Making the jump into working on your online business full time is a scary transition, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be overly risky. Megan Minns’ entrepreneurial journey is a perfect example of how you can build an online business without feeling like you’re risking it all. Megan also shares how she pivoted from her original business (website designer) to developing an expertise as a technical virtual assistant, co-creating a successful online course (squareyoursite.com) and co-hosting The Femtrepreneur Show Podcast. You can learn more about how Megan helps online businesses become well-oiled machines at meganminns.com.
Abagail Pumphrey and Emylee Williams are the business partners behind Think Creative Collective, a business education company that helps other entrepreneurs build online businesses out of their passions. The ladies share their experience building a business together, the struggles they’ve had with a launch based strategy, what they’ve learned in 2017 to help them explode their revenue well into the six-figure realm, and why they think it’s so important to be transparent with their audience. You can learn more about Thinking Creative Collective at thinkcreativecollective.com. You can also check out their podcast, The Strategy Hour Podcast on iTunes
In our first ever Entrepreneur Spotlight interview, we’re joined by Caitlin Bacher. Caitlin is the expert when it comes to creating profitable Facebook groups and has built a thriving six figure business (soon to be seven figures) teaching other entrepreneurs how to get the most out of their Facebook groups. She shares the critical phases her business has gone through to get to where she is today, how she balances being a mom/wife while running an online business, how her mindset around money has changed, and so much more. You can learn more about Caitlin’s business at caitlinbacher.com.
To run a successful online business, you need to keep your monthly expenses under control and invest in the parts of your business that will provide the best return. But what most entrepreneurs don’t realize is that they also need to make smart decisions with their personal finances too. Unless you have a business loan or startup capital, which very few online/lifestyle business do, you’re going to need to strike a balance between what you pay yourself and what to invest back into the business (especially in the early stages). That’s’ why in our latest episode, we explain the importance of getting your personal finances organized to ensure you give your business the best chance to thrive and grow.
Don’t forget to check out The20minbudget to learn more about our personal budgeting system for entrepreneurs.
Because so many business coaches and gurus are teaching aspiring entrepreneurs how to create product based businesses, we feel less attention gets put on the benefits of starting and growing a service based business. Especially for people who have little or no business experience, creating a service instead of a product can be a great way to generate initial cash flow while learning the ropes of running a business. That’s why in this episode, we discuss the upside of a service based business as well as how it can turn into a product based business down the road.
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With online businesses, launches are where it’s at. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling an online course, a group coaching package or a piece of software, you’re going to have to plan a “launch” one way or another. As lucrative as a launch based strategy can be, it can be a roller coaster ride when it comes to your cash flow. The ups and downs in revenue can make this type of business extremely stressful to manage. That’s why in this episode, we cover everything you need to know about how launch based businesses work as well as how to make them more stable and consistent.
Click here to get the free forecast tool I mentioned in the podcast so you can plan your launches like a pro!
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Scaling is a big-time buzzword in the entrepreneur world. It essentially means a business is trying to figure out how they can setup their operations to serve a larger quantity of customers and clients. For small online businesses, that almost always entails hiring people, which can seem like a scary endeavor. It not only means learning how to delegate work and manage others, but it also means taking on more labor expenses. That’s why in our latest podcast episode, we discuss the cost of labor in an online business. We share insights into the most common contractors we see online businesses hire first as well as how much our clients are spending on building their teams.
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When entrepreneurs think about getting a big tax bill, it usually evokes a feeling of terror and dread. The reality is, all entrepreneurs should be crossing their fingers that every quarter (or year) they are shelling out big time bucks to the IRS. That’s why in episode 10 of The Bottom Line, we share some tough love about why no entrepreneur should be caught off guard by the size of their tax bill, why entrepreneurs have it far better than employees when it comes to taxes, and why a giant tax bill is a blessing in disguise.
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The internet has made starting a business more accessible than ever. That’s why many coaches and gurus urge aspiring entrepreneurs looking for a business idea to start with their passion. Pursuing your passion isn’t bad advice, but that doesn’t mean it’s good advice for everyone. Building a business around an opportunity can be more financially lucrative while still being fulfilling and fun. That’s why in this episode, we discuss the difference between a “passion” based business and an “opportunity” based business and why both of them have their own unique merits. Parker also shares his experience working in two industries he was extremely passionate about and why he’s far more fulfilled working at Evolved Finance.
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One of the first monthly software subscriptions that online entrepreneurs invest in is their email marketing software. For a large portion of online businesses, growing an email list is their best option for connecting with a targeted audience and generating sales. This can make deciding on the right email marketing software for your own business seem very daunting, no matter your experience level with email marketing. So for this episode, we wanted to share the most popular email marketing software we see our clients using and explain why certain platforms are more popular than others depending on the size of the business.
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Facebook ads have been a hot topic for online entrepreneurs for quite a while now. Marketing gurus all over the web tout Facebook ads as the best way to scale any type of online business. We’re not saying Facebook advertising isn’t a valuable marketing tool, but if it’s such a fantastic way to skyrocket your revenue to new heights, then why don’t we see all of our clients spending thousands of dollars on Facebook ads every day? That’s why in this episode, we take a closer look at the cost of Facebooks ads and the reason our clients aren’t dumping every dime they have into Facebook advertising
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Online businesses are typically pretty inexpensive to get started. While brick and mortar businesses take tens (and sometimes hundreds) of thousands of dollars in capital to get started, an online business can get going for a couple hundred bucks. But the one expense online entrepreneurs cannot escape are merchant fees. That’s why in this episode, we examine what most online businesses should expect to pay in regards to merchant fees, who the most popular merchant providers are, and how to take action to insure you’re getting the lowest merchant rates possible.
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Affiliate partnerships are a powerful way to generate revenue with relatively little financial risk. They can also be a ton of work to manage and support. That’s why in this episode, we examine how common it is for online businesses to work with affiliates, how affiliate payouts can affect the profitability of an online business, why certain business models gravitate towards affiliate partnerships and others don’t, and why we (Evolved Finance) relied heavily on affiliate partners for our first product launch.
Links: Get access to the free video lesson mentioned in the show
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You can’t run an online business without software. Period. It’s typically the first monthly reoccurring expense a new online business will take on. It’s also an expense category that can get out of control really quickly. That’s why in this episode, we look at the software almost every online business needs to invest in, how much you should expect to be spending on software each month, why smaller businesses tend to spend a larger portion of their revenue on software, why it’s ok to wait to upgrade to more sophisticated applications, and why email marketing software and CRM’s can be so expensive.
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Refunds happen. It’s inevitable. One of your current or future customers is going to want their money back, and you’re going to hear a thousand different reasons as to why. That’s why in this episode, we look at the rarely talked about topic of refunds. We share why it’s important to keep track of refunds, what a healthy refund rate might look like for an online business, and what you should expect in regards to refunds as your revenue grows.
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