If I were starting an online business from scratch…
It begins with “email list building”.
But this post is not about a specific email list building strategy.
Instead, it's an OVERALL business growth perspective and strategy…
which LEADS to an awesome email list of dream customers.
HERE IT IS.
The best advice for starting an online business from scratch, is to build your “system” , funnel, whatever you want to call it >>> ONE step at a time.
The biggest challenge for me was wanting to have the entire ‘system' in place and “right” before doing anything.
This not only held me back for years, but MOST of what I did failed anyway.
Because “failing forward” is how you succeed starting an online business.
But nobody wants to fail.
They're terrified of failure.
So they try to ‘perfect' everything in an effort to avoid failure.
I've seen it over and over and over again.
We build a ‘system' – launch or whatever…and then the first step – the lead magnet – fails.
As an example.
So we put months into building a system, emails, automations, products, and so on … and then find out we don't have the market problems nailed.
now
I'm giving you an extreme scenario…but it happens more often than not.
Many moons ago Rich Schefren taught me to:
build the system a step at a time, and then automate / scale the parts that work.
And I teach this strategy to every client when they want to start an online business from scratch.
But there's a lot of resistance.
“Joey, if I don't have my email followup campaign ready..with a ‘product ladder' upsell ready…then what happens with ALL the people who opt-in for my lead magnet?”
Here's the answer.
First of all, that's a GREAT problem to have.
Think about it.
If you put a lead magnet out that goes crazy with opt-ins…you have a home run. Rare on the first few tries…but it happens.
so let's say that's you.
and now you have a billion people “sitting” on your list “waiting”
is that so bad?
let's say you don't have your “product ladder” ready
who cares?
you can easily send out broadcast emails once or twice a week now to keep your list engaged, and add even more value. All while you write your email nurture sequence for the new peeps opting in 
‘cos you know your front end works.
PLUS,
you'll be SUPER different from 90% of the marketers who put people into the same “system” 😉
AND, different is the KEY to starting an online business
In the words of Sally Hogshead:
“different is better than better”
onward
THEN, you build the next piece (read: test)
which can be a low dollar offer, an invite to a coaching strategy call , whatever it is.
Just One More Thing About Building An Online Business From Scratch
The BIGGEST “secret” that I find 99.9% of business entrepreneurs skip (including me at the beginning) is the market research
‘cos it's boring.
But let me share this.
if you spend 80% of ONE week doing the proper research, understanding exactly what your customers want and need (read they have an internal DESIRE that we need to tap into) then EVERYTHING going forward is so much easier
- lead magnets
- email marketing
- sales page copy
- facebook ad copy
- chatbot copy
- webinars that convert
the list goes on
I can't guarantee anything works for me or clients…or for that matter, YOU.
But this build it as you go thing is pretty dang close
this of course is another “Joey opinionated knowledge post”
hope it serves