49: How to Create a Sustainable Online Content Creator Business

Building a sustainable fail proof online business is something everybody wants- everybody and good thing I have on Janita Falschlunger from Business Mama's Community to help teach us how to build one. Today we are talking about how you can turn your content creation business into one that gives you passion AND security. 

We cover 

• The NUMBER ONE most important step in your business before building your logo and website. 
• We cover how to build super fans online 
• How to not fall for cringy online promises and how to determine what coaches we can trust online 
• And the importance of building a lead magnet and how 

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Transcript

Janita: [00:00:00] I cringe at this is when people make these promises when they're like, Oh, like I started three weeks ago and now I'm at 10 K months. And I'm like, whatever. Like the picture that they are painting of the entrepreneurial journey to me is unrealistic. 

Laura: What's up my favorite listener. That's right. It's you.

It's you. So thank you for listening. But in case you haven't listened to an episode of this entire show yet, what's up? I'm Laura. I'm a content developer for travel creators. I make travel content so much freaking easier so you can actually enjoy your destinations. I do that through writing blog posts, newsletters, repurposing content, anyway.

Welcome back to another episode or welcome to it. Today we get to talk about building a sustainable business. That is something everybody wants. Everybody. And today we are going to get into just that.[00:01:00] 

Someone mocked up to you now and they're like, Hi, nice to meet you. What do you do? I would love that version. 

Janita: Okay, well, that's quite easy. I am a multi passionate entrepreneur. I am a business coach. And basically what I do is I help Entrepreneurs build a sustainable online business. That is like the short, short, very condensed, like, okay, that's the, the icebreaker version of that.

Laura: That's great. Um, 

Janita: I'm also an ADHD entrepreneur, so I'm hence the multi passionate kind of like, you know, 

Laura: that's amazing. Okay. I have so many things we could talk about and I will start with what mistakes. Do you see in some clients you work with or overall of people who are starting a business in the online space that you see them do this mistake and you're like, why are you doing this?

If you just didn't do this thing, this would be so much easier. Are there any that come to mind or things that you constantly feel like you're telling [00:02:00] your clients? To do or not to do. 

Janita: There are two things. The first thing would be, it's, I cringe at this, is when people make these promises. When they're like, oh, I'm, like, I started three weeks ago, and now I'm at 10k months, and I'm like, whatever.

Like, that is, to me, The picture that they are painting of the entrepreneurial journey to me is unrealistic. Like you have to have hair on your teeth to be able to make it in the entrepreneurial world. Resilience needs to be one of your main characteristics, especially nowadays, and especially if it is in the online world.

So I'm not saying that there, there aren't people that maybe did this. But the truth be told, normally when they got that successful so quickly, it was because of a relationship, it was because of a connection, it was because of somebody somewhere that it's like, it wasn't just. And that they were like, [00:03:00] I'm created this one planner and I put it out and I just made like six figures that to me is, it's very, very unrealistic.

And then, but the reason that they do this is because they want to now come and say that they want to teach other people. So they want to become coaches, right? They've been in business now for three months and they want to now coach other people and the way that they try and get money from them is. To be like this, and it really breaks the trust in the online space.

People don't know who to trust anymore because it's like, you know, these type of things are, are everywhere. 

Laura: I think in the travel space where we see this same sort of situation come up a lot is, Our dear digital nomads, speaking from my own experience, we like to make it seem as though we have a very romantic life when in reality we have to wear a swimsuit bottoms because we ran out of underwear.

Definitely not speaking from experience. At all. That's [00:04:00] literally never happened to me. Okay, I could never lie to you. I've probably done that three times in my whole life. And one of them was to my college tennis practice. Okay, TMI. But it's so easy to show the world how amazing our life can be. And I personally find that I'm most drawn to creators I follow who are showing the real and the raw experience.

Like, Matt and I have been traveling the country since August. So, nearing, I don't know, five, six months or something, and I have an Instagram account for us. It's at justmattandlaura, if you want to follow us there. I post for funsies because it is a fun project. I'm not trying to be an influencer. Because, no.

I work for them. I don't want to be one. But over there, I share, or I try to share what it's really like, the unglamorous bits of living in a rooftop tent. So that's fun. But personally, I find I'm most drawn to people who share the real and the raw, and I think that kind of behind the scenes content will always perform well.[00:05:00] 

I'm so glad you mentioned that because one of my biggest things I see on the internet all the time that drives me wild is These people who post, oh, I just created this ebook or whatever, and overnight I made, you know, 90k, and it's like, okay, cool, I'm sure you ebook? Yeah, yeah, cool. I'm not saying that that could never happen, but the reality is it's not going to, and the people that, you're exactly right, the people in their audience who they are saying, I did this thing, you can do it too, is not true.

Because, sure, you can go do whatever you want, but it is not that easy. It's simple, but it's not that easy to do it. I'm so glad you mentioned that. I love that. It's simple, but it's not that easy. I love that. Yeah. That's a lot of things in this world. 

Janita: And that is something that I, I always hammer on is simplify.

I feel like that is a big mistake. That can be a mistake too. Yeah, yeah. [00:06:00] Is that people try and overcomplicate things. They see what other people are doing, and then they're like, Oh, I need to do that. Oh, I need to do that. Oh, I need to do that. And then they are, haven't even completed step three, and they're trying to crack on with step 30, and none of these puzzle pieces come together, and then they give up.

But if they could just take it step by step, and not try and, you know, overcomplicate it for themselves, like just, just do the thing, right? And I mean, that can very much link into, I'm, I'm biased because this is what I do, but I am telling you that I can see the difference between people that kind of have someone to mentor them from the start versus someone that try and do it for two years and then decide to get a mentor and then things happen, you know, it really makes a difference, but you must.

Make sure that if you do choose somebody that it is someone that you gel with, it's someone that you get along with. Like if you get on a call with a coach and they are like, I want you [00:07:00] to right now make that decision. If they put any pressure on you, just walk away. Yeah. I actually, when I have like a discovery call of any sort, I tell people, I don't even want an answer.

Go sleep on it. Go sleep on it because especially because I work with neurodivergent people and I know that this whole quick, I'm going to make this fast decision and I don't want people to regret it. Not that they will regret working with me, but you know, it's just, it's just, it is a commitment and it's a thing, you know.

So I want for you to go sleep on it. I want for you to go think on it because for me, it is not about the money. It's about your success. Thanks. So, and this is coming back to that first prob, that first, you know, thing that I find is coming back to that cringy online promises. It's about the money for them versus finding someone that does business with integrity and that is there for you, that cares about your success more than the money.

That is where the magic will lie to find someone like that. 

Laura: Right. I love that you also [00:08:00] mentioned how sometimes these unrealistic expectations or things like that we see online are, people don't know who to trust is really what you said. Now, how do you feel like as an online business owner? We know it's important to give people to know, like, and trust us.

Do we all know this? We know, we've heard that saying so many times. What advice would you give someone if they came to you and they were like, I need my audience to trust me in wherever I show up. What might you advise them to do? Or kind of, maybe it's honestly internal work. I don't know, but I'm curious.

Janita: Okay. So firstly, the main thing that I would tell them is start the way that you want to continue. So what I do is I help people build a sustainable online business. And the sustainability in this comes from starting the way that you would want to continue. Now, if you want to pivot somewhere along the line, it's easier to make those changes from a place of, you know what, I've outgrown [00:09:00] where I am right now, versus coming from a place of.

This wasn't even me to begin with. So just show up the way that you are. And if you are scared that people will judge you or whatever, I'm here to tell you that they will judge you regardless. So just be yourself, just go out there and be yourself and say your thing, and it's okay if you are polarizing, it's actually better that way, because it means that the people that don't like the crap that you say, won't say, I'm sorry, I don't know if I'm allowed to say it, but you can say worse things than that if you want.

Okay, well that's good to know. But those are the people that won't, they won't, they don't want to learn from you. They don't want to hear from you. They don't. And it's okay. But the people that do stick around, well, the people that they will be the people that sticks around, you know, so just be yourself.

Absolutely be yourself. And I think that this is important. Like you have to set boundaries from the beginning and decide how much you will share. It is important, [00:10:00] especially if you have a significant other and you have kids and those type of things. These are important decisions that you make from the start.

Will my kids show their face on social media? Will I share these things? Or is it something that, you know, and respect those boundaries as you go. So the faster that you put on your CEO hat, I love to speak in that way, like put on your CEO hat and make decisions from that kind of mind space, set your boundaries and just decide from there on, you know what, like for me, It was very important to my husband that I don't show my kids.

And as a family therapist, it was what I did before. Yes, I actually did build a sustainable online business before I started to teach, started to teach people how to do this. Um, and that was fairly difficult because it's like, I'm speaking about family and people will expect me to show my kids, like, you know, So, but I had to make it work.

I had to show up. And, um, you will barely, very rarely see my kids, [00:11:00] and if so, it will be like the backs of their heads, or, you know, it is to respect that. So, I'm not saying that you shouldn't. This was just one of our decisions. Did you hear 

Laura: that? Yeah. People will judge you no matter what. So, you might as well do whatever you want.

This is your permission slip to do that. The people who matter won't mind and the people who mind won't matter. And that is true in anything you will do. So, if you have been nervous to share something, Or really dive into what you want to share about. Let this be your permission slip. Personally, personally, this is a little travel content writing update for you.

I am redoing my website. We're kind of honestly rethinking the whole bit and I'm so excited for it because that means I get to bring you better pieces of content and better services And frankly, I want to be a little bit more weird [00:12:00] Um and more fun not I don't know if weird is the right word quirky, I guess And so that's a journey i'm embarking on in the new year Really stepping into that Showing up like I show up on the podcast, but across all my social media.

So if you want to partner in that showing up, like you really want to hit me up, Laura, I travel content writing. No, that's not it. That's my email. Hit me up. on Instagram at Travel Content Writing and let me know what your big plans are for the new year, what you really want to step into because I want to cheer you on.

Okay, love you. 

Janita: So set those boundaries and make those decisions early on and just stick with them because when you do make those decisions it takes the guessing work out of it later and you don't have to um, and you know worry or so and just be yourself. 

Laura: I love that. [00:13:00] Okay. I'd love to know something that might not have seemed important to you when you were building your business and then later on down the road you were like, wow, that was really game changer or I wish I had invested more in this or I wish I'd spent more time doing this thing that turned out to really be game changer.

If you 

Janita: can think of something. Coaching and mastermind, it's definitely, and again, it sounds like it was just like trying to do it by yourself. Trying to be alone in all of this. That was the thing that, for me, was It was game changer. It was that whole, I had a sounding board all of a sudden. I had people that could, that I could ask questions to.

I've had people that was like, because you're not, when you're too close to something or you're stuck in something. And I mean, even now I am probably a better coach in someone else's business than when I am in my own. I can make decisions better. And it's just the way it is. Yeah, exactly. [00:14:00] So I also need somebody.

To kind of be, just take that step back and say, well, I'm not as involved as you are. So I can help and guide you and, you know, give you a better point of view. Now, one of those, another thing here is relationships, connections. That is extremely, extremely important. I'm all about relationships and connections because the thing is at some point in business, you are going to want to collaborate with other people.

You're going to might want to have affiliates and people are very picky nowadays. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, and if you host something like I'm in the planning stages of my next summit that I'm hosting in January. And I have now been reaching out to people and it's because of relationships that I've built that I have these big names saying yes and I'm like, I can't believe it.

You know that. This is going to be fire due to the fact that I have spent some time building relationships. But [00:15:00] when you do build them, build your relationships from a place of the relationship and not with an ulterior motive. 

Laura: Yeah, definitely. That's important. That's super important. I mean, networking, I think is one of the best things.

I agree with you. It's really game changing because once you kind of get into the online business space, you realize. There are a lot of people doing online business or saying that they are, but the people who are really good at it, that circle is not that big in certain niches. And when you can meet those people and make connections and they know who you are, it just opens so many more opportunities.

It's amazing. Absolutely. 

Janita: And you get invited for things that you would never have, right? If they didn't know you from a bar of soap, you know, and the only way you're going to do it is that you actually get out there and, and connect. Yeah. 

Laura: Absolutely. It's true. It's awesome. And I think that the community, people are always so obsessed with wanting to grow a bigger and bigger community all the time, whether it's on social [00:16:00] media, whether it's on your email list, whatever.

But I think people forget that the, who is going to help you build that bigger community are the people who are already in yours now. And so we can't just like, Oh, great. I met you. See you later. Nice to meet you. I'm just going to move on to the next person. And I have them now in my email list or like, I can reach out to them.

Reaching out to those people you've already connected with. And actually connecting with them is going to be the people who will help you grow even bigger. Yes. Which I don't think people really realize all the time. I think they think it's most of the time a numbers game. Which it can be at times, but we have to acknowledge the people who are already, already there cheering you on.

Janita: Absolutely. And there is a little bit of a balance game there because essentially it is a numbers game, but I always urge people to see their audience as people and not just numbers. But you know, if you look at a funnel, it is a numbers game, the more people that go from the top. So, I mean, if you put on the CEO hat, that is a numbers game, but if [00:17:00] you are the person behind it and you know, then it is.

I literally sent out an email this morning telling a story and then I challenged the people on my email list to go do one thing. that kind of scares them or that it's just a little bit outside of their comfort zone. Yeah. And I then challenged them to send me an email back and, you know, tell me what it is that they did.

Right. And one lady did, and she emailed me back and she said, I love getting replies from my audience. And she said, I want to create an online course, but I don't even know where to start. So I jumped on Loom and I made her an eight minute video and I sent it to her. And I was like, this is what you do first.

This is what, and I loved doing that because. She replied to my email, she did the thing, you know, so I can promise you that that lady is not going to unsubscribe from my list. She's going to read my email, she's going to, so you don't have to do this for, I mean and I've got thousands of people, you don't [00:18:00] have to do this with thousands of people.

Just do it for the one or two, challenge them, ask them, reach out. You, especially in the beginning, you have such a golden opportunity because your audience is so much smaller. To be able to do those things. Exactly. And to build superfans. So, be intentional with where you spend your time and your energy, and Kind of like balance that in your business versus on your business, because not only as relationships with like the colleagues, you can say, but also with your audience.

And again, just like be yourself, storytelling. People want to know your story. They want to relate. 

Laura: Okay. Matt brought me some ice cream. It's so good. It's handmade. Thank you, mom. Anyway, I have a challenge for you and it is to make a super fan. So really think about the people who are in your audience right now.

I'm sure if you were asked, okay, think about a couple of your really close internet [00:19:00] creator friends, you could immediately think of, think of a couple of people, right? Well, I encourage you to make a mutual friend, and maybe that is going to a couple of your close folks following list, and then reaching out to who they follow, like genuinely try and connect with somebody and create a super fan.

P. S. Thank you. I have a DM template that I send to every single new follower I get on Instagram that has gotten me hundreds of email subscribers. Let me know if that's a resource you guys would be interested in because I would be happy to put together a little Email, newsletter, slash Instagram collaboration, community building resource, with a better name.

But, I digress. Let me know on Instagram if that's something you want. But anyway, I challenge you to try and create a superfan. Who seriously is in your audience that you could make some [00:20:00] real big moves with? Whether it's friendship moves, or could you create a resource together, what can you do? I superfan.

A virtual coffee with them. Some of my best ideas have come from virtual coffee with some of my followers. You had mentioned earlier you can tell when you start working with people or looking at somebody's business if they have been working with the coach from the beginning or if later on they hire it.

What are those differences you see or notice that you're able to pinpoint whether someone has been? Okay, 

Janita: so I would say I'm not just a coach, I see myself as a strategist as well because I have a gift of seeing gaps. Like, is there a knowledge gap? Is there a time gap? Where is this gap, right? And, and I can say that and I can own it because I know I'm good at that, right?

So, but a difference that I can see is if someone has, they kind of get to a level and then they keep going around in circles. Because. Or what they do is they will go to that level and then they try [00:21:00] and buy every course that they can, that is like, that they can get their hands on, um, that's under a certain price point.

And then they do it like four or five of the modules and they pick and choose which ones they want to do, right? It's like, okay, so there are 10 modules and they try and build a puzzle without half of the pieces. And you can see it. You can see that they keep going around in circles and they pick and choose what it is that they want to do.

And the reality is, yes, it's your business and you get to decide. But especially in the beginning, you have to do things perhaps that you might not necessarily always want to do. 

Laura: Yeah. What would you say to those people who are constantly like, oh, they have shiny object syndrome. They're like, I want to work on this project, in this project, and I'm gonna write a note to find a course on how to do that thing.

How can we stop? How can we stop doing that? 

Janita: I absolutely love doing quarterly planning. And this is a way how you can kind of [00:22:00] put some of that shiny objects aside. So you plan the things out. What I do is you brainstorm and you put all the things that you would like to do. And then you have to pick and choose the things that you're going to do for that quarter.

And the other things that's left, the shine, the things that can be shiny objects, I call it the parking lot. If you leave it in the parking lot until the next quarter, and then you bring the parking lot and you're like, Oh, now I can work on this, or now I can bring this and chances are that list will have grown and you wouldn't have marked everything off or whatever, but you just have to realize that you cannot do all of the things, and it is better to kind of just do the thing that you can.

And respect your time, right? And be intentional with the time that you do have and realize that there will be a lot of testing and risk taking as well. It's important. Don't see it as failure because even if you fail, it's something you can still learn something from it, whether it's data or metrics or [00:23:00] there's always a mix and that you can pull and do things differently.

But yes, when it comes to shiny objects, you have to really just, you know, be That CEO hat again, put on that hat and ask yourself, is this really going to serve my business? Right. And sometimes a quarter will be to grow your audience. Sometimes a quarter will be a moneymaking thing, right? Um, so if your quarter is about growing your audience and you have the shiny object thing that is coming in and it isn't really aligned with purely growing your audience, yeah.

Will it serve you? Go put it on the parking lot, right? That's such good advice. Yeah, absolutely. Do the parking lot and you will see. But I will always suggest having more than just one thing going. Like, have a money making move and an audience building thing so that you can make the money and build your audience at the same time.

But specific quarters will be a little bit more of the one rather than the other. I think so. So you know. [00:24:00] 

Laura: Okay, let's talk about how, oh man, this might be a long answer from you, so feel free to answer in stride, but. If somebody, somebody is on the brink of starting a business or taking it full time, they've been doing work on the side and now they're like, great, I'm going to do this whole thing full time.

What would you say to them or make sure they have in place before they do the thing? Should they have anything in place and then just figure it out? Like what sort of advice would you give those people? 

Janita: I would advise to work on the core core foundations of your business. And those type of things you will find in a canvas model.

So it's a little bit of a newer age business plan. Like you don't have to go do one of those olden business plans where you have to have like, see your business from the start. Like a company and treated as such. [00:25:00] You are a CEO, you are a founder, do the business plan, but not that big one. It's called the canvas model.

And it's like a line, I think nine or eight blocks. I can't recall now. And each of these are like, okay, so who am I going to serve? How am I going to serve them? What type of offers will I have? How will I reach them? It's really those core decisions. So do your ideal client work, but I don't want for you to just think about where do they live, all of these things.

I want for you to really visualize this person. Give him or her a name. Have this alter ego and you should be able to answer like 100 questions of this person. You know, know their inside out. Um, a tip that I can give you is don't waste too much time on like websites and stuff. No one gives. Um, I've seen people waste three months on a website that full people look at and which is one of them was the mom.

So yes, do your [00:26:00] branding. If that is something, you know, use color psychology, it's fantastic. When you do do your branding, don't think about what you like. Think about your audience, think about the messages that you want to send, and that's where that color wheel can come into play. You know, if you want to be educational or if you want to be compassionate or think about those things, what will your audience resonate with?

And not necessarily because you like pink, you know, so yeah, something just slap something together. Like I absolutely respect graphic designers and there is absolutely a place for that. But you don't have to go and spend thousands on logos and colors and all of the things in the beginning. I've got templates that I give my people and I'm like, there are a couple of examples.

Go put something together. You can change this in a year. It's okay. Yeah. And then you make an event of it and you rebrand and it's a big thing and we invite people and you know, we celebrate and you can even gold your audience when you rebrand. It's fantastic. [00:27:00] Just start. 

Laura: You don't know what's going to work until you try it.

And we can make all the plans in the world of what's going to, how it's going to be and how the system is going to go before we even have any clients to work with. But it's not, it's going to change so much until you just do the dang thing. And then you can come back and edit. And I think people forget a lot of times you can come back and edit.

It's not like, this is the process and this is what we do. It's like, we should be changing how things go. 

Janita: You grow. Absolutely. Uh, another thing that I don't think, I find like it's not so popular, but something that you can also think about is having like, you have your core messaging, which is the thing, right?

So for me, it is that I help entrepreneurs build a sustainable online business, but think about the secondary messaging. What is important to you in life? What is something else that people can relate to? What is that other story that you can tell? So for me, obviously it will be, I'm a mom and I am an expat and I.[00:28:00] 

So it's all of these things that I can bring in and, you know, moms can relate to me and the neurodivergent people relate to me. And it's, so it's not just the entrepreneur thing. And I would say even. That my brand really only works with neurodivergent and mothers, because that is my secondary messaging.

Those are the people that actually conflict me. Those are the people that work with me. That's the moms and the people with magic brains. So 

Laura: I love that. It is so wildly important to prepare, to do a big project. And you can consider this master product your business. But it is also just as important to just do the damn thing.

Because you will learn so much more by just doing and making mistakes and figuring out than anything you could plan for. You can plan forever and I promise that plan won't perfectly happen because it's business and you never know what can happen. So get out there and do the freakin thing, and then fix it.

[00:29:00] And then fix it from there. Plan for what you think will happen, what your dream scenario is, and then you're constantly adjusting along the way. 

Janita: I love that. But yes, that's how I speak. That is who I speak to. I'm not, I share my story. I share my things, you know? And I've shared my entire journey when I found out, and you know, the growth and the healing and all of it.

So, I take My audience on a journey with me. 

Laura: I, 

Janita: I tell the story and not just the business, but the me. 

Laura: That's so important because really they're investing in, in you because you can tell them a million times, like, this is the service I will give you, but the service will only work if they like the person that they're, that is giving it to them.

Yes. What are some of the best software? And by software, I mean, it could be Canva, it could be Trello or any sort of these like organizational, businessy websites someone could go sign up to that you use or really love. Forward recommend. 

Janita: [00:30:00] Okay, well I am on Canva every day. Yeah. For some or other reason. 

Laura: I know.

Janita: It's an absolute must. And you can just, the free plan is fine. You don't have to, you can, you can be on the free, I have somebody in a mastermind with me that is close to a six figure earner that still is just on the free plan. Wow. Yeah, she's just on the free play store and I'm like, oh, that's great. I love this for you.

Then I very much love Asana. I've been an Asana girly. Me too. For a long time. I'm struggling with motion because I'm just too overwhelmed. Me too. This is how I feel. It's just, the possibilities are never ending. You know? Yeah. So, I absolutely love my Asana. I love Airtable as well, but it's because I do a lot of collaboration things.

And then it's easy for me to To like have a summit or the things they fill in. So I love the Airtable. And then you won't be surprised. I do not use [00:31:00] Kajabi or like any of those big things. I recently, a couple of months ago, moved to System. io and I'm so happy. Really? I'm so happy. Oh, we're going to look it up.

The support is phenomenal. It has everything. I can build websites. I'm doing my summit on there. I've done bundles. I've done now a bundle on there. I send my emails from there. I've built my audience. I have my affiliates on there. I do. I get everything in one place. All the things. I don't like a tech stack.

I don't like an email there and a website there and, and, and stuff there because. My brain, if I have to click out of something, I won't come back. Yeah. Well, I love the fact that everything is there. I can use everything and because it's so cost effective and it's such a great platform that really gives you everything and you can really like, you can build your first 2000 people on there for free.

You can have your first [00:32:00] course on there for free. Your website, you can have tags. You can, you can really start a great business on there for free. Okay. 

Laura: If you guys have been listening before, you know, that I am in a sauna girly. I am also a toggle girl. I love slack. Anyway. I digress. I have episodes out about the tools and resources I love as a creator.

I'm also making an episode on the tools and resources I don't recommend as a creator. So if you want to know what I've used every single day to run this business, I have an episode about it. Let me know if you have more specific questions or want even more specificity on the tools that I use. I would love to answer that.

One other thing I'd like to talk to you about is, because I know you have an awesome freebie about it and we will link it in the show notes, is lead magnet. Tell me, I'm sure you could go on a tangent about lead magnets and I welcome it, but is there anything that you, are the [00:33:00] most important things someone needs to Think about when they're creating a lead magnet.

Janita: Your email list. Let me start with this is the most important thing of your business. Yeah. You don't even need a logo or a website before you start your email list. So I should have actually said this when you asked people just starting out with I shouldn't have spoken about branding. Nothing. Email is your email is the most important.

I have recently spoken to people that build a 5, 000 group on Facebook. They got hacked. They lost the group. They never built an email list. They never build an email list. I'm tired. I was like, I cannot, you are in my audience. I don't know. I was telling people to build their email list and you didn't.

Like. I've seen this happen too many times. Your email list is the most important thing. And the easiest way to get people on your email list is by giving them something. And the way to do that is a lead magnet. Some people call it a freebie or some people call it [00:34:00] what a list builder. Though Amy Porterfield likes to call it a list builder.

But it is just, it's a lead magnet. So I think the biggest tip that I can give you is again, simplified. Do not overcomplicate this. Think about one problem, one solution and solve it in your lead time. You do not have to give, if you are a parent coach of some sorts, I always use this as an example for some reason, you don't have to give them an entire manual on tantrums and what emotional regulation, you don't have to do the entire non verbal communication situation.

Just think about one problem. One solution. Yeah. Because if you do this, I think that it'll, it takes a lot of pressure off of that overcomplicating thing and you just, you just create that one thing. And I am telling you, sometimes people think, oh, but it needs to be an ebook. If you can teach somebody on [00:35:00] a one page PDF the same thing as what you could in a 30 pa, people will much rather just read the one page thing.

Yeah, 

Laura: exactly. 

Janita: Don't think volume, think value. 

Laura: Okay, I have to get comfy for this one. You might be tempted in your content or as you're creating this mega business to try and solve a shit ton of problems for your audience. And I would encourage you to, at first, try and solve one, like, get really serious about solving one.

And then you can create other tiny little side resources. As you're working on the main solution, you can work on the other little side quests that are probably more fun and pulling you in different directions. Because I know that you like to create a bunch of different things. But I would first try and start with one.

Janita: I like to say that my mastermind isn't volume. It's value. 

Laura: Yes. Okay. Tell me about the lead magnet template bundle that you have. It's basically 

Janita: just one Canva and it's got a lot of [00:36:00] templates. So it's got lists, it's got calendars, it's got like, it has little books in there as well. So it's just big bunch.

I think it's like 59 or something pages that you can just choose. Do I want to have a chart? Right. And now I have a template to create some sort of a chart. Do I want a checklist? Now I have a template to give them a checklist. If you want an ebook, there's a template for that. Let's say that you are a weight loss coach and you want to offer them 30 days of an exercise idea or whatever.

There is a calendar thing in there that you can just fill in your own thing. So I absolutely love templates in my business because sometimes We just don't have the capacity to stare at a blank screen and create something from nothing. And especially if you're not one of the most creative people. So I love a template to be able to just get me like 20 percent there or 50 percent there, and then I can just [00:37:00] add the rest.

So my membership is very much about like templates and things like that, because I know what it is. So just, it, it helps a lot. Yeah. I have spent a lot of money on templates in my business because it helps. No kidding. 

Laura: It really does. And like, if you can learn from somebody who's already done the thing, like, let's not reinvent the wheel here.

Let's just use what they have used before. Okay, tell me briefly about your membership. Who's it for? Should we join? 

Janita: Okay. Well, if you want to know, it wasn't going to be pitchy, but I can tell you my membership. I recently pivoted from just working with moms to like entrepreneurs overall, mostly still moms and whatever, but I'd still call this the business mama's inner circle.

Um, I probably should revamp and rename that as well, but basically it is about building your audience because to be realistic in your business, you will never stop building an audience. Yeah. Because you can't keep selling things to the same people. You want a new [00:38:00] audience, right? You want fresh faces. So it basically covers things from like your own business and building an audience.

So it's not just social media. We talk, I give them like a full calendar every month for the next month. So they have a month to create and plan. So they have an entire month of ideas of they can either create posts or reels or TikToks or whatever from this. If there's any holiday or special thing, theme, because I know I like to batch create and create it in advance.

So this is why like in the first week of the month, I do my drop and then you have an entire month nearly to plan things for the next month. And then I will give them something with that. Like. It's now, you know, when autumn or fall started, I would give them like little planner stickers or something that they can use.

So for October, I will probably drop a bunch of, well, not probably, I am working on it, but I will drop like a bunch of Black Friday things. So they will have posts and things like that to be [00:39:00] able to use that. And then I also have a part in there that's kind of like a business and mindset toolbox. So I give them something that I just worked on is like shadow, a shadow work journal.

Purely because one of my clients is actually struggle, struggling with a little bit of imposter syndrome and those type of things. And I was like, well, let's work on this. 

Laura: And 

Janita: so there's this workbook that I gave her and I was like, well, I can give this to my membership too, you know, this toolbox that has just things like with, with business.

So you can do a business plan and a social media plan and just, you know, like imposter syndrome and mindset work and those type of things. And then I also have the opportunity to come and promote in my group, not loads within reason, because it's not a promo group, but it's just kind of like, it's just the perk.

It's just a perk. I mean, I love because most they're, it's moms roughly in there. I love to give them a bonus for like their kids. It's just the bonus. It really is just the bonus. It's not something, it's just something that I love [00:40:00] to give them. And the moms love to give these things to their kids like it's like activity packs and things that will just keep their kids busy.

Also give them one PLR product a month that they can go and sell. And they can use either for free to give to their like a lead magnets. Or they can use it as like a very low ticket item to sell and all of this is just nine dollars a month. So that seems like a no brainer. To do that? I hope so. Yeah. 

Laura: No, I think you're doing it right.

Seems like a no brainer. I love that so much. Holy smokes. There are so many good gems in this episode and pieces of advice you probably needed to hear around this time of year. I hope that it is a sunny day wherever you are. Let me know on Instagram what you're doing, what you're working on for the new year.

And I will leave everything you need to know about our guest in the show notes. You can go stalk her and become a super fan. But I would love you to be a super fan too. And thank you to everyone who already has [00:41:00] reached out on Instagram, but go ahead and send me a message. I would love to say hello. It's travel content writing on the gram.

Okay. Happy creating. My ice cream is melting. Bye.