- So I've been an online entrepreneur for over a decade now,
and I've learned a lot of lessons the hard way.
So in this video, I'm gonna share with you three things
I wish I would've known early on,
to help me become
a much more successful online entrepreneur, a lot faster.
(studious electronic music)
Lesson number one is to focus on client retention
over client acquisition.
Now that is corporate terms
for just getting your clients to buy from you
over and over and over again,
instead of just hustling after new clients.
You don't wanna give your best deals and all your offers
to new people that aren't in your brand yet.
You wanna give your best deals
to people who already bought from you, and in turn,
they already know, like, and trust you.
In the beginning of my journey,
I was so focused on new clients
that I neglected the current clients
that had already paid me.
I could have got my current clients to just pay me
over and over and over if I just offered them new services,
and if I kept in touch with them.
And there's a lotta different ways you can do this.
If you're working with a low amount of clients,
then you can do this personally
by doing consult or strategy calls with them, or emailing.
In my case, with online courses
it's still a service that's at scale.
I decided to get really serious about retention,
and following up with my students
and offering them more services, giving them a discount,
and then offering a subscription service
where they could come into my community monthly.
If you can build your income,
and make it more stable with either subscription services,
or just focus on the clients you already have,
you will create so much more stability in your profit,
and in your cash flow month to month as a business.
The second thing I wish I knew
is to focus on one type of customer.
In the business world we call this a customer avatar.
What that means is basically, you wanna find the person
who your services or product fits perfectly with.
For me personally,
I was teaching people how to build websites
and how to grow their web design business.
I had to put "and" in all of my marketing.
So in my case, it was learn how to build websites
"and" learn how to grow your business.
So I had to double up on all my marketing,
and same with my courses.
I had to create courses for this segment of people,
and different courses for this segment of people.
If you have different client avatars,
you're gonna be likely having a lot of different services
to manage and upkeep.
My biggest recommendation is to listen out for
if you ever have to say "and."
If you're saying "and,"
in your elevator pitches and networking groups
or in your marketing, it means that you're working
with two different types of people, which, again,
is okay in the beginning, but just remember this quote:
what got me here won't get me there.
And once you get to the point
where you're ready to really grow your business,
honing in on one customer avatar, that's key.
And then the last thing I so wish I would've known
when I started out as an online entrepreneur,
is the idea of just asking.
And this could be just asking to get somebody on your show,
if you have a podcast or YouTube channel.
This could be just asking
if somebody is interested in partnering with you.
Don't feel like you are not worth it or worthwhile
talking to them, because they will often listen.
The worst thing that's gonna happen
is somebody's gonna say "I can't right now."
How you ask is equally as important as if you ask.
So what I would say is you've got to be real.
You gotta be genuine.
People can sense authenticity right away,
especially nowadays.
Don't neglect the power of a personal video.
Now you need to keep it quick,
and you need to keep it brief.
But video allows us to get to know somebody
unlike any other medium.
But as long as you just ask in a real way,
and oftentimes do it via video, try that out.
That would be my challenge, is to just ask.
As I think back on my career as an online entrepreneur,
there is one kinda underlying theme,
and that is to just be personal, just be you.
Authenticity is the most underrated business thing today.
You can just be you, and you are going to attract
the right clients, customers, business partners, colleagues,
associates, you will start attracting those people.
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