On most days, business revolves around moving things forward, one step at a time. It’s about writing that blog post or serving that client or working on that product we’ve had sitting on our desktop for six months.
These are all important elements to running a business no doubt. But at times, we’ve all had moments of thinking, “I’m moving at a snail’s pace – I can’t take it anymore. Something has to give!”
That’s where I was just under a year ago. My business was starting to gain momentum (after doing a complete re-brand AND having a new baby), but I wasn’t prepared to take the slow growth path. I wanted big results and big impact – fast.
At the time, I was taking Gina Bell’s Ready to JV program and had heard her say that JVs can be powerful catalyst strategies to grow your biz (she was right – thanks Gina).
But when I looked around, I kept seeing the same kind of JVs pop up – telesummits, ebook collaborations and more. These were fine, but me being the non-comformist I am at heart, wanted to do something different. I didn’t want to create what everyone created. I didn’t want a me-too JV.
It didn’t take long to come up with my JV project idea – a digital magazine. I am an avid magazine reader and collector. I love everything about magazines – the bite-sized content, the glossy pages, the beautiful images and the ideas that are shared. Plus, I had always had a super secret dream to have my own magazine one day after having worked on magazines in my corporate career.
So, I sussed out a plan and the Going Pro magazine started to take shape. My primary goal was to build my community and list, with a secondary goal being to make income off of a program I’d offer on the backside of the magazine promotions.
This was a true labour of love – it took 90 days from start to finish to put this project together. Plus countless hours and a decent investment of cash. Was it worth it? Absolutely.
The Going Pro magazine spread thanks to the help of the 16 contributing experts and their honest, candid answers about what it truly takes to Go Pro in business.
And within one week, I grew my email subscriber count by 1500 people (thank you all you wonderful people who are part of my community!). To some, 1500 is a drop in the bucket, but to most entrepreneurs, this represents some serious progress and possibilities. It certainly did for me. I also received a ton of comments from readers totally inspired by the articles, interviews and the magazine itself and I enrolled over 75 women into an online video training course (sorry, it’s no longer available).
I’m sharing these details with you because many of you have asked me what it took to create that magazine and how you can go about taking big, bold moves in your business.
So, what can you take from my story and apply to your own business?
First:: it doesn’t matter how new you are to business or how small your list is to begin with. It’s not about that and everyone has to start somewhere.
Second:: don’t wait until you’re a ‘bigger name’ before you take big action in your business. Do it now. The people that have become prominent in business didn’t do it by waiting – they did it by taking action despite their list size, visibility, connections to well-known business owners etc. Don’t wait.
Third:: despite what’s being promised online, most people don’t achieve overnight success. Was getting 1500 people on my list a BIG boost for me? Absolutely. Did it take a lot of hard work? No question. Be willing to do the work and commit to greatness and you’ll see big movement in your business.
Fourth:: don’t be afraid to reach out to the ‘a-listers’. What’s the worst that can happen? They say no, and you move on. I got some no’s for the magazine – but I also got 16 awesome entrepreneurial women willing to share their stories. Oh, and when you get the no – be gracious, don’t pout and personalize it. Truly successful business owners are BUSY and it may simply be a reflection of what’s on their marketing calendar at the moment. Say thanks and move on.
Fifth:: step outside the tried and true methods. I could have easily created a telesummit. Or an ebook. And they probably would have worked too. But I wanted to make MY mark and I knew that coming up with a different approach was the way to do it. And so I did something I knew I’d LOVE to create.
Lastly:: and probably most importantly – listen to your audience. Get inside their brains to figure out what they most want to know about or learn about. I KNOW that the reason the magazine took off like it did was because I gave the readers an insider’s look – a candid, transparent, behind-the-scenes look into the mindsets of 16 leading women in business. The curiosity factor was high and their insights were truly valuable. Figure out what your audience most wants to know – and then get about creating that (whether it’s a JV, a blog article, a new product or anything else).
Ultimately, the magazine was a huge boost to my business – from a financial, visibility and credibility standpoint. And it only continues to grow – it created some serious momentum in my business.
So, what can you do to create those same kind of results in your business?
