Hey all!
I posted to the Proudly Unemployable Group to see if anyone had questions for today’s show. I answered all kinds of cool questions. Here’s what you’ll learn:
What I’m doing with my two presentations at Podcast Movement, and who my star-studded guests are
A great way to “fill the funnel” if you’re in a service business
How to scale a service business
What to do when you hit a plateau
How “perfect” you have to be when you begin something
How to know when you can begin coaching someone, and the correct path to do so
How my racquetball game has been lately
What it was like to take a private jet to Napa Valley this weekend
What it means to me to Live, Laugh, Love
Where to find my favorite resources and apps
How I find good guests, and how you can too
a whole bunch more!
Because there are SO many questions, let’s jump right in and get through these suckers!
Dwayne asks: Launching and growing as you go, is this something that can be done or does it all have to be lined up, all your ducks in a row from the start?
Dwayne you can definitely launch and grow as you go, your start-up needs and foundation will vary depending on the industry. If you’ve got a blog, definitely launch, grow and expand as you go along. If you’re doing a podcast, there are two foundational elements you must have and they are 1. It must sound good and must be dialed in from the beginning. I give podcasts one chance and if it sounds terrible, I don’t listen in again. 2. Your brand must be nailed and locked down.
Ultimately we are selling ourselves, when people are buying our products and services they are buying us. Be where you are on the timeline and learn as you go. It doesn’t matter that you’re not the world’s best at what you do, you just need to get started.
Alan C asks: talk about your journey from the pile of equipment to where you are now.
You all have been along for the ride! Part of the point of this show from the beginning was to take you with me on this journey. I did follow a pretty certain path and had a strategy in mind; I listened to people who gave me advice and it’s been very successful. Between the podcast itself, my coaching and mastermind groups, The Solopreneur Hour has generated or will $250,000 in 10 months.
I never thought I would get so much joy and energy from the coaching I do; I love to hear how people get motivated and what they accomplish from working together.
The next piece is upleveling from here. I’m asking how can I raise the bar, make this show totally professional and get insane guests – that is where I am focused. I think as a show this is just getting started, as is the industry of podcasting itself.
Michelle C: Live, Laugh and Love, talk about this phrase and why it is used so much in speech. What meaning is it given and to what extent?
For me it means every day we focus on asking: How can I live this moment to the extent that I am capable. How can I maximize this moment? Why shouldn’t I be the first one to the dance floor? Why shouldn’t I be the first one to raise their hand and ask a question?
Everyone’s waiting for someone to go first, why do you have to wait? And why must you choose between this or that – why not BOTH? How can you live and maximize it?
How can you laugh in ANY situation no matter how tense, and no matter how much adversity you’re facing?
And how do we choose to love the things we already have? Our girlfriend/boyfriend, our house/apartment/living situation, etc. How can we love things as they already are?
Love is what you surround yourself with and what makes you feel good inside.
David Michael G: He wants an update on my racquetball game. I’ve been on the DL, I tore something in my forearm. I can’t squeeze enough to give a proper handshake – that’s why if we met at WDS, my handshake felt like you were holding a fish. I miss it and I can’t wait to be back!
Marian: VAs: when and how much should you expect to pay for help in your home business? Where do you find them, etc.
Chris Ducker! We’ve had him on the show twice – virtual staff finder is his site. Odesk is where I have found someone I am currently using part-time (and I will be getting a full-time VA soon). When you’re hiring someone, you need to use Chris’ book, Virtual Freedom.
Vicky S: She wants to know how to scale her aesthetician/skincare/acne business.
This is difficult but not impossible. Remove yourself from the business and ask yourself: what is critical for me to be involved in? You’ll also want to read (or reread) The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. It will change how you think about your service-based business. Here’s what I suggest you do, whatever your service-based business is:
Get TweetAdder. You can use my affiliate link on the Resources page if you’d like (or not, it doesn’t matter). You want to find a tool that searches for Twitter bio or Tweets. You can use Twitter’s search tool for this, it’s just a bit clunkier than TweetAdder. And what I would do is think about phrases people would say if they were suffering from or dealing with a pain point you can help them with.For example if you’re a fitness trainer, you’ll want to search for “bikini body”. If you’re a chiropractor or massage therapist, search for “back hurts”. Every day you will search for this term within 50 miles, send them a coupon. You’re just trying to get bodies in the door.
The only way to scale yourself is with groups and videos. If you can do group sessions, webinars and videos – these are all great ways to do it.
Van: I’m creating an MVP podcast then building it as you go: focusing on the show and building the rest as you go, is this possible?
Just get an account on Libsyn and don’t even worry about your web site! You’ll store your podcast on Liberated Syndication and it has a blog option so you can write a little post about your show. You can go very minimal!
Johnny K: What are the pros and cons? How do you really succeed in that business industry? And knowing what you know, would you do it the same or differently if you were about to join a networking company now?
We’re going to answer ALL of this and more on the next show! We’ve got an awesome, awesome guest coming in for show 141.
Peter: How do you go from doing it to teaching it? This seems to be a very robust area to discuss. The possibilities are endless. Where do you begin and how does it evolve?
The transition to monetize anything: you follow a very clear path and here it is.
Set up a gmail account for your business. You want a separate account from your personal account because you may want to give a VA access to it down the road.
Go to scheduleonce.com and get an account. For $19 a month they give you three distinct landing pages.
Set up a scheduler with 15 minute sessions. Do as many as you want.
Post to whatever media outlet you have (a podcast, a blog, social media).
Say this: I’m starting this XX coaching program. If you are interested, schedule your free 15 minute session with me. Give them the link.
They book a slot, soon your slots are full. You get on 15 minute Skype session with them.
Throw out your pre-conceived notions and ask them what they would like to get out of a coaching program. What would measure success for them?
Now you have 10 people who have told you exactly how to build a business, you can give them exactly what you want.
If I was to start this thing next week, are you a definite yes, a definite maybe or a definite no?
My goal was to get 20 definite yes answers, then I would do it. I knew only half of them will plunk down the money and that’s when I started SoloLab; I was right and ten of them joined.
And Part B to this question: I offered two free coaching calls to the first 10 people. This is a premium to get one on one tailored coaching from someone who’s been where you are.
When I did this, I found that I loved it so much that I decided to offer private coaching. And then I got a bunch of private coaching clients from that. So it grew from group mastermind then private and now I could do webinar, teleseminar; I have different coaching options available because of how this was built from the beginning. That’s how I did it and I hope that helps you. And that’s the process I teach.
Thom: What do you do when you hit a plateau and reinvent ways to get to the next level?
I’m exactly there, not energetically. But I’m in that growing pains segment, I have to get a VA and get myself systemized and able to get more things done. And I’m looking across the board at how can I upgrade every single thing I do? The show, SoloLab, coaching, events, etc. I’m there right now and looking outside of my industry for inspiration.
That’s what I do for everything I do because I don’t believe this world is the be-all-end-all of how to do it. And that’s what I do when I hit a plateau. I look for where I am falling short and find ways to amend that. Right now getting people around me to help.
Michael G: What are the best ways to invite your audience to engage with you? We regularly ask our audience for their feedback, pain points, etc. However we seem to have a very quiet but dedicated group. We’re looking for ways to incorporate it into the show without it being too pushy or out of place.
This is what I call integration; how a podcaster brings online or on air and online together. It’s your ability to understand, inside and out, how your audience interacts not only with your podcast but also with all of your social media, email offerings and your web site. These people listen to you because they like you and they want to – they will tell you when they don’t like something! You’re in a quiet group of scientists, that’s your audience. Figure out a way for them to talk about what they’re working on, feature a “Project Of The Week” kind of thing.
Kathleen: Business courses vs. 1 on 1 business coaching?
In terms of coaching, I covered that earlier in the show. But for business courses I believe you either have to have a decent audience/strong presence and following or a lot of money to throw at advertising it. So keep that in mind when choosing which path to follow.
Jared: Talk about your session at Podcast Movement.
My two sessions: The Solopreneur Hour Live at 12:25pm in the lunch room area with Natalie Sisson, Jaime Tardy, Greg Hickman, Chris Cerrone, Kristi Bartholomew, John Lee Dumas and Kate Erickson. They’ll be paired up and get 15 minutes each. We’ll talk about podcasting overall, their specific speciality areas.
On Sunday, again just before lunch, I’ll be doing Life After 8 Weeks. And I want your help in choosing a tagline. Tweet me (@solohour) and tell me which of these two taglines will get more people in the room: Tagline 1: How I Created A $250,000 podcast in 10 months OR Tagline 2: What To Do When New & Noteworthy Ends, And The Real Work Begins. Either Tweet me and say Tagline 1 or Tagline 2 – or leave a comment below.
I’m working on a Meetup that will be cool and do a VIP tour of the Cowboys Stadium on Monday. Tweet me and let me know if you want in!
Anita: How do you choose your guests and get them to come on?
I choose my guests based on social media clout; for the first 8 weeks, I only wanted people who could help me move the needle. My intention for the show was always to show you all the different kinds of solopreneurial businesses and how people came up so you can do this yourselves. I want to show you that you can do this with the knowledge you have, the skills you have; you can create a life of time and financial freedom.
I have a couple of strategies:
1. I just reach out to people I want to have on! Usually that does nothing.
2. When I have a guest on and we’re wrapping up after the show, I ask them for a recommendation (especially those guests who have clout). I’ll say “We spoke about this person, can you make an introduction? I would love to speak to XX, it would be one of my heroes.”
3. Look at other people’s shows from other industries on iTunes, look at the most popular ones.
Arista: How do you keep your head in the game when there are a million things to do and anxiety and overwhelm want to take over?
That’s like every day! The only way to do that is to focus on the next step, keep your blinders on and go one step at a time!
Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it was built brick by brick. When you start doing something, even if you just get an outline done. For example, Stephen King just writes 10 pages a day. He doesn’t look at the overall 600 or 700 pages of the book, he does 10 pages a day and then stops. Figure out what is your ten pages a day – what is that one thing that you can do that will make you feel accomplished? Then get it done.
Look at all the components you need to assemble something, then start working on one component until that one is done.
Steve: What are your favorite resources?
Click on the Resources – Start Here page.
Thom: What to do when you hit a lull?
Choose a brand, a podcast, whatever it is that you love. That’s specifically why I love going to work; I really, truly love this work (podcasting). If you feel like you’ve hit a lull, where can you go for inspiration? Bring yourself out of your comfort zone, it’ll keep you sharp and energized.
If was I totally stumped, I would listen to a few podcasts (business-related), post to my mastermind group and tell them what I was working on and then I would look for a way to challenge myself with a new product or service and then I would build it.
Mr. V: The importance of stepping away from your business to reset the mind.
I stepped away this weekend to Napa, I set the show to go live on Sunday night at midnight and hoped it worked because there was nothing I could do about it if it didn’t!
I like to ask people: “What did you do when you were 12? Were you painting, running around, playing soccer, going to the beach? Did you play sports in high school, what did you do in high school? Find your way back there, back before responsibilities, etc. If you loved Po Go Sticks, go get one.
I stepped away as much as I can! You gotta find your things to reset.
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Resources From This Episode:
Re Perez Episode 89
Virtual Freedom, Chris Ducker
The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber
The Solopreneur Hour on Twitter
The Proudly Unemployable on Facebook
SoloLab – Join Our Family!
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