This is episode 34 of the Free and Fearless podcast and today’s topic will be simplifying your business. That doesn’t mean earning less or not scaling, just the opposite. There are limitless opportunities and you can grow beyond your wildest dreams by December this year, but I want to help you choose the path of least resistance.
Dive into the episode below to hear me share a few simple yet powerful ways to welcome expansion while doing less, as well as what I’ve planned for my business this year.
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Show Notes:
- [02:01] When to stop creating new products and what to do instead
- [03:15] What new programs I’ll be releasing this year
- [05:20] Why launch less often
- [06:09] What I learned from many recent launches
- [06:49] How the promotion of my next program will be different
- [08:52] An easy way to simplify your email marketing strategy
- [11:15] Examples of people pleasing in business
Mentioned:
Transcript
What if growing your business didn’t mean more hours, offers or launches, but doing less? We tend to overcomplicate things. Especially now that it’s January, I see most people setting big new goals that will require more hours, effort and sacrifices from them in 2022, but won’t necessarily help them grow. Or if they do, it won’t be in the right direction.
As I create my business vision for 2022, I’m asking myself: ‘How can I make things simpler and easier?’
Here are the answers I came up with, the decisions I made for my business going forward, and my best tips for you on how to welcome more flow, simplicity and growth at the same time as a business owner:
1. No new programs, or fewer.
You don’t need to create any new programs, but can focus on nurturing your existing students/clients, or growing your audience, or selling your offers better.
There’s always a lot to do, especially if you’re a one-man show. But there’s a point where creating new courses or any offers becomes our comfort zone. It’s similar to creating a lot of free content and not having enough time to grow our audience or actually promote that content so it can reach the right people.
If you have the products you wanted to create, then it’s time to move away from the creation process and start selling actively, whether that’s testing different launch processes, marketing techniques, paid advertising, or focus on growing your reach or improving your conversion rates.
I can finally say my product suite is almost completed. I finished the last modules of my latest course The Blog Sponsorship Boss and released a bundle for bloggers, which is a collection of products that help you at every stage of your blogging journey. I now combined them in a bundle so you can grab them all at a reduced price and that includes 3 courses, a blog audit, workshop, toolkit and printables.
So, now that this is done, I have 1 more new program to create, but this one will be different and bigger. I have big plans for it and you’ve probably heard me talk about it already. That’s Bold Business School and it will teach you all you need to know about building a digital product business, from scratch.
You’ll learn how to start your email list and build an audience, come up with your signature product idea, create the course and launch it. You can learn all about the program at BoldBusinessSchool.com.
As for the rest, I don’t plan another product for 2022. I do leave room for inspiration to hit though. One guess I have is that in December, I’ll want to release a workshop on goal setting that sets you up for your best year ever.
Now that I’ve been practicing that more consciously for around 2 years, I learned a thing or two about reviewing the past year, taking the lessons with you and letting go of the rest, and creating your vision for the new chapter. All while analyzing the obstacles that might stop you from manifesting it, the limiting beliefs that might prevent you from going after what you want till the very end of the year, and also creating your future from your future, meaning to feel grateful for the reality you’re attracting and as if you’re already living it.
I wanted to do this last month, in December, but didn’t get to it. By the time it was January, it was sort of too late to promote something like that as half of the people have set their goals already.
I might come up with something else this year. A small workshop doesn’t take much to create, but the promotion and just the space it takes up and the time invested in it is about doing more rather than less, so we’ll see about that.
I am still a big advocate of following your intuitive hits and creating anything you feel called to. The energy that creation comes from is very special and has to be acknowledged.
Okay, moving onto the second way to simplify your business this year.
2. Fewer launches.
Tell me, were you secretly planning to launch something every month, every 2 months, once a quarter? All of these can be just too much if the intention isn’t right, if you simply don’t have the energy and desire for it and are in hustle mode.
More launches isn’t the answer. 2-3 for the whole year will allow you to prepare and execute them better, without the stress and overwhelm.
So sit down and really take your time when deciding what you’ll release this year. Also, how many launches you’ll have, what type of promotion each will be, and even when and for how long, if you’re in the mood to plan the details. They can change later on, but outlining your offers and promos for the whole year can allow you to organize your business better and stay focused.
I’m a bit exhausted from launching. I did it more than ever in the last few months but it’s also a goal I set. To test the different processes, see what I like and what works, and analyze each.
I learned a lot and got more organized. Now writing the promo emails and social media content and the sales page copy feels so much easier than before. Practice really makes perfect. I won’t continue doing things this way in 2022, though.
In January I launched the Master Blogger Bundle. This month, I’m doing a promo on all my programs, offering 30% discount for my birthday at the end of the month, when I turn 30.
Next is the beta launch of Bold Business School. It will be small, mostly for those on the waitlist and who really want to become one of the founding members and snag the lowest price ever.
I’ll start releasing the modules once the first members are in. I’ll open the doors in March or April, depending on what I manage to get ready before that. I want to prepare the bonus material in advance so it can be waiting for you once you enroll, and that will be a lot of content including:
- The Bold Niche Masterclass that helps you define the right niche for you
- 3-Day Money Magic Training to help you change the way you look at money, uncover and reframe limiting belies and welcome abundance in your life
- The Rapid Audience Growth Video Series, which will be have over 5 videos with different strategies to grow your audience from scratch.
These 3 things are basically 3 aspects of business that you need to master, and that is just part of the bonus section that comes with Bold Business School. Imagine what else I’m preparing!
So, back to the launches. This will be a membership program but also the first time I’ll close the doors after each launch. I haven’t decided how many times I’ll release it this year, but I assume I will try different promotions every time until I find what works.
As I will constantly update the program and add any bonus material necessary to make your journey to building a digital product business easier, the price will get higher with every next launch. That’s just one of the many reasons why you might want to join during the first launch if you’re interested in becoming a course creator and mastering email marketing, launching and sales.
The very first price I’ll offer the program for will be ridiculously low. That will also be my thank you to the founding members, who will serve as beta students and see the first version of Bold Business School.
So overall, I’ll have fewer launches this year than in 2021, which gives me more space to prepare for them and execute them better.
3. No new lead magnets.
The next way to simplify your business is to stop creating new lead magnets, if you already have a few.
What if you don’t create more freebies this year but keep promoting your current ones so they can reach more people? You can also update them and take them to the next level.
My main reason for including this point here is that many business owners create multiple freebies, which means having many opt-in forms and automated email series. That can make email marketing much more complicated.
What if you stick to 1 main topic with your content this year, and have 1 irresistible freebie for it? Then almost anyone from your target audience will want to sign up to your list. You’ll then have enough time to write better newsletters, serve your subscribers and connect with them.
All this is directly related to making more sales when it’s time to launch.
I have plenty of lead magnets. There’s a whole resource library that any subscriber has access to, and last year I added a few new lead magnets too. They were actually much better than what I’ve offered before, and I put more thought into them.
Choosing the right topic for your one special lead magnet will be something we work on in Bold Business School, before you create your first offers and have your first launch. The goal is to get only the right people on your list and to offer them a freebie that’s a bit more than your free content, super actionable and providing a quick win, but also warming them up for the paid offer you’ll eventually introduce to them.
Read also: How I Earned Over $34,000 from My Blog in 1 Year
4. Simplify your branding.
Stick to fewer colors, fonts and types of visuals to create a more powerful and consistent brand. That’s what I’ll try to do.
Not much else to say here as only you know what’s best for your brand. But just like it’s best for us to act and think like the version of ourselves that already lives the life we want, so can our business look and feel like the version of it that is bigger, bolder, more profitable and successful. You can decide what that means for you.
Maybe it involves taking a professional photoshoot and showing more of your personality in your content. Or adding darker colors for a more luxurious, feminine and powerful vibe, like I’m doing right now.
Get creative with this. There are no limits or rules.
5. Stop people pleasing in your business.
This is a big one. Are you creating too much free content, overdelivering not to serve people but to please everyone and keep them around?
Guess what? You’re attracting seekers of free content who most probably don’t even take action on it.
People pleasing in business might also look like investing hours every month to reply to emails and DMs and basically giving free coaching there. If you get the same questions over and over again and if they come from your ideal customers, then maybe you should create a blog post or podcast episode or social media post to answer each.
Then refer people to these pieces when they ask the same question.
Take a closer look at everything you’re doing in your day to day business activities and see what else could be people pleasing. You won’t scale if you keep doing that. You’ll end up exhausted, having wasted time on the wrong people, topics and activities. When instead you could be creating transformational programs that will take your business to the next level.
6. Fewer hours, more intention.
Maybe putting in more hours was never the path to growth, and 4 hours per day are more than enough to help you double your income this year.
That’s it for today. I’m looking forward to creating more simplicity and flow in my business this year, and growing as a result of that. Wishing you the same.