Tales of a cyber-hippy running an online business from home
I wonder if anyone has ever surveyed their list without offering multiple choice answers, or ‘tick the box that applies to you’ type responses?
I might just survey my list next with one question:
What do you want from me?
Be interesting to see what my next product after that will be 🙂
It’s far too easy to see your list as a giant ATM machine.
Something you contact with offers every time you need a cash boost.
But your business could actually be more profitable if you see them as individuals, and treat them as such in your mailings.
I often segregate my list before I mail to them.
I separate buyers who have invested in a certain product of mine and then offer them something highly related, or segregate those people who opted in for a certain interest group but didn’t buy the upsell and then offer them something different instead.
Instead of seeing your list as a big wobbly mass of people joined at the hip to be milked every time you want to pay a bill…
…try seeing them as individuals.
And connect with them as such.
Have you ever mailed just the women on your list, or the people over 60 years old, or only the people who live in Europe?
By creating products just for them you could built small, rabidly enthusiastic groups of followers.
And it can lead you down some very profitable paths.
We’ve only got potatoes and leeks left now, both of which we’ll still be eating at Christmas.
The big marrow looking thing in the pic is actually a courgette, but we forgot to pick it at the right size and it grew WAYYYYY too big.
It’ll be good in a courgette cake though…
Henry Thoreau said:
“It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?”
I caught myself trying to sell myself on the idea that if I spent an hour searching for the ‘right’ mood music on Spotify, it would help with my creativity because I could play it while I worked and it would help me concentrate.
What a load of balls!
I just wanted to grab some tunes.
I’m quite self-aware but I was shocked how easily I could justify it by convincing myself it was important.
Funny how the most ‘important’ tasks in your day just happen to be the ones you like doing eh?
Paper currencies and stock markets crash, but gold, silver, land, businesses and tangible assets usually don’t (for long)
If your gas is running through several different countries before it reaches you, someone might switch it off if the political climate changes.
If your business relies on third parties for anything significant such as Google and SEO for your traffic, or Blogspot for your main hub site you’re in a more vulnerable position than you should be
Use common sense.
Keep as much control as you can and base your business around the basics – products, traffic, lead acquisition and conversion.
If something is ‘hot’ or is the latest new shiny thing, look at it with your common-sense specs on, regardless of what the herd are doing or saying
Sometimes it’s best to hide in a doorway while the herd rush past you, then walk in the other direction…towards the REAL opportunities
Which selling technique is the hardest?
Creating (or paying high-ticket prices for) sales copy designed to convert total strangers into buyers?
or…
Building your list, sharing quality content and turning your subscribers into rabid followers who resonate with your message and THEN offering to help them with your products. At this stage chances are you’ll barely need a sales page.
My Grandad, who worked most of his life in a Yorkshire coal mine had a good phrase about doing things the hard way…
‘Never buy ‘owt wi a wooden ‘andle. It’ll most likely involve hard work’
Likewise, why try to sell the hard way?
So I contacted a bloke about fitting some new guttering all around my house.
Nice chap. He turned up and gave me a price quote and I said I’d contact him the next day letting him know whether the price was acceptable and whether to go ahead with the job.
Which I did…
He then promised me he’d contact ME the following Monday (this was Friday) letting me know when he’d arrive to start work.
Three weeks passed without any contact from him…
Just one, but it’s gonna take about 3-6 months to start to see the light bulb change…
So I bought my first MacBook Pro (15″ Retina screen) and I love it.
I don’t know why I didn’t buy a Mac before because I love my iPad too.
I’m very impressed with the MacBook and should have got one earlier. I didn’t because I reckoned most of my customers used PC’s so I should too.
List-building has changed.
Not so much the mechanics of HOW to do it (squeeze page, free gift, upsell etc.) but more the ATTITUDE towards building your list…
I’ll come back to that in a minute…
For now let’s look at why YOU most definitely have something to offer in your niche
