3-Step Growth Formula For A Baby Biz
Brand new subscriber Sam is juuuust getting his business off the ground.
He writes:
Really enjoyed all of your emails so far, and I’m looking forward to learning more.
Here’s where I’m at:
– Just starting out with 200+ subs
– Using mailchimps free account
– A Bryan Harris, 10k subs student
– No autoresponder set up (yet)Here’s where I want to be:
– Autoresponder course which funnels into sales
– Running successful giveaways which people share (I’ve just used your code for KingSumo)
– Guestposting on other blogs (people don’t seem to be too approachable though?)
– Create a course which people want (ie ask them/ get audience to prepay)Any information or advice on how I can get to where I want to be is appreciated.
One of the biggest dangers when you’re getting started like Sam is looking around at what other entrepreneurs are doing with their marketing and assuming that you have to be doing all the same things.
Most successful businesses are fairly complex—you’re juggling email and social media and paid advertising and blogging, and, and, and.
But it’s a mistake to start out that way.
My advice for new entrepreneurs is to start simple and layer in complexity as your business grows.
Back when I was writing software all day, we had this saying:
YAGNI
Which stands for: Ya Ain’t Gonna Need It
Way too many people get caught up in building stuff they don’t need right away.
In Sam’s case, building out a big long autoresponder isn’t worth the effort—he could look up 6 months from now and realize all he has is a string of 120 emails and no sales.
That’s why I recommend starting with “live” or broadcast emails, where you write ’em as you go.
You’ll figure out what your audience responds to, what they buy and how best to sell to them.
Not 100% sure, but it sounds like Sam doesn’t have a product yet.
If that’s true, I’d suggest Sam spend some time talking to his audience to find out what their pain points are, then create something small, like a short PDF or video series to sell for less than $30.
Launch that.
Then once he’s made a few sales, start working on building an automated funnel like an email course or autoresponder sequence.
Once he has a couple of smaller products under his belt, then he’ll be ready to launch a big course with a fat price tag.
(If Sam starts here, he’ll probably take 10X as long to launch it, and he’ll be making all his rookie mistakes at the high-stakes poker table.)
And when it comes to Sam growing his list and audience, I’d steer clear of trying to “be everywhere” and juggle 50 different ways to get email subscribers.
Pick 1-2, MAX, and get really good at them.
Guest blogging is a good one. Or webinars. Or Facebook, whatever.
Just don’t try to do everything or you’ll spread yourself too thin.
To sum up this baby-biz growth formula:
– Create a small product
– Get good at email
– Get good at 1-2 ways of getting new subscribers
Keep your focus tight and your systems simple.
Then layer in complexity later, when you know that you really DO need it.