3 Simple Business Strategies For Starting Over
Apr 09, 2024
This week on the blog I am doing a little reflecting. I am writing this after our sixth launch of Anti-Social School which blows my mind. One of the journal prompts that I write down every week in my journal is "it gets to be easy" because sometimes, and I am sure you feel the same, we overcomplicate things.
After leaving my corporate job, I really wanted life to just be easier. I did not want to sign up for crazy long launches with 17 team members, millions of dollars in ads, etc. etc. I have been a part of coaching circles and masterminds where that is the norm and while the strategy is fascinating, it sounds like a whole lot of stress. There has to be a different way, right?
I'd like to think I am figuring that out.
I am sharing all this because if I were to start over from scratch in 2024, there are a few things I would absolutely do and a few things that are a hard pass.
Embrace the Side Hustle
Working while building your side hustle/business/whatever you want your dream to be is not failing. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. At the beginning (and even now) I put myself in rooms with women who are MUCH further ahead than me. I catch myself saying to this day, well my launch isn't that big, or my list isn't as large as yours, and back in the day, well I am still working. I thought that what I was doing wasn't good enough because it was different.
Working while you are building your business is smart. Entreprenuership is hard. You are making decisions that help you not put all your eggs in one basket and honestly during this period of time I used everything I made in our business to invest back into it and didn't have to worry about how we were going to eat. To me, that is much more satisfying and way less stressful. Especially in today's economy.
Master Email Strategy
I can't remember if I shared this before, but the very first course I ever purchased was a course on Convert Kit. To say it changed my life is an understatement. I have talked a lot about why you need a solid email strategy, but this is the whole package.
Understand how to use email, how to segment your audience, how to set up a funnel, and how to create a system to nurture your clients in a way that works while you don't. I have email funnels I set up four years ago that are still running.
We have sent 376K emails in the last 90 days which is over 1.2M emails in 4 years.
I am telling you don't skip this. Learn it. Create it. And if you don't a lot of time spend it here.
The BEST thing we did was create our CEO Week Challenge (www.hollymariehaynes.com/ceoweek). It took me almost two years to create. It's an epic challenge that leads into our club membership and it works when I don't.
Quick tip here. This is what I would call passive income. But to be clear, I don't think anything is passive. Even though the email sequence does the work for you, you still need to get people in it. They don't magically find you. This leads to my next tip.
Introducing a new private podcast series that’s just for you if you’re sick of all the Instagram BS! (or insert social channel of your choice). You can build a business without being a slave to the social engine. Grab the free series.
Prioritize Client Attraction
My lesson learned here is I didn't lean into client attraction until late 2022. If I would have done this early, oh my goodness.
This simply means inviting people to your world.
Here is an example:
For our last launch, the last two months I spent 100% on client attraction.
I spoke in three groups, on 10 podcasts, had 12 networking "coffee chats" and that doesn't include the organic networking that happens behind the scenes in the mastermind I am in and the 3-5 podcast interviews I do every week.
Can you see how that is my focus?
What if your business strategy was this easy?
- Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Remember building takes time. I recently saw a case study on Taylor Swift's success and it was a reminder that she has been in the music business for 20 years. 20 YEARS. I am not advocating it will take that long, but what if you just told yourself it was going to take a few years and planned accordingly?
- Use email as your superpower. Learn to love funnels, newsletters, and segmenting. Most people will not take the time to do this and gosh, the data alone behind this can change your life.
My non-negotiable every week is one email and one podcast. We haven't missed a date yet. Almost 2M emails later. - Get out and talk about your business. You could have the most beautiful website in the world (although I would advocate in the beginning you don't need one) but if no one knows what you do, what good does that do?
What is ONE thing you can do each week to just get your name out there? Help someone? Introduce yourself?
Coming out of this launch, I was reminded that simple strategy wins in my book every time. We had a plan, email was superpower, but networking took us across the finish line. And when the launch is over, nothing changes.
These are the consistent activities I do and will teach over and over again. Sometimes the trends change, but these have always been the backbone.
What would you do differently if you started over again? Do you have these strategies in place? What if instead of trying to learn something new, you really dug into the strategies that worked
You can see this WHOLE philosophy come to life in our 5-day CEO Week Challenge. Just go to www.hollymariehaynes.com/ceoweek.
About the author
Holly Haynes is a business strategist who loves a good plan and flow chart. She is crazy passionate about teaching women like you how to build your dream job and scale to 6-figures without sacrificing your weekends or priorities.
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