3 Must-Haves for a Mission-Driven, Magnetic and Money-Making Business

If you want to see how I plan 90 days of content ideas, check out this video here.

Inside of this episode, we're going to talk about what every successful entrepreneur has to start with in order to create major momentum in their business.

We're going to talk about how to cultivate expansion, AKA scalable growth in your business so you don't plateau.

We're going to talk about the single piece most entrepreneurs miss that's keeping them from attracting their soul clients, and the exact three pieces needed to create a business that's set up for success from the start and continues to support you in your dream life of freedom.

As you know, this is such a driver for me and has always been the motivation behind my business, the motivation to support women specifically in creating these freedom-based businesses that allow them to experience whatever freedom looks like for them.

Whether that's traveling the world as a digital nomad…
...being able to pay off their bills
...retiring their husband
...being able to send their kid to the best school there is,
...to just being able to go to happy hour every single week because you freaking want to.

Whatever freedom looks like for you, that's always been the mission.

And I really believe that when we start our own businesses, whether we're doing them full-time or part-time or side hustle or whatever that looks like, we are giving ourselves such an opportunity for expansion and growth, and we're giving ourselves an opportunity to really evolve.

And from that, from the extra income, let's just call it what it is, we're able to do really cool shit.

So this post is all about that.

We're going to talk about those three must-haves that I have used in my own business, that I teach all of my clients in order to create a mission-driven, magnetic, and money-making business.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR BRAND MISSION AND BRAND PURPOSE

The number one must-have that you need to have solid in your business in order for this entire thing to work is a clear understanding of your brand mission and your purpose.

Often we hear a lot about the idea of why or the power of why. Maybe you've completed a workbook or a free guide or attended a training where they've told you to get in touch with your why.

I want to go a step further because, in my own journey, I quickly realized that the why that I was coming up with wasn't enough.

When things started to get a little rough there in the beginning and I started to really question if I wanted to keep doing this, I had to dig deeper. Because the why that I was providing myself, the why that I had come up with was really surface level.

It was all about being able to travel full time, which is pretty cool, let me just say.

It was about being home with my son. It was about having money to shop at Whole Foods. But when things started to get difficult in running my business, that why was really easy to dismiss.

It was really easy to be like, "Oh, that's okay. We don't need that right now. Oh, that's okay, I'll go get this job. And that'll allow us to do that."

What I needed to get in touch with was my purpose. Your purpose is a step further. And this is why I love the work that Simon Sinek does because he talks about going further than the why, the purpose.

Why are you doing what you're doing?
What is the true purpose behind your brand and your business?

Now I want to take a second and look at the nonprofit sector. I grew up in the nonprofit world, volunteering, doing community service every freaking weekend.

My family actually owns our own nonprofit that we started when I lost my brother to childhood cancer. And I worked professionally in the nonprofit sector for years.

One of the reasons that I'm so driven to that industry, and I bet you are as well, is because everything is surrounded around their mission. The very first thing that you have to do when you are creating a nonprofit or filling out a grant is tell them your mission.

This is what builds community around an organization. This is what allows them to effectively communicate what they do with their community.

So I want to know what is the mission of your business?

Have you taken the time to identify what you're actually doing?

What is the purpose of your business? Not just what you provide, not just the services that you have, not just the transformation that you want to provide your clients, but the mission, the heart of the brand, and the business.

This is what will keep you going.

This is what will sustain you because running a business, it's not all butterflies, rainbows, and unicorns.

I know it's easy to think that because everyone's showing you the bright, shiny stuff in the online space, but it's going to take hard work, and it's going to take that word that I personally love, which is hustle.

I think hustle is a really, really strong word.
It means you're in it to win it.
You're in it for the long run.
You know your purpose.
You're going to put in the time and the energy because you are clear on the outcome.

Hustle ain't bad and you're going to need it.

The only thing that is going to keep you going is a connection and grounding to your purpose and your mission.

So I want you to get clear on that before you do anything else moving forward. In a recent podcast episode, I shared more about building your brand mission.

I have two questions I want you to ask yourself over the next 24 hours.

The number one thing I want you to ask yourself is, "What impact do I want to have? What impact do I want to have in this world?"

The second thing I want you to ask yourself is something that I realized shortly after losing my brother to childhood cancer. And that was, "What do I want to be remembered for?" When I answered this question, my entire life changed and as a result, my business was born.

So I want you to think about that. At the end of it all, what do you want to be remembered for?

You'll start to discover that this is a lot deeper than, "I want to shop at Whole Foods." Or, "I want to buy that new car." Or, "I want to pay off my student loan."

This is the stuff that gets your community to come to you.
This is the stuff that gets people to trust you because they're so connected with your mission and your message.

So ask yourself, brainstorm, do a little work on those two questions.

Just to remind you of my own mission, it is to empower women, to uncover and own their story, and share it with true authenticity through their profitable business.

Every single thing that I create centers around this mission. Every program that I put out there connects to story.

My brand, what you see on my website, my social media platforms, all connects to story.

I have a clear linear connection through everything that I create and as a result, no matter what happens, I keep going. And that's where that resilient mindset comes in.

CULTIVATE EXPANSION IN YOUR BUSINESS

Number two is all about cultivating expansion in your brand and your business. Now the key to cultivating expansion, the key to any successful online business is the power of creativity.

I don't know about you, but the desire to create keeps me going all the time. It is the reason that I actually wanted to start this business in the first place.

I love creating new content.
I love posting pictures on Instagram, recording videos, writing emails, writing blog posts, collaborating, and having conversations with people.

The idea of creativity and the power of me actually creating content lights me up.

And that is the thing. You've got to be inspired if you want to inspire other people.

Content creates community and a community is so, so important because it is where the money comes from. That's where your clients are. If you weren't focused on creating content at the very beginning of your business, I'm talking like day freaking one, you are missing out on some crucial time when you can be creating brand awareness.

Having this content allows you to build community. It allows you to pull people in, to serve them, to provide your story, to tap into their story, to provide tips and tools, and transformation that allows them to trust you.

When you can get your audience to trust you, through the power of content, through the power of you showing up, that's when you create a community of true fans, rather than just followers.

Once you have your mission established, you are light years ahead of a lot of people in this industry who are focused on the wrong things when they start out.

Because of that, you should feel really inspired to show up and share that mission with your audience. That is key. Content comes from tapping into where you are now.

So I have three questions that I want you to write down on a piece of paper and start brainstorming these different things. I promise you you are going to have exactly what you need to show up for your audience right now.

Number one, what inspires you?

Gosh, it seems so simple, doesn't it? But we forget all the time.

What do we actually like to do? And I’ve got a little secret for you. You're starting your own business, or you have your own business, you're scaling your own business, you're the CEO of your own business. You get to show up and talk about things and create content around things that you actually enjoy.

You don't have to work for someone else anymore.
You don't have to create content for someone else anymore.
You get to show up as you.

So let's start with that. What actually inspires you? What do you love talking about?

Now, let's take it a step further with question two.
What could you talk about for hours with your friends?

Remember, we're setting out in the online space to create a community of fans.

Your community is your friends. I can't tell you how many members of my community and my clients that I am friends with, that I enjoy talking to and hearing about their life. So why would you show up and talk to your community about something different than you would maybe talk to a close friend about?

Now, I understand some of us have friends who have no idea what we do. I love my friends forever and ever, and they're trying to understand day after day and they're getting awesome.

However, I get there's a little bit of a disconnect. But let's just imagine that you were talking to a very best friend who understood what you do and what you're building a business around. What could you talk about them with for hours? Write that down.

And the third thing I want you to uncover is what do these friends and family members come to you for advice on?

It's already happening around you and you're maybe not paying attention to it, but the second you start paying attention to it, you're going to be like, "Oh, wow.”

I started to realize that people were coming to me to talk about public speaking. Those people were coming to me to ask questions about showing up on video. People were coming to ask questions about communication and social media.

And that's where I started my business. That's what I taught in the beginning. That's what I would show up and share content around. So start looking at what your friends and family are already giving you ideas around.

The key to consistent creativity and therefore consistent content comes from where you are right now. When we start reaching for an unattainable, meaning like what is Susie doing on the internet, what is Susie talking about, and we start talking about that too, there's going to be a disconnect.

When there's a disconnect, we aren't feeling creative and we aren't feeling inspired.

And when we aren't feeling inspired, you guessed it: we can't inspire our audience.

When you tap into your knowledge and your inspiration, expansion is inevitable. When you are constantly coming from a place of inspiration and you are sharing that with your audience, that can be in the form of, your story, valuable posts, tips, tools, tapping into their story, understanding where they are.

These are the key pieces of really strong content. There's no right or wrong way to create content, my friends. I know it's really easy to fall into the idea that there is a template for everything. And there are some really cool tricks, but really just starting and doing the work now and testing and tweaking and figuring it out as you go is how you create authentic content that resonates with your audience.

And that will allow your brand to continue to grow and expand.

BUILD AN ONLINE COMMUNITY FOR YOUR BRAND

Community is necessary. I repeat you can not build a business, a profitable business without a community.

How do you expect to sell things if you have no one to sell them to?

At the end of the day, I am telling you, those high-level entrepreneurs that you see making six figures, seven figures, and beyond in their business, have a community of people who are interested, intrigued, and magnetized by their message.

And because of that community, they are able to consistently sell and hit their goals in their business.

Now, I see this all the time in the online space and it breaks my freaking heart because I did it too. I created a program, I created a course, I created the website and I put it out there and nobody came.

Maybe you've had this happen in your own story as well where you created a course or a program and you promoted it and you did all of the things that you were told to do, and you didn't hit your goals.

And it comes back to not having people to actually sell that to.

So when entrepreneurs come to me, they're really stressed out about this, they're feeling discouraged, they don't really want to do it anymore and we always look at the community.

Who's there, and how are you showing up for them?

At the end of the day, I cannot stress enough that community really, really matters. And you need a community of soul clients. Soul clients are those people who are invested and interested and believe in you, your mission, and what you are building.

One of my favorite quotes that I have ever heard that has shaped my entire business is from Zig Ziglar. And it says, "If people like you, they'll listen. If they trust you, they'll do business with you."

Trust comes from creating a community of people who are interested in what you have to say, and for you showing up with content to build that trust for them.

To make them understand that you are there to support them through their transformation, that you are the missing piece or the key that's going to help them to get from where they are to where they ultimately want to be. So not just creating a community, but creating that community of people who are genuinely interested.

Now, a community can be formed anywhere you want. It can be in person, it can be done on Instagram, Facebook, you could create a community on Pinterest, LinkedIn, it doesn't matter.

But what I really encourage you to do is go a step further and create an online community via your email list. Now, at the end of the day, we don't own Facebook or any of those other cool platforms.

What I'm saying to you is that it's easy to hit like. It's a little harder to say, "Yes, I want to hear from you so I'm going to provide you with my email address."

This extra step allows you to prime your community and pulls in those people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say. You might be sitting there thinking to yourself, "I don't have a community or maybe I have a really small community and I'm not sure how to grow it."

I'm going to share with you the simplest way to get started.

START BUILDING YOUR EMAIL LIST

Step One: Ask yourself where your audience hangs out online.

This should be where you're hanging out online. If you are hanging out in Facebook groups and your audience isn't on Facebook groups, then your content's probably going to fall flat and you're not going to get engagement. So be where your audience is, that's number one.

Step Two: What does your audience need right now?

Now go create that. Seriously. What do they need right now?

Go write it down, create something really quickly and put it out there online. Give it to them as a gift. Now here's the key: in order to access that gift, they must give you their email address. This is how it all starts. This is the baby step of building a list. Yeah, there are a ton of cool things that you can do with list building.

I geek out about them on the regular, but I just want you to get started. If you've already started creating lead magnets and building your community, but you're not seeing the numbers, then I want you to ask yourself again, "What does my audience need right now?" Create that and start pulling in your soul clients.

Build a strong community over time.

You're not going to wake up tomorrow to 500 subscribers, so don't come and say, "Michelle, I did your freebie and it didn't work." It's working. Depends a lot on you and a lot on your consistency.

But when you are doing this, when you are focused on consistently showing up and building this community, it is the number one way to profitability.

Let me remind you: you cannot sell if you have no one to sell to. So focus on building community and the sales will come.

From the beginning I started to get people onto my list and I just continued to show up for them.

With just 10 people, I signed my first high level client.

And with less than 100 people, I hit 15K cash in my business.

So I'm telling you, this is where it lives. This is where profitability, strong brand, a strong business, and success lives. It lives in your community.

CONCLUSION

This is the foundation or three pillars of a sustainable business and the foundation of what we teach inside of Roadmap to Freedom.

This 90-day group program opens once a year in October and doors are opening soon.

You’re ready to be your own boss, leave your 9 to 5 or side hustle and go all-in on your business

You’ve got dreams to travel the world and don’t want to compromise your love of travel for your career.

You’ve got BIG money dreams and you know that by stepping into the abundance of cash and experiences you can make a difference in the life of your family and the world!

You want to show up fully for your family, while still pursuing your mission-driven work.

You know you can impact thousands of people with your voice and story, you just need the platform!

You want the freedom to use your time and finances in whatever way you freaking please, without feeling restricted by how much you can earn.

You can no longer deny the fire inside to be more and do more in the world.

Then I encourage you to learn more about R2F and join the waitlist.

P.S. Have you tuned in to The Beautiful Climb podcast? I release new episodes every other Friday on topics around productivity, motherhood, habits, goals and going after the life of your dreams! Check out past episodes and be sure to subscribe at thebeautifulclimb.com

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

brandmerry 9/27/21 brandmerry 9/27/21

Steps For Starting An Online Business (Leaving Your 9 to 5)

Back in 2016 I got this crazy idea that I wanted to leave my nine-to-five. Just eight months later I did that, and here I am in 2021 writing this blog, and my entire life has changed. It all started with my road from nine-to-five to a six-figure ent…

Prefer to watch this blog content instead of reading it? Head here to watch it on the Brandmerry channel.

Back in 2016, in January to be specific, just one month after my son was born, I got this crazy idea that I wanted to leave my nine-to-five.

Just eight months later I did that, and here I am in 2021 at the time of recording this video and writing this blog, and my entire life has changed.

It all started with my road from nine-to-five to a six-figure entrepreneur in just one year.

But, how did I leave my nine to five and build this scalable business? That’s the purpose of today’s blog.

QUITTING MY 9 TO 5 JOB

Let’s go back to 2016 when my son was just one month old, and I decided that I wanted to leave my nine-to-five.

I didn't have experience being an entrepreneur, I didn't even know at the time what I wanted to focus on building my business around, but I had started to discover what was possible online through social media, and people I'd gone to college with suddenly posting about the businesses that they had created.

So I went into it a little bit rosy-eyed, thinking that I was going to be an overnight success.

Eight months later, after doing all of the things, I hadn't made any money in my business. Although it sucked at the time, I’m incredibly thankful for those first eight months, because they taught me what I am about to share with you today.

Once I implemented the pieces that I'm sharing with you today and continued to work on those and refine them and scale them I did hit six figures in one year, and have consistently had a six-figure business since then.

I ended up leaving my nine-to-five in September of 2016, and in the same month signed my first client.

Now, I'm going to be 100% transparent with you, in no way was I an overnight success, I had to work really, really hard those eight months before leaving my nine-to-five to have a solid business foundation.

But I did take a leap of faith, and for some of you reading this, you're going to be like, "Absolutely not, there is no way that I'm doing that," and that is absolutely fine.

The strategies I'm going to share with you are also going to support you while you are building your business and working a nine-to-five, and putting money in savings, and having those clients and stuff coming in before you decide to leave.

But some of you are also reading this and thinking, "This kind of sounds like fun. Maybe I could take a leap of faith?"

And this information is for you as well.

I ultimately decided to leave my nine-to-five before having income in my business, and that definitely meant we had to take a lot of risks.

We decided to just live off of my husband's income the best that we could for a few months, any money that came into the business did not go back into the business, I would put it into living expenses.

We were using it to buy groceries and pay bills, and I'm not going to lie, those first three months were incredibly difficult.

But I'm thankful for them, and they got me home quicker to be with my son, and to go all-in on building this business. For me, that was the aligned decision we made so I could focus and expand as an entrepreneur.

Both ways work!

STEPS FOR STARTING AN ONLINE BUSINESS
#1 DETERMINATION

The number one thing that I think you need to go from nine to five to a six-figure entrepreneur is determination. Whether you decide to leave your nine-to-five with an entire savings account and six months of salary in the bank, or you decide to just go for it and hope it all works out, you need determination.

You're going to hit roadblocks every single step of the way, and it's so incredibly important to remind yourself why you're doing this in the first place.

And if I'm being honest with you, it has to be a lot deeper than "I just want to make money," it has to be driven by an emotional feeling and mission.

For me, it was to be home with my son. I originally didn't plan to be home with him after my maternity leave, but I had this feeling, this fire that I needed to be home with him, that I wanted to experience those first few years with him.

I also had always thought about working for myself, and it felt like no better time.

So I was emotionally invested in this business, and as a result of that emotional investment and the determination, I optimized my time so that I could build these crucial pieces.

I'm going to share those pieces with you, of course, but it doesn't matter if you have the pieces and you know what to do, if you aren't dedicating specific time to work on your business, especially while you're working a nine-to-five, you're going to have a really hard time growing.

So when I was building those first few months of my business, building my website, planning out my offers, doing my marketing, I was still working my nine-to-five and I was utilizing every little pocket of time that I could find.

I'd wake up early in the morning and get some work done.

I would listen to trainings and record emails and social media posts driving to and from work every day.

I used my lunch time to watch webinars, to learn, to participate in a group program and attend calls.

And I would use my evenings after my son went to bed, late into the evening, to also work on my business.

I'm thankful that I did that, because today I have a business that allows me to travel to Greece for three months, and live in different parts of the country, but at the time, that was what was required of me.

So if you take one thing away from this video, I want you to know that it's 100% possible for you, but you've got to be determined and dedicated to putting in the time and the energy, and yes, sometimes money, into building your business.

STEPS FOR STARTING AN ONLINE BUSINESS
#2 RESILIENCE

Once you have become emotionally invested into the success of your business, you can see it, and you're dedicated to the highs and the lows, the ups and the downs, the failures and the wins, it is time to test your resilience and build your brand.

Now, when I'm talking about building your brand, I'm not talking about your logo, I'm not talking about the aesthetics, I'm not even really talking about your website.

That's what I thought branding was, that's why I wasted eight months not signing a client.

Today, I know better, I do better, and I actually teach entrepreneurs how to do branding the right way. I have an entire class on building a better brand, which you can watch at betterbrandmethod.com.

This first stage is incredibly important, because it's going to build the foundation for your business moving forward.

This is the stage when you identify your niche, this is when you start to decide who your ideal customer is, who you ultimately want to work with.

This is when you start to fine-tune and practice your communication skills, creating brand messaging and figuring out how you're going to introduce yourself into the world and the topics that you want to talk about as an extension of your brand.

It's also where you map out your offer.

Now, this is incredibly important, because if you're planning on leaving your nine-to-five and making money pretty quickly, you need to have something to sell, and you want to make sure that your marketing efforts, how you're showing up, are leading people directly to the sale.

Another piece of advice that I have as it relates to your offer that I didn't learn until much, much later is to focus on one thing.

You're going to have a much easier time focusing on selling one core service rather than a bunch of different ones that you have to figure out how to share in email and social media and all the different things. It's going to be really overwhelming and confusing.

It's just easier to focus on one core offer and drive all of your energy and attention to that.

Those are some of the core pieces of building a brand. I go into way more detail inside of my free class where I teach the Build a Better Brand Method, but it's so important that you take the time to do this, because this is going to set the solid foundation for your business.

I often say that you want to think of your business as a building, and you're going to add floors and stories to it, you're going to want to keep scaling up and go higher and higher and higher, and if you don't have that solid foundation, which is your brand, your building isn't going to scale, it's going to fall over.

You're going to eventually realize that "Oh no, I have to go back to ground zero."

Building your brand doesn't have to take a ton of time, there are very, very strategic ways to do it, but it is going to save you so much time, so many headaches, and a lot of pain, when you move into the marketing phase, which is where you ultimately bring in and attract your ideal customer.

STEPS FOR STARTING AN ONLINE BUSINESS
#3 MARKETING

At Brandmerry, we focus on two things, branding and marketing.

I recognized early on that once you have a solid brand, once you know who you are, who you want to work with, what you're ultimately going to offer, how you're going to make a difference in their lives by solving this problem, you have to let people know.

You have to market.
You have to put this information out in front of your ideal customer.

So one of the things that I recommend as you're building your business is get very strategic and focused on how you're going to market your business.

What I mean by that is don't try and do everything.

There are a million options when it comes to marketing. You can show up on Facebook, you can show up on Instagram, you could use Pinterest, you could use blogging, you can do YouTube, you can be on TikTok, you can use Clubhouse, you can use LinkedIn, the list goes on and on.

In the beginning, you have a small amount of time while you're working your nine-to-five and growing your business. If you've got kids, that's a whole 'nother level of time management that you have to deal with.

The more focused you are, the more success you are going to experience.

When you're starting out, think very strategically about where your ideal customer is and how you can get in front of them. Then use that to plan out a very strategic marketing plan.

Now, I talk about repurposing in this video right here, and repurposing is something that I accidentally did when I was building my business and working a nine-to-five because I recognized I didn't have a lot of time, and I really needed to use the time that I had efficiently.

When it came to content creation, I needed to be very strategic with the amount of content that I was writing and how I was getting it out in front of my audience.

So if you have a short amount of time, which many of you watching this probably do, repurposing is something you want to embrace really early on. So make sure you check out that video to learn how you can take a piece of content and push it out to various different platforms in front of your ideal customer without taking so much time and energy away from you.

You want to determine where you're going to be marketing your business. Specifically, how often you're going to be showing up, and that does take some education on what's best for that platform. This is something that we teach inside of my program, Roadmap to Freedom, where we teach you how to market your business, specifically off of social media.

You also want to create a solid workflow, as I mentioned in this repurposing video, on how you're going to actually execute that every single week. Then it's about repetition and consistency, and over time you're going to see that you're getting faster and faster.

Maybe you can add another platform, and your planning is going really, really well.

Maybe you can go from planning 30 days of content to 60, to 90 days of content.

There's power in that repetition and that consistency when it comes to marketing.

So again, we've got the focus, we've got the determination and the desire to do it, we've got the solid brand foundation, clarity, crystal clear clarity on who you are, your niche, the problem that you solve, who you solve it for, and how you solve that problem.

That's your brand foundation, and then from there, you can start marketing.

Now, you might be sitting there like, "But Michelle, you didn't talk to me about my logo, and you didn't talk to me about my website, you didn't talk to me about X, Y, and Z."

That's because those pieces, you can create as you're going through your marketing process, but it’s important that you don't wait to market.

This is something that I find so many entrepreneurs doing, and honestly I did it myself, which is probably why it took me eight months to sign my first client.

The longer that you wait to put your brand out into the world, the longer it's going to take to sign a client. In episode 12 of The Brandmerry Podcast, I share more about getting the confidence to show up and market your brand.

So as soon as you have that solid brand foundation, you feel like, "Okay, this is good, this is good for where it's at, I can always expand on it, I can always elevate it," start sharing it with the world.

STEPS FOR STARTING AN ONLINE BUSINESS
#4 BUILDING A COMMUNITY

You have nothing as an online business if you don't have someone to sell to.

At the end of the day, you're going to need money to leave your nine-to-five. So as you are starting out in marketing your business, you want to start growing that email list and that community right away.

Don't wait until you've been showing up on Instagram for 60 days, or writing blog posts for five months, to start building your email list.

It doesn't take a lot when you're starting out. There are so many awesome platforms for building your email list, some of which you don't even need your website just yet. Two of our favorites are Flodesk and ConvertKit. I use ConvertKit over here at Brandmerry.

Both of those platforms have landing pages, which means you don't even need a website, you can just send people to a landing page where they can put their name and their email address in, in exchange for a free gift, which gets them onto your email list.

This is a great practice to have in place, and it's going to allow you to not only attract your ideal customer with a quality lead magnet, but then also nurture those relationships and email them about your products and your services.

Do it right away, like right away, it is so, so important.

Then as you fine-tune your marketing, you'll add in different elements like blogging, maybe YouTube, maybe podcasting, maybe Pinterest, maybe advertising, where you can then scale up that list growth, quicker over time.

STEPS FOR STARTING AN ONLINE BUSINESS
#5 YOUR SOFTWARE

Another thing that I recommend is having the base systems in place.

This means that you have that email marketing platform, as I mentioned already and you have some sort of scheduler for your business. I use Acuity as it's just a great way for people to schedule meetings with you, to schedule discovery calls with you or consultation calls, as well as if you're having a group program or some sort of coaching or something like that, you can give your clients the link so they can easily schedule with your availability.

This is huge, because when I was working my nine-to-five, I wanted to make it so that if I had a discovery call, it was only available in the evening and I wasn't doing it when I was at work. So having a scheduler in place is really, really important.

And, of course, you do want to invest in your website.

Now, I've mentioned a few times that I don't want you to spend all of your time and energy building your website, that your website should come in the marketing phase, once you have the brand foundation.

Then we move into the marketing phase, that's when you start to build your website.

You take the information that you know about your brand, and you start to write amazing copy and implement SEO strategies, all of which I teach inside of Roadmap to Freedom, to build a home base for your brand.

Early on, you want to decide where you are going to build that website, and maybe start chipping away at that process. At Brandmerry, we use Squarespace and recommend it to all of our clients.

Now, your website should not take you months. In fact, I recommend it should only take you 30 days. Set a limiter on it, get your website set up, bare minimum, strong copy, awesome photos of you, build that relationship, and know that you can always elevate it as you go.

The thing that I really, really, really want to stress with you here is that things don't have to be perfect before you start marketing.

In fact, if you keep waiting and waiting and waiting to get started, you're just postponing the income coming into your bank account which is ultimately going to help you leave your nine-to-five.

So don't spend all of your time building the most perfect website before you start showing up and sharing your brand with the world.

In terms of software, those three are our favorite: email marketing, scheduling software and website platform (many of which can link to Stripe or Paypal to process payments).

STEPS FOR STARTING AN ONLINE BUSINESS
#6 AUDIT YOUR PROGRESS

The last thing that I have for you is to audit your progress every 30 days. Now in my business, we're focused more on 90 days, because we have a lot of systems in place.

It's been five years now since I left my nine-to-five, but that first year, almost two years, every 30 days I was looking at the data.

I made it a top priority to evaluate the data:

The data shows this lead magnet is working really, really well, but my emails aren't doing great. Let me fix my emails by improving either the open rate or body of the email to increase the click through rate.
I'm talking about this offer in this way, and people seem to respond, so I'm going to keep going with that.
Every time I offer a price increase people are responding. Okay, I’m going to do that," because I was slowly scaling my prices.
Every time I would do a challenge, and I did a challenge every single month for the first year of my business, I would sign a client. The data shows this is a great way for me to sign clients so I continued to run with that.
I had a website and the data showed me nobody was visiting it, so I started to explore blogging.

I only knew this information because I looked at the data.

Every 30 days, I would audit what was happening in my business.

What of my products and services were selling?
How were they selling?
What strategies was I using?
Where were these people coming from?
How could I just throw more fuel onto that fire to help it grow faster?

In that first year of business, I focused primarily on one-on-one work, meaning I would work one-on-one with my clients from anywhere from three months to six months, and that was awesome, because it didn't require a lot of overhead, it was just me getting on the phone, and I got to take a few clients at a time.

That information and that income allowed me to then invest in advertising when I launched my very first program, Roadmap to Freedom, back in 2017.

So much of your business is about auditing what is working and what is not working, making those small adjustments, and continuing to put in the work. Don't shy away from doing the work.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this video, it takes a determination to be an entrepreneur, to leave your nine-to-five.

That determination is going to take work, but it's about really strategic work, it's not about just being busy to be busy and doing things to do things. It's very, very strategic, and the only way that you're going to know to make those small adjustments is by really looking at what's working and what's not working and shifting those pieces in your business.

So much of your brand and your marketing strategy is going to evolve and elevate over time, that is the fun part of being an entrepreneur, but you only know what needs to shift and elevate if you actually look at the data.

That's why some of those systems and those processes are so important. Like ConvertKit for your email or Squarespace for your website, because they will give you the data that you need to make those decisions.

CONCLUSION

Another thing that is incredibly helpful that I have done since the beginning of my business is invest in support. Even when I didn't really have the money, and I had to move things around and figure it out, I was investing in some sort of coach or consultant or program to help me scale my business.

It's one of the reasons I created my program, Roadmap to Freedom, why I have Brandmerry Academy to support entrepreneurs in consistently marketing their business, because I understand how important that is.

So I also recommend that you have some sort of guidance, some sort of strategist, some sort of mentor or support, that is going to give you the motivation and love that you need to grow your business.

Most of the people that you're around don't understand what you're doing.

Your spouse might not even fully understand it, although hopefully they support you, my husband definitely did.

You're going to need people that understand what you're going through, that understand what it's like to grow this business, and are there cheering you on and offering really strategic support along the way.

I really hope that this gave you a clear step-by-step on where you should be focusing your energy as you plan to leave your nine-to-five. I also hope that it gives you a little bit of motivation that you can absolutely do this, but you've got to dedicate the time and the energy to make it happen.

I don't regret any of those decisions that I made in those first few years of running my business, and they really taught me how to strategically hustle. Yeah, I'm going to say that H-word, so that I didn't burn out or lose energy, but I knew that I was giving it my all.

If you are ready, like ready today, to start building your brand, I want to invite you to watch my training, The Better Brand Method. Go to betterbrandmethod.com to get signed up for that.

You can also explore how to join us in this upcoming program of Roadmap to Freedom, doors opening January 2023. Learn more and join the waitlist here.

P.S. Roadmap to Freedom doors are opening soon! This live group program will help you create an online business that allows you to create a life of abundant experiences and impact. This high-touch program helps you simplify the process so you can make more money on your terms. And, the 2023 cohort is going to be better than ever with updated content, lifetime access, new bonus content, and more! Join the waitlist and be the first to join in January 2023.

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brandmerry 9/23/21 brandmerry 9/23/21

My Favorite Business Tools and Systems for a 6-Figure Business

There are a lot of options when it comes to choosing your website, email platform, landing pages, bookkeeping and more as an entrepreneur. I'm sharing what we use over here to run a 6-figure online business so you don't have to spend hours searching on your own.

My Favorite Business Tools and Systems for a 6-Figure Business

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

There are a lot of options when it comes to choosing your website, email platform, landing pages, bookkeeping and more as an entrepreneur. I'm sharing what we use over here to run a 6-figure online business so you don't have to spend hours searching…

Give ConvertKit a trial run for free.

Choosing the right tools for your business can be an overwhelming process.

When I was starting out I always gravitated to people who embraced automation, used minimum software, and had clean workflows as a source of inspiration.

So, today I'm going to break down the different tools that I use and what we use them for and why I decided to choose that option.

I'm going to share with you the tools that I use that have worked really well for me and the majority of my clients, but every business is different, everybody has a different learning style, and a different need for the tool.

So, make the decision that works best for you!

So my suggestion is always if you're at a place where you're like, “I don't know what to use,” take the tools that I'm sharing with you, give them a trial for a little bit.

If you don't like them, then find another tool.

Total disclaimer, if you decide to use some of these tools and you go through the links on our website, some of them, I am an affiliate for because I've been using them for years. Some of them, since I first started my business and I'm a big, big fan of them because they've made my life so easy.

ENTREPRENEUR WEBSITE PLATFORM
SQUARESPACE

Where is the Brandmerry.com website hosted? Squarespace, my friends.

I've been using Squarespace since day one of my business. I tried to use a different platform and my husband was like, “Use Squarespace. I hear it's up and coming and easy to design.” He was right. And since he was the one who was helping me design it, I figured, well, let's just go with his suggestion.

Since then, I have learned so much about Squarespace including customizing it and coding it. These are all the nitty-gritty details that we teach inside of Roadmap to Freedom. We actually have an entire tech vault inside of R2F, which is what we all lovingly call it, which tells you how to use all of these different platforms.

And Squarespace is one of the ones that we have tutorial videos for every single thing. So that when you're going to set up your website and you choose Squarespace, you can just watch our videos and get to it.

We chose Squarespace really early on just because it was easy to use. Over the years, I have realized that that is true for so many different aspects of Squarespace.

I've continued to use Squarespace because it's easy to update. If I want to go in and switch out my entire homepage design, which I did just a few months ago in just three hours, I can. It's just so simple to add a text box, to move images around, and truly customize.

You don't need to be spending months and months building your website if you decide to do it on your own. There's nothing wrong with that as long as you have some guidance and you give yourself a good timeframe, as we talked about in the last episode.

In Squarespace, it's really easy to design.
It's really easy to update.

I think this is something that entrepreneurs don't think about when they're choosing their website. If you don't know how to use it, you're going to constantly have to pay somebody to update it for you. That's going to get expensive.

So you want a platform that's easy to update, to log in, to find what you need. So I love that about Squarespace.

I've also continued to use the platform because their optimization for SEO is stellar. Your site title, your site description, your page title, your page description, your alt text, all of those different things that play a role in SEO, which is something we teach over here at Brandmerry, they're easy to do on this platform.

Then I think my last favorite thing on the platform is analytics.

They have a really awesome analytics section. You can integrate it with Google Analytics. You can use Google Analytics if you want, and I still use that in my business every 60 to 90 days, but because of the ease of it, I'm looking at Squarespace analytics every single month.

It tells you how much traffic you've gotten, where your top referrers are, where your traffic is coming from, top search terms that are driving traffic.

For Pinterest specifically, which is our number one driver of traffic to the website, it will show me which particular pins are doing really, really well, which blog is doing well.

It's just really nice to have it all in one spot. So the website platform that we use over here at Brandmerry, and that we recommend for our clients is Squarespace.

MEMBERSHIP AND COURSE PLATFORM
KAJABI

Moving into another website option, but something that we use primarily for courses and memberships is Kajabi.

Kajabi can do everything. They are all-in-one.

Sometimes when I'm talking to my clients, they ask me why I’m using Kajabi, Squarespace, and Convertkit, the email platform that we'll talk about in a minute? This is a valid question since Kajabi could technically do all of those things.

The thing about me is that I really like to use the best of the best in each of the categories. I will happily pay a little bit more, and I'm at a place in my business where I absolutely can do that, to have the best of the best.

Kajabi, in my opinion, is the best of the best when it comes to hosting courses, group programs, and membership communities because what it allows you to do from that aspect is build out product suites to have video, to have audio, to have workbooks, to have assessments, to build out a resource library, and a library where someone has all of their products in one spot.

Which was something that I was very eager to have as I was launching more products and bonuses and stuff when I was starting my business.

It also integrates all of the things really beautifully. So you can have your sales page on Kajabi, which then links to the checkout page where you accept payment, which then kicks out an email.

So, we treat Kajabi as an all-in-one hub for our paying clients.

Inside of Roadmap to Freedom, we send emails every single week to our members with reminders on what we’re focusing on this week, what the call schedule is, and a motivational post by me to support clients in their weekly assignments.

We're sending all of that through Kajabi to our paid clients. You absolutely could use it for email marketing, you absolutely could use it to create landing pages, you absolutely could use it to blog, and I have some clients who prefer to have it all in one spot and go this route.

At the time of this recording. I have found that there are alternative options that can do that a little bit better when it comes to email marketing and SEO.

So, I tell my clients to choose the option that works best for them.

If you're in a place where you can afford Kajabi at the price point, because it is a little bit more expensive, for just your paying clients and your membership and stuff like that, then do it.

If you're at a place where you really want to have a course and not offer private work then I would personally invest in Kajabi and then build a website, blog, and do your email marketing there until you're consistently making money, and then you can move your email marketing to another platform that maybe has better deliverability or something.

Now, platforms change all of the time. And that's the thing I do love about Kajabi, is they're always looking to improve.

As of now, we are using Kajabi, particularly for paying clients, delivering the content, communication, accepting payments, and those different elements.

Using my link you can try Kajabi for 14 days for free. You’ll also receive a special bundle to help you launch your first membership pr course completely free. This is a bonus specifically for my audience and is available to you after your trial and once your membership is activated.

ENTREPRENEUR EMAIL MARKETING PLATFORM
CONVERTKIT

For email marketing, we love, use, and swear by, ConvertKit.

ConvertKit is the platform that I switched to in my first year in business. I was using MailChimp previously and it was really frustrating to me. At the time, I was using the free version because that's when automation was free on that version. I had a goal that when I hit 100 subscribers, I was moving to a different platform.

And I'm so glad that I did.

The reason that I've continued to stay with ConvertKit through the years is that they've got everything that I need to grow my email list, the Brandmerry community, and to stay in contact with them through my weekly newsletter.

ConvertKit gives you the possibility to create your opt-in forms, your landing pages, your email sequences, and subscriber tags.

So if somebody comes in and they click on this particular link in an email, we can tag them as being interested in that topic or that subject line. When we're launching, we tag people who have clicked through to whatever we're selling. So we can follow up with them a little bit more than our general email list, just to see if they have any questions and things of that nature.

That's the back-end system side.

On the front-end side or the deliverability side, ConvertKit has excellent deliverability. Meaning, we know that our emails, the majority of the time, are landing in the primary folder or inbox of our subscribers because we have a high open-rate for the size of the list that we currently have.

That's important because with a lot of the other platforms, your messages might go to promotions or they might go to spam, and then your audience isn't actually seeing what you're sending them, and that's important.

The reason that ConvertKit has great deliverability is they stripped down their emails. It can be really tempting to make beautiful emails, to have a banner, and a bunch of images, and change the color of your texts, and have a custom font in there, and all of that, but every time you're modifying that, you're adding more code.

The more code that you have, when it goes through the email servers like Gmail, they red flag it because it might be spammy.

So ConvertKit decided early on to really strip that down. You can add those pieces, but it's not like a drag and drop type of situation with fancy fonts and stuff. That has really helped with the deliverability, which is key when you are building your community and your email list.

So the email platform that we use to collect leads and to stay in contact with the community is called ConvertKit.

ENTREPRENEUR BOOKKEEPING SOFTWARE
QUICKBOOKS

For bookkeeping, we use QuickBooks. That's pretty much the standard, I would say. There are a lot of different options out there. We use QuickBooks because I work with an accountant and bookkeeper and they prefer QuickBooks.

We love having the reports every single month, love reviewing our expenses, love being able to see where profit and loss is at, love grouping things together and while you could use a spreadsheet to do this, I prefer the ease and automation of Quickbooks.

It's really important to know your money as a business owner.

It's really important to keep your money separate from your personal life as a business owner.

My accountant actually does a training in Roadmap to Freedom all about your finances and your bookkeeping and your accounting. This is something that she has been saying, and I'm so thankful for that since I first started. Keep your money separate.

So you want to get in the habit of treating your business as a business and knowing where that money is, knowing where it's going, knowing your projections.

Obviously, in the first year, you're just going with the motions and I was there too. But now that we're in a place where we're doing profit transfers, payroll, have a team, and those different things, that's incredibly helpful.

So if you're looking for a platform to use, I personally use QuickBooks.

ENTREPRENEUR GRAPHIC DESIGN SOFTWARE
CANVA

I feel like we're all familiar with this next platform by now, but just in case you're not, can we all just give solid praise to Canva? Where did Canva come from? Why did it take so long?

I mean, I feel like this platform saved entrepreneurs all across the world.

Canva is the platform that we have used for years. My husband is great at design. He used Photoshop in the past. I've had graphic designers who work with us at Brandmerry, who are trained in Illustrator and things like that. I personally have training in InDesign, and we all still use Canva. It's still the most convenient.

There are a few reasons for that.

They have so many customizations that if you are design savvy, and you're very specific with your design, I'm pretty specific with my design, you have the ability to do that inside of Canva.

But if you are not, and you don't feel design savvy and you aren't 100% sure what you should be doing, they have incredible templates that you can just use and customize.

In addition to that, you can access Canva anywhere. That's one of the reasons that I love it. As somebody who travels frequently, if I need to whip up a design really quick while we're driving through Arizona, I don't have to pull out my laptop, I can just do it from my phone. That's really convenient.

They also have template sizes in there. So if you know you want to make an Insta Story, you just choose the Insta Story option, and then you don't have to resize it and all this other stuff.

So Canva is basically what we use for graphic design. And I have amazing women who have worked with us to do graphic design and they prefer Canva as well.

So get yourself on Canva. There's a free option too, so there's really no excuse for not using the platform.

PINTEREST SCHEDULING PLATFORM
TAILWIND

Let's talk a little bit about scheduling and a little bit about social media. When it comes to one of the platforms that we use over here at Brandmerry, I've kind of already mentioned, it's our number one traffic driver to our website, it's one of the core pieces that I teach my clients inside of Brandmerry Academy, and that is Pinterest.

Now, I'm not going to teach you how to use Pinterest on this post. We've got plenty of trainings inside of Roadmap to Freedom and inside of the Academy for that. But one of the things that I think a lot of people don't understand about Pinterest is there still has to be consistency with the platform.

You don't just get to pin your blog posts once a week and hope that it reaches the masses. There's a strategy behind it, and one of those strategies is daily pinning.

Now, I know for some of you, you're like, “What? I have to pin every day?” Well, you're repurposing your content. So you're taking the same blog post and you're creating different pin variations or you're pinning other people's content.

The platform that we use to manage all of that is called Tailwind.

Tailwind is the platform that we use to schedule all of our pins and to create some of our pins as well. They have an amazing tool called Tailwind Create that lets you create bulk types of pins.

Tailwind is an amazing resource if you are focused on Pinterest, which I recommend to every business. That is like our non-negotiable. Absolutely Tailwind all the way.

Use this link to try Tailwind in your business for free!

SOCIAL MEDIA SCHEDULING PLATFORMS

Later allows you to schedule Facebook and Instagram. They have a Pinterest option as well, but it's not the same as Tailwind and won’t help you with your overall Pinterest strategy.

We used Later for a really long time to schedule Instagram and Facebook static feed posts and Insta Stories. I’ve always loved that you can add notes in there and understand when to optimize your content for the best times to post. You can also store your photos in there which is awesome for bulk editing, etc.

Today, we’re still using Later to schedule Insta Story content, but we have recently switched to Creator Studio.

Creator Studio is accessed through Facebook, a Facebook business page to be specific, which you link to your Instagram business page. And you can access Creator Studio and go in and you can do the scheduling for both platforms.

Now, here's why we switched.

Number one, we are posting regular IGTV episodes, and I am not creating those IGTV episodes, our graphic designer is doing that. We're doing them ahead of time, so we wanted a way to schedule those. You can schedule IGTV videos through Creator Studio, but not through Later.

The second reason is that we love designing carousel images on Instagram. They're incredibly helpful, and they're so fun to create and share.

When you're using a platform like Later, at the time of this recording, you can schedule it, but then it notifies you on your phone to manually post it.

Well, when I'm traveling, my optimal time for engagement on Instagram might be 3:00 AM in the country that I'm in. I'm not going to wake up and post it. So we wanted a platform that was going to give us the ability to automatically publish it. Creator Studio allows you to do that. So, that's one of the reasons we've moved over.

They do not yet allow you to schedule Instagram stories, but I'm really hoping that that comes soon, because that would just allow us to automate the entire thing, which would be so good.

Speaking of Instagram, I get asked a lot what I used to edit my photos. Honestly, I decided years ago, because it stresses me the F out that I wouldn't worry about over editing my photos. I went through a whole phase where I was just like, “I need the perfect photo. If it's not perfect, I won't make it on Instagram.”

And thank goodness, Instagram doesn't even care about that anymore. In fact, Instagram just came out recently and said that they're no longer going to be a photo-sharing platform. Their focus is switching to video.

So you can still post photos there, but it used to be all about pristine, beautiful feeds, the grid. Nobody cares about that anymore. Stop caring about that.

Post things that are on brand, give value, that's it. But if we're traveling and the light is kind of low and I want to just brighten up a photo or something like that, I personally just use a free app called Snapseed or a simple preset in Lightroom.

There are tons of options out there. VSCO is another one or you can actually edit in the Instagram app as well, but I really love to kind of bulk edit a bunch of photos.

So if we're traveling and we've taken a bunch of photos that day, I'll just put them on a platform really quickly, edit them all, and then throw them in the lifestyle folder that I have in Google Drive, and then they're done.

ENTREPRENEUR SCHEDULING PLATFORM
ACUITY

And then the last tool that I'll share with you when it comes to scheduling is not a social media or content scheduler, it's actually a client scheduler. The platform that I love to use for that is called Acuity.

Acuity in my mind is like the best. And the reason that I love Acuity is that they send optimized reminder emails.

Inside Acuity, you can create different offers. So I have a 60-minute coaching call for my one-on-one clients. I have a 90-minute coaching call for my intensive clients. I have very few calls now, but back in the day I had like a 15-minute Q&A, I had a discovery call, I had all these other things.

When I had all these different options I could create schedules for each of those based on your availability.

It links with your calendar. So my personal calendar will block off times. I love that I can very easily go in and block off if I'm going to take a whole week off, which I do every quarter.

You can also accept payment. So if you offer a 90-minute strategy call, you could accept payment through there, which is great, especially if you're just starting out and you're doing mostly one-on-one.

And then the reminder email piece is my favorite piece. So you can send initial confirmation of the call, where they add it to their calendar.

You can set up reminder emails 48 hours, 24 hours, one hour before, or whatever you want to do.

For my private coaching clients, we always send an intake form that we want them to fill out before the session so that I can come prepared.

One of my biggest pet peeves when I was first starting, was that I was working with mentors and I would just show up to the call and they'd be like, “What's going on?” I felt like we wasted 20 minutes just catching them up on what's happening rather than diving into what we were going to do moving forward.

So that is a non-negotiable for me.

That is one of the reasons that I love Acuity because of the follow-up reminder piece of it. I've been using them for years and I love them.

CLIENT MANAGEMENT PLATFORM (CRM)
HONEYBOOK

HoneyBook is a platform that I use for my private clients. I offer VIP intensives every single month. I do not do discovery calls anymore. So my process is via an application.

I created this application in HoneyBook and I have embedded it on my website. That application comes in, it automatically adds that person into HoneyBook as a prospect, and then we communicate.

My Gmail is linked, so we email back and forth. I answer questions, I make sure that they feel really good about moving forward. We send them the link, they pay. Delana sends them their folder, all their stuff, we get the whole process started.

All of that is happening inside of HoneyBook.

We also have automated workflows, so 48 hours before the scheduled session, they get a reminder to fill out their form. That form is important so I can prepare for our session.

Then, a week before the end of their 30 days, they're getting a link to schedule their wrap-up call, to provide a testimonial. So all of that stuff is automated and we use HoneyBook for that.

One thing that I offer with my private clients is the ability to apply and then ask a bunch of questions so that they feel good about their decision, and then we have email correspondence throughout our time together. So we get to keep it all in one spot, which is incredibly helpful for the team.

We can also keep track of where people are in their contracts. I have a few clients that I've been working with for years that have three or six-month contracts. We're able to keep track of all of that in HoneyBook.

If you're a photographer or a graphic designer, HoneyBook is an amazing platform because you can keep track of your client’s work, you can share examples with them.

So if you're making a logo, you can upload it into their client portal and have them give feedback on that.

When you're working with high-level consulting, your coaching packages, you want to send an invoice and a contract. You can do all of that in HoneyBook.

It's an incredibly amazing tool. So if you're in the service-based business, I would definitely recommend checking that out. It has helped streamline our workflow tremendously at Brandmerry.

And when I was doing it by myself, it was amazing because I didn't have to keep track of everything. It was all in one spot, which is great.

When you use this link you’ll receive 50% off your subscription to Honeybook for an entire year!

ENTREPRENEUR FILE STORAGE
GOOGLE DRIVE

In addition to email correspondence, my clients also have access to a private client folder, and we host that inside of Google Drive. Google Drive is also the platform that we use to keep all of our documents.

We create email templates in Google Drive, we've got SOPs (standard operating procedures) in Google drive, we've got launch strategies in Google Drive, we've got launch spreadsheets, landing page copy. It's all there.

There are a few reasons why I love using Google Drive.

One is that I can do everything in the document. So if I'm working on a blog, I can leave comments for Delana, and then she can come in and edit it as well. There's no download and send and back and forth.

I also can access Google Drive from anywhere.

This is a huge one. When I was in Saint Croix earlier this year, I had a workday scheduled but I didn't want to stay in our apartment and work. So we decided to go to the beach. So I just worked at the beach. I wasn't going to bring my laptop, so I just did it from my phone.

I gave client feedback in Google Drive. I wrote an email for Delana in Google Drive. I just was able to do it all from my phone.

When we were in Hawaii, I went to get an acai bowl in the morning and the line was two hours long, but I had heard that they were really good so I waited.

The whole time I was in line, I wrote a blog post from my phone in Google Drive.

That's why I love Google Drive. I could access it anywhere. And then I can also make the documents available offline.

So if I'm flying and I don't have the internet, I can do it. When we were driving across the country and our internet and cell phone service would go out all the time, especially on our way driving to the West, I could do things as an offline document, and then as soon as I connected, it would just re-upload it to Google Drive.

So, that's where we keep all of our documents, all of our workflows, everything is housed there.

VIDEO CONSULTING AND MEETING SOFTWARE
ZOOM

Client calls, live workshops, all of that, are held via Zoom.

I don't think I need to go into what Zoom is because 2020 happened and we all know what it is now.

I've been using Zoom since 2016 and Zoom is the platform that we use for client calls.

VIDEO RECORDING SOFTWARE
LOOM

Very similar in name, Loom is a recording platform that I use to communicate with my clients.

Inside of the Academy, my members can submit for a website audit.

This is also something that I do regularly inside of Roadmap to Freedom. Website audits, copy audits, all of that. I use Loom to record the screen and share my insights. It's way easier than me writing out the changes I recommend that they make. That would be exhausting.

I use it to record videos for my trainings or just a face-to-camera video.
You can do a screen share with a little bubble of your face in the corner.

So Loom is a really, really great online platform to be able to do all of your recordings. I record webinars there as well for automated and on-demand trainings.

TEAM COMMUNICATION PLATFORM
SLACK

Then from a business system standpoint, we've got two platforms that we're using every freaking day at Brandmerry.

Number one is Slack.
All team communication happens in Slack.

There are no email exchanges about things that are happening in business. I am not going to live in my inbox every single day, and I don't want things to get lost.

So we utilize Slack. Each member of the team has their own Slack channel, then we have group channels together. And then even the coaches that I have inside of Brandmerry Academy and inside of Roadmap to Freedom have Slack channels as well. That's where all the communication is going.

I find it to be incredibly helpful as well when I'm traveling, as we're still working on big projects behind the scenes. I don't want to be in my inbox, but I'll answer a Slack notification.

I can have all my other notifications off except for Slack and it really helps organize my business.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLATFORM
CLICKUP

Now, if you've been around for a while, you've probably heard me talk about Trello and Asana, both awesome platforms, but ClickUp is the bee's knees.

ClickUp, we just started using in 2021, and I’m obsessed with it.

You can create things like you would in Airtable, boards like you would in Trello, and workflows you’d create in Asana, but all in one spot. My weekly tasks are in there, all of our weekly workflows are in there.

Then we are able to assign each team member their individual tasks and it’s amazing and FREE!.

So I highly recommend that y'all check out ClickUp.

LANDING PAGE SOFTWARE:
LEADPAGES

The last one I want to share with you is Leadpages.

One of the reasons I left this till the end is because it is an optional tool, as a landing page software.

It's typically used by business owners to collect leads for your challenge, where someone gives their name and their email address, your freebie page, different things like that.

You can also use it to build out single-page websites as well. That's not something that we've done a great deal of, but you absolutely could.

You can also use it to create pop-ups and announcement bars on your blog and website.

So you might be like, “Whoa! Michelle, you have Kajabi, which you could technically create landing pages on. You don't use that. You have ConvertKit, which you can create landing pages on and you don't use that. Why do you use Leadpages?”

I've been using Leadpages for years. Honestly, the reason that I haven't switched away from them is that they're the best of the best. And when you're investing in advertisements, when you're investing in Facebook ads, Pinterest ads, Google ads, all that stuff, you want to make sure the platform you’re using is optimized well. Leadpages offers that.

I've been using Leadpages since my first year in business.

I used to build out my landing pages on Squarespace. It took forever and they were never optimized. And finally, my coach was like, “You need to just invest in Leadpages.” And I did. And, oh my gosh, not only did it save me so much time, because it's drag and drop and super customizable, but my stuff converts better.

CONCLUSION

You don't have to have all these when you start. This is a lot. I did share with you almost every single one that I have. You don't have to have all of this in the beginning.

You definitely want to have a website platform.

You definitely need to have an email marketing platform.

And I would recommend having a scheduler for your personal schedule and your client schedule, and then also have a way to schedule your social media content and Pinterest or whatever platforms you're using.

Those are the main things that I would focus on.

And if you get to a place where you're able to invest in the best of the best, or you're ready to add on something else, then you can do that. That's something that I've done.

And as I mentioned before, one of the elements inside of the program, Roadmap to Freedom, which doors open at the end of October, and only for a few days, is to give you the step-by-step of building and scaling your business.

I know how overwhelming technology can be and the actual implementation of technology.

That's why we not only have Delana, who is Operations Manager at Brandmerry, in the community to answer tech questions, but we also have an entire tech vault of videos that walk through almost all of these different platforms and tools and how we use them.

So definitely check out Roadmap to Freedom to learn more and join the waitlist.

Go to Brandmerry.com/freedom to learn more about that.

Join the waitlist, so you're the first to know when doors open for 2021 and snag a private strategy session with me, a significant early-bird discount, and a chance to win $500.

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brandmerry 9/16/21 brandmerry 9/16/21

4 Business Lessons Learned When Starting My Online Business

I love learning from other's mistakes and have found it so refreshing to earn from what other's have done. So in today's episode, I'm sharing four of the greatest lessons I've learned in business.

4 Business Lessons Learned When Starting My Online Business

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

I love learning from other's mistakes and have found it so refreshing to earn from what other's have done. So in today's episode, I'm sharing four of the greatest lessons I've learned in business. | brandmerry.com

In fact, there is an estimated $42 return on every $1 spent for email marketing which results in a 4,200% ROI!

I started my business in 2016 after the birth of my son.

At the time, I had no idea what I was doing. I spent eight months building a website and brand only to find out that a) no one cared and b) I had no clients to show for it.

I made a lot of mistakes in that first year of business, but ultimately those mistakes and lessons learned led me to 6-figures cash in one year from signing my first client.

It’s these lessons that I’ve found to be the most beneficial to my clients and recently I compiled them into a free ebook where I share 15 Lessons to Propel Your Business forward.

This is a limited-time gift available at brandmerry.com/lessons, but today I want to share with you four of my favorites.

BUSINESS LESSON #1
DON’T CREATE JUST TO CREATE

Don't create content just to post content. Always have a purpose.

Now, a little backstory on this. When I first started my business and what I was ultimately exposed to in terms of programs and coaches within my first year, year and a half of my business, I was told to just show up.

Now while showing up is relevant, the reality is there is an art to showing up and getting visible.

But when I was starting my business, and I still see it happening today, is that entrepreneurs are just posting anything just so they have something to share.

And that's how we start to get really burnt out with content creation. We start to wonder why is this not working? Why is no one responding? The reality is that there's no purpose behind what you're doing. You're just posting to post. You're just creating content to create content.

It might not even have a direct connection to your brand or the product and services that you're selling.

I see a lot of entrepreneurs who come to work with me that have been showing up consistently, that have been creating content, but no one is taking advantage of their offers because they’re not effectivaly reverse engineering their content to led to the sale.

You need money to begin to build a sustainable business. So when you're just starting out, one of the things I recommend is having a core offer, one thing that you're really focused on. If you're showing up and you're creating content and you're never creating content that ties to that core offer, it's going to be hard for your audience to make the connection.

You also might start building an audience of the wrong ideal customer. If you're just talking about random things, then you're not bringing in the ideal customer that you want to attract for your program.

This is something that I went through my first year in business when I loved talking about productivity. I loved talking about systems, all those different things. And that's a core staple of my business today but it wasn't back then.

So I would talk about productivity, and I would bring in people who weren't necessarily ready to start a business or I'd bring in people who weren't interested in branding.

So my numbers were incredibly off.

It’s important to understand the end result so you can reverse engineer your content.

Do it for everything in your business. What's the end result? What do you want people to do? Buy X program. Reverse engineer, how do you get them to that spot?

If you’re not yet at a place where you have your core offer mapped out, another thing you can do is create brand containers. This is something I shared in Episode 14 of the podcast.

BUSINESS LESSON #2
STOP WASTING TIME

It’s incredibly important that you get ahold of your time.

Honestly, this is why I created my annual program Roadmap to Freedom. In my first year of business, I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing and in what order. And then when I figured it out and I started making consistent money, I was like, I'm just going to give people the roadmap I wish I would have had.

That's how Roadmap to Freedom was born and it still serves the same purpose today.

One of the best things that is going to serve you at the highest level as you continue to scale your business, is being very selective with your time and your energy.

Where is your time going?
How much time are you giving each particular project?

When I first started my business I spent almost a year branding myself. That is ridiculous. It is not necessary. And the reason that I took that much time is that I didn't have a clear understanding of branding or a plan of action for building my brand. I was just flailing around trying to piece it all together.

Then the other piece of it is that I didn't give myself a deadline. I didn't say, "All right, I want to have my brand up and running in two months. I want to have my website at a place where I can put it out in the world in this amount of time." So what happened was I wasted my time.

When you can start practicing putting these boundaries in place with your time, it's going to support you as you grow your business.

One of my clients came to me the other day with a concern about her weekly workflow. She was doing the work but felt like it was taking so much time.

We sat down and started talking about it and I said, "Do you set a timer for your blog post? If not, I want you to do that. And I want you to focus your energy and your efforts on getting as much writing done in the time frame.

“Rather than writing a paragraph and editing it, then moving on to another paragraph and editing that set an alarm for an hour and a half and write. Then when you’re done, set it for another 30 and go clean it up. I bet you carve your time in half.”

And she did! In fact, with the strategies, we implemented she was able to plan two weeks of content in less time.

Sometimes it’s about thinking more strategically about how we’re doing things in your business.

Your time is precious. The more time you can create with systems and workflows, and the more that you get in the habit of implementing them, especially early on, the better it's going to serve you as your tasks, requirements, client load, and customer load increase as you grow your business.

As you grow your business you’ll have an opportunity to hire team members to help you with the load, but in building a sustainable business, one that just doesn’t do more to do more, why not get in the habit now of being selective and purposeful with the time that you have available?

Protect your time.

When you're building a sustainable business, you don't want or need to be working every second of every day. You're going to burn out.

It’s important to be selective with your time and smart about how you're utilizing that time. Focusing on the things that are going to move your business forward.

If you don't know what those things are, invest in something that's going to give you the step-by-step. That's why I created Roadmap to Freedom. Whether that's the program for you or not, find what will work for you to lay out that process so that you can get to work and not just be flailing around the internet and keeping yourself busy.

BUSINESS LESSON #3:
DON’T BUILD YOUR BUSINESS ALONE

When I was first starting my business free Facebook groups were the end all be all. Everyone had a free Facebook group. Some people had multiple free Facebook groups. You were in them every damn day. It was just exhausting.

And honestly, I had my own and I loved showing up for my community but as someone who was growing their business, in other groups, I hated using them. I didn't even feel like I wanted to show up and ask questions. I never really felt like I wanted to show up and build a connection because it always kind of felt like a pitchfest.

When I was first looking at educational content and programs to purchase, I looked at the community aspect because in my mind I knew I needed a place where I could get education and mentorship, but I also needed a place where I could come and ask questions of my peers without feeling like I'm being pitched to regularly.

For me paying for this element, in addition to the education insured that I was with the right group of peers.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you have to go out and pay for a community, but if you’re investing in the education of your business (something I highly recommend) why not find a community to support you.

I looked for those opportunities inside of group programs and small masterminds. As my business got bigger and I needed less handholding, I would invest in more of a membership type of situation.

The reality is your best friend from grade school probably doesn't understand what the hell you're setting out to do. Your partner probably doesn't fully understand what you're setting out to do, even if they support you. I am blessed with an amazing husband. He's always willing to listen, even though he had zero idea what I was talking about those first few years.

This is why it's important to have that place, that community.

And I'll be honest, sometimes you gotta pay for it. I prefer to pay for it, and that’s part of the lesson that I learned.

Most of those paid groups don't have a pitchfest opportunity where you're constantly feeling you're being pitched to by somebody who has no idea what you're doing. And for me, it's always been worth that investment because I know I've got a central place where I can go ask questions.

I know I've got a central place where I can go and get some support.

I know I have a place where people will celebrate with me and know what the hell I'm talking about when I say, "My Facebook ads are converting at $1.25. Woo!"

You're going to want people in your corner and you can't do this alone. I just don't know anyone that has.

It's one of the reasons when I launched Roadmap to Freedom, back in 2016, I knew I wanted an interactive community, a place where you could go and ask questions and celebrate things. And it's been one of the perks of the program every single year since I launched it in 2017.

When individuals share their feedback for the program, they always rate the community as one of the top elements. To be able to come together with other entrepreneurs at a very similar stage is priceless.

It's like a golden ticket. It's incredibly helpful so that you don't feel alone. Don't try to do this alone. Lean on support.

To piggyback off of that, and something I'm a huge advocate for is to have a mentor. Now, this could be a mentor that you don't have to pay. Amazing. But many of you will have to invest in a mentor. That is okay. We all do it.

I’ve always viewed it as an investment in my time (see lesson number 2)!

By having a mentor and a clear step-by-step plan, I can save myself time and energy and down the line, money, even though I have to invest upfront.

BUSINESS LESSON #4:
COMMUNITY IS EVERYTHING

While I was referring to your peer community before, in this case, I'm talking about your brand community. I'm not talking about your support system. I'm talking about the individuals that are attracted to your brand that become part of your community.

When building your brand community, I want you to focus on your email list. That is the central community that you want to focus on because when it comes to social media, you don't own your followers. You don't have a way to get in touch with them if the platform goes down. If something happens to your account, you have no way of saying, "Hey, I've moved here."

With an email list, you can download your email subscribers frequently so if something ever happens, you have that information. You can email them and let them know what's going on.

That is the central community that we focus on building over here at Brandmerry and stats show that email list building is essential.

When you're thinking about the pieces of your business broken down into two key elements: branding and marketing, once you have your brand created your next step is building an audience to sell to.

This is where your marketing efforts and your community come into play. You've got to start building your community right away. Inside of Roadmap to Freedom, we focus on building the brand foundation in four weeks, and then we're immediately focused on building community.

If you want to sell, if you want to make money, you have to have someone to sell to. Don't skip this step.

Spending too much time building your foundational pieces is ultimately postponing your community growth. That's why in R2F, we focus on streamlining the branding process because it's taking you all way too long. You need to get started on building community immediately.

Community is everything as a business owner.

CONCLUSION

There you have it. Those are the four top lessons that I’ve discovered throughout my business journey. If you want to take advantage of this limited-time resource and learn the full 15 Lessons to Propel Your Online Business you can grab the resource at brandmerry.com/lessons.

In addition, the doors for Roadmap to Freedom are opening for 2021 on October 24! Right now you can join the waitlist and get all the details about pre-enrollment, a special bonus including 1:1 time with me, and a chance to win $500.

Now's the time to see if the program is the right fit for you. Head to brandmerry.com/freedom to learn more about the program and join the waitlist.

This is one of my favorite programs because it means so much for me to support entrepreneurs with the pieces I didn’t have five years ago. Inside of R2F, we cover the entire step-by-step roadmap for scaling your business.

In addition, you get your copy reviewed, you get your sales pages reviewed, you get your branding reviewed. Everything. It's a very strategic, step-by-step program that includes high-level information, implementation, feedback, and support.

Head to brandmerry.com/freedom to learn more about it!

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brandmerry 9/9/21 brandmerry 9/9/21

Where to Start With Your Online Marketing

Sometimes you just have to start BEFORE you're ready and with your marketing it's always going to feel like ripping off a bandaid. In today's blog, I hope to remove some of the confusion around what you need to get started with your marketing efforts so they are the most effective.

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

A top question I get asked inside of my free online community is how to get started with your marketing before you feel ready!

I get the need for things to feel “right,” or “ready” but so many entrepreneurs wait and wait and wait, and wait to start marketing because they don't feel like they've got it all together or it doesn't feel ready and this waiting can stunt their overall growth and timeline to the results they desire.

In episode 12, on The Brandmerry Podcast, we talked about getting visible and how to boost your confidence around showing up online.

Then in episode 14, I shared my top tips for finding your voice in personal branding and how to get started with that.

Now today, I want to share more about marketing your business. What does marketing mean? How do we gauge what needs to be done and when? How do we know when it’s time to focus our energy on marketing the sh*t out of our business?!

Rather than waiting and sitting in confusion and inaction, I want to give you a clear plan of what to have in place, bare minimum, to get started. I think this one's going to surprise you a little bit.

I also want to talk through some of the mindset pieces around showing up and being seen, just continuing our conversation around showing up and what goes into that.

WHEN TO START MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS

At Brandmerry, we believe in two core pillars to running a business.

There's the branding pillar, which is all about:

Who you are and the problem you solve.
Who you serve.
What your core offer will be.
Identifying your authentic voice.
How you share that with the world.
And of course, what does your brand aesthetic feel and look like.

Branding is the foundational piece of scaling your business. You have to have those pieces in place to do any of your marketing.

However, I find so many entrepreneurs who skip the steps and jump straight into marketing. When you do this you’ll find that your marketing efforts are a constant struggle and barely taking off despite your hard work. These foundational pieces are essential.

After you've created those foundational pieces, it is about marketing.

The marketing phase is all about spreading that brand awareness, attracting your ideal customer through lead generation, connecting with them, and leading them to the sale.

This phase is ongoing, as it’s ultimately what brings in consistent sales.

Yet, this crucial element is often delayed as entrepreneurs are waiting for the magical moment when everything feels ready.

WHEN ARE YOU READY TO START MARKETING?

So, how do we know when we're ready to market?

I've got to tell you it’s a trick question, no one can define that for you. No one can say, "You will be ready at this specific stage."

And I know that’s hard, but it's important to know that it’s going to look different for every business.

It's completely different based on what you're offering.
It's different based on your lifestyle and your personality.
So no one can define when you're ultimately going to be ready.

But what happens quite often is that we are ready before we think we're ready.

Sometimes we're looking for someone else to give us that permission slip to push go.

We need someone to validate and say, "You're ready!" And then suddenly it's like, cool, I got it.

You're essentially always at a place where you can show up and build a community and build that know, like, and trust factor.

So you're always ready. But the question is, when is it most effective?

With marketing, it can be tricky because you can market at any time. And I know a lot of entrepreneurs who will market right out of the gate because that works well for them while they're building their brand.

But is that marketing the most effective? Most likely not.

The reason for this is that the brand foundations are not in place. These foundational pieces can be found inside of our branding program You! Branded.

For our clients, we find that once the brand is complete, then your marketing will be the most effective.

Now, let’s assume you’ve done the branding work either on your own or through You! Branded, where do we go from here.

These are three things that you want to have to make your marketing efforts the most effective.

3 MARKETING STRATEGIES: TEMPLATE FOR MARKETING

GATHER AUDIENCE INFORMATION

Number one is to make sure you have a way to gather their information.

You can be showing up and building a community on social media.
You can be showing up and doing live videos every single day.
You can be posting every single day.
You can have followers joining you.
You could be so excited, thinking to yourself, “I don't even know where these people are coming from. I don't even know who they are.”

But how do you plan on getting them off of the platform?

How do you plan on keeping them engaged?

And another level to this, how do you plan to confirm that they are ideal customers?

Social media can skew our numbers quite a bit. And I know quite a few people who have giant followings and don't make money in their business. So it's not an indicator of a successful business.

If you're getting started with your marketing, a good rule of thumb is, while you're already getting started showing up and creating this content and building this trust, have a way to get them off said platform and into your community.

No matter what platform it is: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Instagram reels, Pinterest, blogging, all of it. It doesn't matter. You want a way to get them into your community.

That's how you’re getting those quality leads. The people who are saying, "Yeah, I'm interested in what you're saying. I'm interested in what you're offering. Please tell me more.” It’s where you can build a better connection with your audience.

So if you're going to show up and do your marketing and you want it to be effective, then you want to make sure that you have a way to capture their information in place.

That's typically through your lead generation. Having a way to get their name and their email address in exchange for a lead magnet, which could be a PDF, audio, a video, a training, a mini-course, a quiz, a discount code, a free knitting pattern, etc...

This is one of the fundamental elements of a strong marketing strategy and one of the first elements of the marketing work we teach inside of Brandmerry Academy.

HAVE A SIGNATURE OFFER OR FRAMEWORK

Another thing that I recommend having is an offer or at the very least a framework.

This is one of the things that I teach inside of my program You! Branded because I truly believe that to market effectively, you need to know what the end result is.
What are we ultimately selling?
What are we leading people to with our marketing?

It's why I don't believe in “just showing up” and creating content just to have something to post. That's not doing anybody any good. You want to make sure that the content you're creating is very effective as we're talking about and leading to something.

Now, maybe you're just starting out and you don't know what you want to sell just yet, or you haven't finalized your offer. That's okay.

At the very least understand your framework or I often like to refer to it as your pillars. Those core things that you're going to be talking about and touching on because that's going to allow you to show up and market the result and build an audience interested in solving that specific problem.

So let's say one of my pillars is branding. Because I know that, I'm able to create content specifically to support my prospective clients with branding, and it's going to easily connect to my offer when I promote it.

I'm not creating all this content and marketing and promoting, and then there's no clear connection to what I ultimately want them to pay for.

That's going to hurt. If you’re not clear on the result, what you want people to pay for, you’re going to create marketing that is ineffective to your bottom line.

KNOW YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER

You truly cannot market effectively if you don't know who you want to attract with your marketing. That's the point of marketing, right?

Inside of Brandmerry Academy, we focus on four pillars of marketing.

Brand Awareness - This is when you’re marketing so that new people know about your brand. They're gaining awareness of your brand and the work you do. You've taken this time to establish it. Let people know that it exists.
Brand Attraction - The second part of marketing is the community attraction piece. So getting people who are now aware of your brand attracted to the community aspect, attracted to subscribing to your email lists, getting notifications when you go live, your Instagram posts, those different things. The community attraction piece is where the lead generation happens.
Brand Connection - And then the third part of marketing is the client connection. Building that know, like, and trust factor to fully connect with someone and moving them to the sale.

This three-step process is the ultimate goal of marketing.

How can you effectively market if you don't know who is going to be going through that process?

How can you effectively market if you don't know who you want to spread brand awareness too, who you want to attract to your community, who you want to build a connection with to ultimately invest in your offer?

As I’ve mentioned most of this process, especially the ideal customer research and signature offer should be happening at the branding phase and will play an integral role in your marketing efforts.

3 WAYS TO START MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS TODAY

With these three foundational pieces and your brand in mind, I now was to give you a few of my favorite ways to start marketing your business today.

You've got these pieces: You understand your offer, at least a framework. You have a way to gather their info. You understand your ideal customer.

TIP #1: SHARE YOUR STORY

This is a fantastic way to get started marketing, especially before you have an offer that's completely fleshed out before you're asking them to do anything. It's a great way to start building a connection from the beginning as you're bringing in prospective clients.

There's a lot of different ways that you can share your story. Here are a few:

Share your mission. If you don't know how to figure out your brand mission, go listen to episode one of the Brandmerry podcast.
Share your brand value. Start creating content specifically around each of your values. While posting your values on your website can be beneficial, what I’m suggesting is sharing stories about your values and why they are important to you.

If you don't know about brand values, go listen to episode three of the Brandmerry podcast.
Share your brand story, your founder story. What led you to create your business in the first place? Why are you passionate about this work? Why do you want to serve the client that you want to serve?

Start sharing your story behind the brand. There is an entire episode on the Brandmerry podcast where I talk about writing your About Me page and how to craft your brand story for that page to help you get started.

Additionally, you can talk about the purpose behind your business and your goals for your business. So you can create stories around those pieces, start showing up and start building that brand connection with your audience.

TIP #2: INTRODUCE YOUR FRAMEWORK

The second thing that you can do to get started with your marketing is introduce your framework. As I mentioned before, I recommend that you at least know the specific offer or the product, or at the very least the framework or the pillars for what you're leading your clients to.

You can start creating content and marketing around your framework. You’ll want to identify the following:

What's the problem that your audience is facing?
How can you create some content to help them through their problem?
How can you create some content to connect with them about their problem, to just let them know, "Hey, I know that you've got this. I want you to know that you are seen, heard, and understood," which is all we want as consumers.

Start creating content about how you specifically solve the problem, as opposed to somebody else in your industry. I do this a lot when it comes to brand storytelling.

There are a lot of people offering branding advice. There are a lot of people offering branding support. I have a special way of doing that and it's through the art of storytelling. So that's how I solve it specifically and I make sure to share that often with my content.

If you have your framework mapped out, I recommend you break up each individual piece and share that.

At Brandmerry, we could do weeks of content on branding.
We could do weeks of content on marketing.
We could do weeks of content on systems.

So having these pieces of your framework mapped out will give you content ideas to start sharing. I have a podcast episode coming out in October where I talk a little bit more about free versus paid content and the difference between those, so make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss it!

When you're thinking about sharing your framework in terms of content, think about why those different pieces are important and what those different pieces are. Not so much how you're going to teach them to do the individual pieces. That's in the paid offer.

TIP #3: ANSWER QUESTIONS

The third thing that you can do to start marketing and creating content is to just answer questions important to your audience.

If you have an audience, you can survey them. Even if you have 10 people, survey them. Ask them what they need support with. If you've got email subscribers, send them a form asking the following questions:

What are you struggling with right now?
What support do you need?
If we were sitting down for coffee and you could ask me one question, what would you ask me?

As the different questions come in, create content to answer them. You can also post questions using tools like Insta Stories as well.

In addition, you can also use free tools like Ubersuggest, which I've talked about multiple times on the Brandmerry Blog including this recent Youtube video where I shared my content creation process for 90 days of content, or AnswerThePublic where you can see what specific questions people are asking via Google and you can answer those in your content as well.

You’re creating content that answers some of the top questions that you're getting. It takes a lot of the mystery out of what to post and what to talk about.

Remember, the key to marketing is to start small, start very specific and intentionally, and then scale from there.

This is incredibly important when it comes to where you’re posting your content.

It’s important to be realistic about what you can handle within your schedule. Thinking you’re going to blog three days a week, show up on Pinterest, make two Youtube videos, a podcast, and show up on Instagram daily is just not going to happen unless you have a team.

This is why you want to be very intentional with where you’re showing up and harness the power of repurposing. Something I talk about in great detail in this Youtube video.

CONCLUSION

If you need me to give you a permission slip about when you're ready, it's when you at minimum, have a way to gather information, name, and email address from people who are following you, who are finding out about you from your marketing.

You have your offer, or at least a framework mapped out so you can share content that's related to the result.

And you understand your ideal customer. You've done the market research.

I wanted to share with you that one of the things that I focus on with my clients is clear, simple, and strategic marketing. It is something that I offer inside of my membership Brandmerry Academy.

But I also work one-on-one with clients to master their marketing, to streamline their marketing efforts, to understand what they're selling, to understand what they're messaging, to understand where they should be showing up, how they can show up effectively, all of those different pieces.

I typically do this in the form of an intensive. My VIP intensives are a 90-minute strategy session, followed by 30 days of implementation and support. Meaning that I'm not going to just cut you loose at the end of our intensive.

We're going to talk about the gaps that need to be filled in your marketing strategy.
We're going to map out your marketing strategy moving forward.
We're going to get those systems and those workflows in place, and then I'm going to help you bring it to life.

A lot of marketing support misses the implementation piece and it’s incredibly important. You don’t need to know another strategy, you need to utilize that strategy and understand how it applies to your business.

If you're interested in learning more about this, you can go to Brandmerry.com/intensive.

P.S. Have you tuned in to The Brandmerry podcast? I release new episodes every Thursday on topics around branding and marketing! Check out past episodes and be sure to subscribe at brandmerry.com/podcast

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

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