The 3 Freedoms We Seek

Having built a multi-million dollar consulting and training business that started as a traditional brick and mortar business and then moved online, one of the reasons I love the online business model is because I see it is the shortest and most direct path to achieving the 3 primary freedoms we all seek:

Financial freedom

Time freedom

Lifestyle freedom

I also believe it is the very best model for helping people achieve the transformation they seek.

Not alone does it give you the opportunity to reach a much wider audience, but this reach gives you the opportunity to niche down and really focus on solving one big problem for people.

And in doing so the results you can help people achieve will be far greater than when you are trying to serve a broader spectrum.

As an online business owner, you almost have access to the entire population of the world and as a result, you only need to focus on serving those who you are meant to serve. The people for whom you, and you alone are the perfect leader.

The focus is no longer about making the world a better place but just making your corner of the world a better place

And creating a safe space for the people who need you the most.

I have yet to come across a business where there wasn’t an opportunity to add on or scale a knowledge commerce element.

Whether that be through subscriptions, memberships, or online courses.

The opportunities are endless but in order for you to be successful there are 3 fundamental, foundational, building blocks that you absolutely must get right.

Building Block 1 – Develop A Repeatable Process That Gets Results

Now I don’t care what stage you are at in your business, whether you want to launch an online knowledge product or a membership or whether you are planning a subscription service, automated evergreen delivery, or fully-fledged coaching program you have to have a step-by-step process that is repeatable and is proven to get people the result that they seek.

When it comes down to it the currency that you trade-in is results.

In order to get people results in any area of life or business, you must give them a specific set of steps they need to take in a specific order to achieve the desired outcome.

All people care about are results. You can have the best content in the world but if it doesn’t move people towards an outcome then it is pointless

And by all means, if you have achieved the promised result yourself you can document your process as a starting point but I think it is essential that you then take that process and see if others can get the same result as you have while following it.

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that others will be able to do the same.

And if you are just starting out find people you can work on one-on-one to implement your process and get results before you launch your online course or membership.

And very often when I’m working even with established online business owners this is the starting point because unless you have a defined transformation and very intentional process or stepping stones to achieve that transformation you can struggle to hit your full revenue and impact potential.

Building Block 2 – Build A Knock Out Offer

Now when I say knockout offer I am not talking about a discount or any one deliverable of your program.

I am talking about how you describe the promise that you make about how someone’s life will be better once they have implemented your proven process.

Your offer should make someone feel stupid to pass up on it irrespective of the price. In fact, the job of your offer is to make price a tertiary consideration because you paint a vivid picture of exactly how they envision their perfect life or business to be like, devoid of the pain and problems they are experiencing right now.

People will come to you because they need a specific problem solved but if you can paint a better future for them that they have even imagined for themselves and they believe that you have the ability to help them achieve it that’s when you have a knockout offer.

One copy technique for building this is the Value equation.

Above the line, we have two elements. Below the line, we have two elements.

Above the line, we have The Dream Outcome X Perceived Likelihood of Achievement.

When drafting your offer you want to increase both of these elements.

Now the dream outcome is the Utopia that I spoke about a second ago.

But let’s face it everyone especially in the online world promises the sun, moon, and stars.

And this is one reason you need to have a proven process because people have to be convinced that you don’t just talk a good game. You have to have some way of justifying why this time it will be different for them. Why this time it will work for them.

Below the line, in the value equation, you have Time Delay by Effort and Sacrifice.

Our job is to reduce both these elements.

Now, I work with lots of people in the health, wellness, yoga, and nutrition space and there is always some hesitancy here, and I think this is true in all disciplines, there are no shortcuts.

But bottom line people are lazy. They want to get the maximum results in the shortest time possible with the minimum effort.

And while the last thing we should do is mislead or promise something that isn’t possible what we need to do is make people feel like our process is the ” shortcut” that they have been looking for.

But only the most refined and tested processes can help people achieve this which is why that was included as point 1.

Building Block 3 – Build Your Audience & Community

No amount of marketing can overcome a weak offer or a cold audience.

Having delivered just under 60 launches personally and worked on countless client launches I can’t stress how important having an engaged audience is.

If you have a really hot audience even a weak offer can get great results.

No matter where you are in your online business journey building an audience and community is going to be key to your future success.

First off what is the difference between an audience and a community?

Well, imagine a big ballroom with 2,000 people. If you are standing on stage, everyone is focused and facing you, with you talking to them, you are building an audience.

Whereas if the 2,000 people were seated cabaret style talking with each other as you facilitate the conversation you are building a community.

Community is infinitely more powerful but you have to start by building an audience.

Now there are lots of different ways you can build an audience. There’s social (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, Linkedin), Email, Blog, YouTube, Podcasts just to name a few.

When I’m working with my Lead2Launch Coaching clients and members I always get them to focus on building an audience on 1-2 primary channels first

Now the social channels can be the easiest to get started and you can certainly see results quickly, building a blog, YouTube, or Podcast audience can take much longer.

No matter what you choose, your key focus should be to convert your audience into email subscribers.

Email provides the single highest ROI of any marketing channel and when it comes to making sales there is no dispute as to the crowned champion.

Whatever 1-2 channels you choose go all in. Learn everything about how they work and what gets the best results on that platform. Play by that platform’s rules and customize your messaging and approach to suit the platform. Sometimes to stand out you have to fit in.

And most importantly building an audience on any platform can take time. And I am talking months and years as opposed to days and weeks.

You have to look at it as a long-term play. You are investing in your future success.

This is especially important in the early days when you are not picking up the followers or engagement that you would like or that you feel you deserve based on the effort you are putting in.

The best bit of advice I can give you is to fall in love with the process, not the outcome. Fall in love with getting your message into the world.

If you take consistent action over long time frames you will get the rewards even if it doesn’t feel like it initially.

10 Questions Every Online Business Owner Should Ask Themselves

Now at the start of the post, I promised you 10 questions every online business owner should ask themselves on a regular basis to ensure that they are on track and on purpose.

And I’m going to get to that in one second, however, before I do let’s recap on what we have spoken about today.

There has never been a better time to launch or scale an online business and I believe it is the best business model for helping the most people achieve the greatest results while working toward building your own freedom: Monetary, Time, and Lifestyle

If you are starting or scaling your online business the 3 fundamental elements you must get right are:

Build a proven, repeatable process that gets people results

Craft a knockout offer that people would feel stupid to pass on

Take a long term view on building an audience for today and tomorrow

Now for the bonus session.

When it comes to launching and scaling an online business it is essential that there is complete alignment between your business and personal goal.

I am a firm believer in strategy first and I have seen the repercussions when your business is going in one direction but personally, you want to go in another direction.

One of the key ways that I help my coaching clients is on the development of their overall personal and business strategy.

The following ten questions are a tiny extracts from my Self-Facilitated Strategic Planning process.

So here we go

1. .What are your personal goals and dreams?
2. What are your non-negotiables?
3. What are the most important things to you about being in business?
4. What dreams and ambitions do you hold for those who you serve?
5. What makes you angry about the niche you operate in?
6. What makes you excited about the niche you operate in?
7. What are your greatest fears?
8. What makes you feel successful as a person?
9. What makes you feel successful as a business owner?
10. If you could only help one specific type of person get one specific result for the rest of your life…Who would they be and what would you help them do

Let me know here where I should send them and we will get right on that.

And now that you know the steps that you need to take to start your online business you are probably going to want to take a deeper dive into Lead Generation which is the lifeblood of every online business.

So make sure you check out my other posts lots more on how to get started with lead generation and how to design landing pages that convert.