Episode #25: [TEASER] 3 Things I’d Do if I Were Starting My Business All Over Again

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Written By Studio Elias

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  • Eman Ismail: Hey, you're listening to Mistakes That Made Me, the podcast that asks extraordinary business owners to share their biggest business mistake so you know what not to do on your road to success. This podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. I'm Eman Ismail, your host, and the founder and email strategist and copywriter over at emancopyco.com.

    This episode is not an interview. It's a super special episode because I want to give you a behind-the-scenes look into the private membership. I actually want to give you access to the Mistakes That Made Me private membership. So if you don't know what that is, the private membership is where I release weekly bonus content every single Friday that's related but kind of also unrelated to the podcast. I like to think of it as informal business coaching.

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    So here's the thing, before I let you listen to the episode that I want you to listen to, I'm actually just going to tell you why I even have a private membership. Because I'm going to be completely honest with you, the reason I have the private membership is because I needed to monetise the podcast. Because if I'm being completely open, and I've been open about this before, it costs a lot of money to make a podcast—this podcast specifically, one that is as high quality as this—and I don't get paid to do this. Nobody's paying me. HubSpot's not paying me. I don't get any money from anywhere to do this. So I needed to find a way to monetise the podcast so that I could just keep the podcast going.

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    I also offer guests the chance to sponsor their own episode like I did in the Mai-kee episode. Mai-kee sponsored her own episode. So that's another kind of monetisation strategy that I have, and that was inspired by the wonderful Ellen Yin. I just want to give her credit for that. But right now, that's still a work in progress. I'm still figuring that out, but right now, the membership is the main thing that helps me fund this podcast.

    And honestly, it's not just about the funding of the podcast, the money. It's also about like the time that goes into it. I don't get paid for the time that goes into it. And so that takes a lot of time away from client work I could be doing that I do get paid for. Bear in mind, none of this is a complaint because I absolutely love this podcast and I could pull the plug any day, whenever I want, but I don't want to do that because I love doing it. And I like to think that it's a positive force in the world, so I want to keep it here.

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    The piece of content that's releasing on Friday could be a bite-sized business diary entry. If you enjoyed my long solo episodes, you'll love my bite-sized business diary entries. You get to follow me in real-time as I build my business and you get to be behind the scenes of my business. And the point of all this content, by the way, is that it's all super bite-sized. So it's all 15 to 20 minutes long, max. It's not like a longer Mistakes That Made Me episode.

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    That's it from me. I am going to leave you to it so that you can listen to the episode. Just so you know, I chose the most listened to. So this seems to be the one that was most popular with everyone. So I hope you enjoy it. And right after this short break, we'll go straight into the teaser episode.

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    Hey. Welcome to another week inside the Mistakes That Made Me private membership. I am going to jump straight into Q&A today. We have a really great question. The question is, "If you were starting out as a brand-new copywriter today, what are the first three things you would do to get traction?" So the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to take out the copywriter part and I'm going to change that to service provider just so that it's applicable to everyone who's offering services. I actually think that this works for coaches as well. Everything I'm going to say works for coaches too. But let's stick to service provider, okay?

    So I'm going to repeat that question. "If you were starting out as a brand-new business owner today, what are the first three things you would do to get traction?" Such a great question, and I particularly like this question because I have actually been thinking for the longest time to do a 30-day challenge or something like that for people who are brand new to business. They're super new, they don't even know where to begin or what to do. It's just like, "Oh, my gosh, what do I do?"

    And I'm like, here's what you need to do in the first 30 days of your business. I've been thinking about doing that for a while. And so I love that this question allows me to get into that vibe. I don't know if I'm ever going to do it. It's been on my mind for like two years, but maybe one day. So let me answer the question. The first thing I would do if I was starting out as a brand-new business owner in order to get traction is—I've written this down on notes—I would email or contact everyone I have ever known and I would tell them what it is that I do now.

    So this is really interesting because a lot of the time, we start off as brand-new business owners and we're kind of like, "Oh my gosh, I'm starting from scratch. I don't know anyone and I don't know anything," but actually, that's just not true. You are new to the online business world. You're new to being a business owner, but you existed before you're a business owner and you likely had a career, if not a career, then connections before you became a business owner. So let's use them.

    First thing I would do is email everybody in my inbox and let them know this is what I do now. This is how I can help you. Do you need my services or do you need my support in this? This is what I do and this is how I can help you. Would you be interested in hiring me? Do you need what I do?

    And here's the thing about that. It's a very direct to ask. It is a direct to ask because at that point, what we need is money in the bank. We need work and we need money in the bank. And the other thing is, you know, if it's not "Do you need my help?" It's also like, "Do you know someone who needs my help?" Because the connection is not just that person. It's also everyone they know as well. And so you can actually guide them and encourage them to refer you and to talk about you to other people by actually asking them like, "Hey, if you don't need my support right now and if you don't need to hire me, do you know anyone who might?" So that's the first thing.

    I think something that's very interesting is Jo Wiebe, who is a copywriter known in the copywriting world, she did a survey and she found that the majority of copywriters found their first client within their own network, their own existing network. These are brand new business owners who don't have a clue what they're doing in business, but they found their first client in their own existing network.

    And without having the data or research to back me up on this, I think that's the case for most business owners. I think you're more likely to find your first client through an existing network, someone you already know, someone you worked with, someone you worked with who knows someone that needs you. You have a network, you just have to tap into it and realise that what you already have right now is valuable.

    And even telling your friends and helping your friends understand what you do. They might not care or understand what you do, but they probably work for a business or for a company that needs someone like you, who would hire someone like you.

    I have my best friend, I was like, "Here's my business card. Here's what I do." I explained it to her, and she was like, "Oh, okay. I get it." She's like, "Yeah, my company hires copywriters." I'm like, "I know, so if your company ever needs a copywriter, tell them to get in touch with me." She was like, "Okay. Okay. Thanks. I will do that." It's just taking that little bit of extra time to invite people to your new world and explain to them what you do, how you can help.

    And I think the thing that probably stops us is that we're embarrassed. You don't want to send an email to everyone you've ever known to let them know that you're starting this new business because, "Oh my gosh, I'm new to this and I don't really know what I'm doing," and "Oh my gosh, what if I start my business and it fails?" So what? So what? You had the courage and the audacity to try something. That's all that matters. No one's going to be thinking about you if you fail. No one's going to be thinking about you if things don't go as well as you'd want them to. These are the kinds of things that we have to do in those first initial stages and that first initial period that sets us apart from everyone else.

    Be proud about being a business owner and doing what you do and tell everyone you've ever met and tell everyone you will ever meet. And it doesn't just have to be via email. Like I said, it can be in person where you're explaining this to people and telling people you're out networking and meeting people in real life, maybe it's your LinkedIn bio and profile, that headline in your LinkedIn.

    You would be surprised how many business owners don't change that because they're just embarrassed. Like, "Oh my gosh, I've got my work friends, my ex-colleagues on LinkedIn." So what? Literally block them, delete them. If you have to block them to do what you need to do so that you can put yourself out there to gain new clients and make money so that you can survive, you block those people, like literally block them.

    I have done this in the past, and I remain firm. You might feel guilty for like, I don't know, a day, but quite frankly, if it's what you need to do, do it. You can even send them a note and be like, "Hey, just want to let you know that I didn't accept you," or whatever, "because it's going to really put me off my game. It's going to make me self-conscious, and I don't want you to watch me. And so, I love you, appreciate you, but I need this space to just be my business world." Because why not? I recently did that to someone. And really, I felt guilty for like a day, and I was like, "You know what? I need to feed my kids." And then the guilt went away at that point.

    So [laughs] the second thing—Do you ever just really find yourself funny? I don't know if you're laughing right now, but I feel like it's enough that I'm laughing. I'm glad I made myself laugh this afternoon. Okay, so the second thing I would do is I would find a community, membership, or mastermind, something like that, somewhere where all my ideal clients congregate, like, where are they? Where are the communities that they hang out in? Where are the memberships that they're in? And I want these to be paid as well. I don't want them to be free communities. I want these to be paid. My ideal clients are paying to be in this room.

    So I would find those places by literally just researching, just researching Instagram, LinkedIn, the internet, Google. And then I would create one presentation, one webinar that I can just recycle over and over and over again. So for me, that would be like how to do email successfully in 2024 or how to write emails that convert. What would that topic be for you that your ideal clients generally will all show interest in and need to hear from you? Then I would create that one presentation. And then I would pitch that me coming into that community, mastermind, or membership to the owner of that mastermind, community, membership.

    And the pitch would be, "Hey, I want to come in and do this webinar presentation for free. I'll do this presentation or this webinar, and then I will do a bit of a Q&A, and that's it. I want nothing from you. I'll do it for free. And I know that people say stuff about free work and all that stuff, and while I never did free work and I don't encourage doing free work, when it comes to getting yourself out there, I still do a lot of things for free. A lot of the speaking stuff I do is still not paid because I have to weigh up whether it's worth my time doing it and not being paid for it. And so if it is worth it, I'll do it, and if it's not, I won't.

    So I would then go into that membership, mastermind, or community, whatever it is, and I would deliver this webinar. And then at the end of the webinar—and I'd make sure that the owner knows I'm going to do this, the host knows I'm going to do this—I would tell people how they can work with me and invite them to hire me. Because even if they don't hire you on the spot, they will think of you when they need someone who does what you do.

    So I know the one thing stopping people from doing that is confidence. Like, "Oh my gosh, I'm new to business, I don't have the confidence to put on workshops and webinars and stuff. What do I know?" So just so you know that I'm not talking out of my—I'm not going to say the word [laughs]. But just so you know that I'm not making this up or giving you advice that I haven't done or wouldn't do.

    I started my business in September 2018, and by December 2018, I was hosting in-person workshops. I mean, I continued doing that. I did it over and over again, and they were paid. They were paid. The very first one I did was free. And then when I did that one, everyone there was like, "I would have paid for this." And I was like, "Oh, okay. Thanks for telling me."

    So the next one I did was paid. Next one I did after that was a little bit more, like I increased the price a bit more. I think I was charging like £200, £250 for a few-hour workshop. But I remember having five, six people at one. That was £1,000 that I made that half a day doing a face-to-face workshop. And in terms of the event space, I was working at a coworking space, so they let me use the space for free. All I had to do was just book it in advance.

    Yeah, so I actually did that. And now I look back and I'm like, "Wow, I had guts." I was three months into copywriting. I really didn't know very much. But do you know what I did know? And what is the case for you if you're new to business, is that you know more than your ideal clients know. And that's all you need to start off with, right? Does that make sense? You know more than your ideal clients. You might not know more than someone who's been in the industry 20 more years than you, why would you? But you do know more than your ideal clients about the topic that you're talking about, about the industry that you're in. And that's all you need to get started on that.

    Okay, the third and final thing is, I would probably barter work in return for services that I need. So, for example, I did this with my current website, just so you know. Like, "I will do this for you. I will offer these copywriting services for you if you do my website in return." So maybe I'm writing the copy for a web designer's website, for example, and the website designer is designing my website in return. So we're trading services, right, because neither of us probably have the money to pay one another, so let's pay each other in services.

    And I would do that. I did that for my current website. My website is about to change, so go have a quick look at my website before it changes. I did that for the current one. A friend of mine needed a sales page and sales sequence for a big launch of hers, and in return, she designed my current website. She didn't build it, but she did design it. And we both came out of that arrangement really happy. So it works. And I think the thing about being in business initially when you first start is that you don't have a lot of resources, so you have to be really creative in how you get the things you need. This is one of the ways to be creative.

    It might not be a website that you need. I don't know. Maybe you need a consultation with an accountant and you have an accountant friend or you meet an accountant friend at a networking event, like, "You know what, hey, I don't have the money to pay you for the consult, but how about I do a website audit for you and tell you how to—" In my case, this would be, right? For example. "And I tell you how to improve the conversions on your website. And in return, you give me an hour consult on my accounting and finances and stuff."

    So it can be literally in whatever you need. But again, I always go back to that thing if I always say, if you don't ask, you don't get. So much of this is about asking and it's about getting comfortable with asking.

    Okay. I'm going to stop there because I actually have a virus today. I'm struggling to breathe today. So I'm going to stop it there. I hope this was helpful. I'm super excited to hear what you thought of this response. So do let me know, hit me up on Instagram, if you're there, or LinkedIn, and let me know what you think of this Q&A, let me know what you think of the membership in general. I'd love to get some feedback from you.

    And don't forget, you can submit your own questions as well. I'm quickly, like I'm fast getting through the questions that have been submitted, and there were a lot of them, so keep on submitting those questions. They can be about anything you want them to be. Okay. Thank you so much. And I will see you next week.

    If you loved that teaser episode, don't forget that you can join Mistakes That Made Me private membership for seven days for just $1. If you love it, you can stay, and it'll be $11 a month after that. If you don't, if you just wanted to check it out for the week and then you want to leave, that's totally fine too. You just cancel it and you leave, and that's it. This offer ends on the 28th of May. So if you're interested, hit the link in the show notes or head over to emancopyco.com/membership-trial.

    That's it from me. I'll see you in a couple of weeks, unless you're part of the private membership, and in that case, I'll see you on Friday.

Studio Elias https://www.studioelias.com
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