Having a successful year is not about waiting for motivation and inspiration to strike. It’s about creating systems and environments that cultivate momentum and accountability. – Alexis C Giostra @MissTrenchcoat
Hello my Charmed Ones and welcome back to my channel for the first video of 2023! My 2023 Annual Reset Routine.
If you are watching this video around the time it goes live, we are at the start of a new year and nothing says fresh start inspiration and motivation like resetting your planning system. Your planner can be an amazing tool for your success and quality of life this year if you treat it like a system that helps you manage your focus and effort.
So, there is a brief routine I recommend you follow to get your planner reset for the new year that follows along with the Yearly Functional Planning Routine that you can find inside my bookThe Functional Planning Handbook.
Here is a recap of the routine for your reference:
◼ CHOOSE AND SETUP YOUR FUNCTIONAL PLANNER
◼ SET ANNUAL GOALS
◼ BREAK LONGER TERM GOALS INTO QUARTERLYMILESTONES
◼ DEFINE OBJECTIVES TO REACH EACH GOAL
◼ POPULATE YOUR PLANNER WITH KNOWN TASKS,EVENTS AND DUE DATES
Q1 PLANNING ITEMS
◼ POPULATE PROJECT PLANS FOR OBJECTIVES
◼ ALLOCATE TASKS FROM PROJECT PLANS TO MONTHLY MASTER TASK LISTS
Grab a coffee and your planner, and let’s get started with the 2023 Reset.
It’s that time of year again!! The holiday season is approaching and it’s time to shop for gifts for the special people in your life. I love giving gifts- it’s one of my love languages and so I love creating gift guides with new and creative ideas to help you find something unique and functional for the people on your list.
I have created a new gift guide specifically geared towards planning and productivity presents that you can give to a planner lover, co-worker, or female entrepreneur you are buying for this year. Or of course, you could forward this gift guide on to the people who are buying for you this year if you see some things you like and resonate with.
These gifts are priced across the board- some are more of a splurge and some are stocking stuffer price. Most of them are $50 or less so they are pretty reasonable gifts.
I love a good facial roller tool and this five in one option is a great way to make the most of multiple tools to help de-puff, sculpt and sooth your face. Use this massager to relax your muscles, apply serums and tone your face through lymphatic drainage massage. This is a great tool to use morning or night, or anytime you want to relax and pamper yourself.
Stop drinking your daily coffee or tea from clunky old mugs and elevate your daily experience with this set of 6 cups with saucers and stirrers. It’s a beautiful set with classic and luxurious lines that will bring some extra elegance and refinement to your workday. Just add your favorite biscotti or croissant!
This chic leather cover can be used to protect your choice of planner or notebook in a compact and secure housing. I love the way a zip cover keeps it’s contents protected, especially on the go and I am particularly enamored with this dark green teal color. This is a gift that makes a major impact on your style, planning and productivity.
An acrylic dry erase board is a perfect accessory for your kitchen, home organization station or office. Use it for notes, announcements, meal planning or reminders.
This adorable cube desk timer is the perfect productivity tool to help keep you on track and working in short bursts or blocks of time. Set the timer before you start a task to track how long it takes for planning purposes, and use the timer to set aside time to get started on a project or task you’ve been putting off.
These Beats Fit Pro Wireless Bluetooth EarPods have been my go to for both work and play. The noise cancelation technology helps me to stay productive while I work and listen to my favorite lo-fi jams. They are wonderful for working out and physical activities, and I love to wear them while I listen to a meditation or relax in the bathtub. Plus the color palette on the Beats x Kim Kardashian collection are gorgeous!
I think my number one most used planning and note taking accessory, aside from a pen, has to be dual tip highlighters. I use them to highlight dates and information, to create check boxes for tasks and to block off time in my daily schedule. I love this set of neural and pastel highlighters because they create a relaxing tone inside your planner as opposed to traditional neon highlighters that look like strobe lighting and often give me a headache looking at it for too long.
If you are looking for an affordable and chic notebook or bullet journal, the CEO Journal has everything you need to organize and plan in one simple bound book. The undated pages allow you to select the date and organize information with the help of a square grid. The pages are numbered for you to keep an index if you’d like to track important spreads or information. And yes, it does fit nicely into the Pebbled Leather Zip cover linked above!
If you are an iced coffee or tea fan and have not heard about the HyperChiller yet, I am about to blow your mind. Fill the dual chambers of this unit with water, let it freeze in your freezer and then whatever hot or boiling liquid you pour into the chiller will cool down in one to two minutes. No more watering down hot beverages to get them cool. This is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, no wires, no batteries or electricity needed. Just water, your freezer and a hot beverage to chill down.
I love this marble desk pad- I don’t think I could work at a desk without one of these desk pads anymore because they act as decoration, a mousepad and a soft place to rest your hands. I have a few of these desk pads with different patterns on them and I switch them out for the seasons to give my home office and desk a new vibe.
As someone who works from home, I have a lot of productivity tools that I tote around the house with me whenever I decide to work from outside my office. I love these little jelly baskets because the large size fits my laptop, planner, notebook, phone, headphones, pens, highlighters and more so I can take my home office into any room of my house. I call it my mobile office basket and if you work from home, either full time or even part time, you will love having a simple tote like this to use to corral your things securely instead of trying to carry everything by hand yourself.
If you are looking to get the most from your planner system, you absolutely need to learn the Functional Planning Methodology and this book is the official handbook that covers everything you need to know to set up, organize and use your planner to manage your life, plus tips on how to stay motivated and productive through the day.
I love filling my home with candles, but as a pet owner, it isn’t always the safest to have candles burning throughout my home. So, using a candle warmer is a must and these warmer lamps are the perfect blend of style and function to give you some extra home decor, and a safe way to use your candles without lighting them.
If you want to be a more productive and successful person, you absolutely need to start a journaling practice. I think getting your thoughts out of your head and into paper is so important, and especially keeping track of your thoughts and self-talk are a major factor in what you manifest and bring to fruition in your life. This journal will help you manifest more money and abundance into your life through a daily journaling practice where you get clear on what you want, your own value and your plan for making things happen in your life.
These remote controlled flameless LED candles are the perfect addition to your bedroom, home office or bathroom. They are a safe way to create mood lighting and help you get cozy at home, helping you to relax and destress from a busy day.
If you are a planner and productivity lover I know you have a thing for pretty pens. This set of neutral matte gel pens is very aesthetic and certain to help you create a planning or journaling routine that fits your energy and vibe. Why use ugly pens when you can use a chic option like these?
I don’t personally use a desktop computer with a separate monitor, but I have seen so many videos and examples of people using these monitor memo boards and I think they make an awesome accessory for your home or office. You can attach this set of memo boards to the side of your monitor to organize sticky notes or to use as a dry erase. And I bet you could use these on other surfaces besides your monitor. You could affix these to the sides of a mirror in your bathroom, your refrigerator or cabinets in your kitchen- anywhere you need to organize notes and some information- these adhesive memo boards would work!
I know these self-adhesive business card pockets seem so random for a gift guide, but they are actually one of my new favorite planner supplies. My planner cover doesn’t have a ton of business card holders built in, and so I have been sticking these pockets onto dashboards on my planner to organize business cards. I don’t use mine for business cards, instead I use them for planning/journaling cards to decorate my planner and to add a little more inspiration.
As someone who is more into using my planner for function than decoration, I don’t use very many accessories in my planner. However, another one of my planner must haves are this set of neural transparent tabs. I use these to mark pages in my planner for reference and also to write out a note or reminder for my planner before it is set in stone. I love the colors in this set and that it includes pointed and squared edge options. I also use these tabs when reading in physical books or to notate documents I am reviewing or editing.
I know it might seem odd to see an acrylic makeup and skincare organizer on this gift guide, but there are a few reasons I wanted to include this. First of all, getting ready in the morning or getting un-ready at the end of the day is an essential part of your daily routine and having your necessities organized and visible like this helps you to remember to do this important self care each day. Also- I think this organizer would also be awesome to use in your office to store stationery and planner supplies. Think of this as a beautiful display case for your office with all your favorite stationery organized inside.
I hope you have enjoyed this gift guide and that it gave you some great inspiration for this holiday season!
How to Create an Inbox System for Busy Professionals
I talk a lot about how to create a solid plan for your workday so you have a clear focus and intention for how you’ll be spending your time, but the real challenge for most busy professionals is handling the additional new action items and tasks that accumulate throughout your workday.
It’s great to start the day with your top three tasks identified, your schedule for calls and meetings, and of course time blocks outlined to do deep work, but what should you do if you get even more new tasks and items that need to be integrated into your existing daily plan?
How do you capture, prioritize and integrate new tasks that come from the multiple different inputs in your workday like meetings, emails, messages, and calls from team members, superiors, clients, and other co-workers?
The solution is to have a well organized inbox system.
Your inbox system may actually be made up of multiple different task and information capture solutions, especially if you are someone who not only receives new tasks throughout the day, but also receives information that may pertain to specific projects, or perhaps needs to capture your own ideas or reminders for future meetings or work that isn’t currently your focus at the moment.
A Place for Everything and Everything in it’s Place
My first suggestion for creating your organized inbox system is to decide the specific places you are going to put specific types of information and the general process you intend to follow for each.
New tasks must be captured and processed in a different way than information you may need for future reference, so having a unique process for each different information type will be important.
It would be optimal to capture new tasks in one centralized location, like an inbox page of your planner, a brain dump spread, or a specific file in a notes application, so you can then determine the priority of the tasks.
I determine the priority of my new tasks using an Eisenhower Matrix that evaluates tasks for urgency and importance. Any new tasks that are urgent and important will be integrated into my plan for the day, while other tasks of less urgency or less importance may be scheduled for another day or kept on a pending list for future reference.
For example: Urgent and Important Tasks | Do Now Not Urgent and Important Tasks | Schedule Urgent and Not Important Tasks | Delegate Not Urgent and Not Important Tasks | Delete
For any information you receive during the course of your workday, I think it’s important to have a separate system for organizing notes and reminders so you can quickly locate and use the information when you need it.
I recommend using a digital notes tool to organize this type of information especially if you are receiving it in digital form most of the time through messages and emails. It’s quite easy to simply copy and paste information, where as rewriting it onto a paper notes system may take a bit more time. Of course, if you prefer to be fully analog and use a paper notes system for this part of your overall system, do what works for you.
I use Apple Notes to organize raw information and ideas, because the app syncs across my laptop, iPhone and even my iPad so that I always have access to it, and because it is digital I can use the search function to quickly find information as well.
I keep my notes app organized by folders for different categories of information, like Personal Notes, Business, Marketing, Content, etc, and then I keep individual note files inside the folders to organize specific topics for quick reference.
If using a notes app doesn’t work for you, you could also use a Google Sheets file or spreadsheet application on your computer to organize information by category and topic as well.
If you’d prefer to use a paper based system, you could divide a notebook into sections for your categories, or include pages in your planner dedicated to specific categories or projects you need to retain information on to act on later.
Turning the System into a Routine
With your Inbox System set up, the next part of the process would be to define and establish a regular routine for transferring and reviewing information.
It’s not enough to have the system set up with the defined place for each type of task or information to go, but you also need to decide how often you are going to review your various other inboxes to transfer information into their appropriate place in your system, and how often you need to review those individual places to make sure you are utilizing the information you captured.
I generally check my inboxes (email, message systems etc) about twice a day, once in the morning at the start of my work and once in the afternoon before I stop working for the day, and that is the point where I will funnel tasks and information to their appropriate spots in my organization system.
Tasks get listed and organized with the Eisenhower Matrix, and information, reminders or ideas get organized to their appropriate folder or note in my Apple Notes.
I keep active notes for each of the classes, products and pieces of content I create so I can quickly transfer or capture information that pertain to each of these individual projects quickly, as soon as it comes to my attention.
When you initially start this routine, it will be a good idea to set alerts to ensure you use the system regularly, and then after a while, it will become a natural process you do as part of your day.
I hope this information helps you create your own organized inbox system to stay on top of your tasks and do your best work, no matter what you do! Let me know how it works out and if you have any questions and I’d be glad to help!
I wanted to take a moment right now to remind you of some very important truths about your business idea!
Are you ready?
Because this information may cause a significant shift in the way you think, feel and act around your business.
Here we go:
1: Your Business is Too Legit to Quit!
Your business is a real, legitimate entity.
Your work is of value and service to a specific community of people who need what you offer very much and are willing to pay for it, if you allow them to.
Right now, the reasons you aren’t making sales is because you haven’t shown your offer to the right people, you haven’t shown it to them enough, or you haven’t been helping them connect the dots between their problem and your solution!
2: If you aren’t making sales, you have a hobby not a business.
I know this is hard for some people to digest, but if you have started a business but it’s not making sales, you are not running a business, you have a very time consuming hobby!
And I say that with all the love in the world, because I have been there before!
For years my business was a hobby making little to no money.
Until one day I decided my desire for success was greater than my fear of failure or rejection and I started creating offers to sell and telling my community about them!
3: People LOVE to buy things that help them
It doesn’t matter what the economic climate really is, the fact of the matter is that people always buy things that help them.
In fact, buying the solution to a problem is always the preferred method for people to get through life.
So, if you think people don’t want to buy what you are selling, you are so wrong.
There is a market for your work out there, I know it, so what you are selling isn’t the problem, your price isn’t the problem, your branding isn’t the problem.
The problem is that you are not selling the offers to the right people- but don’t worry, I know how to find you the right people!
4: Selling is just sharing!
I have shared this with you before but it’s important enough to reiterate that selling isn’t some complicated, tricky process- it’s just sharing your work, your offers, with the people that your work was meant to serve.
That’s it!
I know you think it has to be more complicated than that, but it isn’t.
Think about when you have a favorite new outfit, or piece of makeup or a new show you absolutely love and you are telling your friends and family about it and then they go out and get it or watch it on your recommendation.
That is selling!
You just aren’t making money in that situation (unless you also sent them an affiliate link!)
That is how simple selling can be online.
And when you take that process and pair it with an effective marketing strategy like creating sales funnels, then you have created a system for generating instant income into your business!
THAT IS THE WORK WE ARE GOING TO DO TOGETHER!
Join me inside #INSTAINCOME today before enrollment closes to master this strategy for yourself.
Again, if you have any specific questions about the course before you enroll, send me an email or leave me a comment below and I’d be glad to help you decide if this is right for you!
→ Are you struggling to find paying customers for your products or services?
Do you have a hard time selling and promoting your work because the idea of sales makes you feel uncomfortable and you wish you could focus on simply doing your work and not having to actively sell your work?
→ Are you struggling to create content and grow a following of potential customers through your platforms?
Do you believe it’s too late to gain a following online, like platforms are oversaturated and you struggle to attract your ideal customer so you don’t even bother posting or engaging much on your accounts?
→ Have you been questioning the best way to promote your products or services?
Do you believe digital marketing and online business just isn’t profitable for you and wish you had a simple, turn key strategy you could use to market your business on auto-pilot without having to spend thousands of dollars a month on ads or paid promotion?
7 Reasons Your Business Is Not Making Sales
From my 8 years of experience working full time on my business, I know there are 7 very common reasons your business isn’t making money. Let’s discuss them to identify what issues may be causing trouble for your business revenue generation.
#1: You don’t have much of an audience yet
When we are first getting started, even if you are doing everything right, there is going to be a period of time where you just don’t have enough of an audience yet to expect to see sales, or to even really learn what you are doing wrong so that you can correct it. If you are still in those beginning stages with less than a thousand followers, you may be in this grey area. It doesn’t mean you should give up, it just means that you need to let enough people see your offer before you will make sales. Think about it this way- even if you have 1,000 followers, and are creating great content marketing to sell your offer, you can’t guarantee that all 1,000 of those people have seen it, and taken the time to learn about it. I believe that is actually takes someone 3 interactions with any offer before they really truly consider it. The first time they see it, it may not register in their mind much. The second time, they may recognize they have seen it before. The third time, they may actually stop and consider the offer and make a purchase. So, if you have a smaller audience, you need to simply keep at it and let your audience grow while you continue to make the same offer over and over over time.
#2: Your audience isn’t the ideal customer for your offer
Now, let’s say you do have an audience online built up, and then you begin making offers for things they can purchase. If that audience isn’t the ideal customer for the offer, it doesn’t matter how many people are following you or seeing the offer, the wrong person is just never going to buy. I see this situation happen often with influencer type businesses who have been creating content for fun and building an audience on their specific interests, and then suddenly decide they want to start a business since they have a following. You need to be very careful of what you decide to offer because you can’t just sell your audience anything. If your platform was filled with food inspiration and shopping trips to Target, and then you turn around and start a business reselling designer handbags, there might not be much interest from your audience. There could be some overlap for sure, but it’s more likely that the audience you have built follows you because they want to see what you’re cooking and what you bought. So, you might have better luck with selling them a recipe eBook or becoming a member of an affiliate network that works with Target so you can earn a commission from the things you buy and show off to your customers.
#3: You haven’t proven yourself to your audience yet
It’s been well established through business research that customers prefer to buy from businesses they know, like and trust, so if your business hasn’t done enough of the legwork to spread the word about who you are, what you are doing and why, it’s very likely few people will want to take you up on any offer you make. This is especially true if your presence online has been inconsistent. If you are someone who doesn’t post high value content or posts infrequently, you are sending the message to your audience that you aren’t reliable or knowledgeable. No one wants to buy from a business they aren’t sure knows what it is doing or can follow through with any claims their offer makes.
#4: You aren’t selling consistently
Sales is without a doubt one of the biggest issues women face in their businesses because we have so many weird, untrue and negative stories whirling around in our minds about what it means to be salesy and self-promoting. But none of those stories are true. You are not a scammy or pushy person for sharing about your offer and your business online, and if you keep choosing to believe that and continue to feel bad about selling, it is going to stop you from talking about your offers and making sales. I know selling and marketing seems hard and time consuming, and it absolutely can be if you aren’t following a strategy. For example, did you know that using the marketing strategy of a sales funnel can bring you three to four figures of sales for your offers in a single month. And they can be put on auto-pilot so you don’t have to spend as much time actively selling. However you choose to do it, you need to sell consistently in order to make sales.
#5: Your offer is unclear, confusing or incomplete
Your business could sell a variety of different offers. Those offers could be for specific products, either digital or physical. They could be for services you perform for others. They could even be affiliate offers where you receive a commission from products you refer customers to. In order for people to really understand your offer, however, and determine if they need what it is that you are selling, the offer needs to be clear. If it’s not clear, or if people are confused about what it is, how to use it, what problem it solves and why they need it, they will not buy. Talking to your followers and ensuring they understand the offer is a great way to troubleshoot this situation. This is why you want to be consistently selling and creating content that shares your message with your audience so you have ample opportunity for feedback.
#6: Your sales page sucks
There is nothing worse than going to make a purchase from a sales page that sucks. Your sales page is the page on your e-commerce platform that shows and explains the offer. Sales pages require clear images of your products, explainations of what people can expect to receive and answer frequently asked questions. You’d be surprised at how often I visit the websites for small businesses and they have little to no information about their offer on a sales page. So, ultimately I and I’m sure others who visit that page, walk away without making a purchase. If the sales page is lacking or looks terrible, why would anyone buy that offer? It’s just an omen of the quality they can expect from the product itself and a major turn off to buyers.
#7: Your expectations are too high
The digital market place is a wonderful place to build a business, but too many new business owners approach the task from a “If you build it, they will come” mentality. Unfortunately, that isn’t exactly how it works. You can set up a business online with a beautiful website showcasing your products and/or services, but that is not enough to convert sales. You need the following and the business assets working together to convert, and you need to set reasonable expectations for conversions. So many business owners get confused because they may have a few hundred followers online but not a few hundred sales. But, it’s not logical or realistic to expect that everyone who follows you is going to make a purchase. Even if you knew each of those followers have seen your offer, not everyone is ready to buy. In fact, this might come as a shock to you, but a good conversion rate online is 3%. Meaning if you make your offer to a group of 100 people, if that offer is made well and you are talking to a group of ideal customers, you can still only expect 3 people to purchase and that would be good. This is why we need to make offers continually, to share high value content consistently and ensure we are always focused on our ideal customer.
I KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO PUT A LOT OF TIME AND EFFORT INTO YOUR MARKETING, AND IT NOT PAY OFF WITH THE SALES YOU WERE EXPECTING!
I’ve been in that situation before and it does not feel good to invest your time and energy into work that isn’t paying off.
It really sucks and is majorly discouraging.
But it doesn’t mean that you should close your business or that your offer isn’t right, in fact, most of the time, the problem is that you either aren’t marketing enough or you are marketing your offer in the wrong way.
I know for female entrepreneurs, selling is something of a sore spot. We don’t want to feel like we are being too pushy or annoying when we do our marketing, and so many of us start adopting inconsistent, low-impact sales strategies that fail to properly market our work.
You’re probably thinking that sales and marketing looks so easy and effortless for everyone else, but why doesn’t it work that way for your business?
Well, it can!
You can develop an easy, streamlined marketing funnel that attracts your perfect ideal customer right to your sales pages and puts instant income into your pocket!
You can do it without a ton of expensive, complicated technology, software, or even ads. And you can do it on any platform you prefer to use.
Consumers today are so much more savvy and they choose to buy through authentic, value-rich content and social media funnels as opposed to blatantly salesy ads, endless click funnels and hard line marketing pitches. Value rich content is the key to selling without guilt or shame. Your followers and customers will love you for it and keep coming back for more!
Let me help you build your first profitable social sales funnel that will put your marketing and income on auto-pilot!
I’m not talking about old school digital marketing click funnels, the ones that require you to use a ton of technology and spend tons of money on ads.
I am talking about sales funnels 2.0!
Funnels that rely on great high value content, not gimmicks and false promises.
Funnels that authentically grow your community and build you a following of loyal fans who can’t wait to buy your offers and keep coming back for more.
I know I do sales and my funnels a little differently than others do- it’s something that many people have commented on.
People tell me all the time that they love my sales style that is very relaxed, honest, and never pushy, and I truly appreciate that feedback because it has taken me a lot of mindset work to get myself to a place where my vibe around sales is relaxed and confident and never pushy.
And, so, I think it’s time I share my secrets with the rest of the awesome female entrepreneurs in my community.
Because this strategy and mindset that I use around sales is so aligned with the needs of the modern small business owner.
I know you need a strategy that is simple and turn-key, that you can use over and over again with success.
I know you need a strategy that integrates seamlessly with the content and platforms you are already using (or want to be using) to spread your message with the world.
I know you need a strategy that supports an elevated mindset around sales. One where we don’t need to feel ashamed about promoting our businesses because we feel good about the work we are doing and the integrity of the business we are creating.
It’s about magnetizing the right customers to us, rather than pushing, convincing or guilting our followers into buying.
I think you know what I mean!
If this is something you’d like to learn, I welcome you to join me for a new business course and group coaching experience I have recently opened for enrollment.
Join me for #INSTAINCOME Sales Funnels
It’s called #INSTAINCOME and it’s the path to easy income building online.
Build a profitable online sales funnel, start to finish, using content marketing, social media and email in just six weeks. Zero ad spend required!
INSTAINCOME is a 6-Week Live Course including six video modules, six live co-working sessions, and six weeks of group coaching support to build your first content marketing sales funnel starting June 1st!
If you are curious, or perhaps you know you really need a sales strategy that works for your business…
Why you need a sales funnel that gets you leads, followers and daily sales on autopilot!
Hey there small business babe!
I have an important question to ask you about your business.
Do you have a sales funnel created to market your business, yet?
If you are not familiar with what a sales funnel is, it is a marketing strategy that helps you automate your sales process by building an audience of potential customers, helping them get to know you and your business and then serving them offers for your products and/or services without you needing to get directly involved with one to one selling.
When we think of a traditional sales model, we have one business owner making a sales pitch directly to one client- helping them understand the offer, why the customer needs it and helping to overcome the objections that may hold the customer back from wanting to say yes to an offer they definitely need.
But talking directly to one potential buyer at a time is a time consuming task for a business owner.
So, marketers eventually shifted this model so that one business owner could make their pitch to a group of potential buyers at one time. Think of live product demonstrations or seminars where a marketer can pitch their offer to a room full of people. From a time, energy and effort perspective, this situation is definitely more effective, but it still requires the business owner to make the time to find and invite the potential customers to their presentation, and then even more time and effort to present their offer to the group live. Not to mention the time spent on processing transactions. If the sales pitch is effective, a business owner could have a long checkout line of customers to process orders for that adds more time and effort to the system.
What if you could take this model and automate it so that the business owner simply sets up the system once to communicate with their customers and then the system runs itself on auto-pilot, educating the customer and making offers so that the business owner doesn’t have to be present for the interaction at all?
That’s what a sales funnel does!
And if you are already busy enough with running your business, creating your products or performing your services, a sales funnel is the best marketing strategy to use to automate your sales and minimize the amount of time you actually need to spend engaged with directly selling to potential customers.
Now, perhaps you already had a sense of what sales funnels were, but you didn’t want to have anything to do with them in the past because you heard how complicated they can be to set up.
And you’re right! The traditional way that digital marketers structure and build sales funnels is nothing short of a confusing mess of parts, technology and webpages that need to be intricately woven together like a 1,000 piece puzzle!
That’s precisely what ended up turning me off from wanting to create my first funnel, because from all the research I had done on the topic and from what all the world biggest and best digital marketers were teaching- these things were complicated, loaded with confusing tech and very finicky!
So, I too wanted nothing to do with them.
That was, until I decided there had to be a simpler way.
After all, I had a background in sales and marketing working for a Fortune 50 company- I knew what the direct sales process was like, how to engage a customer, how to make an offer and ultimately how to secure a sale.
So, I took my traditional marketing knowledge and paired it with my knowledge of content marketing, social media and influencer marketing to create my own simply system for what I call content and social sales funnels!
Unlike the traditional digital marketing sales funnel with it’s many upsells and down sells, squeeze pages, webinar forms, tripwires, sales letters and more- my system involves just a few key pieces that keep things really simple for you and even simpler for your customer.
And if I know anything about sales, it is this- the simpler you make it for your customer to purchase your offer, the more sales you are going to get, period.
After using my content and social sales funnel concept for myself over the past 6 years to earn literally hundreds of thousands of dollars, I have finally decided to take my process and teach it to the business owners in my community!
I call this course #InstaIncome!
Because this strategy is going to help you quickly and easily market your offers online, and it’s going to start to feel like income is just instantly generating for your business once your first funnel is put in place.
InstaIncome is a 6 week live course including 6 video modules, 6 live co-working sessions and 6 weeks of group coaching with me to help you build your first content and social sales funnel, start to finish, starting on June 1st!
This is one of the rare times I host a new course live and offer group coaching, so you do not want to miss out on this opportunity to have me help you master this key marketing strategy!
I sincerely hope to see you inside our private group container soon, and I can’t wait to teach you all I know about this awesome sales strategy.
8 Business Managment Tips I Learned in 8 Years in Business
Hello My Charmed Ones!
If you are reading this post, you likely desire to run a successful online business, and I want to help you in all the ways that I can to do it. After all, this month is my 8th year running my business full time by myself- so I think I have some valuable insight to share with those of you who are just starting out or are having a hard time getting your effort to pay off.
1. Set annual goals for your business: Yes, your business needs goals and I don’t just mean setting the vague goal of starting your own business. In order to see progress with anything in life you need clear expectations for what you are trying to accomplish and reliable measures you can use to track your progress. So, get specific about what you want to achieve in your business this year and break out those goals into quarterly milestones and monthly objectives. It doesn’t matter that we are like a third of the way through the year, you can set your goals at any time and either map out the next 12 months of plans or the rest of the year. Trust me when I say, what you track you improve, this applies to business in a major way.
2.Learn how to do everything in your business before you hire it out: I know online business owners are often encouraged to outsource work on their business and that is a valid strategy to use, however, I believe you need to know how to do everything first and you should have the experience of doing it yourself so that you are a more capable judge of who would do that work better than you if and when you begin hiring it out. Something that is very prevalent online is small business owners who are just getting started are targeting businesses like yours to help you- however, sometimes it’s hard to know who has experience and can get your results vs someone who just started their business as well. The best way to prevent yourself from hiring someone who isn’t qualified is to get yourself knowledge and experience yourself so you have a general understanding of what the process is for whatever you are trying to hire out.
3.Build multiple streams of income: I know the concept of multiple streams of income may overwhelm some of you, but you need to at least begin to think about, plan for and implement multiple income streams as soon as you can. Of course, focus on one income stream at a time, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket in your business because it’s very common for businesses to have a seasonality and you could do really well one month and then see a stream of income dry down to a trickle the next. So think about how you can diversity your products, your services and alternate streams of revenue, like affiliate, ad income or sponsorships to future proof your business.
4.Understand that there is a lot of great business advice out there but you can’t follow it all or you will get overwhelmed and give up: First of all, I want to be clear that I believe no matter what your business idea is, there is a unique strategy out there for you to use and find success, but the same thing goes for every other business in the world as well. So, you need to be very discerning when you research and choose to use business advice because not all advice works for all businesses, and it’s important that you commit to using a strategy for a good period of time before judging if it works. I know we would all love a get rich quick strategy for marketing our business, but it just doesn’t exist. And if you keep chasing information to find what is better, you will be on that hamster wheel of trying new strategies for a long time, never seeing results for all the work you do. When it comes to building anything, if you change the strategy in the middle of doing the work you are going to have to start from square one each time you change, so get clear on your direction and stick to a strategy that makes sense to you and works to your skills, needs and desires.
5. Create a typical weekly and daily default schedule: Nothing is a bigger waste of time for your business than showing up to work each day and having to decide what you need to work on in the moment. Instead, you can save yourself so much time and effort if you create a typical weekly and daily default schedule for yourself. Map out the business activities you do on a regular basis, determine a schedule for when you will work on them across the week, or even month, and stick to it. This tip goes hand in hand with theming your workdays and block scheduling time to complete work on your business. When you already know what you will be working on each day, you can organize your materials for work and get down to tasks so much quicker.
6.Work on your mindset by practicing positive affirmations and self-talk: Mindset is one of the single greatest determining factors of success for any business owner, and I know first hand how challenging business can be if your mindset is not in the right place. Evaluate the way you talk to yourself about your business dream and vision to decide if your own self-talk is sabotaging your success and use affirmations to change the way you talk to yourself. There is a quote I love that sums this up that goes “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” Essentially, if you keep telling yourself you can’t run your business or a strategy won’t work, or tell yourself you are stupid or lazy- you are going to embody those negative words. But if you talk to yourself like someone you love, tell yourself you believe in what you are doing and become a cheerleader for yourself in your own head, then you are going to succeed beyond expectation. So, what do you choose? Tearing yourself down, or building yourself up?
7. Simplify other areas of your life: Running your own business is one of those objectives that just takes a lot of time, energy and focus to make happen. It’s not that running a business is hard per se, I believe the fundamentals of business are actually quite simple once you understand them, but its an effort that requires a level of focus and organization most of us has never experienced before. So, if you want to have the time and energy to build your business swiftly and successfully, it would be prudent to simplify other areas of your life to the greatest extent that you can to conserve resources for your business. The action steps on this are going to look different for each of us, but think about how you can eliminate things in your life that aren’t serving you, and how you can get help from people in your life so you have less obligations that would take energy away from your business.
8. Understand you will never know it all, but you do know enough to figure out how to succeed: So many aspiring business owners hold themselves back from making real substantial progress on their business idea because they believe they don’t know enough to really get started. So they get stuck in the research cycle, learning as much as they can, waiting for the moment they feel ready to execute. Let me tell you this right now, you will never know it all, and you will never know enough that you feel ready to start. You are going to have to take action before you are ready because you will never be ready. Trust that you know enough to get started and then let real life experience guide you. I would take real experience doing work in my business over learning based on research any day because there is a major difference between learning the theory and putting that theory into practice. You will never know it all, but that’s okay because you can’t do it all in your business anyway. As long as you know enough to know a specific action to take, you know enough to figure out how to succeed.
So, how are you feeling now? I hope you feel a lot more inspired and encouraged to start going after the business you desire to create so like me, you can build a career doing the work you love and know is needed in this world.
And if you are ready to take action, I have a free PDF workbook called the Start Your Money Making Business
Start Your Money Making Business!
Hey Small Business Owner!
Everyday hundreds of great, creative, and innovative new online businesses are formed around the world, and then close their doors after a matter of weeks or months due to a lack of clear purpose or profit.
That does NOT have to be your business story!
After 8 years running an online business myself and working with hundreds of women in my community to get their business visions off the ground, I know first hand what it takes to lay the right foundation for a business that reflects your passions and fills your bank account.
Let me guide you through some simple activities that will help clarify your business vision and work you through early stage market research so you can move forward with confidence knowing that you have laid the foundation for a Money Making Business!
Click This Image to Get Your Free Copy of the Money Making Business Booklet!
Watch the Video on YouTube
Let me know in the comments which of these tips was the most impactful for you to hear, I’d love to know what you gained from this article so please do share.
As you may already know, I consider myself to be something of a part time astrologer and full time mystic in addition to running my own business. I love digging into astrological placements to find patterns that can help give me a deeper understanding of myself and others.
One of the topics I’ve been very deep intro researching lately has been astrology and business. There are absolutely placements in your birth chart that can indicate entrepreneurial interest and skills, and although there are specific zodiac signs that are often associated with entrepreneurship, the truth is every sign has the ability to start their own business.
Each zodiac sign has their own motivations for starting a business, and the placement of specific signs in your chart can give you clues as to what your skills would be as a business owner.
So, without further ado, let’s jump into the 12 Zodiac Signs to Understand Why Each Sign Starts a Business and the areas they naturally excel at.
The 12 Zodiac Signs in Business
Aries:So they can be the center of attention, number one and no one can hold them back. They can be great innovators who are quick to bring ideas to market.
Taurus:For the stability of work and reward. The more they work, the more they receive keeps them motivated to build the business and life they desire.
Gemini:For the creativity and communication that comes from entrepreneurship. They excel at brand storytelling and sales as natural marketers.
Cancer:To be able to work from home and establish that nurturing safe space for themselves and their family. They love the work from home vibe and may run businesses that really lean into that lifestyle.
Leo:They love the idea of being an entrepreneur and how it makes them look and feel. Marketing themselves as an influencer is role of the lifetime for them.
Virgo: To get complete control over their schedule, routines and work. They are great planners and system builders.
Libra: For balance in their personal and work life and to cultivate the ultimate boss aesthetic for themselves. They can be meticulous with product details and design.
Scorpio: For the power and control. They want to be their own boss and they aren’t afraid to show up and do the work, which may include assuming a leadership position over others.
Sagittarius: For the expansion, skill development, travel, breadth and depth of knowledge. They desire to be seen as a thought leader and can create amazing content.
Capricorn: For the entrepreneurial status and the comfort that comes from the money and position of being a business owner. They are great with managing assets.
Aquarius: For the impact they are able to make on the world through their brand and work. Their business is also their greatest philanthropy.
Pisces: To be able to live and work through the complete expression of their souls purpose. They love holding the vision of the business they are manifesting.
How to use this information to Discover Your Unique Astrological Business Acumen
Reviewing this list, you may have naturally paused to take note of the zodiac sign that is associated with your Sun placement. When we normally discuss our zodiac signs with others, we often refer to our Sun sign which has to do with the placement of the Sun on the day we were born. I was born on March 13th, so I am a Pisces Sun. However, you have more than just one zodiac sign- in fact, based on your precise time and location of birth, you have many more zodiac signs and astrological placements that are incredibly unique to you.
So, the first thing I recommend you do to use this information properly, is to get a copy of your birth chart, also known as a natal chart. If you know the date, time, and location of your birth, you can create your birth chart for free online by clicking here.
Once you have your birth chart, there are three specific placements I recommend you check to understand your natural entrepreneurial gifts and motivations. Reviewing all three placements will help you get a more complete picture of your unique situation.
1: Check your Mercury sign as Mercury is the planet that corresponds to commerce and business
Your Mercury sign may give you excellent insight into your business strengths and particularly the energy you need when creating branding and marketing materials for your business.
2: Check your midheaven or 10th house cusp, this is your place in the world and what you bring to it
Your 10th house is really going to tap into your reputation and natural ability as a business owner as this placement is known for reflecting how you are meant to be viewed by the world.
3: Check the sign for your Moon
In astrology the Moon represents your passions and can give you insight into your motivations for creating your own business.
Start Your Money Making Business!
Hey Small Business Owner!
Everyday hundreds of great, creative, and innovative new online businesses are formed around the world, and then close their doors after a matter of weeks or months due to a lack of clear purpose or profit.
That does NOT have to be your business story!
After 8 years running an online business myself and working with hundreds of women in my community to get their business visions off the ground, I know first hand what it takes to lay the right foundation for a business that reflects your passions and fills your bank account.
Let me guide you through some simple activities that will help clarify your business vision and work you through early stage market research so you can move forward with confidence knowing that you have laid the foundation for a Money Making Business!
Click This Image to Get Your Free Copy of the Money Making Business Booklet!
I hope you enjoyed this mini Astrology lesson and that the insight you glean from digging into your own astrological and zodiac placements helps give you an additional boost of motivation and clarity to get your business started!
Let me know if you’d like more content like this and I’d be glad to chat more with you about Astrology!
As someone who has been running their business online for almost 8 years full time as a solopreneur- I know a thing or two about setting up systems in your business to help save your time and energy. It’s what I’ve relied on for nearly a decade to keep my business consistent, growing and converting sales.
Implementing any one of these hacks is going to make running your business so much easier, but if you can get to a place where you have all ten of these tips in place in your business, you’re going to start realizing how easy business can be when things are well organized into systems.
So, review this list, decide what you may need to put in place first, and then work your way through this to bring your business to the next level!
#1: Save Links to Your Products, Sales Pages & Opt-ins
This will help you keep your links organized so you can easily access them, even from a mobile device, making selling and sharing about your work easier!
Save links into folders in your web browser, a Google Doc and/or a notes app that syncs across your devices.
The syncing aspect is key because you want to be able to access this information quickly from any device, instead of having to search for links or log-into the back end of websites or applications to find this information.
#2: Create an FAQ Page
An FAQ, or frequently asked questions, page will help cut down on inquiries and drive potential followers and customers to the information they are looking for!
Set up a page on your website, blog, shop, or if you don’t have a website, you could collect this information in a Google Doc to share with followers.
Collect the questions you are repeatedly asked about and lay them out with their answers on the page.
When you are first getting started and don’t have many questions yet, I recommend researching similar business’ and seeing the the types of information they have on their FAQ pages to help you craft your first page.
Your FAQ Page is a living document that you will want to keep updated often and the better the answers on the page are, the more engagement and sales you will have, while minimizing unnecessary emails, DMs and comments.
#3: Set Up an Email Autoresponder
An email Auto-Responder is an automatic message that is sent to anyone who emails your business email, and can be a great customer service tool that sets expectations with your customers while also helping them at the same time.
All major email platforms allow for auto-responders (think out of office email reply) so you can likely find a set of directions for setting yours up quickly by doing a google search.
The email auto-responder should be a welcoming message that helps your customer understand when they can reasonably expect to hear back from you, and provides them some insight to help direct them in the meantime.
Example: Thank you so much for your email! Please know that your email has been received and your inquiry is important to us! Due to the volume of messages we receive, you can expect a response within 48 hours outside of weekends. We do monitor for and prioritize more urgent customer service requests, but your patience and understanding is greatly appreciated. In the meantime, the answer to your inquiry may be one of our frequently asked questions, so we encourage you to click here to review our FAQ page for a more immediate resolution.
#4: Use Canned Responses
Canned responses are pre-written emails or message templates that can be used to quickly compose a reply to a customer email or message. They are usually based on frequently asked questions, but are great for making sales when a customer needs a recommendation, guiding an assistant who may be helping with emails and messages, and can help prevent PR nightmares when you are asked triggering questions or dealing with a particularly unhappy customer.
Populating answers onto your FAQ page is a great way to help minimize customer emails and messages, however, when you do receive a message from a customer, it is not always appropriate to send them a link to the FAQ page and send them on their way (not if you want to do good customer service) and it dismisses a key point of contact where you could be making a sale or driving engagement to a platform/content/opt-in.
As you reply to customers messages, get into the habit of saving your good responses to their questions and organizing them in a Google Doc, or a notes app- again, something that syncs across devices is preferable.
Adjust your original message into a template by removing customer specific information and giving the message a more general but clearly actionable response. That way you can easily copy and paste the message for a future customer message.
#5: Use an Editorial Calendar
An editorial calendar is plan for what content is to be published on specific days by platform. It helps take the guess work out of what to post when, and helps you easily bulk create content.
To create your editorial calendar, first choose the duration of time you want to plan for. One month to one quarter at a time is pretty standard, but you could plan as far in advance as a year if that works for you.
Next, define the schedule you will be working on per platform: so what days/times will you be posting content across a week.
Then brainstorm your content ideas and assign them to the schedule so you have a clear publishing plan created. Finally, schedule specific time to bulk create content on a regular basis. This could be one day a week where you create all your content and set it to publish on schedule for the next week.
#6: Use Social Media Scheduling Software
Social media scheduling software like Meet Edgar, Hootsuite, and Planoly help you to schedule and promote your content across platforms.
One of the biggest mistakes business owners make with their content marketing is that they don’t continue to promote content once it’s been published to a platform- and then they wonder why the content isn’t getting much engagement and continue to create more and more content in an attempt to drive traffic.
It’s much easier to create one piece of content and push it out to other platforms to increase the reach and impact of the content.
Social Media Scheduling Software helps you to automate this process by uploading the content once and then setting the content to publish across various platforms, and can even continue to promote the content on a recurring basis so it’s not getting lost in a stagnant feed.
#7: Use a Marketing Calendar
If an editorial calendar is the plan for what content will be published at what time, your marketing calendar is the plan for what promotions, launches and sales you will be marketing across your year.
A business that isn’t continually marketing itself in some form or another is one that isn’t generating much revenue! At the start of the year (or right now!) it’s a good idea to map out the different promotions and marketing you will do across the year so you always know what you are selling at any given time and can better organize your efforts to get the maximum results.
This doesn’t have to be complicated, simply choose how often you feel comfortable running marketing campaigns, and start filling in your calendar with marketing ideas that make sense. Make sure you give yourself enough time between campaigns to prepare for the next one.
#8: Theme Your Work Days
Theming your work days means that you will set aside specific days or blocks of time on certain days to do specific work for your business.
Themed work days help you to work more efficiently by remaining focused on specific tasks, and helps you to fit all your tasks and obligations into your schedule across the week so you know you have time to get everything done.
In order to effectively theme your work days, I recommend keeping track of all the different activities you do for your business on a recurring basis over the period of a few weeks to a month, and then grouping like items together and creating daily themes or work blocks on a specific schedule to ensure you have the time set aside to complete those tasks.
#9: Systematize Everything!
A system is a codified process for how you reach an end result so that you have an easy to follow list of tasks to help you achieve a similar result every time you go to complete that objective. For example, a recipe is a great example of a system. It’s a specific process for how you get a specific result, a meal you are trying to prepare and the steps to follow to make it.
All of the recurring work you do for your business should be turned into a system to help you take the guess work out of planning how you will complete a specific action in the future and creating the system gives you the opportunity to perfect exactly what your process is so you spend less time and effort but get a greater result each time.
So, every time you do a task in your business, start tracking the steps on a project page. When the task is complete, review your steps and what you learned from that recent experience to create the ideal step by step plan for completing that activity in the future. Write the final draft of the plan on a project or system planning page and refer to it every time you need to do that task so you don’t have to waste mental time and energy thinking about how to do it.
#10: Get Help
Getting help so that you can more effectively run your business can take many forms, some of which don’t require you to spend money, hire an employee or to delegate business related to tasks to others.
The first level at which you can get help is within your own family. If you have a partner or children old enough to delegate home life tasks to, reach out to them first to ease your daily work burden so that you have more time to focus on your business tasks.
The second level at which you can get help is to hire out home related tasks in the form of a cleaning service, baby sitter, meal prep service, dog walker, task rabbit etc- again to take home burdens off your plate so that you have more time available for business work.
Next, consider how you may be able to use your network of other small business professionals to do a service swap where you take on work that you are skilled at for another business owner, and that business owner takes care of some work for you that they are more skilled at.
The final level at which you can get help is to hire virtual assistants, contractors or employees to complete specific work for your business.
Start Your Money Making Business!
Hey Small Business Owner!
Everyday hundreds of great, creative, and innovative new online businesses are formed around the world, and then close their doors after a matter of weeks or months due to a lack of clear purpose or profit.
That does NOT have to be your business story!
After 8 years running an online business myself and working with hundreds of women in my community to get their business visions off the ground, I know first hand what it takes to lay the right foundation for a business that reflects your passions and fills your bank account.
Let me guide you through some simple activities that will help clarify your business vision and work you through early stage market research so you can move forward with confidence knowing that you have laid the foundation for a Money Making Business!
Click This Image to Get Your Free Copy of the Money Making Business Booklet!
Watch the Video on YouTube
I hope these 10 tips help save you time and energy in starting, building and growing your own online business!
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xoxo,
AKA @MissTrenchcoat | CEO & Designer of TheCharmedShop.com
