Uncategorized

If you look in any dictionary, you’ll see that preparation precedes success. The same holds true for each episode, and on a deeper level, anything you do that is worth pursuing. Your preparation style will change as you do more episodes and get a better feel for your format. However, I want to offer you some pointers to help you get started.

#1: Write The Guest’s Bio: The first step to prepare for each episode is to write the guest’s bio. You can easily find most people’s bios on their blogs’ About Me pages and use what’s there. As you write the bio, replace any references to the guest’s name as “Today’s guest.” When you introduce your guest, you don’t want to mention the guest’s name until the very end to build suspense. Yes, people can see who’s the guest based on each episode’s title, but you’ll build a level of excitement by building up to the moment you introduce the guest by name.

#2: Come Up With A Topic: Once you write the guest’s bio, it’s easier to come up with a topic since you know a lot about the guest. Once you come up with the topic, it is then easier to write questions.

#3: Come Up With Just Enough Questions: You don’t want to write too many questions. It’s better to let the conversation flow and ask follow-up questions to fill in the gaps. If you write too many questions, it’s tempting to ask all of those questions instead of the questions you should really be asking. Let the conversation change direction if it will provide more value to your listeners. You’ll get better at asking follow-up questions as you conduct more interviews, but by writing fewer questions, you spend less time preparing for each episode. It also helps to have a set of evergreen questions that you can ask anyone who comes on your podcast (i.e. What is one big challenge you faced on your journey and a powerful lesson you learned during that challenge?). Eventually, you may not want to come with any advance questions at all. Now I ask the first question that comes to mind and actively listen to each guest. It’s easier to lose focus when you know what question you’re asking next based on your list of questions.

#4: Read The Bio Out Loud Before The Interview: You don’t have to read the bio out loud with the same enthusiasm you’ll have when you’re recording. However, it helps to read it before the guest calls in. The brief minute rehearsal will help you deliver the intro more effectively during the recording.

#5: Recording The Interview: The Skype Call Recorder and Zoom both get the job done. Whichever option you prefer, test it out with someone else before a guest calls in. This preparation step primarily applies to new podcasters and seasoned podcasters who want to try out a new tool.

This is a small excerpt from my book Podcast Domination. If you want to learn how to launch, grow, and monetize your podcast, make sure you get your copy of the book.

Get your copy of Podcast Domination here

Content takes a considerable amount of time to produce.

Not only is it about producing the piece you’re currently working on, but it’s also about consistency.

Creating the next blog post, video, or podcast episode after you just finished the one you were working on.

If you’re going to invest so much time into creating content, you might as well make money from it.

That’s why I decided to write this post so you can learn how to monetize your content. Here are the strategies you can use to make money with your content.

#1: Rewrite Your Limiting Beliefs

Before we can go into strategies, we have to address mindset.

So many people know exactly what they have to do to achieve a certain goal. You might be reading this post about content monetization while knowing exactly what you need to do to take that next step.

It’s one thing to know how to do something. Doing it is completely different.

The reason most people don’t make money with their content is because they have limiting beliefs. They doubt themselves and their abilities when results don’t come right away.

Most people on this boat either give up way too early or binge on a bunch of $1,997 training courses without getting results.

Inspirational speaker and decorated veteran Ryan Matthews came on Breakthrough Success to discuss how we can break our limiting beliefs.

Determine what your limiting beliefs are, write them down, and think about how they came up.

Many people are raised under the false idea that money is the root of all evil. If you agree with this idea, you won’t want to make more money. You won’t want to follow the strategies in this article that will help you make more money.

You have to discover the root cause of the limiting belief and flip it. A better way to view money is that the inappropriate use of money is the root of all evil…and you can do good with your money if you properly utilize it.

You can build up your investments so you don’t have to worry about anything from a financial standpoint. Now that we have addressed the mindset, we’ll go into some of the juicier strategies you were likely expecting from a blog post like this one.

#2: Invest In Quality Content

The most successful content creators continuously reinvest their earnings into their content…especially when they have a proven system.

Some content creators invest $1,000s into creating better content once they see their model is working.

At the beginning of your journey, you should invest mostly with your time. Investing money in an unproven concept is the equivalent of gambling. You might get lucky, but I’d rather rely on data for my decisions.

Raitis Purins, the Head of Marketing at Printful, recently came on Breakthrough Success to share how we can master the key content pillars.

Raitis mentioned how Printful continues to invest in its content with a team of 20 content writers. If you can make $100+ from every piece of content you produce, would you invest $50 to create more of those resources?

Would you invest $500 into each piece of your content if it gave you the potential to make $1,000+ from each of those pieces of content?

You may not have those types of resources. In that case, you can enlist the help of guest bloggers and interviewing people for your podcast. Both are great options regardless of whether you have the funds to invest in content creators or not.

If you invest in quality content, you’ll start to grow your audience. Growing your audience expands on your monetization potential.

#3: Understand The Entire Funnel

The funnel doesn’t start when someone enters their name and email address to join your list. The funnel starts at the very moment someone comes across your content.

Through your content, you get to convey certain ideas that you present to certain people.

The funnel starts at the first point of contact. Understanding this is vital for turning readers, viewers, and listeners into customers.

What questions do your potential customers have? What problems are the experiencing? What type of information are your potential customers looking for?

Are you creating your content with those questions in mind?

I coach people on how to grow their businesses and have created products on the topic. Teaching people about content monetization through my free content increases book and training course sales where I go deeper on that topic.

If you want a deeper understanding of the entire funnel and how you can use your content to steadily attract new customers, you will benefit from a Breakthrough Success episode I recently did with Anthony Sarandrea.

He shared the strategies he used to build a customer base through free content…and how you can do the same.

#4: Be Your Own News Outlet

While it’s a nice bonus if people share your content with their friends, you can’t rely on that strategy for growth.

If you want to grow and eventually turn that growth into revenue, you need to be your own news outlet.

Author Bridge Media founder Helen Chang explained on Breakthrough Success that authors and other creatives have to continue promoting their work to build up momentum.

You can’t just create a piece of content, promote it once, and be done with it.

You can’t expect everyone to know about an award that you won for your business. Let people know by being your own news outlet.

And when you take a deeper approach where you view your platform as a news outlet, you take it more seriously.

There’s a different sound to the Side Hustle Paradise versus Side Hustle Paradise Media/Corporation.

Changing the way you see your work will change the level of effort you put into it.

When you see yourself as your own news outlet and own that role, you’ll start doing more of the things that will help you gain more visibility and revenue.

#5: Choose 3 Priorities Each Day

There are plenty of things you can do for your content brand at any given moment.

To avoid getting distracted and make sure you do what matters the most, identify 3 priorities each day and address those first.

That’s the advice Mike Arend from Infinite Success Academy provided on our Breakthrough Success episode.

When you choose 3 priorities, it forces you to stay focused on what matters. As you continue to grow your platform, create/promote offers, and figure out which ones work the most, you’ll have a better understanding of which priorities you need to focus on.

If you want to make more money with your content, consider joining us in the Content Marketing Plaza. You can use the coupon code GROW to save $100 on your purchase.

Clients are essential for any business. They pay you each month and allow your business to survive and thrive. It’s no wonder why so many businesses want to get more prospects and turn them into clients.

For someone just getting started, the entire process of finding potential clients and pitching yourself can seem challenging. It’s only natural to feel intimidated by the process because it may be something you haven’t done too often, and there’s a lot of rejection along the journey.

Getting clients is a numbers game. The more people you connect with, the more prospects you have. A higher conversion rate will result in more prospects becoming clients.

So how do we get more clients for our businesses? I’m pulling a few strategies we’ve recently learned through the Breakthrough Success Podcast to help you with this goal.

#1: Put A Heat Map On Your Site

Internet marketing is a big piece of the client attraction puzzle. You can only jump on so many sales calls and do so much prospecting. Content marketing does the prospecting for you.

Combine that with organic growth and running ads, and you can be on the verge of massive success.

However, people’s experiences on your site are a big factor that will determine how many people become clients.

And from a client attraction standpoint, you want your visitors to take specific actions. Rather than read your content and then go away, you want your visitors to read your content and then join your email list.

Internet marketing specialist Laura Burton mentioned a few internet marketing strategies in our episode. One of those strategies was incorporating a heat map on your site.

A heat map lets you know where people are hovering their mouses and where they are clicking.

If most of your visitors are hovering around an area that doesn’t feature an opt-in, you can modify your website so the opt-in is in the popular region of your website.

That way, more people see your free offer and proceed to join your email list.

#2: Go To More Events

When you go to to the right events, you connect with like minded people…

…and while COVID-19 has thrown the entire event planning world in limbo, there are several virtual events and Facebook Groups you can join.

Virtual events are easier to attend as you can attend them from the comfort of your home. However, you should consider attending in-person events in your industry when restrictions are lifted and when you feel ready.

International speaker Cami Baker shared with me that she’s attended 1,000s of events in her industry. She’s done this by attending big-name events in her space as well as the smaller ones in her area.

At her peak, she had some days where she attended 3-5 events. While it’s a lot of scheduling work and driving, Cami attributed this strategy to attracting a steady stream of clients.

You don’t have to attend 3-5 events each day, but finding an event in your area each week can make a big difference…and with virtual events on the rise, finding an event that fits your schedule is now much easier.

#3: Do A LinkedIn Power Hour

Rainmaker System Matthew Clark helps people get 2-5 high value leads each day. While he shared a variety of strategies on our Breakthrough Success episode, one strategy in particular stuck out…

…a LinkedIn Power Hour.

Every day, spend 60 minutes connecting with 60 people on LinkedIn. Not all of them will accept your connection request, but for the ones who do, you can start a dialogue.

My personal recommendation is to offer a free resource first rather than making a quick pitch about your services or to jump on a call.

I receive too many of those types of requests each day to count, but anytime someone offers me a free resource first in exchange for my email address, I’m more likely to engage with that person.

Lead off with value as you connect with 60 people in 60 minutes. If you turn the LinkedIn Power Hour into a daily habit, you’ll connect with…

420 people every week

1,800 people every month

21,900 people every year

If you can turn 1% of those people into clients, you’re business is set.

#4: Set Up Daily “Client Attraction Routines”

Our habits make or break us, and our routines fuel our habits. Whether you know it or not, you’ve got routines that you live by.

If you don’t know your routines, you’re at risk of adopting some bad habits and not accomplishing your goals.

This is where Daily Client Attraction Routines like the LinkedIn Power Hour can come in handy.

Creating A Brand founder Alex Sanfilippo and I jumped into a deep conversation about building routines over on Breakthrough Success.

While most people think about the morning routines, it’s just as important to think about the evening routines. Alex mentioned during our conversation that the evening routines determine the success of the morning routines.

If you don’t end strong, you have a more difficult time reclaiming momentum.

While the LinkedIn Power Hour may not be your cup of tea towards the end of the day, you can do something like the LinkedIn Quick 5.

Instead of connecting with 60 people in 60 minutes, connect with 5 people in 5 minutes towards the end of the day. It’s an easy task that will set you up for a productive morning.

The evening routine you should start incorporating now is to write all of tomorrow’s goals the night before. The reason people don’t stay on task is because they don’t know what the tasks are. They don’t know which tasks they should perform first or which ones are the most important.

The evening routines are critical for starting each day strong. When you start any given day on a high note, it carries over for most of the day.

#5: Change Your Self-Image

All of your actions, the changes in performance, and your mindset are based on your self-image.

If you feel confident in your abilities and self-image, you’re more willing to expand your comfort zone, try new things, and grow.

If you don’t feel good about your self-image, you’ll feel like you’re doing potential clients a disservice, you can’t get additional clients and should just be grateful for the ones you have, and you won’t grow.

Leadership coach Robert MacPhee joined us on Breakthrough Success to share how self-image relates to our comfort zones. A strong self-image makes it easier to grow while a weak self-image makes it more difficult to grow.

If self-image is holding you back, figure out why. Go deep and ask yourself the question why a few times.

• Why am I feeling this way?
• I am feeling this way because X
• Why does X make me feel that way?
• Because…

And build from there.

Another great activity is to conduct daily affirmations when you wake up and before you go to bed. If you want to become a millionaire, write down “I Am A Millionaire” every morning and evening in a notebook.

If you continue to write that daily affirmation, your subconscious mind will start to believe it. Then, you’ll start doing things that millionaires do to accumulate their wealth such as attracting more clients and investing instead of spending.

I’d love to hear from you which strategies you currently use to get clients for your business. If you want to listen to additional Breakthrough Success episodes that will help you with personal development and business growth, make sure you subscribe to the show on your favorite podcasting app.

YouTube is a dominant social network that continues to grab attention. Not only does YouTube attract over 1 billion people to their platform each month, but those people also watch videos.

Videos are a highly engaging form of content where you can quickly get people to know, like, and trust you. This is essential for anyone selling a product or service.

When most people start their YouTube channels, they get discouraged by small numbers and the lack of growth. If you keep a long-term window in mind (6-12 months), those numbers and your momentum will start to change.

However, learning YouTube growth strategies you can use allows you to take an active approach instead of waiting and hoping the YouTube algorithm kicks in.

If you apply these 3 strategies, you will soon see your channel pick up momentum…

#1: Do Keyword Research To Determine The Best Video Ideas

Not each video is created equal. If they were, they’d all be about the same topic, be the same number of minutes, have the same retention rate, views, like/dislike ratio, etc.

Some topics naturally do better…but how can we discover which topics work the best?

You can use keyword research tools like VidIQ and TubeBuddy, both of which I recommend, to figure out of your video idea can gain traction on YouTube.

You can also go to a YouTube channel in your industry and set the channel to show the most popular videos on their channel. You can take those ideas and turn them into unique videos for your channel.

You can learn more about this process and additional ways to come up with YouTube ideas for the algorithm in this video…

#2: Collaborate With Other YouTubers

One of the fastest ways to grow on YouTube is to collaborate with other YouTubers in your niche.

You can each do a video on the other’s channel and grow your subscriber base.

For any YouTube channel, a decent chunk of your viewers are current subscribers. You can’t subscribe someone to your channel twice unless they unsubscribe and then come back.

This is why your growth in views won’t be the same as your growth in new subscribers.

If you do a video on someone else’s channel, they won’t see a big subscriber boost from that video unless you promote that video on your platform (strongly recommended) or the video eventually gains traction in the algorithm.

You will see a big boost in subscribers because you’re now in front of an entirely new audience.

People agree to these types of collaborations because they are mutual. You appear on someone else’s channel to grow your audience. That same person appears on your channel and grows their audience.

If a YouTuber appears on your channel but you don’t get to appear on their channel, this can be remedied if the other YouTuber promotes the video to their entire community.

#3: Create Videos More Often

Anytime I’ve created more content, I’ve seen growth. When I went from weekly videos to multiple videos per week, my channel grew.

Similarly, when I decided to create daily videos, my channel has grown at a faster pace.

I started creating daily videos in April. My channel grew twice as much in April as it did in March, and I had a YouTube collaboration in March (none in April).

For my channel, combining daily videos with more frequent collaborations is the next step I’ll be taking to grow the channel.

The more videos you create, the more chances you give yourself to rank well on the algorithm, attract new visitors, and build even more trust with your existing audience.

If you want to learn additional ways to grow your YouTube channel, I put out a video a while back containing 13 strategies you can use to grow your channel.

Some of the strategies are from this blog post but with a different perspectives. Most of them are completely new.

If you want to grow your YouTube channel but want some help in your journey, schedule a free strategy call through this link. I’d be happy to talk with you.

Daily content is a heavy time investment. Is it worth it?

I re-examined this question after publishing a new YouTube video each day for about 30 days.

I tried published two videos on one of those days, but that was too much for my audience at the time.

I stuck it out for 30 days and shared my thoughts about the channel in this video…

The interesting thing about the daily YouTube video is that it wasn’t the first time I committed to daily content.

I committed to daily content back towards the end of 2016 and carried it into 2017 until the end of January. Think of it as your typical New Year’s resolution…

But from that experiment, I had data. While my channel was much smaller at the time, I managed to double my views and watch time during that month.

However, my subscriber growth didn’t even budge. After not being happy with the results, I stopped.

A big reason my channel didn’t grow with daily uploads in 2017 was because I didn’t optimize any of my videos or do topic research.

Part of the reason I’ve seen success with daily YouTube videos is because I do keyword research using VidIQ and TubeBuddy to determine the best video topics to build content around.

You can watch this video below to get an idea of what my content research looks like

But then I realized one more thing…

A long time ago, I didn’t just post daily content on this blog. I published a new blog post every 12 hours.

And they weren’t 1,000+ word blog posts. They were a few hundred words and barely reached 1,000 words if they did.

I did this for a number of years, and this is what my traffic looked like…

2012: 119 views

2013: 14,275 views

2014: 249,421 views

2015: 280,835 views

Then my blog plateaued and stopped growing. Part of the reason is that I stopped posting daily content in 2015. I heard about how each blog post should be 2,000 words to get even more traffic and tried writing more of those blog posts.

However, that decision prevented me from creating daily content that helped this blog reach its best growth.

Someday I do want to hit 300,000 views for this blog in one year. 2015 was the peak.

But in writing this blog post, I decided to look deeper. Part of the reason my blog grew was because Twitter was completely different back then from what it is now.

Twitter tools like ManageFlitter and Tweepi still allowed you to target users and follow them en masse.

This helped me grow my audience and get over 100,000 views just from Twitter in April.

Search engine traffic shot up just like the Twitter traffic, but a combination of no daily blog posts and the Twitter strategy not working the same, my traffic went down.

I still get 100,000 views to this blog each year, but I do want to bring it back to its prime.

I wish I had income numbers to demonstrate how this shift affected my income. However, I only started tracking it in 2019 and prefer to keep those numbers private.

Daily Content Only Works If…

My two experiences with daily YouTube videos provides the full picture of why some people who produce daily content thrive while others get burnt out without the results to show for it.

In 2017, I pumped out content for the sake of pumping out content.

In 2020, I’m creating content based on what you engage with the most and what content ideas already work the best on that platform.

I also have an objective for each piece of content. So far, I’ve referenced two videos in this blog post and hope you’ll subscribe to my YouTube channel if you enjoy those videos.

In other content, it’s to fill up my strategy call calendar, increase book sales, or promote one of my podcasts.

If you’re producing daily content for the sake of it, it won’t work. If you combine daily content with content research and clear objectives, this strategy will help you.

Reuse Your Past Ideas

Daily content isn’t easy to produce on any platform. When you start producing daily content on multiple platforms, it becomes even more challenging.

That’s why it’s good to reuse your past ideas so you don’t have to do as much thinking. This blog post was inspired by a YouTube video where I talked about my experience of producing daily videos.

I combined the content from this video with additional insights to produce this blog post.

By creating blog posts around what has already worked on YouTube, I increase the likelihood of creating blog posts that resonate.

Creating daily content takes extra work, but with the right strategy in place, daily content can be the exact thing you need to take your business to the next level and beyond.

YouTube is the top video social network where new channels can still gain traction. There’s an over-saturation misconception where some people may think it’s too late to create content — whether it be a YouTube channel, podcast, or blog.

There’s also a misconception that you need to have a big audience to make your first $1,000 on YouTube.

Even if you have a few hundred subscribers, you can make $1,000 on YouTube.

With that said, let’s jump into the different strategies you can use to earn income from YouTube.

#1: Offer A Service

In each video description, I include a strategy call link viewers can use to schedule a free call with me. In this free call, we discuss if we are a good fit to work together.

I coach people on podcasting, YouTube, and building their authority platform. I also have services available for people who want the work done for them.

The great thing about a service is that you can generate recurring revenue. If you get a single done-for-you client, you can easily make $1,000+ on YouTube.

As long as you keep showing up, providing value, and reminding people they can schedule that strategy call with you, you’re on your way to your first $1,000.

#2: Create Product Review Videos

Not only can you make money through a service, but you can also make money through product review videos.

In a recent video, I shared the alternative ClickFunnels set-up I use to power up my websites and profit.

In the video, I mention OptimizePress and ThriveCart as my two tools of choice.

Each of those tools has their own affiliate programs which pay me each time I make a sale.

I also get sales through my Amazon affiliate links which I use in each video description to promote my books.

It’s harder to make $1,000 through Amazon affiliate links because their commissions are low. However, you can find an option like OptimizePress or ThriveCart that sets you up to make $100+ per sale.

You don’t need many of those types of sales to reach $1,000.

#3: Sell Your Own Products

You don’t have to stop at selling other people’s products. You can also sell your own stuff and make $1,000 on YouTube.

While selling your own products takes more time (i.e. creating the sales page and product), you have more control over your product.

If you are not happy with your conversion rate, you can tweak the landing page to boost your conversation rate.

You can also create multiple products that complement each other. Selling your own books is one way to make $1,000 on YouTube, but if you sell training courses, that’s even better.

Not only can you charge far more for a training course than a book, but YouTube viewers already watch videos which makes a training course an easier transition for them.

If you want help with making your first $1,000 on YouTube, let’s jump on a strategy call to discuss how we can make it happen.

And if you’re looking to grow on YouTube, you may be interested in these 13 strategies you can use to grow on YouTube.