#FtheHUSTLE ~ 063 – Business or Income Events?

I am happily sitting at my desk writing this week’s newsletter.

Hallelujah! 🥳

There’s nothing like being sick and then getting to the other side of it and you wake up feeling good again.

It feels a bit like you can take on the world.

I’m giving myself a few more days of easing back into things, but man… I am super grateful for good health today.

Moving on…I was listening to a podcast a couple of weeks ago and learned this new term (well, it’s a “new-to-me” term).

The term was “income events.”

It was the Magnetic Marketing podcast (Dan Kennedy – who, if you’re not familiar with, is pretty much the ‘GOAT’ of internet marketing. And btw, the acronym GOAT stands for “greatest of all time”… I had to Google it the first time I heard it).

I had never really gotten into Dan Kennedy but the deeper I go with marketing strategy and principles (vs. tactics), the more things point back to him.

So I decided to keep my mind open and listen.

That’s when I heard the term “income events.”When I heard him say “income events” it hit me like a ton of bricks. 🧱

I’m paraphrasing here, but basically, if your business solely relies on new sales and projects coming in, you don’t have a business.

You have “income events.”Meaning, where is the recurring revenue?

What is the lifetime value of your customer?

Naturally, we have to have new leads, customers, and projects coming in on a regular basis, but what happens when they don’t?

I know someone who has a podcast production company and while they get some big contracts, not many people stay on beyond a year (podcasting is a long-game strategy and not everyone is that patient).

There’s no customer database (and no growth plan to create a list of potential customers), no assets (beyond equipment), nothing that sustains the business. It’s a constant feast or famine cycle.

This is basically a more expensive freelancing gig (no judgment on freelancing) that relies on referrals.

According to Dan Kennedy, this isn’t really a business.

I’m not interested in judging whether it is or isn’t a business… all I know is this awareness stopped me in my tracks.

I want the “income events” in my business to be the icing on the cake.

Not the primary revenue source.How about you?

What are the assets in your business? (hopefully one of the first things that come to mind is your email list).

If someone were interested in buying your business, would it be a viable option?

Food for thought, isn’t it?

A Little Brainpower 🧠

​

I love that the basics seem to be popular again. And by basics, I mean good content, optimized for SEO, with a natural path to gain subscribers and sell them solutions to their problems. This tweet from Alex Garcia shows you it’s much more simple than you realize. Read “How to build an email list without paid marketing” here.​

Related: Email Marketing: It’s Never Too Late to Start FTH: 080

I love finding frameworks that I can use over and over in my business, especially my content (and my life for that matter). Having a ‘go-to’ framework for your content makes it a lot easier to produce higher quality and to create more consistently. Here’s a great framework to test. Read “Hook, line, and sinker: A model for crafting successful, viral content” here.​

Related: Hook, Story, Offer – Live Funnel Hacking Live presentation

Tool Time  🛠

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this…​Jarvis has now become Jasper. 

If you haven’t heard me mention Jarvis, it’s an AI writing tool that I love, that was originally Conversion.ai.Well, long story short, Marvel (i.e., Disney) contacted “Jarvis” with a cease and desist letter. Is it me or did anyone else see this coming a million miles away? 😜

This wasn’t much of a surprise to me. Maybe the 3rd time’s the charm?

And hat tip to the “Jasper” team for how they handled it.

Still, the same great tool, just “another” new name.

• Meeting notes & transcriptions: This looks pretty powerful. Use with Google Meet or Zoom. Notes, transcriptions & more with this handy tool. Try Airgram.io for free here.​
  ​
• Blog audio: You don’t need to be a podcaster to have an audio version of your blog. This new WordPress plugin does it for you. Check out WP Audio Podcast here.​
  ​
• Monetize: Ever wanted to create your own tip jar for your content? (Great idea if you have a newsletter & don’t want to do a paid version). Tip Jar by Swapstack does just that as well as help find newsletter sponsorship! Check out Tip Jar here.​
  ​
• Processes: Part of growing your business is having processes, procedures, and SOPs in place. This lifetime deal from AppSumo does it all. Check out Waybook here.​

​

I SO remember this feeling when my kids were little… 🤣

What’s coming:

I’ll be making an official announcement about the secret project I’ve been working on with Jason Resnick in the next week. WOOHOO!

I’ll also be opening the 3rd cohort of Email Insiders, but the program has been revamped and gotten a massive upgrade (if you were in one of the first two cohorts you’ll get updates soon, and yes, you still get lifetime access for jumping in as my guinea pigs).

Thanks for your patience while I recovered last week.

Have a fabulous day,

Kim