February 2018 Performance Report

February, just like all months, was interesting. I gleaned over some of my Performance Reports and realized that I dramatize each month a little bit.

They feel dramatic in the moment, and this one certainly fits the bill too. However, a few months later, this month, just like the others, won’t feel as dramatic.

But since I’m writing this in the end of February, we’re about to get dramatic.

Copywriting Academy

One of my favorite training courses to promote is the Copywriting Academy. My audience responds the strongest to Ray’s training and gets a lot out of it which is why I continue promoting it each year.

Anyone who bought Copywriting Academy will get more details about the bonuses soon.

The launch timing for Copywriting Academy was critical because I went down with a stomach virus for an entire week. If I went down with that stomach virus on the week I ran one of my virtual summits, it would have been a disaster.

But as an affiliate, the timing couldn’t be better. All I really had to do was take Ray’s swipe copy, slightly modify it, and share that message with my audience. That meant I could still communicate with everyone and provide value even though I wasn’t at my full capacity.

The stomach virus is an important part of February. I literally did nothing productive for an entire week other than promote Copywriting Academy. I learned a lot during that stomach virus (more details in the report) and came across a startling realization to finish strong.

My Business Didn’t Get Sick

If I got that stomach virus two years ago, then I wouldn’t have been the only sick one. My business would have also had several off days.

Flash forward to the recent stomach virus. Parts of my business were still inactive. Blog posts weren’t scheduled (my fault) and I didn’t publish a new SkillShare course during that stretch.

But some things were still happening.

My show notes writer continued writing notes and my podcast editor continued editing episodes. Here’s the important lesson…

Even though I did NOTHING for my business, SOME THINGS were still happening.

This is why you need to delegate some tasks within your business. If you get sick, that’s not an excuse for your business to temporarily pause.

Trimming Expenses

This month, I made a very conscious effort to trim down my expenses. While I know this before, I relearned that there are two ways to make an extra $1,000.

Everyone knows the first way. The first way is to earn an additional $1,000 from your work. The second way to make an extra $1,000 is to spend $1,000 less than what you’re already spending.

I made two decisions that will save me a considerable amount of money every year. The first decision was to replace my audio editor with an editor I could more readily afford.

The second decision was using ThriveCart instead of SamCart. ThriveCart was a one-time cost of $595 while SamCart is a consistent $197/mo. ThriveCart also has more capabilities than SamCart including the (for me) very desirable ability to incorporate multiple Optimize Member websites in the same ThriveCart account.

This alone saved me a lot of frustration from SamCart which only allows you to use one website with an Optimize Member integration. I literally created the Guberti Academy portal with all of my courses and summits in it just to accommodate SamCart’s limitation.

ThriveCart’s capabilities and my new knowledge on running evergreen events is now making me float the idea of hosting another virtual summit. Hosting virtual summits isn’t easy, but ThriveCart makes it very easy to host multiple summits without creating a mega portal with all of the logins.

Books I Read

As I promised in the previous report, I finally tracked my books again. You’ll notice that this Performance Report is different as there will be asterisks next to some of the book titles. An asterisk indicates I already read the book but re-read what I underlined in those books.

I also got a few free books from people who will be guests on some of the Breakthrough Success episodes. #PodcastPerks

Ditch Your Inner Critic At Work by Susan Peppercorn

How Successful People Think by John C. Maxwell

The Other Kind of Smart by Harvey Deutschendorf

5,000 Words Per Hour by Chris Fox

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

Shortchanged by Shortcuts? by Aaron Hendon

500 Social Media Marketing Tips by Andrew Macarthy

Tribe Of Mentors by Timothy Ferriss–I always find that reading one of Tim’s mammoths of a book puts me back on a streak of reading more books.

Rise And Grind by Daymond John*

The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy*

Quantum Success by Sandra Anne Taylor*

Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker*

No Excuses! by Brian Tracy*

The Science Of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles*

Millionaire Success Habits by Dean Graziosi*

At least three additional books*

Review Of February 2018 Goals

#1: Contact 50 Podcast Hosts: I did not contact that many hosts, but I have been a guest on more podcasts. I also made a summit appearance.

#2: Delegate Scheduling Content: I am right at that stage. I wrote this report on February 25th, but by the end of February, this will be done. My assistant handles scheduling content right now but one small tweak needs to be made for me to consider this complete.

#3: Publish At Least 20 SkillShare Courses: My stomach virus put me off track from this goal, but I did publish 10 new courses in February. Right now, I’m hesitant to create more courses because one of my courses gets 90% of the minutes watched. I need to get more courses at the level of my top course before I consider creating 20 new SkillShare courses every month.

#4: Get At Least 10 Patrons: I did not get any patrons this month. I promoted my Patreon Page to my audience but it didn’t happen. I managed to significantly cut expenses which makes up for me not getting 10 patrons this month.

#5: Hire A Coach: I really thought I’d accomplish this goal in February. I know I need a coach eventually. However, February was filled with such change that I want to ensure I have the right objectives and am in a better position to get a better ROI.

March 2018 Goals

#1: Run FB Ads For The Content Marketing Success Summit: The summit is a proven concept. I am finalizing the evergreen side and then using FB ads to promote it. This is part of my initiative to have over 100,000 email subscribers by the end of the year.

#2: Get Involved With 4 Cross Promotions: One strategy I’m experimenting with is partnering up with other people who have similar audiences and email list sizes. I promote one of their landing pages and they promote one of my landing pages. I anticipate getting an extra 200-500 subscribers in March by implementing this approach.

#3: Plan Out A CMP Promotion: The Content Marketing Plaza is my flagship course. Since I’m not going all-in with other people’s courses for a while, I want to promote the Plaza. That means setting up a new funnel, landing pages, free offers, and a webinar.

#4: Write The Draft For My Next Book: My next book will be about content marketing. It will be similar to Content Marketing Secrets but explore new areas that I didn’t cover in the previous book. I’m working with a publisher for this one and will keep you all updated. The first draft of my book must be 50,000 words.

#5: Delegate More Tasks: I’ll have to get creative with this because I feel like I’ve delegated a lot. However, the more I delegate, the more things I realize I need to delegate. I’m sure I’ll have a list of things to delegate by the first week of March. I intentionally delegate much of the tasks around me so I can focus more of my time on my priorities.

In Conclusion

After a bump in the middle of the road, I finished strong and came across new ideas. I attribute the strong turnaround to Tom Morkes’ 100K Launch School.

I was one of the speakers during this virtual summit, but I watched some of the other sessions. Those sessions empowered and inspired me to try new objectives and pursue goals I had forgotten about.

I am very excited about delegating some of the content creation for my brand. The plan is for me to provide a macro outline and my assistant writes the complete blog post. This is still in progress.

What were your thoughts on this month’s performance report? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.