Work Less, Earn More: Recent Episodes

Gillian Perkins

Work Less, Earn More is the podcast that explores how to get the most out of every hour you work. Gillian Perkins brings more than a decade of experience as an entrepreneur and educator to help you design a business that's not only flexible and fulfilling, but highly profitable. She shares strategies that are working in her own business to save time and maximize profits. She also features interviews with successful business owners on how they’re achieving big things in their businesses with crazy-little time investment. Finally, each month Gillian shares an income report with you. Each report is an honest look at how many hours she worked, how much she earned, and an analysis of which tasks and projects really ended up paying her best. Share Work Less, Earn More with an overworked entrepreneur you know who could use a change of pace!

In today's episode, I’m sharing the secrets to standing out in today's crowded online world and how to get anyone’s attention to maximize your reach. We live in an "attention economy," where getting noticed is vital for making sales and progress. Rather than adding to the noise, this episode shows you a smarter way. It's all about talking to people about what they care about most: themselves. Dive into how understanding this basic human nature can transform your approach to capturing attention.

Unpack easy-to-follow strategies, like creating compelling "story loops," sparking curiosity with questions, and focusing on solving real problems. Learn how aligning your message with your audience's interests not only captures attention but also naturally leads to showcasing how your business can make their lives better. You’ll discover a fresh perspective on winning attention, driving engagement, and growing your business by putting your audience first.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Common missteps brands make when vying for attention
The primary method to reshape your marketing message and engage your audience
Intriguing questions that captivate your readers from the start
Unveiling how your business can provide the long-sought solution they need

Upcoming Program Enrollment Dates:

Creator Fast Track - 9/12/23 - https://gillianperkins.samcart.com/products/creator-fast-track-650
$100K Mastermind - 10/2/23 - https://gillianperkins.com/100k-waitlist-apply/

Work with Gillian Perkins:

Apply for $100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind
Get your online biz started with Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com
Learn more about Gillian: https://gillianperkins.com
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Have you ever wondered how your favorite YouTubers actually make money? In today’s episode, I'm taking you step by step through the process of getting your channel monetized, so you can start earning on YouTube yourself! From the number of subscribers you need to the amount of time people spend watching your videos, I'll break it all down. Additionally, I'll walk you through the latest changes in the eligibility requirements that have come into effect in 2023.

However, it's not always smooth sailing – there are some things that might prevent your channel from getting monetized, and we'll talk about those too. And of course, I'll spill the beans on how YouTube compensates creators for their hard work. So if you're ready to learn how to turn your passion into profit on YouTube, this episode is a must-listen!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Insights into the YouTube Partner Program
The recent updates they've implemented in their requirements this year
Effective strategies for generating income on YouTube
Key pitfalls to steer clear of when seeking channel monetization

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business:

Grab our free course, Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/
Write a Profit Plan for Your Business : http://gillianperkins.com/free-profit-plan

Work with Gillian Perkins:

Apply for $100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind
Get your online biz started with Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com
Learn more about Gillian: https://gillianperkins.com
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In today's episode, you'll uncover the secrets behind crafting a highly effective sales page. Whether you're new to selling online or looking to improve your marketing skills, this episode is packed with practical tips. I’ll break down the process into easy steps, helping you understand your customers' needs, tell a compelling story, and use persuasive techniques. As we delve deeper, you'll gain insights into deciphering your customers' pain points and how these can enrich your sales page. These strategies aren’t just about generating leads but also fostering lasting customer relationships.

As a bonus, I’m sharing a free template that you can use to create your own powerful sales page. This template encapsulates the key elements discussed in this episode, serving as a practical guide to simplify and streamline the process. Keep listening if you want to boost your sales and connect with customers!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to identify your target audiences pain points
Why telling a compelling story will resonate with potential customers
Proven techniques for writing persuasive and engaging copy
Access to a free template that simplifies the process of creating an effective sales page

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business:

Download free sales page template: https://gillianperkins.com/nbsp/
Grab our free course, Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/
Write a Profit Plan for Your Business : http://gillianperkins.com/free-profit-plan

Work with Gillian Perkins:

Apply for $100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind
Get your online biz started with Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com
Learn more about Gillian: https://gillianperkins.com
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In today's episode, I'm taking you behind the scenes of my half-million dollar online business. I'm excited to give you a detailed look at what's happening behind the curtain. One key factor for our success is my amazing team.

Our journey to this achievement is a team effort, and my team is at the core of it all. Their dedication, skills, and different strengths are what make our success possible. We've got everything from creative thinkers to detailed planners, and each member brings something special to the table.

Throughout this episode, I'll introduce you to each team member and explain what they do. You'll see how all these different roles come together to help us succeed. We'll talk about how we plan things out, come up with new ideas, get things done efficiently, and keep improving.

By the end of this episode, you'll get a clear picture of how we work as a team to make our business thrive. Whether you're dreaming of starting your own business or just interested in how teams work, you'll see how important teamwork is.

So, join me in celebrating my team's hard work and in learning about the strategies that have helped us succeed. Together, we'll uncover the exciting and rewarding story behind my half-million dollar online business!

In this episode, we'll cover the basics of bookkeeping for small business owners. If you're a small business owner looking to handle your own bookkeeping but don't know where to start, this episode is perfect for you. I'll show you how to manage your books in just a few minutes each week using simple and free tools. Stay tuned to learn how you can stay on top of your business finances. I also created a free template to help you do just that!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How being organized with your bookkeeping can help you save time and work less
Why being hands-on with your bookkeeping will help you make smarter business decisions
What the IRS requires when it comes to bookkeeping for your business
FREE and easy bookkeeping template!

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business:

FREE Google Sheets Bookkeeping Template: https://gillianperkins.com/ssbs/
Link to YouTube video: https://youtu.be/itpCtsopKTI
Grab our free course, Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/
Write a Profit Plan for Your Business : http://gillianperkins.com/free-profit-plan

Work with Gillian Perkins:

Apply for $100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind
Get your online biz started with Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com
Learn more about Gillian: https://gillianperkins.com

Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In today's episode, Becca and I are talking about how you can build your business without using social media. Becca Tracy is the founder of Uncaged Life, and she has been doing this online business thing for over 12 years now. She started her business before social media became as prominent as it is today.

We'll cover what strategies are really working today? And here's a spoiler alert: They're the same strategies that have been working for a long time. They are the basics, but they are the strategies that keep yielding results. These are the strategies that enable you to build what I like to call an evergreen lead generation system, so you're not constantly hustling or creating content around the clock to keep up with the algorithm. You don't have to stay constantly plugged into social media.

So keep on listening to learn these tried and true methods and how you can build a wildly successful business without having to rely on social media constantly.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Becca’s journey with social media through 12 years of business
How to not get caught up in the numbers of social media and focus on what really matters
How she currently manages social media in her business and personal life
How to make organic and meaningful connections on Instagram

Learn more about Becca:

Instagram: @theuncagedlife
Free Facebook community, Uncaged Lifers: facebook.com/groups/UncagedLifers
Website: theuncagedlife.com

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business:

Grab our free course, Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/
Write a Profit Plan for Your Business : http://gillianperkins.com/free-profit-plan

Work with Gillian Perkins:

Apply for $100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind
Get your online biz started with Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com
Learn more about Gillian: https://gillianperkins.com

Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In this episode, I'm being interviewed by Lisa Bass for her podcast, "Simple Farmhouse Life." We discuss the important topic of balancing business and parenting. Lisa asks me about how I determine my priorities and find time to manage my business.

During our conversation, we share some honest advice on making things work and maintaining the right mindset to achieve that balance. We also touch upon the role of faith in shaping our priorities and decision-making process for both our business and personal lives.

If you're interested in learning more about how to navigate the challenges of balancing business and motherhood, I encourage you to continue listening to gain insights from our discussion.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Discover effective strategies for allocating time to your business
My journey with balancing business and mom life
Why you don’t need a large audience when you’re starting out
How my faith affects decision making in my business

Learn more about Lisa:

Instagram: @farmhouseonboone
Website: https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/welcome-page
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/farmhouseonboone
Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simple-farmhouse-life/id1494284839

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business:

Grab our free course, Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/
Write a Profit Plan for Your Business : http://gillianperkins.com/free-profit-plan

Work with Gillian Perkins:

Apply for $100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind
Get your online biz started with Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com
Learn more about Gillian: https://gillianperkins.com
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In today's episode, we're shaking things up a bit! I'm being interviewed by the amazing Jo Harris, also known as the Virtual Mama. Jo is a talented copywriter, and in this episode, she's digging into the 100K method. She wants to learn how to use it effectively in her own business and for her clients while writing sales copy.

Jo asks some great questions that will help you understand how to implement this method in your own business. We'll explore how to create 100K funnels to generate passive income for your digital course.

Stay tuned to gain some valuable insight. It's an episode you won't want to miss!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

My story of how I started my online business with 0 followers
How the 100K method can help you start and grow your business
My tips and secrets for how to SUCCESSFULLY market your digital product
A special Q&A at the end!

Learn more about Jo Harris:

Instagram: @thevirtualmama
Podcast: https://businessinhisimage.buzzsprout.com/
Free Copywriting Class: https://thevirtualmama.com/freeclass/

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business:

Grab our free course, Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/
Write a Profit Plan for Your Business : http://gillianperkins.com/free-profit-plan

Work with Gillian Perkins:

Apply for $100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind
Get your online biz started with Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com
Learn more about Gillian: https://gillianperkins.com
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In today's episode, we’re talking about digital products, like courses, workshops, membership sites, eBooks, and more. You can even create templates or PDFs and sell them on platforms like Etsy or your own website. The possibilities are endless!

I'm excited to introduce you to the world of selling digital products. We'll explore what it entails, the overall strategy, and how you can get started in a practical way. I'll guide you through the step-by-step process of creating and launching your own digital products.

Along the way, I'll also share plenty of helpful tips because, let's be honest, there are more effective and less effective approaches to this. I want to make sure you achieve great results and maximize your efforts. So, let's dive in and discover how you can achieve success with digital products!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The step by step process I recommend for creating and selling digital products
Essential big picture strategy to understand before you start out
Practical steps for getting started
Tips and tricks that I still use to sell digital products in my business today

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business:

Grab our free course, Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/
Write a Profit Plan for Your Business : http://gillianperkins.com/free-profit-plan

Work with Gillian Perkins:

VALIDATE: https://gillianperkins.com/validate-closed-waitlist/
Apply for $100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind
Get your online biz started with Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com
Learn more about Gillian: https://gillianperkins.com
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Today's guest is Tom Woods, who has successfully built a digital brand with a massive following. One of the key factors contributing to his success is his fearless expression of opinions, even when they are divisive. People's reactions to him tend to fall into two extremes: they either adore him or strongly disagree with him.

Tom Woods is widely known as the host of the immensely popular podcast, the Tom Woods Show. Additionally, he has achieved the distinction of being a New York Times bestselling author with 12 books under his belt. Notable works include the Politically Incorrect Guide to American History and Meltdown.

Tom's educational background is equally impressive, having earned a bachelor's degree in history from Harvard University, followed by a PhD from Columbia University. These academic accomplishments further enhance his credibility and expertise in his field.

But today, I’m talking to him about how he’s built such a raving fan base, the marketing strategies he’s used to monetize that platform, and his view on the role of the entrepreneur in the economy.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Tom’s first entrepreneur venture (it’s not what you think!)
His philosophy on content and email marketing
How he built his fan base starting from zero
His definition and view on economic philosophy

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business:

Grab our free course, Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/
Write a Profit Plan for Your Business : http://gillianperkins.com/free-profit-plan

Learn more about Tom Woods:

Website: tomwoods.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thomasewoods
The Tom Woods Show: https://tomwoods.com/podcasts/
Books: https://tomwoods.com/books/
Five Paths to An Online Income: https://pathstoincome.com/?fbclid=IwAR0zgJTBCJGpktj54b5uEhilp1-17zssPk5HFYR8qC0yO03WPr980lkZw6Y

Work with Gillian Perkins:

Apply for $100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind
Get your online biz started with Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com
Learn more about Gillian: https://gillianperkins.com
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In today’s episode, I reveal the strategies behind creating a million-follower brand online, regardless of your starting point. Whether you're starting at absolute zero or craving a stronger online presence, this episode will help you discover the fundamental questions to ask when initiating your brand, learn how to establish brand recognition, master the art of obtaining compelling testimonials, and so much more!

In an unpredictable world, now is the time to start your personal brand and grow your online presence. What are you waiting for? Let’s get started!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

6 secrets of a million-follower brand
The pros and cons of a personal vs impersonal brand
Fundamental questions to ask before starting your brand
How to define your brands UNIQUE personality
How to QUICKLY establish your authority in your niche

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business:

Grab our free course, Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/
Write a Profit Plan for Your Business: http://gillianperkins.com/free-profit-plan

Work with Gillian Perkins:

Apply for $100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind
Get your online biz started with Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com
Learn more about Gillian: https://gillianperkins.com

Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In this episode, I’m covering the essential factors for crafting an authentic + PROFITABLE "About" page.

Regardless of your business type, industry, or niche, your about page holds immense importance in landing sales on your website. When potential customers consider purchasing a product from your company, they want more than just information about features and benefits. They want to trust your company.

That's where your about page comes into play. It acts as a platform for establishing trust and ensuring that your audience is on the same page as you. So, let’s get to work!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

5 factors you NEED to have on your about page
Why your about page is your most important page on your website
How you can craft your about page to drive more sales
A crucial non-writing tip that will make or break your about page

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business:

Grab our free course, Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/
Write a Profit Plan for Your Business : http://gillianperkins.com/free-profit-plan

Work with Gillian Perkins:

Apply for $100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind
Get your online biz started with Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com
Learn more about Gillian: https://gillianperkins.com

Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In this episode I'm going to be sharing some of the most surprising lessons I learned from launching 100K Mastermind back in March. This two week promotion netted us over $160,000, making it our most successful launch yet. But, to be honest, the results of this launch exceeded my expectations. Listen to this episode to learn why I didn’t expect it to perform so well, and what we did that had a huge impact on our launch revenue.

Join us for this episode as we unpack the surprising lessons from my $164,464.40 launch. Gain valuable insights on the power of raising your prices, earning more while promoting less, and leveraging your time, and learn how these lessons can transform your business and lead to unprecedented success.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why second launches tend to be the WORST
The surprising effect of raising your prices
How you can earn more even while promoting less
How to leverage your time to maximize your earnings
How to make your next launch your most profitable yet

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business:

Grab our free course, Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/
Write a Profit Plan for Your Business : http://gillianperkins.com/free-profit-plan

Work with Gillian Perkins:

Apply for $100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind
Get your online biz started with Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com
Learn more about Gillian: https://gillianperkins.com
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In this episode, I'm sharing five one-minute habits that have helped me save over 25 hours per week. These small yet effective habits have increased my productivity and helped me make the most out of each day.

As a mom of five and a business owner, my life can be overwhelming at times. After the birth of my fifth baby, Ezra, seven months ago, I realized that I needed to find ways to optimize my time and eliminate unnecessary tasks to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

These five habits have been life-changing for me, and I'm excited to share them with you.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The five biggest time wasters I’ve faced (you might be surprised!)
How I’ve overcome those time wasters
Detailed explanation of each habit, including why it's effective and how to implement it
Why it’s important to optimize your time (in your business and in life!)

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Small Business 101
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

Get my Online Business 101 course for FREE

In today's episode, I want to share with you how I run my online business in just 20 hours per week, including a breakdown of exactly what I spend my time on, what my schedule looks like, and some of the key things that I don't do in my business that allow me to save a lot of time.

We often look at what we’re currently doing and think that this is the only way things can work. It’s hard to think outside the box and to have creative new ideas because we see how things are working together right now.

But when I look at my past, I can see that even though I didn’t know it was possible then, there was so much more than I imagined was possible.

And that’s why I’m sharing how I run my business in 2023, in 20 hours per week.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why there isn’t as much competition for your online business as you might think
A breakdown of how I spend my time from least to most (my answers might surprise you!)
What tasks are outsourced to free up my time for bigger-picture work
Why I batch tasks like recording the podcast and YouTube videos
What I don’t do in my business that can save a ton of time

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Small Business 101
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

How to Write a PROFIT PLAN for Your Business
Free Profit Plan Worksheet
The Eight Ways to Make Money Online EXPLAINED

It can be really difficult to stay focused on what you need to do to grow your business and profit when you’re constantly getting distracted by shiny new marketing tactics that people are trying to sell you.

There’s always going to be a new marketing strategy you could try to grow your business. Some of them might be really useful. Often, these are distractions from the fundamentals you need to do to actually grow your business.

Building an online business and generating a lot of profit doesn’t have to be that complicated.

In fact, the basics can take you really far as long as you focus on executing those consistently.

Today, I’m going to guide you step by step through creating a straightforward plan for building a highly profitable business while working 20 hours per week or less.

This is a plan that will not only increase your profits but will also decrease your work hours. It’s a plan to work smarter, not harder. To work less, and profit more.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How clarifying the value your business brings to your customers will help you generate more and bigger sales
Key questions to help you define your ideal customer’s psychographics and how your product addresses them
The four things you need to generate sales
How to eliminate, systematize, automate, and outsource so you can focus on the activities that really move the needle in your business

Learn more about Gillian:

Free Profit Plan Worksheet
Startup Society
3 Secrets to Reach 1000 Subscribers
Small Business 101
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

If you’re thinking about starting a YouTube channel, you have to know how the algorithm works. And you have to stay on top of how it’s changing.

If you don’t keep up with how the algorithm is evolving, you won’t be able to compete, you won’t be able to get your videos to rank or get them into viewers’ suggestions.

Today, I’m going to walk you through how the YouTube algorithm is working in 2023 and how you can work with it to get the maximum number of views on your videos and grow you channel as quickly as possible.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How the YouTube algorithm has evolved over the years
The three things you want viewers to do on your videos
The three algorithms you need to know about

Learn more about Gillian:

3 Secrets to Reach 1000 Subscribers
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

When I Google “best passive income ideas,” the first result is an article from Bankrate.com titled “23 Passive Income Ideas to Help You Make Money in 2023.”

But if I keep scrolling through the search results, there are hundreds of similar articles from sites like SoFi, Nerd Wallet, Forbes and on and on and on.

As an online business writer, I’ve contributed my fair share to those search results as well. But lately, I’ve been increasingly frustrated by the echo chamber the internet has become.

When you make your living as a content creator, it doesn’t take long before you realize that the easiest way to make content that makes money is to repeat what has already been tested by others.

And the fact is, most of the people who write these articles about the best ways to make passive income, haven’t actually tested any of them themselves.

In short, they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Which is why today, I’m recommitting to doing better, to thinking for myself, to saying what I actually think, and to telling the truth even when it might not be what you want to hear.

Because the truth is, when it comes to passive income, I actually have tested out a lot of these ideas and a lot of them are just not what they’re cracked up to be.

So with that commitment in mind, allow me to share with you what I actually think of those 23 passive income ideas to help you make money in 2023.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The truth about two of the top passive income recommendations
The good and the bad about investing in real estate
“Passive” income streams that aren’t actually passive at all
Investment strategies worth considering, and some that probably aren’t
What really matters when it comes to choosing a passive income strategy

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Method Podcast Series
100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

23 Passive Income Ideas To Help You Make Money In 2023, Bankrate
Deconstructing My $72,000 Sales Funnel

Listen to your audience!

It's some of the most popular marketing advice out there.

We're told it's the secret to creating content and products that our audience will eat up, and it sounds logical. Surely the easiest way to make people happy and get their attention in business is to give them what they want.

So we survey our email lists, chat with our customers via dm, study our YouTube comments, etc. But there’s a dark side to listening to your audience. And that’s what I’m talking about today.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The biggest mistake people make when they listen too closely to their audience
Why you DO want to listen to your audience when it comes to validating your ideas
How to balance what the market wants and what you’re passionate about so you can make a living doing work you love

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Method Podcast Series
100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

The market for AI services is hot right now and wide open, but it's not going to stay that way forever.

Just like back in the early 2000s when we all got our first cell phones, the world went mobile and millions of millionaires were created as a result,this is the start of a new age of Artificial Intelligence, and this is the time when you can get in on the ground floor and really make the most of this opportunity.

ChatGPT is the world's smartest robot, and it is changing the game when it comes to making money online.

With this revolutionary free software, you can earn $800 a day or even more with little skill and no startup capital required. All you need to do is take one of these genius ideas that I'm sharing with you today and put it into action, and you'll have yourself a profitable business.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How ChatGPT can help you get a freelance writing business off the ground
How to use ChatGPT to break into self-publishing
How to monetize your content with Uscreen and ChatGPT
How to use ChatGPT to make money on YouTube

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Method Podcast Series
100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

Book Bolt
Uscreen
I Found the EASIEST Way to Make Money with ChatGPT

There is a huge opportunity out there with AI right now, but it’s not going to last.

More and more people are jumping on the AI bandwagon, and you might be afraid that you are going to be replaced, but that’s not the case, at least not right now.

Right now, what will happen is that you’ll be replaced by another human using AI if you are not.

So what should you do?

ChatGPT is the world’s smartest robot. It is blowing people’s minds with its ability to break information down and make it easy to consume and understand even complex subjects. And it’s completely free.

But the big question is, how can we translate the opportunity of ChatGPT’s AI into making money?

I found the absolute easiest way to make money with ChatGPT that can make you over $800 a day and you don't even have to code anything.

All you need to do is take this idea and put it into action.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How ChatGPT can boost your revenue as a freelance marketing email writer
How to use ChatGPT to customize your pitches and onboard new clients
How ChatGPT can even help you invoice your clients

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Method Podcast Series
100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Most small business owners have at least thought about hiring a virtual assistant but it may not always be possible financially.

What if I told you there was a way you could have a virtual assistant for free?

Someone who is fluent in English, is a good writer, can do research, and has a wide variety of skills. It sounds too good to be true, but it’s a reality with ChatGPT.

You might have already heard about it, but ChatGPT is the latest in artificial intelligence and they went from zero to a million users in just five days after they launched back in November 2022. And more and more content creators, business owners, media agencies are using it to automate a lot of tasks.

And it’s completely free.

I’ve been using ChatGPT to help me run my own business and today, I’m sharing seven different ways you can use it as a free virtual assistant.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What makes ChatGPT a useful tool for sales and marketing emails
How ChatGPT takes the work out of content generation and even client work
How ChatGPT can help you harness AI for your own business
How ChatGPT helps you level up your skills

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Method Podcast Series
100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Today, I’m talking with my friend Dustin Heiner.

Both of us run online businesses where we earn income by selling digital products, but we also both invest in real estate.

I earn the bulk of my income, both active and passive, through my online business, but Dustin earns the bulk of his income directly through his real estate investments. So we both had a lot to learn from each other!

I wanted to bring Dustin on the show because we don’t always talk about what to do with your profits and passive income once you have it and investing in real estate is one way to passively multiply the income from your online business.

I had a lot of questions I wanted to get Dustin’s opinion on about how to do this most successfully, how to get started, and especially how to do it in today’s economy.

Dustin Heiner is a real estate investing expert and Founder of Master Passive Income

Being Successfully Unemployed at 37 years old by investing in real estate rental properties, he is now on a mission to help everyone to quit their job and never have a job again. He also helps his students build a successful real estate investing businesses all over the country.

Through his work at Master Passive Income, Dustin Heiner has become one of the leading real estate rental property experts and has helped countless numbers of others to start investing in real estate rental properties.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Dustin turned getting laid off from what was supposed to be a stable job into being “successfully unemployed” through real estate investments
Why Dustin doesn’t buy property in hopes it will appreciate value, but for the income it can bring now
How passive income scales as you purchase additional property
The first steps you have to take to get started investing in real estate
Why you might want to invest outside of your own home area

Learn more about Dustin Heiner:

Master Passive Income
Successfully Unemployed
Instagram: @thedustinheiner
YouTube: MasterPassiveIncome
Master Passive Income Podcast
FREE Course Text RENTAL to 233777 or go to: https://masterpassiveincome.com/freecourse

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Method Podcast Series
100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Welcome to the final episode of The 100K Method.

I created this series because when I started my online business, I was broke, living paycheck-to-paycheck, and my biggest goal was to create a consistent stream of passive income, but I had a really hard time figuring out how.

In this episode, you’ll learn about $100K Mastermind, our online business mentorship program, and how we can help you get a $100K Funnel of your own built and earning you passive income within the next three months.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What makes the $100K Mastermind different from other funnel-building courses or programs
What you get with the program and what it costs
How the application process works
The five phases of the $100K Mastermind

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In this episode, you’ll learn whether or not the $100K Method would work for you.

Because the truth is, it doesn’t work for everybody. Some people and some types of businesses can earn hundreds of thousands of passive income with it, while others wouldn’t be able to use it to earn a dime.

Implementing the $100K Method is an intensive process, so I want to make sure that you are completely clear about whether or not it will work for you beforeyou invest your time into implementing it in your business.

And for those of you who are interested in joining us for the $100K Mastermind, this episode will help you make sure that’s the right decision before you apply.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Who the $100K Method doesn’t work for and why
Why you really can’t build more than one $100K funnel at a time
What you have to let go of to succeed at building your funnels
The tools we use in the $100K Mastermind to help you overcome challenges

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

When you use a graphic design software - Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Canva, etc - you can change the size of an object by grabbing the little handles on the corner and dragging them, making the object smaller or larger. This is called scaling. To scale an object is to change its size.

Businesses can be scaled as well.

You might start out as a one person show, doing everything yourself with limited capacity, only able to serve a few clients per month. But by implementing various systems, using software, and building a team of people to help you, you can scale your business by expanding your capacity and increasing your income.

Today, you’ll learn about a simple automated email sequence you can create in 8 hours or less that can double your income. This is Work Less, Earn More at its finest.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why webinars are a key piece of the $100K funnel
Why following up with the people who didn’t say yes right away can DOUBLE your sales
The seven emails we send in the 72 hours after the webinar that get people to say yes to your offer
Two email marketing providers that will save you money as your list grows

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

ConvertKit
MailerLite

Online courses have huge earning potential but they can also be massive wastes of time.

A lot of people create online courses because they want the upside, but they create the wrong course, or they don’t create the course in the right way, and they end up not making any money.

Trust me, I have been there.

The first three or four courses that I made were complete flops. But over the past few years, I have created courses that have earned me over two million dollars. Yes, it's wild, and I never thought I would be this successful at creating online courses.

Now with years of experience in creating successful courses, we’ve got it down to a science. We have a simple formula that creates predictable results, and today, I’m sharing it with you.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why happy customers aren’t the same as successful customers, and which ones you want
Why you need to articulate a Primary Tangible Result for your customers
Why you shouldn’t rely on know, like, and trust to sell your course
Six principles for creating a successful, scalable online course

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In this episode, I’m going to be sharing a bit of tough love and helping you honestly answer the question, “Is my course ready to scale to six figures?”

Because, in my experience, a course simply not being ready is one of the most common reasons that people fail to reach their passive income goals with it.

It’s not that they don’t have a good marketing strategy, understand how funnels work, or have a bad course, it’s just that they haven’t yet set their course up to profit.

So today, I’m going to talk about how to set up your course for success before you put tons of time and effort into building a funnel.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What you need to validate about your course and why
The three phases of validation
How to use the validation process to prove demand for six aspects your course needs to be ready to scale
How a price that’s too low can be as much of a deterrent as a price that’s too high

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

What would happen to your business if you suddenly were unavailable, if you couldn’t do the things that you typically do to run your business, generate traffic, and generate leads? What would happen if you suddenly had no capacity to show up on social media and share content?

That’s exactly what happened to my longtime friend, Tara Wagner.

You might think that she would've seen a huge drop off on the number of leads she was generating, the number of sales she was seeing, and even her monthly revenue. But Tara has figured out strategies for sustaining and building her business without social media.

Today, Tara is going to share her experience and insights on these strategies.

Tara Wagner is a mindset and business coach who helps other service-based business owners work half as much, without giving up revenue or growth.

After burning out in her first business in 2008, she had to learn what it takes to build a healthy business in a healthy way.

Today, she teaches other entrepreneurs across the globe the mistakes to avoid, the mindsets to master, and the areas to upgrade for more free time and fun in their small business with her program, Breakthrough Boss® Inner Circle.

She lives in Las Vegas, NV with her husband and two pups, and spends her weekends catching up with her grown son's travels or geeking out with a new board game.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why you should take a hard look at the amount of time you spend on social media and the number of clients you can actually trace back to it
How Tara uses content, connections, and advertising in her business
Why Tara recommends getting confident in selling one-to-one before you try to scale up with content

Learn more about Tara Wagner:

Website
YouTube
Reversing Small Business Burnout Checklist

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In this episode, we’re going to cover three unfortunate mistakes most people make when trying to build passive income funnels. Mistakes that don’t just reduce the success of a funnel, they can completely cripple it and stop it from ever generating any revenue at all.

Obviously you’ll want to avoid these mistakes but not just because they can cost you potential income.

Building a flawed funnel is also a massive waste of time. And while we can always make more money, your time is a non-renewable resource. Time is the one thing you have a fixed amount of and can never get back once it’s spent. So avoiding wasting time needs to be one of our highest priorities with any business strategy decision.

My goal for this episode is to bring these potential mistakes to your awareness, because that’s the first step to avoiding or solving any problem.

If you haven’t started out yet, knowing what to look for and avoid will help you take a better route. Or, if you’ve already started, but gotten stuck, understanding these mistakes will enable you to diagnose why you aren’t getting the results you want. Specifically, why your funnel isn’t generating tens of thousands of dollars of passive income every month.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Two big reasons why you need to validate your idea before you pour your time into building a funnel
Why you need an evergreen lead generation system for your evergreen funnel
Why your funnel needs to sell potential customers on a Primary Tangible Result

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In this episode, we’re going to take a look at evergreen funnels and live launching. These are two different marketing strategies you can use to sell courses online.

Both evergreen funnels and live launching can effectively be used to sell hundreds of thousands (even millions!) of dollars for an online course. And to this day, I continue to use both in my business.

However, they’re much more effective–and much more profitable–when you use the right one for your situation. And that means choosing the right strategy both for your product andfor your personal goals.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How a live launching uses discounts or limited availability to incentivize buyers
The potential downsides of using limited-time offers on your products
How to use evergreen funnels to combine live launching and steady selling
Why I still use both strategies in my business
Why evergreen funnels aren’t always effective at getting sales for new businesses

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Welcome to the second episode of The 100K Method, a limited podcast series about how to strategically scale your online course to six-figure success.

I created this series because when I started my online business, I was broke, living paycheck-to-paycheck, and my biggest goal was to create a consistent stream of passive income, but I had a really hard time figuring out how.

In this episode, we’re going to jump in a time machine and go way back to 2018, the year I took my business from 0 to $100,000.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Where I was at the start of 2018 after two years in business
The strategies I used to grow my YouTube audience and my email list
Why I hosted live workshops on a variety of topics for the first five months of the year
How I used content I had already created to support the launch of Startup Society
The real numbers that brought me over the 100K mark

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Welcome to the first episode of The 100K Method, a limited podcast series about how to strategically scale your online course to six-figure success.

I created this series because when I started my online business, I was broke, living paycheck-to-paycheck, and my biggest goal was to create a consistent stream of passive income, but I had a really hard time figuring out how.

Lots of people were talking about passive income, but what they shared was vague, theoretical, and frequently overhyped. What I wanted and needed was practical, hands-on advice from someone who had successfully done what I wanted to do.

After a lot of research, I determined that digital courses and membership sites were going to be the best way to reach my passive income goals. There are certainly other options out there, but most either require a lot of money up front or simply don’t have a very high earning potential.

Online courses and memberships, on the other hand, can be put together with only a small budget and marketed strategically to turn into six- or even seven-figure streams of passive income. And that was exactly what I was looking for!

I’ll share the story of how I built my first $100K funnel in the next episode (and we’ll also look at the 100K method itself later in this series), but, in this episode, I’d like to start our conversation by examining the basic strategy of using evergreen sales funnels to passively sell online courses. We’ll also take a look at one of my 100K funnels in action, so you can see how this strategy works in the real world.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

A breakdown of the 100K funnel behind Creator Fast Track
How the “show up” sequence boosts workshop attendance
How the “win-win” webinar method works to convert leads
Two email sequences to take customers from “not yet” to “yes”

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

If you are really multi-passionate, it's likely that researching your ideas, weighing the pros and cons and other methods of analysis will still leave you undecided about what niche to choose. Because the problem is that you love all your ideas and you can't stand the thought of scrapping any of them.

Today, I’m sharing three strategies for overcoming your indecision, and finally picking a niche.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to use “practice mode” to figure out if you really want to build a business around an idea
Why you should date your ideas before you commit to marrying one of them
How giving yourself total freedom can actually help you nail down your niche

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

Can't pick a niche? Do THIS instead.

When I had my first two kids in my early twenties, maternity leave was really rough. It kind of happened, it kind of didn't, and a lot of things went wrong.

But when I was pregnant with my third baby, I completed a couple of projects that made a massive difference in my income and allowed me to take three full months of paid maternity leave.

So today, I’m sharing that story and telling you what happened and what those projects were that enabled me to take paid maternity leave.

And whether or not you’ll ever need maternity leave, these strategies are still relevant for any situation where you know you’ll need to be able to take a chunk of time off without sacrificing your income.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why I couldn’t take much time off with my first two babies
How my third pregnancy pushed me to finally get moving on generating passive income
Why I batch plenty of content before going on maternity leave

Learn more about Gillian:

100K Mastermind
Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In a lot of ways, the opportunity of today's creator economy reminds me of the California Gold Rush. While some early adopters were able to make a lot of money, most people were very skeptical of the idea that you could make money as a content creator.

Fast forward a few years, and people have caught on that this is a real thing. But now they might be wondering if success is only for the lucky few who got in at the right time and all the big money has been made.

They might be thinking that the market is saturated, that there’s so much content out there on YouTube, or Instagram, or on blogs that there’s no space for one more creator in the market.

They’ve gone from not believing it’s a real thing, to believing they’ve missed out.

But this is not the case at all.

More and more people are getting started as content creators every month, building their audience, and creating a living as creators. And not only that, the journey from zero to earning $10,000 per month or more, is getting shorter and shorter.

How is that possible?

Today, I’m sharing what I’ve learned in my five years as a successful content creator about strategies that work, so you can shorten your journey from zero to earning a living from your content.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why you need to focus on just one platform when you’re starting out
How to layer monetization strategies to raise your income faster
Pros and cons of affiliate marketing and sponsorships

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

If you’ve been listening to the show for a while, you’ll know that I’ve interviewed people about a variety of different business models, which may leave you wondering what the best one really is.

The truth is, there is no such thing as the best business model because different things work for different people. It all depends on your goals and even your personality.

For some people, rather than courses or group programs or memberships, it makes the most sense to continue to work directly with clients. Maybe they enjoy building relationships, the accountability of client deadlines, or the certainty of getting paid for their work.

And just because you’re not going for a passive income model doesn’t mean you can’t work less and earn more.

Perhaps the most obvious way to do that is to get higher-paying clients, but how do you land those clients?

Today, I’m talking with Ruth-Joy Connell about how to pitch to and land corporate clients.

Ruth-Joy Connell is the CEO and founder of RJC Consulting Global — a Corporate Consulting firm specializing in helping service-based entrepreneurs, price, pitch, and close corporate contracts. Her goal is to help entrepreneurs serve and earn at their highest level so that the work they do can have a generational impact. When she’s not collecting coins, you can find her shopping at Winners, watching re-runs of 90s TV shows, or traveling to new countries.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why taking your work to corporate clients doesn’t mean reinventing the wheel
How to clarify the client and consumer for your work
The best platform for marketing to corporate clients
Five steps to creating a list of prospects to reach out to

Learn more about Ruth-Joy Connell:

RJC Consulting Global

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

The Ultimate Guide on How to Find your First or Next Corporate Client

In just a few weeks, I'm going to be turning 30 years old.

This last decade has been such a crazy one filled with so many adventures, starting with getting married at 20, then having my first baby the following year, and buying our first house the year after that. And since then, we’ve gone on to buy a couple more houses.

I had four more babies, started several businesses, and visited 12 countries. It’s been a really packed decade and God has taught me so much both through all of these different projects that I've done and also through all the challenges that I've faced, both personally and emotionally. There have also been external challenges like tackling growing a business or buying a house.

So I thought that today would be such a good opportunity to reflect on some of these lessons that I've learned, both to remember them and to share them with you guys.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The most important lessons my twenties taught me about earning money and building wealth
The physical and emotional factors that help me stay healthy and happy
What my twenties taught me about supporting my mental health
What I’ve learned about trust, faith, and my relationship with God
How my relationships in my twenties taught me about commitment, security, and reaching out

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

The Mood Cure: The 4-Step Program to Take Charge of Your Emotions--Today, Julia Ross

Financial freedom is a common goal and an amazing thing to experience, but it often gets tied together with the idea of penny-pinching today so that you can save for the future, with the end goal being to amass as much money and stuff as possible.

Regular people call this saving for retirement. Others take it to an extreme and call it F.I.R.E: Financial Independence, Retire Early.

And some people don't save at all and just hope for the best.

But a lot of us somewhat goal-oriented folks at least feel like we should be making sacrifices today so that we can eventually retire fabulously wealthy.

Whether or not we successfully do that, of course, is up to our personal motivation, willpower, and ability to strategize.

But is accumulating money and stuff even truly the highest ideal? Should it really be our priority? Do we really need to feel guilt over not making those sacrifices today?

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How feeling financially secure is a moving goalpost with diminishing returns on your happiness
Five priorities that guide the way I save for the future
Why you have more control over what you earn than what you can save
How to make your spending intentional rather than emotional
How I shifted my mindset to being a good steward of my finances

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

I have a new baby!

Surprised? So was I!

Meet Ezra Perkins. He’s almost three weeks old and he arrived three weeks early, so he truly was a surprise for us.

Today I want to take a few minutes to share the story of Ezra’s birth because it’s kind of a funny story.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Ezra surprised us on our 10-year anniversary trip to the beach

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Have you ever had a moment of clarity when you suddenly realized that your life doesn’t have to be the way that it is?

Maybe it’s when you see someone else’s life, or something on Instagram, and you see how beautiful it is and you wonder, why doesn’t my life look like that, or feel like that?

Sometimes it’s the moment when we realize the only reason our life is the way it is–that we live where we live, have the friends we have, eat the food that we eat–is because we’re in the habit of doing them.

The good news is that regardless of whatever led you here right now, you can start making different decisions and completely transform your life.

And it doesn’t have to take years. In as little as six months, your life could look dramatically different.

So today, I’m sharing the fundamentals that will take you from where you are now to where you really want to be and make dramatic changes in your life.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Six ways to categorize and clarify the changes you want to make
How to decide what area of your life to focus on first
The major mindset shifts that will help you make big changes
Why setting quantifiable goals is essential to making plans and staying motivated

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

There are two big reasons I wanted to talk to Jereshia Hawk.

First, a few years ago she overhauled her business to make it more streamlined, a move that has proved wildly successful. I wanted to know what that looked like from the inside, what simplifications she made that had such a big impact, and if there were other factors that contributed to the way her business took off like a rocket.

Secondly, I wanted to nerd out about sales funnels and sales systems. I love getting into the nitty gritty details with people who have really successful sales systems. Jereshia has a system that is driving her multimillion dollar business, so obviously something is working, and I wanted to get the scoop on how her systems work, how she’s getting leads, and how she’s turning those leads into customers.

Thankfully, she agreed to do a deep dive with me and I’m so excited to share it with you.

Jereshia Hawk is a sought after business coach and sales expert who grew her business from $0-2 million in less than 4 years with organic marketing, a lean team, and high profit margins. She helps high-achieving experts launch and scale leveraged group coaching programs by packaging and positioning their intellectual property and strategically repurposing live videos to generate new leads. Jereshia’s mission is to help narrow the racial wealth gap by helping 100 women of color (and their allies) per year build and run million-dollar online coaching businesses that contribute to a ripple effect of positive impact and lasting legacy.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How simplifying the business solidified how her audience perceived her, and why that translated into sales
How Jereshia made the call for which offers to drop, and where to put her focus
How she validated the demand for Leverage before committing to the program
Why Jereshia says a more personal, human approach to sales is necessary for higher price point programs
The three simple steps in Jereshia’s sales funnel

Learn more about Jereshia Hawk:

jereshiahawk.com
Instagram: @jereshiahawk

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Is bigger, always better?

The point of running a business is to make money. Making more money means your company is more successful. And a bigger business makes more money, right?

Well, not always. Turns out the profit margins on big businesses can be razor thin, or even non-existent.

It can be easy to get caught up in messages that you should grow your business to be as large and as successful as possible. But is that really your goal?

Not if you’re like most people who want to run their own businesses.

You probably started your business because you wanted freedom, a flexible schedule, to be your own boss, and to create a better lifestyle for your family.

So how do you achieve those goals?

By taking a minimalist approach.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why bigger business can mean higher costs, more effort, and less profit
How simplifying your revenue streams and offerings actually helps you earn more money, with less time and effort
What minimalism means for your business

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

The Minimalists

I frequently get questions about affiliate marketing, and it’s something that I do myself.

If you’re not familiar with affiliate marketing, the short version is that you promote someone else’s products in exchange for a commission whenever you make a successful sale.

But there is a lot of confusion and false perceptions about what affiliate marketing is, who it’s a good option for, and how it could fit into your business strategy.

So today, I’m going to give you a complete rundown of affiliate marketing so you can really understand whether or not it’s the right fit for you that will make the best use of your time, and will make you the most money.

To help me, I’ve got Startup Society and 100K Mastermind member, Denise Wilbanks. She’s going to interview me with all of her questions about affiliate marketing, so you can learn along with her.

Denise Wilbanks is the boss babe behind This Is My Everybody, where she is passionate about helping overwhelmed women to simplify their life, home and business so that they can start creating a life filled with what matters most to them.

Denise believes in living a life you love, pursuing your biggest dreams, and surrounding yourself with what matters most to you. Living a simple life clears a path to get you there.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The differences between affiliate marketing, referrals, sponsorships, and ad networks
Why successful affiliate marketing serves your business and your audience
Where to start when you’re looking for affiliate programs
Questions to ask yourself when you’re thinking about adding affiliate marketing to your business strategy

Learn more about Denise Wilbanks:

This Is My Everybody
YouTube: This Is My Everybody
Facebook: @thisismyeverybody
Instagram: @thisismyeverybody
Pinterest: @thisismyeverybody

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Studies have shown that email marketing, when done right, earns about a dollar per subscriber, per month. So if you have a thousand subscribers, you could earn $1000 per month. And the more you grow your list, the more potential you have to earn money just from your email marketing.

So are you hitting that mark?

If not, the sequences I’m going to share with you will help you get more strategic with your email marketing and convert more of your subscribers into paying customers.

And even if your list is still small, implementing these strategies now can help ensure that you don’t leave money on the table as your list continues to grow.

Today, I’m going to walk you through four email sequences that will help you consistently make money without having to constantly hustle for clients or run live launches.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why you need a welcome sequence for new subscribers
How to set up an evergreen sales sequence so you have consistency in your revenue
What your abandoned cart emails need to say to your customer
How a cold subscriber sequence improves your open rate and saves you money

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

If you’re running a business these days, it’s pretty much standard that you’ll do some kind of social media marketing.

But the unfortunate truth is that most small business owners don’t have any real strategy for their social marketing. They’re just randomly posting content or trying to copy their competitors.

The end result? They don’t see any impact on their bottom line and it becomes a massive waste of time.

Today, I’m going to share the process that I use to develop our social media strategy every year, which has grown our audience to over one million followers. It’s also the strategy we teach inside Startup Society, that helps members develop social media strategies for their businesses.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The two biggest mistakes people make when they’re creating a social media strategy for the first time
Why you need to get as specific as possible with your goals for your social media presence
Why you should review the actual data on your past and current posts’ performance rather than relying on your own impressions
Why going to the platform where your customers are isn’t necessarily the best advice
The two systems you need to stay consistent with your strategy

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Everyone has had the experience of meeting someone who you think might be a good fit for your product or service, but you’re not sure how to shift the conversation from a casual chat to talking about what you do or what you offer, and getting their interest.

So today, we’re talking with Nicole Cramer about how to start conversations that lead to sales. She is an Exactly What to Say Certified Guide, and she’s going to share that method for making sales while you’re making conversation.

Nicole Cramer is a high-vibe sales coach for female health and wellness entrepreneurs and CEO of Healthy Steps with Nicole. She specializes in how to start conversations that lead to clients through her proven sales system and she is also one of only twelve Exactly What to Say Certified Guides, making her a specialist in sales language and conversion. Nicole’s focus is on high-touch, relationship based selling where making the customer is more important than making the sale.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How planning for the critical conversations in your business can help you stay in the moment
Why you need to bring curiosity and empathy to your sales conversations
How asking questions keeps you in control of the conversation
Three rejection-free ways to open a conversation

Learn more about Nicole Cramer:

Healthy Steps with Nicole
Instagram: @thenicolecramer

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact, Phil M Jones

If you’ve ever thought about launching a membership site, today’s episode is for you.

I’m talking with Laura Watson, who participated in our Validate accelerator program earlier this year, about her experience beta launching her membership site, the Watercolour Garden.

We’re going to chat about how she did it, what some of her biggest challenges were–and some of her biggest wins–and we’ll get into the nitty gritty details and numbers behind her beta launch, so you can see what’s possible for you, too.

Laura Watson is a botanical artist based on the west coast of Canada. She is the founder of The Watercolour Garden, an online community that helps watercolor painters create botanical paintings using her 3 step painting method. Laura has a diploma with distinction from the London Art College in Botanical Painting, and her paintings are in private collections worldwide.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How leaning on her peers and the structure of the Validate program helped Laura take the leap to launch
How she structured the webinar funnel and follow-ups that landed her a 50% conversion rate
Why Laura wanted to shift from selling courses on third-party platforms to hosting her own membership
The two biggest mental hurdles she had to overcome

Learn more about Laura Watson:

Website
Instagram: @laurawatsonartist
YouTube: Laura Watson Art

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

While there are a lot of different ways you can make money online, creating and selling digital products has got to be one of the very best. And it's certainly one of my favorites.

It gives you so many of the advantages of making money online–the flexibility, the huge potential for profit etc.–without a lot of the disadvantages that can come when you're selling physical products or services.

Now of course selling physical products or services can be amazing businesses as well.

But my personal favorite, and the one that I really think is the best in a lot of ways, is selling digital products.

I also know that it can be intimidating to get started with, and I think that's one of the biggest things holding people back. They just don't really know what the process needs to look like. It feels like it's very complicated.

But it doesn’t have to be. Which is why I’m sharing seven steps to creating and selling a digital product so you can see how simple it can really be.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What the substance of a digital product really is
Why you should always start with the minimum viable product
When you might need to hire an editor
Pros and cons of using a third party platform versus your own website to sell your product
Why you want to keep your price point low when you’re just starting out

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

I’m a huge fan of digital products.

I talk about courses a lot of the time, because they’re what have allowed me to earn passive income online, enabling me the flexibility in my schedule so that I can work from home, homeschool my kids, and enjoy a really nice lifestyle.

But while I love online courses and I think they’re an incredible opportunity, they do take a lot of time and effort to create and market.

So today, I’m going to share with you eight digital product ideas that still have really good earning potential, but are a lot simpler to create and market.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How you can use smaller scale, lower-priced workshops and products to earn money
Ideas for passive income if you have an eye for art or design
How to use your software or platform skills to earn passive income

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

You’ve probably heard that when you’re starting your business it’s super important to pick a niche, the more specific the better.

If you want to grow your business and your brand, it’s better to be a big fish in a small pond, right?

But if you’ve tried to follow this advice and found yourself feeling frustrated and pigeon-holed, you’re not alone.

A lot of people struggle with this when they’re first starting their online business. I know I did. And I regularly talk to people inside Startup Society and other programs we run who are going through it too.

So what do you do?

Today I’m going to share what the process of choosing a niche really looks like and help you take some of the stress and pressure out of it so you can build your business.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How niche means different things to different people
The differences between industry, value, and niche
Why you probably won’t really develop your niche until you’ve already worked with lots of customers
The two biggest mistakes people make when choosing a niche

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

If you want to start your own business, the very first, most important part of the process is just deciding what business you want to start.

You can’t move forward, and you can’t begin to grow your business at all until you make that crucial decision.

So in today’s episode, I’m going to share with you exactly how you can make that decision, whether you’re stuck because you have too many ideas and you just can’t choose, or if you’re stuck because you don’t have enough ideas.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The three different kinds of businesses you could start
Three lists to brainstorm business ideas
Three ways to score your ideas and narrow down your list
Why you need to have an idea of what a day in the life of your business would be like

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

100 Digital Product Ideas – Free Download
50 Service Business Ideas – Free Download

Last month, I was teaching a class about how to start a business. And even though most of the participants hadn’t yet started their businesses, all of them had worked on the branding for their business.

So even though they hadn’t done almost any of the other steps of setting up their business to make it legal or to start making money, they’d designed their branding.

Of course we get really excited by new ideas and want to start doing things that feel satisfying and that we can see right away.

But when you’re starting a business, the things you can see aren’t necessarily the most important. And there are a lot of things behind the scenes that we have to do before we can actually start a business.

Today, I’m covering six practical things you have to do before you can start your business.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Two places you need to register your business
How to start handling your business finances
Why you should create a separate email account just for your business
Why you have to validate your business idea before you invest time, energy, and money
The simple marketing plan you need to start generating leads

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

To make money with your business, you need to make sales. To make sales, you need leads. But where do you get those leads?

One of the most popular places on the planet to get leads is through traffic from Google.

That traffic is usually directed to content on your site, which makes Google SEO one of the most common aspects of a content marketing strategy.

But Google SEO can be complicated and you might have questions about what it is, how it works, and how to get your content to rank, especially if you’re just getting started.

Today I’m talking to Brandon Gaille about how to get started with Google SEO, what your first steps should be, and how to build a system for getting your content to rank on Google, so you can tap into that source of leads.

Brandon Gaille is an SEO expert who has been studying Google SEO for well over 10 years. He’s also the founder of Rank IQ, one of the top SEO tools on the market. He hosts the popular podcast, The Blogging Millionaire, where he teaches SEO strategies to over 20,000 bloggers.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why keyword research is the foundation of your content strategy
How to use AI tools to generate post topics
Tips for optimizing your content
How to get backlinks to your site
How often you should be posting

Learn more about Brandon Gaille:

Rank IQ
The Blogging Millionaire

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

Ahrefs
Semrush
Frase
Google Search Console
HARO
Apple Podcasts
Chartable
GoDaddy Auctions

When I was first trying to get my business started, I spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos about how to start an online business and about business strategies.

I also listened to podcasts, read blog posts, and subscribed to dozens of newsletters.

I was hungry for advice about how to get my business started and making money.

I got a ton of advice from mentors from afar during that phase, and I appreciate what I was able to learn.

But the problem with taking in all of that information and advice is that you get so many different ideas about what you could be working on or what you should be working on, it can make it really difficult to know what you should really be focusing on when you’re first starting out.

Today, I’m giving my best advice for what made a difference, what was a distraction, and what you really need to focus on when you’re getting your online business going.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why you need to make decisions and stick to them
How to streamline your branding so it doesn’t eat up your time
Why quality content is more important than being everywhere at once
Why making your first sales has to be your primary focus

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

The other day, I was talking to my sister-in-law, who wants to start a business as a wedding planner.

She already has a lot of experience doing it for free, but the prospect of making it official and legal so she can get paying clients is overwhelming her, so she hasn’t taken those steps yet.

And I know she’s not alone.

A lot of people who want to start a business feel the same way. They’re overwhelmed by the things they need to do, or they feel like they don’t even know what they’re supposed to do, so they feel overwhelmed by the unknown.

If that’s you, keep listening. Because today, I’m going to break down seven basic, but necessary, steps to make your business official.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why you don’t need an official business plan to get the process started
The first step to making your business legally official
What you need for taxes and finances
Why branding your business matters

Learn more about Gillian:

Funnel Masterclass
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

How to Start Your Own Business (and make it LEGAL)
Register your business, Small Business Administration Guide
Wave Accounting
QuickBooks
Xero
WordPress.org
Squarespace

The initial appeal of passive income is to make money without any effort.

But with a greater understanding of what passive income is and how it really works, you can get a more realistic idea of the power and potential of this alternative way of earning a living.

It’s not necessarily an easy way to get rich, but instead a strategic way to diversify your income and create greater financial freedom.

But creating streams of passive income does take effort. Quite a lot, in fact. But the long term gains will make that effort worth it.

What’s the best way to earn passive income?

Should you sell courses, publish a book, set up a drop shipping website, start a membership program? Or even build a business and sell it? Or simply invest your savings into an existing business or dividend-earning stocks?

Today, we’re looking at seven of the best passive income options. These are all strategies that are easy to get started and proven to be able to earn at least $200 every day.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Three key elements to a successful membership site
How you can earn money from a YouTube channel
How to earn money from your blog or podcast
Two ways to stand out and make money in the creator economy
Why layering your strategies leads to the best results

Learn more about Gillian:

Funnel Masterclass
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

These days, there are so many ways to monetize your knowledge.

You could write a book or an ebook. You could create a course that people can go through at their own pace. Or you could run a live program where you guide people through the material and help them apply it. You could provide coaching or consulting or even a service where you use your knowledge to help others.

Over the last five years or so, I've monetized my knowledge in almost all of these different ways. And some of them took a lot of effort and time and didn't pay very well. And then others have been extremely profitable.

So today I wanted to share with you what has worked best for me and has allowed me to build the multi six figure information business that I run today, and also what I would recommend someone do if they’re interested in getting started in the information industry.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The first two steps to turning your knowledge into a business
The research questions you need to ask when you’re developing your idea
Why you need to sell your product before you create it
How to go small to make sales
The two sides of automating your business

Learn more about Gillian:

Funnel Masterclass
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

100 Digital Product Ideas

Ever since people started lending other people money thousands of years ago, it's been possible to earn passive income.

But things have changed a lot over the centuries and they’re changing all the time now as technology advances.

That means there are so many different ways you can earn passive income beyond the old fashioned way of collecting interest on a loan.

So how does passive income work nowadays?

It can sound too good to be true. It sounds like making something out of nothing. And a quick google will pull up hundreds of stories of people who say they’ve been wildly successful at it.

So how do you know what’s real?

Here’s the reality. We’re not creating something out of nothing. We are investing time or money into creating this stream of passive income for the future.

Let’s dig into what that really means.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What passive income means at its most basic in the real world
Why passive income is never passive to start out with
How to weigh effort versus return and risk versus reward when investing time and money
Five steps to starting a passive income stream

Learn more about Gillian:

Funnel Masterclass
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

If you are thinking about creating your first course, this is the episode for you.

From generating leads with no audience or a small audience to launch strategies to pricing to turning your leads into paying, satisfied customers, I’m going to cover it all with Jess Catorc from Teachable.

Teachable is a course hosting platform that has been around for nearly a decade and has worked with thousands upon thousands of course creators. They’ve got the data, the tools, and the expertise to help make your course a success, and Jess is a major part of that.

Jess is an award-winning brand strategist and leads Launch Creator Initiatives at Teachable. She’s been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, ABC television network, and has spent the last 8+ years working with creators and startups to expand their reach and revenue online in the Creator Economy.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to collaborate to grow your audience
Why using lead magnets and microproducts helps you validate your course idea
Why your first launch is about collecting data on what works
How to build a simple sales funnel
What you need to consider when you’re pricing your course

Learn more about Jess Catorc:

Teachable
Instagram: @jesscatorc @teachable
Keep the Receipt podcast

Learn more about Gillian:

Funnel Masterclass
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

If you’ve heard people talking about repurposing content, you’re probably heard something like this:

Plan and film one video, then edit it and turn it into 8, 9, 10 pieces of content! One video turns into a YouTube video, a podcast, a blog post, social media posts, a newsletter, and more!

The gurus will tell you this is a smart, time-saving way to multiply your efforts so you can show up everywhere online.

Sounds great, right?

The only problem is, it doesn’t work.

Which is why today I’m sharing my content repurposing strategy that makes effective use of my content and my time.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why posts from standard repurposing advice fall flat
How I create content that works for multiple platforms based on my YouTube videos
Why promoting your content isn’t the same as repurposing it

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

This podcast is called Work Less, Earn More and pretty much the whole premise is figuring out which activities, tasks, or projects actually make your business the most money, focusing on those, and letting go of the rest.

That way you can earn the most, with the least amount of time and effort.

And you would think that since I’m doing YouTube and this podcast, I would have figured out by now which one actually makes me more money and which one I can let go of, because they’re both pretty time-consuming.

So why do I keep doing both? And which one actually does bring in more money?

Listen to the full episode to hear:

A breakdown of how I make money from YouTube and the podcast
Why the podcast is a key piece of the customer journey, even though it has less overall traffic than YouTube

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

One of the most common questions I get here and in real life is “how do you do it all?”

How do you balance your schedule as a mom who also runs a business? How do you run a business and homeschool your kids and cook meals, exercise, and, and, and?

Well, the short answer is that phrase “you can have anything but you can’t have everything.” Or to paraphrase, you can do anything, but you can’t do everything.

It really comes down to making decisions about what your real priorities are, then making judgment calls about how to actually prioritize the things that are important to you and saying no to basically everything else.

But I know a lot of you would like some more practical details of what that looks like in real life.

So that’s what I’m sharing in this episode. I want to paint a picture of what my real days and weeks look like to help you understand how I do all this.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why I’ve chosen to budget more money for things that buy me more time
How I prioritize self care, and what that really means for me
Why keeping it simple is key
What a typical day in my life looks like

Learn more about Gillian:

Small Business 101
Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

In the last few episodes, we’ve been talking about how to find and land your first clients in your online business. So today, we’re replaying an interview with Jay Clouse about how to start a freelancing career.

More people than ever before are taking the leap to work for themselves.

There are a lot of potential upsides. A flexible schedule. Freedom of choice in who you work with and what you work on. Security. And of course, no limit on your potential earnings.

But most people are also painfully aware of the challenges of getting started.

Is your personality a good fit for freelance work? What business should you start? Will anyone even want to hire you? And how can you find your first client?

To help you answer those questions and more, today on the podcast I’m bringing you Jay Clouse.

Jay is the founder of Freelancing School and the Unreal Collective, and his speciality is helping people make that transition from creative-stuck-in-a-day-job to freelancer, then from freelancer to CEO.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Jay’s career evolved from startup cofounder to product management to freelance service provider and beyond
A mindset shift around work, employment and compensation that will expand how you think about contract work
The relationship of leadership, expectation setting, expertise and pricing
Steps for building your freelance portfolio

Learn more about Jay Clouse:

JayClouse.com
Freelancing School 20% Off!
Instagram: @JayClouse
Twitter: @JayClouse
Creative Elements

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

Gillian Perkins on YouTube
Business Plan Template

In the last episode, you heard the story of how I got my first clients and customers and finally started attracting the right customers.

Now I want to share the stories of several other business owners and how they got their first customers and how those clients led them to where they are today.

Emily Banks works with online business owners to help elevate their brands, products and marketing materials through strategy based design.

Tiffany Pichardo of Virtually Simple is a Virtual Assistant who specializes in customer service and YouTube growth.

Samantha Harris is a Lead Generation and Sales Strategist for online business owners. She focuses on developing organic strategies to help her clients reach more of their target audience so they can sell more of their offers.

Tony Rulli is the Co-founder and Head of Advertising at Intentional Spark, a digital advertising agency dedicated to helping online business owners grow their businesses through digital marketing. Tony and his teams focus on Facebook and Instagram ads, but also manage all ad platforms for their clients.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Samantha used Instagram and Facebook to network her way into her first clients
How being engaged in private groups and chats for small business owners landed Emily her first clients, without having to pitch her services
How Tiffany built her skill set in another position that led to her first clients
How providing value, support, and free consultations through networking groups helped Tony fill his client roster

Learn more about Emily Banks:

Emily Banks Creative
Instagram: @EmilyBanksCreative

Learn more about Tiffany Pichardo:

YouTube: The Happy Homeschooler

Learn more about Samantha Harris:

TheSamanthaHarris.com
Instagram: @TheSamantHarris
TikTok: @TheSamantHarris

Learn more about Tony Rulli:

Intentional Spark
Instagram: @IntentionalSpark

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

Work Less, Earn More Ep 118: How I Finally Found My First Customers

Getting momentum from zero is almost always the hardest part.

That first hundred dollars, first thousand dollars that you earn is some of the hardest money you’ll ever make.

And the same thing goes for finding your first clients.

How do you go from zero to finding your first client or your first handful of clients?

I know that when I first started it felt like a mystery. I had no idea where to start.

In my first business, I overcame that hurdle accidentally and gained clients through word of mouth. But when I started my online business it was a whole other story.

But I knew that if I was going to succeed with my online business, then I needed to find those first customers. So I started working on it.

Here’s what I did, what didn’t work, and how I finally got my first customers.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Four things that didn’t work and what I learned from them
The mistakes I made with my earliest paying clients
The strategy that finally built momentum in my business
Seven principles for getting your first customers and building momentum that apply to any business

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Get on the waitlist for Creator Fast Track
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

When I was fresh out of high school, I was already pretty dissatisfied with the different career options that were out there.

And I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do or what I wanted to be when I grew up, but after getting some inspiration, I set out on my own to make an alternative option.

I wanted to work a four hour week. I wanted to leverage my investments and make passive income.

It all sounded great on paper. But in the real world, it wasn’t working at all.

Because I was trying to follow instructions from books when I didn’t even have a way to tell people what I was doing, what service I was trying to offer, what product I was trying to sell.

I had no audience.

But I overcame that roadblock and today I’m sharing four principles that enabled me to start making money online, even before I had an audience.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why you might not want to play the long game of organic growth
The two major investments your business needs, and how to choose where to start
How to leverage your connections without feeling sleazy

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Get on the waitlist for Creator Fast Track
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

What would I do if I lost my whole business?

If my email list got deleted and my YouTube channel was shut down? If my website was erased and maybe even my professional reputation was lost, how would I start over from zero?

What would I do first? How would I make my first sale? How would I get the momentum I would need to grow a new business into a reliable source of income?

Here's what I do. If I had to start over.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What type of work I’d look for and how I would pursue clients
What my first goal would be
Why I would still choose quality over quantity when creating content
How I’d start planning to scale up

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Get on the waitlist for Creator Fast Track
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

Abby Ashley

Maybe you have a goal of starting a successful YouTube channel.

But you can only reach that goal if you’re clear on what that really means.

From the outside, it might look like YouTube is easy. All you have to do is record a video each week and post it, right?

But the reality is that there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes of building a successful YouTube channel.

Today, I’m going to share from my six years of experience on YouTube, the mistakes I’ve made, what I’ve learned, and what really matters when it comes to building a successful channel in 2022.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why you need to approach starting a channel like starting a business
How choosing a broader topic can actually help you more than finding a narrow niche
Why you need to be clear on what value your videos bring to your viewers
Four action steps for starting your channel
Why you should set smaller, short-term goals in the beginning

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Get on the waitlist for Creator Fast Track
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

3 Secrets to Reach 1,000 Subscribers on Youtube

I recently posted a video where I broke down four phases to take you from zero to $100,000 dollars over the next 12 months.

And in the comments, there were a lot of questions about phase three of that process.

So today we’re diving into more detail about how to use systems and automation to scale your business.

These are systems that will allow you or your team to guide people to find out about your products and to deliver those products without dropping what you’re doing for every single sale.

I’ll tell you what those systems are, how they should work, and give you some tips for building them for yourself.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to automate your sales system
Why you need to scale your traffic system to scale your business
Why your production process matters, even if you’re selling services
The most important system you need to have in place to scale your business

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

How to go from $0 to $100,000 in 2022
Creator Fast Track
Video Creator Academy
Download The Easiest Business Plan Ever

The security and protection of our businesses and our customers’ information is so important, but a lot of us don’t know that much about how to go about making those things as safe and secure as possible.

Especially with rapid changes in technology and new threats to cybersecurity that come up.

Which is why today I’ve brought in an expert.

Todd Mitchell has over 25 years of experience in using risk-based assessments to create and enforce cyber security policies that keep data safe while ensuring the information gets to the correct decision maker at the correct time, intact and unchanged.

Todd has a Master of Science in Cyber Security Policy, as well as a Master of Business Administration, and a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology with a concentration in Ethical Hacking.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The biggest mistakes people make with their payment processors
Three key ways to keep your customers’ information more secure
The kind of scam that makes up 94% of all attacks on small businesses
The number one cause of data breaches
Two things you can do right now to make your business more secure

Learn more about Todd Mitchell:

Cybersecurity 4 Biz
Facebook: @cs4biz
Twitter: @cs4biz
Instagram: @cybersecurity4biz

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

If you only had 20 hours to work in your business each week, what task would be at the top of your priority list? Why?

That’s the question I asked four of my most trusted business connections, friends, and mentors.

Today, you’ll hear from Lucy Griffiths, Ashlyn Carter, Lacy Boggs, and Ashley Gartland in the first of a new format we’re calling Roundup, where I invite my business friends and mentors to answer a question, and you get their insights and experiences on that topic.

Today, they’ll tell us what tasks they prioritize in their business and why, and you’ll get insight into why you might want to shift your priorities so you can do more with less time.

Lucy Griffiths is the creator of Confident on Camera. Her incredible sales funnel has sold over 30,000 copies of one of her online courses. Lucy focuses on strategies that give her really big results with the least possible effort.

Ashlyn Carter is conversion copywriter and marketing strategist specializing in wedding & creative industries. Her launch funnels have generated results for clients including upwards of $1M in revenue in a single week and her courses teach people to write their own effective, sales-generating copy, all while working half-time.

Lacy Boggs is a content strategist and the director of The Content Direction Agency. She helps small business owners fill their program or practice by generating organic demand through content marketing.

Ashley Gartland is a business coach who helps busy small business owners and online entrepreneurs simplify and streamline their business so they can grow more and work less.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why Lucy focuses her energy on audience building and relationship building
How Ashlyn uses the Pomodoro technique and batches her days to stay on track
Why Lacy keeps sales and marketing at the top of her list
How Ashley builds and maintains relationships to run her business in 20 hours per week

Learn more about Lucy Griffiths:

LucyGriffiths.com
Confident On Camera Course
Follow Lucy on YouTube

Learn more about Ashlyn Carter:

Ashlyn Writes
Instagram: @AshlynCarter
Facebook: @AshlynWrites
YouTube: Ashlyn Writes

Learn more about Lacy Boggs:

The Content Direction Agency
Instagram: @LacyLu42
Facebook: @ghostbloggergb

Learn more about Ashley Gartland:

AshleyGartland.com
Instagram: @AshleyGartland
Facebook: Ashley Gartland Coaching

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Resources:

Work Less, Earn More Ep 42: 30,000+ Courses Sold in Just 18 Months (and with a Small Audience!) with Lucy Griffiths
Work Less, Earn More Ep 16: Copywriting Secrets for Converting More Customers with Ashlyn Carter
Work Less, Earn More Ep 39: Building a Quarter-Million Dollar Agency in 20 Hours a Week with Lacy Boggs
Work Less, Earn More Ep 13: Three Systems to Maximize Your Productivity with Ashley Gartland

I got an email recently with a really good question.

The email went something like this, “I know you don’t have a crystal ball, but what is a fair estimate for how long it will take me to start making consistent monthly income. Some sort of ballpark to help me set my expectations would be helpful. The number I have in my head is 12 to 18 months from now that I should be covering my monthly expenses and making at least a little beyond that.”

This person’s expectation right now is that after working on her business for a year, or a year and a half, that she should be breaking even, maybe a little more.

The thing about goals and expectations is that whatever target you set your course toward will affect everything you do to try to reach that goal. So when you expect the break even in 18 months, your actions will–consciously or not–take you in that direction.

It’s like the saying, aim for the moon, and even if you fail you’ll be among the stars.

Which is why I don’t want that person or you to be setting your sights on just breaking even after a year or more, because it is possible to do so much better than that.

So today I’m taking you through exactly what you can expect in the first year, how you can make predictions for yourself and your business, and what your first goal should be to set yourself on the trajectory for success.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What you can expect in your first three to six months in business
Why your first $1000 is the first milestone you need to aim for
How the validation process supports you on the path to growth

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Resources:

Online Business Quickstart Guide
Predict Your Profits Workshop

Have you heard of the Employee Retention Credit?

If you haven’t, you’re not alone.

The ERC is part of a COVID relief program created by the US government to provide assistance to business owners who have been impacted by COVID-19.

Your business could be eligible for a substantial credit but most entrepreneurs and business owners aren’t aware of it, which means there’s a significant amount of funding going unclaimed.

So today, I’m talking with Mark Sullivan, CEO of ERC Specialists about the ERC, who is eligible, how to apply and how to work with an ERC specialist to make the process as easy as possible.

ERC Specialists is a specialty payroll company exclusively dedicated to understanding and maximizing the CARES Act Employee Retention Credit (ERC) for small businesses affected negatively by COVID 19.

Mark has a wealth of knowledge on this topic, and he is really passionate about helping entrepreneurs to take advantage of this unusual opportunity that has been created.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why you probably haven’t heard of the ERC
What kinds of businesses qualify for the credit
Three key ways your business may qualify

Learn more about Mark Sullivan:

ERC Specialists

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Too often, choosing your business model isn’t a conscious decision and you accept whatever the default seems to be for your industry.

But choosing your business model is a really important decision.

The business model that you choose affects absolutely everything about how you do business, from what you do on a daily basis to how much money you make and how you make that money, to how much time you spend working each week.

Let’s open our eyes to the different options out there and make conscious choices about the model that’s really right for our businesses, our customers, ourselves, and our personal goals.

This episode is part of a series on business models. In each episode, I’m interviewing a business owner about their business model, how it works, how they make money, and what it all entrails so that you can learn about your different options and make that choice.

Today I’m talking to Nathalie Lussier about the Software As A Service model and her business, AccessAlly.

Nathalie Lussier is an award-winning entrepreneur who has been making web sites since she was 12 years old. She graduated with a degree in Software Engineering and a job offer from Wall Street, but she turned down this job to start her own business right out of college.

As the founder of AccessAlly, the powerful digital course and membership solution for industry leaders, she believes that access to education can help defy stereotypes and make the world a better place, while providing a sustainable livelihood for enterprising teachers.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why Nathalie made the leap from hands-on coaching and consulting to developing software
How software as a service provides stability for business owners
Who to partner with if you have a great idea but don’t have software development experience
Why AccessAlly stopped paid advertising and focused on content marketing
How Nathalie and her team evaluate adding new features and services to AccessAlly

Learn more about Nathalie Lussier:

YouTube
Twitter: @NathLussier
Facebook: @AccessAllyTM
Pinterest: @AccessAlly
Connect with AccessAlly on LinkedIn

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Choosing your business model is a really important decision.

The business model that you choose affects absolutely everything about how you do business, from what you do on a daily basis to how much money you make and how you make that money, to how much time you spend working each week.

But too often, it isn’t even a conscious decision, but just accepted as the default for whatever type of business you’re building or the industry you’re in.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Let’s open our eyes to the different options out there and make conscious choices about the model that’s really right for our businesses, our customers, ourselves, and our personal goals.

This episode is part of a series on business models. In each episode, I’m interviewing a business owner about their business model, how it works, how they make money, and what it all entrails so that you can learn about your different options and make that choice.

Today I’m talking to Jordan Gill about her business, Systems Saved Me.

Jordan helps burned out service providers convert their monthly retainers to virtual VIP Days. Her program Done In a Day™ has helped over 270 students create and sell their first VIP Days. She also has a podcast called Systems Saved Me with over 300 episodes all about how business owners navigate success with systems.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Jordan shifted her business entirely to VIP Days in 2017 and never looked back
How she structures her client onboarding to maximize the productivity of the VIP Day
How Jordan cultivates win-win referral sources
The systems and automations that give Jordan a three-day work week

Learn more about Jordan Gill:

Systems Saved Me
Instagram: @SystemsSavedMe
Systems Saved Me Podcast

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

The business model that you choose affects absolutely everything about how you do business, from what you do on a daily basis to how much money you make and how you make that money, to how much time you spend working each week.

Choosing your business model is a really important decision.

But too often, it isn’t even a conscious decision, but just accepted as the default for whatever type of business you’re building or the industry you’re in.

So let’s change that.

Let’s open our eyes to the different options out there and make conscious choices about the model that’s really right for our businesses, our customers, ourselves, and our personal goals.

This episode is part of a series on business models. In each episode, I’m interviewing a business owner about their business model, how it works, how they make money, and what it all entrails so that you can learn about your different options and make that choice.

Today I’m talking to Natalie Gingrich about her business, The Ops Authority, where she certifies and mentors women who leverage their natural skillset of operations and administration. She's driven to help women earn an income with ease while doing what comes most naturally to them.

Natalie has merged her corporate career background with her entrepreneurial learnings to create the Director of Operations Certification Program, the only strategic operations certification for leaders.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why Natalie landed on developing a certification program rather than strictly a course
How Natalie began marketing to her networks and why relationship marketing is still a key strategy for her today
How her podcast functions as the top of her sales funnel, and why it works for her audience
Where Natalie spends the most of her time and money in her business, and which sales avenues provide the best conversion

Learn more about Natalie Gingrich:

The Ops Authority
Facebook: @TheOpsAuthority
The Ops Authority Podcast

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Over the next several episodes, I'm going to be interviewing a series of online business owners about their business models, how their businesses make money, their biggest expenses, how much time their businesses take to run, how big or small their teams are, and more.

Today I’m interviewing Anna Wolf, the owner of Superscript Marketing, a small agency that sells a productized service, meaning they sell a service that looks very similar for each of the different types of clients they serve.

We’ll talk about why she chose this model, how it works and some of the additional considerations that this type of business can create, as well as the pros of selling a simple service rather than responding to each individual client’s specific needs.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The legal, financial, and psychological reasons behind using a mix of contractors and employees
Why Superscript’s highly specialized niche means they don’t have to spend a lot of effort bringing in new clients
Why Anna has chosen to remain a boutique firm rather than scaling up, and how she is branching out her business
Why professional development and team bonding are significant line items in her budget

Learn more about Anna Wolf:

Superscript Marketing
Connect with Anna on LinkedIn

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Over the next several episodes, I'm going to be interviewing a series of online business owners about their business models, how their businesses make money, their biggest expenses, how much time their businesses take to run, how big or small their teams are and more.

Today I’m talking to Marie Poulin, creator of Notion Mastery, her hybrid online course that mixes self-paced study with office hours and community support.

Marie helps solopreneurs and small teams streamline their digital systems, processes, and workflows, so they can spend more time on what matters.

Notion Mastery is an online course and community that helps folks use Notion to live and work better.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why having live calls and office hours was instrumental to developing Notion Mastery
How a hybrid course plays to Marie’s strengths, personality and how she wants to show up in her business
Why leveraging interest in an existing tool like Notion or YouTube is a great beginner strategy for developing courses
The real costs in money and time of running a hybrid course and community

Learn more about Marie Poulin:

Notion Mastery
YouTube
Twitter: @MariePoulin

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Over the next several episodes, I'm going to be interviewing a series of online business owners about their business models, how their businesses make money, their biggest expenses, how much time their businesses take to run, how big or small their teams are, and more.

Today I’m talking to interior designer Candice Prather about how she blends her offerings to capture very different types of customers in a service-based business.

Candice Prather is a Maryland-based Interior Designer and Realtor at Keller Williams Preferred Properties. She is a proud member of The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA), and The National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why you have to think like your customer when developing a marketing strategy
How Candice uses a detailed questionnaire to prep potential clients for their sales call
How she manages client workload across her two primary offerings
What add-on products boost Candice’s bottom line
How Candice envisions scaling her business

Learn more about Candice Prather:

CandicePrather.com
Instagram: @CandicePrather

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Over the next several episodes, I'm going to be interviewing a series of online business owners about their business models, how their businesses make money, their biggest expenses, how much time their businesses take to run, how big or small their teams are and more.

Today I’m talking to Cher Hale about how she’s built a micro-agency by design, serving a very specific demographic and market that aligns with her values and passions.

Cher Hale is the founder and director of Ginkgo PR, a boutique agency that believes in using public relations to help historically-excluded authors and entrepreneurs take back their narratives.

As a Taiwanese-Black American woman, Cher is passionate about leveraging the power of media to tell diverse stories through online, print, TV, and podcast mediums so she can play a role in reshaping how our society views social justice, feminism, and multiculturalism.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Cher mixes a limited number of traditional retainer clients with consults and a membership option
Where the biggest chunks of her money and time go as a micro-agency
What she loves about her hybrid business model and one big disadvantage of a longer contract

Learn more about Cher Hale:

Gingko Public Relations
Connect with Cher on LinkedIn

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

When I started working on starting my online business, it was because I was running away from the business that I already had.

Essentially, I was breaking up with my current business and my online business was a bit of a rebound. What I wanted out of my online business was flexibility and freedom. I wanted to know how to make as much money with as little effort as possible and in those rebound days, I was susceptible to anything that sounded like what I was looking for.

It wasn't until I was well into the process of building my business that I realized there were some things about the business model I had inadvertently chosen that I wasn't all that fond of or that there were other options out there.

Over the next several episodes, I'm going to be interviewing a series of online business owners about their business models, how their businesses make money, their biggest expenses, how much time their businesses take to run, how big or small their teams are and more.

To start this series off, I'm bringing on my friend, business mentor and podcast producer, Tara McMullin. In this episode, Tara breaks down seven simple business models for small business owners.

Tara McMullin is a coach, community builder, podcaster, producer, and writer. She’s the founder of What Works, a digital platform for small business owners who are building strong, resilient, and sustainable companies. She’s also the co-founder of YellowHouse.Media, a podcast production agency that helps entrepreneurs create standout podcasts that grow their businesses. Tara’s podcast, What Works, has been downloaded over 2 million times and boasts over 300 interviews with thriving small business owners.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why getting clear on your business model helps your business become more sustainable, resilient and easier to run
How keeping it simple can actually generate more revenue with fewer expenses
Seven simple business models with real-life examples and a breakdown of the math behind the revenue
Plus two models for physical product-based businesses
Key questions to consider when choosing a business model

Learn more about Tara McMullin:

What Works
The What Works Podcast
Instagram: @tara_mcmullin
YellowHouse.Media

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Did you set a goal to take your business from $0 to $100,000 in 2022?

You might think of dividing 100,000 by 365 and figure, “okay, I need to earn at least $274 per day and I’ll hit that mark.”

But the first thing to know is that it isn’t going to happen that way.

Most likely this process of going from zero to six figures over the next year is something that's going to happen exponentially.

You're going to start slow. It'll seem like you aren't making any progress at all at first, but over time, your income will increase faster and faster.

It will almost certainly be something of a rollercoaster, where you’ll earn more one month and less the next.

It’s a two steps forward, one step back kind of experience.

And that might not be what you want to hear, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s the truth.

Keep listening to find out what else you need to know to hit that six-figure milestone in 2022.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to keep discouragement at bay so you keep putting in the work to hit six figures
Why it’s okay to have some unknowns in your business plan
Why you need to get to market quickly, even if your product isn’t yet perfect
Why your income might dip while you’re setting up scalable systems
How to build a marketing and sales process that works for your business

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
50 Service Business Ideas – Free Download

To celebrate our reaching 100 episodes of Work Less, Earn More, I’m revisiting some of my favorite episodes all this week.

I went all the way back to the very first episode and pulled out the ones that stood out to me as must-listens, ones that I think even if you've heard them before, they would be worth listening to again. Then I had to narrow it down from 20 or so episodes to 5.

To do that, I needed a theme or a topic, and I landed on doing a whole week of episodes all about funnels and launching.

For the final episode of our five-part bonus series, we're going to do something that is a little bit unrelated if I'm going to be completely honest, but I think it's an important piece of the puzzle.

When I was first trying to build my business, my funnels weren’t working and my launches were falling flat.

And it wasn’t because of the funnels or the launches.

The reason they would have worked for me is because I was barking up the wrong tree. I was trying to sell something that there wasn't demand for. I was trying to sell something that nobody wanted to buy.

I hadn’t validated my business idea.

So today, I’ll walk you through how to do that, so you can put all of the great lessons in the last four episodes this week to use.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

3 questions to ask to validate your business idea
Why market research is essential to building a successful business
How to tell if your business idea is valid and worth pursuing
Why it might not take a long time to build a substantial, successful business

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

To celebrate our reaching 100 episodes of Work Less, Earn More, I’m revisiting some of my favorite episodes all this week.

I went all the way back to the very first episode and pulled out the ones that stood out to me as must-listens, ones that I think even if you've heard them before, they would be worth listening to again. Then I had to narrow it down from 20 or so episodes to 5.

To do that, I needed a theme or a topic, and I landed on doing a whole week of episodes all about funnels and launching.

I'm bringing you back to one of the earliest episodes from Work Less, Earn More.

In this episode, I share with you six things that took us past the six-figure mark.

One thing I love about this episode is that it's a really good recap of some of the biggest things that we did that grew the business, and I did it while hitting that milestone was still pretty fresh and we were still using a lot of the same strategies as we continued to grow.

So if you’re aiming for that goal, listen in and I’ll share how we did it.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why I had to narrow my focus and get specific
Why I stopped selling and dug into market research
Why different is better than better
How I found my bottlenecks and hired help strategically to get past them
How subscriptions and evergreen funnels took us over the six-figure mark

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

To celebrate our reaching 100 episodes of Work Less, Earn More, I’m revisiting some of my favorite episodes all this week.

I went all the way back to the very first episode and pulled out the ones that stood out to me as must-listens, ones that I think even if you've heard them before, they would be worth listening to again. Then I had to narrow it down from 20 or so episodes to 5.

To do that, I needed a theme or a topic, and I landed on doing a whole week of episodes all about funnels and launching.

Today I'm bringing you an interview that I did with my friend, Lucy Griffiths, who has a truly incredible evergreen sales funnel set up that sold over 30,000 copies of one of her courses in just 18 months!

Whether you’re just starting to set up funnels or you have one running you want to improve, listen in as Lucy shares the dirt on how she set it up and how it works.

Lucy Griffiths went from TV journalist reporting from conflict zones and interviewing political heavyweights and rubbing elbows with A-listers to building a course business that has now generated over a million dollars in revenue. Her Confident on Camera course has over 50,000 downloads and counting.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How micro-courses allow you to quickly scale up your sales
Why you should script and record your sales pitch
How Lucy structures her offers to increase her total cart value from a low-cost course
Why she uses still image ads to sell a video-based course
Lucy’s surprising strategy for generating leads and converting them

Learn more about Lucy:

lucygriffiths.com
Confident On Camera Course
Follow Lucy on YouTube

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

To celebrate our reaching 100 episodes of Work Less, Earn More, I’m revisiting some of my favorite episodes all this week.

I went all the way back to the very first episode and pulled out the ones that stood out to me as must-listens, ones that I think even if you've heard them before, they would be worth listening to again. Then I had to narrow it down from 20 or so episodes to 5.

To do that, I needed a theme or a topic, and I landed on doing a whole week of episodes all about funnels and launching.

Today is Episode 22 with Tarzan Kay.

Tarzan reveals all of her best secrets and tips for launching to a small list and really maximizing your sales, even when you aren't selling to very many people.

And I know that that is the situation that many of you are in right now. And I was in that situation not too long ago myself.

Tarzan Kay is a master of email marketing and former copywriter-for-hire who specializes in fun-to-read, more-addictive-than-Game-of-Thrones email copy. She also helps freelancers attract better clients who’ll reach deeper into their pockets to pay for top-quality services using the power of email.

She shares all of her expert email marketing and copywriting tips on how she stands out in a crowded market—and how you can, too.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Sales strategies to make the most of your small list
How to calculate your real conversion rate for your launch
A two-part offer structure that helps you capture missed leads
Why you should never judge your launch in the middle of it

Learn more about Tarzan:

TarzanKay.com
10 Free Email Promo Sequence Swipes
Instagram: @tarzan_kay
The Must-Have Tool For Promoting To A List of Less Than 1000 Subscribers

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

To celebrate our reaching 100 episodes of Work Less, Earn More, I’m revisiting some of my favorite episodes all this week.

I went all the way back to the very first episode and pulled out the ones that stood out to me as must-listens, ones that I think even if you've heard them before, would be worth listening to again. Then I had to narrow it down from 20 or so episodes to 5.

To do that, I needed a theme or a topic, and I landed on doing a whole week of episodes all about funnels and launching.

First up is Episode 20 with Mariah Coz. Mariah is a wizard with evergreen funnels and in this episode, she breaks down how easy creating a successful evergreen funnel can be, even when it goes against conventional wisdom.

Mariah Coz has been creating and selling online courses, building webinars, and crafting funnels for years. In that time, her company has helped hundreds of people create and sell courses about everything from watercolor painting, programming, decluttering, football, and everything in between.

She is a veteran course creator and creates high-converting webinars, funnels, and launches for herself and her clients using cutting-edge strategies that no one else is teaching.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why it’s “mean to not go evergreen,” for your customers and for you
How your evergreen funnel fuels your live launches
Three things that might be holding you back from building an evergreen funnel
Two ways to effectively create urgency without being sleazy
One simple thing to put on your webinar landing page that will increase sales

Learn more about Mariah Coz:

Mariahcoz.com
Free Evergreen Sales Funnel Masterclass
Accelerator Application
Instagram: @mariahpcoz
YouTube

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Welcome to Episode 100!

For this milestone episode, I thought it would be fitting to share some of the things that I’ve learned over the course of the last hundred episodes.

I took on this project with some knowledge and strategy, and I’d been creating content on the internet for years, but I still had a lot to learn. So today, I’m going to share the top three things I’ve learned over the last two years of running the podcast.

And I’ll be joined by Tara McMullin, my friend and one of the producers of this show. Tara is a podcasting pro and has the inside story of what’s happening in podcasting, what’s changed in the last two years, and strategies for running a successful podcast today.

Tara McMullin is a coach, community builder, podcaster, producer, and writer. She’s the founder of What Works, a digital platform for small business owners who are building strong, resilient, and sustainable companies. She’s also the co-founder of YellowHouse.Media, a podcast production agency that helps entrepreneurs create standout podcasts that grow their businesses. Tara’s podcast, What Works, has been downloaded over 2 million times and boasts over 300 interviews with thriving small business owners.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why your podcast shouldn’t be your primary visibility strategy, but it can establish you as an expert
How COVID leveled the production playing field between big studios and indie podcasts
Why limited series are on the rise and pros and cons of making and marketing them for your podcast
Why your “new episode” social media post isn’t working

Learn more about Tara McMullin:

What Works
The What Works Podcast
Instagram: @tara_mcmullin
YellowHouse.Media

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

If you want to turn your side-hustle into your full-time gig, you need two things: products and customers.

Of course, it’s not actually that simple.

There are a lot of variables depending on the kind of business you want to run, and a lot of ways for things to go wrong.

So today, I’m sharing the real secret to turning your side-thing into your main thing so you can have a steady, predictable income from your business.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The systems you need to have in place for steady income
Why starting a business is more than setting up shop with a website and a tax filing

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

There are plenty of great reasons to want to increase your prices, and I’m guessing you’ve thought of a few of them.

There are also plenty of concerns you might have about the process.

If those concerns are holding you back, this is the episode for you.

We’ll talk about reasons to raise your prices, why you haven’t done it yet, and I’ll share the secret to confidently raising your prices and executing the changes in your business.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to balance raising your prices with a possible loss in overall sales
Practical concerns around raising your prices, and one that might be all in your head
3 case studies to help you consider your pricing strategy
The real secret to confidently raising your prices

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
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The majority of the time, I run my online business from my desktop computer and when I’m traveling, I’ll use my laptop.

Working from my phone isn’t my preferred way to do it. I’d much rather be at my desk in a focused environment, but sometimes there’s no avoiding it.

Being able to use my phone also gives me additional freedom and flexibility to bring my office with me when I need to.

Today, I’m sharing five apps that make it much easier to run my business from my phone.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

My favorite app to keep work messaging separate and organized
The project management app my team and I use to stay on top of tasks
How we create our Instagram stories
How I update YouTube on the fly
My three favorite tools in G Suite

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
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You can watch a video or read a blog post about how to make money online and think, well, that looks easy.

But you’re almost never getting the whole picture.

What you see in those videos and blog posts is a snapshot, usually of all the things that went right, not everything that went wrong before it started to get better.

You won’t see all of the potential hazards and challenges that come with those business models because you’re not being given the full breadth of the real-world experience of running that business and what it took to make it a success.

So today, I’m talking to online business’s self-labeled Crash Test Dummy, Pat Flynn.

Pat has tested out so many different ways to make money online, and he’s going to let me pick his brain and do a deep dive about what worked, what flopped, and how profitable they really were.

Pat Flynn is a father, husband, and entrepreneur who lives and works in San Diego, CA. He owns several successful online businesses and is a professional blogger, keynote speaker, Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and host of the Smart Passive Income and AskPat podcasts, which have earned a combined total of over 65 million downloads, multiple awards, and features in publications such as The New York Times and Forbes. He is also an advisor to ConvertKit, LeadPages, Teachable, and other companies in the digital marketing arena.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why asking what model you should start with is the wrong question, and the questions you should be asking instead
How his audience informed Pat’s initial venture into online business
Why you should think of affiliate marketing and sponsorships as providing a service to your audience
How books and speaking can support your brand and create income
The business models that have the highest ROI and profit margins for Pat

Learn more about Pat:

Smart Passive Income
Smart Passive Income Podcast
Ask Pat Podcast
Instagram: @PatFlynn
Twitter: @PatFlynn
Will It Fly? How to test your next business idea so you don’t waste your time and money

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
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Profit Planning Challenge
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Business owners are always hearing and talking about growth and scale.You want your business to succeed and make money, which means doing more business, right?

But you’ll probably have to make some major changes or pivots along the way to make growth sustainable.

Today’s guest has gone through those major pivots and changes as her business has grown. She’s even gone through several iterations of her business model to land where she is now.

Hannah Murphy is a productivity strategist and owner of With Hannah & Co. She helps entrepreneurs create a profit-focused schedule that eliminates unnecessary task switching, long nights and never-ending to-do lists.

Having been through the long hours, seven days a week trying to grow her client list style of doing business,

Hannah realized she needed to rethink what a productive schedule looked like. Once she did, she was able to achieve the growth she was looking for and more.

I wanted to talk to her about the changes she’s made in her business, from starting as a virtual assistant to becoming a productivity strategist and what that means, and the motivations behind the pivots and phases of her business.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Hannah approached developing new skills and pitching her ideal clients
How a simple referral program grew her business from 3 to 27 clients in just a few months
Why prioritizing systems and recognizing her weak points helped Hannah make smart hiring choices
How her productivity coaching grew out of her existing clients and when she realized creating a course would help stave off burnout

Learn more about Hannah:

With Hannah & Co.
Instagram: @WithHannahAndCo

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
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You’ve got your messaging down, now it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty.

Part three of The Easiest Business Plan Ever breaks down your marketing strategy.

This is where you’ll get down to the fine details of your customer’s demographics and psychographics so you can figure out how you’ll get the word out about your business and how you’re going to tell people about your products so you can start making sales.

This is where you’ll really start generating that to-do list of action items to get your business up and running.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How overly wide demographics water down your message and hurt your sales
Questions to help you find the key psychographics your customers will have in common
Ways to estimate the size of your target market
How to build brand visibility
The two parts of your conversion strategy

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
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The Easiest Business Plan Ever

Resources:

Business Planning DEEP DIVE (Pt. 1)
Business Planning DEEP DIVE (Pt. 2)
FREE 6-Part Business Planning Video Series

Your business has a name, an address, a legal structure, and a clear description of what you do. What next?

Part two of The Easiest Business Plan Ever covers your marketing messaging.

This is where you take that clear, concise description of what your business does, and turn it into persuasive messaging that makes people want to work with you or buy from you.

Getting your marketing messaging down means you know who your customer is, what their problems are, and how your product or service solves those problems.

And that sets up your business for success.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Questions for getting clear on your customers’ problem and the result you offer
Why your customers need to really understand how your offering solves their problem
How the story of your company and why you do what you do strengthens your message
Key questions to differentiate yourself from the competition
How to turn your product or service into a system

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
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The Easiest Business Plan Ever

Creating a solid strategic plan for your business doesn’t have to be a long arduous process.

Four years ago, I created the Easiest Business Plan Ever and it’s since been downloaded by literally thousands of people.

But up until this point, I've never gone very deep with any one section of the plan, so starting today, that’s going to change.

I’ll be breaking down the business plan, section by section, step by step over the next three episodes to answer your questions about how to use the template to easily create a business plan and strategy that works for you.

We’re starting today with your business overview and all of the pieces you’ll need to have worked out from your business’s name to something called the chart of accountability.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Four things to keep in mind when naming your business
Why your business might need multiple addresses
Key considerations when choosing a legal structure
Questions to help you write a clear, concise description of your business and its mission
Why you should create your chart of accountability even if you’re a sole proprietor

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
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Profit Planning Challenge
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the Easiest Business Plan Ever

When you’re thinking about creating a digital product, there are a lot of decisions to make.

Should you create a course or a membership site?

Write a book or provide one-on-one coaching?

There are so many options, and each one has its own nuances, benefits and challenges.

Whatever product you decide to create, you’ll have to make choices about structure, pricing, marketing and more.

In this episode, I’m talking to Julie Solomon, CEO of EmpowerYou Inc, host of the Influencer Podcast and creator of SHINE.

Julie is an expert in digital marketing, PR, and personal branding and I wanted to talk to her about SHINE because it is so different from a lot of what we see online. I wanted to learn more about how she structured the program and what led her to some of the choices she made.

We’ll also dig into how she markets a premium program with a matching price tag, growth challenges and the pros and cons of running high-ticket programs.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The market challenges Julie designed her program to address
Why she pivoted away from a monthly membership model to a six-month commitment
How Julie attracts organic leads to her program with her podcast and social media
Why Julie settled on her price point, and why she hasn’t changed it even as she’s iterated other parts of the program

Learn more about Julie:

JulieSolomon.net
Instagram: @julssolomon
The Influencer Podcast
SHINE

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
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When you set up email marketing for your business, it can completely change the way you market your business overall. Being in someone’s inbox is a totally different game than showing up in their social media feed.

There are so many tools that email marketing opens up to you that allow you to get more personal and responsive with your email list than you could ever be with social media ads.

If you’ve been hesitating learning how to use email marketing for your business, today’s episode is for you.

We’ll cover everything from choosing the best software platform to setting up your opt-in forms and how to build your list.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The pros and cons of three free email marketing platforms you can use while you build your list
Why you might want to use a thank you page instead of a pop-up for new subscribers
How to create an enticing and valuable freebie for new sign-ups
How to promote your freebie to build your list

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
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Resources:

MailerLite
Sender
ConvertKit

So you’re thinking about starting a podcast.

Maybe you want to expand your audience, or maybe you want to build an audience and create authority to support your online business.

Both are great reasons to get into podcasting.

So what’s holding you back?

In today’s episode, Melissa Guller of Wit & Wire joins me to talk about strategies for starting and marketing a podcast, from the planning you need to do to marketing strategies.

And we’ll break down misconceptions about the charts, market saturation and why you don’t need a ton of equipment or technical know-how to hit record.

Melissa Guller is a course creator, podcast producer, and the CEO of Wit & Wire, where she helps online business owners build their authority and reach a wider audience through podcasting.

Bigger picture, Melissa loves to teach entrepreneurs. She’s a top-rated instructor on Skillshare and in person at General Assembly, and she previously worked full-time for Ramit Sethi and Teachable. She’s helped over 2,000 podcasting students through her Wit & Wire online courses, and she's on a mission to help more diverse business owners earn money online doing work they love.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Three reasons to start a podcast even if you don’t have a large following
How to use seasons as part of your marketing, to test content, or to give yourself a break
Why you need to be strategic about choosing your category and what charting means for your podcast
The difference between owned media and earned media and which one you should focus on for growth
How to pitch yourself as a guest on someone else’s podcast and invite guests to your own

Learn more about Melissa:

Wit & Wire
Instagram: @WitAndWire
Wit & Wire on Pinterest
Wit & Wire Podcast

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
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Resources:

The Best Podcast Microphones for Any Budget
FREE How to Launch a Podcast in 60 Days Without Feeling Overwhelmed

Email is not dead.

When you’re selling products online, you always need a few different tools in your marketing kit.

You’ll use advertising so people hear about your products in the first place. Then you’ll need some way to move those leads from lukewarm to interested in buying to paying customers.

And most businesses, from small local retailers to big-name brands, are still using email as a key part of their sales process.

And that's why I find it, especially ridiculous when people say that email is dead.

We’re all still using email. It’s a primary method of communication in general and it’s still a primary sales channel for most businesses.

Which is why today, we’re going to discuss how to launch a product with email.

We’ll get into the details on conversion rates, how to incorporate webinars and options for setting up your email sequence. Because no matter what your advertising strategy is to move people into your funnel, you’re going to need emails to convert those leads.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why webinars are especially helpful for smaller brands to boost conversions
Pros and cons of short and long launch sequences
The importance of the pre-launch period
10 emails that will increase your sales by 500%

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
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Resources:

Work Less, Earn More Ep 78: The Beginner’s Guide to Webinars Part One
Work Less, Earn More Ep 79: The Beginner’s Guide to Webinars Part Two

If you’re running an online business, at some point you’re going to have to build a funnel. And of course, you don’t want to spend your time and effort creating a funnel that doesn’t work.

Today, to get into the nitty-gritty, full-nerd details of building funnels that actually make you money, I’m joined by Christie Mims, founder of Coach Pony.

Christie has channeled the power of her niche into a million-dollar funnel and she is going to break down for us how she did it.

From boosting traffic to her website without spending a fortune on ads or the whole day on social media to the data you need to look at every day, Christie walks us through the process of how she got to her million-dollar funnel.

Christie Mims is the founder of Coach Pony, a community for new life coaches who want to build their business and client lists. She’s also a Forbes Top 100 Career Coach and the founder of The Revolutionary Club, a career coaching business that serves smart people who want to find their passion.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Common sense strategies to boost your visibility without chasing social media follows
How to use behavioral cues to create a “gentle” funnel
Why Christie uses a “less stick, more carrot” approach in her funnels
Why you should have a secondary sales cycle for folks who didn’t buy immediately
Christie’s top two tips for building a successful funnel

Learn more about Christie:

Coach Pony
Instagram: @christiecoachpony
Connect with Christie on LinkedIn
Coach Pony Podcast

Learn more about Gillian:

Startup Society
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Profit Planning Challenge
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Have you ever wanted to get a look at the nitty gritty details of a successful product launch?

Plenty of people will tell you how much money they made or an average of their open rate or the kinds of emails they sent to their leads, but today, we’re diving deep into the numbers on the recent launch of the Creator Fast Track.

The Creator Fast Track launch was one of our most successful launches to date, so we’re breaking it down for you, from warm leads to money in the bank, with what worked, what we wouldn’t do again, and the real numbers underneath it all.

To help me remember how it went down, I’m joined by my operations manager, Cortni Loveridge.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why “Sell with a Story” emails work
How scripting the entire webinar made a massive difference in sales and helped us set up an evergreen funnel
How back to back launches netted 50% more sales
Why you shouldn’t be afraid to align your webinar result with your product result
The email subject lines we used and tips for boosting your open rate

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Profit Planning Challenge
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We all know that video is a powerful tool to grow your brand and using video to effectively grow your sales is a specialty in and of itself, especially if you’re trying to bring in leads with organic video content.

Where should you post? How do you know your videos are being shown to people who would be interested in your business? What should your videos be about?

If you’re brand new to the idea of selling through a short video post, or if the very thought makes you uncomfortable, it can be tough to know where to start.

Kate Hore-Lacy is a master at using video as a tool in your business to make more sales. Like a lot of business owners, Kate had to make a big pivot in her sales strategies when COVID cancelled the live events where she would typically find many of her leads.

Thinking outside of her comfort zone and pushing past her resistance to doing video has paid off big in her business and today, she’ll share some of her strategies and tips for success with video as a sales tool.

Kate Hore-Lacy is a client attraction strategist and sales and mindset mentor. Values-driven service providers who struggle with sales hire her to claim their impact, get clients, get praised and get paid! She has addressed worldwide audiences through summits, videos and workshops to rave reviews and with over 33,000 followers of her daily videos, has recently been named a LinkedIn sales star.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How pivoting to video on a platform with less saturation helped Kate bring in sales when COVID caused her live events to be cancelled
Easy strategies for selecting video topics
Why your video description needs a hook too
How to catch and keep your audience’s attention
Why you don’t need to spend a ton of money on equipment to do video, and one relatively inexpensive thing that’s totally worth it

Learn more about Kate:

KateHoreLacy.com
Connect with Kate on LinkedIn

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
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Profit Planning Challenge
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Whenever you’re pursuing a goal, at some point you’ll want to give up. Making the distinction between frustration, boredom or distraction and it really being time to move on is hard and it can get emotional.

There are times when you’re frustrated and discouraged and things aren’t working, but you can change course and use a different strategy rather than giving up on the goal altogether.

There are times when you’re bored or unmotivated and a shiny new idea seems like a better path.

And there are times when you’ll realize that, for one reason or another, the goal you’ve been pursuing truly isn’t serving you.

So how do you make an informed, solid decision with all those feelings swirling around?

In the final episode of our series on perseverance, we are going to help you answer that question.

I’m joined again by Startup Success coach Gabe Cox. Gabe is a marathon runner, author of Mind Over Marathon, success coach, and homeschooling mom. She helps women use their passions to enhance their productivity and spiritual growth so they can go after their God-given goals.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why you can be working without doing the work
How validating your ideas can help you decide to change course or give up
How to tell if you’ve truly lost your passion
What to do with roadblocks, detours and other obstacles
When it really is just too hard to keep going

Learn more about Gabe:

Red Hot Mindset
Instagram: @gabecox_redhotmindset
Red Hot Mindset Podcast
Red Hot Mindset on YouTube
Mind Over Marathon: Overcoming Mental Barriers in the Race of Life

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Resources:

Work Less, Earn More Ep 80: How to Stick with Your Plan Until You Succeed with Gabe Cox
Work Less, Earn More Ep 81: Setting Yourself Up For Success From The Start with Gabe Cox
Work Less, Earn More Ep 82: Motivating Yourself When You’re Not Motivated with Gabe Cox
Work Less, Earn More Ep 83: 5 Things That Will DERAIL You From Achieving Your Goals with Gabe Cox

Far too often, we make the plans, we get started full of enthusiasm and excitement, but before long, we either lose motivation or something else actually gets in our way and we fall off the wagon.

This week, we’re focusing on the things that can derail you.

So often when we are thinking about achieving our goals, we think about tips for planning, for staying on track and staying motivated.

But sometimes things literally get in your way.

And they can be the reason why you don’t achieve your goals. It’s not that you didn’t have a good enough strategy or good enough plans, but maybe you didn’t think about–or didn’t even know about–potential obstacles that could derail you.

I’m joined again by Startup Success coach Gabe Cox. Gabe is a marathon runner, author of Mind Over Marathon, success coach, and homeschooling mom. She helps women use their passions to enhance their productivity and spiritual growth so they can go after their God-given goals.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Strategies for tackling fear of criticism and ways to help you remember positive feedback
How community and mentorship help you with the unknown and unforeseen obstacles
The mindset shifts you need to make around failure
The subtle ways fear of success can derail you
How the 80/20 rule can help you beat shiny object syndrome
How to handle distractions from social media to binge watching

Learn more about Gabe:

Red Hot Mindset
Instagram: @gabecox_redhotmindset
Red Hot Mindset Podcast
Red Hot Mindset on YouTube
Mind Over Marathon: Overcoming Mental Barriers in the Race of Life

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Resources:

Work Less, Earn More Ep 80: How to Stick with Your Plan Until You Succeed with Gabe Cox
Work Less, Earn More Ep 81: Setting Yourself Up For Success From The Start with Gabe Cox
Work Less, Earn More Ep 82: Motivating Yourself When You’re Not Motivated

How do you stay motivated?

Staying motivated is one of the things people think about the most when they think about achieving a goal.

How do you keep going when you’re having an off day or the hard work is taking the shine off your excitement?

Maybe you’ve lost some of the fire you had when you set the goal. Maybe there’s an unforeseen obstacle in your way.

In the third part of our series on perseverance, we're going to be talking about how to stay motivated.

People ask me about staying motivated all the time. But it’s more complicated than simple hacks. They're not going to be enough to have perseverance and to get the results, but motivation is an important piece of the puzzle.

I’m joined again by Startup Success coach Gabe Cox. Gabe is a marathon runner, author of Mind Over Marathon, success coach, and homeschooling mom. Gabe is a powerhouse woman and someone who has really become an expert on persevering through and achieving your goals.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Ways to keep your “why” visually in front of you to help you keep going
Why you should ask yourself if “not feeling it” is a warranted feeling
How to effectively use rewards for hitting milestones, large or small
Why having an accountability partner can be about more than hitting deadlines

Learn more about Gabe:

Red Hot Mindset
Instagram: @gabecox_redhotmindset
Red Hot Mindset Podcast
Red Hot Mindset on YouTube
Mind Over Marathon: Overcoming Mental Barriers in the Race of Life

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Resources:

Work Less, Earn More Ep 80: How to Stick with Your Plan Until You Succeed with Gabe Cox
Work Less, Earn More Ep 81: Setting Yourself Up For Success From The Start with Gabe Cox
YouTube: the SCIENCE of Manifestation and the Law of Attraction
One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way, Robert Maurer

You know what your goal is. You know it will take perseverance to get there. Now what?

What strategies can you put in place for when you want to give up? What small wins can you put in your path?

Today we’re going to talk about how to set yourself up for success from the start.

We’ll share strategies to put into place before you even get into the work of the tasks that will lead you to your goal.

When you’re inspired and excited about your goal and in the planning phases is the perfect time to put these strategies into play, before you get bogged down in the day to day and long before you wonder if you should quit.

I’m joined again by Startup Success coach Gabe Cox. Gabe is a marathon runner, author of Mind Over Marathon, success coach, and homeschooling mom. She has so much to share with us on the topic of perseverance.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to find the why that will keep you going through the last six miles of your marathon
Why you need to have a long-term vision, but give yourself smaller goals with more predictable outcomes along the way
How to use your vision to craft and support your short-term projects
Why smaller goals can help you course correct faster when things aren’t going as planned
How to write an action plan that works for you

Learn more about Gabe:

Red Hot Mindset
Instagram: @gabecox_redhotmindset
Red Hot Mindset Podcast
Red Hot Mindset on YouTube
Mind Over Marathon: Overcoming Mental Barriers in the Race of Life

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Resources:

Work Less, Earn More Ep 80: How to Persevere and Stick with Your Plans Until You're Successful with Gabe Cox
Work Less, Earn More Ep 57: A 7-Figure Course Business...And the Surprising Strategy that Built It with Chandler Bolt

We all know how volatile the economy has been in the last year or so. And it might get much worse before it gets better.

With so much unpredictability, it can be easy to blame our circumstances when we don’t succeed.

But one thing that I know for sure is that we are not victims of our circumstances. I firmly believe that we develop our character, expand our capacity and learn invaluable lessons by working through challenges rather than letting them stop us.

Your business will inevitably encounter a crisis at some point, whether it’s a major market shift, a global pandemic or a personal crisis with your health or family.

Today I'm looking forward to talking to John Meese about what he's discovered about what it takes to build a thriving business in any economy.

John is an economist-turned-entrepreneur on a personal mission to eradicate generational poverty by helping entrepreneurs create thriving businesses which is why he wrote Survive and Thrive: How to Build a Profitable Business in Any Economy (Including This One).

John is CEO of Cowork.Inc, Co-founder of Notable, and host of the Thrive School podcast.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How the economy moves in cycles of stability and crisis, so you can look to the horizon
Why having a thriving business is more than just being profitable
Why you need to focus on the real people and the real problems you solve for them, not your ideal client avatar
Five growth models for your business, and why you only need to focus on one of them
The three core products your business needs

Learn more about John:

JohnMeese.com
Survive and Thrive: How to Build a Profitable Business in Any Economy (Including This One)
Connect with John on LinkedIn
Thrive School Podcast

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Resources:

Survive and Thrive Playbook
Ray Edwards’ OPEN Buyer Awareness Scale

Results take time.

We know that it takes perseverance to see our ideas and plans through. But when success still seems far off in the distance, or a newer, shinier idea pops into your head, what do you do?

And how do you know when it really is time to throw in the towel?

It’s rare that success happens on day one. Or even on day 50. By day 100 you might be seeing some real progress, but even then you probably won’t have made it to the finish line.

So, what to do when new ideas come? Is the new idea really better or is it a distraction from the hard parts in between the idea and the finish line?

Deciding when to stick it out and when it’s time to move on are questions of perseverance, commitment, and discernment. And it’s exactly what Startup Success coach Gabe Cox specializes in.

Gabe is a marathon runner, author of Mind Over Marathon, success coach, and homeschooling mom. And she knows a thing or two about seeing plans through to completion.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Two types of goals and the challenges they present to perseverance
The benefits of perseverance, not just to your business but to your life and personal growth
How perseverance and discipline are recurring choices, not immutable traits
How knowing your “why” on a deep level helps you stay the course
How to get honest with yourself about the real consequences of not persevering

Learn more about Gabe:

Red Hot Mindset
Instagram: @gabecox_redhotmindset
Red Hot Mindset Podcast
Red Hot Mindset on YouTube
Mind Over Marathon: Overcoming Mental Barriers in the Race of Life

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Webinars are an incredible sales tool.

They let you build relationships with your audience and convert lots of sales in a way that is still aligned with you and your values. It doesn’t have to be sleazy or salesy to work.

But you knew all that from last week’s episode. Or if you didn’t, definitely go check that out.

Now that we know how effective webinars can be and the basics of setting up your first or next webinar, we’re going to talk about webinar content.

What exactly should you say in your webinars? What should you teach?

How can you organize the information that you're teaching?

And most importantly, how can you wrap your webinar up with an effective sales pitch that will actually convert a large percentage of your attendees into buyers?

Plus, we’ll cover some tips so you can avoid common beginners’ mistakes and start seeing success from your very first webinar, from how long it should be and how many slides you should have to the importance of rehearsing your presentation and whether or not you should have your camera on.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The four main components of your webinar structure, plus three elements you can add on
How to walk your audience through your process or product in a way that builds trust and leaves them wanting more
Six components for a successful sales pitch
Why your webinar should promise a result that is in alignment with your full offer
Why you need to be clear on your goal for your webinar, and four goals you can use webinars to achieve

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Webinars consistently convert at a rate of 10 times the rate of email.

What is it that makes them such a powerful sales tool?

You’ve probably been to at least a few yourself, especially in this age of busy-ness and occasional quarantine.

They can be amazing–full of awesome, helpful, free training! Or in the wrong hands, they can be terrible, super-sleazy sales pitches. Maybe you’ve seen some from both ends of that spectrum.

Some business owners have even decided they want nothing to do with them because they’ve been tainted by sleaze.

But there’s no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just because some people misuse webinars and do them badly doesn’t mean that webinars themselves are corrupt. And they are still incredibly effective sales tools.

Done well, a webinar should be a positive experience for you and your audience. You can share a lot of value and strengthen your relationship with them. When you do get to the sales pitch, it’s a logical and welcome next step for your viewers because they want more of what you’re offering.

In other words, you want to knock their socks off with your free content so that they’re eager to pay you for more!

With the right balance of information, relationship-building and a taste of the paid product–no sleaze!–you can harness webinars to grow your business.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Three key reasons why webinars work
Questions to help you clarify your offer so you get the right people in your webinar
Six steps to take your webinar from zero to follow-up emails
Why you should focus on building your list ahead of a webinar instead of relying on ads

Learn more about Gillian:

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Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE
Profit Planning Challenge
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Resources:

Canva

As entrepreneurs, we’re in the business of creating value and trading it with others.

Which is to say, the main business of running a business is selling products. That’s how you engage in trade, serve your customers, and earn a livelihood..

But the business of trading–that is, selling–can seem like a mystery. What should we sell? How can we market our products? And at the end of the day, how can we convince people to buy them?

It turns out that making sales is much less about “convincing people to buy” and much more about explaining the benefits of your product and finding a mutually agreeable price. You have to find the point at which the price is equal to, or less than, the customer’s perceived value of the product.

It’s an equation that takes the mystery out of the process, and makes it much less emotionally charged.

So how do you apply it to your business?

This month on the podcast, we’re looking at four different aspects of launching products online, one of the most common ways digital entrepreneurs, like you, sell their goods to the public.

In today’s episode, we’ll be discussing launch math, the science of calculating the potential results of your launch long before you ever run your first ad, send your first email, or even, possibly, create your product.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How launch math helps you set realistic expectations and can even save you from making a major investment of time or money on a product that you haven’t validated
How to use launch math to create realistic goals for your launch, separate from expectations
The variables you’ll need to know for each launch
Conversion coefficients and where those numbers come from

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The math:

Conversion coefficients:

Email sales conversion: 0.1% - 2% (average: 0.5%)
- Free offers typically convert at 2-10X these rates
Webinar showup rate: 30%
Webinar conversion: 1% - 20% (average: 5%)
Direct sales: 10% - 50%If you’re launching to <1,000 people, then prioritize direct selling over mass-selling tactics.

Equations:

[launch list] x 0.02 = webinar registrants

[webinar registrants] x 0.30 = webinar attendees

[launch list] x 0.005 = email sales

[webinar attendees] x 0.05 = webinar sales

[personally engaged leads] x 0.20 = direct sales

[sales] x price = total revenue

[sales] x cost = total cost

[total revenue] - [total costs] = net profits

With the events of 2020 behind us, more people than ever before are taking the leap to work for themselves.

There are a lot of potential upsides. A flexible schedule. Freedom of choice in who you work with and what you work on. Security. And of course, no limit on your potential earnings.

But most people are also painfully aware of the challenges of getting started.

Is your personality a good fit for freelance work? What business should you start? Will anyone even want to hire you? And how can you find your first client?

To help you answer those questions and more, today on the podcast I’m bringing you Jay Clouse.

Jay is the founder of Freelancing School and the Unreal Collective, and his speciality is helping people make that transition from creative-stuck-in-a-day-job to freelancer, then from freelancer to CEO.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Jay’s career evolved from startup cofounder to product management to freelance service provider and beyond
A mindset shift around work, employment and compensation that will expand how you think about contract work
The relationship of leadership, expectation setting, expertise and pricing
Steps for building your freelance portfolio

Learn more about Jay Clouse:

JayClouse.com
Freelancing School 20% Off!
Instagram: @JayClouse
Twitter: @JayClouse
Creative Elements

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Resources:

Gillian Perkins on YouTube
Business Plan Template

Most of us wouldn’t consider setting out on a trip without a map.

Sure, if you start driving without a map, you might have a fun, interesting experience, but you’re probably not going to be able to get to a specific destination.

If making it to your particular destination is important to you, you start your trip by pulling up Google maps and plugging in that address.

But it is amazing how many people think that they can get to their destination without a map when it comes to starting a business.

They have a general idea of what business they want to start or what product they want to sell, but they don't take the time to come up with a plan for how they're going to build a particular business.

In fact, a lot of people don't even know exactly what they're trying to build.

Building a business without a plan can still potentially be a fun and interesting experience, but it can also potentially be a big waste of time.

Today, I’m going to talk you through exactly how to quickly and easily write a business plan to ensure that you have a solid road map for how you’re going to build your business and where you’re trying to take the company, so you can avoid wasting your time, energy and maybe a whole lot of money along the way.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Six essential sections for your business plan
The elements you need to consider for your messaging, marketing, products, and production and delivery
How to plan and break down your financial goals, even before you’re made your first sale

Learn more about Gillian:

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Resources:

Gillian Perkins on YouTube
Business Plan Template

Despite my best intentions, the day-to-day operations of my business don’t always come naturally to me.

Back when I was a solo-preneur, there were days when I was full of ideas and passionate about pursuing them. On those days, daily operations seemed less important than making big, important moves to grow my business.

Then on the days when I wasn’t even feeling very motivated or excited about my big ideas, boring day-to-day tasks were the last thing I wanted to do.

Long story short, the housekeeping just wasn’t getting done.

While I was struggling with balancing the day-to-day with my big ideas, I read Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark C Winters. They identify two kinds of leaders: Visionaries and Integrators. Visionaries are the big picture, big ideas people. Integrators are the ones who make sure it actually happens, holding projects and teams together through big projects.

Realizing that I’m wired for the big picture and not so much the daily nitty-gritty also made me realize exactly the kind of person I needed to partner with to move my business forward.

I got lucky and found the perfect person in Cortni Loveridge, and she’s enabled us to do so much. But how do you find the Integrator to your Visionary?

Or if you’re an Integrator, how do you use those skills and find your Visionary partner?

Today’s guest expert is Sarah Noked, certified Online Business Manager (OBM) trainer. Sarah teaches people how to become OBMs, who are essentially Integrators, trained to manage the operations of online businesses remotely.

Sarah will be sharing with us all about how to decide whether you should become an OBM or hire an OBM to work for you.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to know when and if your business is ready for an OBM
Why Virtual Assistant and OBM are not the same role
Personality types and traits that make great OBMs
What you need to get started as an OBM
How to find and hire an OBM for your business, and what you need to do to prepare

Learn more about Sarah Noked:

SarahNoked.com
Instagram: @sarahnoked
Facebook: @sarahnoked

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Resources:

Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business, Gino Wickman and Mark C Winters
OBM Starter Kit
Standard Operating Procedure Templates

This is the story of how I successfully launched a profitable product online.

But this story was preceded by almost 3 years of trying unsuccessfully to launch an online business, and before that, about 7 years of trying to figure out what I even wanted to start.

I was 6 months into my YouTube journey, and my channel had grown to about 15,000 subscribers. I was earning just enough from ad revenue and freelancing that I'd been able to finally quit my day-job. Though, to be honest, we were still barely scraping by and mostly living off of savings.

The time had come to try to launch a digital product to — hopefully! — create a stream of passive income.

The only problem? I'd already tried to launch three digital products, and none of them had been successful.

In Episode 2, I talked about the mistakes I made trying to do a big launch of a project I didn’t know if people even wanted.

So what did I do differently that finally moved the needle and started generating sales?

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why choosing to offer the workshop at a low price eliminated a key variable, but why it’s a choice to be used strategically and sparingly
How using the same format with different topics clarified what people were interested in learning about
How those quick and dirty live workshops became valuable assets
Why focusing on the process instead of a sales goal can be the mindset shift you need

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Not. One. Single. Sale.

After spending almost two months creating an online course, writing launch emails, and even putting together a webinar, I ended up making ZERO sales.

So what happened?

In episode two of $0 to $1M, I'll be sharing my mistakes so that YOU can avoid them with your next launch and get much better results than I did.

It was 2016 and I was ready to launch my online business. I had finally discovered what I was most passionate about—what I really wanted to "be when I grew up"–and I was ready to step into this new career.

Over the previous several months, I'd built a list of 1,000 subscribers for another business venture, and now that I'd started my digital marketing business list, that was quickly growing as well.

I wanted to turn my knowledge into a source of income, and creating an online course about list-building seemed like a great way to do that.

So, I planned, recorded and edited video lessons, created worksheets, wrote launch emails, planned a webinar. I was putting everything I'd learned over the past 2 years about digital marketing into practice!

Problematic symptoms started showing up early, but I had a lot of faith in the process. I was holding out hope for the promised six-figure launch!

14 people signed up for my webinar. None of them showed up.

Needless to say, I didn't make many sales.

In fact, by the end of the whole "launch," not a single person had purchased

What went wrong?

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why you have to know that people want your product and why they want it–you have to validate it
Three essential puzzle pieces you need to sell products and how to balance them
The launch math you need to know on sales tactics and conversion rates
Mindset adjustments and tips to take failure out of your launch

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
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Get on the waitlist for VALIDATE

I expected that growing my business would be a lot of hard work, tough decisions, and at least a few late nights. But what has surprised me the most is what a journey of personal growth it's turned out to be.

In fact, I'd go as far as saying that the lessons I've learned from my entrepreneurial failures have been as valuable as the rewards I've received from the successes.

And in this new series, $0 to $1M, I'm sharing those lessons with YOU.

This first season of three episodes focuses on lessons I learned while struggling to earn my first $1,000.

It took me over three years to earn that first thousand dollars. Partly getting momentum from $0 is tough and partly, well, I did everything wrong.

But, like I said, every mistake I made taught me something, and made me a better, more successful entrepreneur today.

I'm what people like to call a "multi-passionate entrepreneur." Which is a cute way of saying: I have way too many ideas and I'm not very good at sticking to any of them.

But entrepreneurship is a long game; building a business takes continued effort, consistency, and patience.

So how did I find a way to settle down and focus on one thing? In this episode, I'm sharing the story of how I went from a wannabe with a bad case of "entrepreneurial ADD" to a successful, focused business owner.

My hope is that, by sharing my story, you'll find some inspiration and ideas for how you might be able to overcome this challenge yourself — whether to make that initial decision to choose your niche and decide what business to start, OR to refine your business to focus more on one area of specialty.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why it is okay to quit when something is truly no longer working for you
How the freedom to explore any topic, with the structure of committing to a regular posting schedule allowed her to find her focus naturally
Why you should invest energy before money
Concrete action steps for when you’re struggling with too many options or ideas

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If you’re not playing the game, you’re not going to win the game.

Experimenting with new platforms, new tools and new strategies is part of the game, but throwing content at a wall like spaghetti isn’t playing the game to win. A winning social sales strategy takes commitment and consistency.

Approaching your social sales strategy like a science experiment might sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. You just have to know what your basic hypothesis is so you can analyze the metrics when you’re done.

I am joined today by Jessica Stansberry. Jessica is a longtime friend and powerhouse content creator.

Jessica is the owner and founder of Hey Jessica LLC. She helps rockstar entrepreneurs and content creators use video and content creation to grow their brand and show up as an expert. She throws down booty-kicking advice on her weekly podcast, Hey Jessica Radio, on her YouTube channel, and blog and shows up every day on Instagram to make sure the tips never stop coming.

I'm super excited to have her on the show to share some of those tips with us and give us some behind the scenes, insider info on her social media strategy.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Jessica structures her various content platforms and social media in her funnel, and why
Why you should repurpose topics, but not content across platforms
Why Jessica committed to using Reels on Instagram as part of her discoverability strategy, and how she uses other Instagram tools to nurture new follows
How she mixes planned content with off-the-cuff observations, and where those posts go

Learn more about Jessica Stansberry:

Hey Jessica
Facebook: @heyjessicallc
Instagram: @jessicastansberry
Hey Jessica Podcast
Jessica on YouTube

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Does your brand express your point of view? Or does it just tell people what you do?

If you want to position yourself as the go-to person in your industry–to become a brand people look up to, that they know, like and trust–you have to know what makes you different from everyone else doing the exact same thing you do.

Your personality, your skills, your history, your world view, those are the things that no one else has that will make you the person everyone suggests when someone needs to hire in your industry.

Today, I’m talking to Hillary Weiss about what it takes to go from thinking there’s not much special about how you do things, to building your brand on your unique approach.

Hillary Weiss is the creative director, positioning coach, and founder of Statement Piece Studios. She's also the cohost of the cult favorite YouTube marketing talk show Hillary and Margo Yell at Websites (#HAMYAW).

Hillary has had her work featured on Business Insider, The Next Web, The Observer, and more. Since 2011, she’s helped thousands of brands all over the world get seen and heard (and make serious cash) through her 1-1 client work, writing, coaching, and videos.

Nowadays, she’s on a mission to help more small businesses define their “statement piece”, a.k.a. the bold point of view that makes them radically relevant to their perfect people.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why your business and your brand are not the same thing
Why starting with “nah” can unleash creative energy that refines your point of view and leads to perfect fit clients
How getting vulnerable will make your positioning stronger
Five practical steps to begin refining and building your unique position

Learn more about Hillary Weiss:

HillaryWeiss.com
Instagram: @hcweiss
Twitter: @hcweiss
Hillary and Margo Yell at Websites
Statement Piece Framework

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Set them up once and let them work for you.

To be able to work less and earn more, you have to figure out how to leverage your time–how to do things once that have an ongoing impact.

Sounds like passive income, right? It is. A work-less, earn-more business is one that creates not only ACTIVE income, but passive income as well.

With an online business, without the demands of brick and mortar, you can set up systems to increase your income without having to increase your hours.

How?

Making more money and scaling your company largely depend on your marketing efforts. Those are the systems designed to attract leads and convert them into paying customers. Those are the systems that generate sales.

While marketing platforms and strategies are as diverse as the businesses that use them, email can be one of the most effective ways of taking people from not knowing your company to becoming full-fledged, enthusiastic customers.

In today's episode, we'll be discussing five of the most powerful email marketing sequences to use to increase sales for your online business.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The five functions an automated email sequence can accomplish for your business
Using sequence triggers effectively to reach leads at different points in the sales process
Why you should clean your list, when to do it, and how to use tidying up to re-engage subscribers
Why you should keep segments simple, if you use them at all

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Resources:

Work Less, Earn More Episode 67: How to Write and Email Welcome Sequence
Work Less, Earn More Episode 69: STOP! Don't Automate Another Thing Until You Listen To This
ConvertKit

How much time do you spend on Instagram?

How much work does it take to really get results?

I see the appeal of Instagram. And I see when I do get involved and spend time on, how much engagement I can create. I love how it allows me to talk to my audience and really start to create conversations, but it’s hard to fit into my limited schedule.

Today, I’m asking Jasmine Star how much time she really spends on Instagram and other social media platforms, why it’s worth it to her, and what are her secrets for making the biggest impact in a relatively limited amount of time.

Jasmine Star is a photographer and business strategist who dropped out of law school and became an internationally recognized creative entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of Social Curator and host of the Jasmine Star Show.

Jasmine empowers entrepreneurs to build their brand, market on social media and use it to create a life that they love. She’s been featured in Forbes Entrepreneur and Inc. Magazine.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How batching content helps Jasmine use multiple social platforms effectively to spread brand awareness
Why you should treat your social posts like a physical storefront and greet your customers
Where she sees the future of monetization for creators on social platforms
Why the most important thing is still to do what you can, how you can

Learn more about Jasmine Star:

JasmineStar.com
Social Curator
The Jasmine Star Show
Instagram: @jasminestar @socialcurator

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Automation saves time, and can help you earn more, but it can also cost you money.

In this amazing digital age we live in, most of us are aware that we can have machines, computers, and software programs do a lot of work for us. And for entrepreneurs, who are trying to build successful businesses, that “free” labor is pretty appealing.

So, we automate. We look for things that can be done the same way each and every time, and we set up a machine system to do those tasks for us.

But sometimes, the soul of the process is lost when we attempt to create an automated process.

What happens when we lose the human touch?

What gets missed when we trade intentional, strategic decision-making and communication for automated processes?

Today, I’ll be talking about the pitfalls of automating too soon and of automating too many of your processes. You’ll hear about the mistakes I made early on in my business and about processes that seem ripe for automation, and what can go wrong when you do it too soon.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Conversion statistics that will make you think twice about automating your sales process
Why content creation, audience interaction and customer service are key to supporting your dedicated sales process
What tasks you should automate before you even think about sales automation
How thoughtful delegation can be automation with a human touch

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Confession: Lately, I’ve been feeling BUSY.

Not exactly on-brand, right? After all, I’ve built my business on the platform of working LESS -- 20 hours per week or less, to be exact.

Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m still on that track. Not that I can really take credit for that; between 4 kids, homeschooling, housekeeping, a little (tiny) bit of exercise, and just trying to keep everyone fed… I never have more than about 4 hours a day to work.

But that doesn’t stop me from writing a longer to-do list. And then having an anxiety attack because I’m feeling overwhelmed and behind.

yesimhumantoo

I’ve been taking steps to improve this situation -- starting with just getting real with myself about how much time I actually have available to work each day, and ruthlessly chopping down my to-do list to fit.

But with a marketing-centric, digital content business like I run, there’s only so much I can delegate, outsource, and automate. At the end of the day, it’s my face on everything and I have to show up to talk to the camera, record the courses, and write the words.

So, when Andréa Jones was suggested as a potential guest on the show, I jumped at the chance to talk to her!

Andréa is a social media strategist who specializes in how to get results with less effort – girl after my own heart! – and the host of the Savvy Social Podcast.

I invited her onto the show because, not only is she an expert at using social media strategies to grow online business and impact the world, but she does so with a focus on simple strategies that give the biggest results with the least effort

She has some really counter-intuitive strategies… including posting LESS for more impact.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What's the first thing an online business owner should consider when it comes to creating a simple, yet effective social media strategy
The best tips for creating a social media strategy that gets the biggest "bang for your buck"
Some common roadblocks to creating share-worthy social media content
And what to do if you truly don't enjoy creating content for social media (but you know you need to in order to grow your business).

Learn more about Andréa Jones:

OnlineDrea
Savvy Social Podcast
Instagram @onlinedrea
Facebook @onlinedrea
Twitter @onlinedrea

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I don't think I was 5 minutes into learning about online business before I started hearing how important it was to "grow your list."

It seemed like everyone was talking about how important it was to collect email addresses, and how valuable of an asset a big list is.

So, naturally, I got to work.

Only to find out how difficult it is to "grow your list."

After I'd signed up my husband, school friends, and a few random people I'd met in FB groups, I hit a wall. It was literal years before I started seeing real progress.

And you know what made this even more frustrating? The people who DID join my list didn't buy anything.

So there I was, working my tail off to try to "grow my list," spending real money on my email marketing software, and not seeing any real returns.

What was I doing wrong??

Almost everything, it turned out.

And, starting with the very first thing: the first impression people got after signing up for my newsletter.

In today's episode, I'll be explaining how YOU can write an email welcome sequence that will make a great first impression, start building a strong relationship with your new subscribers, and lead them to purchase your product.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to create an email welcome sequence — a series of emails that gets sent to each new subscriber right after they sign up
The basic schedule to use for these emails
What to say in each of these emails
And answers to some common questions about email welcome sequences

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Do you follow anyone online who seems to be 100% unashamedly THEMSELF and everyone seems to love them?

It kinda makes you wonder (or at least, it makes me wonder): is this person just unusually charismatic -- and they know it -- or can anyone be that attractive if they’re that confident?

Margo Aaron falls into this category for me. I stumbled upon her work about a year ago and felt like everything she wrote hit a chord with my soul.

Needless to say, I subscribed immediately. And have read nearly everything she’s sent me since.

Now, I’ve got some questions for Margo. Like…

Does she somehow know that what she’s writing will hit home?
Is she really as “authentic” as she seems? …or is it all a carefully planned marketing effort?
What’s her best advice for being “yourself” and also writing words that other people will love? (And for all of us entrepreneurs… words that sell our products?)

Basically, what I want to know is: how can we both be ourselves AND be popular?

If that’s possible, then today we’re going to find out, because I convinced Margo to come on the podcast and let me interrogate interview her.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why the best copy doesn't come from your imagination, it comes from talking to people
How Margo uses boundaries to show up authentically as herself in EVERYTHING she does
Why marketing and selling is simply the art and science of getting people to care
How Margo uses data to draw conclusions about what she should create
Margo’s best advice if you don't have an audience to listen to

Learn more about Margo Aaron:

www.margocarroll.com
Follow Margo on Instagram

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Episode Mentions

David Ogilvy

What’s the best thing for you to work on right now to move your business forward?

Well, to answer that question, start with this one: What stage of growth is your business in?

Confused? You’re not alone.

Quite possibly, you don’t know, because… nobody told you what your options are. Nobody broke down the stages of growth and gave you the big-picture for building a successful business.

Not your fault at all, but worth changing! Understanding where your business is in its growth makes it easy to know what your top priority (AKA the work that will actually move the needle) should be.

This week, on the podcast, I interviewed business designer Michelle Warner. Michelle has an MBA from a top business school, and years of practical experience working with small business owners to strategically grow their companies.

In the episode, Michelle walks us through the 5 stages of small business growth (don’t worry, they’re easily understandable!), how to know which one YOU are in right now, and what that means you should focus on to GROW fast and strong.

She also shares exactly what you need to do to move forward to the next stage from where you’re at right now.

If you want to get clarity on exactly what you should be working on right now to build your business, then this episode is a must-listen.

This interview is an eye-opener for sure. Don’t miss it!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to figure out what you should work on next that will make the biggest impact on your business
The five stages of growth in business and how to define them
What stage the most significant part of initial product development happens
How to know when you’re ready to move out of one stage and into the next
When you might need to go back a stage (and what to look for)

Learn more about Michelle Warner:

themichellewarner.com
Instagram @michelle.warner

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It's tough to explain something if you don't really understand it yourself.

I'm sure you wouldn't try to teach someone how to rewire their computer, bake the perfect soufflé, or correctly identify a genuine Picasso... unless you happen to have the necessary knowledge. :)

But that doesn't seem to stop anyone from trying to explain why someone should purchase a particular product... even if they have no idea why.

Who are these people? Entrepreneurs like us! We have great ideas and products that we want to share with the world.

So... we ask people to buy them and try to explain reasons they should.

But, too often, those reasons seriously miss the mark.

How can we solve this problem? How can we explain our product in a way that makes sense and helps people understand what it can do for them?

That’s what you’ll learn from today’s podcast!

My guest this week is Dallin Nead, a visionary marketer, brand builder, and messaging expert who has taught thousands how to grow their businesses using the Content Supply™ method.

And now, he's sharing that method with us.

In the episode, you'll learn how to create a simple brand story that helps people understand exactly WHY they should buy your product.

And that's the #1 thing that will increase your sales.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What exactly a brand story is and why we need one
How a brand story helps us market our businesses
A simple way to create a brand message that you can use no matter who you’re talking to (and why starting with the end in mind is key)

Learn more about Dallin Nead:

contentsupply.com
Follow Dallin on Instagram

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“This is it. I’ve figured it out. I know exactly what I need to do now,” I told my husband one day in the fall of 2016.

I’d just returned from a women’s business conference in San Diego. It was the first “big” event I’d attended, and I’d learned a lot.

Including, as it happened, the “missing piece” I needed to finally start making money with my online business.

My puzzle seemed so complete, in fact, that for the next few weeks I struggled to feel motivated to work on my business at all. There was no more mystery to it. No more curiosity driving me forward.

Once I got over that, though, I took my business from earning $0 to over $10K/month in just 18 months.

Sometimes there really are secrets to success…

In this week’s podcast episode, I teach YOU this missing puzzle piece: what it was, why it mattered so much, and how I found and fitted it into my business puzzle to get the results I did.

If you’re wondering why you’re struggling to grow and get the results you’re looking for, this episode is for you.

Hope this lesson has as much impact on YOU as it did on me a few years ago. <3

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How I started working 20 hours a week and making next to money at all to making $10K every MONTH
Why getting visible to your target audience will dictate where and what platforms you should show up on
Why YouTube was my key to getting visible—BUT there are plenty of other ways for YOU to get visible with your audience like using Pinterest
Why Pinterest is one of the ways you can get visibility that has the least barriers to entry
How podcasts play a huge role in visibility and growing your audience

Resources mentioned in this episode:

EP 47: Demystifying SEO with Kim Herrington

Learn more about Gillian:

YouTube Growth Workshop
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

If you’re trying to grow your audience on social media, then you KNOW that there’s one thing that matters more than just about anything else…

Engagement.

It doesn’t matter what platform you’re on, the algorithm cares about the same thing: how much people engage -- or don’t -- with your content.

More engagement means people are paying more attention to your posts (good!) and the algorithm rewards that with more reach (good as well!). And that then results in more followers.

The GOOD news is that more people see your “best” posts.

The BAD news is… even if you’re sharing something valuable, important, and potentially impactful… if people don’t actively engage then your results will be lackluster (to put it gently).

Engagement. It’s the name of the game.

The big question is… how do you get more of it??

Well, that’s where my friend Kat Gaskin comes in.

She’s known around the internet as “The Content Planner,” because that’s what she helps entrepreneurs do: plan their social media content.

But when I reached out to her about coming on the podcast, there was something a little different I wanted to talk to her about:

HOW has she built such an incredibly engaged community of raving fans??

‘Cause Kat doesn’t just have followers on Instagram.

Nope. Her audience is full of the hard-core, ride-or-die type.

And I wanted to know how she’d done it.

You’re welcome. ;)

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Kat developed an irresistible physical product and personal brand on Instagram—with 52K followers and counting
Why Kat recommends picking only two social media platforms and her hashtag strategy for getting content in front of different audiences
The struggles Kat went through with content planning—and why she developed the Content Planner to make it 100% easier to create content
Why focusing on who her customer is becoming rather than focusing just on solving a problem creates an amazingly engaged fan base
The four recurring content pillars that Kat uses to engage her Instagram followers (and teaches to all her students)

Learn more about Kat Gaskin:

thecontentplanner.com
@katgaskin on Instagram
@katgaskin on Twitter
the salty pineapple shop

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

First off, isn’t it so cool that we live at a time when information is so readily available?

The answer is out there to any question you might have… and it’s probably even just a Google search away!

But with more content created every day than you could ever possibly consume, this abundance of information can also be… overwhelming.

Information overload is real. And it can really hold you back.

You’re trying to build your business, but there are millions of articles, podcasts, and courses all giving you different [conflicting!] advice.

How can you possibly decide which advice to take or what’s your best next step?

If you’ve ever struggled with this, I can relate. And… I can also help.

Turns out, there’s a framework for exactly this. A simple, 2-step process for figuring exactly which aspect of your business you should work on next in order to reach the next level of growth… and I’m going to walk you through everything in this episode.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

I walk you through the exact process of this helpful process so that you can figure out exactly what’s the weakest area of your business and decide what your next step should be
How to use what you learned from the framework to be able to use your time and use your resources as efficiently as possible and make the biggest progress and reach the biggest results with your business
Identifying where you’re struggling the most—or your weakest link—and what to do about it

Learn more about Gillian:

Free Validate Checklist
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

One of the toughest parts about being “young and broke” is not having the money to do some of the responsible things you know you should be doing. Stuff like:

buying (and eating) healthy food
regular maintenance on your car
extra insurance
regular dental exams
hiring a bookkeeper for your business

I hope you’re in a place right now where you can afford most of these things... because I know how tough it is to do without them. Both because they’re helpful basics, but also because you know you should be doing them, and it’s stressful to be “letting things slide” -- even when you don’t have much choice.

But if your business is still in its infancy, you might still be cutting a few corners, sticking to a tight budget, and DIY’ing, well… everything.

Kudos to you. Seriously.

The early stages of building a business are tough, but if you can stick them out (and I know you can!!) they will eventually be worth it.

But what’s to be done in the meantime??

Especially when it comes to managing your finances, you can’t just ignore that aspect of your biz until you’re earning enough to hire a pro.

Because let’s face it… if you do that, you might never get to that point at all.

Fortunately, you have options.

On this week’s podcast episode, I interview Mark Butler, CPA and the founder of Let’s Do the Books, a bookkeeping service for brand new companies.

In the episode, Mark shares exactly how to DIY your bookkeeping -- and how to do it right. So that when you eventually are ready to work with a pro, you’ll be PROUD to show them your books and there won’t be any awkward conversations.

shulaconsulting@gmail.com * The biggest mistake new business owners make with their business finances * Mark’s advice for opening your FIRST business checking account * How to set up a SUPER simple spreadsheet to track income and expenses in your business * The basics of bookkeeping and accounting that EVERY entrepreneur should understand—especially when you’re in a growth phase * The difference between the business profit and the money you take from the business to pay yourself (and how it impacts your books)

Learn more about Mark Butler:

letsdothebooks.com
@letsdothebooks

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

One of the toughest parts of building a successful YouTube channel is just getting your first 1,000 subscribers.

Once you hit that coveted 4-figure mark, the algorithm takes over and (as long as you keep posting consistently...) practically grows your channel for you.

But how can you get those first thousand??

Everyone does it slightly differently, but hearing their stories can help you figure out the best path for YOU.

On today's podcast episode, I'm interviewing YouTube creator Marissa Romero, who's successfully grown a channel of 120,000+ subscribers in a competitive niche.

We'll talk a little about the strategies she's using to grow it these days... but we're going to focus mostly on how she got started.

After you listen, I'm sure Marissa would appreciate hearing what you got out of the episode! You can reach out to her @marissaeromero on Instagram.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What Marissa did to get her FIRST 1,000 subs
The mistakes Marissa made when she was first getting started with YouTube
The role really good keywords and affiliate links were to getting consistent traffic in the beginning-and what she's focusing on now with over 150K subscribers
Why using the algorithm to your advantage right away is ESSENTIAL to growth
Why Marissa has prioritized her thumbnail strategy (and how overall channel branding makes a HUGE difference)

Learn more about Marissa Romero:

marissaromero.com
Connect with Marissa on Instagram
Marissa's YouTube channel

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

As you’re likely aware, we’re currently in the process of guiding a group of 130 students through the VALIDATE accelerator program, helping them figure out whether or not there’s demand for their business ideas.

I shared a lot last month about why this process is so essential--including the fact that it protects you from possibly wasting countless hours (even years) of your life on an idea that never pans out.

I’ve seen one (or 100…) too many entrepreneurs wind up feeling like failures because they can’t turn their business idea into a success -- when, in reality, they aren’t the problem at all -- they’re just trying to build the wrong business.

What makes it even worse is that this problem is 100% avoidable.

I know not everyone was able to participate as a student in VALIDATE, so today on the podcast I’m doing something very special: offering a crash course on how to do the validation process for yourself!

If you’re a DIY’er then you’ll love this episode. Not only is it the “do it yourself” guide to testing your biz idea, but it’s also going to ensure that all your future business DIY projects have much greater chances of being successful!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The biggest mistake most people who want to become entrepreneurs make
The 6 steps to validate your business idea
Why you need to figure out if people actually WANT what you’re trying to sell… and why you need PROOF
The difference between a business and a business idea

Learn more about Gillian:

Free Validate Checklist
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

What's more profitable, online courses or self-published books?

A lot of people who are interested in making money by selling information (either as a course creator or author) consider these two options.

To some, the choice is obvious.

Of course it's online courses!

After all, everyone knows that "authors don't make anything."

And we've all heard plenty of stories of course creators who are killing it online.

Here's the thing -- while it's true that courses tend to be more profitable than self-published books, this question ("What's more profitable?") kind of creates a false dichotomy.

In other words: it makes it sound like you have to pick one or the other.

But, in reality, these two strategies can work together to create far better results than either typically does on its own.

(It's like asking, "What's better: YouTube or email marketing?" And the answer is, "Neither, they're just different. They serve different purposes in your marketing.")

This week, on the podcast, I interviewed my friend Chandler Bolt, founder and CEO of Self-Publishing School, a $15M Inc 5000 company.

Self-Publishing School primarily sells online courses -- and it's one of the biggest and most successful such companies out there!

So, how'd Chandler do it? Well... by practicing what he preaches: self-publishing books on Amazon!

Chandler's been a friend of mine for the past three years (I first met him in San Diego at Hal Elrod's "Best Year Ever" event) and it's been so cool to watch him scale his company so incredibly fast.

If you don't already know Chandler, I'm honored to introduce you. But, either way, I know there's a LOT we can all learn from his story.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The whole story of how he built his company from the ground up (starting with no connections, no credentials, and no capital)
How he used self-published BOOKS as a big part of his growth strategy
Exactly how you can copy his approach (even if you think you "don't have time" to write a book) to grow your own business

Learn more about Chandler Bolt:

Receive a free copy of Chandler Bolt's bestselling book, Published
self-publishingschool.com

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Behind every successful entrepreneur… there is a team supporting them.

In my first few years of business, it was just me – wearing all the hats, doing all the things, and responsible for everything.

But, as my business grew, I knew that I needed help; both so that I could keep my sanity and to be able to continue to grow.

After several failed attempts to hire help (mostly VA’s that I didn’t know what to do with), I finally found a few contractors who supported me by editing my videos, taking care of tech work, writing content, and other small projects.

Then, in 2019, I knew it was time to get a new kind of help: management help. Otherwise, I was going to find myself working more than ever before, managing the people who were supposed to be reducing my work load.

Enter Cortni Loveridge.

I hired Cortni to be my project manager and “integrator” (a concept I explain in this episode) -- but she turned out to be so much more than I’d anticipated. She stepped into my business and immediately started organizing everything from top to bottom -- making it SO much easier to run things in far less time and take on more profitable projects than ever before.

In fact, the year that followed – 2020 – was our best year to date.

Today on the podcast, I’ve invited Cortni herself to join me in sharing exactly what we did in 2020 that had the biggest impact on the company’s bottom line.

I hope you find the episode very insightful and that you’re able to use these strategies to turn 2021 into your BEST year yet.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What projects we took on that produced the most revenue
Which marketing strategies we saw the most success with
How we were able to increase efficiency, so that we could work less -- and (of course) earn more!
The exact strategies that led to our half-million dollar year

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

One of the biggest changes we’re making in 2021 is how we run the podcast. Instead of pre-recording and editing all the episodes before we release them, we’re now recording the show LIVE each week inside Startup Society, so that the members can listen in and participate by asking questions.

As I write this, I’ve just finished recording the first of these live sessions, and what a great interview it was!

In today’s episode, I sat down with Keina Newell, financial coach and founder of Wealth Over Now. Keina works with professional women and solopreneurs to create new possibilities with their money so they can save more, pay off debt, invest in themselves and stress less about money.

Keina is passionate about her work and finds no greater satisfaction than helping her clients start managing their money with joy because they’ve learned to feel possibility where they once felt shame, guilt, overwhelm, and anxiety.

We had a great discussion about how she’s built her coaching practice to $10K months -- while maintaining her full-time corporate job.

Keina shared a lot of great insights into how to market yourself as a coach (or freelancer) and how to balance a side-hustle with a full-time job.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Keina’s grown her coaching business from 0 to where she is today
The systems Keina has in place so she can operate her coaching practice while working full-time
How she's maximizing profits with a 1:1 business model

Learn more about Keina Newell:

wealthovernow.com
Wealth Over Now on Instagram

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Will 2021 be any different?

Who’s to say…

Personally, as much as I’d love to think that 2021 will fix everything, what I really believe is that “a day is a day.” It doesn’t matter the label we put on it, it’s just a 24 hour period in which anything can happen; 24 hours we’re given to make the most of.

Or, in the words of Master Oogway:

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

Anyway, 2020 is one for the books, and to wrap it up, I’m opening up my books to show you how we fared.

I’d like to wrap this up by sharing that my hope for 2021 is that it is truly our best year yet. We learned SO much in 2020, and I know that if we apply those lessons this year then we’ll be in good shape.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How much my business earned
How much we spent
How many hours my team and I worked to earn that money
Plus a few of my biggest 2021 goals (including our income projection)

Links:

gillianperkins.com/validate
Instagram: @gillianzperkins
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Startup Society
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Patience is a virtue, but that doesn't mean you can't be TOO patient.

And you know what? A lot of people are.

A lot of people waste a lot of time (+ energy and money) because they're patient. And dedicated. And committed. And motivated.

ALL GOOD THINGS. But also potentially problematic.

My dad said it this way: "Don't be afraid of being a quitter. Be willing to quit when you realize you're in the wrong place."

You know who I see make the mistake of being "too patient" more than just about anyone else?

Entrepreneurs.

And it makes sense when you think about it. Not only do entrepreneurs tend to be extremely passionate, committed, and motivated, but there's also this idea out there that success has to take a long time.

...which I don't entirely disagree with. It definitely takes a while to build a big, successful company. And if you want to build anything meaningful, you need to be committed and in it for the long game.

But too many entrepreneurs hear that and think it means that it will take years to make even their first dollar.

So, what do they do? They work for years... for nothing.

And I don't mean they invest years for an eventual payout.

I mean they waste years working on something that never pans out.

Please don't make this mistake.

Please take the time to figure out if your business idea is valid.

Research the market. Determine the demand for what you're interested in selling.

And don't just stop there... get proof. Share your product (with the right people) and see how they respond. Prioritize generating your first sales before you spend years trying to "build" your business.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

3 questions to ask to figure out if your business idea is valid
Why market research is essential to building a successful business
How to tell if your business idea is valid and worth pursuing
Why it might not take a long time to build a substantial, successful business

Learn more about Gillian:

Predict Your Profits Workshop
Attract Paying Customers Action Plan
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Startup Society
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

How much do you want to earn in 2021?

I used to really dislike that ☝ question... because I had no idea how to answer it.

“What do you mean, ‘how much do I want to earn’? As much as I can, of course!”

It’s a lot like when you’re shopping for something expensive and the sales rep asks you, “So, what’s your budget?”

Of course, sometimes we DO have a budget, but a lot of the time I just want to spend as little as I can to get the thing I need. (I’m sure I can’t be the only one…)

Any answer to the “how much do you want to earn” question just felt… arbitrary. I’d say a smaller number, trying to be “realistic” -- but it wasn’t [at all] what I really wanted. Or I’d say a BIG number, but it felt pointless because it seemed impossible.

If you can relate to this struggle between modest “realistic” goals and ambitious inspiring goals, then today’s podcast episode is for you.

Because here’s the truth: there CAN be a balance between those two extremes. And not just a compromise… you can actually set goals that are both realistic and inspiring.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Two ways to set goals based on math
My recommendation for setting your first growth goal
What can get in the way of you growth
What to do if your growth goals feel overwhelming
How to set goals when you’re just starting out

Learn more about Gillian

Predict Your Profits Workshop
Attract Paying Customers Action Plan
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Startup Society
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Several years ago, when I ran a digital marketing agency, I met an incredible woman named Margo Carroll.

At first, I didn't realize how incredible she was -- she was just another client who was hiring us to run her Facebook ads.

But the more I got to know Margo, see her work, and learn from her, the more impressed I became.

Not only does Margo do everything she takes on with integrity and serious commitment, but I also discovered she has an area of unique expertise: sales psychology.

Margo understands the human mind and persuasion in a deep way, but, more than that, she's able to strategically apply that knowledge to connect with people and create highly effective marketing campaigns.

And, while Margo originally hired my company to help her advertise her business, over the years the tables have turned, and I've become the client. Margo has helped us conduct thorough market research, write sales campaigns, launch webinars, and strategize our funnels.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to use market research to learn more about your customers and more effectively sell to them
Why market research is incredibly valuable to do when you're in the planning stages (deciding what to sell) to improve your copy and maximize your sales
How asking a potential member questions before they join your Facebook group is a type of market research (and how you can use it in your future copy)
The first steps Margo recommends if you haven’t done research in your business before

Learn more about Margo Carroll:

margocarroll.com
Follow Margo on Instagram

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Are you more “left-brained” or “right-brained”?

We all have some balance between the more analytical and the more creative/emotional sides, but most of us lean more one way or the other.

A lot of entrepreneurs -- especially visionary, founder sorts -- are extremely creative, always coming up with new ideas and solutions. Many even refer to themselves as “creative entrepreneurs.”

Those right-brain skills are KEY for entrepreneurial success… but they still have to be balanced out.

Because while creativity can get you started and keep you inspired… it’s analyzing the numbers that will allow you to stay in business long term.

Maybe “analyzing the numbers” sounds fun to you! (Where my nerdy friends at??)

But, on the other hand, if it sounds scary, hard, or boring… well, I just want to let you know right now that it doesn’t have to be any of those things.

Understanding your business’s numbers -- and making strategic decisions based off of them -- is an essential skill as an entrepreneur, and it can actually be quite interesting and easy!

To show you exactly how to do this for yourself, I asked Rita Barry to come on the podcast this week. Rita specializes in metric-driven marketing for online businesses, and she shared some really practical advice on how to get started making more strategic, numbers-based decisions in our businesses.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to keep your metric-driven marketing plan super simple
The questions to ask when making your plan
The best way to spot bottlenecks in your business and what to do about them
How to find what’s working in your marketing and the best way to pull and read reports

Learn more about Rita Barry:

ritabarry.co
Follow Rita on Instagram
Connect with Rita on LinkedIn

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Every month, I’m peeling back the curtain and sharing the ins & outs of my monthly revenue.

These income reports are an in-depth and honest look at how much my business earned, what it cost, and how many hours it took me to do it.

This is the very last income report of 2020. I’m glad I committed to doing monthly income reports -- it gave me accountability to really look at the numbers regularly and see exactly how things were going.

Every month, I’ve felt like we didn’t do very well: like we didn’t earn very much, like we spent too much, and like we worked too much.

But when the month finally wrapped and I looked at the numbers… we’d done awesome!

That’s what I like about numbers: they tell us the truth. Unlike our subjective perspective, which is highly distorted by emotion.

So let’s dive into the numbers.

In every income report, I share which tasks and projects really ended up paying me best so that you can see how I’m optimizing my business so that I can work less and earn more over time. Plus, you’ll get a time report, breaking down the time I spend on each activity and how that created a financial result (or not).

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How we earned $37,530.08 in November
What we learned from last year’s Black Friday promotion and what we did differently this year
Why our income month-to-month isn’t always tied to that month’s activities
Why we spent most of this month planning for 2021

Links:

Instagram: @gillianzperkins
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Startup Society
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

We all do it. We judge books by their covers… and also by their size.

Somehow we think that if a book has more pages then we’re going to get MORE out of it.

We do the same thing if we buy an online course: we think that if it was more expensive it’s going to be more valuable and that if we open it and it has more modules than we thought that we’re going to get A LOT more out of it. We assume, therefore, that it will be more useful.

I’m guilty of this thinking, too. Sometimes I find myself doing this with podcast episodes (like this one, for example!) “Oh, that episode’s only eight minutes long—it probably won’t even be worth my time.”

But we all know that sometimes the best gifts come in the smallest packages: the check for $100K, the engagement ring, the simple (yet powerful) advice of a mentor.

In the spirit of keeping it simple, today’s episode is only 8 minutes long. If you have that time to spare, give it a listen. In just a few minutes, I share some advice I got last year from one of my mentors that’s allowed me to work significantly LESS while increasing our revenue by over 80%.

Who knows, maybe it’s exactly what you need to hear to work less and earn more in your business, too!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why you should ALWAYS ask yourself: what would this look like if it were simple?
Why more complicated strategies WON’T necessarily get us bigger and better results
Sometimes more complex ideas are addictive—we feel like once we’ve identified them that we can’t live without them—but is that really true?

Learn more about Gillian:

Attract Paying Customers Action Plan
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Startup Society
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Two words: MIND. BLOWN.

I used to believe a LOT of myths about SEO, including:

Google ranks websites higher if they’re frequently updated
More content means your site has more chances of ranking well
Adding target keywords to articles is the best way to tell Google what it’s about

And by “used to” I don’t mean years ago.

Nope… these are all myths I believed as recently as last week.

That is until I talked to Kim Herrington.

Kim’s an expert in SEO, search engine marketing, and digital marketing—and she’s the founder of a digital marketing agency where she helps businesses, entrepreneurs, and influencers harness the power of search engines while maintaining high ethical standards and simplifying the process.

On today’s episode, Kim shed a LOT of light on an often mysterious subject: how to get your website to rank well on Google. Honestly, she shared a lot of things that surprised me!

So… if your website is one of the main ways your business attracts customers, this is a can’t-miss episode.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Can SEO tactics create predictable results?
How complex is SEO? Is it something anyone can do or is professional help necessary?
What SEO tactics create the biggest results?
What are the first steps to getting a website to rank on the first page of Google?

Learn more about Kimberley Herrington:

Transform Your Business with Strategic SEO
Guide to Get More Website Traffic
Instagram

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Sales funnels.

You might be thinking: those are one of those complicated things everyone says you need in order to be successful, but really… they’re probably just a distraction from what you really need.

Right?

Actually…

No.

(Sorry, not sorry.)

In fact, if there’s ONE thing a business needs -- it’s a sales funnel.

Good news though!

EVERY business (that successfully makes money) manages to check this box -- even if unintentionally.
Sales funnels don’t need to be complex.

Here’s the thing… a “sales funnel” is just the process that your potential customers go through to find out about your business, decide to buy your product, and then purchase.

Donut shops have sales funnels.

Hair salons have sales funnels.

Coaching businesses have sales funnels.

Software companies have sales funnels.

Amazon has a sales funnel.

Literally, EVERY business has one.

But if you don’t intentionally design your funnel, then it’s unlikely that it will work very well.

Listen to the full episode to hear: * Why EVERY business needs a strategic sales funnel to make money * Everything you need to know about funnels, including what they are, how they work, and how to set one up for yourself * My best tips for creating a sales funnel that generates the max number of sales * The four components you need in order for your sales funnels to be as SUCCESSFUL as possible

Learn more about Gillian * Attract Paying Customers Action Plan * Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore) * Startup Society * Profit Planning Challenge * Get in touch!

Every month, I’m peeling back the curtain and sharing the ins & outs of my monthly revenue.

These income reports are an in-depth and honest look at how much my business earned, what it cost, and how many hours it took me to do it.

They say “time flies when you’re having fun,” and that’s exactly what we experienced in the month of October.

Somehow, we managed to launch THREE new sales funnels… and not just “launch,” but create completely from scratch.

As always, I’ll also share which tasks and projects really ended up paying me best so that you can see how I’m optimizing my business so that I can work less and earn more over time. Plus, you’ll get a time report, breaking down the time I spend on each activity and how that created a financial result (or not).

I hope that you’ll be able to learn from my trial and error, as I work to grow my business, my impact, and my income––all while keeping clear boundaries on my time and personal life.

Today, we’re looking back on October 2020 and I’ll give you ALL the details on these new funnels. Because (::hint, hint::), if you aren’t making money in your business, it might be because you don’t have an effective sales process…

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The 3 new sales funnels we created from scratch in October
How long it took me to prepare a new webinar funnel for Startup Society
How much we earned from Startup Society, affiliate marketing, YouTube ad revenue, and tripwire products
Why Facebook ads were our biggest expense so we can prioritize the ones bringing in the most profit (plus, all the other expenses we saw in October)
Why we hired a new graphic designer and how we’re changing our content to provide even more value

Links:

Instagram: @gillianzperkins
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Facebook ads are everything right now—and whether you hire it out to an ad agency or you DIY, the goal of your ads should always be to make a profit… which is harder than you might think.

If you’re DIYing it, you might be boosting a post here and there. Those kinds of activities might get your post in front of your audience—but a boost doesn’t necessarily translate to new customers or sales.

And that’s just one beginner mistake you could make. But don’t worry! There are LOTS of smart, tactical ways to do FB ads right so that you get in front of the right people with the right message or offer and grow your business.

No doubt the FB advertising world can be super confusing. That’s why I invited my paid advertising genius, Tony Rulli of Intentional Spark, onto the podcast to demystify ads and help you understand why you might not be getting the return that you’re hoping for.

Tony runs the Facebook ads for Startup Society and my personal brand as well as many other well-known names, including Jasmine Star, Brooke Castillo, Acuity Scheduling, Convertkit, and many others. And there’s a good reason—he really knows his stuff!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The most common mistakes that sabotage people’s FB ad success -- and how you can avoid them!
The highest converting funnels that give you the best Return-on-Ad-Spend (so you can maximize your profits)
What’s changed with paid advertising in 2020… and how you can survive and even thrive in these strange times!
And finally: how big of a budget you REALLY need to be successful with FB ads. (I loved Tony’s take on this -- though it might surprise some people because it’s not your typical “you can start with even $5 a day!” optimism.)

Learn more about Tony Rulli:

Intentionalspark.com
Follow Tony on Instagram
Get Instant Access To Tony’s Facebook Ad Video Training Bundle

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Sometimes, the truth can be hard to swallow…

But knowing the truth empowers us to make the best decisions.

Here’s one of those truths: if you’re building an audience online, only 2% of your audience will EVER buy from you.

This goes whether you have 100 followers on IG, a million email subscribers, or anything in between.

Of course, we can work on improving that percentage, but we’ll never be able to change the fact that MOST of our audience just follows us for the free stuff.

And that’s okay! In fact, it’s a good thing, because it means we can impact the lives of a far greater number of people than those who are actually interested in pulling out their credit card.

BUT, it also means that if we want to increase our sales, then we NEED to prioritize growing our audiences.

(Yes, you 100% can be successful with a small audience… but you can be even more successful if you can reach more people.)

Social media is a great place to get exposure and reach new people, but we all know that email subscribers are the crème de la crème of an online audience, because those are the people you can reach most directly + predictably.

(Meaning… no need cross your fingers and HOPE an algorithm cooperates!)

In this week’s podcast, I share three email list growth strategies… and these aren’t just random strategies that sound good. These are the strategies that consistently WORK and have grown my email list to 98,000 subscribers.

(We’re currently adding 8,000 new subscribers every month with these tactics!)

I know what it’s like to wonder WHY your list isn’t growing; and maybe even to feel like you’re the only one. For the first several years of trying to grow my list, I really struggled:

These were the tactics that finally made the difference, and I want to share them with you.

Listen to the episode now (or download for later!) and start growing your email list a lot more quickly.

There’s no reason to keep struggling when the tools are available. I KNOW you can do this once you know-how!

Here’s to your success!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The 3 tactics I’ve used to grow my email list and add 8,000 new subscribers every month
How I use Pinterest to supercharge traffic to my website and grow my email list
Why YouTube is a key player when you want to grow your email list (and how to turn followers into email subscribers)
The impact that appearing on other people’s podcasts has on your email growth

Learn more about Gillian:

Attract Paying Customers Action Plan
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

EP 33: Blog vs Podcast vs YouTube: Which Should You Start?

A few weeks ago, I gave my Instagram account a good clean out. I unfollowed a couple hundred accounts that weren’t really what I wanted or needed in my life right now.

Goal: to see more of the things I really care about!

The next day, as I scrolled through my feed, I saw a post from my friend Lucy.

Hey, it’s Lucy!, I said to myself. Man, I haven’t seen her in forever. I wonder how she’s been! What’s she up to these days, anyway…?

I tapped on her profile pic to navigate to her bio.

::reading bio::

Wait, what?!

She sold Thirty THOUSAND courses??

That, my friend, is a LOT of courses.

Naturally, I DMed Lucy straight-away to ask her to come on the podcast and tell us her strategy.

(I may or may not have been super curious to know myself.)

The story gets even better, though, because once we got on the phone, I learned that not only had she sold 30,000 courses… she’d done it in just 18 months.

If you’re as eager as I was to know how she did it, then go listen to the episode now, because it was SO interesting. Lucy explained her whole strategy and really didn’t hold back!

I loved this interview, and if you’re interested in selling online courses then I’m pretty sure you will as well!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The funnel Lucy's using to quickly grow her list— at a profit!
How Lucy not only sells thousands of courses, but also maximizes the value earned from each customer
Lucy's top traffic sources that ensure she never runs out of leads, even though her audience is small.

Learn more about Lucy Griffiths:

lucygriffiths.com
Confident On Camera Course
Follow Lucy on YouTube

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

I’ve been a teacher for over 13 years now, and I’m confident this skill is part of my God-given purpose here on earth.

But for the first 8+ years of teaching, I didn’t earn a very good living from the work. I was tied down to my local area, my calendar was crammed with lessons, and I was barely able to support my family.

Eventually, I scaled my local business and things got a bit better -- but it still felt like an uphill battle. This was one of the key motivators for starting my online business: I wanted to work from wherever (be that my living room, the local Starbucks, or a Parisian café) and on my own schedule.

So when I learned about “membership sites” for the first time… I immediately knew I was interested.

A membership site would allow me to use my teaching gifts to have a positive impact on the lives of others while at the same time maximizing -- and stabilizing -- my profits by creating monthly recurring revenue.

Sign me UP!

It took a few years to figure out how to start a membership, what I’d teach, and who it would be for -- but eventually, I got it off the ground, and today my membership program is my businesses’ main source of revenue!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How much my membership, Startup Society, earns each month
Fixed costs and variable expenses of running a membership site
The biggest challenges I faced when I got the program off the ground
Mistakes I've made and lessons learned

Learn more about Gillian:

Attract Paying Customers Action Plan
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

The Best $7000 I Ever Spent
Access Ally: Membership plugin
Flourish Online: They specialize in setting up membership sites

Every month, I’m peeling back the curtain and sharing the ins & outs of my monthly revenue.

These income reports are an in-depth and honest look at how much my business earned, what it cost, and how many hours it took me to do it.

It’s now October and it’s been two months since I returned from taking the summer off for maternity leave—and September’s income report shows that things are still trending downward which means it’s prime time to make some moves to change this and start, once again, growing!

(By the way, if you happen to be in a “descent” yourself, know that this is a natural part of the cycle of growth. Two steps forward, one step back is a very healthy and normal pattern. To try to force things to constantly spiral upward is unrealistic, ultimately impossible, and will only lead to stress.)

As always, I’ll also share which tasks and projects really ended up paying me best so that you can see how I’m optimizing my business so that I can work less and earn more over time. Plus, you’ll get a time report, breaking down the time I spend on each activity and how that created a financial result (or not).

I hope that you’ll be able to learn from my trial and error, as I work to grow my business, my impact, and my income––all while keeping clear boundaries on my time and personal life.

Today, we’re looking back on September 2020.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

3 specific strategies I’m implementing to INCREASE my income
Why my income went DOWN the last two months
Exactly how much time I worked and what I spent my time on this month
How much my team worked and what they worked on

Links:

Instagram: @gillianzperkins
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Creating content is hands down the MOST time-consuming work I do each week. Writing blog articles, filming videos, recording podcasts, posting on Instagram… the list could go on.

As a digital entrepreneur, you get it. Content creation is time consuming… and our TIME is limited.

But—and a big one at that!—content marketing works so well.

That’s why it’s so important to create helpful videos, articles and other content is the perfect way to attract your target customers.

What’s to be done??

Allow me to introduce Lacy Boggs, my guest on today’s episode. Lacy runs The Content Direction Agency, a multi-six-figure content market agency. If you and I think we have a “content creation as opposed to time available” ratio problem… let me tell you… Lacy has it way worse. That’s because a whole roster of clients depends on her small team to create their content.

Naturally, Lacy’s figured out a few tricks to maximize content-creation-efficiency so they can keep man-hours down and productivity up.

Regardless of the size of your team—though especially if you’re a solopreneur—you’ll find her hack and systems effective to do the same in your company.

What does this mean? You can get MORE visibility, attract MORE leads, and close MORE sales—all without working more at all.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to pivot to find the business model that works for you and fulfills your personal goals
How Lacy built her agency to the quarter-million mark working less than 20 hours per week
A step-by-step process to follow to create a STRATEGIC content marketing plan
Chasing engagement, vanity metrics, and what you should really be measuring

Learn more about Lacy Boggs:

The Content Direction Agency
Chasing Likes Blog Post
Connect with Lacy on Facebook
Follow Lacy on Instagram

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

If you started your company, then most likely you are a VISIONARY leader. That's a unique gift! But we all have our strengths and weaknesses, and you might need "another half" that you don't even know you're missing.

That other half is called an INTEGRATOR.

Many visionary entrepreneurs have one behind the scenes—think Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motors, and Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s, who both had operations managers. The visionary sets their sights on the vision and the integrators are the people who actually put these dreams and these plans into action.

In fact, I have an integrator here at Gillian Perkins International—and I’m going to share how I found Cortni, what she does in the business, and how it’s impacted the business and so much more in this episode all about integrators.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Visionary leaders vs "integrators" and why most companies need BOTH
How an integrator can help you grow your business more successfully and easily
What my integrator, Cortni, does at Gillian Perkins International
How to find your own integrator and what to look for when you interview candidates

Learn more about Gillian

Attract Paying Customers Action Plan
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Startup Society
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Resources mentioned in this episode

Amy Porterfield's podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy
Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark Winters
The Crystallizer Assessment

Imagine this: you can be a totally lazy entrepreneur yet create amazing, high-quality work and accomplish everything you want in business—and more.

And I don’t mean lazy in a negative way. I actually consider myself a pretty lazy person. Yet given the current hustle culture, being a lazy entrepreneur probably sounds hilarious at best and an impossibility at worse.

So how on earth can you be a successful entrepreneur and be lazy at the same time?

Most importantly, creating high-quality work is at the top. Being smart about where you spend your time is key, too. And, sometimes, running Facebook ads is the most efficient way to engage potential customers and sell your work.

In this episode, I’m chatting with Claire Pelletreau who is a self-proclaimed lazy entrepreneur. She’s also a Facebook and Instagram ad consultant, teacher, conversion optimization expert, and creator of Absolute FB Ads.

Claire spends her days writing about Facebook and Instagram ads, troubleshooting ad problems with her students, and managing campaigns for 7 and 8 figure business owners. She specializes in Facebook and Instagram ads that sell online courses and programs, but she’ll happily geek out with you on ways to test advertising for any type of business.

Claire also LOVES talking about money—profit, loss, the whole shebang. She asks her guests how much they charge—and how much they earn—on her show, the Get Paid Podcast.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why social media may not be worth your time or effort
Strategies Claire uses to consistently make sales without big launches or constantly posting on social
Why spending money on ads makes sense... even if you're only breaking even
How Claire has maximized the results she's gotten from investing in copywriting services

Learn more about Claire Pelletreau:

Clairepells.com
Connect with Claire on Instagram
The Get Paid Podcast

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Other resources from this episode:

Natalie Taylor from The Missing Ink

Every month, I’m peeling back the curtain and sharing the ins & outs of my monthly revenue.

These income reports are an in-depth and honest look at how much my business earned, what it cost, and how many hours it took me to do it.

I’ll also share which tasks and projects really ended up paying me best so that you can see how I’m optimizing my business so that I can work less and earn more over time. Plus, you’ll get a time report, breaking down the time I spend on each activity and how that created a financial result (or not).

I hope that you’ll be able to learn from my trial and error, as I work to grow my business, my impact, and my income––all while keeping clear boundaries on my time and personal life.

Today, we’re looking back on August 2020.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How not working much during the summer impacted our revenue
Why I’m working no more than 15 hours a week
Why I’d rather earn less and do things better than do everything myself
Where I spent the majority of my time in August

Links:

Instagram: @gillianzperkins
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Startup Society
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Resources Mentioned:

Tara McMullin and Yellow House Media
Tony Rulli of Intentional Spark
Self-Publishing School

It can be SO frustrating to start a business, put in the work, and still not make any money.

I get it: it took me a few years of trying before I finally “broke through” and starting making money with my online business. I recently shared a video on my YouTube channel about how I took my blog and business from $0 to $100,000 in revenue in 12 months. But, in the video, I made it extremely clear that those 12 months were not the first twelve months in business.

In fact, I’d already invested a few years into trying to grow my business, trying to make money online, and, in all honesty, completely failing and essentially making $0.

So what changed between now and then?

It wasn’t that my hard work finally paid off, even though that’s a common story you hear among the small business world. Instead, I changed some key things in my business that led to that financial success.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The 5 things I did wrong (and what I see people doing wrong all the time!) that can stop you from making any money in your online business
Why too much "patience" can be a bad thing
The first thing you have to have to be able to make money online
How to tell if you're trying to sell the wrong product and figure out what your audience actually wants
How long you should stick to ONE strategy before you decide it's time to try something new

Links:

This ONE thing increased my income by 1000% (and it didn't cost anything) (YouTube video)
Attract Paying Customers Action Plan
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Globally, there are over one million podcasts available—and growing! That is a HUGE number of podcasts.

Given the continuous growth of this industry, it’s no wonder that you’re considering creating one—or want to learn how to make your existing podcast even better than it is now.

There are countless resources available on HOW to start a podcast. That’s why I wanted to take a different approach with this episode and instead explore what determines the success of a podcast, how hosting a podcast impacts your business, and how you can make the most impact on your listeners.

Podcasting is relatively new to me and so that’s why I invited someone on the show who’s been in the game for awhile—someone who could share how to create a podcast that will not only be effective in terms of downloads and listeners, but will actually influence your business and revenue, too.

Tara McMullin is the host of the What Works podcast, founder of the What Works Network, and the co-founder of Yellow House Media. She’s been helping small business owners find what works for them for over a decade. Her goal is to push past the hype and facilitate candid conversations about doing business in the New Economy.

In this episode, Tara’s going to divulge all the ways in which we can make an impact in our communities through podcasting and so much more.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The #1 most important thing you need to figure out about your podcast for it to have the impact you're looking for
How to stand out from OTHER podcasts that cover the same topic as your show
How finding the right premise for you show makes everything else fall into place
How to MARKET your show to build your listener-base and grow your audience

Learn more about Tara McMullin:

The What Works Network
The What Works Podcast
Yellow House Media
Follow Tara on Instagram
Follow Tara on Twitter

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Other resources from this episode:

How The Premise Of Your Podcast Can Make Your Business More Money by Yellow House Media

Getting results with content marketing takes time.

To put it in perspective, one of my 15-minute YouTube videos can take anywhere between 2-8 hours to finish and have it ready to publish. And one of my blog posts takes anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours to write, edit, and publish.

Not only does high-quality content take a lot of time to create but in order to get real results with it, you have to give it as much time and attention it needs so that you can actually get people to read it. It’s no small feat!

If you don’t do all of these things, then you’re wasting the time that you do invest because the content won’t be doing anything for your business. That’s why it’s even more important to choose the right channel for you to see real results.

But how do you choose which of the three types of content is right for you right now? And which will create the biggest results for your business?

In today’s episode, I’m going to share with you what I’ve learned from creating each of these types of content, some of the challenges that go along with each of them, and how they have impacted my business.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The pros and cons of blogging, YouTube, and podcasting
The different types of results each of these types of content create
The importance of focus and why you should pick just ONE type of content to create... at least at first

Links:

EP 19: Courses VS Membership Sites & How to Decide Which Is Right for YOU
Attract Paying Customers Action Plan
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Every month, I’m peeling back the curtain and sharing the ins & outs of my monthly revenue.

These income reports are an in-depth and honest look at how much my business earned, what it cost, and how many hours it took me to do it.

I’ll also share which tasks and projects really ended up paying me best so that you can see how I’m optimizing my business so that I can work less and earn more over time. Plus, you’ll get a time report, breaking down the time I spend on each activity and how that created a financial result (or not).

I hope that you’ll be able to learn from my trial and error, as I work to grow my business, my impact, and my income––all while keeping clear boundaries on my time and personal life.

Today, we’re looking back on July 2020.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why I'm working less than ever before
How much my business earned while I was on vacation
How much my TEAM worked while I was out of the office
My new schedule and what's coming up in future months

Links:

Instagram: @gillianzperkins
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

A CFO does more than look at numbers—they also look at the big picture to find patterns in the data. Finding those patterns is what leads you, as an entrepreneur, to making better, more informed decisions for your business.

You might dig into the numbers and find that one of your products takes up 80% of your time but only 20% of your revenue—while, on the flip side, you might have a product that takes up much less time and much more revenue.

So how can stepping into the CFO role of your business help you work less, make more money, and make better business decisions? Where should you start? And what steps can you take to create a meaningful strategy?

Enter Susan Boles. Susan is a Virtual CFO and Operations Advisor for agencies, consultants, and coaches at ScaleSpark. She focuses on helping businesses get clear on their numbers and truly understand their inner workings at a deeper level so they can make decisions from a place of intention and purpose—instead of panic. Susan has over a decade of experience as a CFO and software consultant and she's on a mission to help founders build sustainable, resilient businesses.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The ROLE of CFO, and why every business – no matter how small – should have someone doing this work
What does "strategy" really mean? Where should our strategy be based?
What data to track and how to use it to make more strategic decisions in your business
The #1 question to ask yourself about EVERYTHING to improve your strategy and create better results
Why you should be tracking your time first before your financials

Learn more about Susan Boles:

scalespark.co
Break the Ceiling Podcast
@thesusanboles on Instagram
@thesusanboles on Twitter
@thesusanboles on LinkedIn

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Being an entrepreneur and supporting yourself with your own business can mean that your income can fluctuate a LOT from one month to the next—and that can be scary and stressful, making it NO FUN to “be your own boss.”

BUT! There are things that you can do to create a stable cash flow month over month so you can work less and earn more.

You can diversify your income and develop multiple streams of revenue to really stabilize things. This also ensures that you’re earning a consistent amount of money every month and ultimately getting rid of the stress and enjoying the process of actually running your business a whole lot more.

However, there are some traps you can fall into as you try to create multiple streams of income. These mistakes can prevent you from successfully developing your multiple streams, keeping your business small, and ultimately wasting a lot of your time—and, in some cases, you might end up working MORE and earning LESS which is not what we want!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Types of income vs revenue streams
A simple, step-by-step process you can follow to start developing multiple streams of revenue
Big mistakes to AVOID so you don't waste your time on efforts that won't pay off
Best revenue streams for people who are just getting started

Links:

EP 19: Courses VS Membership Sites & How to Decide Which Is Right for YOU
Attract Paying Customers Action Plan
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

When you think about public relations, what comes to mind is probably media mentions and magazine placements. But modern PR is about so much more than that. Today, appearing on podcasts is an essential way for small business owners to grow their brand.

Seriously: entrepreneurs who show up on key podcasts typically get more exposure, build their audience faster, and even get more sales immediately following a podcast appearance, according to today’s guest.

There are so many benefits to incorporating a public relations strategy into your small business—and, of course, I was determined to find out how to take advantage of the most powerful and most leveraged PR strategies that are out there today so that we can get the biggest results with the least amount of effort.

That’s why I’m excited to introduce you to my guest today, Brigitte Lyons.

Brigitte is the founder of Podcast Ally, a podcast booking agency that takes the hassle of researching and pitching podcasts off the to-do lists of their clients.

She originally came to this specialization by accident when her team booked a top podcast for a client and saw that it outperformed the magazines and online news sites her team was working with.

In addition to her agency, Brigitte also runs the Podcast Ally Pro Accelerator to teach other PR pros, talented virtual assistants, and internal teams how to book podcasts for their clients.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why podcast guest interviews are the #1 PR strategy for busy entrepreneurs
Ideas for how to position yourself as a podcast guest + what to talk about
How to decide which podcasts are the best fit for you and your brand
Best "pitching" practices to increase your odds of getting a YES

Learn more about Brigitte Lyons:

Free Pitch List with 50 Podcasts Booking Thought Leaders and Founders
podcastally.com
Podcast Ally Pro Accelerator
@podcastally on Instagram
@brigittelyons on Instagram
Get Booked On Podcasts Program

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Every month, I’m peeling back the curtain and sharing the ins & outs of my monthly revenue.

These income reports are an in-depth and honest look at how much my business earned, what it cost, and how many hours it took me to do it.

I’ll also share which tasks and projects really ended up paying me best so that you can see how I’m optimizing my business so that I can work less and earn more over time. Plus, you’ll get a time report, breaking down the time I spend on each activity and how that created a financial result (or not).

I hope that you’ll be able to learn from my trial and error, as I work to grow my business, my impact, and my income––all while keeping clear boundaries on my time and personal life.

Today, we’re looking back on June 2020.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How being out of the office for maternity leave has impacted expenses
How June was our second best month yet even though I barely worked at all
What “working almost not at all” actually means specifically
How Q2 compared to Q1 and how it turned out to be our best quarter to date
And an update on our Facebook advertising struggles

Links:

Instagram: @gillianzperkins
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

I get it. I’ve been there.

I wanted to be successful and I didn’t know how because I wasn’t successful yet.

So I did what I thought was the right thing: I asked for advice.

I found people who I considered to be successful and I asked them what it took to get to where they were—and what I needed to do. In truth, I was looking for a formula—but what I found was not only generic but incredibly unhelpful.

I didn’t understand why these successful people wouldn’t just tell me what to do! Were they being stingy or is there simply not a formula for success? Do we all just need to “find our own way?”

What I want to know is: is that the truth? Is there really only one way to success?

Personally, I think there are two main reasons why people tell you that there isn’t a formula for success.

The first one is that they don’t know the formula for success so they just declare that there isn’t one. They think that since they haven’t found it, it isn’t out there.

The second reason—which is the real, deeper, bigger reason—is that if we are just looking for a formula for success and success isn’t defined, then the answer is that there isn’t a formula for success at all.

At the heart of it, success can mean so many different things to different people.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why everyone denies there's a formula for success
Why "self-taught" is a myth
A simple framework for finding your success formula
How to put your formula to work and take ACTION to reach your goals

Links:

Attract Paying Customers Action Plan
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

My membership site is the lifeblood of my business. I started it two years ago and it’s done nothing but good things for my business—and life—ever since.

There are a number of benefits that membership sites offer for your business.

First, they produce recurring income. This really helps to stabilize your business revenue and profits.

Second, they provide ongoing support for your customers. This is incredibly powerful because you learn SO MUCH about your customers and thus are able to serve them better. Truly a win-win.

Third, your membership site is active, alive, and constantly growing. It’s not something you launch once. It’s something you can actually build momentum with over time.

If you aren’t sure if a membership site is a good fit for you, listen to episode 19 of the podcast where I talk about courses versus membership sites and how to decide between the two. And if you’re ready to dive in on membership sites, listen to today’s episode.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The most important thing to consider BEFORE starting your membership site
How to make sure a membership site is actually the right move for your business right now
The most important steps to get your first members and ensure your program is a success
Step-by-step how to put your membership together

Links:

Attract Paying Customers Action Plan
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

If you’re an overachiever, doing less doesn’t feel like the answer to earning more OR achieving your goals.

Because doing less feels counterintuitive to both of those things.

And by doing less—working less?!—you might feel guilty. You might even feel bad.

But according to today’s guest, doing less and scaling back doesn’t mean your business and life is going to fall apart. Instead, it could actually be the turning point you need to become more profitable and creative!

Kate Northrup is the bestselling author of Do Less, founder of Origin Collective, a membership site for female entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses while doing less, and mom of two little ones.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Kate launched her membership site and got her first members
Different launch strategies Kate's tried and what she's learned from them
Pros and cons of having a larger or smaller team
How asking "what would this look like if it were simple?" can change everything

Learn more about Kate Northrup:

katenorthrup.com
Kate’s new book, Do Less
The Kate and Mike Show
Instagram @katenorthrup
Facebook @Kate Northrup
Twitter @Kate Northrup
YouTube @Kate Northrup

Learn more about Gillian:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

As my business grows, it’s going to get harder, right, Gillian?

Nope. In my experience, it gets EASIER—even with three kids AND a newborn.

Now, that’s not to say I haven’t faced challenges. Of course I have! And in your journey to grow a successful business, so will you!

And some of those challenges will relate to HOW you work and WHEN you work as you seek to balance family and business responsibilities.

Beyond the logistics of running a business and parenting, one of the MOST important things that really matters is that you truly enjoy what you’re doing.

Oftentimes, we simply assume that things are going to get harder the bigger our business grows. That in itself can hold you back from growing your business into its full potential.

But if you truly enjoy what you’re doing, you show up every day, get better at what you do, and grow through the challenges that creating and growing a business naturally brings.

In today's episode, I'm going to walk you through a few of my go-to tips and tricks on how to run a business while parenting (and homeschooling!) at the same time. And for those of you who aren’t parents—maybe you have a day job, maybe you’re in school, or maybe you have a side hustle—these tips apply to you, too!

Listen to the full episode to hear:

My #1 habit for doubling my productivity every day
Whether to multitask or not and how to get it all done when you simply DON’T have the time
Simple tips for ensuring you have the energy to show up as the person you need to be to do what you need to do
And how to approach that perennial question: should you use technology as a babysitter?

Links:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Every month, I’m peeling back the curtain and sharing the ins & outs of my monthly revenue.

These income reports are an in-depth and honest look at how much my business earned, what it cost, and how many hours it took me to do it.

I’ll also share which tasks and projects really ended up paying me best so that you can see how I’m optimizing my business so that I can work less and earn more over time. Plus, you’ll get a time report, breaking down the time I spend on each activity and how that created a financial result (or not).

I hope that you’ll be able to learn from my trial and error, as I work to grow my business, my impact, and my income––all while keeping clear boundaries on my time and personal life.

Today, we’re looking back on May 2020.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What my team and I did when my daughter showed up early!
Why I wish I would have paid myself an average monthly income from the very beginning and an easy way to figure out your monthly salary
How much a new hire is costing the business and why we made that decision
Why the entrepreneurial mindset is SO necessary as you deal with the ups and downs of business
How our product sales compare to our best month ever—April—and what impacted the numbers this month

Links:

Instagram: @gillianzperkins
Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

When you’re selling online, most people assume that a bigger audience is better.

More people, more money, right?

According to today’s guest, a six-figure launch isn’t about your list size and it’s not just about how awesome you are—really! Instead, it’s about how you structure your offer, how you price it, and how you build a relationship with your audience. There’s a method behind it.

Tarzan Kay is an email marketing expert and former copywriter-for-hire who’s been able to generate massive revenue with a small audience. In this episode, Tarzan shares exactly how she did a $151,000 launch last year.

And, naturally, she shares all of her expert email marketing and copywriting tips on how she stands out in a crowded market—and how you can, too.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What counterintuitive pricing strategy to use if your list is small
How you structure your offer matters and how sometimes it’s about more than your sales tactics
What "small list tactics" you can use to maximize your sales when your email list is small
Why you shouldn't WAIT to launch—and how it can actually be the best thing you can do to grow your audience

Tarzan’s Links:

TarzanKay.com
10 Free Email Promo Sequence Swipes
Instagram: @tarzan_kay
The Must-Have Tool For Promoting To A List of Less Than 1000 Subscribers

Gillian’s Links:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Last year I spent over $20,000 on copywriters.

That is a lot of money by the standard of any small business, and it was a very significant chunk of my expenses last year.

You might think that it sounds crazy to spent $20,000 on copywriting services. But consider this: if you're earning $50k with a 1% conversion rate, you could bump it up to just a 3% conversion rate and generate $150,000!

That's a really big increase!

By improving my copy-–and increasing my conversion rate–by even a small amount, I can generate significantly more revenue and profit for my business. So spending $20,000 on copywriting suddenly doesn’t sound so crazy.

In today’s episode, I want to share what I learned through the process of spending so much money on copywriting services.

I’m going to break down whether or not it was worth it, as well as how to consider whether hiring a copywriter is a smart move for your business. I'm also going to share with you the impact that investing this money has had on my business – good and bad.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How hiring a copywriter can (potentially!) be a great investment but it can also have a lot of challenges
2 BIG copywriting projects I outsourced, and how each of them turned out
What 5 big lessons I learned about copywriting, marketing, success, and taking shortcuts
Whether or not I will work with copywriters again in the future and what I'll do differently

Links:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!
Episode 16 with Ashlyn Carter

I’m not the only one who runs a successful business in less than full time. Every month, I’ll share a conversation with another business owner who is prioritizing working less and earning more.

We’ll get into the choices they’ve made, the tools they use, and how they organize their businesses to maximize profit and minimize effort.

Today, I'm bringing on my friend Lilah Higgins to share with us a little bit about how she runs her business in about 20 hours per week.

Lilah is the co-founder of TheForge, a leadership training community for faith-driven business owners, along with her husband, Zac.

Lilah is also a leader in the online business space where she uses her fine art training and strategic mind to work with her clients and students to create cohesive and effective brands, helping them find the confidence they need to become industry leaders.

And she does all that while being a great mom to her two little kids.

Lilah definitely needs to save time wherever she can, especially now that she’s shifting her business to prioritize more fun in her life.

Lilah is a perfect case study for how you can strategically run your business in fewer hours, achieve real “success”, and meet your goals without compromising your values.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Lilah knew she was working too much and what she did to cut back on working time so she could prioritize her lifetime
How and why Lilah’s making a conscious effort to spend more time on purely fun activities
How Lilah transitioned from working with 1-on-1 clients to selling digital products… and the impact that had on the number of hours she works per week
Why Lilah works “on the margins” and how the time she spends working breaks down between clients and products
Her favorite tool for helping her company earn more with less effort

Links:

Lilah Higgins Brand Design & Art
TheForge
Lilah on Instagram
Lilah on Facebook
Startup Society
GillianPerkins.com

Selling digital products is a fantastic way to be able to work less and earn more.

If you run an online business or you're planning on starting one, chances are you are very familiar with digital products and all of the benefits digital products can bring to your business.

You already know that once you create the product, you can sell them for months, even years, without having to regularly invest more time and more money into improving them or additional inventory. Digital products are something that you can create in your business to generate profits for a long time to come.

Take courses and membership sites as an example.

Courses and membership sites are two types of premium digital products you can sell, and they both offer amazing opportunities. They both offer opportunities to increase your profits without having to continually increase your work hours.

So how, when both are potentially really smart things to invest some initial time and money into, do you decide which one is right for YOU?

In today's episode, I am going to explain to you the difference between these two digital products and help you figure out which of them is the best fit for you and your business.

I'm going to help you make that decision by sharing with you some of the pros and the cons of each, my experience with them, and which one is best for you, depending on your situation and your goals.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Courses and membership sites have a lot in common -- both good and bad
Which digital product is simpler to build into your business
Which option can be more profitable
And which option is right for YOU

Links:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Every month, I’m peeling back the curtain and sharing the ins & outs of my monthly revenue.

These income reports are an in-depth and honest look at how much my business earned, what it cost, and how many hours it took me to do it.

I’ll also share which tasks and projects really ended up paying me best so that you can see how I’m optimizing my business so that I can work less and earn more over time. Plus, you’ll get a time report, breaking down the time I spend on each activity and how that created a financial result (or not).

I hope that you’ll be able to learn from my trial and error, as I work to grow my business, my impact, and my income––all while keeping clear boundaries on my time and personal life.

Today, we’re looking back on April 2020.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What has contributed to us having our biggest profit month to date
The changes to the income numbers that we have seen over the last 30 days
What we have seen from the affiliate program that we launched with Teachable for course creators
How our Facebook advertising access was unintentionally restricted and the frustrations of trying to get them to fix it
How despite working more than I normally would in preparation for maternity leave I have been blessed with being able to spend more time with my family

Links:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

There is a dangerous pitfall that we can fall into when we work to optimize our business so that we can earn more and work less. This mistake can steal our joy and force us to waste countless hours each week.

Growing up, my mom was really into healthy eating. She always wanted us to eat our vegetables and take our vitamins, and she tried to feed us as much organic food as possible. Before dinner, she would always put out a giant salad and we couldn't eat our dinner until we had finished it. And we certainly weren’t going to get dessert until we had eaten our dinner.

I don't think that this was a bad thing because, to this day, I am a fantastic vegetable eater, but something that I've noticed is that this eat-your-vegetables-first mentality has carried over into other aspects of my life.

Whenever it’s work or play, I always tend to focus on getting the work out of the way before I spend time playing.

In general, as you would expect, this is a really good thing.

It’s good to focus on strategies that help to achieve as much as possible with little time and effort.

It means that I get a lot done, both because I focus on getting the work done first, and because I'm working towards some sort of a reward – dessert, fun, or relaxation.

This is so important to me because I don't want work to take over my life. I want to make sure that I've plenty of time left over to really enjoy life – to spend time with my family and to do the things that I truly love.

In today's episode, I'm going to explain what this pitfall is, why you might be making these mistakes, and how you can work to reframe your mindset and restructure your schedule to make sure that you're getting the most out of every hour you work all while enjoying the process to boot.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How focusing on the goal of working less can kill your passion for the work that you are doing
What mindset shifts you can make to enjoy your work WITHOUT letting it take over your life
How to shift your schedule and find the right balance between fun and work
Why work is a good thing and why we should embrace it in our lives

Links:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

Copywriting has such an incredible power to allow you to work less and earn more.

If you have put the time and energy into your copy and your website is converting – convincing more people to join your email list and buy your product – that means you don't have to put in the leg work to make each individual sale yourself.

If you set up your website do the heavy lifting for you, you can take some time off and keep making money – even if you're not in the office.

In this episode, we’re talking with the brilliant copywriter and my good friend Ashlyn Carter.

Ashlyn is a conversion copywriter and marketing strategist specializing in wedding & creative industries. She trains Fortune 500 clients in corporate marketing to bring in more than seven-figures. She has worked with creatives like Jenna Kutcher, Beth Kirby of Local Milk, Julie Solomon, Katelyn James, Hilary Rushford, Lara Casey/Cultivate What Matters. Her launch funnels have generated results for clients including upwards of $1M in revenue in a single week. She's been a contributing educator with Creative Live, ConvertKit, and HoneyBook, and has been featured in Forbes, Southern Living, Style Me Pretty, and more.

I wanted to have Ashland on the show so you can learn some of the copywriting secrets that will help you improve the writing that you do to market your business.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to make your website do the heavy lifting for you so you don't have to work as hard
How improving the words on your website can help you convert more customers and allow you to work less
The #1 thing everyone can improve on their website to get visitors to STICK and be more likely to convert
How to use a "heatmap" to figure out exactly where you need to fix your website's copy

Ashlyn’s Links:

Ashlyn Writes
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube

Gillian’s Links:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
The Feedback Form

The reason I wasn't making any money was that people can't buy your products if they don't know they exist.

When I first started my online business, on top of being a mom and working a day job to pay my bills, I was pouring a ton of time into my business every single week without seeing much results.

I had a solid product and I had built some great automated sales funnels that should have been able to produce sales. I was wondering why they weren't working. Why wasn’t this creating the results I was looking for?

What I finally realized was that it didn't matter how amazing my product was or how good my sales funnels were. If there wasn't any traffic flowing through my funnel, then the funnel wasn't going to produce any sort of results.

And because nobody knew that me, my business, or my products existed, this wasn’t going to change.

I had to figure out how to get noticed

Now in retrospect, this seems incredibly obvious. But at the time, when I finally realized that that was true, it was quite the revelation and I realized that I needed to shift my focus in my business. I needed to get that visibility or else my business wasn't going to go anywhere.

I didn't just need to work harder–I needed to change my strategy to get the visibility that I really needed.

In today’s episode, I'm going to share with you what I did to get people to finally start paying attention and the huge difference this made in my business. I am going to share with you the strategies that really took me from earning no money with my business online to earning multiple six figures.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why people aren't paying attention to you or your business... yet
How to make something worth paying attention to
The uncomfortable but POWERFUL strategy you can use to directly reach your target customers
How to reach the right people in MASS

Links:

Startup Society
Profit Planning Challenge
Link The Feedback Form

Every month, I’m peeling back the curtain and sharing the ins & outs of my monthly revenue.

These income reports are an in-depth and honest look at how much my business earned, what it cost, and how many hours it took me to do it.

I’ll also share which tasks and projects really ended up paying me best so that you can see how I’m optimizing my business so that I can work less and earn more over time. Plus, you’ll get a time report, breaking down the time I spend on each activity and how that created a financial result (or not).

I hope that you’ll be able to learn from my trial and error, as I work to grow my business, my impact, and my income––all while keeping clear boundaries on my time and personal life.

Today, we’re looking back on March 2020.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How the recent quarantine threw off my structure and schedule and what we are doing to adapt
What our progress is with working ahead and planning for maternity leave
How my income has been kind of flat over the past few months–why that is and what I can do to fix it
Why I am moving forward with Facebook ads even though they are giving us a negative return
How we can give ourselves grace this month, but how, at the same time, it is still so important that we look for opportunities and make the best of our circumstances

Links:

Video Creator Academy
Podcast Feedback Form
Startup Society

“Doesn’t working less mean less time for serving clients? Less time for making money?”

It doesn’t have to. You have already spent so much time hustling that you don't see how you could possibly work less without sacrificing revenue.

The key to working less without sacrificing cash flow is to find the systems that allow you to accomplish more with less effort – and help you prioritize fitting work into your life instead of squeezing your life into your work.

Today, Ashley Gartland shares different ways you can create simple systems to help you run your business more effectively and more efficiently.

Ashley is a business coach who specializes in helping small business owners systematize and streamline their businesses so that they can work less and grow more.

She has developed a simplified marketing system that puts all of her digital businesses and marketing efforts onto one Trello board – simplifying her marketing and maximizing her productivity

And she shares how she does this in just 20 to 30 hours per week or less.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Ashley earns six-figures running her 1-on-1 coaching business in 20 hours/week
How giving your schedule more structure can greatly simplify your work, maximize your time, and make you more productive
How to improve your client management process to save yourself time AND elevate your services
And a detailed look at Ashley's "simplified marketing system" that gives her a bird's eye view and allows her to see all her marketing efforts on ONE screen

Ashley Links:

Ashley Gartland’s Website
Simplify Your Schedule: 4 Steps to Living More and Workless (workbook with templates)
Simplified Marketing Plan Training
Facebook Business Page
Facebook Group, The Simplified Entrepreneur
Instagram

Gillian Links:

Profit Planning Challenge
Startup Society
The Feedback Form

There's a pretty good chance that you know that The Work Less, Earn More Podcast isn't exactly my main gig.

If you've seen me around the internet at all, then you probably are aware that I have a substantial following on YouTube – just under350,000 subscribers.

And if you're aware of this, then you might be wondering why I would possibly want to essentially start from scratch with a podcast when I already have so much reach on YouTube.

Maybe you’re wondering if my YouTube audience isn't that engaged, or if I am concerned about the health of my channel. Maybe you are wondering if YouTube is made up mostly of viewers and is lacking in actual buyers.

Today, I am going to address some of these questions and share with you some of the reasons I started a podcast.

The truth is that businesses that are in different stages of growth need to focus on different strategies. Just because my business is in a place where starting a podcast is a good choice, that doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing for your business.

Because of this, I’m going to walk you through why I believe this was a good strategic decision for my business, how to better understand what stage of growth your business is in, and how you can make similar strategic decisions in YOUR business for the biggest and best results.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How YouTube is great for some aspects of growing your business but still has it’s shortcomings
Why it's important to devote a percentage of your time to experimental projects
Why different strategies are right for different businesses and why what works for one business might NOT work for yours
How to know which stage YOUR business is in and what to focus on right now for different businesses

Links:

Profit Planning Challenge
Startup Society
Link The Feedback Form
Atomic Habits by James Clear

Boundaries are essential for increasing our productivity.

They give us the time, space, and energy we need to be able to create the work/life balance that ensures that work doesn’t take over their lives.

Boundaries are there to protect our personal lives and our sanity. They make sure that we’re not working too much, get a little bit of downtime, and that we have breathing room to work on our business not just in our business.

It’s the strength of these boundaries and the limiting of our working hours that mean we can work less while still keeping our profits high. Setting firm boundaries means that emails don’t take up all of our time, that we don’t take meetings on Fridays, and we definitely don’t work weekends.

It’s within these boundaries that our businesses are permitted to grow.

Today on the show, I'm interviewing Dannie Lynn Fountain, the founder and facilitator at Focused On People, a consultancy that seeks to help companies grow people-first through communication strategies.

Dannie is an absolute productivity magician who manages a seemingly impossible workload.

She brings in six figures annually from a business that she spends only a handful of hours on each week. In order to do this, Danny needs a lot more than just time.

In order to do this, she needs to have a great strategy because, if she works on the wrong things for those few hours each week, then she would definitely be seeing different results.

This is exactly what Dannie and I talk about today on the podcast, uncovering a few of her secrets along the way.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Dannie balances running her six-figure business with a full-time job at Google, a thriving career as a public speaker, a 2-hour commute (both ways!), and pursuing her doctorate
How we can become more productive by creating boundaries for ourselves
Three boundaries Dannie set to allow her to be insanely productive
Why most entrepreneurs find themselves addicted to the hustle at some point–and what to do about it

Links:

Focused On People
Dannie’s Instagram
Profit Planning Challenge
Startup Society

Every month, I’m peeling back the curtain and sharing the ins & outs of my monthly revenue.

These income reports are an in-depth and honest look at how much my business earned, what it cost, and how many hours it took me to do it.

I’ll also share which tasks and projects really ended up paying me best so that you can see how I’m optimizing my business so that I can work less and earn more over time. Plus, you’ll get a time report, breaking down the time I spend on each activity and how that created a financial result (or not).

I hope that you’ll be able to learn from my trial and error, as I work to grow my business, my impact, and my income––all while keeping clear boundaries on my time and personal life.

Today, we’re looking back on February 2020.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How I worked more than normal this month and why I have a really good excuse
Why you need to intentionally create structure in your schedule
A few reasons why you might want to work more even if you don't have to
How I finally bit the bullet and spent the money on a big, scary expense I've been avoiding for years

Links:

Podcast Feedback Form
Startup Society
GillianPerkins.com

My online business efforts haven’t always been a success.

But some key choices helped me go from earning squat-diddly to six figures in gross revenue in just 12 months.

First, some back story.

Three years ago, I was supporting my family by working 30-50 hours a week running a local music school and I knew that I needed to do something different.

I wanted to start an online business where I could work when I wanted to work, travel when I wanted to travel, spend time with my kids, and actually make some real money.

I dabbled in different niches and experimented with business ideas for a few years. I was looking for a business idea that would give me the flexibility and freedom that I was looking for.

But nothing was really sticking and nothing was really earning any money.

And, on top of all the hours that I was already working at my “day job,” I was spending another 15-30 hours working on my online business and researching what the missing ingredient was.

After a lot of trial and error, things finally started to click into place. I settled on the business that fascinated me the most––digital marketing courses and services––and set out to become an expert.

Today, I am going to break down the six things I changed to take my business past the six-figure mark.

As you’ll see, it wasn’t just six new things I started doing. Some of these things were simple decisions I made and others were things I stopped doing.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What I was spending my time on when I wasn't earning anything
The very counterintuitive thing I stopped doing that increased my income
Who I hired to help me grow my business
And the market research everyone skips and how once you understand this you never will again

Links:

Profit Planning Challenge
Startup Society
GillianPerkins.com

As a planner and very detail-oriented person, I tend to create extensive strategic plans for all sorts of things, vacations, daily routines, product launches, and hiring processes to name a few.

But sometimes I find that I run into a bit of a problem: my plans don't always work out.

Sometimes it’s because I chose the wrong tactics, but other times the plans themselves are fine except that they don’t get carried out because of how overwhelmingly detailed I have made them.

Because of this, I have learned to sometimes go with the flow, trust my intuition, and let go of expectations and just see how things work out.

Of course, this approach can be taken too far as well.Take hiring a new team member. On the one hand, if the process is overly structured, then it can wind up being overly bureaucratic–wasting a lot of time and energy and financial resources trying to discern who would be right for the job.

But this can swing too far the other way, as well. Going into the hiring process with absolutely no structure can have the consequence of hiring the wrong person and wasting tons of time and money.

We need to find a balance between structured strategic plans and simply flying by the seat of our pants. Especially if we want to intentionally build online businesses that meet our goals.

My guest today is Megan Minns, an expert at navigating this challenging situation and finding the balance between going with the flow and having the strategic structure needed to lead us directly to the results that we want.

Megan Minns is a productivity coach for ambitious women. She's the creator of Intuitive Execution, as well as the host of the Productive Life Podcast where she shares actionable advice on productivity, business, goal setting, and mindset. Megan has been featured in Inc, Business Insider, and One Woman Shop, and I'm excited to have her on the show.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What Intuitive Execution is and how it can help you get the right things done without so much stress
How intuitive execution differs from conventional productivity techniques so you can take a strategic approach to getting things done
How to find the balance between extensive strategic planning and letting go of expectations and following your intuition
The underrated strategy both Megan and Gillian used to successfully launch their flagship online courses

Links:

Meganminns.com
Megan's Intuitive Execution Workshop
The Productive Life Podcast
Megan on Instagram
Megan on YouTube
Megan on Facebook
Startup Society
GillianPerkins.com

You know that hiring a little help you earn more without having to work quite so much.

You have tasks that you could easily delegate and you’re ready to bring some people to help you with this.

But... you just don't have the budget.

Maybe it’s because your business is still in the startup phase and money is tight.

Or maybe it’s because your profits just aren't yet where you want them to be.

In today's episode, the second part of our series on hiring help, we're diving into the logistics of how to make your first hire when the money just isn’t there.

Last week, we talked about determining whether or not you are ready to hire in the first place, regardless of budget. We also talked about how to strategically hire so that it’s a profitable move for your business.

So if you haven't yet listened to that episode and you're not yet 100% sure about exactly who you should hire in order to really have a positive impact on your business's profits, then go back and listen to that episode first.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to determine exactly how much money you have available for delegating--including how to free up some funds so that you have more to invest
How to mentally prepare for the process of hiring by understanding that it's a long game strategy
How to figure out exactly what the outcome is that you're looking by hiring help
How to go about finding the right person the specific job position you’re looking to fill
And how to ensure that your new team member is actually helping you earn more and work less

Links:

Startup Society
The Profit Planning Challenge
GillianPerkins.com
Video: Running a $500k Company With Just 1 Employee
Video: How To Get Started With No Money

Too much work––and too little time: that’s the perennial problem every business owner faces.

If you’re feeling the crunch, chances are you’re already dreaming about delegating some of that work to a new team member.

But you might think that you can’t start hiring because you don’t have the budget.

You're not alone if you're scraping by each month even though you’re working all the hours, making only enough to support yourself. That's the fate of most entrepreneurs. The thought of bringing someone else on board––another mouth to feed––might sound scary and maybe even impossible.

It's kind of a chicken and egg problem. You know you need help if you want to grow your company and your revenue but you can't afford to hire someone with your current revenue.

So in today's episode, I'm going to help you overcome this problem by showing you how to make a strategic decision about exactly who to hire to give your income the biggest boost. And we're also going to discuss the logistics of how to bring this first person on board when the money just isn't there.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How delegating can help you work less and earn more
Expensive pitfalls to avoid when making your first hire
How to strategically decide WHO you should hire to have the best and biggest impact... especially if you're hiring on a tight budget
Who to hire to have the biggest positive impact on your company and specifically on your business’s income.

Links:

The Profit Planning Challenge
Startup Society
GillianPerkins.com

Every month, I’m peeling back the curtain and sharing the ins & outs of my monthly revenue.

These income reports are an in-depth and honest look at how much my business earned, what it cost, and how many hours it took me to do it.

I’ll also share which tasks and projects really ended up paying me best so that you can see how I’m optimizing my business so that I can work less and earn more over time. Plus, you’ll get a time report, breaking down the time I spend on each activity and how that created a financial result (or not).

I hope that you’ll be able to learn from my trial and error, as I work to grow my business, my impact, and my income––all while keeping clear boundaries on my time and personal life.

Today, we’re looking back on January 2020.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How I define passive income and the role it plays in my business
A detailed breakdown of my business’s revenue for January
What the monthly operation expenses were over the month
What the net profit turned out to be
And an itemized explanation of how much time it took take make all this happen

Links:

Passive Income 101
9 Passive Income Ideas (that earn $1000+ per month)
Startup Society
GillianPerkins.com
Smart Passive Income

I am quite fond of my membership site because of the recurring monthly revenue that it produces for my business. But what if I told you that it's possible to generate recurring revenue with courses as well?

This is the power of selling with an evergreen funnel.

And I’m excited to have today’s guest share her brilliant strategy for building hyper-effective evergreen funnels that aren't super complicated.

Mariah Coz is an expert at evergreen sales systems. She is someone who I have followed for a long time and consider a virtual mentor.

She’s been creating and selling online courses, building webinars, and crafting funnels for years. In that time, her company has helped hundreds of people create and sell courses about everything from watercolor painting, programming, decluttering, football, and everything in between.

She is a veteran course creator and a marketing genius. She has a no-BS style and creates insanely high converting webinars, funnels, and launches for herself and her clients using cutting-edge, innovative strategies that no one else is teaching.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to set up an evergreen funnel without all the headaches
How Mariah’s incredibly simple system actually outperforms more complex funnels
What the incredibly obvious rule is that almost EVERYONE breaks when building a funnel
What the best ways are to convert your customers when the cart isn't actually closing

Mariah’s Links:

Mariahcoz.com
Free Evergreen Sales Funnel Masterclass
Accelerator Application
Instagram: @mariahpcoz
YouTube

Gillian’s Links:

Join Startup Society (promo code: earnmore)
Profit Planning Challenge
Get in touch!

It seems like people just aren’t as into New Year’s resolutions as they used to be.

It’s not that we’ve given up on setting goals or working to better ourselves––we’re just not as motivated by the romantic optimism of the New Year’s resolution as we used to be.

Setting goals is an important part of working less and earning more, of course. Goals help us figure out what we need to focus on in the limited time that we have.

Goals help us avoid wasting time and make sure that every minute we put into our work really counts.

But there’s often a really important part of goal-setting that’s missing from the equation––and maybe why New Year’s resolutions become problematic, too.

That missing piece? Meaning.

Meaningful goals create meaningful results.

When your goals aligned with your values and priorities in life, you can finally use your goals to motivate you and stick with a goal even when things get hard.

In this episode, I explain the difference between meaningful goals and strategic projects so you can stay focused on what’s really important to you while accomplishing more of the work that produces results.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

Why SMART goals might not be so smart after all and why we often end up setting goals we don’t care about
The key difference between meaningful goals and strategic projects and why you need both
How meaningful goals and strategic projects work together to help you create results you care about
The steps you need to take to identify your meaningful goals and choose strategic projects so you can build a plan you love

Links:

Startup Society
Blog Post: Re-Imagining New Year’s Resolutions
Video: How I Plan & Organize To Reach My Goals
GillianPerkins.com

Busywork: it’s the bane of business owners everywhere.

But how can you tell the difference between “busywork” and the important things that you should be focusing your time and energy on?

That’s what this episode is all about.

Today, we're talking all about how to avoid busywork and wasted time by creating a strategic plan to guide your work so you can be sure that the work you do helps to add profit to your bottom line every month.

Specifically, we’ll get into the how-tos of profit planning––what it is, how to do it, and how to create a profit plan for your entire year.

Then, I’m going to pull back the curtain and take you behind the scenes of my business, sharing with you a realistic and very close-to-home example of how it all works. I’ll be sharing with you our current monthly revenue numbers and plans for increasing them over the next 12 months.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How to avoid busywork and prioritize the tasks that will actually increase your business's profits
Why your profit plan should be as simple as possible
How to make your profit projections for the year so you’re always clear on how to move forward
What product, service, or offer you will focus on and how to estimate the profit potential of this product
How to brainstorm a plan to maximize this product's profits this year
And a behind-the-scenes breakdown of my current revenue and goals for increasing it this year

Links:

Startup Society
Profit Planning Challenge
GillianPerkins.com

When you’re your own boss, you have at least some degree of control over your schedule and working hours.

You might not feel like you have a lot of options, because, after all, customers have to be served, emails have to be answered, social media has to be kept up to date, and bills have to be paid…

But, ultimately, you do have control.

Nobody’s going to fire you if you figure out how to get your entire to-do list done in half the time every week.

And that’s exactly what this show is about: getting it all done in way less time.

In fact Work Less, Earn More is about accomplishing more in way less time.

This podcast is about getting the most out of every hour you work–so that you can work less, and earn more. We’re going to help you finally balance your time budget and be able to “afford” the time to prioritize what’s truly important to you.

Feel like “it’s not possible” or it sounds “too good to be true”?

Then pull out your favorite listening device and give Work Less, Earn More a listen.

List to the full episode to hear:

What the Work Less, Earn More lifestyle is all about and how it can impact the level of stress you feel on a daily basis
Why the conventional 40-hour workweek doesn’t have to apply to you and why I’ve chosen to run my business in just 20 hours per week
How more time doesn’t automatically equate to more production or income
Why I don’t think everyone should strive to run their business in 20 hrs/week
And what you can expect from future episodes

Links:

Startup Society
Gillianperkins.com
Sarah Blakely

Work Less, Earn More is the podcast that explores how to get the most out of every hour you work. Gillian Perkins brings more than a decade of experience as an entrepreneur and educator to help you design a business that's not only flexible and fulfilling, but highly profitable. She shares strategies that are working in her own business to save time and maximize profits.

She also features interviews with successful business owners on how they’re achieving big things in their businesses with crazy-little time investment. Finally, each month Gillian shares an income report with you. Each report is an honest look at how many hours she worked, how much she earned, and an analysis of which tasks and projects really ended up paying her best.

Share Work Less, Earn More with an overworked entrepreneur you know who could use a change of pace!

Learn more at: http://gillianperkins.com