I'm excited to start a new segment on my podcast called "High Value Questions" where I answer specific questions from my audience about building a business online. You can listen to the podcast version of this question on Apple or Spotify. 

I got this High Value Question from Olly in the UK:

"What are the most important first 3-5 things you would do if you had to start again from scratch, tomorrow and hit six figures in 6 months (as an entrepreneur with no personal brand, audience or offer)?"

First of all, what a great question! Second, I love this question because there are probably a thousand ways that you could do this, but I'll share what I would do, knowing what I know. Lastly, I love this question because I do not believe in all the 'get rich quickly' marketing that I see about entrepreneurs growing a 6 figure business in 3, 6, 12  months; it just doesn't work like that.

But let's say that all of my social media following, my email list was wiped out and I had to...

Ever feel like its hard to stand out in a crowded market? I get it, it’s more competitive than ever out there and there are more ‘want-preneurs’ than ever adding more and more content to the already overcrowded sea of information.

Trying to find clients can feel like fighting for the scraps in shark infested, bloody red waters. In fact, that was the basis for a book and business philosophy called ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’.

What is Blue Ocean Strategy? 

To sum it up, most of us are competing in an oversaturated and overcrowded market, a ‘red ocean’ so to speak where it is highly competitive, a bidding war, a race to the bottom to beat out competitors. Think about an ocean where there are plenty of sharks and not enough fish and the sharks are fighting for all available resources. 

But by starting to think expansively, you can move out of the red oceans and find a ‘blue ocean’ where there is little to no competition,...

𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙧𝙮𝙥𝙩𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮.

One of my biggest mistakes in my first online business back in 2005 is I created the business around the products I sold.

There were 3 problems with that:

1 - Unless you own the intellectual property, other people could sell the same stuff that I sold.

2 - People could also could create products that competed with the ones that I sold.

3 - Physical products require materials, manufacturing, warehousing and shipping.

This creates what's called a Red Ocean (bloody red waters where the sharks fight for every fish). It becomes a race to the bottom where the lowest price wins. 

But here's the thing that I didn't realize, I shouldn't have been growing a business around the products or 'what I did', instead I should have been building my personal brand and making the offers that I sold just a part of the business. Do you see the difference? The focus is on the brand and not the products or offers. 

What is a personal brand? 

...

Ever wonder what is the biggest common denominator in businesses that succeed and one that fail?

Two years ago, I had the opportunity to work in one of the largest coach training businesses in the world where I got to be a consultant for aspiring entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, this coaching business was really good at selling people on the dream of making money by helping other people out, but horrible at teaching them how to actually close deals.

The strategy was to follow other influencers on Instagram and stalk people in the comments and then try to slide into their DMs and get into a conversation with them, then get them on a call an flesh out their pain points, pour some salt in the wound then pitch them on a solution and a high ticket coaching package. It was horrible.

They were so good at selling people on this dream, but the students failed miserably because they didn’t have the social proof or street cred of the influencer that sold them on the dream. People...

There’s actually ONE THING that determines 85% of your financial success. Avoiding it, ignoring it, or calling it unfair won't change a thing. According to Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation, and Stanford Research Center…

𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨.

Whether its applying for a job, working your way into leadership, presenting in front of an audience or closing more deals in your business, it literally pays to level up your communication skills. Communication is also a skill that can be improved and can be an instant way to create a higher income in your career. 

When it comes to building your online business, communication is also important because you'll be closing high ticket sales (anything over $3k) on a sales call. You'll also need it when you show up on live presentations, being a guest on a podcast or live show, or selling an online course through a webinar or challenge. 

Being in sales for the last 10 years, communication skills are...

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 30-90 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙤𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙛𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚:

Its called UGC (User Generated Content) and I think it's a market getting ready to explode. 

According to Hootsuite:

"User-generated content (also known as UGC or consumer-generated content) is original, brand-specific content created by customers and published on social media or other channels. UGC comes in many forms, including images, videos, reviews, a testimonial, or even a podcast."

But can you make money with User Generated Content? Yes, absolutely, and this has actually been one the best ways to make money online that I've ever experienced. And many that I know are creating full online businesses with UGC.

Unlike 'affiliate marketing' where you refer YOUR audience to the products you know, like and trust; UGC is creating content for brands or distributors to use for THEIR audiences. While I do like recommending offers to my audience, I like to do it sparingly and not all the time, which is why UGC is...

I created my first online business in 2005, not because I chose to or because I was smart, but because I had no other option.

I was failing and failing fast.

My first employer knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and was no longer engaged in what I was doing so he gave me 2 months worth of pay and booted me out the door to go figure it out.

I latched onto another entrepreneur who had a brick and mortar business but it was already going downhill fast due to the high cost of leases, inventory and employees.

I built a website for him and started to sell his products online and drop ship some of the products right to the customers.

But it was too late to save his business, and his business wouldn't save me either because over the previous years my bad decisions racked up $100k in credit card debt.

It was a tough decision for me to leave and do my own thing, but it was the only way, so I left the website with him and built my own.

Over the next year, I built my first 6 figure business, all...

99% 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣'𝙩 𝙖𝙨 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙. But every now and then, there's something that smacks you in the face because it really is that simple.

I just dropped an episode with Ilyse Craft, known as the 'Supercoach' on Linkedin and someone who I consider to be a LinkedIn Legend, on something we've both been geeking out on:

Making affiliate income from recommending products and services that you know and love and are already recommending to people; also known as affiliate marketing.

At a very basic level you could make enough to cover or bring down costs of things you are already buying, or you could use it to supplement your business income by taking a more active role in recommending products or services to your clients. And some people create full on passive businesses by using social media to create a tribe around a topic, then connecting those people with recommended products and services.

Benefits of creating an affiliate marketing business...

𝗣𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.

You've heard the saying when it comes to money, pay yourself first, meaning put money in savings before you have time to spend it on everyone else. 

Its a great practice but a lot of people don't do it then end up living paycheck to paycheck, always saying they will start saving 'when they get enough money' which never happens. Time works the exact same way. Pay yourself first. 

Most people make a big task list of things they need to do, then work on the stuff that does NOT move the needle then avoid the things that they do need to do, or spend too much time doing things that have no effect on the bigger overall picture at the expense of important moments in life.

I'll never miss out on an important event for my kids. Once I had a 3 day mastermind in Austin that I really wanted to attend, but my daughters dance recital was on day 2 of the event. So I flew back and forth and caught day 1 and 3 AND caught my daughters performance.

...

𝙄𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙙 - Cheshire Cat, Alice In Wonderland

If you ask most people how they got to 'doing what they do', a lot of times people will say in some form or another: "I don't know, I just ended up here.".

Jobs, careers, relationships, where we live, our financial status, the 'dark night of the soul' moments. Sometimes those times are awesome, but most of the times they aren't and that is why so many people struggle with wanting change in their lives. 

When life doesn't unfold in a way that we enjoy, we often perceive it as just how life unfolds; but it doesn't need to be that way. We become the victims of circumstance in a sea of randomness.

But here is what is cool: our lives can be fairly predictable and by design if we start becoming architects of that design. It doesn't mean things will always go the way we want or unfold the way we think they will, but we can get to the destination that we desire while...