This Is My Business Cheat Code
Hey there. Tim here.
I'm sitting on my front porch. The sun is setting behind the mountains. I'm tired and fulfilled. Life is good.
Sponsored
This week's issue is brought to you by Wander. I am so freaking excited about this investment opportunity.
1. This Is My Business Cheat Code
What makes me successful?
One word: Focus.
I firmly believe that the reason most of you reading this won't be successful is because you can't focus.
You can't stay off Instagram. You can't sit down to work for more than 4 hours a day. You can't be content with being where you are and everywhere you go, you think about being somewhere else.
If you're having dinner with a friend, and your friend gets up to go to the bathroom, do you immediately take your phone out?
You probably do, because your mind is so afraid of sitting with itself that it immediately looks for distraction. Distraction is comforting.
If you can't focus, then you don't have a shot.
What Focus Looks Like When Building a Business
I'm not here to lecture you. I want to define what focus looks like in business. I don't mean this metaphorically, I mean this literally.
What do you focus on? Why? And how will it impact your ability to create income streams for yourself?
Let's get started.
First, You Need To Focus On Your Niche
It's hard to write and talk about the same thing over and over again.
Additionally, it's emotionally challenging to put yourself into a box.
As content creators, we want to have the freedom to express ourselves, to give our opinions, and to share our thoughts.
Look, I'm all for creative expression, but here's the reality of the situation.
To build a successful business, you should focus all of your effort into serving your target customer.
That's it.
No one wants to hear your opinions about politics, or news, or technology. People care about themselves and they will pay you to solve their problems for them.
If you want dopamine, then express your opinions. But if you want money, then solve people's problems.
Pick a specific problem to solve, the more specific the better, and focus on delivering value in that industry for at least 3 years.
The results are practically guaranteed.
Next, You Need To Focus On Your Channel
When I decided to build my personal brand, the best decision I made was to only focus on 2 marketing channels.
- SEO
I knew that the worst thing I could do was try to go Gary Vee style and create 80 pieces of content a day on every social platform I could think of.
I enjoyed Twitter the most and for that reason alone, I decided that Twitter was going to be the platform I focused on.
And that's what I did for the first two years. I would write articles and interact on Twitter.
I did that until I reached about 5000 followers. Then, I discovered HypeFury and found out that I could post on Twitter and LinkedIn through the one platform.
Now, My Twitter and LinkedIn accounts generate millions of views and impressions each month.
You should pick one marketing channel and focus all your effort into growing your audience through that channel. Once you feel like you've built momentum, then add another one.
In fact, the times when I branched out (meaning when I tried to create video shorts for Instagram / TikTok / and YouTube) is when I started seeing a DECLINE in my reach.
So I stopped messing around with short form video and dedicated my entire social media strategy to repurposing my Twitter content onto other platforms.
See?
If I would have started off trying to generate content on every platform, I never would have been able to get enough momentum to generate sales.
Lastly, You Must Focus On Your Monetization Method
Repeat after me: "One brand. One business. One outcome."
I will never understand why beginner online entrepreneurs spend so much time creating products and making new offers. It doesn't make any sense.
You should focus all of your effort into selling one offer and do that until you're AT LEAST doing $500,000 a year in revenue.
Every new product line or additional service you offer spreads your attention out by half. Moreover, one hugely successful product / service is much more profitable than 2 or 3 semi successful products / services.
I've had to learn this lesson myself, but when my team and I decided to establish the one brand, one business, one outcome mindset, our revenues skyrocketed.
I can't tell you what a relief it is to simply DECIDE what your primary objective is. It takes all the pressure off of decision making because you have rid yourself of the burden of "making the right choice".
With this mindset, you only need to ask yourself one question.
"Is this action I am thinking about taking get me closer to or further away from achieving my primary objective?"
If it adds to your primary objective, then you do it. If it doesn't, then don't. It's that simple.
For example, at Stodzy, our primary objective is to generate leads and phone calls to our clients. That's it. We don't do anything else.
So when new ideas emerge, we cross reference the ideas through our primary objective. If the new idea can help us generate more calls and leads for our clients, then we give it a shot. If it doesn't we don't even consider it.
I Challenge You to Challenge Yourself
The reason people are so scared to focus is because it accurately defines what success looks like.
When you make the decision to build a business for a specific niche, through a specific channel, for a specific customer, it's becomes obvious as to whether you're having success or not. You remove the nuance and the artificial illusions of success. Success becomes binary.
I hope you embrace this challenge because at least this way you have data. You have the ability to KNOW whether your efforts are working and you can rest assured that your data is accurate because you have removed all the vagueness and subjectivity.
Don't be afraid of the truth. Don't let your fear of failure keep you running in circles.
Pick a direction, pick an aim, and get after it.
2. Elon Musk is Killing Substack (And Reminds Us Why We Need to Own Our Brands)
This week, Ethan and I talk about the recent controversy between Substack and Twitter, and what it means for you as you build your brand.
The importance of this episode can not be over stated. I've seen people fall into this trap over and over again, and each time they think it will be different.
Click here to listen to the full episode and to review the show notes.
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4. The 5 Steps to Build ANY Online Business
New marketing trends come and go, but the fundamentals of online business remain the same. In this video, I will explain to you the 5 steps to follow to start any online business. Here they are.
1. Build a website
2. Established owned distribution
3. Established rented distribution
4. Create automations
5. Learn to close
These fundamentals will always be the winning ingredients. I've repeated this process over and over again for every company I've built.
Click here to watch the full 8 minute video.
5. Now Is The Time For Me To Stop Messing Around (Members Only)
Recognizing mistakes is crucial if you want to grow in business. All of progress is the act of recognizing mistakes made in the past, and then using that data to make slight adjustments for the future.
Mistakes never end, and that’s how it should be, because the mistakes are the means to progress.
With that said, I’m here to talk to you today about the biggest mistakes I have made. More importantly, I’m here to be honest and to address the reality that I have been selling myself short.
You can read the full article here.
P.S. - Readers of this newsletter get a 34% off discount to The Bootstrapper. Click here to take advantage of the savings.
Final Thought
I'm about to embark in a huge life challenge. I have a big decision to make and it's been causing me a lot of anxiety.
I was listening to a podcast and the guest said the words "they took the initiative."
I realized at that moment that I was struggling because I was being passive. I was being reactive. I was secretly waiting for someone to come along and make the decision for me.
Right then and there I knew what I needed to do.
Take the initiative in life. It's the only way to take control.
I can't wait to tell you guys about my decision, but I can't yet. Soon ...
Love you guys.
Talk to you next week.
Tim