Amy Porterfield: Break Free from the 9-to-5 Trap & Build a Business You Love | Entrepreneurship | YAPClassic

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25:16young and profiters i know there's so many people tuning in right now that end their work day wondering why certain tasks take forever why they're procrastinating certain things why they don't feel confident in their work why they feel drained and frustrated and unfulfilled but here's the thing you need to know. It's not a character flaw that you're feeling this way. It's actually your natural wiring. And here's the thing. When it comes to burnout, it's really about the type of work that you're doing. Some work gives you energy and some work simply drains you. So it's key to understand your six types of working genius.

25:51The working genius assessment or the six types of working genius framework was created by Patrick Lencioni, and he's a business influencer and author. And the working genius framework helps you identify what you're actually built for and the work that you're not. Now, let me tell you a story. Before I uncovered my working genius, which is galvanizing and invention. So I like to rally people and I like to invent new things. I used to be really shameful and had a lot of guilt around the fact that I didn't like enablement, which is one of my working frustrations. So I actually don't like to support people one-on-one.

26:22I don't like it when people slow me down. I don't like handholding. I like to move fast, invent, rally people, inspire. But what I do need to do is ensure that somebody else can fill the enablement role, which I do have, Kate, on my team. So Working Genius helps you uncover these genius gaps, helps you work better with your team, helps you reduce friction, helps you collaborate better, understand why people are the way that they are. It's helped me restructure my team, put people in the spots that they're gonna really excel. And it's also helped me in hiring. Working Genius is absolutely amazing.

26:52I'm obsessed with this model. So if you guys wanna take the Working Genius assessment and get 20 % off, you can use code profiting. Go to workinggenius.com. Again, that's workinggenius.com. Stop guessing, start working in your genius. Talk to us about what your first business looked like and some of the mistakes that you made with that. Oh, so, so many. Okay, so the first thing I did was I took that side hustle and I just made it a full-time thing, which was really helpful, meaning I was doing social media for small businesses. So I had two clients when I left and then I put some feelers out there.

27:27I didn't have a big following or anything like that. So I told friends of friends, hey, I'm for hire, this is what I do. I do social media for small businesses. Got a few clients in there. So I was making enough money to cover my bills and my goal was to make enough money to meet the salary I was making at Robbins, which I think at the time was around$160 ,000. So I wanted to make$160 ,000 in that first year. So I had a goal and I had to get the clients. I was doing social media for them. And the truth is, I hated it. I hated this business that I created. One of the biggest mistakes is that I was desperate.

28:02I was so scared of not making enough money that I freaked myself out at every turn and was terrified I was gonna lose a client. And so I really, if I could go back and talk to that girl, I'd say, let's chill out just a little bit. We're going to be fine. And we don't have to like be so desperate and hold on to everything that came our way. So I said yes to everything that came my way. And I was a yes girl to my clients. I'd get on a phone call with a client and we would leave and I'd have 20 action items to their one thing that they needed to do over the next two weeks or so. Like I didn't know how to set boundaries.

28:37So I resented my clients. I hated them. I hated working with them. I hated the work I was doing. And I did this for two years. And then I realized this is worse than a nine to five job. I feel like that freedom, where is it? And I think there was this idea in my head that I'd be sipping Mai Tais on the beach with a laptop in my lap. Like I thought that was entrepreneurship. I really do think that sometimes we're sold a lot of junk that's not true. So I had to reevaluate my expectations. What does entrepreneurship look like? What do I want out of it? And how can I change this business model? So two years in, after I had no boundaries, taking clients I didn't want to work with and starting to feel burnt out and resentful.

29:21I thought I need to change my business model. It just wasn't for me. It was for a lot of other people. They love one-on-one work. I didn't. And so that's when I decided I'm going to create a digital course teaching marketing instead of working one-on-one. I really love this idea of one to many so that I could make as much money as much impact as I wanted. So slowly but surely, I transitioned into digital courses. I love that. And I can relate because I remember when I started my social media agency, I still have my social media agency, but I set boundaries now, which we'll talk about in a second, which keeps me isolated or more isolated from my clients so that it doesn't become a situation where I have 30 bosses instead of one.

30:05Because when I first started, it would be like everyone's calling me directly on my cell phone. By the way, that's a boundary now. I don't really want my clients to call me on my cell. My legacy clients that I've had forever that are now my mentors, different situation. But new clients, they don't get to call me on my cell phone, right? So setting boundaries is super important, especially when you're creating something like an agency where you're going to have multiple clients that you have to interface with. It is going to be impossible to satisfy all of their demands. Also, this idea of being a yes person when you have an agency where, for example, if someone's like, well, I don't want your exact service, but I want these specific little elements of it.

30:44And then I want you to add this. If you always say yes to that, you're going to be a mess because your team's not going to have consistent processes. Everybody's going to be nuanced. That's not how you scale and get better and become an amazing agency, right? So talk to us about these non-negotiables. This is what you call them in your book and boundaries and some of the examples that you should be setting as an entrepreneur. So after two years of hating the business I started and things not working out, I realized I need to have some non-negotiables, which basically is what I do or do not do no matter what, full stop, period.

31:18And so one of the non-negotiables that I created is that I am not working every night and every weekend. The first two years of my business, I work seven days a week. There's no doubt about it. My husband was a firefighter, so he was gone every other 24 hours. So I had a lot of time on my own and I was using every minute of it. And so of course, that's going to create burnout. So one non-negotiable. I stop at 6 p.m. and I don't work most weekends. Once in a while, but not every weekend. That was one of them. Another one was my husband actually said to me like, I never see you. We're two shifts in the night right now.

31:54And it scared me because I was newly married at the time. And I thought, okay, I need to get my priorities straight. And so I know this seems kind of silly, but one of the non-negotiables was a few days a week, I would have coffee with my husband in the morning. Instead of rushing and getting on my phone right away and starting to work like I was doing, which is very unhealthy, like I'd roll out of bed and work, we can't create a business that way. So I'd slow down in the morning. I got a morning routine that had to do with working out and eating healthfully in the morning and spending a good 30 minutes with my sweet husband who values quality time over anything and just be present with him.

32:30So that became a non-negotiable that I committed to. His name is Hobie. I committed to Hobie that I would do that and we would be present. We still do that today. This morning, we had our non-negotiable coffee time 14 years later. So it's really important to us. So it's basically thinking what matters to you? What are you willing to do and not willing to do? When I teach this to my students, a lot of them will say, I'm no longer taking a client at a desperation of making money. If I don't like that person or want to work with them, it is a no. That's my non-negotiable. So you've got to think about where you're struggling the most and where do you need some boundaries and rules to take care of yourself.

33:08Something that I want to ask you about, you mentioned that for two years, you didn't set any boundaries. I was very similar for like four years. I just worked seven days a week, but I don't regret it. I always talk about how I don't regret sacrificing that time. I feel like I wouldn't be where I am now. And now I do have freedom and boundaries and all these things, but it was because I set up a foundation. So do you feel like there's a place for sacrifice and sort of just nose down, grinding, hustling and things like this? Or do you feel like it can be possible while setting boundaries? I feel like this question says so much about how you and I are the same, because absolutely, I think there's hustle.

33:48I think you have to. I tell my students in the first few years of growing your business, you're going to make sacrifices. You're going to work more than maybe you want to work, but you have to say yes to opportunities because you don't know what's going to work or not and what you like and what you don't. So I agree with you. I don't regret any of that time. It was hard. You know, I say two years, it definitely spilled into years after it just kind of looked a little bit different once I had non-negotiables, but I still worked more than I should have. And I think I could have stopped it sooner.

34:19But I would say at least the first two years, you're making those sacrifices, you're working more hours than you'd like, because we've got to set up that foundation. So I don't know if realistically, there's a way around it. Yeah, I totally agree. So something else related to boundaries that I love that you talk about in your book is called Tiger Time. Tell us about Tiger Time. Okay, so Tiger Time came about because there were things that I wanted to do in my business that I knew would move it forward, but I never made time for. So for example, I wanted to create my first digital course, and it took me a long time to start it because I never made time for it.

34:53And I would say, my clients need me. I need to be there for my clients and doing all the things. So my new business model kept getting pushed to the side. So I created this thing for myself called Tiger Time, which meant there were chunks of time in my calendar, two hours here, an hour there, that no one could penetrate. I was like a tiger with her cubs, nobody could get in. I was gonna protect that time. And I would be very clear about how I would use that time. So this two hours on Tuesday morning, I'm going to create the outline of my first digital course. This hour on Thursday, I'm gonna write a promo email to promote that course.

35:29But I was very intentional. Now it was just a few hours a week in the beginning because I had all these clients, but I knew I'm never getting out of this business model and into what I want to do if I do not make the time. Schedule it to make it real. I live by that. And so Tiger Time is what I teach my students that you should have a few hours of Tiger Time every week for the stuff that matters most that you're not getting to. I completely agree with you. at Yap Media, me and my executive team, we have no meeting Wednesdays. So the entire Wednesday is just a focus day. We're not allowed to schedule any meetings, nothing external, internal.

36:06And it really helps us ensure that we've got weekly time to work on our priorities because you can just get distracted by all the different people and the opportunities that are going on, but this ensures that we have focus time. So I love Tiger Time. I love the way that you named it. Let's get into actually discovering our business idea. As an entrepreneur myself, I have a lot of people who are always asking me, how do I think about what side hustles to create, what business to create? I wanna be an entrepreneur. I don't know where to start. Or they'll be like, I have so many ideas. I'm not sure which one to pick.

36:37Can you tell us about how they should go about picking their business idea? Okay, so I've got something called the sweet spot formula to help people come up with their initial idea for a course, a membership, one-on-one coaching, consulting, whatever it might be. So there's four different quadrants. And the first quadrant is your 10 % edge. So when I say that, what I mean is, what results have you gotten for yourself, both professionally and personally? We're gonna look at all of them. Where do you excel? So you've gotten results for yourself or for clients, customers, a family member, a friend, and you can teach how you got those results or you can help other people get them in whatever capacity you want.

37:16So we're looking for your 10 % edge. The reason I say 10 % is you do not need more education, more certification, more time, you likely already have something that you can start, but our brains tell us we're not ready. That's very, very normal. So we're just going to be 10 % ahead of those we serve. We're going to lay out the roadmap, show them how to get it done, but let's not think we have to be the expert of all experts just to get started. So we're looking for your 10 % edge. Most people have a few different areas where they would excel in. The second thing, the second quadrant is who do you want to serve?

37:50So when you think about what you're good at and where you've gotten results. Who can you serve in terms of a solution for them, meaning they have a challenge or a pain point, or they have a desire that you could meet? So a challenge, pain point, or desire, what is it? So let's get clear on what do they need and how are you going to solve it? We need to align those two quadrants. The third quadrant is your profit generating opportunities. So if you think, okay, Amy, I'm really good at meal planning. Let's say you took nutrition classes, maybe you are a nutritionist, you want to do meal planning for people virtually, you're really good at that.

38:26That's your first idea. Remember, it doesn't have to be your end all be all. What I started with 14 years ago looks dramatically different with how I make millions today. So we're just going to start somewhere. So when you think about, okay, I want to meal prep for people virtually, ask yourself, are there books about it, podcasts about it, other courses about it? Are people consulting or coaching in this area? Are people spending money to have you do what you want to do for them or learn it themselves? And if the answer is yes, that's your first initial validator. Now, what happens is because I teach people how to create courses, they'll say, well, there's already courses on the topic I want to teach.

39:03And I say, ding, ding, ding. That's a great thing. We don't need to be first to market here. We need to prove that people are spending money here. And if there's other products doing what you want to teach or do, that is a great validator. Let's take that as a win. There's enough room for all of us. It's a mentality we all have to adopt. The fourth and final quadrant is, does it light you up? Notice I did not say, is this your passion in life, your end-all be-all thing? No, you just got to enjoy it because you and I both know if you're going to teach on it or do it, you're going to be eating, breathing, sleeping this topic.

39:38So you at least need to enjoy talking about it a lot or teaching it or doing it, whatever it might be. So again, what's your 10 % edge? Who do you serve? What is their challenge or desire? Where's the profit potential? Are people spending money in this area? And does it bring you joy? This is the first initial step to start to come up with your idea for your business. What you're saying is so important, especially doing some research on, is there a market here? Are people actually gonna spend money on this? I think the biggest thing that I see people mess up on is they create some problem that nobody has.

40:15And then they're like, nobody's buying my stuff. It's like, well, there's nobody wants it, right? There's no demand for it. Another important piece is picking your audience. And I always tell my students, your audience is your choice. Don't forget that your audience is your choice. I love that. And you can decide whether or not you're gonna work with people who can afford services or not, whether or not you're gonna work with audiences that are like finding a needle in a haystack or not. And it's really important. So what are the things that you think about? And I know I think you call it a customer avatar.

40:47What are the elements that you need to plan and try to research about your audience? And what's your advice for selecting an audience that's gonna convert? One of the fastest ways to choose who your audience is, and this is what I see with a lot of my new students just starting out, is they were their avatar. It's one of the easiest ways. It doesn't have to be, but one of the easiest ways, and this was me, I struggled with creating courses and marketing courses. I had no idea what I was doing. So I was my avatar. I know what they feel, what they think, where they struggle, where they get stuck.

41:20I know everything about my student because I was my student. So that is one of the easiest ways to get started. But that's not true for everybody. So you don't have to be your student. And one of my students, he's a male, he's like 30, and he teaches women in their 60s how to get fit. He was never a woman in his 60s, but he's done enough research to learn. He's interviewed them. He's asked them questions. He's listened more than he's talked to them so he understands them inside and out. So it can go both ways. But I love that you say you could choose your audience because sometimes my students will come to me and say, Amy, I want to sell XYZ, but I can only charge$47 because my students are on aid.

42:05They can't even afford it. They're getting scholarships for school. They have no money. They'll never be able to afford me. And part of me is like, yeah, let's choose a different audience then. Why would you set yourself up for that kind of hardship? It is true that some audiences cannot afford you. Choose your audience wisely. The beautiful thing is this happens over time. You don't just lock it in one day and it's there forever. My ideal customer avatar has absolutely changed over the years to the point that now I'm really clear who she is. but I wasn't sure in the beginning and you have to experiment.

42:40So let's talk about ensuring that you've got a valuable offer that people will say yes to, that will convert, right? So what are the elements of a valuable offer? Like how can we tell if our product or service is going to do well in the market? Okay. So the first thing is going back to that research. We've got to research what's out there. What are people paying for? Who are your competitors? What are they selling? What What are their price point? What does their audience look like? We're gonna do some research. I'm not talking about six months of research, but some really quality time where I want you to document what you're learning and what's out there.

43:15So that's one of the things we're gonna do is we're gonna create an offer. But once you start to sit down and put together your offer, you need to really pinpoint the challenge you are solving or desire your meeting, but it's usually a challenge or a pain point. So I want you to have a statement at the top of a Google Doc where you're taking your notes, this is the challenge that I am solving. These are the results that I am promising. Now, this is very clear because when you start to create whatever it is you're going to put together, it always comes back to, but is this true? Whatever I just put together, is it going to solve this problem?

43:51Whatever I just put together, is it going to meet that challenge where my students are at or clients or customers right now? And a beautiful offer takes into account Let's say the core thing you offer. Let's say you're gonna do one-on-one consulting and you're gonna take five clients. So your offer is one-on-one consulting. Okay, for how long? Let's say you say six months. You get six months of one-on-one consulting. Now get clear on what that is. Is it every week they get to talk to you? How long do they get to talk to you? How do they talk to you? Is it through Zoom, Vox, or Slack, whatever it might be?

44:26So you've got to set those expectations early so people know what they're paying for. So get clear on what you're offering. Another part of the offer is the price point. So playing around with the price point is very normal. What I always suggest to my students is, let's start a little bit lower and go higher over time. It's very awkward, I know this firsthand, going high and then feeling like you need to bring it down. It's just an awkward thing with the people who paid the bigger amount of money. And I've been there before. Sometimes mistakes are made, but I'd rather see you gradually increase your prices versus having to take them down.

45:00So we're gonna come up with a price point. Another part of your offer is, is there a payment plan? So I've had a lot of success over the years with my one-on-one consulting and with my digital courses to offer a payment plan to make it an easy yes for people to get involved, especially when I was a no-name. When no one really knew who I was or what I could offer, making it easier for them to get into business with me with a payment plan always worked out well. So if that makes sense for your offer, I'm all about it. And another part of your offer is the guarantee. So for a digital course, it might be 30 days, 60 days.

45:35For consulting, you can kind of play around with what if they're not a good fit? How do they get out of it? Whatever it is that you want it to be, you're the boss, you're the creator. Make sure it feels good to you, but then you've got to communicate it. The only thing that matters is expectations. They are very clear what they're paying for and what they get. So these are some elements that make a really beautiful offer.

46:01Happy New Year, Yap Gang. I just love the unique energy of the new year. It's all about fresh starts. And fresh starts not only feel possible, but also feel encouraged. And if you've been thinking about starting a business, this is your sign. There's no better time than right now. 2026 can be the year that you build something that is truly yours. The year where you take control over your career. And it starts with Shopify. I've built plenty of my own businesses on Shopify, including my LinkedIn Secrets Masterclass. So it's a two-day workshop. People buy their tickets on Shopify. And then my Mastermind subscription is also on Shopify.

46:36I built my site quickly in just a couple of days. Payments were set up super easily. And none of the technical stuff slowed me down like it usually does because Shopify is just so intuitive. And this choice of using Shopify helped me scale my masterclass to over$500 ,000 in revenue in our first year. And I'm launching some new podcast courses and can't wait to launch them on Shopify. Shopify gives you everything you need to sell online and in person, just like the millions of entrepreneurs that they power. You can build your dream story using hundreds of beautiful templates and set up as fast with built-in AI tools that help you write product descriptions and edit photos.

47:13Plus marketing is built in so you can create email and social campaigns easily. And as you grow, Shopify can scale right along with your business. In 2026, stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up for your$1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash profiting. Go to shopify.com slash profiting. That's shopify.com slash profiting. Yap fam, hear your first. This new year with Shopify by your side.

47:44Hello, Yap gang. I know my young and profiting listeners want bigger businesses and a better life. And the new year is the perfect moment to reset and commit to your growth. But let's be real. You can't build an empire if your finances are all over the place. That's why getting into it QuickBooks is one of the best first moves you can make this year. They've got powerful money management tools built right into their platform, and they have them for every stage of your business, whether you're a solopreneur or a small business. And I love that QuickBooks helps you get paid faster, pay bills smarter, and even gives you access to funding when opportunity pops up.

48:18So QuickBooks can help you with bookkeeping, can help you with getting paid, can even help you with projections and understanding where your business is at financially. Plus, QuickBooks Money Solutions reduces manual work by half and keeps your money and your books perfectly synced. That means less time staring at spreadsheets and more time actually building the vision that you started with. That's the upgrade that every profiting entrepreneur needs. Start the new year strong, take control of your cashflow with QuickBooks Money Tools. Learn more at quickbooks.com slash money. Again, that's quickbooks.com slash money.

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49:00What's up, Yap Gang? If you're a serious entrepreneur like me, you know your website is one of the first touch points every single cold customer has with your brand. Think about that for a second. When people are searching on Google, everybody who interacts with your brand first is seeing your dot com initially. But here's the problem. Too many companies treat their website like a formality instead of the growth tool that it should be. At Yap Media, we are guilty of this. I am really due for an upgrade for my website and I'm planning on doing that with Framer this year because small changes can take days with my other platform and simple updates require tickets.

49:34And suddenly we're just leaving so much opportunity on the table. And that's why so many teams, including mine, are turning to Framer. It's built for teams who refuse to let their website slow them down. Your designers and marketers get full ownership with real-time collaboration, everything you need for SEO and analytics, with integrated A-B testing. I love that. I love testing and making sure that we've got the best performing assets on the page. You make a change, hit publish, and it's live in seconds. Whether you're launching a new site, testing landing pages, or migrating your full.com, Framer makes going from idea to live site fast and simple.

50:09Learn how you can get more out of your.com from a Framer specialist, or get started building for free today at framer.com slash profiting for 30 % off a Framer Pro annual plan. That's 30 % off in 2026. Again, that's framer.com slash profiting for 30 % off framer.com slash profiting. Rules and restrictions apply. So this podcast is called Young and Profiting. How can we ensure that we're going to be profitable with our offer? What are the things that we need to consider? Okay, so number one is you've got to stay on the field. And what I mean by that is I made$267 with my first offer I put out there.

50:49$267. I thought I'd make$100 ,000. I looked online, everyone else on social media looked like they were making millions, which we know now that is not true. But I bought into it and I thought, I'm gonna make$100 ,000. Put out my offer, crickets, by the end, 267 bucks. I cried for a week. I thought it meant I'm not cut out to be an entrepreneur. If I took that and said, I'm not cut out to do this, I need to go back to a nine to five or change my business model altogether I wouldn't be sitting here with you today with the success that I've had. So we have to stay on the field. It might not work the first time.

51:25It might not work the second time, especially if you're just starting out. But if you're willing to figure out what didn't work, why didn't it work? Can I try something new? Are you willing to fail? That is so important. I know you because you're so successful. You must have had failures along the way. Am I right? Of course. I've never met a successful entrepreneur who can't tell you their battle story, their battle wounds, show you their battle wounds and say, this was a disaster. There's a chapter in my book where I did not want to tell the story. It's near the end. And I tell a story of the fact that I brought on a partner in my business.

52:03After I'd hit almost a million dollars in revenue, I still believed I couldn't do it on my own. And I brought a partner. He was a younger guy. He was awesome, very strategic. and through the next few years, we did big, big things together until the partnership didn't work, which tends to happen with partnerships. And I had to get out of it. And it was a disaster and I almost lost my business. It was the one thing in my business that took me to the ground. We were this close away from literally dissolving a business I had created that was making millions because we couldn't agree how to get out of it.

52:38We didn't have a good contract. I made a million mistakes with that. Now, fast forward to today, I did get out of it. I did get my business back and thank God, hallelujah. But that brought me to my knees. But it needed to because I am a totally different person today with what happened during that partnership. Like I don't even recognize that girl anymore. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Let yourself make the mistakes. Can I ask you how much equity did he have in the company? Okay, so here's what happened. I'll tell you real quick. So I had almost made a million dollars in my business. We were in a mastermind together.

53:12I went to him and said, hey, can you help me with XYZ? And he said, I've got a better idea. Take me on as a 50-50 partner and we will explode this together. I was three years into my business. And I'd like to tell you that it took months for me to decide. I'd like to tell you I went to my mentors. I went to a lawyer. I talked it out. One night's sleep. One night's sleep. And I woke up the next morning and I said yes. No vesting agreement? No, no. He got 50 % of my business. There was a very loose contract and I blame myself for all of it. It was that I can't do this alone. I did not believe in myself, which is why I talked to my students about really owning what you're capable of and allowing yourself to make the mistakes.

53:56You do not need anybody else to guide you. You've got it in you. I didn't believe this when I was three years in. So we got 50 % of my business. I did get a little extra off the top because I had started it. But regardless, trying to get out of that was the scariest thing I've ever done. We ended up going to mediation. Thank God. Hallelujah. And we came to an agreement. But it took a whole year of my life of thinking I have made the biggest mistake ever. So it was rough. Well, I'm happy that you got that figured out. So let's talk about building a website. You actually say that it's one of the most important things that you can do.

54:33So why do you believe that it's so important to have a website and not just sell on social media or your DMs or something like this? Social media is fickle. That algorithm can change like that. We've seen it with Mark Zuckerberg, now Elon Musk. They could change anything and our whole business will change. So a website is your hub. It's what you own and you want to drive traffic to that. Sometimes people will say like, well, if I put out a podcast, do I drive to iTunes? No, no, no, no. We want a central hub where we're gonna bring people to us and they can engage with our content there. And so the thing is though, it doesn't need to be a beautiful website.

55:1014 years ago, I think I had the ugliest website on the web and I made a million dollars with it. Now today, because I'm showing my age here, I've been at this for a while, you can get a template that's gorgeous that will blow any website out of the water. So today it's so much easier to have a beautiful looking website. I don't think that's important though. I think the content is important. I think you creating weekly original content and posting it on your website is important and being very clear about how you serve people. There's elements that are important, but it should not be something that you're waiting to start your business for six months because you don't have a website yet.

55:49That is an excuse and you do not wanna do that. I love that you called that out because I was gonna call that out too. Like a lot of people procrastinate thinking, oh, I need a logo. I need it professionally designed. any of a professionally designed website, don't go spend$10 ,000 on your website. No. Go get a free trial from Shopify, shopify.com slash profiting. It's a dollar for three months. Boom, there you go. And it will take you two days to create your website. Like that's all you need to do. And anybody who can use a computer now can build a website. You don't have to like overcomplicate it or anything.

56:20So let's talk about email lists. Why do you believe that email marketing is so valuable? Because I know it's one of the top things that you actually speak about, what value do you see in creating an email list? You own your email list. Those names and emails that raised their hand, they said they wanna be on your list, they want to hear from you, you own that. You do not own social media. So that's my point about social media is fickle, the algorithm can change, and boom, your whole business could change overnight. But when you have an email list, you have a captive audience, and an email list converts four times higher than any social media post when done right.

56:56I can't even imagine having the business I have today without putting a focus on growing an email list. Yeah, and I have to say that I only started, and I'm kicking myself for this, I only really started my email list a year ago. It would be so much bigger now, and I've gotten so much ROI from it and so many opportunities from my email list. It is one of my biggest regrets is that I didn't start my email list sooner. So what is your top, and let's get into quick fire. I'm gonna ask you a bunch of questions. What's your best advice for getting email subscribers? Number one, you've got to have a great lead magnet.

57:29You don't need to have five of them. Let's just start with one. Cheat sheet, checklist, 10-minute video, quick audio, something of value that people are willing to give away the hot commodity of their name and email in exchange for this freebie. You gotta have a freebie, but it's not enough just to say, I have a freebie or post about it in your bio. Let's talk about it at least once or twice a week, driving traffic to it. Another one is that you have to have it as an intention in your business. Like the top three things you do, list building has to be something that you're very intentional about.

58:02You have to be intentional in terms of setting it up, email service provider, freebie, making sure that people know you have an email list and emailing every single week. I know not everyone agrees with me, but I'm gonna put a stake in the ground here. This is what I believe. Every single week, you should have an email going out. Same day, same time. What the email's about is up to you. Mine is, I've got a new podcast episode just came out, here's what it's about. This is why you don't wanna miss it, click here. My downloads would go down every week if I did not send this email. It's a huge part of my growth for my podcast.

58:35And so every week, every Thursday, you're getting an email from me that's full of value. And so, or you could just send an email that gives a story, gives value right there in the email where they're not clicking anywhere, or you're just walking through some of your methodology or whatever it might be. But I want them to hear from you every week because when you're ready to sell, they're used to seeing, opening, and engaging with your emails. I love that. And I love it that your email is not salesy. That's every week. You're actually offering education and value. And we learned that from Neil Patel.

59:07He says 80 % education, 20 % selling. Agree, 100%. Okay, so let's talk about what is your best advice for improving open rates? Okay, so there's a website called subjectline.com and I love it and it's free and it's fantastic, but you've got to pay attention to those subject lines. A few things you could do. Whenever you see a great subject line that grabbed your attention and you absolutely opened it up, put it in a swipe file. Keep it to just give you some inspiration. Don't copy it, but let it inspire you when you're stuck next time with the subject line. Also, using a tool like subjectline.com allows you to test a few different subject lines and get some ideas for them.

59:46So I think that's important as well. And also play with the length, longer, shorter, you've got to experiment. But here's the thing. None of this will work if you don't track it. A simple Google Doc where you are tracking your open rates week after week with looking at that subject line and what it was to start making some correlations is important. We need to know our numbers, not a hundred different numbers in our business, but there's a few core, especially with email marketing. I want to know my open rate. I want to know my click-through rate and I want to know my unsubscribe rate. And I know like with subject lines, I always think of them as like the thumbnails of your email, right?

1:00:22It gets people to click. Really important to have pattern disruption, all of that. What is the best way to actually increase click-through rate and ROI from your emails? So number one, you'll increase your ROI when you get your audience in the habit of opening up your emails and engaging with them. That's why that 80 % value, they're more likely to click on a sales link when you are promoting because they know they can trust you. So weekly emails with value is very important so that you can sell more. Another thing is that link, if you want someone to click the link, let's say I want them to click a link to go listen to my podcast.

1:00:57I'm not just having one link in that email, near the top, in the middle, on the PS, like three different times. It's a link that says like click here or here's the podcast title and they click that. So it's just to make sure you have it more than once in the email. And the same URL. Same URL every single time, yes. That's another thing. You do not want an email with two to three calls to action. I just have one. There's one thing I want them to do every time I send an email. It could be something different, but there's one goal with every email. Okay, my last question is like, what kind of automated email campaigns are you doing for your business?

1:01:35Ooh, I love this. Okay, so we do a lot of many chat and DM strategies that are automated. So when we're talking to social, we do a lot of automation where I might make a video and say, okay, type in the word simple below and I'll DM you a link to my latest podcast episode about how to simplify your strategies, that kind of thing. But we also do it with lead magnets. So we grow our email list using this ManyChat DM strategy, all automated. That helps us grow our email list, but that's not email marketing, obviously. Another thing that we do is we have an entire automated campaign to a webinar. The webinar's about list building.

1:02:15and I teach for about 40 minutes and then I tell people about my digital course about how to get started with email marketing. And so we run ads to this funnel. We email my list about the funnel. We use social media to get them into the funnel. But this is an automated campaign that runs every single day and is a multimillion dollar maker in the business. So it works really well. But I love using funnels and automated email sequences for webinars that then sell my courses and products. So when somebody first signs up for your email list, do they get like an automated welcome? And if somebody checks out of your, you know, to get a course and then they don't convert, do they get an abandoned cart?

1:02:58Are you doing that kind of stuff with your email marketing? I am. So to answer that second question, let's say somebody gets into one of my sequences, my email sequences, and they watch the webinar, they do not buy. and afterwards they will get an automated email inviting them back, reminding them of the value, what they're going to miss out on. So we do a lot of email sequences after the fact. We absolutely do a cart abandonment email as well. So if someone goes to my sales page, if they're already in our system, we have their email, they're clicking around, they don't buy, they're going to get an email as well.

1:03:33And so yes, we do that type of automation. And then also when someone joins my email list depending on where you're coming through, we do have onboarding sequences where we welcome them, we tell them what they're going to get in my community. We might suggest a podcast episode or two, or my book or something to get them into the fold. And we might send two or three emails where that's all they're going to get. They're not gonna get anything else that I'm sending out. Once they're through their onboarding sequence, then they'll start to get my weekly email. Okay, so last question on email. My favorite way to get subscribers now is I do these free webinars and people, when they sign up for the private Zoom webinar, they put their email, their name, and then we're collecting all these emails.

1:04:16So far has been the fastest way to grow my list. What is your favorite lead magnet? Exactly what you just said. So we do free webinars and that is the biggest, fastest way to grow our email list because you're offering amazing value. Now we sell on our webinars, but I always have this motto, no matter if they buy or not, they walk away feeling excited, inspired, and driven to take action. So you get massive value when you get on. But the second way we've grown our email list to great success is with a quiz. So a quiz is a great list builder. People love to learn about themselves, whether it's what does your favorite Halloween candy say about your personality to what kind of course creator are you?

1:04:58Like there's so many different kind of quizzes out there, but people love to learn about themselves. And once they get the results, you could show them the next step that they should take. quizzes work like gangbusters for list building. What kind of platforms can help you generate a quiz? There's one called Interact and Bucket.io. So those are the two that we've used, Interact and Bucket.io. Awesome. So let's talk about revenue strategies. I know we have very little time. So you recommend three main strategies for revenue generation for online entrepreneurs. Can you quickly go over those strategies and then we'll close out?

1:05:34Yes. So one of them, you can do one-on-one coaching consulting. That is a business in and of itself. And you learn so much about how to serve people when you create a business model such as that. Another thing you can do is a service-based business where you're actually doing the work for them. And it's a great entry point because you don't have to create the course or the membership of the mastermind. You're just doing the work that you already know how to do. So it makes it a quicker entrance. But both of those options are trading time for dollars. So in my opinion, you don't wanna stay there too long.

1:06:08Find a business model that's one to many. I'm biased, digital courses would be the third way that I think is a great business model where you create a course one time and then you launch it over and over and over again so that you have that recurring revenue and it's one to many. So there's so many different ways you can get started online. I think my biggest advice is let's just get started because how my business looked 14 years ago versus how it looks today is dramatically different. So don't overthink all those decisions you're making in the beginning. Just get started and it's gonna work itself out over time.

1:06:43Young and profiters, I know that there's a lot of you out there that are corporate professionals and wannabe entrepreneurs or side hustlers that are looking for a plan to quit your nine to five job. So I highly recommend you get two weeks notice. I loved the book. Amy wrote it beautifully. It's so practical, actionable, easy to read. So I highly recommend you get that. We'll put it in the show notes. Amy, we end our show with two questions. The first is, what is one actionable thing our young and profiters can do today to become more profitable tomorrow? Start growing your email list yesterday, but the next best time is today.

1:07:20I totally agree. I couldn't agree more. And what is your secret to profiting in life? And this can go beyond financial. Getting really clear about what you want and owning that, whatever it is you want. You want to live on an island. You want to get married with a bunch of kids. You want to be a millionaire. You want a homestead. Whatever it is, own it, but get clear about that so that you can start making decisions toward that. And where can our listeners find you and everything that you do? And what do you think is the best resources that you have available for my listeners? I think my podcast would be a great place to start.

1:07:55It's called Online Marketing Made Easy. If you love podcasts, which I'm guessing you do, go check that out. I talk about list building, course creation, entrepreneurship, building an audience and everything in between. So Online Marketing Made Easy. And then my book, Two Weeks Notice, you can grab it on Amazon. Thanks so much for asking. Of course. And we'll stick all those links in the show notes. Amy, again, it was such a pleasure to have you on. I've been looking up to you as another female podcaster in this space for a long time. We're both in marketing. So you've been such a great role model.

1:08:25Thank you for everything that you've done for me and other women out there. Thank you, my friend. I feel the exact same way about you. So thanks again for your time. Thank you.