472: Feel Worthy of Your Business with Amy Porterfield

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2:42Hey Founder fam, welcome back to another episode of The Founder Podcast. Today, we're speaking with Amy Porterfield. She's an online marketing expert, entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, and host of the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast. In our conversation, we discuss the state of marketing in 2023, what channels you should invest in, and how to build up the courage to quit your job and pursue your dream. Please welcome to the founder podcast, Amy Porterfield. so Amy the first question I ask everyone that comes on is how did you get your job aka how do you find yourself doing the work you're doing today well I need to take you back to my last nine to five job so back in the day I used to work for peak performance coach Tony Robbins and I had a really good job I got to travel the world with Tony and his team and work on the content that he did at his events, like Unleash the Power Within, Date with Destiny.

3:43I got to work on that content and it was incredible. And what happened was I was about six years in as the director of content development and Tony decided to do a focus group and he brought in a bunch of online business owners and I was called to the meeting to take notes. So humbling enough, I was called in the meeting to take notes. I wasn't even invited to the main big oak table. I was sitting at a side table typing away. And Tony asked all the guys, they were all men at the table, tell me about your businesses. And at the time we were getting more into the online space. Tony had digital courses that he was getting out into the world.

4:24So he was just curious how these guys were running their online businesses. They had memberships, masterminds, digital courses. Some of them did one-on-one service work and consulting, but all of them had a digital opportunity or offer of some sort. And so Tony asked the question, tell me about your businesses. And one by one, each of these guys went around to talk about their businesses. And all I heard was freedom. They talked about calling the shots. They talked about being creative and building things from scratch. They talked about the people they served. They talked about the time they had to spend with their family, the money that they were making.

5:01And all I heard like in my ears, like as loud as it could be, these guys have freedom. And I did not. For the first time in my life, I realized I've always had a boss. I've always been told what to do, starting with my very strict father, all the way up to my very last boss, Tony Robbins. And so in that moment, I thought I have no idea what they're doing or how they're doing it. and I don't know what I would ever even do, but I'm going to find a way to be my own boss. And so that was the moment that changed everything for me. I think it's safe to say I took the worst notes of my life that day because all I was doing, I put my pen down or stopped typing and I was just listening.

5:40And I walked out of that meeting and I said, I got to figure this out. And it took about six months for me to think like, could I really do this? Could I really be my own boss? Could I start something from scratch? And after the fear in those first six months, I put together a plan. And so for the next six months, I put together a plan of how I'm leaving my nine to five job and starting my own business. And I did. I wrote down the date that I was leaving. It was six months from that point. And I left. I took my little white car, packed with a bunch of boxes and drove off into the sunset out of the San Diego headquarters and started my own business.

6:15And the first two years were horrific. They were so confusing, so overwhelming. I cried more than anything. and I was just confused, but I finally kind of figured it out. And 14 years later, I could say now I have a multimillion dollar business where I help hundreds of thousands of people build businesses online. And I found my area that I feel like I can thrive, but it was a rocky road to get here to say the least. Yeah. So I, um, I remember listening to an interview of yours very, very long time ago. And I never forget this story that in concept you talked about around burning the boats. Can you share about that?

6:55Because I think sometimes you've kind of, there's many different ways you can start your own business and you can do it while you're on the side and working your day job on the side, or you can just go and go and do it. And I'd love to hear your concept of burning the boats. So I learned this from Tony and he used to talk about it a lot on stage and I just took it with me into my own business. And it's this concept that when you want something really bad, and in my case, I want to be my own boss. I wanted to start a business. I wanted freedom. When you know what you want and you want it bad enough, you have to storm the island and burn the boats, meaning there's no way to go back.

7:35And for me, burning the boats meant I wasn't going to take consulting work at Tony Robbins. I wasn't going to just dabble in my own business for a while, but keep my nine to five job for the next few years. I was literally going all in, sink or swim. I was making it work. And when you burn the boats, you don't have that opportunity to turn back. So the only thing you can do is look forward and figure it out. And it's tough and awkward and messy, but you will get there. And I really do believe on burning those boats. Yeah. I took a different approach, much more risk adverse. I kind of started founder on the side and then over time, like built it up, took about a year.

8:20But I'm curious, like with that concept, you know, real world application for you, you said the first two years were really hard. What happened? So what happened was I went out on my own. And one of the questions a lot of people ask when they're thinking about starting their own business, leaving their nine to five job is, what would I do? And so the way you did it, I actually think is the better way. Burning the boats is important, meaning you can't keep going back. But I like the slow progression of making it work over time. Now that I'm more mature and a little bit more stable, I'd probably choose that way versus the way I did it.

8:57But even so, whatever way you choose, I didn't know what I would do or how I would make money. And the only thing that I felt like I was good at is helping people with their social media. I had started to do more social media inside the Robbins organization. So I thought, and it was at a time where Facebook was the wild west and everyone and their mother was a social media manager. And so I thought, well, I'll do that. And so I left and I started as a social media manager. But one of the things I didn't know how to do was unboss myself. And this concept of unbossing is believing that you can lead yourself.

9:36You do not need anyone else to tell you what to do or how to do it, you will figure it out. You have agency. You have enough courage, probably not confidence yet, but enough courage to keep moving forward. You can be your own boss. But the process of unbossing takes time and a lot of missteps along the way. And so my example of that is I left behind a nine to five job, went out on my own and started to take clients doing their social media. But I was so used to having a boss that I let my new clients treat me like I was their employee. I was saying yes to everything. We'd get on a call. I'd have 20 action items to their one action item.

10:17They'd call me at 10 p.m. I'd answer the phone. No boundaries. I was a yes girl. I was acting as though they were my boss until I was so burned out I thought I hate this business I created. I might as well go grovel back to get my job back because this is not working. And it was because I didn't know how to have boundaries and be my own boss and build a business that actually would bring me joy. So the first two years were rough. The second year of my business, I made less than I made at my corporate job. The first year I made about the same. The second year I made less. So I was going backwards until I finally figured out, wait a second, I got to change this business model.

10:59This is not working for me. So you wrote a book about leaving called Two Weeks Notice. What compelled you to write that book? It was those first two years. The first two years of building my own business, like I said, very confused, very overwhelmed, burned out by year two, because I didn't know what to do. And you don't know what you don't know. So I was just clueless. And of course, I was watching the YouTube videos and trying to piece it all together, comparing myself to everybody online. But when I got 14 years in and now I have a successful business, when I thought about writing a book, because I think most entrepreneurs think about if I ever wrote a book, what would I write about?

11:37I had no idea for many years. And then one day I thought I was dealing with a client who was really struggling to get her business up and running. And I thought, if I just could give her the guidebook of how to get started from scratch, even when you're still in your nine to five job, that is the book I wish I had. Because in my book, Two Weeks Notice, the first part is how to build a runway to leave your nine to five job with integrity and with courage and with a plan. And so there's a runway you can put together, many things you can do. So the day you drive off, you feel confident that you're ready to go in your own business.

12:12And then the rest of the book is how to start a business from scratch, all the basics that you need to get into place that I skipped or struggled with. So I wrote the book that I wish I had in my first two years of building my business.

12:49you know on average OmniSend customers make$68 for every$1 they spend, which is an insanely good return on investment. And because you're part of the founder community, you get 50 % off your first three months with the code founder50. Just head to omnisend.com forward slash founder without the E to get started. All right, now let's jump back into the show. a really popular podcast called online marketing made easy and uh you know the state of marketing has really changed like we've got all sorts of tools around ai and how you can use these tools to help you create things faster than ever we've got all sorts of creators popping up the create economy there's more creators than ever there's more channels than ever and it feels like it's the noisiest it's ever been and content creation is really easier than ever.

13:42So I'd love to hear your take of the state of marketing in this current point right now, mid 2023. Yes, you are so right. There's so many opportunities, so many exciting things that are happening in the online space. And one of my secrets to success, and I think that's helped me immensely, is I feel as though I do a really good job of staying in my lane, putting my head down, always learning, always growing, but not allowing myself to be fully distracted and pulled off of the goals that I set for myself. So what I mean by that is that I think that AI is hugely important and I believe we all should be embracing it.

14:25I teach people how to create digital courses. I think AI is going to allow us to create our own digital courses so much faster. But what I see some people do is they're building their businesses. They're going along and they think, oh, I should get into that world now. And so they're abandoning what's working in their business, what they've been doing, because they want to try something new and they want to start something new. And it's the death of an entrepreneur is when you are always starting from scratch. When you have to reinvent the wheel, start from scratch, it slows you down. And so I think these opportunities are important, all the platforms, all the new things that are coming out.

15:00But ask yourself, how can I use them in terms of what is working in my business now versus starting over, starting from scratch, getting excited about a whole other project that was never, ever part of the plan this year? So every year, just like most entrepreneurs, we set our goals and the business. But we take them very seriously so that when new opportunities come throughout the year, they don't get a huge place on our plate until we finish what we started. And I really do believe keeping our eye on the price, staying very true to the goals we set at the beginning of the year has helped us immensely get to a multimillion dollar business.

15:38When I was listening to an Oprah Winfrey podcast many years ago, she was being interviewed. She said something that has stuck with me to this day. She said, we built the Oprah Winfrey Network. We built it or actually the talk show first that she had. Harpo. We built it by being racehorses. Racehorses have blinders on. They can't look left or right, only forward. And so she said, we run our business like racehorses so that we can't look at what everyone's doing. We can't worry about what everything else is going on. We stay forward. And when an opportunity comes that we can use to further this, what we're working on, we'll take it.

16:16If not, it's got to wait until we're ready to set the new goals. And so we run our business like a racehorse and it's helped immensely. That's great advice. So what advice would you share for early stage startup founders, people that are just working on something or about to launch something when it comes to choosing a channel? Do you recommend going on multiple channels to begin with or just starting with one? Comes back to your goals, of course. What channels do you think are great for the now? I'm keen to hear. Yes. So I'm a big proponent of keep it simple and get fancy later. And so when I say keep it simple, I would say one platform at a time.

16:57Now, I know it's very difficult. And as entrepreneurs, we love variety and to do it all. But what I see is people just dabble a little here and there and never go fully all in with anything. So right now, I think Instagram and TikTok are where it's at. I think both of those, you can get amazing traction with either platform. and for most of the content creators that I see online, that's where they're really thriving. But I would just choose one and even, I mean, just 90 days. If you're not on any of them, give 90 days to go all in with one of them before you decide to add another and if you can stand it even longer.

17:35But my real answer is, I don't think it's really the platforms that matter as much as your email list. One of the biggest mistakes that I made growing my business, and this is what I see so many of my students doing, is neglecting the power of your own email list. When you go all in, let's say with Instagram, you are building your business on rented land. At any time, Mark Zuckerberg, or let's say you choose Twitter, Elon, can change the algorithm and boom, the way you've been doing business and making money can change overnight. And I don't know about you, but I sure as heck don't want some stranger on the internet, changing how I'm making money and making an impact.

18:17And so I love to use the platforms as a way to get awareness and as a way to drive people deeper into my world. But I use social media to get people on my email list because your email list converts at least four times higher than any social media post when done right. And those are the people that are going to be most loyal to you. And so your email list is one of the most important assets in your business and for most entrepreneurs, it's the most neglected in the first few years. And if you want to get that edge, if you want to get ahead of your competitors, start growing your email list yesterday.

18:54That's how important I think it is. When it comes to email marketing, what kind of basic tips do you have for our audience? Because I know sometimes people do build their email list, but they're perhaps afraid to mail, frequency, all sorts of things. This is what I hear all the time. Amy, I've started to grow my email list, but I don't know what to do with them. So to back up a little bit, just the basics of growing an email list. Of course, you need an email service provider. And of course, you want to create something that is valuable that people will give up one of the hottest commodities, which is a name in an email.

19:29Who wants more emails from people they don't really care to hear from? And so people are going to be selective on who they give their name and email to. And so you want to create something of great value that people would be willing to pay for, but you're giving it away for free. Maybe it's in the form of a PDF, a guide, a cheat sheet, a checklist, or maybe it's a 10 minute audio meditation if that's your niche, or it's a quick 15 minute video on how to do something, but it's something of great value. So the software is important. A lead magnet is absolutely important. And it's important that you talk about that lead magnet everywhere that it matters.

20:04And often it's not once a week, but it's a few times a week. it's in an Instagram reel it's in the bio of your social media you do a live video you might mention it at the end you're interviewed somewhere if they allow you you talk about it there and so you want all these different opportunities one lead magnet can go a long way if you're talking about it often but the question again that I get is okay me I'll do that I start to grow my email list let's say I have a thousand people on my email list what am I emailing them well the first rule is I think you need to email them every single week, at least once a week, maybe two, but once a week you can start out with.

20:43The cadence of your email is important. Every Thursday at 8 a.m. you'll find that I'm sending out an email. Rain or shine, I'm not missing it. People come to expect it. But what am I emailing? Well, I really do believe that everyone should be creating original content in the form of a podcast or a blog or a video show, or maybe if you're really new, just an IG Live or Facebook Live that you do once a week. But you need to have weekly original content. And here's why. It does two things. Number one, it attracts an audience. So every week, if you're showing up, let's say with a podcast, you're attracting new people into your world.

21:25But it's also serving the people that are already in your community that you want to become their go-to source. So a weekly podcast does two things, really, really important things, attracts a new audience and serves the audience you already have. And so every Thursday, I email my entire email list and I let them know I've got a new podcast and here's why it matters to you. And so they are used to getting my email. I might tell a story, give a quick tip and have them click and go listen to the podcast. The weeks, if I were to miss that, Years ago, I missed a few and my downloads went down on my podcast.

22:00It makes a huge impact. We went from 500 ,000 downloads a month to over a million in a very short period of time last year when we got really diligent on a few key strategies. And that emailing every week is very, very important. But that's what you're emailing them. You're emailing them information to go check out your latest original content, whatever that might be. Yeah, awesome. Awesome. And just on the topic of marketing, we talked about AI. I'd love to hear like people always looking for tools. What tools are you guys using right now or anything that you can share? And how can you suggest for businesses to incorporate AI?

22:41So one of the things that we are putting together actually is something that we're like deep into is finding the different prompts that you can use to create a digital course from scratch. And so we're starting to play around with what would the prompts look like to come up with a topic for your digital course? What would the prompts look like to fully outline that topic into, let's say, three to five different modules? And what would it look like if we used AI to come up with some bonus ideas for when we're promoting the digital course? What would bonus ideas look like to get people to jump into your course and want to pay for it?

23:16And so we're starting to put together a lot of prompts for my students on ways to use AI to get that course up and running quickly. But AI isn't the only tool that we're really focused on right now because there's a lot of other things that are happening in the online space that are working like gangbusters. And one of those is to get more engagement in your DMs. And so we started to work with a company a few months ago where they fully automated our DM strategy. And so you can do this without working with the company, but we wanted to kind of take it to the next level. So for example, if I'm on Instagram, and I'll say, okay, I created this brand new freebie all about how to quit your job and start your own business.

23:58And if you DM, or if you comment the word dream job below, I'll send you a link to get it right away. So on the post, they just type in dream job. A DM is automatically sent to them with the link for my freebie that they sign up to get it. And then I continue to follow up in the DMs, getting them more and more engaged in the business. And this DM strategy has not only grown my email list, but has also helped me be really specific about the needs of my students and what I can offer them. And so I love opportunities to get those conversations started. Now you might say, but Amy, it's all automated.

24:36It is, but I'm also very active on Instagram. So they still see me showing up. They still see me doing lives. But in the DMs, we've gotten it really dialed in. So people are talking to us and letting us know what they need. So that's been a new strategy this year that's been working really well. Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying this episode and learning a ton. As you know, in this series, we interview some of the greatest founders of our generation to find out how they did it. However, if you're thinking of starting your own business and you want to hear from some incredible stories from everyday people like you or I who are actually in the trenches, only been building their business for maybe one year or two years, like they're building right now and they're really in the early stages, but they're getting success.

25:22you should come and check out our new podcast from zero to founder hosted by our community manager molly flynn these are in the trenches stories from our very own successful students that have gone through some of our programs people just like you who are deep within the process of building their very own successful business these are the founders of tomorrow you can find the from zero to founder podcast on all platforms. And remember, it's founder without the E. All right, now let's jump in the show. Love to switch gears, talk about, I guess, leaving your job. It's a very scary thing for many people.

26:03Talk us through how you can kind of go through the process of getting over that fear because it's crippling and paralyzing and it holds a lot of people back and sometimes they have the aspiration, but they're just too comfortable in their day job, but they really want to start a business and it's really scary. So can you talk us through any practical tips or advice to even work through that? Yes. When I first had the thought in that one meeting that I wanted to go out on my own, I was paralyzed with fear. And the first thought, I actually, this is a true story. I turned to one of my best girlfriends that I work with at Tony Robbins.