1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,960 And a lot of the time we procrastinate making a decision because we're worried about 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:08,279 making the wrong one, not realizing that not making a decision is also making 3 00:00:08,279 --> 00:00:12,519 a decision. Time keeps passing, and whether we make a decision or not, 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,839 time is going to pass. And we would have been much better off 5 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:20,359 six months down the track if we'd chosen either of those options than by choosing 6 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:25,800 nothing at all. Welcome to Imperfect Action. I'm Steph Taylor. For years, 7 00:00:25,839 --> 00:00:29,079 I read all the books, downloaded all the freebies, and did all 8 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:34,039 the courses, but it wasn't until I started taking imperfect action that my business 9 00:00:34,039 --> 00:00:39,960 had its first million dollar year. Imperfect action is about doing things before you're 10 00:00:40,079 --> 00:00:45,880 ready, prioritizing consistent action over perfect action, and moving forward even when you're 11 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:50,079 not sure you're doing it right. On this show, you can expect mindset 12 00:00:50,119 --> 00:00:54,600 advice, actionable marketing tips, and strategies to build a business that brings you 13 00:00:54,640 --> 00:01:00,359 more profit, more freedom, and even more joy. Do you want the 14 00:01:00,359 --> 00:01:03,719 list to get my daily businesses? Every day, I'll send you a bite 15 00:01:03,719 --> 00:01:07,719 sized prompt designed to help you grow your business in a more intentional way. 16 00:01:07,079 --> 00:01:11,680 Sign up at Steph Taylor dot co forward slash DBB or at the link Inshore 17 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:19,159 notes, Hey, welcome back to My Perfect Action. This is episode eight 18 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:25,040 hundred and twenty five. Today is another Ask Steph episode where I'm answering a 19 00:01:25,519 --> 00:01:30,159 listener question that was sent in and today's questions actually really exciting because it's from 20 00:01:30,599 --> 00:01:36,000 one of my students who I guess has been just been a student of mine 21 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:40,599 for probably oh four years now, I'd say close to that. So it's 22 00:01:40,719 --> 00:01:47,120 really exciting to be able to answer this question from Renata Bernardi and it says, 23 00:01:47,519 --> 00:01:52,680 Hi, Steph, my question is this, I'm torn between a scaling 24 00:01:52,719 --> 00:01:57,760 what I've achieved with my current offers or be creating a new offer to service 25 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,439 my existing students and clients. They I have been asking for a community, 26 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:05,319 but I can't do both right now. What would you recommend that I do? 27 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:08,800 First? And then the second part of the question was I also wanted 28 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:13,439 to know if you think investing time in writing your book was worth it. 29 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:16,199 Again, a lot of people have asked how come you don't have a book 30 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:21,159 yet, but I can't see it being a good ROI at the moment love 31 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:23,919 your work. I've launched three times using your methodology and it gets better every 32 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:29,400 time. Thank you, Nata. Oh. I'm going to start by answering 33 00:02:29,439 --> 00:02:34,039 the second question first, because I think that's probably the easiest, easiest answer 34 00:02:34,039 --> 00:02:38,120 for me. I found that it was worth it because actually recently one of 35 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:43,439 my students said that she came across me through seeing my book on Amazon, 36 00:02:43,479 --> 00:02:47,919 and that's how she came into my brand universe. So yeah, absolutely, 37 00:02:49,879 --> 00:02:53,680 though I will be honest, writing my book probably wasn't as much effort as 38 00:02:53,759 --> 00:02:57,879 it would have been for a lot of people, because what I really did 39 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,840 was I took a lot of content that I'd already shared elsewhere, and I 40 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:07,960 fleshed it out. I turned it into longer essays, and rather than having 41 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:12,919 to structure a book in chapters, I structured it in essays. And if 42 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:15,280 you haven't seen the book, it's called ninety nine Launch Lessons. You can 43 00:03:15,319 --> 00:03:21,120 grab a copy at Stephtaylor dot co slash book and really it's just ninety nine 44 00:03:21,199 --> 00:03:27,159 lessons in building a profitable online business. So yes, it's been great ROI 45 00:03:27,199 --> 00:03:30,719 for me, but not so much in terms of sales of the book, 46 00:03:30,879 --> 00:03:36,639 but in terms of what it has led other people to buy from me, 47 00:03:36,879 --> 00:03:40,680 to work with me, they've become podcast listeners, etc. Now the second, 48 00:03:40,919 --> 00:03:46,400 the second question torn between scaling what you've achieved with your current offers and 49 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:52,479 creating a new offer. Now, there are pros and cons to both approaches, 50 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:58,280 and I honestly I think thinking about how you are designing your offers in 51 00:03:58,319 --> 00:04:01,560 your business as a whole is very important, and that is why I created 52 00:04:01,599 --> 00:04:06,400 offer Less Sell More, where you'll strategically design and refine your offer suite so 53 00:04:06,439 --> 00:04:10,960 you can make more sales, help a wider range of people, and escape 54 00:04:11,039 --> 00:04:14,360 the all or nothing revenue roller coaster. You can find out more and sign 55 00:04:14,439 --> 00:04:16,720 up for that at at Steph Taylor dot co slash olsm. We'll also pop 56 00:04:16,759 --> 00:04:20,519 a link to that in the show notes. Now, let's look at the 57 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:24,480 first approach. Let's look at the pros and cons of the first approach, 58 00:04:24,519 --> 00:04:29,920 scaling what you have achieved with your current offers. The obvious pro here is 59 00:04:29,959 --> 00:04:32,519 that you don't need to spend any time creating new offers because you've already done 60 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,279 that. The hard work is done. Now you can focus more time and 61 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:42,720 energy on streamlining them because you already know how to deliver them, likely already 62 00:04:42,759 --> 00:04:46,519 have processes in place. So you can possibly start to bring in a bigger 63 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,399 team, a team that can help you to free up your time, which 64 00:04:49,519 --> 00:04:54,800 then might give you a bit of time that you can create that next offer 65 00:04:55,319 --> 00:04:59,279 when you have a bit more time available to do. So. You already 66 00:04:59,319 --> 00:05:03,360 know your existing offers convert, so now it's less risky to look at other 67 00:05:03,439 --> 00:05:08,600 ways to scale them, looking at things like paid traffic for example, like 68 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:13,000 Facebook ads or LinkedIn ads, because I know your audience is very active on 69 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:16,920 LinkedIn Renata. But on the flip side, now scaling what you've achieved with 70 00:05:16,959 --> 00:05:20,480 your current offers means that this becomes more of a numbers game. It becomes 71 00:05:20,879 --> 00:05:26,160 a matter of getting more people into your offers, which means that you then 72 00:05:26,199 --> 00:05:30,480 need to reach more people and that is like a challenge for everybody Right now, 73 00:05:30,959 --> 00:05:34,839 the online space is different to what it used to be, and trying 74 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:40,319 to reach more people organically it's a lot harder than it was five years ago. 75 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,040 Now. The more people who you have in your business universe, you 76 00:05:44,079 --> 00:05:46,680 will probably also find that you have more customer support. You know, if 77 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,959 you have more people who are coming through your products, the more customer support 78 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:54,480 you will generally have, So you will probably need to hire somebody at some 79 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:58,839 stage to get that off of your plate if you haven't already. When you 80 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:03,560 are relyingtaying on those current offers, then your income becomes a bit more tied 81 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:09,199 to your audience growth. In a month where, for example, maybe Facebook 82 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:13,720 ads are more expensive, like November. They're traditionally very expensive in November because 83 00:06:13,759 --> 00:06:15,079 of Black Friday, the lead up of the holiday season, all of that. 84 00:06:15,959 --> 00:06:20,560 When those ads are more expensive, then your income might drop. In 85 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:25,040 a month where you maybe aren't showing up online as much, showing up on 86 00:06:25,079 --> 00:06:28,920 social media, doing podcast interviews, wherever you are, whatever channels you are 87 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,319 using to grow your audience and reach more people, if you're not showing up 88 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:36,600 so much on there, then your income might drop. And I guess the 89 00:06:36,759 --> 00:06:42,360 last con of you know, scaling what you've achieved with your current offers is 90 00:06:42,959 --> 00:06:46,879 it doesn't help your existing students and clients. Now, that might not be 91 00:06:46,959 --> 00:06:49,000 a problem. It doesn't necessarily need to be a problem. It doesn't necessarily 92 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:54,360 need to be a con. It really depends on what your bigger vision is 93 00:06:54,639 --> 00:06:57,639 for your business. Do you want to keep helping them? Do you want 94 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:01,600 to keep helping your existing students and clients, maybe helping them with new challenges 95 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:06,360 or helping them in a deeper way than before, or on the flip side, 96 00:07:06,399 --> 00:07:12,360 are you happy with delivering the solution to specific challenges, the ones that 97 00:07:12,399 --> 00:07:15,439 you're already helping them to solve, and then letting them go, letting them 98 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:20,439 go elsewhere to get that next step of support if they need it. So 99 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:24,319 there are a few different pros and cons there, and again I'm going to 100 00:07:24,399 --> 00:07:28,720 say there's no one better solution. It's really what's going to work for you 101 00:07:29,199 --> 00:07:35,040 now. The second option was creating a new offer to service your existing clients. 102 00:07:35,199 --> 00:07:40,160 Okay, so let's look at the pros for this. The big pro 103 00:07:40,439 --> 00:07:44,079 is that you get to help those who have already had a great experience with 104 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,920 you. They want to work with you again, They are asking you for 105 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:51,439 ways to work with you again. So it's an easier solution for you. 106 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:56,560 It's an easier option for you than selling to somebody who doesn't know you that 107 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:01,399 well. Yet, increasing your lifetime value you from each customer is so much 108 00:08:01,399 --> 00:08:07,920 easier than trying to constantly bring in new people all the time, especially in 109 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,920 the current online environment where it's really hard to stand out and it can be 110 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:15,959 really hard to reach new people. Ads are expensive. It's really not what 111 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:18,639 it used to be five years ago. Like I said before, So selling 112 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:24,879 to those existing customers becomes much easier, and it also allows you to help 113 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:28,360 them in a deeper way. It can It means you can deliver a better 114 00:08:28,759 --> 00:08:33,159 overall client experience because now you are helping them to solve that next problem. 115 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:39,240 You're helping them to achieve that next transformation, that next step. Now I 116 00:08:39,279 --> 00:08:41,279 want to say, I want to highlight something that you said. They are 117 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:48,240 literally asking you to create a community. That sounds like such a good opportunity. 118 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:52,360 And I know that you are really limited on time and you can't do 119 00:08:52,519 --> 00:08:58,159 that and deliver your existing offers. But I wonder if maybe you could bring 120 00:08:58,159 --> 00:09:01,480 in a team member to run this for you. Could you hire a community 121 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:07,159 manager for an hour a day, five hours a week and make their sole 122 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:13,039 responsibility running this community. I really I would encourage you to really investigate this 123 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,200 idea a little bit more, really find out what they want, like when 124 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:18,840 they ask you for a community, what do they mean by that, What 125 00:09:18,879 --> 00:09:24,039 does their ideal community look like to them? What does the perfect solution look 126 00:09:24,159 --> 00:09:30,559 like to them? What problems do they now have that your community could solve 127 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,519 for them, And if it's a recurring problem, like maybe they need ongoing 128 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:39,559 support, then potentially that could be a membership, and the recurring income from 129 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,639 the membership would then cover the costs of having someone manage the admin, having 130 00:09:43,639 --> 00:09:48,039 somebody manage the community, and ultimately be profitable over and above those costs. 131 00:09:48,799 --> 00:09:54,120 And then once you have created this new offer, then maybe your focus shifts 132 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:56,919 to scaling your other offer, because now you know that there's a natural next 133 00:09:56,919 --> 00:10:01,279 step for somebody who completes the first one. Knowing that each time you launch 134 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:05,759 that existing offer, that first offer, you're going to be adding more people 135 00:10:05,919 --> 00:10:11,120 into the overall journey, the overall pipeline, which means that their lifetime value 136 00:10:11,159 --> 00:10:15,440 is going to be higher, which means that you can spend more time and 137 00:10:15,639 --> 00:10:20,600 energy to acquire a new buyer for that offer. Your return on investment becomes 138 00:10:20,639 --> 00:10:24,559 a lot higher because the lifetime value is higher. Now, obviously, the 139 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:30,600 downside to this option is it does take a lot more time to create and 140 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:35,519 deliver new offers than it does to simply launch an existing one over and over 141 00:10:35,559 --> 00:10:39,559 again. Once we've created an offer, we've created all of the assets to 142 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:43,600 promote it, you know, the sales page, we've got, cut open 143 00:10:43,639 --> 00:10:48,679 emails. All it then becomes is tweaking the marketing, tweaking the messaging each 144 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:52,440 time we launch it. But we're generally not having to reinvent the wheel, 145 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:54,759 so it's not a whole lot of work. But when you're doing something new, 146 00:10:54,879 --> 00:10:58,759 now you've got to create the new offer, You've got to create the 147 00:10:58,799 --> 00:11:01,399 new assets to launch it, all of that, and it can be risky. 148 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:03,399 I know, even though they have asked for it, there is no 149 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:07,120 guarantee they will pay for it. Then there's never a guarantee that they will 150 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:11,919 pay for something until they actually do. You don't know how it's going to 151 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:15,919 convert until you launch it, So yes, it's risky. You are investing 152 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:20,559 time and possibly money as well into something that isn't proven to convert. But 153 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:24,919 that is also the nature of business in general, and I think we have 154 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,240 to be open to a little bit of risk because honestly, if it were 155 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:33,879 risk free, everybody would do it. Greater risk, greater reward, Nothing 156 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:37,440 ventured, nothing gained, all of those things, right, we need to 157 00:11:37,519 --> 00:11:41,559 bear a little bit of risk because we don't know what stands on the other 158 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:46,320 side of that risk until we actually take that step. Okay, now there's 159 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:50,320 also there's another two options that you didn't include in your question, and you 160 00:11:50,399 --> 00:11:54,519 might have already discounted these options, which is fine. So option three is 161 00:11:54,639 --> 00:12:01,039 to create an offer that comes before your existing offer. So it doesn't need 162 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:05,519 to be as big as a community or as big as a next step offer, 163 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,039 but it could be something smaller, something that solves a problem somebody has 164 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:13,799 before they can solve the problem that your existing offers solve. So they might 165 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:18,720 have a problem that needs solving before they will even be in a headspace to 166 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:22,919 solve the next problem that your offers solve. It might be lower ticket, 167 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:26,799 actually probably would likely be lower ticket. But the aim here isn't to generate 168 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:30,519 a lot of cash. It's not to generate a lot of income. It's 169 00:12:30,639 --> 00:12:35,519 more there to give them a smaller win and nurture them into your next offer. 170 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:39,679 And this could be really simple. It could be a live workshop, 171 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:41,480 it could be a mini cost, it could be anything. As long as 172 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:46,039 it's aligned with your strategy. It doesn't matter so much what the format is. 173 00:12:46,759 --> 00:12:50,559 It matters more what the outcome is and what the overall goal the overall 174 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:56,720 strategy is. And that's really why I created offer Less, Sell More, 175 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:01,279 because it's not about just adding in extra offer to your business. It's about 176 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:05,399 intentionally designing what do I want this to look like? What is that journey 177 00:13:05,399 --> 00:13:09,000 that I'm taking people on where I can bring them back to buy from me 178 00:13:09,039 --> 00:13:13,200 again and again, rather than just letting them pick and choose things and then 179 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:16,919 they go off on their merry way and I never see them ever again. 180 00:13:16,879 --> 00:13:20,039 So really thinking about what is that strategy, what is that journey going to 181 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:24,200 look like? And if remember, if you want to sign up for offer 182 00:13:24,279 --> 00:13:28,399 Less, Sell More, the link to do that is at Steph Taylor dot 183 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:33,399 co slash olsm all right. Option for the last one, and this is 184 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:35,759 the option I do not recommend, but I'm putting it in here because it 185 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:41,279 is still an option. Even though it's not a decision. We are still 186 00:13:41,519 --> 00:13:45,120 doing this when we don't make a decision, and that is sitting in indecision 187 00:13:45,159 --> 00:13:50,240 between the options. Pick one. Anything will be better than doing nothing. 188 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:54,840 And a lot of the time we procrastinate making a decision because we're worried about 189 00:13:54,879 --> 00:13:58,159 making the wrong one, not realizing that not making a decision is also making 190 00:13:58,159 --> 00:14:03,399 a decision. Time keeps passing, and whether we make a decision or not, 191 00:14:03,519 --> 00:14:05,440 that time is going to pass. And we would have been much better 192 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:09,919 off six months down the track if we'd chosen either of those options than by 193 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,960 choosing nothing at all. So I just want to make that one very clear. 194 00:14:15,039 --> 00:14:16,399 I know it's very hard when you're like, oh, which is going 195 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:20,320 to be the better one? Just pick one? Honestly, either one of 196 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:24,759 them will be better than nothing. All right. There you have it, 197 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:31,720 the pros and cons for launching something new versus scaling what you already have. 198 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:35,879 And remember, there is no wrong decision. If you are sitting in this 199 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:39,919 exact same challenge or a similar challenge, you can't get it wrong. Like, 200 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:43,679 even if it doesn't work out great, well perfect, we now have 201 00:14:43,879 --> 00:14:46,159 a lesson. We now know what doesn't work, so now we can focus 202 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:50,720 on what will work. That is it for today's episode. If you have 203 00:14:50,799 --> 00:14:54,799 any friends who are struggling with this challenge, please share this episode with them, 204 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,960 and if you haven't already followed or subscribed this podcast, make sure you 205 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,679 hit the plus in Apple Podcasts or the follow in Spotify. Thank you so 206 00:15:03,799 --> 00:15:05,480 much for listening. Catch you next time