『The Ellory Wells Show: Actual Entrepreneurs Share Actionable Advice to Help YOU Build YOUR Business!』のカバーアート

The Ellory Wells Show: Actual Entrepreneurs Share Actionable Advice to Help YOU Build YOUR Business!

The Ellory Wells Show: Actual Entrepreneurs Share Actionable Advice to Help YOU Build YOUR Business!

著者： Ellory Wells: Entrepreneur Business Coach Bestselling Author
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Helping You Develop, Grow, and Overcome the Obstacles in Your LifeCopyright © Ellory Wells, DwizzyWid Media, LLC 出世 就職活動 経済学
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  • Why We Should Practice As Adults

    Why We Should Practice As Adults
    2021/03/08
    When was the last time you practiced something? How long has it been since you repeated a task, over and over again, so that you could get better at it? Want to listen? There's an audio version below On a recent mastermind call, I brought up this concept of practicing with the group. We each have businesses and we all want to get better at our craft. But, I wondered how often we actually sit down and practice so that we can improve our skills. I found a lot of value in that discussion, and I thought I'd share some of those thoughts with you. Why We Should Practice As Adults “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. – Bruce Lee Practicing As Kids I've got a young nephew who was recently learning to write. Specifically, around Christmas time, he asked Santa for a dinosaur and a train. But in reality, he didn't ask for anything. He scribbled on a piece of paper, and my sister told us what he was trying to write. As kids, we had to practice everything. We had to practice putting food in our mouths. We had to practice walking and talking. We had to practice writing out our letters. We were terrible at everything, so we had to practice everything. As adults, we can look back and know that practicing is a requirement for advancement. Practicing to Get Better As we get a little older and realize that practicing, while required to get better, sucks. Even though it's necessary, practicing is boring, repetitive, and often no fun. However, practicing is necessary to get better. But remember, practice does not make perfect; practice makes permanent. What we do while practicing, mistakes and all, is what we do out in the real world. But, we practice to get better. We do repetitive tasks to develop muscle memory and instincts, and to reduce the time it takes to act. We do drills that seem stupid at the moment not realizing how they'll help us in the big game. Athletes practice free throws at the gym so they can perform out on the court. Soldiers practice drills on base so they know what to do in a firefight. Practice is preparation. Not only do we practice to get better, but we practice when the pressure is low so we're prepared when the pressure (and expectation) is high. Practicing as Adults But how often do we practice as adults? Now, this is the meat of our discussion on the mastermind call. The topic was introduced in relation to creating landing pages. One member didn't want to (or, rather, wanted to create a perfect page the first time), and another member said he could do it in his sleep. Why are these two people so different? While I've changed the details of this story a slight bit to protect some identities and to help convey the lesson, the difference is practice. One person was willing to put in the work and develop a new skill, and the other was not. As an adult, when was the last time you practiced something? I know, for me personally, that I don't even think about practicing. I just… do stuff. Either I expect to be good at it or I just… well, I don't do it. As an adult, I rarely think to myself, “I could be really good at XYZ, but I'll have to practice at it.” Am I alone in this? I don't think I am. After discussing it with my clients, I think my behavior is typical adult behavior. We either stick to what we know or we try something for a few minutes and quit if we can't do it. Seth Godin Says “Ship It” Ya, I'm familiar with the concept, and I know what Godin says. And, for the most part, for most of us most of the time, he's right. We need to stop trying to be perfect and put our work out into the world. We need to get over our fear of imperfection. And, we must learn to recognize the symptoms of analysis paralysis so we can avoid it. And here's where things got really interesting… One member echoed something you might've heard before. They advocated that we should “ship it” because, in their words, “something is better than nothing.” I responded with, “Is it?” We only get one chance to give a first impression. We only have one shot to win the big game. We often only get one interview to land the job. We often get one chance to give a successful pitch to sign a new client. So, is it worth putting out something mediocre if it will not be the representation of ourselves and our work that we want out in the world? While I understand the need to “hit send,” to “ship it,” and to get started before we know how it'll turn out, I also understand the expectations our customers have when we “ship” them something we made. And to tie it all together… As kids, we try everything to see what we're good at. Or at least that's what our parents tell us. As adults, when we try something new, if we're not immediately good, we quit and move on. What if our lack of practice, or our unwillingness to practice, is keeping us from becoming great at something new? The Learning Curve Most things in life have a...
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    14 分
  • How to Market Your Products & Make More Money

    How to Market Your Products & Make More Money
    2021/02/22
    When I started CigarScore in December of 2018, I only had a rough idea of how I'd monetize the platform. I knew I wanted to sell upgraded listings and advertising, but I didn't yet have a marketing plan or a strategy I could put in place. Want to listen? There's an audio version (with BONUS content!) below But on January 11th, just 27 days after launch, I released the product and started contacting business owners around the country. Four days later, on January 15th, I made my first sale. Seventeen hours later, I made my second sale. Fast forward to today and this business gets over 5,000 highly targeted visitors a month, has a 4-digit email list, multiple advertisers and affiliates, and generates thousands of dollars in revenue each year. I've already written about how I launched a new business here, so today I wanted to focus on how to market your products better so you can make more money. Cool? How to Market Your Products & Make More Money 1: Research, Research, Research You must know your product as well as or better than your customers. I've been enjoying cigars since I was in college. I know the products, I know how they're made, I know the lingo, and I know how to talk in a way my customers understand and relate to. NOTE: If you believe cigars are terrible, watch this first. Also, today's post isn't about cigars, it's about principles to build your business, so let's get back to it. If you're going to do business with people who live day-in-and-day-out with a particular problem, you've got to know about their problem as much as they do. Research helps you understand. If you're going to talk about bugs and pest control, you've got to know more about bugs than the guy who's calling you for help. If you're going to sell email automations, your customers shouldn't know more about the topic than you. If you want to get into real estate, you've got to know the markets and what's available better than any buyer with a Zillow account. Research allows you to get (and stay) informed. In his book Ogilvy on Advertising, Dan Ogilvy shared a great tip about researching and how knowledge relates to making sales. Ogilvy says, “What distinguishes a great surgeon is that he knows more than other surgeons. It is the same with advertising agents. The good ones know more.” Research enables you to sell more than the other guy. 2: Define Your Avatar If you want to market your products more effectively and make more money in your business, you first must know A:) what your product does, and B:) for whom. NOTE: Your “avatar” is a caricature or representation of who your customer is, including their gender, age, problems, goals, financial situation, background, etc. The more info you have the better. I know how to talk to people who enjoy cigars because I'm someone who enjoys cigars. I know how to talk to business owners because I'm a business owner. Regarding my new business, CigarScore.com, we have to cater both to the people in the cigar community and the business owners who run the shops around the country. CigarScore's users are searching for a lounge (a listing) where they'll want to enjoy a cigar. Those listings represent brick and mortar businesses owned by entrepreneurs and companies. The business owners who have their lounges listed on the site want their businesses to show up when people search in their area. After you've done your research and defined your avatar(s), you can communicate in a natural way that makes it easy for your customers to relate to you. The more you know the better you can simplify complex topics. The better you know your avatar, in my case I am my avatar, the more comfortable you will be when speaking their language. Both lead to more sales. If you need help creating your ideal client avatar, or if you'd like to use the tool I use to better understand my customers and clients, click here for the tool I created. 3: Know Where Your Product Fits in the Marketplace Is your product high end? Is it cheap and quick? Do you make a luxury product that lasts? Or do you sell perishables that will need to be replaced? It may seem like a small thing, but if you don't know where your product fits you won't know how to market it. And, regarding your product's “fit,” there is no right answer. You can make money and be profitable in both categories. However, it's much easier to start off with a higher-end or premium product and then create a budget or lower-end product later, than vice versa. Remember when budget car maker Hyundai decided to start manufacturing the $60,000+ “Genesis”? Ya, that didn't go over so well. However, when Tesla decided to drop the price of their high-end, all-electric cars, they were praised for it. Starting at a higher price and then, later, releasing a lower-cost solution is often better (and easier) than making the leap from budget to premium down the road. Putting in the work to define your customer avatar early will help you prevent your ...
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    24 分
  • 12 Essential Tools for Your Startup Business

    12 Essential Tools for Your Startup Business
    2020/04/27
    Updated April 2, 2020. While much of the content remains mostly the same, most of the tool recommendations have changed. When I first wrote this, I'd just begun my online business journey. Now I've been in the world of online entrepreneurship for almost 7 years. If you're like me, you didn't go to business school. You don't have a background in finance, and your parents weren't entrepreneurs. Want to listen? There's an audio version below Also, if you're like me, you're building a business one step at a time. You're figuring things out along the way, getting many things right, and other things, well… they're “learning” experiences. However, unlike me, you may have never worked for a Fortune 50 company. Maybe you haven't managed revenue in the tens of millions but would love to know how it's done. Ok, I lied. Sorta. I did go to business school, but only for a semester during my freshman year at Baylor. Although I didn't graduate with a degree in business, I did get an education in the real world. While on IBM and Dell's dime, I spent five years learning how to do business on a national scale. During my years at those companies, I learned about profit and loss. I spent my time figuring out how to sell to current customers and acquire new ones. My “Corporate Education” taught me the basics of how to run the businesses I'm building now. If you happened to study biology, or art, or creative writing in school, and if you haven't had the benefits of Corporate training, don't worry. This post will provide you with some of the essential business tools the Pros use to build the foundations for their businesses, connect with their customers, increase sales, and scale their startups. Some of the resources will help you get started, others will make you more efficient, and others still will help you communicate with your ever-growing team (if you choose to have one). These essential business tools are in these 12 categories: [one_half_first] Content Marketing Web Hosting Email Marketing Social Media File Management Sales Funnels [/one_half_first][one_half_last] E-commerce Analytics Automation Collaboration Legal Client Relationship Mgt (CRM) [/one_half_last] While you don't need every one of these tools when you start, having this list and using the tools below will help you scale your startup business. When it comes to tools, think about efficiency. When working with people, think effective. Systems will help your business scale. Templates can help you get there faster. These tools are in no particular order other than from beginner to intermediate and advanced. The beginner tools are ones you need immediately. The intermediate tools will help you grow your site from hobby-blog to income-generating and can probably wait until after you've made your first dollar. The advanced tools are more for when you're ready to hire your first Virtual Assistant or add to your team. Content Marketing Update: Instead of giving you 5-6 options, I've narrowed it down to one. This business tool combined with the web hosting tool below makes up the foundation for almost all of my businesses, and I use each almost exclusively. Sharing your story through blogging and content marketing is one of the best ways to establish your online presence and build your brand online. And WordPress is the best content management tool to use. Technically, WordPress is a content management system. To put it another way, WordPress is a free, simple tool that lets you manage all of the content you put online. WordPress is the foundation on which your website is built. By letting your readers and followers in on your journey, the struggles, the changes, and the highs and lows, you enlist people to your side of the ring. Your audience will be in the fight with you, and they'll be in your corner rooting for you. Yes, there are millions of blogs out there. And, yes, it's a crowded market. But people still love to read. Though there is power in video marketing, which I use a lot, people are still reading. A lot. If you create content that's authentic, (occasionally) vulnerable, courageous and with a knack for story-telling, you can change the world with your words. Additionally, content marketing and blogging are great for SEO. It's great for teaching and sharing. I always recommend blogging to anyone who wants to effectively communicate a message around the world. Want me to help you grow your blog in ? Then check out my free 30 Day Blog Transformation email course! Writing is also therapeutic and a great way to organize your thoughts – two very good things for the busy mind of an entrepreneur. If you're still not convinced blogging and content marketing are good for your startup business, read this. I started blogging in 2012. I had nothing, and I knew almost nothing. Now, three eight years later, I have thousands of readers, listeners, and followers in over 150 countries. You can do everything I've done (or your version of it) ...
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    45 分
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