Money and Your Online Business

Let's talk money and your online business. I know scare subject right? We all would like to have more money in our lives, but we can be scared to talk about it openly mostly for fear of judgment. Or maybe you were taught it's not polite to talk about money, because I sure was.

But Friend if you are starting out on your business journey this is one of the first things that you need to know in your business.

It’s okay to discuss money and what you think about it

Matter of fact you really should think about money and how you view it. You’ll hear so many people talking about money mindset along your business path.

Call it to woo if you want but, it’s a thing. If you truly believe in your heart of hearts that you have to work hard for money or it’s selfish to make more money. It will be.

Get to work on journaling how you really feel. Don’t follow in my super resistant footstep here friend, give in early and do the work.

I wish I could remember where this trick came from, but when I’m stuck journaling. I just write random stuff until something pops into my head that has to do about my thinking. A lot of times I will write things I’m grateful for, it helps. Another key tip here, either set a goal of journaling for three pages or set a goal of journaling for fifteen minutes. I just pulled those numbers out of thin air, feel free to pull your own numbers out that feel right to you.

Ann Bellow, my Mastermind Girl, has a Triple Your Income Journaling mini-course and she has so kindly given us a discount code Michele for a $12 discount if you’d like to check it out!

Ann has made money mindset a priority in her business and has had massive growth because of it.

Here’s another doozy

Do you set your rates at the right amount? Yes, I know this is also another really difficult topic. Man, I’m hitting on all the points today.

You’ll hear to charge your worth. Well, yes and no. You need to take into account a number of factors with this one.

Do you know what the market is charging?

This is a good indication of what people are willing to pay for this service. This one does take research, not everyone puts pricing out there, but some do. Start looking at the numbers.

What is your experience?

Do you have a ton? Just starting out? This will be a fact too. If you are able to provide a really good result in a short period of time, you can ask for more. How long will it take your client to get a return on investment from working with you?

What are your goals?

You can either set three goals such as good, better, best goals or you can set two numbers a bottom-line must reach this number to breakeven and dancing in the streets goal. I tend to set a good, better, best goals for myself and my clients.

Circling back to the mindset for a second on your goals. What is in your heart of hearts do you feel you can achieve? Because if you don’t believe you won’t receive it’s that simple. You must believe you can hit your goals.

Now that we’ve tackled the hard stuff

Let’s talk about money in your business. What makes your business a success?

If you have a profit.

Profit is all your expenses less than the amount of money that you make. Sounds easy peasy right?

Are you tracking your profit?

It may sound super simple but are you actually tracking your profit and how much you have coming into your business?

Are you budgeting your expenses each month so you really have a forecast of what you must make to cover your expenses?

As a business owner, your revenue will ebb and flow it is what it is. It’s important to forecast how much you will be spending each month.

In case you need this, make sure you include in those monthly expenses how much you will be paying yourself.

It was somewhere during year two of my business that I pulled my head out of the sand and started to really look at my numbers and what I was bringing in each month.

Where do you start?

It starts with knowing how much you bring in to your business and how much you have gone out of your business.

This will tell you if you can add that new application or if you can afford to invest in another course.

I personally like to keep this information in a Google Sheet.

Want my super simple easy-to-use money tracking template? The sign up is below. Is it time to make profit a priority in your business?

Simple Steps To Creating A Sales Funnel

by Michele | Online Business, Content Marketing

Simple Steps To Creating A Sales Funnel

Before we dive into the simple steps to creating a sales funnel. Let’s cover the basics, just in case you're new to the online business world.

Really, what are sales funnel anyway

Sales funnels are the path that a potential customer will go through. In other words, because the path to purchase look like a normal everyday funnel. Wide on the top and small at the button.

I’m about to lay down shocking news here. In spite of all your efforts, not everyone that starts in the sales process with end up a client. Formerly, in my career as a sales rep, I was excited if one in ten leads converted into a client. Ya, I know.

On the positive side, if you’re working one to one your funnel doesn’t need to be huge to start.

Know, Like and Trust

As a result, getting clients to work with you has more to do with know, like, and trust verse selling in your online business. Therefore, if the word sales cause you to break out into hives think of it as a relationship funnel.

Building a relationship with your soulmate client is easy. It’s important to realize that building a relationship online is not any different than building any other relationship.

In fact, it will follow the same path, you meet, you get to know each other, you decide you like to hang out and the more you hang out the more you trust each other.

When you’re building a sales funnel you’ll make sure that you are doing the same things you would do to building any long-lasting connection.

How you meet

Connecting with your soulmate client online will happen in a variety of ways. For example, It may be through social media, google search, or the biggest is a referral or introduction from one of your mutual online friends.

It’s visibility…

Heed my advice, get visible. You guessed it, I didn’t do this right away in any consistent manner.

The best sales advice ever, you can’t hope your way to a sale.

As much as I hoped for my soulmate client to stumble upon my content and instantly fall in love with me. It didn’t happen that way.

To emphasize to all of those in the back row, if you’re not putting yourself out there, how will anyone, let alone your soulmate client, know what you offer?

So long as you stay in your own little world you’ll have a difficult time connecting with people that you have a true bond with.

These are the people that you’re drawn too, the people that you’d like to serve. If you’re not visible and putting yourself out there how will they find you? So get out and mingle.

If you happened to miss it before, visibility was an area that I struggle with, I really love to have my head down checking all the things off the to-do list.

Once I added networking to my to-do list this is when things shifted in my business because Friend if you do not let people know about your great services you not sharing your gifts.

Overcoming…

Overcoming visibility phobia can only be done by facing fear. Stop lurking in Facebook groups and actually share your wonderful knowledge. Find hashtags on Instagram to follow and begin to engage.

A great way to do this is with a virtual coffee chat, in short, these chats are a no pitch, no pressure chat to get to know each other.

Prefer face to face? Search for local Meet Ups.

Stop assuming that people know what you know. Share your special self.

Trust will come…

Provide valuable content on social media. What would make the life of your soulmate client easier? Figure this out and share it.

Create and Share

Create a piece of free content to give them in exchange for an email address.

Then continue to wow them with valuable content that they will find useful in their business. Keep in mind that you want your free content to be in line with the services you offer.

For example, I help build plans. Creating a sales funnel would start with a plan of action. Well, you could start without a plan, but it may not be the most efficient use of your time and I would predict spinning wheels in your future.

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Little Side Note

In the book, Building A Story Brand by Donald Miller he gives this formula for crafting each nurturing email.

One, talk about a problem. Two, explain a plan to solve the problem. Three, describe how life can look for the reader once the problem is solved.

If you’ve not read this book, make it the next book you read.

Build A Nurturing Series

Okay, but you start to say “I can’t do that.” Say you can and you will.

First let me say, this does not need to be complicated, actually make it simple and quick.

Second, open up a google document and start typing. List out all the struggles that you’ve heard from your soulmate clients on coffee chats, in facebook groups, pay attention in the post chats what are they talking about. Now write how you would solve the problem. Repeat this three times. Put this into an automated sequence in MailChimp or Mailerlite. Two very simple and free tools that you can use for your email service provider.

Third, in that same google document write the fourth email. This one will be a sales email with an ask or call to action.

Before you get all anxious, you need to do this because no one else will do it for you. In the online world, you either attract or repel. Trust me, if you repel its not a big deal. We aren’t in a popularity contest. This is about creating a connection to your soulmate client that has been praying for your service.

Put it on repeat

Just like your favorite song, put your nurturing series on repeat. In the same fashion as before, It’s three gives and one ask.

That’s the simple steps to creating a sales funnel.

Get'em while they last

Planning is my superpower! Would you like help in mapping and accomplishing your commitments?

Each month I open up a limited number of spots to work one-on-one with heart-centered entrepreneurs to create a roadmap to their dreams.

How is this done? With a ninety-day commitment plan. A ninety-day commitment plan breaks down all the to-dos that need to happen to achieve your commitment.

The ninety-day commitment plan includes a three-hour planning intensive along with thirty-six accountability check-ins to ultimately take your vision from do to done. Say you can and you will!

Tell me about you and let's chat!

Pin Now, Read Later!

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Blueprint for A/B Split Testing Emails

by Michele | Online Business

Blueprint for A/B Split Testing Emails

Email marketing is key to a successful online business. Another key point with email marketing success is engagement you can figure out by A/B split testing emails what your community is drawn too. In order to put together a blueprint for A/B split testing emails, first, let’s cover the why what and testing examples.

Why Plan An A/B Test

Planning an A/B split testing email campaign is done to test how your community engages or doesn’t engage with your content.

Questions to ask regarding current email stats.

Are you happy with your open rates?
Have my click-thru rates have dropped?
Further, on the click-thru do certain links perform better than others?

Why, how are they different. In other words, A/B split testing emails is a tactic all online business needs to perform to increase engagement with email marketing.

What are A/B Split Testing Emails

A/B split testing emails may be referred to as A/B testing, campaign testing or you may also just hear it referred to as split testing. With this in mind no matter how it is referred to it’s, all the same, you're figuring out the communication style that gets your subscribers to engage in your email campaign. I’d like to point out this doesn’t mean that you send two completely different emails you’ll just be tweaking in order to test how your community engages.

Furthermore, you’ll change one element of the email and figure out which one performed better with your email list.

To Test Or Not To Test

The answer is to test, don’t shy away from this because you think it is to complicated. Generally speaking, most Email Service Provider makes this a simple process.

When planning the blueprint for A/B split testing emails choose only one area to test.

In the event that you changed two items, you’ll not know which of the two increases the engagement with your community. Hence this is the reason that you pick only one item to test.

What’s The Goal?

In order to figure out what to test you first must decide on your goal.

If you want to improve open rates then you’ll need to test different subject lines. Do you want to improve click-thru rates to your website or offer? With this intention, you’ll want to test your call to action copy.

In order to determine what you’re testing, you’ll need to have a goal in mind test in your email campaign.

Ideas List Of Tests

Here is an ideas list for A/B split testing emails in your campaign, pick the one that is in alignment with your goal and presently what needs to be improved upon.

Subject Lines – Ask A Question in your subject line. → Or use symbols or numbers to grab attention.

Pre-Header Text – To use or not to use can be the test. Test two different topics in the preheader text.

Call To Action – Does a call to action that is a hyperlink or call to action with a button perform better.

Content – Long-form content a very long email or short form that it just a bit with the option to read more on your website

Image or No Image – if you have images or no images which get the attention of the reader.

Offer – Test two different offers in your email campaign

List Building Workbook

Are you new to the virtual business world and not even sure where to start with building your community?

Dowload our List Building Workbook to walk you through the process and provide a plan on what needs to be done to begin building your community.

Say you can and you will!

Grab It Now!

Keep Track

Ultimately, you need to track the results of the A/B split testing email. In short, keep it simple by jotting down the numbers on a piece of paper or in a spreadsheet.

Since you’ll want to see the results check the number after a couple of hours, 24 hours, after a few days and in a week.

The items that you’ll want to track and compare are:

Open Rates – how many subscribers opened the email. This will be a direct reflection of your subject line and pre-header text.

Total Clicks – What is the total number of clicks you received during your campaign. Did one email outrank the other?

Clicks per Link – If you were testing a call to action this will be a metric to watch.

Unsubscribers – did one email receive a higher unsubscribe number?

Conversation Rate – This would be a great metric for the success of your offers or your call to action.

Forward Rate – Sharing is caring! Did one of the emails receive more forwards? This is when the user shares your email with a friend.

A/B Testing is not a one and done. Do it again until your messaging is a fine-tuned communication machine.

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Little Side Note

Do you need help with copy?

I'm a huge fan of Ashlyn Writes! Check out this hour webinar on her YouTube channel How to write copy and sequences for your email list. Pure gold!

Not sure you have an hour? Check out her page for ton of quick content.

Quick Wrap Up

To summarize, A/B split testing emails will help you figure out what connects better with your community.

A/B split testing emails comparing two emails with the same variable changed in each of the emails. Again, this will also be referred to as split testing, campaign testing or A/B testing.

It’s important to realize that every A/B split testing email marketing campaign begins with a goal in mind

New to the A/B split testing email world? In this case, review the list of ideas to get started on A/B split testing in your email campaign.

Finally, keep track of your numbers. If you do not track the item how will you be able to measure and determine success?