Book Review – Launch by Jeff Walker

This post is a review of the book “Launch: An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula to Sell Almost Anything Online, Build a Business You Love, and Live the Life of Your Dreams” by Jeff Walker. In short, this book is great and has everything you need to follow his launch plan. You’ve probably seen product launches using his formula and just didn’t know it. That’s the beauty of “PLF” or “Product Launch Formula” style launches – they deliver great value whether the potential customer buys or not, and can be done without hype or aggressive selling tactics.

For an investment of less than $10, you really have everything you need to launch PLF style. There are a variety of case studies in very different niches, and these case studies had me continually saying “I can totally do this!” The case studies are a great way to show you the information in the book in action, but also a way to show you how different people use the PLF for their launches.

There are several types of launches presented in the book, but one of the most useful is the Seed Launch. This is, in my opinion, the most useful because it assumes you are truly starting from scratch. You don’t need a finished product, a list or even a website. Of course if you have any or all of those things, your launch will be much easier but the Seed Launch chapter demonstrates that you don’t need any of them to launch your first product. In fact, a seed launch can help you create your first product, start your list and make some money if you need it to get your website built.

One of the errors I see business owners making in launching is thinking that if they put something for sale that somehow people will find it and want to buy it. Once you realize this isn’t true, you are left with a problem of how to let potential buyers know you have something for sale and why they might want it. If you are like most people, you don’t want to sound like too pushy or sales-y. The Product Launch Formula gives you a step by step method that overcomes all of these problems. You’ll also have plenty of time and space to say what you need to in order for people to understand your product or service.

In short, this book delivers huge value for the money and has earned a spot on my Solopreneur Reading List. Grab a copy on Amazon here.

Image of Launch Book cover from Amazon.com

Discover the hidden gold in your email list!

Today I’m sharing some wisdom on email marketing from one of my personal mentors, PJ Van Hulle! Enjoy, and be sure to check out List-a-Palooza which starts today!

You’ve probably heard that, “the fortune is in the follow up,” but if you’re like most of the 1,000’s of entrepreneurs I’ve worked with over the last 14 years, your follow up systems leave something to be desired.

Here’s why “the fortune is in the follow up,” and what that looks like…

According to my friend and online marketing expert, Vrinda Normand, in most niche markets, or the specific group of people you serve:

3% are actively shopping for what you offer

7% are aware and open to your services, but not looking

30% are not aware of their problem or your solution

30% may know you exist, but it’s not the right time

30% are simply not a fit

This means that if you’re not following up, you’re leaving behind the 67% of people that might be ready to sign up for your products or services down the road!

When you follow up consistently, you will stay in front of these people. Maybe they’re not ready now, but when they are ready, you’ll be at the top of their mind and therefore you’ll be the one they hire over someone that didn’t follow up.

Imagine how much more money you could put in your pocket just by staying in touch with those 67% of people who may need you in the future.

The easiest and most effective way to follow up and nurture those relationships is to build an e-mail list of clients and potential clients who have “opted in” and given you permission to send them e-mails.

A good rule of thumb for monetizing your list is to shoot for $1 per subscriber, per month. So if your goal is to generate $10,000 per month in income, focus on growing your e-mail list to 10,000 subscribers.

With a profitable e-mail list you can:

● Attract more clients and sales

● Turn current clients into repeat clients

● Fill your seminars and programs

● Promote other peoples’ programs that you believe in and earn $1,000′s in affiliate commissions

Building your list is like taking advantage of compound interest. The sooner you start, the better. And the longer you nurture your list, the more profitable it will be.

To quantum leap your e-mail list to the next level, I recommend participating for FREE in the List-a-Palooza 90 Day List-Building Challenge.

Register Now for FREE

PJ Van Hulle works with speakers, authors and coaches to grow their e-mail lists so that they can attract more clients and sales with less time, effort, and stress. She’s the creator of the List-a-Palooza 90 Day List-Building Challenge.

Bright, Shiny Object Syndrome

Ask Me Anything, Segment 10

(Prefer to read instead of watch? Scroll down below the video player for a summary.)

It’s really easy to get sidetracked by the next big thing or the next bright, shiny object. It’s critical to stay focused and finish projects before moving on to the next one. You can find the entire Ask Me Anything series on my blog or YouTube channel under Ask Me Anything.

If you prefer to read instead of watch, here are the notes for this video:

Bright, shiny object syndrome is a funny name for a very real problem faced by entrepreneurs. We can get distracted by the next new idea before we take time to finish what we are working on.
New ideas are especially tempting to entrepreneurs because we love new ideas and like to take action and try new things.
One of the things that separates the superstars from the middle of the pack is the ability to persevere and finish projects even when they get boring.
Learning can be a huge bright, shiny object. Make sure to take the time to implement what you learn before moving on to learning something else.
One of the things I can help you with is finishing what you start. I can help you to know exactly what to be working on. I would love to be one of the people you learn from. Click on the green “Send Me More” button below the video, enter your name and email address, and I’ll send you tips and strategies just for solopreneurs.

Learning without implementation accomplishes nothing

Ask Me Anything, Segment 8

(Prefer to read in stead of watch? Scroll down below the video player for the notes.)

Earlier this year, I gave my email subscribers the chance to ask me anything they wanted to about their business. In this video, I talk about the trap of learning too much and not implementing enough. Learning new skills to build your business is a great thing to do, but you have to implement what you learn for it to help your business grow. Learning without implementation does not help your business. This is Segment #8 in the Ask Me Anything series. You can find the entire series on my blog or YouTube Channel under Ask Me Anything. www.michelechristensen.com

(Note the event link I mentioned around the [2:00] minute mark does not show up on some views of this blog post. Here is the link: www.michelechristensen.com/blbp)

If you prefer to read instead of watch, here are the notes for this video:

Learning is fun, and implementing can be long, hard work so there is a big temptation to just keep learning and not take the time to implement.
The fun of doing new things begins when you finish them and they begin to work. If you want to be successful, you have to buckle down and implement what you are learning and not just jump to the next thing.
I attended a live weekend event last year and it took me 5 months to get everything from that event implemented. Make sure your time and money investment pays off when you attend a live event by implementing what you learn. For more information on the Big List, Big Profits event, click here.
The one thing to take from this video: implement what you learn or you are just wasting time.
If you like this tip, please go to www.michelechristensen.com and enter your name and email address so you can receive ongoing tips and strategies just for solopreneurs!

Fear of Missing Out (#fomo)

Ask Me Anything, Segment 7

Earlier this year, I gave my email subscribers the chance to ask me anything they wanted to about their business. This video explains how “Fear of Missing Out” or #fomo can drive you to spend way too much time trying to learn new things instead of growing your business.

Product Review – Business Marketing With Pinterest

My first exposure to Pinterest was through Facebook, where I would see some of what my friends posted. I enjoyed what I saw, which was mainly food, pets and fashion. Given what I was experiencing, I couldn’t see how I could use Pinterest for my business. Pinterest is all about beautiful images (or so I thought), and my business doesn’t readily create vivid images. I held out and didn’t jump in because I have a rule in my business:

I don’t add anything new until I know exactly how it will help my business and how to measure if it is working.

So, I waited and watched Pinterest grow. I saw the buzz and began to see case studies of people with businesses similar to my own getting amazing results. By results, I mean sales, leads and exposure to new people. I did some reading up and thought I understood enough to make Pinterest work for me and so I jumped in. I created my account and began pinning away. When I tried to measure my results, well, I couldn’t. You can’t really measure zero.

That’s right, zero. I got no new customers or leads, and very little traffic from Pinterest at first. I chalked it up as a failed experiment and moved on but kept my account so I could gaze at puppies, recipes I would never make and beautiful home ideas that I would never use. Fast forward a few months and one of my most trusted colleagues starts getting great results (traffic, leads and INCOME) from Pinterest and creates a training to help other people duplicate her success. Ok, now I’m intrigued. What did I miss?

I purchased Business Marketing with Pinterest by Becky Sangha, and committed to watching the entire thing and implementing every step of it. That last part is really important – as with any training, for it to do any good you have to consume it (watch, read, listen, etc) AND implement what you are learning. No training will help you if it sits on your hard drive or bookshelf and you don’t act on it. The same is true with this training.

What I learned was that Pinterest is a traffic driving machine! The very first week I checked my traffic stats after starting this training, Pinterest was in my top ten sources of referral traffic! Keep in mind that I had only just gotten started and hadn’t even done that much. By week two, Pinterest was my #4 source of referral traffic and my #7 source overall, and I still hadn’t implemented the entire system! After using the system for about a year, Pinterest is consistently in my top ten traffic sources every week.

What’s really great about Pinterest traffic is that these visitors are interested in what you have to offer! The very name of the site is a combination of “Pin” and “interest,” and you create pinboards based on interest. A person wouldn’t be following your boards or clicking your pins if they weren’t interested by what they saw. I find that Pinterest traffic tends to stay on my site for longer and look at more pages while they are there.

So the verdict on this training is a big thumbs up! Not only does it deliver great results, it’s laid out in a systematic way that makes it easy to follow and implement. Becky has a great teaching style and does something I think is really important – she explains the reasons behind everything she tells you to do. She also gives you everything you need to get completely up to speed. Even if you have no idea what subjects you could create pins about, she has you covered!

I suggest you grab this product if:

You want to use Pinterest for your business (don’t try to figure it out yourself!)
You have a website that you want more interested traffic for
You have a business that isn’t particularly visual and want to know how you can use Pinterest anyway
You already know how great Pinterest is, but don’t know what kind of pins to create for your business
You enjoy Pinterest for personal use but aren’t sure how to make the leap to using it for business

Check out Business Marketing with Pinterest and let me know what you think!

I’m a proud affiliate for this program, and the above links are affiliate links.

What to do with experts you don’t need now

Ask Me Anything, Segment 5

Earlier this year, I gave my email subscribers the chance to ask me anything about their business. In this video, I give you some ideas about what to do with experts who teach great information that you don’t need right now. I’ll be answering more questions over the coming weeks and months, so be sure to fill in your name and email address in the box below the video so you can get your questions answered in the next Ask Me Anything.

How to use Timetrade

Ask Me Anything, Segment 1

Earlier this year, I gave my email subscribers the chance to ask me anything about their business. In this video, I answer the first question, and I’ll be answering more over the coming weeks and months. The question has to do with time management systems and Timetrade.

If you want more information like this, including a chance to get your questions answered in the next “Ask Me Anything,” enter your name and email below for regular email updates from me.

How to Profit on YouTube – New Training

One of the easiest, and most profitable way to provide value to your prospects, leads and customers is through YouTube videos.

The more value you provide, the more valuable you are, priming your audience to become eager buyers of your products and services.

Have you started creating YouTube videos? I confess, I’m under-using YouTube. That’s why I’ve signed up for this training.

Maybe you have a few videos, but you are frustrated because they aren’t generating the interest you had anticipated and you aren’t sure how you can create YouTube videos that will drive high quality traffic to your sign-ups, website, and sales pages.

If you would like to make yourself more valuable to your prospects and clients while getting unlimited, highly targeted traffic to your website, hen I know you’ll want to join in this new training offered by my friend and colleague, Becky Sangha (a.k.a. The Online Video Marketer).

How To Create YouTube Content Fast For More Traffic, Sign-ups And Sales

This is a workshop training course where you will learn everything you need to know to use YouTube videos to generate value, and increase traffic, and your profits. There is no selling in this workshop, it’s pure training. She’s even going to have me on the workshop live as one of her examples! I honestly have no idea what she is going to tell me, but I can’t wait to find out!

Because it is a workshop, Becky wants to ensure that each participant gets maximum value, and she’s limited the number of people who can register. So click on the link now before it fills up and she pulls the page down.

How To Create YouTube Content Fast For More Traffic, Sign-ups And Sales

Becky’s just opened this up to the public, and it’s already generating quite a buzz, so don’t wait to sign-up, or you might be too late.

PS – I’ve worked closely with Becky for almost 3 years, and I am proud to be an affiliate for this training. If you decide to register, I’ll make a small commission.

Free book download today!

In honor of Small Business Saturday, I’ve polished up and revised my first Kindle book “Is a Solopreneur Business Right for You?” and made it available free today through Monday (aka Cyber Monday!)

Grab your copy here:

Is a Solopreneur Business Right for You?

Today is all about supporting small businesses, and if you are thinking of starting your own small business I want you to have this book. In the book, I share what you need to know to figure out if the model of a solopreneur business is a good fit for you. Enjoy, and please use the social sharing buttons below to spread the word to your community and to any aspiring entrepreneurs you know. Thanks!