ļ»æHey guys, welcome back to the podcast. I'm, as always, excited about the topic we have today, which is turning yourself into a business in 12 months the small audience game plan. Oh, even saying it, I'm just excited because it's an idea that I've been percolating a lot, which is the idea of this like one person solopreneur creator business and how to do that, how to use literally your own growth as a way to generate income on the internet, which is a very cool idea. And so this whole concept you'll hear me share different aspects of what that actually means and the game plan that you can come up with. Especially if you have a small audience, I know I do. I don't have a huge audience, but I've been able to create amazing success, I think from these principles that I'm going to articulate today, which is turning myself into a business and I want to help you and I hope it serves you as well.
So. Let's just dive in. As a possibility, the niche is you. And this was one of those things that once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it. There's a great book called The Millionaire Messenger by Brendan Burchard, and that's really where I originally got the idea, where it's like your message comes from your journey and your natural curiosities, like the things that you're naturally gravitate towards, the things you love to study, the things you love to read about, the things you could talk nonstop about, become the business. And so you don't have to like, quote unquote, pick a niche unless you really want to.
The niche is just you, your growth, solving your own problems, your research, the personal journey becomes the audience you speak to and write to. If I was going to imagine my audience, it would be people like me, so that's who I speak to. And so I never have to worry about writing to the right person, I just write to myself.
And we're going to talk a little bit more about that later. But I think this helps me stay out of mind drama because I'm not trying to speak to this person that I don't really know. I'm writing to myself. And so I know myself intimately, I know my drive, I know my desire, I know what I want, I know what I struggle with. So as I solve those problems, I speak to it on this podcast, on my Instagram, in my emails, on my blog. It's just so much simpler to think about it that way. Then you're going to create value for people. This is talked about at length by most creators, but I wanted to talk about what that actually means, especially when you're writing to yourself.
If you are the niche, you're solving their problems or your problems with bite size or long form content. So when I say create value, I see that specifically as either content or we're going to have what is like conversations with people, spending your time with people. The leveraged way to create value is content, and I think most of us try to do that in our own way, I know I'm trying to do it right now. And I think understanding who you're writing to is so important and developing the skills of writing and persuasion and holding attention is part of that work.
You get better with time and practice and study. I don't think it's something that most people have like a natural ability to do. I remember the first book I read about copywriting, it was called Copywriting Secrets by Jim Edwards. I was like, this is not taught. I took English through college about writing and this type of writing was never taught. And so being self taught is an essential part of turning yourself into a business in the next 12 months. Being self taught about creating value. The next thing is to emulate people who you are naturally drawn to. See the principles of success that they embody. This has been a huge hack for me. I just look at people who are doing what I want to do and I study them. I study their business model, I study how they create content, how they talk about their clients and to their clients. And I take what works and make it my own. Huge, huge hack.
So you don't have to reinvent the wheel. If you resonate with someone's business model, go learn from them or watch them at least on YouTube or on their podcast because they're doing what you want to do. This has saved me so much time, like I do this for so many things. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. But emulation is a time saving hack. You don't have to come up with your own ideas, you look at the ideas that are already out there and create your own from that inspiration.
The next thing that I think it takes to turn yourself into a business is to prioritize creative work, deep work. And yeah, it's uncomfortable to sit and create, not to scroll, not to consume, but to create. But I think the more you prioritize it, the more clearer your ideas become, the more you stand out as a thought leader and creator instead of just another person on the internet. And I think this is where we get to share our frameworks, we teach classes, we write the email, we host a masterclass, for free, but I also think creative work allows you to create more value inside your paid programs and containers as well.
And so it has to be a priority and this feels weird for people because it requires you to slow down. Creative work isn't always obvious that it's work, right? It looks like research. It looks like writing. It looks like drawing out visual models on paper or brainstorming with people. But I know the more that I spend time formulating my ideas and prioritizing creative work, the better my ideas become and the clearer I can teach people what I'm trying to teach them or teach myself if we think about the niche is me.
So if you haven't prioritized creative work, it's going to feel like weird because you're going to block your calendar for like writing an email or writing content or making a video. And I think it's an important part of what it means to turn yourself into a business. It's spending time, reflecting on your life and what you're learning and the mentorship that you are engaged with either through books or real people or courses and synthesizing it in your own mind and turning it into your own creative work. I think that that's what it means to turn yourself into a business.
The next thing that I will share, it kind of speaks to one of my recent podcast episodes about 15 minute marketing plan, is to make it a priority to have digital and normal human conversations. I'm not talking about cold pitching in the DMs. I'm talking about just being a genuine human and commenting on people's stuff and responding to people's stuff to network. Because this compounds like crazy. As an example, I actually did the math for this episode. If you DM'd five new people a day for a year, you would have 1,825 micro conversations going on, or at least people that you've engaged with.
That's a ton. Some of them would turn into clients, some would turn into friends, some would share your stuff with their friends, but all of it is valuable. I think that this is an exponential level activity because the more you build relationships with people, they have relationships with people, right?
So they share your content with their friends and then it spreads like wildfire to the right people. Because there are people who think like you. And so this is still a priority for me is networking. It's different than it used to be in the beginning of my business. And of course, like everything, it evolves with time and it evolves as you evolve.
But I think it's absolutely a priority to have real life digital conversations with people, ideally in person too, but I think leverage would be like Instagram DMs, right? I can talk to people on the other side of the world on Instagram DMs. I can have relationships with them. They follow me. They listen to my podcast, right. And that compounds over time. And if you're in the game of growth, the compound effect is what you're after. It's very important.
And so prioritizing that, no, it's not sexy. No, it doesn't always feel good. Sometimes having conversations with people is really uncomfortable, especially if you're shy, but you get used to it with time and if you're like me, you learn to love it. Like I'm so deeply curious and deeply love people that this is just part of my work is being curious about the humans, and talking to them. So I think it's a true priority if you want to turn yourself into a business is to talk to the people who you might want to do business with.
The next thing is to learn writing and persuasion skills to leverage your online presence. I just wrapped up the integral coach this week and one of the things that I found myself saying is that often, especially for coaches, there's this idea that like, if you're not creating the results that you want, that you must not be believing hard enough.
And I really want to challenge that because the case I made in the integral coach, many of you were there, thank you for coming, was that you don't just need beliefs, you also need skills. And skills can be learned and developed just like beliefs can, but it's different, right? With a belief it's all mental energy and direction of your attention.
But skills are something you have to learn to do in the real world. Both are required. And so it frustrates me to see coaches stay stuck because they're lacking skills like copywriting or writing engaging content or powerful calls to action or how to structure a sales email or like how to have a sequence of emails that sells something.
These are all skills you learn, these are not beliefs. And so I think it's really important to prioritize learning how to write, learning to create content that's compelling and gets people to buy. And that's why inside the Matrix, I have a content creation workshop every month. I think it's really important to learn how to write copy. If you're in the matrix and you're listening to this, you know, like something we're always doing is creating content. And so I tried to create a safe place to do that and to explore skills in that area, in that department, because I think it's super important.
The next thing that's related to that is to publish daily, if you can. But at least to develop a regular cadence of content where you're publishing regularly, weekly, or every other day, or four times a week, or something that has a regular cadence. Because this is how you develop mastery, is practice and iteration, where you get feedback and you look at the data of what people like, what people resonate with, the posts that do really well, you create more content like that.
Content is a great introduction for people in relationships. For a lot of people, they hire people, they pay based on people's social media. And I think that's an interesting thing to think about. So prioritizing, being active, publishing helpful, well written content. Like we talked about, using the skills of writing and copywriting to create amazing content for people is essential.
I've been publishing since, what, 2018, 2019, and I feel like I've gotten better over time. I definitely have a long ways to go. I have big goals and dreams that I know writing will be an essential part of that, and speaking will be an essential part of that, and sharing my ideas online is an essential part of that. So just make it a daily practice, write something, and publish it.
Part of that is also making powerful invitations by learning the art of self promotion. And I do think of it as an art because it looks different for everyone. The way that I promote myself is not this big, flashy, look at how much money I'm making, but I do promote myself. I publish my stuff. I invite people to join my programs.
Like, hey, did you know that the Matrix opens on Monday? This episode will come out on Friday and the Matrix opens the following Monday. You should come. Right? That's self promotion. I'd love to have you in there. This is what we're going to do together. And I think the more practice you get with talking about you and what you do, it becomes easier.
But it's really hard to turn yourself into a business if you don't promote what you have to sell. And so this becomes a natural thing for us the more we do it. It just becomes commonplace to say, hey, if you want more of this, click here. Hey, if you want my help with this, join my program. Hey, if you want to talk about me personally supporting you with your goals in the next six months, talk to me about private coaching. And there is an art and a science to promotion and invitations and sales, which you can learn for free on the internet. And I'm not saying don't pay for sales support, but you can learn so many skills online. I think it's the implementation that most people need help with.
And so if you feel stuck, or like your writing's not landing for people, or you write a lot of sales-type stuff but no one buys, it's probably a skill problem. And that's okay. Take a class, or buy the book like I talked about, Copywriting Secrets. Another one that I like is Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson.
Both of those books really helped me with the writing piece, but also just writing in general has helped me become a better writer and become a better salesperson. Also, like what we talked about earlier in this episode is emulation. I look at people who are doing what I want to do and I'm like, okay, what about this email caused me to buy?
Or like, why do they have a seven figure launch from this email sequence? And I study it and you can too. And I think the more you get over yourself, the easier self promotion becomes. This really isn't about you looking good or even you like putting yourself up on a pedestal. I like to think of it as like being the lighthouse of like, if you have something valuable to offer, if you really believe you can help someone, you self promote. Because it's you shining your light, like a lighthouse, which is a metaphor we've talked about at length on this episode.
If you are a lighthouse and self promotion is you shining your light through content and invitations and long form, you know, video or podcasts and you invite people to work with you in the form of a text, like an email or a video or whatever, thatā€™s self promotion and that's okay. It's more than okay.
In fact, it's required. It's essential. And so if you feel weird about it, you probably just haven't done it enough. That would be my thought for you is, you just need to do it more. And the more you learn how to do it in a way that isn't like, oh, look at me. I'm so great. It's just like, I know I can help, and self promotion is about me letting you know how I can help and then making those invitations.
The last thing I'll share as far as how to turn yourself into a business, especially with a small audience, is to manage your own mind. This is what makes this all work. Because I think self mastery is essential. There's going to be days where you feel great and days where you feel unmotivated. There's going to be days where your mind is going to run amok and you're going to think you should burn your whole business down. And so I think self mastery is important in all aspects of life, but also business.
I really like Eckhart Tolle and Byron Katie, just a lot of those kinds of people who help you take into consideration what mastery means for you, where you are choosing your thoughts intentionally. You are cultivating personal power. You're taking full responsibility for your results. You're managing your mind. You're paying attention to your level of consciousness and awareness and your thoughts. And you do that in a way that is productive, not procrastinating, right? We're not self coaching to procrastinate creating in our business. We're self coaching so that we can create better in our business. That's how we manage our mind and that's how we prioritize self mastering in a way that's productive instead of distracting or buffering.
And so to kind of recap, what we talked about, how to turn yourself into a business in 12 months: number one, realize that the niche is you and write to yourself, your problems. And write the solution for yourself. And share your personal journey in the way that it helps other people. I like imagine a sea of Ambers, individual creators who want clients who want to make more money. And I'm solving that problem and sharing what I find online because I am the niche and you are the niche.
Number two is to create value for people, writing to yourself like we just talked about because you are the niche. Solve their problems with either bite sized, like short form content or long form content, like emails and podcasts or YouTube, if that's your thing.
Number three is to emulate people who are already doing what you want to do and who you are naturally drawn to. It's a good insight to see who you are naturally drawn to and who you want to be like. The people that you like to learn from, there's probably insight for you and like how you can show up in your business that way. Like I said, emulation has been a huge hack for me because I didn't have to reinvent the wheel. So I think if you want to go faster, either learn from those people or emulate them.
Number four is prioritize creative work, blocking that off in your calendar and doing it every day. Or at least often has been life changing for me. My ideas have gotten clearer. I think people resonate with my ideas. My ideas are being shared. Like the other day I saw a post online that was like, be in the miracle, and I was like, hey, that's my thought. That's pretty cool to see it published by someone else who's like distributing my ideas. And that's what we want because we want to take up mental real estate in the minds of the people we want to serve. We want to be so impactful that they think about us beyond when they're looking at our content. How you do that is creating amazing ideas and how you create amazing ideas is writing and honing that craft every day.
Number five, make it a priority to have digital and normal human conversations because this compounds. Like I said, if you DM five new people a day, you'd have 1825 new contacts, new conversations. I still do this. And like I said, it looks different at every phase, but I love talking to people, whether they're going to hire me or not. Conversations are attention, and attention is the new oil. You've probably heard that. So the more attention you can give people, so you're creating content and you get a DM and you have a little conversation. Just don't be needy and don't be weird. Just be normal. You're not trying to sell something right away. You're just trying to nurture a relationship.
Number six, learn writing and persuasion skills to leverage your online presence. This is what makes the content work so that people want to buy your stuff and want to work with you.
Number seven, publish daily if you can, but at least develop a regular cadence of content you are publishing. Regular cadence is very open ended. I like to try to publish something daily. I'm not perfect at it, but that is what I'm aiming for. I think even just a regular cadence is how I would start if you're not publishing anything. And just get used to sharing your ideas and thoughts online and you'll get better with time.
Number eight, make powerful invitations by learning the art of self promotion, aka learn how to sell stuff. You should be inviting people into your paid stuff often and powerfully and giving lots of different ways people can enter your world, whether that's a consultation or a masterclass, listen to your podcast with a pitch at the end, right?
So many different invitations into your paid offer. Self promotion is an art, but it's also a science. So you can study this. You can study sales. You can emulate people you like, right? You can see how this is layered upon itself. I think emulation has been the best way I've learned sales by watching people sell and noticing what I buy and why.
And number nine, manage your mind and prioritize self mastery. Make self mastery a way of life and your business will take care of itself, if that is your intention. That has been true for me. The more I learn how to master my mind and my thoughts and my beliefs and my expectations, the longer I'm able to learn the skills to create the results that I want.
Something I taught in Integral Coach is what makes your business model work is your belief skills and the opportunity you've chosen. And all those three things work together to create success. And so I hope this is helpful as you turn yourself into a business in the next 12 months.
If you want my help, consider joining the Matrix. Doors open on Monday. And I will be sharing more details then. I'm excited for the new cohort that's gonna start in October. I guess, technically you can join at the end of September, but really, things pick up in October. And I'm just excited, like I'm really, really excited for things to be moving, and to see, who wants to turn themselves into a business and to sign clients and to take their business to the next level.
So if that resonates for you, you can go to itsambersmith.com/matrix to jump to the front of the line and be the first ones to know when doors are open. I'm excited to see you inside. And at least even if you don't join the Matrix this round, well, I hope you do, and I hope to see you inside, but at least I will see you in the next episode.
I'll talk to you soon. Bye.
