole separate episode for you breaking down my whole launch process. So that’s it for my March income report, and I’ll see you right here next week where I’m talking with Sarah Morgan of XOSarah all about how to experiment your way to success.

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my February Income Report! Every month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! IMPORTANT THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN FEBRUARY I wrapped up Growth Tools’ Partnership Accelerator Program. I finished the migration from Infusionsoft to ConvertKit. I accepted a couple of small projects… I joined the AccessAlly Advocate Program I changed the 5 Day Website Challenge back from free for 30 days only to always free, bundled in the Website Copy Guide with the upgrade & raised the price. I started going live on my Facebook page every week. I booked a ton of guests on Pep Talks for Side Hustlers I booked a speaking gig at the Thrive Conference for Bloggers I took a girls trip to Colorado I announced the Web Designer Academy Expert Directory I started listening to a podcast called Losing 100 Pounds, recommended by Amy Porterfield, and it’s been a total game changer. Notes I found to myself in my planner: You are booked out this week, do not accept any more work. You are killing it this week!!!! You are booked out this week and next week. Do not accept any more work. My plan for vacation: let clients know ahead of time, put up an out-of-office, forward support requests to Laura. You are booked out this week. REVIEW OF MY GOALS Last month, I shared with you my revised income goals, which I’ll recap for you here… But before I do, I want to share with you something that I learned from listening to the Losing 100 Pounds podcast. The host of that podcast, Corrine Crabtree, talks about how the most important skill to develop when it comes to weight loss is doing what you say you’re going to do. And that requires two things: creating a plan, and then following that plan. And what I noticed about myself when I first started listening to her is that I resisted creating a plan for what I would eat and how I would exercise every day. It’s the same thing I did back in the day when my business coach wanted me to plan out my months, weeks and days. I wanted freedom, and felt like planning was stifling my freedom. Same thing with food. I didn’t want to “lose my freedom” But then when I committed to taking my biz coach’s advice and start planning, another interesting thing happened: The plan I created for myself could only happen in a perfect world, with all the stars aligned. I could never, ever accomplish my goals every single day. There’s nothing like never ever being able to reach your goals every single day to make you feel super frustrated all the time and compel you to make decisions that bring you instant relief, whether in business or with food. So as I look back on what I declared to be my January income goals, I see that I created my perfect, stars must be aligned and I must be all powerful to control the universe around me, unattainable plan. Which is: Pay myself first – $5,000 Increase my revenue from Courses & Done for You projects by $2500/month to cover potential end of contract. Build a cushion in my business savings of $10K ($833/month) $2500 Expenses $1500 Taxes Because when I look back at the past year of expenses, I’ve rarely capped them at $2500. Every single month is a little bit different. Increasing my revenue by $2500 a month ain’t gonna happen overnight. And that savings cushion I’d like to build, setting aside $833 a month? It’s already the end of March as I write this income report and it hasn’t happened for the past two months. So from this income report on, instead of creating one, big perfect goal and practicing being frustrated when I don’t hit the target every month, instead, every month I’m going to create a plan for revenue and expenses based on past history and reality. Yes, it’s important for me to pay myself first. And it’s really important for me to pay my quarterly taxes, and pay all of my expenses and never go into debt. But it’s also important for me to practice creating a REALISTIC plan and follow that plan instead of creating a PERFECT plan knowing it’s never gonna happen the moment I close my laptop. So I do have a general revenue goal in the short term of $10,000 a month, and in 12 months I’d like to have that bumped up to $15,000 a month. And I’ll share with you exactly how I plan to accomplish that in future income reports. WHAT I FOCUSED ON IN FEBRUARY I designated February as a List Building Month, and I also focused on completing the Infusionsoft to ConvertKit Migration, and I did LOTS of client work, lots of podcast interviews and lots of pitching. TOTAL REVENUE: $9197.15 Affiliate Income: $1401.70 Courses: $2269.00 Done For You & Consulting: $5,526.45 TOTAL EXPENSES: $3289.57 Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here. NET PROFIT: $5907.58 BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED   So when I added up all the numbers for February and saw that I made around $9000, it actually surprised me because February just felt really, really tight cash flow wise. Because if you look at the numbers, revenue minus expenses, paying myself first my standard paycheck amount of $2500 twice a month and then setting aside money for taxes, I’m actually just robbing Peter to pay Paul, as my mom would always say when we were growing up and she would sit at the dining room table to do the bills. I totally recognize that I’m paying my paychecks to myself for the prior month when the cash comes in the current month. That, my friends, is not sustainable, and trust me, I see what the future holds if I continue on this path. While I’ve cut some big expenses that weren’t giving me returns, I also totally recognize that I’ve made some investments in my business that take cash out of my pocket in the short term that I expect to get a return on in the future, including two copywriting courses that have been total game-changers for my marketing copy for my paid programs and sales pages and have already given me a return, and the AccessAlly Advocate Program – which is a certification program for Nathalie Lussier’s AccessAlly Membership Site & Online Course plugin, which in my experience is like, hands down the best membership PLATFORM, not just plugin, out there if you’re serious about generating revenue through courses and membership sites. The certification is $1500, and once I complete the certification I’ll be listed in their expert directory as someone certified to build sites with AccessAlly for all her awesome clients that want it done for them – plus I’ve totally got other plans to leverage that certification. So I had to make a decision in February when I booked another 1:1 Done For You project that I was going to do the job myself and not outsource any of the work so that I could keep the fees and stabilize my cash flow. And for a couple of other small projects that I’d taken on, that I mentioned in last month’s income reports, I decided that I needed to just put in the extra hours to finish up the work myself so I could keep the fees and make ends meet. So I’m back up to around 60 hours a week at the moment… and if you recall back in episode 199 with millionaire business owner Bernadette Doyle who challenged me to start tracking my time and to figure out how to work 25 hours a week if I really wanted to work less… I’ll just say this – I’m doing what I need to do at the moment to get where I want to be, and I don’t expect this to be a long-term overwork burnout situation like I found myself in last year…. It’ll be interesting to review this income report in a few months to see how this pans out!! And I expect my cash flow to improve starting in April. Something that was also weighing on my mind in February was getting my taxes done! I had this really unsettling feeling all year that I wasn’t paying enough in quarterly taxes, being that it was my very first year of self-employment combined with all of the tax code changes that were coming into play. So I was really eager to get everything together and do my taxes. We’ve always done our own taxes which when I tell people that they find it alarming or crazy, but fun fact – back in my early 20’s, I sold Mary Kay cosmetics. I was terrible at it, but that’s beside the point. We had the opportunity to get extensive training on bookkeeping and taxes, recordkeeping, keeping business and personal finances separate and filling out our schedule C at tax time and what’s deductible and what’s not… I feel like that education on the administrative side of having your own business was super valuable, and even though network marketing and MLMs are not for me, I’m really grateful for having learned that stuff and its really benefitted me now. So anyway, we did our taxes and I was super relieved to discover that I pretty much hit my quarterly estimates on the nose and I didn’t owe anything more for 2018, and now I’ve got a full year on my own to look at as a benchmark for what I need to set aside in 2019. We’re also building a house. We bought 4 acres in the country last May, and having our taxes done was crucial to figuring out timing of when we can get a construction loan to start building. Another thing about being self-employed is that lenders look at the past two years of business income (not revenue, but what I paid myself after taxes and expenses). For my husband, it’s like, oh, just bring us your last two pay stubs. So I’m not sure that my business income from 2017, when my biz was still a side hustle and I had a TON of expenses paying subcontractors to do things I didn’t have time to do because I was working full time – combined with 2018 is enough to get a construction loan/mortgage. So stay tuned to find out if we’re breaking ground in 2019 or if we’re waiting til 2020. The really exciting thing about February was all the guests that I had the opportunity to interview on this podcast, and those interviews are being released every week on the podcast. I’m talking to so many inspiring entrepreneurs that energize me and keep me excited and engaged and moving forward and have such good advice not just for you guys, but for me too! So that’s been a blast. And finally, I took some time off to spend a long weekend in a cabin with two of my best friends that I’ve known since I was 8 years old – and if you’re keeping track, that means we’ve been friends for 31 years. And each of us brought some of our friends and the six of us just had an awesome time talking, cooking, laughing, and relaxing. Work hard play hard, right? So as I look back a year to how I felt this time in February 2018 vs. now, I think I feel just as determined as ever to continue to grow my business. But it’s different now, one year in. My determination isn’t clouded by fear anymore. It’s backed by confidence. I have a lot of experiences and data from the past year to look at to help me make decisions this year. But most importantly, I believe in myself just as much as I did back when I started my side hustle. I knew from the moment I started that I would make it my full time job. And I did. Maybe not as fast as I wanted to and maybe not the way I thought it would, but I made it happen. And I also know that I’m going to get my cash flow under control, get ahead and meet that next goal. And I’m okay with not knowing exactly how or when. Certainty is a wonderful feeling.

In this podcast we are talking with two guests, Pontus Berner and Veit Meier, from berner+becker. They will be discussing the broad topic of Total Revenue Management.

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my January Income Report! Every month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! IMPORTANT THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN JANUARY I started Growth Tools’ Partnership Accelerator Program. I started the migration from Infusionsoft to ConvertKit. I created the Website Copy Guide I completed all the content for my Web Designer Academy I booked two new Done For You clients I continued tracking my time in Toggl   Notes I found to myself in my planner: You are fully booked this week. “I have another commitment” *What can I delegate?” *You can handle the busy schedule this week. Hold tight to your mornings and coach yourself through the overwhelm. Make time for self-coaching, Partnership Accelerator, ConvertKit Migration. You are booked out this week. Do not accept any more work. You are booked out this week, do not accept any more work.   REVIEW OF MY GOALS Now that I have a year of self-employment behind me, I’m revising my income goals. In 2018, my income goals were: $5000 – Income to cover my old paycheck. $2500 – Expenses $2500 – Taxes In 2019, my income goals are: Pay myself first – $5,000 Increase my revenue from Courses & Done for You projects by $2500/month to cover potential end of contract. Build a cushion in my business savings of $10K ($833/month) $2500 Expenses $1500 Taxes WHAT I FOCUSED ON IN JANUARY I designated January as my Prep and Build month. TOTAL REVENUE: $9811.56 Affiliate Income: $1804.00 Courses: $2760.75 Done For You & Consulting: $5264.81 TOTAL EXPENSES: $4043.80 Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here. NET PROFIT: $5767.76 BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED The biggest lesson I learned in January is that you just gotta ask for what you want, focus on delivering value and results, and be totally okay with a no. This came up for me in two ways in January. I mentioned earlier that I joined Bryan Harris’s Partnership Accelerator, which is a 4-week intensive workshop all about finding potential partners and pitching them. I joined it because I’m focusing on growing my email list this year, and collaborations with people who serve a similar audience are one of the best ways to do that. And I’ve known this for quite awhile. But something has been holding me back from doing it – it’s like that resistance I mention back in episode 22, like how I know I need to stick my neck out and do something based on not wanting to do it. And putting my money where my mouth is always works for me. If I pay for something, I’m going to show up and do the work and get over my crap. So that’s what I did. And by the end of 4 weeks, I’d gone from feeling my heart race and my palms sweat before hitting the send button on my first pitch to a potential partner to feeling like I knew the perfect thing to say to get a response and start building a relationship. And from having 0 partnerships because I was scared to ask – to getting 5 yesses, 3-ask-me-laters and 2 non-responses (yet). What I’ve learned about myself is that I can get really wrapped up in being worried about what people think about me. So instead of making it all about me and my self worth, I’m looking at all of this as an experiment. I’m going to try a bunch of things – coming from a place of integrity and delivering value and results first – and analyze the results and see what works and what doesn’t instead of thinking that I’m either amazing or awful depending on the results. The second way being willing to ask for what I want came up for me in January is related to billing for my time for small web design projects. I’m looking at an uncomfortable reality now that I’m tracking my time with Toggl… And when I write uncomfortable, I mean, I’ve got a pit in my stomach and tightness in my chest as I write this. Because I have to admit this to myself, and I’m worried about what you’ll think of me. But here goes… Last month, I mentioned in my income report how small projects didn’t make the cut of services I’m offering. Yet here it is, mid-way through February as I’m writing this income report and my planner is dotted with small projects that I’ve said yes to. All fine and good, but here’s what I discovered after looking at my Toggl time-tracking reports: Example: I spend an hour talking to a potential new client about a project, give them client an estimate of 2 hours to complete the project, send over an invoice, it gets paid and I reserve a spot for the work on my schedule. I spend another hour gathering what I need from the client to work on it and planning the work, and then spend 2 hours working on it. Another hour meeting with the client to review the work, and then another hour of revisions, and another 30 minute meeting to wrap things up. I’ve charged the client for 2 hours for the actual development work, and I’ve spent over 4 times that much on the project. So I’m actually charging only ¼ of my hourly rate – which is less than what I was making at my day job. No wonder I’m so “busy”. And when I outsource any overflow work to subcontractors and pay them, I actually make close to nothing. In January alone – just look at the numbers – they don’t lie. $2369 in the door in Done For You projects, $2099 out the door to subcontractors. Why am I doing this? Why am I not charging for my time? Like, I’m not even trying to and being told no. Here are all the thoughts that go through my head: What if people can’t afford my rates? I feel bad charging that much. All of this is easy for me, it’s like second nature to me, I can’t really charge that much, can I? Shoot, I said it would take 2 hours but I totally didn’t anticipate X, now I have to eat that, don’t I? It’s not their fault I estimated wrong. I don’t have time to do this, but I said yes so I need to outsource it – I’m going to make $0 on this job. Who am I to charge X for this? And this isn’t a new problem for me. This is the exact mindset struggle I had when I first started freelancing, and it pops up for me ALL THE TIME. And for my full web design package? I FINALLY dialed that in and made it profitable. And it took A LOT of mindset work. But there’s still plenty of work for me to do there because I provide a lot of unpaid support after the project is over. And it’s not like my clients balk at paying me – I just don’t ask them to. Why am I afraid to charge for the time I’m actually spending on these projects, not just the development time? And why don’t I value my skillset? Like, if I needed to have surgery, wouldn’t I want the surgery to feel easy and like second-nature to my surgeon? Wouldn’t I want to pay for that level of experience? Yes, I realize I just compared WordPress to surgery, but you know what I mean… Here’s what I know about myself – I will deliver results. No matter what. One of my WordPress colleagues said recently, “I can never leave a mystery unsolved.” And I can’t even describe how much that statement resonated with me. And I also know that with WordPress, there’s almost always a way to solve any business or tech problem. But I’m terrible at estimating the amount of time it will take me. Wait, scratch that. That’s not true. I’m terrible at telling the truth about the amount of time it will take me, because I’m afraid to say those bigger numbers out loud. What if you tell me it’s too much? What if you yell at me? What if we have to NEGOTIATE!!? I tell my Web Designer Academy students: “Think about how long it will take you to do this, and then double it. And that’s what you charge. And then the first time you do it, track your time because you may be totally off, and that’s okay you’ll know for next time.” And then when it comes to my own projects, I don’t take my own advice!! And to be 100% transparent, it’s because I think my hourly rate is too high and if I have to double it then my clients won’t be able to afford me and then they’ll be left hanging. Yeah, like I’m that important. And like I’m the only one in the world that can help them. Ugh. I told you… you might not like me after reading this article. But those are the for-real thoughts that pop into my head! Sometimes I feel like I’m just bad at business. And it’s easier to sell courses and memberships and large packages than have to address this problem. Anyway. This has been a problem for me for over 3 years, and I’ve done nothing about it. Except complain about it in my head. I’ve blamed my old day job. I’ve blamed my clients (I know, ridiculous bc I never gave them the opportunity to pay me more money). I’ve blamed my dog (I mean, she needs walks but dang it I don’t have time I’ve packed my schedule too full). I’ve waffled on whether I want to accept more small projects. I say I’m done – and then I say yes to the next person that asks. Because I like helping people, and I want you to like me. And I want to make money. So how can I solve this problem, once and for all? ***6 Hours Later*** So six hours ago, I actually typed “How can I solve this problem once and for all?” and had to stop writing this income report. I was stuck. Because I didn’t know the answer. I mean, I was really asking myself how can I solve this problem? And I was having a conversation with myself in my head about how I keep doing the same thing over and over and over. Like, do I really want a solution? Or do I want to keep the drama around it and keep being the “victim” of my poor choices and humble-bragging about how I have so much work and too many clients? Gag me with a spoon. (Yes, I grew up in the 80s). And like my business coach always told me, asking myself “how can I” is magical. Because I have the answers – I just need to get past all the drama and listen to myself. The solution has been right in front of my face this whole entire time. And it’s not to “set boundaries” or “start saying no” or any of that other stuff that just doesn’t work for a YES person like me who wants to help everyone. Its my Web Designer Academy graduates. The people who I’ve trained (to do as I say, not as I do – as my mom used to say) to market themselves and provide awesome service to their clients. Who serve a wide variety of niches and a wide variety of price points. Like, there’s a web designer for everyone in there. So how can I solve this problem once and for all? Give my clients a choice. My rate is what it is, my package is what it is, and I bill by the hour, and when you work with me, I’m gonna knock your freaking socks off. But if my schedule is booked out (which as you saw from the notes in my planner, it often is) or you have a specific budget or you need an expert in a certain niche or tool? Then I refer you to my directory of WP+BFF Certified Experts – web designers who have already gone through my 12 week training course, who have invested in their WordPress education, who set their own rates based on their unique goals, and who love serving clients and leaning on each other to solve problems for their clients. It’s a win-win. I get to send clients to the awesome, amazing web designers that have gone through my training program, and I get to help everyone that comes to me, and I get say yes to everyone, and I already feel more confident about my hourly rate. Because I’m really, really good at what I do. Yeah, I said it. It’s uncomfortable to say it, but I’m saying it. So I’m in the early stages of putting that together, and I’m super pumped to debut it to my audience so you’ll have a group of vetted, super skilled web designers to hire for your projects!! So my biggest lesson learned in January is that I just have to ask, that I can still serve people if they say no, that I can always come from a place of integrity and that this really is all one big experiment. The results I get aren’t good or bad – they are just feedback that lets me know what I need to adjust going forward. So what I want you to take away from this pep talk is that all the things you try in your business, all the things you ask people for, I want you to look at those as experiments.  

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my December Income Report! Every month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! IMPORTANT THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN DECEMBER. I began tracking my time and limiting my work hours. I was accepted to Bryan Harris of Growth Tools’ Partnership Accelerator Program. I got my laptop repaired. I scheduled my last work day as December 16. We met with a builder to see if he’s a good fit to build on the property we bought back in June. I updating my branding. Notes I found to myself in my planner: REVIEW OF MY GOALS When in quit my day job in January of 2018, I set a goal to generate $10,000 in revenue so that I could pay myself $5,000 a month and set aside the other $5000 for taxes and expenses: $5000 – Income to cover my old paycheck. $2500 – Expenses $2500 – Taxes WHAT I FOCUSED ON IN DECEMBER I had a couple of big goals in December. I really wanted to take time off during the holidays, so I blocked my calendar from December 16 through the first week of January. I told myself I would let my clients know that I was unavailable and to plan accordingly. Part of the reason I wanted to take time off is to simply have some white space between all of holiday get-togethers and travel – but another reason is so that I would have time to do one of my favorite things to do – which is to work on my own business, unencumbered by meetings and appointments. My other big focus was to stay true to my health goals. Continue going to hot yoga three times a week. To avoid overindulging in sweets and comfort food and alcohol that is fun in the moment, but zaps me of my energy and makes me feel terrible, physically and mentally. With those goals in mind, here’s what I made in December of 2018: TOTAL REVENUE: $7627.52 Affiliate Income: $1334.80 Courses: $2661.00 Done For You & Consulting: $3631.72 TOTAL EXPENSES: $3246.84 Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here. NET PROFIT: $4380.68 BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED I learned a lot of lessons in December. While I was very successful at not overindulging and still enjoying myself around the holidays, I was not very successful at holding my boundaries when it came to client work. December has always been a slower month revenue-wise, and this year was no exception. December and July are always slow for me. I didn’t promote anything for sale this December because I didn’t want to be available to support it! And it’s just not my style to jump in to all the holiday sales. It’s my goal to take the entire month of December off in the future… I mean, it seems like that last week before Christmas is when everyone is trying to finish everything they never got to throughout the year so that they can actually take time off from work and come back in January with a clean slate. It’s like, the height of the holiday frenzy. So next year, I need to do a much better job of letting my clients know my schedule. I didn’t really tell them this year… I just kinda blocked it on my calendar and put an out-of-office up. And then I still responded to the emergencies. I can’t help myself sometimes… I also still do some consulting for my old day job and they have a big year-end project every year that despite my best efforts always goes to the 11th hour… So if I’m still consulting for them at the end of 2019, there’s no use in fighting that. It happens the exact same way every year. I’m really glad that I not only scheduled the week between Christmas and New Years but also the first week of January off so that I could work on my own stuff. I didn’t hold my boundaries the week of the 16th, but I did for the 2 other weeks I had planned vacation! And it’s not like it was hard because the rest of the country was checked out of work anyway… But you guys, I LOVE working on my own stuff. I get so much joy out of getting to be creative without having a deadline. So I gave my brand a facelift in December, and that’s just saved me so much time in these first few weeks of January already. I had worked with a branding firm back in September of 2017 to help me transition my branding away from WP+BFF and to Shannon Mattern. And I absolutely loved the experience and the end result and I’d recommend my branding company, Braid Creative, all day every day. We did much, much more together than just create a logo, color scheme and fonts to solidify my brand. But what I discovered after awhile was that my branding was very difficult to implement consistently across platforms. Specifically it was a challenge to make it look good vertically for Pinterest and horizontally for my website, and hard to outsources the nuances of making it look good anyone who is not a graphic designer, and the colors were too muted to really stand out online. I had been gathering inspiration and had an idea of the changes I wanted to make, and then one morning, I was just sitting on my couch drinking my morning coffee with no plans, nowhere to be and no one needing anything from me, and the inspiration struck, and as they say, the floodgates opened, and I rebranded. Then I started working on my systems. I’ve overcomplicated my marketing funnels and I don’t need all the bells and whistles I have. They don’t work right half the time anyway. And as I mentioned in my last income report, I’ve decided to move away from Infusionsoft to ConvertKit. Not just to save a few hundred dollars a month, but also because I am committed to simplifying my business in 2019. I waffled on whether I had time to do it myself or if I wanted to oursource it, and at the end of the day I decided to just go for it. I like to make decisions in real time, as I’m solving the problem and setting things up. And then I know what’s available to my clients because I’ve explored all the possibilities. So one day I was inspired to just do it – and I just got lost in time rebuilding all of my email sequences and working on the migration. Which is still in process in the 3rd week of January. I hit a snag with the built-in Infusionsoft importer and I’m working with ConvertKit engineers on it, but getting help has been a slow process. I’m hopeful I’ll get a good result because I want to be able to recommend ConvertKit to you guys – but customer service is so, so important so I hope they step it up. Maybe I’m too nice and patient… Anyway. Another thing I did was make some decisions on whether I’d continue offering some services I’d offered in the past. And I’d been watching Marie Kondo’s show on Netflix and it actually helped me make some decisions. Tracking my time helped me make the decisions. And obviously looking at these income reports also helped me to make some decisions. Does offering this service bring me joy? How much time am I spending on this service? How much do I make on this service? And some services didn’t even come close to making the cut. The WordPress Protection Package didn’t make it. I lose a lot of money on it. Of course I’ll still serve my existing clients and my Done For You Clients, but I won’t be accepting new clients for that service and I removed it from my site. Accepting small projects of under 8 hours didn’t make the cut. Why? Because when tracking my time I discovered that a 2 hour time block actually took 4 hours when I included communication and prep. And a 4 hour time block actually took 6. And while I could build that into the price, those projects are difficult to schedule and take my time away from marketing more lucrative offers and working on partnerships. I know there’s a need out there to help people with smaller projects, so I need to analyze whether it’s worth it for me to build a team to take those on, or just say no. I’m still undecided. And honestly I feel guilt turning away work when I know there are so many web designers out there who are struggling to market themselves and get the work. It’s something I need to work on. As I look back on December and 2018 as a whole, I’m proud of what I accomplished. It’s important to me personally to not have debt other than a mortgage, and I maintained that boundary in my business. It was important to me to pay myself twice a month, and although I was late a few times on my paycheck I still paid myself everything I planned to pay myself. And I think I paid enough in quarterly taxes, but I really have no idea since it’s my first year without a W2. I’m eager to do my taxes so that I can settle up with the IRS if I need to and get a clear baseline for 2019 (and see what I’m able to do to get a construction loan to build a house as a self-employed person). And I’ve taken steps to grow a legit team – but I still have work to do. I keep accepting work and then doing it myself instead of taking the time to delegate and train a team. So I definitely need to work on that. In 2018 I for sure overworked myself, spent my time on non-income producing activities and barely grew my email list or my social media followers. And I still hit my revenue goals. So I’m really excited to see what happens in 2019 when I focus my time on my physical and mental health, list growth, partnerships, income producing activities, simplifying my business, building a team and practicing constraint. Watch out 2019, ready or not, here I come!

  The 10 Most Common Mistakes Small Business Owners Make   The American Dream - starting and operating your own business.  I don't know of anyone that has not at one time or another thought about starting their own business.  Being one’s own boss, setting your own work hours and being responsible for your own destiny draws many people to start their own business.  Once the business is started is when one finds out how unprepared they really are. These mistakes are not listed in any order.  They are what I have found when consulting with small business owners.  How to Read Financial Statements I have interviewed over 50 small business owners and 49 of them stated that they lacked the knowledge to be able to read and comprehend their financial statements.  When asked what they look at on their Profit and Loss Statement most small business owners stated that they look three things: Total Revenue, Total Expenses and Net Profit.  However, they don't have a clue as to where these numbers come from in their accounting software.  Small Business Owners should be looking at the size of their accounts receivables on their accounting software.  Why?  The Accounts Receivables (AR) have a direct impact on your cash flow.  You should run an aging report on your AR and work on keeping your aging report under 60 days.  The end result will be more cash in the bank ultimately helping to eliminate cash flow problems. (In theory that is) Cash Flow Statement is King and most small business owners struggle keeping enough cash into the business to keep the business operating while they wait for clients to pay them.  That is why working capital plays such an important part in your business. It is better to keep your AR current as the longer the accounts receivable is past due the less likely you will be in collecting them and the more likely they customers will end up on your bad debts account. Also it is imperative that small business owners deposit their checks as soon as they receive them.  Let your money work for you by putting it the bank.  It is better to have the money in your bank then your customers. The one thing that I have noticed is that accountants do not counsel and train their clients.  They really need to spend time helping their clients understand their financial statements and how they relate to their business.  I have seen a lot of accountants get fired for failing to do so.  So if your accountant is not helping you understand your financial statements then you need to consider to firing your accountant and finding one that will coach, teach and train you.  Working in Your Business Instead of Working On Your Business. A typical small business owner will be the one to meet with the clients, perform the work and if time, work on other aspects of the business.  He or she is so overwhelmed with all the tasks that need to get done that they forget why they started the business in the first place.  This is very difficult but crucial step that needs to happen once the business hires a few employees.  The Owner needs to delegate to his employees the actual work that needs to be performed.  However, before he or she does so they need to have a system in place to be able to evaluate the employees’ performance to ensure that they are performing the work to your standards.   They also need to ensure that the employee has the knowledge and has been trained to perform the work.  It is imperative that the employees have the information needed to perform their jobs.  This does not mean that you as the boss has to tell them how to perform their work.  That is not the case.  You need to hold the employee’s accountability to not only perform the job but what your exact expectations.  This is a critical step that needs to happen and I have heard all the excuses in the books.  Once the small business owner has delegated some of his responsibilities it opens the doors for the owner to work on a three-year growth plan, marketing plan and getting more customers. I have been working with a small business owner for years and could not get him to understand that he needed to dress the part of business owner and not that of an employee.  I got him into a class to help him develop a three-year growth plan and the classmates did for him what I could not do.  They got him out of his work shirt and got him into a dress shirt.  He later told me that he finally understood what I was talking about.  This is a perfect example that small business owners need to listen to other small business owners as they most likely have experienced things that you have not.  No Defined Goals It is imperative for small business owners to set effective and attainable goals for their organization.  Without goals your business will go nowhere. As a small business owner you need to not only establish the goals but you must follow through to put in plan in place to achieve the goals.  You will want to also set a time frame for each goal so that you do not lose your focus.  There is no point in creating goal that has no end date.  A goal with a time frame helps you stay on track. Small Business Owners will also want to have milestones for each goal. What’s important is to create milestones that will help you move in the right direction and ultimately see you achieving your business goals in the long-term. Don't forget to track and analysis your goals so that you can see when you’re not getting the results you’re after.  You may have to readjust your goals to fit your current plan.  don't be discouraged if you have to delay a goal there may be other goals that you can accomplish sooner that will make up for the goals you had to delay.  No Employee Accountability   In order to achieve success in your organization you need to hold employees accountable for job performance and goal achievement otherwise you are guilty of mismanage employees.  Managing employee performance and how work is done is a key to your organization's success. It is extremely important to let give your employees the accountability to perform their jobs.  What does this mean?  It means that you give your employees the expectations on the outcome that is expected and let them handle the work as they see fit.  However, that does not mean that you do not follow up on your employee’s to verify that they are meeting the expectations.  Whatever you do don’t micromanage your employees.  You need to let the employees accomplish their work the way they think makes the most sense but by micromanaging them you limit their growth. High performing organizations entrust their employees to take ownership, cultivate accountability and create high levels of trust between all levels within the organization. So what is ownership?  Ownership is taking the initiative and doing what's right for the business.  It is about taking responsibility for the results and not passing off those responsibilities to others within the organization. Understanding Your Customers In order to fully understand you need to take the time to ask the right questions.  What problems are your customers trying to solve?   What questions do they have?  How are your customer’s questions changing and evolving?  Once you have the answers to these questions and others then you can help them by providing the solutions to these issues.  Too often I see small businesses going to potential clients and telling them what they can do for them without understanding the problems that they are facing.  A little homework up front can turn a potential customer into a client for life.  By the way, this is something that you don't just do once but on a continual basis as customers’ needs change and evolve and along with that their problems will also change.  Lack of Communication In my mind you can never communicative too much.  Communication is the key to a well-run business.  I can tell you from experience that a lack of communication can and will ruin high performing teams, and employees.  If employees don't know what is expected and how they are to manage their job responsibilities your business will fall apart.  It will have a direct impact on not only on your employees but also your customers and your business.  Unclear plan   The first step in starting your business is developing a vision and mission statement.  So what is a vision statement?  A vision statement defines the core ideas that give the business its direction.  A vision statement can be used to guide to motivate employees. Whereas a mission statement defines the company’s culture, goals, ethics, and a standard for decision-making.  Not Anticipating Changes in the Markets I have seen a number of small business not foresee changes in the market which resulted in them either going out of business or affected their business badly.  For example, in 2008 when the recession hit I watched a number of small business go bankrupt.  Why?  Simply they did not anticipate the recession.  Small Business owners got used to having sizable funds in their business accounts so they withdrew the money and spent it on new homes, new cars or trucks, ATV and RTV.  Small business owners went into debt because they thought they had plenty of work and everything seemed fine.  Small business owners need to keep the money in the business in case of a rainy day. Another thing I have watched is companies get complacent with one or two revenue streams and don't diversify.  It is best to build the company up to a minimum of seven (7) revenue streams so that if something happens with one stream it does not destroy your business.  Get Rich Quick I cannot tell you the number of businesses that walk through the door and want to get a large contract with a customer.  It is better to build your business up slowly then try to land one large contract when you do not have any past performance.  A client may not hire you if you have never worked with any other clients.  They don't want to take the risk yet small business owners think one large client and they have it made. Many small business owners will give up on their dreams because they fail to remember that success takes time, perseverance and a little bit of luck.  Failing to Develop a Three Year Growth Plan Most small business owners are so overwhelmed in the day-to-day management of their businesses that they fail to take the time to develop a growth strategy.  Imagine if you discovered ways to increase your revenues by 30% or lower your expenses by 15%.  What impact would that have on your business?  By taking the time to implement a three-year growth strategy it could take your business to the next level. Avoiding these mistakes will not guarantee your success.  However, it is essential to understand how various choices you make will impact your business.  Too many times small business owners are consumed with working in their business that they fail to take the time to work on their business.  Using goals to achieve your business success is the first start.  I had a company that within a six (6) month period was able to increase her revenues by 40% by setting achievable goals within a specific time frame.  I hope that you will take just one ideal from this blog post and implement it in your business.  I am sure you will see results. I am hoping that you will take these common mistakes and find ways to stop them from entering into your business.  These steps alone will help your business in the long run.  Try setting aside one hour a day to think about your business and where you want to go in the future.  Then set SMART goals to get there.  Next week we will discuss what SMART goals are and how to achieve them. Website    Facebook    Twitter    Instagram    YouTube  

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to episode 203, my November 2018 Income Report! If you’re new to the podcast, each month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! IMPORTANT THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN NOVEMBER. I interviewed two million-dollar business owners on Pep Talks for Side Hustlers – Episodes 195 & 196 with Kelly Roach and 198 & 199 with Bernadette Doyle. Bernadette Doyle challenged me to start tracking my time and start working 25 hours a week NOW. I ran a final promotion for my membership program, Serious Side Hustlers. I closed my membership program, Serious Side Hustlers. I turned 39, and my husband turned 40. I joined Brooke Castillo’s Self Coaching Scholars. I decided to move to 1 episode of Pep Talks for Side Hustlers per week. I completed the second month of my Web Designer Academy. I made an executive decision to not schedule anything in the evenings. Notes I found to myself in my planner: REVIEW OF MY GOALS When in quit my day job in January of 2018, I set a goal to generate $10,000 in revenue so that I could pay myself $5,000 a month and set aside the other $5000 for taxes and expenses: $5000 – Income to cover my old paycheck. $2500 – Expenses $2500 – Taxes WHAT I FOCUSED ON IN NOVEMBER November is typically just one big celebration in my life. We have tons of friends and family with November birthdays (including me and my husband), and of course Thanksgiving is in November, which is my favorite holiday. Probably because every so often my birthday falls on Thanksgiving which makes it extra special. It starts getting cold here in Ohio in November – which I absolutely love. Just ask my good friend Tyler – he’ll tell you that outerwear is my favorite type of clothing. Give me all the sweaters and jackets and gloves and hats and scarves – and I’m a happy girl! And of course right after Thanksgiving it’s time to decorate for Christmas and start getting into the holiday spirit. So when I was planning out my 2018 around this time last year, I blocked off the week of Thanksgiving for vacation, and the following Thursday – Monday to take a trip to celebrate my husband’s 40th birthday, which has become a tradition with our group of friends that we all take a trip together for our 40th. That’s going to be me in 2019, so if you have any ideas of where I should go in mid-November, head on over to peptalksforsidehustlers.com/203 and leave an idea for me in the comments! So if you listened to my October income report back in episode 201, you’ll recall that my main focus in October was to SLOW DOWN so that I could start taking time out for myself. I started taking a yoga class, I delegated more to my VA and intern and moved from 7 podcasts a week down to three and went from working about 60 hours a week down to 40. Entering November, I started to feel like I was finally, FINALLY creating the freedom that I had so desperately craved when I put this whole crazy plan in motion to start a side hustle and grow it to the point where it could sustain itself and replace my day job income. And then I had a couple of conversations that were transformational. I had the pleasure of talking to two entrepreneurs who have both reached the million dollar mark in their business – Kelly Roach and Bernadette Doyle. And I don’t think it is any coincidence at all that both of them shared the same piece of advice for making more money in your business – which is: Get really clear on what is income-producing in your business and what isn’t. Spend the majority of your work time on income-producing activities. Make sure your team is spending the majority of their time on income-producing activities so that they are generating more revenue for the business than what you’re paying them. Stop doing the things that don’t produce income, especially those things Bernadette called “creative avoidance” like working on your website instead of pitching clients. So I set up the time-tracking app called Toggl that Bernadette recommended, and started tracking all of my time in November. Two more really exciting things that I did in November: One, I enrolled in Brooke Castillo’s Self-Coaching Scholars membership program. I did it on my birthday as a gift to myself – for a few reasons: I’ve been listening to her podcast for the past several weeks and it’s totally helped me change how I think and stop buffering with overeating, overworking and overdrinking. Amy Porterfield recently credited Brooke for the mindset shift she needed to lose 58lbs, and if Amy Porterfield says something’s good, well, you know it’s good. I really, really wanted access to her Stop Overeating masterclass which is a part of the program. There’s an Entrepreneur track in there, which I also really wanted access to. I also applied for and was accepted to Bryan Harris’s Partnership Accelerator beta test group, which is a mentorship to teach you how to land partnerships, podcast spots and guest posts. It starts in January and it supports my goal to explode my email list in 2019. And I added another yoga class to my schedule. This yoga class is at 9am! Like, every day I’m driving there I’m like, I can’t believe I just get to take a yoga class at 9am instead of sitting in rush hour traffic. So that’s what I really focused on in November. Slowing down. Gratitude. And really paying attention to what I’m learning about what it takes to get to the next level. TOTAL REVENUE: $9690.52 Affiliate Income: $2040.80 Courses: $3267.72 Done For You & Consulting: $4382.00 TOTAL EXPENSES: $3399.70 Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here. NET PROFIT: $6290.82 BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED So here’s the thing – I’ve had a really hard time all year keeping my expenses down to $2500 a month like I planned. I’m going to make even more adjustments in December for 2019, but when I create my budget I’m just going to be more realistic about my expense budget. I want to get a cushion of at least five grand in the bank, because right now my business is pretty much paycheck to paycheck, like, I’m cleaning out my business bank account every month when it’s time to pay myself, pay off my credit card for last month’s expenses and put money aside for taxes.. I use the Profit First model from the book of the same name by Mike Michalowicz, so I pay myself first. Then taxes. Then expenses. And I also don’t do debt. I put all of my business expenses on my Chase Southwest Rewards credit card so I get all those airline miles, and then I pay it off on the last day off every month. I pay myself on the 15th and the 30th, and I move money to my tax account to pay my quarterlies. So there are about $500 in expenses I could cut every month but… It will require me to totally rebuilding my website and automation platforms, which is a significant time investment for me. I realize that I could save $6K a year by making the move – and there’s my cushion… But I also know that the work would take me at LEAST 4 solid weeks, and I think it would disrupt some of my funnels and result in a lot of customer service requests… Or I could pay my team to do it for me and coach them through it, and create content and tutorials around the experience, and train them on handling those customer service requests. Which would be what like, a real business owner/leader would do instead of doing it all herself… So I’m still him-hawing around about whether or not to make those structural changes… and I know these are the mindset shifts I need to make to grow my revenue. I learned a few really big lessons in November. First, I noticed that it only took 11 months of being on my own for me to freaking chill out and start enjoying myself… But seriously, what I’ve noticed is that it really does take awhile for my mind to get used to change. I can make a decision, but then it takes some time for the action to follow the decision. And then it takes some time to recognize the results and acknowledge them as a result of my action. I know how to pay attention to my thoughts now, and I do think that the changes I want to create will happen faster than in the past. And I’m spending much, much less time working. I’m down to about 25-30 hours. I’ll give you a breakdown on all of that in a future episode. Second, I’m spending 95% of my time on non-income producing activities. Which is why I shouldn’t be the one moving rebuilding my own platforms… I spend a lot of time “working”. And I suspect it’s just another way to avoid uncomfortable emotions, just like overeating and overdrinking. Looking at how I’m spending my time, it’s mind-boggling to me how I’ve managed to produce nearly $10,000 a month in revenue consistently this year. And it’s really exciting. What would be possible for me if I even shifted it to 20%, or even 50%? That’s my plan for 2019. Finally, I learned the most important lesson, I think anyway, in November was while I was decorating my Christmas tree. My husband had gotten our tree out of the basement and set it up in our loft, and we were all excited to listen to Christmas music and decorate it like we normally do together. It’s a prelit tree, and when we turned it on half the lights were burnt out. This happened last year and I had found this tool, this gun thing, online that you can use to test the strands and then you do something to the one that’s burnt out that fixes it. Clearly I have no idea how this thing works. So Floyd was like, on a mission to fix this tree and he spent two evenings obsessed with finding the burnt bulbs before he just got frustrated and gave up. So I’m like, I’m going to do something really nice for him and decorate the tree while he’s at work so he can come home and it’ll just be done, right? So because I was by myself, I decided to start listening to all the Entrepreneur modules inside of Brooke Castillo’s Self-Coaching Scholars, and I’m super excited because like at the end of all of them there’s one called How to Make a Million Dollars – which is a future goal that I have for my business. So as I’m listening, I’m hearing things like: Choose a niche. Give value ahead of time. Grow an email list. Make offers to it. If something doesn’t work the first time, try again. And I thought to myself, wow, I could totally sit here and think, “Thanks for nothing Brooke, tell me something I don’t know. This course was a waste of my time and money.”   Which is honestly, is something I may have thought in the past. But instead, I found myself feeling really excited, like “Wow, I have all of the pieces in place. I’m on the right track. I have everything I need. It’s as good as done.” And in the million dollar module, she talked about how you just separate the math from the drama, list out all the reasons why it’s impossible and that becomes your to-do list to make it happen. Which is totally exciting, because then I think things like, “I know there are so many web designers out there that just want to build websites for a living and DON’T want to be freelancers or run their own businesses – what if I could create an amazing company that would give them that opportunity? And I think of how much more I could contribute and how much more value I can give when I’m at a higher level. Again, which brings me back to why I should not be moving my own platforms and why I should empower other people to do it and lead them through the process… Like, start practicing for that leadership role now… So that really goes for you too whether you want to make $100 or a thousand dollars or a million dollars. It’s just math. All the reasons it feels impossible become your to-do list. So I was super excited because not only did I realize that I have everything I need to get to the next level right in front of me, I also finished decorating that dang tree!!! #multitasking So if there’s anything I want you to take away from this episode, it’s this: How are you spending your time? How do you want to be spending your time? And are you making as much money as you want to make? And if not, separate the math from the drama, list out all the reasons why it’s impossible for you to make the money you want to make, and then get to work changing those things. I know you can do it. Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you next week! Love you Byeeeeeee!!!

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to episode 201, which is my October Income Report! If you’re new to the podcast, each month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! IMPORTANT THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN OCTOBER I started going to a yoga class twice a week. I onboarded an intern who’s working 15 hours a week with me through December. I brought on a VA for 15 hours a week (my previous support contract was for 16 hours a month). I booked one new Done For You client. Notes I found to myself in my planner: REVIEW OF MY GOALS My goal each month has been to generate $10,000 in revenue because my rough breakdown to replace my old paycheck, cover business expenses and pay taxes is: $5000 – Income to cover my old paycheck. $2500 – Expenses $2500 – Taxes WHAT I FOCUSED ON IN OCTOBER In October, my main focus was to SLOW DOWN so that I could start taking time out for myself. As I mentioned in my September income report, the pace and amount that I had been working became unsustainable. I made a commitment to myself and my mastermind group that I would slow down. That I’d start taking a yoga class. That I’d get more help and start delegating more tasks to them instead of taking care of it myself because it’s faster (and I feel bad asking others to do things for me). I started transitioning things to my VA, and got my intern started on her learning journey by subscribing to my email list as a brand new customer, reviewing all of my content and noting all the things that needed fixed or didn’t make sense. I also started creating the new content for my Web Designer Academy that I had sold the prior month. I’ve done the course before, but I had so much more to add to it and change, that I decided to start from scratch. But instead of killing myself to get it all done at once, I’ve been recording and releasing one module a week. And right from the start, I recorded my process for producing and publishing the module and handed it over to my team so that I only had to do the thing only I can do – create the content. In October I also went from recording 7 podcast episodes down to 3 a week. I also started baking in October, and perfected my process for making an amazingly crusty, beautiful sourdough bread. I went from working about 60 hours a week down to about 40… which I realized I hadn’t actually done since before I started my side hustle back in late 2014… TOTAL REVENUE: $10102.11 Affiliate Income: $1872.39 Courses: $3716 Done For You & Consulting: $4493.72 TOTAL EXPENSES: $3614.62 Get the full breakdown of income, expenses and net profit month by month here. NET PROFIT: $6487.49 BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED The biggest lesson I learned is that I can work significantly less and still make the same amount of revenue and profit. I also learned that I was covering up my fear with work by creating massive amounts of content and trying to do every single marketing tactic all at the same time instead of focusing on one thing at a time. The results of the survey I told you about in last month’s income report showed that loud and clear. I heard things like “I can’t keep up with all the content you’re putting out.” and I’m confused by all the things you offer because it’s so many things and they are changing all the time” and “I’m behind on the podcast I can’t listen to an episode every single day.” That was my fear. If I just keep producing, everything will be fine. Just keep producing. Keep answering every email. Say yes to everything. The nonstop loop of “I have to do this, I gotta do that…” that leads to stress, poor sleep, overeating, overdrinking and burnout. I found that mindset and pace to be unsustainable, and it took going to another city with 5 strangers and having them all challenge me to tell them how it was serving me for the fog of fear to clear and for me to be able to see what I was doing to myself and my brand. I also had to push past my discomfort at leaning on other people for help, and prioritize delegation above anything else in my business. The mistake I have made in the past with hiring has been bringing on people to do things that didn’t take anything off of my own plate. I gave those people all the things that would never even make it on to my plate. Like, things I wanted to do, but was too busy to do. So those tasks were getting done, but I wasn’t giving myself any relief. And also I set things up so that I was the gatekeeper – if I didn’t delegate piece by piece, there wasn’t anything for them to do, but I got so behind that by the time the work needed to be done, there wasn’t enough time to delegate. I’m not the kind of person that says hey, do this and I need it done by the end of the day. No. I follow the golden rule – do unto others as you would have others do unto you, and if someone was dropped their crap on me at the last minute because they are disorganized, I would not be happy about that. So now, I put delegation first. What process can I delegate? What can I teach and empower my team to do without me next? How can I benefit them. And I gotta tell you – going to this hot yoga class has been a game changer. I haven’t gone to a gym since I quit crossfit to start my business, and there’s nothing like having someone just lead you through a workout. No decisions to be made, no thinking, just show up and do it. And take two whole hours out of my day to drive there, take the class and drive home. And then work from the cute little coffee shop across the street for a couple hours before heading home. I started my side hustle for freedom, flexibility and financial independence. I’ve had access to it this whole entire time, but I feel like I’ve really just started to realize it and take advantage of it truly for the first time in October. I mean, I even started baking homemade bread this month. If you know me in real life, you’d be like what? You don’t bake, and you don’t eat bread. But I was compelled to try it, and I chose sourdough as my first foray into baking – which I find fascinating, because I picked the thing that takes the absolute longest to make. Like, if you’re an instant gratification kind of person, baking bread probably isn’t for you, and baking sourdough bread certainly isn’t. It’s like a 3 day process and you have to get the timing just right otherwise you’ll find yourself up in the middle of the night folding the fermenting dough… One thing I’ve learned from writing these income reports and documenting my journey on the podcast is that when I have a mindset shift or form a new belief, it’s like deciding to bake a loaf of sourdough bread. I can make the decision in an instant, but it takes some time for everything to come together, for those new beliefs and mindset shifts to really start to appear in my life. And knowing that, recognizing that pattern, I can totally be patient and not put so much pressure on myself to have everything be the way I want it to be RIGHT NOW. I can trust that everything’s coming together the way that it should and in due time it will happen. So I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions on my October income report – head on over to www.PepTalksforSideHustlers.com/201 and leave me a comment – and I’ll see you right here next week. Bye!!

In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us inspired by a Patrick McKenzie tweet, Rob and Mike talk about the science of why charging more works.       

Happy Tuesday! Today, we are going to dive into the art of adding Value for your customers. Value is how our customers judge the use of their resources. If you can provide a positive value to their experience, there is a good chance that they will come back. The basic equation for value is: Value= Benefits-Costs Most operators feel the only way to get more value for the customer is to drop the costs and then the value will go up. This is absolutely true. However, it is the most expensive way to add value for the customer. By utilizing VALUE ADD benefits, instead of subtracting from costs, it gives you the ability to increase the customers perceived benefit at an actual cost that is much lower. For example, if you add a $10 basket of range balls benefit for the customer, the actually cost is about $1 for picking and maintenance(but you still charge the full amount for golf). DISCOUNTING deducts fees to lower costs. It does increase value but it lowers your top line revenue in the process. (A $10 discount takes ALL $10 away from your revenue) This affects TOTAL REVENUE for the facility and can be the difference between a shoestring budget and a healthy one. Thanks for listening! You are helping this podcast grow exponentially! So please tell a friend, tell two friends, TELL 8 FRIENDS and we can make the golf industry better for everyone! If you want to contact us, contact me at jrockhold@pga.com or you can reach out to me on Instagram and Twitter @FindtheGreen or on Facebook at Find The Green. The Find the Green series is going to contain different aspects of the business: Operations, Marketing, Strategy, Branding, and Social Media Footprints. Check www.rockholdandassociates.com for upcoming Find The Green blogs, books, and conversation that can help raise the waterline of the industry. Jump in the boat and enjoy the ride!

2018 has definitely been our most active year in terms of hiring, by far. An important metric to look at as your company scales, is revenue per employee (how much money you make per employee). This is a great indicator to show how efficiently your company is growing. Total Revenue / # of Employees = Revenue per Employee A good employee should be an asset to your company. Just like any asset, they should be making you money (or saving you time, which is also money). If your team is growing, and your revenue per employee is also growing, that means your company is scaling efficiently and utilizing resources optimally. Of course, as with any investment, it could take a while to see any return. Don’t expect to hire a new team member and see revenue per employee increase right away. Ideally, you should see slow and steady increases in revenue per employee. It’s important to keep in mind that revenue per employee is a broad benchmark for general growth efficiency, and is not really something you can optimize for, as it’s a lagging indicator. It takes a while to see reward from new hires (assets), as growing companies are constantly hiring, downsizing, and reshuffling their workforce. However, if your team is growing, and your revenue per employee is decreasing, that usually means there’s a problem somewhere and you should reconsider how you’re deploying your resources. If you’re noticing a downward trend in revenue per employee, it might be a good time to audit your operations and see how you can improve certain processes and make things more efficient. Just wanted to share that quick thought on hiring. Revenue per employee is not really a common metric you come across and try and optimize for, but I do think it’s an important one to at least keep an eye on, as it could open up your lens on other inefficiencies in your company. Best of luck! Music by sifer2424

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my February Income Report! Each month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and show you exactly how much I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! Important Things That Happened in February I opened enrollment for Websites That Make Money for the first time since the beta launch last fall. I purchased Amy Porterfield’s Webinars That Convert Course and spent a significant amount of time following it to the letter in order to create and promote the webinar. It also helped me to craft my presentation for my first live speaking event as well. I held a webinar to promote Serious Side Hustlers Membership Program again in February. I booked two new Done For You clients in February and began to test my new Done For You Method out. I significantly changed the structure and timeline of the projects because I was having trouble moving projects forward to completion. I also put significant effort into completing some projects that had gone on longer than I expected (I wasn’t able to wrap up all the client projects I had wanted to in January – I was a little too ambitious!) I had my very first ever live, in-person speaking engagement in Austin, Texas where I shared my SEO strategy for bloggers. While I was in Austin, I also met with the Bluehost team to discuss my affiliate marketing strategy in 2018. Bluehost welcomed me to their office with an authentic Texas BBQ lunch, and their entire team met with me for a few hours to give me feedback on my website and help me reach more people. They also cheered for me when it was my turn to speak at the conference. It feels totally amazing to have a crew like that in my corner, and I’m just so proud to promote them to my community! Review of My Goals My number one goal in February was to again have $10,000 in revenue because my breakdown to replace my paycheck, cover business expenses and pay taxes is: $5000 – Income to cover my paycheck. $2500 – Expenses $2500 – Taxes I also set the goal to have 500 people sign up for my Website Monetization Master Class, have 150 people attend live, and have 10 sales. What I Focused on in February February 2018, my second month of self-employment, was a very interesting and exciting month. I made intentional effort to spend more time with friends and family now that I don’t have to work evenings and weekends – which feels amazing! But that anxiety about making enough money to hit my monthly revenue goal crept in during February a few times. Thankfully my business coach, Vicki Fitch, told me to expect it to show up and that the first 3-6 months would be my most vulnerable time. The first time it showed up was during an annual weekend away with friends. Every year we rent a cabin in the woods and just hang out with our friends all weekend, playing cards, having drinks around the fireplace, eating great food and hanging out in the hot tub. It was Sunday on our way home that the anxiety about making enough money started to creep up on me. I couldn’t wait to get home so I could “work”. My husband and friends noticed that I wasn’t relaxed anymore, and I shared with them all the racing thoughts going on… “What if I don’t make enough money this month? What if this was a mistake? I shouldn’t have bought that course. Maybe I should cancel my trip to San Diego for Social Media Marketing World next month so I don’t have an $800 hotel bill…” And I’m so grateful that I have awesome friends and a supportive husband, because my best friend told me to just STOP and to look at how far I’ve come and there’s no way I wouldn’t make it, and my husband said STOP, we will be fine, we have enough in savings to weather the ups and downs and to quit putting so much pressure on myself. I also held two webinars for the launch of one of my programs, and I had major tech issues with both of them which may have affected my sales results – and I totally let the bully in my head, as my business coach Vicki Fitch calls it, get to me. “I can’t believe I wasted so much money on Facebook Ads and then these webinars were a disaster! Nobody wants this program. I don’t even know if I should promote it anymore…” The truth was it wasn’t a disaster at all, it just wasn’t perfect, and that’s no reason to pour gasoline on it and burn it down. I just needed to look at what went wrong, what went right and make changes for the next time. And stop judging myself for every little thing! Finally, my bully tried to come with me on my trip to Austin Texas for the Thrive Creative Conference, a conference for food, fashion, mommy and all kinds of bloggers. For the few weeks before I left, it was nagging me. “What are you going to wear to speak in front of a 100 fashion bloggers? You know you can’t wear yoga pants, right? You still shop at American Eagle. Find something better to wear.” So I went shopping, and I found outfits at *gasp* Old Navy that I felt super comfortable and confident in, and guess what? That’s me. I’m casual, I like classic styles, and I knew if I was going to get up and speak in front of 100 people for the first time, I needed to feel great about my outfit. I left my bully in Columbus and went on to have an amazing time in Austin, meeting some people that I know will be important parts of my journey moving forward. So I tell you this because I want you to know that there will be obstacles, yet the most rewarding thing to me has been overcoming them. Building this business has been the absolute best thing I’ve done for personal growth, and it’s having a positive impact everywhere in my life. So here’s what my income looked like in February: Income Breakdown Passive Income:Affiliate Income – Bluehost – $170.00 Affiliate Income – Elegant Themes – $257.50 Affiliate Income – ConvertKit – $32.10 5 Day Challenge Upgrade – $68.00 How to Start a Freelance Web Design Business Upgrade – $0.00 Serious Side Hustlers – $667.00 Individual Courses – $0.00 Web Designer Academy – $694.00 Websites That Make Money Beta  – $594.00 WordPress Protection Package – $459.42 Passive Income Total: $2942.02 Time for Money Income: Done For You Projects – $3164.16 Website Therapy Coaching Beta Test – $349.00 Consulting – $2500 Time for Money Total: $6013.16 Total Revenue: $8955.18

Lily Mockerman is Founder, President and CEO of Total Customized Revenue Management. Lily is a dedicated and passionate leader in the Revenue Management Field with well-honed analytical skills, experienced foresight, technical savviness in many hotel systems, and the ability to clearly communicate vision and strategy for her clients and team. After earning a B.S. in read more The post 152 | Total Revenue Management with Lily Mockerman first appeared on Long Live Lodging.

Lily Mockerman is Founder, President and CEO of Total Customized Revenue Management. Lily is a dedicated and passionate leader in the Revenue Management Field with well-honed analytical skills, experienced foresight, technical savviness in many hotel systems, and the ability to clearly communicate vision and strategy for her clients and team. After earning a B.S. in read more

In this episode of The Amazing Seller Podcast I share my income numbers from May 2015. You’ll notice that they are a little higher than last month and I’ll share why. Here’s the numbers: Total Revenue: $35,716.42 Total Product Costs = $10,255 Total Amazon Fees = $10,550 Amazon PPC Costs $1,300 Grand Total Cost = […]

In this episode of The Amazing Seller Podcast I share my income numbers from April 2015. You’ll notice that they are a little lower than last month and I’ll share why. Here’s the numbers: Total Revenue: $32,559.06 $1.95 Promotion for product #2 and #3 = $1,850.00 New Total: – $30,709.06 Total Product & FBA Costs […]

In this podcast, we examine the impact of Price Elasticity of Demand on Total Revenue. We look at two situations...if the price of an inelastic good rises and if the price of an elastic good rises...to show how price elasticity of demand is an important concept within business decision making.