How I Use Systems to Make Money and Grow My Brand

It’s all about systems

I got an email on the first day of a five week world tour I was on, “Your work visa for America is ready, please send your passport in”.

This was VERY EXCITING. Remember my lifetime dream was to live and work in America!

However, there was a BIG PROBLEM, they wanted it within a month. I spoke to my lawyer, I spoke to the delivery people, I spoke to the U.S. embassy. (As entrepreneurs we try to negotiate everything! But the U.S. embassy? Good luck!)

I was trying to fulfill as many of my dates as possible, but while I was at SXSW, I had to admit defeat and was advised by my lawyer to get back and send it in immediately. (#stress!)

So I had to cancel my East Coast dates. I had non-refundable flights. I had to get an urgent flight the next day. Had to cancel accommodation. Total cost? $2,000. An unexpected hit on the wallet. Not massive, but again not ideal.

So I reached into my “emergency money making” system and did the following, as Facebook posts:

• Offered a one-hour Skype call for a discounted $250 per hour (4 takers immediately, $1000)
• Wrote a quick sales letter reminding people my growth hacking book “Secret Sauce” was out, and asked a few friends in my up vote circle to share it. This made over $500 in eBook sales in 24 hours (probably made nearer $1000 but I stopped counting)
• Offered a half-day power up consulting day to a private client for the discounted rate of $1000

So I ended up making more than what I lost, with only about an hours “work” on doing the “marketing” to make that happen.

And if you’re reading this thinking “It’s alright for you, that wouldn’t happen if I did those posts/asking for that amount of money”

Well, you’re right and wrong.

You’re wrong in that I *guarantee* you there are innovative ways of marketing (and thus selling) that you’re not doing.

I have never come across a company I’ve consulted with and not found numerous ways they can get fast results.

But you’re right in that I have put myself in a position where it’s possible for me to sell that easily.

So how did I put myself in that position?

Here are three of the ways

1. I became an authority through public speaking

I created a system to go from zero to 50 100% self-booked talks in 2015,

including the famous SXSW V2V 2015 talk where I won best speaker (Around 3 months after I’d started public speaking, beating industry veterans who had been speaking for years!!!)

I also developed systems for seeing what content worked in my talks, how to improve them, get feedback etc.

2. I gave huge value in creating content/copywriting

This was even more important than the public speaking, because now I was reaching thousands of people every day without having to leave my room! So what was the system?

I created a place to get seen (for me, it was this Facebook group, Traffic and Copy. For you, could be blogs, Instagram, YouTube, wherever)

The group itself was ran by systems.

I created a system for writing 21 pieces of content a week.

Seems absurd, but I actually do this in one short session per week, then go back to working on my actual work, ha.

The above allowed me to be consistent, to show expertise so that when I tell people I have a little time spare for discounted brainstorming, they light up my Paypal account.

But what about the actual work itself?

Well, I create systems for every social network I work on.

So here’s the third part of my teaching today :)

3. My Twitter funnel

Most people’s Twitter game is weak as f*ck.

They think putting out good content and adding hashtags is enough. They don’t understand that you have to put in serious work.

Haha, had to laugh as I typed that.

I don’t put in serious work.

I look for sexy shortcuts then scale them up.

So what is my Twitter process?

#1) I use Twitter search in a way almost no-one does to find the people I want to interact with

#2) I reach out in a way that is OF USE to them (i.e. come to my free event- I already know they’ll be interested)

#3) I use tools to help me scale and automate this

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