Balancing it All Featured Apr 22, 2023

A Hot Take On Marley Jaxx’s Cancel Culture Documentary + Social Experiment [please do not use my words to cancel anyone m’kay?]

It’s with a strange combination of embarrassment, frustration, and amusement that I write this post.

In our little micro-bubble of Internet Marketing, two fairly well-known personalities… Marley Jaxx and Dan Henry, sought to make a point about cancel culture through a social experiment. They purposely lied to their entire community of followers for nearly 48 hours to capture real-time reactions to online behavior for a YouTube documentary.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

This hot take is 100% editorialized and from my point of view ONLY. I also ask that if you’re going to comment on this, please read all the way to the end.

First, you should know that I personally know both Dan and Marley. I have a longer connection with Dan than Marley, but prior to this, I would say I have a pretty good idea about their general online persona. I think both of them know me fairly well too.

A few days ago, Dan’s post showed up in my feed. It was April 19th at around 10pm at night.

I haven’t commented much on Dan’s feed these days, mainly because of a lot of it is super polarizing, I’m tired, and I don’t have the energy to “spokesperson” in the comments and bat off the haters that can’t stand me.

But this one stopped me in my tracks.

I was 100% triggered by it. And I knew it.

The idea that Dan would air someone else’s alleged dirty laundry without context was infuriating. Mainly because it’s happened to me.

I haven’t spoken publicly about it, and can’t right now either, but I felt so much sadness that on top of whatever she might be going through, Dan was using his platform to make it infinitely worse.

And Dan isn’t some perfect personality. Why would he perpetuate cancel culture when he damn well knows what it feels like?

I decided to go to bed, and respond in the morning if it was still on my mind. I wasn’t going to let my trigger pull me into a fight.

I woke up super early that morning, and around 6:30am with a decent night sleep in me, I wrote a comment I felt encapsulated my thoughts and feelings without attacking anyone.

That whole morning, I kept thinking about cancel culture. About how unfair it is that people are held in their past, even if there’s only one side of the story being told, even if they’re sorry, even if there were complicating factors.

I didn’t want to “cancel” Dan either, I just wanted him to stop pouring gasoline on the fire.

I went to Marley’s timeline that morning and saw her cryptic post and gave her some love.

Thursday was a busy day for me, so I spent a lot of the morning in meetings.

At around 1:00pm, Dan basically 10xed the attention by posting a screenshot of Marley begging him to take it down.

When this screenshot went up, I was hella conflicted. On the one hand, it was cringe level 10 that he was posting this. On the other hand, it seemed almost unbelievable.

My intuition went off. It was like “Wait… this is SO out of character for even someone as polarizing as Dan.” This time I didn’t give it a good night sleep. I just immediately responded.

This comment got a lot of conversation. I even got a few drive by haters.

It was clear that whatever was going on, Dan was stirring the pot BIG TIME (or so I thought).

By the end of the day, I was starting to sniff out that this appeared to be an act. And even if it was, my feelings and emotions were 100% real. I was feeling confused, annoyed, and sad. I wanted people to know that no matter how hard you shit on someone, they are still human.

At first, I wasn’t going to put anything on my timeline about Dan or Marley. I didn’t want to be “that” person. And honestly, a lot of people like to offer unsolicited advice, saying things like…

“Keep your head down and just work and ignore the bullshit.”
“Don’t give it any attention.”
“Not your monkey not your mess.”

It’s not wrong advice technically.

But for me… this wasn’t just your typical slow-down-to-watch-the-carwreck-moment. This is a VERY real and present issue in my life (and has been) and something I would typically write about.

It’s like asking a talking head sportscaster NOT to talk about some controversial referee call at a high-stakes game.

Of course I was going to talk about it. Sometimes people want someone to say what they don’t know how to say.

I went ahead and put up a post about forgiveness and remembering that people are human.

On Friday, there was no new information. Dan was still stoking the fire a bit (as he loves to do), and various comments continued to float in, but I was still annoyed, and couldn’t quite pinpoint why.

At about 2:30pm, I finally decided to vox Dan privately. And we proceeded to talk for an hour and a half.

He never once gave up that he was in on the social experiment, but it was pretty obvious to me that the Dan I was talking to, was not the same person acting like a maniac on social media.

People were DMing me with questions, some were over in Boise ID with Marley at Inner Circle and it was clear by her silence, by the way people were talking, that this was staged and we were going to hear about it soon.

Honestly? It really didn’t help my mood. I’d spent all this bandwidth wondering, thinking, trying to understand, and to find out it was going to be some big reveal, felt like I was being used in an experiment for a few likes.

Her post about her upcoming livestream and request to comment “I’m in” – left a SOUR taste in my mouth. This was the first moment I felt angry.

I promised Dan I’d watch (he kept asking if I would) and now I see why. When I watched the livestream, Marley quickly admitted that this had been all her idea, she put Dan up to it, and Dan was just playing his part. Side note – Dan should be in the movies. I’ve said it for years. I maintain my position.

The livestream basically explained the social experiment and pushed people to watch a documentary on YouTube.

I was not amused. This felt annoying AF honestly.

I was feeling humiliated and embarrassed that I’d spent a lot of time on this, and knew it was 100% my responsibility that I had done so. In some way, I felt like even though I knew Marley and I had both suffered at the hands of cyberbullies, this experiment trivialized it and I felt more alone.

You know how a stampede starts? Someone yells something into the crowd and panic ensues. It doesn’t even matter if it’s actually true or not. Same with yelling fire in a crowded movie theater.

Sit there all you want and say, “I didn’t mean it!” but the fact is, stirring up this kind of drama could have had unintended consequences for people that – even if done by third party people – would have been stoked by this experiment.

After all was said and done, I went over to YouTube and watched the documentary.

It was VERY well done technically. It was obvious Marley and her team had spent a lot of time on it.

As I watched it, I found myself in agreement with so much of what she was saying and describing. There’s no question cancel culture has gotten totally out of hand and it really does ruin peoples lives.

By the time I got to the end, I felt like the emotional soup I was swimming in had a few more feelings in it.

I still felt used and embarrassed.
I was still mad.
I also understood the concept and principle.
I felt relieved my intuition was right about Dan.
I felt impressed by the quality of the documentary.
It caused me to question “what’s worth it” for the sake of making a point?

Was this what had to be done to make a point? It certainly sparked emotion. But lying so ferociously felt…ick.

One question I just can’t get out of my head…

Could Marley have actually told the truth about something personal and risked getting canceled for real rather than fabricating a story? I know in my life, if I want to be canceled, I can simply pull a few sordid tales out of my skeleton closet and I will have plenty to work with.

I’m sure she has some too. Don’t we all?

My conclusion is that while the idea of the experiment to bring attention to cancel culture can be applauded, the experiment fell short some. Instead of putting something out there that was real and honestly true, she chose to make up a lie and fool thousands of people so she could safely show it was fake later.

That’s not what being canceled feels like.

It feels like there is no escape. You are guilty… forever. There’s no redemption. No nuance. No growth. Certainly no grace and applause and thousands of views.

I’m not going to cancel anyone over this. I’m not going to hate Marley or hate Dan. By Monday, this whole thing will be old news.

I know it was a risk what she and Dan did, and sometimes you have to shoot your shot and try. I get it. I’m willing to see that and acknowledge that her intentions were good on this, but the impact felt different.

It’s always easy for it to seem “so cool” when you’re on the inside knowing what’s going on and using peoples real time reactions for your B-roll. Please understand…as I said in my post on my timeline the other day, I’ve taken people to task in a way that I regret. I’ve made the wrong call…many times. I’m not spotless.

The opposite in fact.

I would love nothing more than to live in a world where you get to learn from your mistakes and grow. I would love to live in a world where I could erase things I wrote and said in anger.

The line between speaking your mind, lively debate, friendly competition, character assassination… is blurry. There’s a difference between intention and impact.

If you’re a writer or a creator, you’re forced to walk this line EVERY single day.

I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling this way. And because the topic is cancel culture, it almost feels like if you have a dissenting opinion and share it, you’re proving the point. Which means, there’s not an easy way to respond without aligning with it, or risk feeling like you’re proving some point about cancel culture.

I’m going to give Marley the benefit of the doubt, and say that my own embarrassment and triggers have probably colored my ability to see this totally clearly, but let this hot take be an addendum to the cancel culture experiment….

The more influence you have, the more careful you have to be. Even when your intentions are good.

Signed,

– A gullible standby social media commenter who’s a bit salty, but still thinks she makes some good points

The Case For FG Funnels…

…and why if you’re going to believe me about anything, trust me with this.

I’m going to be honest.

I’m hella annoyed at myself.

I have a problem, and that problem is called extreme introversion.

Even though I do a really good “fake extrovert” act, when left to my own devices, I hide. Or more accurately, I put my head down and work. I focus on my clients, customers, and people in my immediate sphere, and ignore everyone and everything else.

Sure it has its upside. But it means I am not as loud or visible or outspoken as I should be.

And now, after having my head down for the last 12-18 months, I’m realizing, that there is a consequence to this trait.

Lots of people who look to me for advice, aren’t getting it. Because I’m too busy in my hole to come out and say, “Hey! This is really important. Pay attention!”

But two random phone calls today snapped me out of it.

More people need to know about FG Funnels, why it’s positioned as the BEST solution for every course creator and service provider, and why you’re losing out if you’re not hanging with us.

It’s a bold promise, but I have some good arguments I’m about to put out there. So if you hang with me, hopefully I can make a bit of sense.

But first, let’s talk about you. Your business. Your dream. Your future.

Most online businesses have less overhead than a brick and mortar business, this is true. But where you decide to “set up shop” is as important as the physical location you choose.

There are a lot of options for marketing automation software these days.

Kartra
ClickFunnels
Kajabi
Infusionsoft
Ontraport
Groove Funnels
Drop Funnels
WordPress
Samcart
Some combination of tools (Teachable, ConvertKit, LeadPages, etc.)

Most of them have payment structures that increase as you grow.

They all offer landing pages, carts + checkouts, automations, messaging, etc. with varying features stacks, benefits, etc.

Chances are, you have one (or more) of these tools. And once you’re on a tool, it’s a pain in the ass to move. So most people will hang out in a “good enough” tool because they don’t want to go through the headache of a migration.

Maybe you joined because of an affiliate deal from an influencer you follow.
Maybe you locked in some ridiculous lifetime deal.
Maybe a service provider only worked in one particular tool and you just went with it.

Whatever the reason, you are on one of the above softwares and wondering what I could possibly say that would change your mind.

Let’s begin…

#1 – Unlike a “starter” home, you do not want a starter home for your business

I remember when I bought my first starter home. The idea was you bought a small house you could afford, and then later when you had more $$, you would move to a better bigger house. This is NOT the way to do it online. And here’s why….

The larger you are, the harder it is to move
Longevity on domains matter (for Google)
There is nothing more terrifying than running a multi million dollar empire on a software that is depreciated, has shitty support, or requires some expensive specialist to run

Every single (with 100% success) multi millionaire online business owner that has moved to FG Funnels has bemoaned that they wished they had moved when they were smaller and less was at stake.

The time to move is when you’re small…even when the price doesn’t appear to make sense at first (and FG Funnels is at an incredibly affordable $119/m regardless of how big you are so it’s a no brainer).

I remember talking to my client Michelle who was trying to decide when to move off ClickFunnels, and she was terrified since she has SO MANY funnels and sequences and runs a hefty five figures of traffic a month to her domains.

The Takeaway: Move to your forever digital home (meaning your software solution) while you’re small. Every day you get bigger, it gets harder.

#2 – If we know we need to be on our forever digital home ASAP, we want one that can grow with us

Alright, so if you believe me that picking a scalable permanent digital home is the best way to ensure you grow without stress, then the next step is to pick the home that will give you the best most solid foundation. This means the following:

A history of pushing out features and fixing bugs quickly
A thumbs up from the general market in terms of being a “market leader” (through things like raising money, etc.)
A commitment to excellence in the software, not just the marketing of it
A system that helps you with the five main things all businesses need (CRM, Funnel + Web Builders, Membership, Email/Text, + Automations)

The only company right now doing this – HEADS AND TAILS ABOVE THE REST – is High Level. This company pushes out features faster than any other system on the market, BY A MILE.

They have raised over $60m in funding.

They have decided not to market their software AT ALL, instead they let white label providers do it (like us) and focus exclusively on the software itself.

They have committed to making the best software in all five areas of marketing automation (plus many more I’m not even mentioning).

High Level has over 180 developers, with two owners that are boots on the ground with some of the best marketers around. They haven’t let their success go to their heads. They don’t create a cult. In fact, you will find them hanging out in hoodies and sneakers at their event, talking with everyday users.

In fact, one of the owners of High Level, turned down a VIP dinner because I had invited him out to a meal and he didn’t want to cancel on me. I don’t think I can vouch harder for a more down to Earth founder than Robin Alex who is the co-founder of High Level.

The Takeaway: For your forever home, pick a software that has a good reputation, ample funding, a commitment to excellence, listens to its power users, and understands the needs of marketing software.

#3 – Find a High Level provider that will take the big money powerful software and tuck it away into a concierge, “small town feel” solution

So you’re on board to pick a permanent digital home, you know what you need to focus on for a good scalable solution and know that it is in fact High Level, so the next step is to pick a High Level provider that will give YOU the shortcuts you need.

This is where FG Funnels comes in.

We were white labeling High Level as a SaaS before it was trendy to do so. We started in 2020, long before the big and mighty mass migration away from ClickFunnels in 2022. For two years, we’ve been quietly building a solid infrastructure around the software.

What do we mean?

Amazing and easy to reach customer support. In fact, I had someone DM me privately to tell me about her amazing experience with someone from our team. You can just email us at support@fgfunnels.com.
FREE premium design templates. We’ve spent over six figures designing funnel templates that are imagined by a professional graphic designer, complete with tutorials, assets, colorways, logos, and more. We have an entire preview page to show you.
The best education around. People are constantly trying to steal our education about marketing software because it’s so good. We have free and low cost education products that help you take action fast.
An eco-system of providers. We certify funnel builders and build communities that have each others back. You get the power of High Level, with the small town feel of a community that helps one another. Something many of the big players can’t offer.

The Takeaway: Use FG Funnels since it has a 2 year head start in building a solid infrastructure that helps you get the education, templates, and shortcuts you need.

#4 – Avoid the other ‘flash in the pan’ solutions that might not be ready for longterm growth

The big migration away from ClickFunnels is underway. 2.o hasn’t yet come to fruition on its promise and so lots of people are leaving ClickFunnels for a High Level white label provider. Many of the big affiliates in ClickFunnels (yes, like us too but 2.5 years ago) decided to white label High Level themselves and have a go at building our own solution on top of High Level.

What most people don’t realize? It’s not easy. And big names have tried and quit. Because frankly, they are better marketers than they are software peeps. And that’s fine! Everyone should play to their strengths.

But this is why many many people are now affiliating for us vs. running their own version of High Level, because they know we’ve done the work to build a strong infrastructure for our community. This is what we do well.

We started this game before it was “trendy”. In fact, we were running High Level as a SaaS before they even had SaaS mode enabled.

We have had smaller agencies and HL providers come to us and ask to partner with us instead of going out on their own because the infrastructure component of white labeling High Level is not for the faint of heart. So when you sign up for FG Funnels, you’re getting a rock solid stable team of marketers and customer support that will make sure you succeed.

And if you’re an agency or a Saaspreneur that prefers marketing and teaching to customer support and operations, you might be a great fit to partner or affiliate for us. Just reach out!

The takeaway: When choosing a white labeled High Level provider (like FG Funnels), choose one who has been around and has longterm viability.

#5 – Know what you’re getting!

So here’s what you get when you sign up for FG Funnels.

A fully unlimited account. This means that you only pay extra for the things that incur hard costs (like phone and/or texting). You don’t pay more when you have more domains, courses, students, contacts, users, etc.
Live chat, email support, and office hours. All three. Five days a week.
Premium design templates. These are not quick and shoddy templates thrown together. These are original designs, built in Illustrator by Cathy Olson, and then replicated. You get ALL of them… for free as a user.
FGF University. This isn’t just a basic knowledgebase. This is strategy infused training to help you leverage FG Funnels! Just click Learn FG Funnels from inside the app.
Access To Our Automations Shop. Want to skip the headache of building workflows? Buy an automation (with copy built in) and get your automations up and running for a fraction of the cost of a provider to do it for you. Just click Automations on the sidebar inside the app.
Affiliate Commission. Want to sign up and earn 40% lifetime recurring revenue for every person you bring to FG Funnels? Sign up with us!
Education Products + Coaching. For those ready to spend some money learning, all our education products leverage 1 click installs of funnels and templates for FG Funnels.
Community Support. Whether you’re asking in our FB group, attending an office hours, or submitting a job posting on Hire A Marketer, we have people who have your back.
Weekly Release Notes. Keep up to date with what’s happening with the software through our weekly release notes that we send to all our users.
Savings by the thousands! Get rid of all your other software (yes all of it!) and keep your overhead low on your tools so you can spend money on the things that matter most, like marketing and advertising. Our users are saving hundreds to thousands a month.

The takeaway: We’ve spent two years building our infrastructure so our users feel supported and able to leverage the power of FG Funnels to grow their businesses.

#6 – If you’re ready to make the jump and nervous about the migration…

We’re not going to lie. Migrations are tough and annoying. But they are the easiest they are going to be…today. It will only get harder from here. So we’re going to do our best to help!

We have a free course called Move To Gorgeous that you can take for the DIY.
Need some xtra strategy support? Email us at support@fgfunnels.com and we’ll give you some options.
Access our 30 day trial when you sign up for our course, Easy Launch It!

The takeaway: Bite the bullet and do it. This will be one of the only times I say, “Just take my word for it”. It’s your best option, I promise! I wouldn’t be so sure if I wasn’t so convinced for myself and my highest VIP clients.

#7 – Understand just how much you’re getting…

Without rewriting our sales page, here’s what you unlock as an FG Funnels user….

You get a full customer relationship manager to manage your contacts and all their information.
You can also create unlimited calendars (for both teams and individual) for booking appts, taking sales calls, etc. You can add forms and take payments, fully customize the calendar look, etc.
You can email, text, DM, phone, voicemail drop – basically message your leads ANYWAY you’d like.
You can have unlimited courses, products, funnels, checkouts, domains, students, etc.
We have built in rebilling for both texting and email.
1. Only pay for what you use
2. You decide how much to put in your “balance” and we charge you per text or email
We have native hosting for video.
Unlimited automations for your courses, funnels, appts, everything.
Do surveys and quizzes.
Yes, you can set up your website and blog.
Yes, you can use the social post planner.
Yes, we’re integrating with Chat GPT to help with AI and content creation.
Yes, we have premium triggers (which removes the need for Zapier) to connect to virtually any third party (just pay as you need).
Yes, we have sales pipelines.
Yes, we have tasks and unlimited users and notes.
Yes, you can hook up any of your custom solutions.
Yes, you can sign up your clients and be added to their accounts as admin for effortless toggling back and forth.
Yes, you can get your account paid for when you sign up 3 or 4 other people.
Yes, you can use all of the premium designs.
Yes, those that run traffic LOVE the more granular reporting.
Yes, you can fully customize the funnels and website.
Yes, it has a built in affiliate program.

The takeaway: When in doubt, the answer is yes.

Okay so this has gone on long enough. I’ve been around the block when it comes to marketing automation software.

I’ve been a power user of ClickFunnels, Ontraport, LeadPages, WordPress, FG Funnels, and too many other softwares to count. We’re running our business on FG Funnels, and we’re ready to help you run yours too.

Business Strategy Featured The Best Stuff Mar 9, 2023

Julie Chenell smiling and reading books sitting on a bed

The Course Creator Formula

Week 3! You guys LOVED the coaches formula and the service provider formula and so now I’m back with another one.

For reference, I’m working on a new idea. It’s this thought of easy-to-explain formulas for different online business models. Now, just because it’s easy to explain doesn’t mean it’s easy to do – but at least it creates a roadmap.

So today I wanted to introduce The Course* Creator Formula.

If you’re starting from scratch in the online space with no audience, it will take longer than if you have a following. But I want to start from ZERO.

*By the way, over at Funnel Gorgeous – Course Chemist – is launching February 22nd. It’s the final course in the Offer Cure, Funnel Rx trilogy! Offer Cure teaches offer, Funnel Rx teaches funnels, and Course Chemist teaches the art of instructional design. Making great courses people finish!

Here’s your checklist.

✅ Step #1 – Setup your online presence on social media. Do it under your name.

✅ Step #2 – Get a domain and professional email address. Use Google Workspace.

✅ Step #3 – Go through Offer Cure Workshop #1 to identify what problem you solve and for who. If you need MORE help than just that workshop, honestly get your butt in FG Society Phase 1. It helps people understand where and how to start with any kind of online info based offer. In step 3, you need to know WHAT problem you’re going to solve and for who. Course Chemist will also address this. If I were starting all over again, I’d try to sell something between $50-$150 on my first shot.

✅ Step #4 – Now we’re going to build a lead magnet that gives incredible value and attracts that WHO that we identified in Step 3. Once that lead magnet and funnel are built, you’re going to put that link EVERYWHERE and as a CTA for whenever you’re creating content. This is the foundation of building your audience. Use the FG Funnels free lead magnet funnel and you can buy a lead magnet template from our store.

✅ Step #5 – Time to publish. This is the most grueling step. It can be fast tracked with ads. You need to start showing the F up. Pick your platform, deliver content. The longer and better you are at this step, the bigger your audience will be. You need a minimum of 500 people on your email list. More is better. Here’s where people mess up. They have no idea how to publish content that is valuable and shareable. They just either talk TOO much about themselves, or some sliver of the niche their in, or they don’t publish enough. Both paid and organic efforts work well here. You can do this in 1 week or 1 year depending on how much time, effort, money. If you want to be a course creator, this is the step you have to dial in.*

**This is the HARDEST and MOST IMPORTANT step of them all. It’s the one people resist most. Do not skip this step.

✅ Step #6 – Next, it’s time to actually build the SALES assets for the course. It all starts with the copy. Write the copy using either Offer Cure workshop #2 and/or FG Society Phase 2. Get a logo done for your offer as well so by the end of this step you have copy/logo and the assets you need. Turn your intangible idea into a tangible one through copy + logo/graphics.

✅ Step #7 – Set a date for your launch and plan out your main ideas, hooks, angles that you will share with your audience leading up to the launch. We call it a pressure launch because it’s important to build buzz and anticipation prior to showing it to the world!

✅ Step #8 – Build the funnel. Take your copy/design and get it all set up with your members area. Yes, use FG Funnels :). In the members area, set up a welcome letter/video with information on the calendar dates of when the course material will be available. Yes, you will presell so we fill the members area with something for them since the content won’t all be there.

✅ Step #9 – Do the launch. Keep the cart open for 5 days and then close it. Use bonuses, early bird, and plot twist. Don’t lose your lunch. Make sure your expectations are set from the beginning. Don’t underestimate how hard it is to sell. Congratulate all the wins, even that you accomplished it! Once the launch is over, you will teach and build your content, aiming to get as much success for your students as possible since it will be the bedrock for your testimonials. Lots of help in Launch Gorgeous (when we run it) as well as FG Society Phase 1 for all this.

✅ Step #10 – Plan to either re-launch it, or turn it into an evergreen offer (one that’s open all the time). If it’s higher priced, a webinar funnel. If it’s lower priced, turn it into an SLO that can be driven with ads or sold cold without a launch or any pressure.

This can be done in 12 weeks. It’s hard. In fact that’s why we do Launch Gorgeous for our students since it’s really difficult. Most people will take longer than 12 weeks because of step 5. You could be stuck at step 5 for quite some time if you’re trying to build a big audience. Like Larry for example. He’s in DI and he was at Step 5 for a few years. By the time he got to me, we did steps 3, 6-10 and when he launched he made $1M dollars 🤣. That’s the power of Step 5. Your launch success is determined by how well you step 5. He spent so much time on Step 5, the money was there and waiting for when he launched.

What to Expect: With 500 qualified followers from an excellent lead magnet and a really solid $150 offer, assuming you show up and publish well, you can expect between 20 – 50 students in your first launch. $3000 – $7500. If I were your mentor, I’d be high-fiving you on this!

I struggled a bit with this formula because this is ONE type of course creator formula, and unlike the previous two I did which were more straightforward, I actually have SEVERAL course creator formulas that I could have written.

One modification would be if you want to do a low ticket offer with ads and no list. You could conveniently skip step 5 and just build an SLO (which is actually 9 products in one funnel). The downside is that you HAVE to build everything ahead of time (Course Chemist a must!) and so you’re risking that it’ll work and doing all that front end work.

A second modification would be if you wanted to do a live set-in-time deep dive paid workshop. You could technically skip step 5 and just do ads as well to a workshop page and then teach it live. You’re going to get very very small numbers to start, but some people like this.

A third modification would be to do a FREE live weekly webinar where you run ads each week and micro sell to a tiny audience and see how many people you get each week to say yes to your program. The program has to be built in this case. So while you can skip step 5, you have to prepare a webinar, build the content, and do a live event once a week.

As you can see, there are a lot of nuances here that trip people up, which is why support on this formula is so critical.

This formula gets you through ONE offer and one launch. The reality is that in order to build an infoproduct company you need more than just one offer. You need a minimum of three (in my opinion). Again, building out a value ladder is incredibly important but it does start with these first steps.

Also? Step 5 never stops. It’s the never ending step you keep doing until you decide to retire. You’re welcome.

Balancing it All Featured The Best Stuff Dec 31, 2022

Julie Chenell on Longwater Farm with a baby goat

What To Do With The Most Overhyped Holiday Of The Year

New Year’s Eve is the classic overhyped under-delivered holiday of the year.

Maybe you’re celebrating in a new location or with new people and there’s anticipation heading into tonight that it will feel different
Maybe you’re sure of your resolutions this time and are looking forward to January 1st
Maybe you took a nap and are determined to make it to midnight because somehow that is just good luck
Maybe you’ve given up expecting anything out of NYE and just go to bed and treat it like any other day

We all know you don’t need a new calendar year to change your life. You can do that on a Tuesday afternoon at 3:23pm in March…but there’s something about a new year that makes us feel like…okay, this next year…is going to feel different.

And that’s the point: We all just want to feel something different and new.

We want to feel more than what normal day to day life brings us.

Boredom
Frustration
Stuck-ness
Anxiety
Pain
Sadness
Anger

The New Year is the hope that we can feel anew:

Excitement
Satisfaction
Freedom
Peace
Relief
Happiness
Acceptance

The truth is that for most people, January 1st won’t magically switch your emotions or your circumstances in any significant way. Especially after a night of food, drinking, and little sleep.

But before you bounce from this hella depressing analysis of the holiday, I have REALLY good fucking news.

Every single one of the emotions and feelings we crave…IS available to us. Before the ball drops even. In fact, you could tap into any one of those feelings in the next 30 seconds if you want.

Because the experience of life happens in our mind, heart, and soul. It’s an inside job.

What all the great spiritual teachers of the ages have learned is that we are the true masters of our own destiny and experience by adjusting how we perceive the world and what we choose to believe about ourselves and others.

By adjusting our expectations AND beliefs, we can open up new doors of possibility that were previously closed.

It’s all in the mind.

The way to hack your emotions and access that sense of wellbeing that we all crave? Is to commit to understanding how your expectations and beliefs shape literally every aspect of your life.

Let this year – 2023 – be the year….

That you stop putting obstacles in your own way
That you stop hanging out with ANYONE who makes you feel small and unloved and unimportant
That you stop waiting for the perfect time or the perfect scenario in which to change your life
That you get back in the driver’s seat of your heart and remember that this life is so short, no one will remember you 100 years from now, and you get to decide what you’re going to let inspire you or take you down

Waiting for the ball to drop, for the fireworks to go off, for the feeling of happiness to settle in after a few drinks is fine and very very human.

But it often leads to disappointment when we expect some external factor to magically make us feel or see something different.

You are the key holder to EVERYTHING you desire and love and want. The faster you access that power, and put yourself in environments where that’s encouraged, the better off you will be.

My advice is to start today, not tomorrow. And…

Check the company you keep. Carefully. The people who let in your life will be the single greatest source of joy and/or pain.
Take your beliefs to the chopping block and make sure they are worth keeping.
Go to war with shame and keep it away from your household.
Let yourself FEEL things – both good and bad.
Take risks.

And a last note for those who believe in God (or want to) – and who feel like they consistently fall short of who they think they should be…

If we all can see and experience astounding displays of unconditional love in the world between broken and imperfect people, how much more love and grace must there be in the Creator of the universe?

Find a purpose in your life that isn’t just about keeping some judgmental human man made version of God in your head happy and pleased with you.

How would you live differently and experience life if you truly believed that NOTHING you do can separate you from the love of God?

Happy New Year everyone!

Business Strategy Coaching Digital Marketing Featured The Best Stuff Dec 21, 2022

Julie Chenell Sitting at a desk writing in a notebook

10 Business & Life Tips To Take Into 2023

It was impossible for me to accurately summarize 2022 with a takeaway or a recap of all the things that happened since it was a banner year for crisis and problems. However, there are things I’d love to remember and gift to anyone who is looking for inspiration for 2023. So here are the things I’m taking with me!

#1 Ride the wave of disenchantment

There comes a time in a business where you feel utterly disenchanted with your offers, your customer, and what you’ve built. Disenchantment is part of the journey.

People freak out when it hits.

It’s normal and will happen, especially if you’re building something that’s meant to last.

You can even see this on long running TV series.

There’s always that season or two that feels lame and under done. But then they push through and the remaining seasons come back strong and ends with a bang.

Business is the same.

#2 What to do when you can’t hear your inner voice

First, stop thinking about it. Start feeling it in your body. I know… weird. But notice the sensation in your body when you think about the situation or idea. Do you get butterflies? Racing heart? Do you feel calm? Do your muscles relax?

Two, know what you need. Like a video game avatar, you have to know what stamina and strength you actually possess (and want to use up).

Three, acknowledge your fear bias. We are am drawn to that which is comfortable and avoid risk. And ask yourself what would you do if you weren’t afraid and could not fail?

Four, how much dysfunctional behavior are you doing (or dysfunctional beliefs) are you holding onto in order to exist in the current setup?

Five, are you being honest?

Six, have you acknowledged that your uncertainty is a choice in and of itself and if you search your soul, your dreams, or your quiet thoughts, are you ignoring a still small voice inside of you?

Try these six exercises the next time you can’t hear your own inner voice, and see what comes up. For me? Every time it’s paid off.

#3 Be warned… Indecision is addictive

Hard truth incoming: The habit of indecision is addictive.

I know this because as a pretty decisive person normally, I’ve found my brain stuck in several high stakes indecision loops during points of crisis and struggle in my life. And once out of it, the next time it happens, the well worn path in my brain says, “Oh good. Let’s do the indecision cycle forever!” and it’s even harder to break the next time.

You can read the full post here, but here is the cycle that the brain goes through.

How do you break out of the indecision loop?

Observe the cycle
Trust your acquiring information phase
Remind yourself of the thief of indecision
Steel yourself for your survival response and don’t listen to it

The first step is to observe yourself doing it. Once you see the behavior in action, you can actually move it from a subconscious pattern to a conscious choice you can push against.

The second step is to trust your acquiring information phase. For most decisions, whatever you learn within a few weeks or a month of hard core research, conversations, journaling, therapy, counsel, interviews, etc. is enough. Tiny little bits of new info aren’t going to change your outcome.

It’s also important to recognize that when you’re taking steps into an unknown territory, a place that requires you to start building new beliefs, there’s a level of risk that’s needed. Acquiring information may include examining your belief systems and making way for something new. Pick good mentors and critical thinkers to help you here because growth is messy.

The third step is to tell yourself that indecision is a thief, and carries far worse consequences over time than even a bad decision. Because even in a bad decision, there’s so much to learn and grow from.

The last step? Is to steel yourself for the survival response when it comes, and push through. Expect it. Don’t let it tell you you’re going to die if you choose. You will not.

I speak on this topic with deep experience in making irreversible, emotionally charged, difficult decisions that go against what is ingrained in me beliefs wise as a child.

#4 You need diverse voices in your life if you want to grow

Do you know that pine trees grow better in an unmanaged diverse forest than in a field where it’s only pine trees that are planted?

The diversity of the root systems, the fungal network that connects them underground… the pines are more likely to survive, thrive, and produce more wood and seed when they are among lots of different trees in a forest.

Next time you wonder why things aren’t going well…. Why you’re struggling to produce at the level you know you’re capable of, when you feel dead and exhausted and burned out…Get out of the field.

Get away from the monoculture you’re in.Go into the forest and live among the messy beautiful diverse species of plants and trees… and grow.

#5 No matter how loud you think you are, chances are you’re not loud enough

Ever notice on Instagram that breakout artists (singers/songwriters trying to build an audience)… they write a song and they do a reel clip of that song.

And then… another reel clip…of the same song.And then… another.

And another. Same song every time.

Maybe the lyric clip is slightly different. Maybe they are sitting behind the steering wheel of their car vs. walking on the sidewalk, but it’s the same information.

Next time you tell me you’ve run out of topics to talk about, or you are tired of the same thing…

Think about the breakout artists. Who are posting the same song day after day, hoping one of their videos catches.

Course creators and online service providers, you should NEVER run out of content because repeating content is totally fine.No one is paying as close attention to you as you are to you.

#6 Fire is designed to burn up that which isn’t supposed to last

When the heat rages and you’re in the middle of the flames, everything (in your life, business, world) that was a distraction, a weight on your mind and heart, things that were not built on your conviction but on reactions and bad habits and people pleasing…beliefs that were propped up by lies or unquestioned assumptions…It will all burn up.

And what will be left… is what’s worth holding onto.

The fire is meant to help you.

It’s meant to clear the path so you can become who you’re truly meant to be. When you avoid the heat, when you shy away from the things that strike a match to your world…you never get the opportunity to watch all your false ideas and mindset trash and assumptions that are holding you back…turn to ash.

#7 There are really only 5 things you need to make passive income through digital products

If you want to make $500/$1000 a day passively selling digital products (not courses, coaching, etc.) but digital products like swipe files, documents, templates, etc…. here are the five things you need to make sure your product does if you really want to hit that mark with JUST those products (I’m not talking upsells and lifetime value).

1. You need an EASY as hell domain. Like, it’ll fall right out of my mouth level. Probably a domain that’s going to cost you more than $10. It HAS to be a .com. It might cost you hundreds to thousands of dollars to grab.

2. You need a product that people NEED. Not, “aw yea nice to have.” No. Need. Like, I NEED an email script if I’m doing cold pitching. I literally can’t pitch without a good script. vs some checklist for cold pitching (or an SOP) which is okay, fine. That’s nice. But I can technically do the project without it. Keep in mind it’s not that the checklist is bad, and it probably could and would sell, but if we want to accomplish the goal above, you’ve gotta make something people NEED.

3. It has to be a product that dramatically shortcuts time FOR your customer, but also (and here’s what people miss), also dramatically shortcuts time for possible collabs and affiliates. I’m selling a coaching program on sales, I don’t want to have to write email scripts that I KNOW work. Takes me time. I have to test it, try it, hope it works, then build it and sell it in my program. But if you do all that work for me, I just might want to buy a license for it. Or affiliate for it.

4. It has to be a product that you can write about, video about, market about, and be something that gets in peoples’ heads easily. Not tricky to explain. Not vague. Not general. Obvious. Clear. Duh. People will search for it on Google or YouTube, talk about it and ask for recommendations in groups, and your option will pop out of peoples’ mouths and out of search.

5. It has to be priced in such a way that the product itself would cost considerably more to make/build on my own then if I just fork over some cash to give to you the seller. Cheap and inexpensive digital products are GREAT tripwires to lead to bigger products, but if you want to make $500/$1000 a day on just a few digital products, you need to make something that would cost hundreds to thousands to build on its own, but you’re selling for $100-$300.

You nail all five and you’ve got something.

#8 How to know when to pivot and when to give up

If you’re the kind of person who struggles with letting go, you’ll probably hold on longer than you should.

If you’re the kind of person who abandons projects quickly and gets distracted, you’ll probably not give your stuff the attention it needs.

Look at your character pattern throughout your life.

Are you a stubborn I’m holding onto this come hell or high water? Learn to let go.

Are you easily distracted, “Here comes a new project that doesn’t force me to face my feelings about what isn’t going well?” You might need to learn how to fight for something when it isn’t always fun.

Other criteria to use…

1. Have you looked at the data? Are you making a decision based on benchmarks or mismanaged expectations? Use data.

2. Will the longterm payoff of what you’re building/selling be worth the short term grind? Everything worthwhile is uphill all the way. Sometimes it’s not going to feel good. Hold on when the longterm potential is worth it.

3. Have you tried optimizing your offer/business multiple times and not seen the results you want?

Assuming the opportunity and container are big enough for the $$ you want, have you let go of what “you” think it should look like, and been willing to experiment with other ideas that are outside the box? Don’t be afraid to experiment or take risks before you give up completely.

#9 Fear and imposter syndrome are triggered by attachment

Here’s how:

You start a project and get really excited about it. You pour time and energy into it, and as it gets closer, you get more and more nervous.

All these crazy feelings come up, you start to overthink and get in your head. What if you’re not good enough? What if no one buys?

The reason? You are attached to the outcome. You are attached to the vision you see in your head. And the fear that it won’t come to pass or be taken away from you, triggers your brain to start to find reasons why it might not work so you can combat them.

Your attachment to the project triggers this and it’s why so many people feel these feelings as they get closer to launch. It works the same in life.

Ever find the house of your dreams and get so scared the closer it gets to closing because you’re afraid something will fall through?The attachment creates the fear. You can see it and taste it, but it’s not yours yet.
Ever find the partner of your dreams, and find yourself falling in love and then the crippling fear or “not good enoughness” comes in because your brain – in anticipation of losing it – tries to combat it with overthinking.

This is how Imposter syndrome rears its ugly head the closer and more deeply attached you are to an outcome or dream you have in your head.

The solution is NOT to never get attached.

The solution is not to scrap your project and start over.

You will always come back around to the same mountain the closer you get to the moment of truth.

You are not weird.

It’s entirely normal.

#10 There will always be more resistance to what is unknown than what is known

If you’re waiting to feel 100% ready to step into something that doesn’t have any assurances, any promised destination, any certain outcome…

You’re going to wait a long time.

Because what is unknown will always be harder to grasp than what is comfortable and familiar.

The trick is to force yourself to take steps into the unknown based on an underlying decision vs. the emotional whim of the moment.

Don’t wait for the feeling of certainty.

It’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do (at least I think so).

Stepping into something that isn’t defined yet, and leaving behind the comfortable familiar habits that kept you stuck in beliefs of the present that might have worked for awhile, but don’t anymore.

Please let me know which one spoke to you most, and I look forward to learning and growing with you in 2023!