No One Wants to Hear This
Hello there. Tim here.
It's our first week in Denver and it's (wait for it) -11 degrees outside. Negative. Eleven. Degrees.
I love it here. I feel great.
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Thanks to ConvertKit, My entire sales process is automated. It's the most important tool I use to build my business.
1. No One Wants to Hear the Secret to Being Successful
Last week, I received a reply to my newsletter that I would like to share with you.
In short, the email reply said ...
"Tim, I love your newsletter, but sometimes it feels like you say the same things over and over again."
I thought about this for hours. As usual, I started doubting myself and second guessing my work. Am I doing it wrong? Should I change my messaging? Should I be more creative and start coming up with "business hacks?"
I thought long and hard about what it is that has made me successful. How did I do it?
And then in an instant, I realized the truth.
Everything I have and everything I have built has been generated through the painful and meticulous process of doing the same things over and over again.
It's that simple.
There are many ways to grow a business and I am by no means claiming that I have mastered the art of entrepreneurship. However, I will say that my process has been instrumental. I don't know any other way to do it.
Here's my process.
Step 1 - Find a lucrative industry and write about it every day
By writing useful content, I get to learn about an industry, become an authority in the industry, and I am able to build an audience of likeminded people who want to learn.
As I write, I am communicating, I am marketing my brand, I am doubling down on my own knowledge and I am building my reputation in whatever space I am writing about.
Simply put, I write to teach.
Step 2 - Create products and services that I can sell to my audience
For me, products and services comes AFTER the initial 6 months of writing. As I slowly build an audience, I start to discover what problems my audience has and then I create products and services to fulfil that need.
For instance, I started writing about addiction recovery and through that process, I discovered the demand for digital marketing services within the space.
After ten years of writing about it, I am arguably the most knowledgeable and proven online marketing authority in the field.
The content is the marketing. I don't have to force my products and services into a market through advertising because the audience has already told me what it is they need.
Step 3 - Automate and replicate
My goal in any company I build is to replace myself.
I hire employees, I created processes, I write documentation and handbooks that define the roles and responsibilities.
Through the process, I am best able to serve my customers. No matter what type of business I am building, I approach it with the mindset that "the process is the product."
Step 4 - Start over again
I've repeated this same process with ...
- Sober Nation
- Stodzy Internet Marketing
- LSAT Clarity
- TimStodz.com
- Copyblogger
and now I'm repeating it again with ...
- The Copyblogger Podcast
- PlzDM.me
If you know a better way, I'm all ears. But until that day comes, I will keep repeating myself over and over again because repetition is the differentiating factor.
If you're ready to accept that unfortunate truth, than you're ready to be an entrepreneur.
2. The Crazy World of A.I. Content Generation
On this week’s episode, Ethan Brooks sits down to chat with Steph Smith and Calvin Rosser; the hosts of "Sh*t You Don't Learn in School Podcast."
They discuss the potential uses of AI as well as the potential downsides of the technology.
Steph, Calvin, and Ethan also give their opinions on the popular app called Replika.
Click here to listen to this thought provoking episode.
3. How to Get People to Show Up
December 15th 2022
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This thread should have 10,000 likes.
The reason it doesn't is because people are more interested in getting retweets and becoming influencers than they are in learning the actual skills and applications that will increase your revenue and build your business.
This week, I want to share with you a high level lesson that Jason Resnick put together that will teach you how to use the ConvertKit automation tool to promote your content, your products, and your events.
This thread is a bit technical and it might actually require you to study, practice and learn.
But if you're willing to do the hard work of mastering this software, you will be in a position to completely scale and leverage your business.
Out of all the threads I've ever shared in my newsletter, I hope you read this one the most.
Click here to read Jason's thread.
3. Put Your Digital Product Sales on Autopilot
In 2023, you could sell your digital products around the clock to people across the globe. But you can’t do it by sending emails manually—unless you’ve always dreamt of staying awake for 36 hours straight for the love of the hustle.
Want a more time efficient way? Set up email marketing automations to promote your products. Think of this strategy as a digital email assistant that sends the right emails at the right time to boost conversions.
Whether you want to create your first automation or experiment with an advanced sequence, ConvertKit has templates for everyone.
Get 8 sales-boosting email automations templates from ConvertKit
5. How to Get Shit Done
I wake up every morning at 4:30. I haven't used an alarm clock in 10 years.
Here's how you can get more done.
6. Everyone is Hunting for Alternatives to the US Dollar
The reason I know this article is clickbait is because of the title. "Everyone" is hunting ...
Who is everyone?
When you read the article, you discover there are a few fringe cases of Laos, Bangladesh, and Kazakhstan who are looking for alternatives to the US Dollar.
There's two problems with this narrative.
First, if countries are looking for alternatives to the US dollar, what alternatives are there? The Yuan is the most manipulated currency is human history and if you haven't noticed, the Russian economy is struggling with a few things.
Plus, if countries like this do invest in these other currencies, they will be worse off in the long run then if they worked with the dollar in the first place.
America isn't a perfect country and the Federal Reserve is definitely creating a mess. But no other country has a better foundation for a strong currency than America.
There's not even a close second.
Click here to read the full piece on Yahoo Finance.
7. The 4 Steps to Achieve Your Big Writing Goals
Here’s a quick litmus test:
You know you’re wasting time thinking about big writing goals if you’re not currently meeting any small ones.
You can receive a lot of benefits from completing a more compact version of your prodigious plan.
My brief yoga practice during the week still adds so much value to my life.
And quite simply, it’s easier to finish something small. Then you have a foundation to build on, which actually moves you closer to that larger aim.
8. Fertile Ground
Years ago, I had a conversation with the woman who founded The Fertility Authority. Since then, the business was bought by ProgyNY. I wish I could remember her name.
She built an online fertility resource for women who were having trouble conceiving. She was helping me launch Stem Cell Authority (notice how I completely stole the name from her?) and I always remembered the lessons she taught me.
At the time, I remember thinking that someone should create an online fertility resource for men. Now, this idea is more lucrative and reasonable than ever.
Here's why
Fact: There's been a 50% reduction in sperm count since 1973.
November 30th 2022
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The demand for male fertility products and services will sky rocket. This wave will be adjacent to testosterone clinic and IV vitamin clinics.
If you're itching to start a business and you don't know what niche to work in, build a resource center that's helps men with fertility. In time, you can create an entire line of products and services.
It will crush and you'll make big bucks.
9. This Has Nothing to Do With Business and I Don't Care
You must understand, Brian Dawkins is more than a football player to us, he's a hero.
The first gift my family bought my brand new son was a Dawkins jersey. My most prized possession in the entire world is a Dawkins jersey I've had for more than 20 years.
Love you B-Dawk.
10. Final Thought - "All I Had to Do Was STFU"
On the drive from Nashville to Denver, I listened to a great interview with Barbara Corcoran. In the interview, she talked about the importance of working with people and how she felt that knowing your team was the most important skill a leader could have.
It hit me hard. When I thought about it, I realized that over the past year, I have drifted away from my team. I've been so focused on growth that I lost focus on what matters.
We had our year end review meeting this week, and I decided to take a different approach. Instead of running the meeting, I went into the meeting pretending like I was an audience member and I was there to learn from the panel.
I asked my teammates questions, and their answers inspired me and challenged me in a way that I never anticipated.
Every single teammate at Stodzy is running their departments with extreme efficiency and care. They all had ideas and viewpoints that I would never see because I am too far removed.
We analyzed these suggestions and within hours we made a few simple changes that are going to have a huge impact on how my company operates and also in how my company generates results for our clients.
Our systems instantly became more efficient and the culture of our company instantly became more elevated.
I always put so much pressure on myself to keep improving through action.
In this case, all I needed to do is shut the fu*k up.
There's a lesson in there. A big lesson.
Love you guys. Talk to you next week.
Tim