This week we’re going over my 4-part plan for what I’d do if I had to start completely over from scratch in business.
I’m pretending that I have a full-time job with only 1-2 hours to work on business each day and that I have little-to-no startup money to invest. My business contacts have disappeared and I have no email list to speak of.
I hope this will help those just beginning in their entrepreneurial journey get clear on the first steps in an online business. If you’ve already started a business you might find some holes in your existing way of thinking or find inspiration for where you might take things.
In yesterday’s email we covered…
- Step 0: Start with the end in mind (Timeline: Do this NOW)
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Step 1: Learn how to write copy (Timeline: Keep your job & dedicate 3 to 6 months, 1-2 hours per day, to learning)
Step 2: Build An Email List
Step 2 of my 4-part plan would be building an email list while I was learning to write copy.
If, for example, I was learning copywriting with a course like CopyHour (which opens next week for the final time in 2024), I’d wait until week 5 or 6 of the course to start an email list. If you already have some copywriting experience, you could start building a list immediately.
The reason I’d wait 5 or 6 weeks would be to get a solid foundation in copywriting – and to have spent at least a month and a half seeing world-class examples of high-converting copywriting.
You’ll be able to move much more quickly and with more confidence if you have at least a little exposure to the fundamentals of copywriting.
Now, the next question is obviously, "How do I build a list from scratch as a relative beginner?"
The answer could fill an entire course on its own, but let’s quickly look at the high-level strategy.
Pick Your Niche Market (Not Product or Service)
Starting from scratch can be equal parts liberating and terrifying but the good news is, by starting a list first, you don’t need to worry about exactly what you’d sell to that list.
(If you remember from yesterday, my business model of choice is essentially "digital list management". I want to have a business where I sell digital products via email – which just-so-happens to be the business I run now.)
Starting with just a simple list takes a lot of heat off of the entire process and allows you to be flexible and slowly-but-surely figure out exactly what people want to buy (so you can sell those things to them).
To pick my starting target market for this list (who I’m trying to attract to join my list) here’s my exact recommendation.
Build a list that helps my market (people):
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Solve business-related problems.
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Solve their rich person problems.
These are the only 2 types of people that I’d want to attract to my list. Let’s dive into each.
Solve business-related problems:
I could write 1000 pages on this, but some of the best markets are the ones where people will be using the information you give and the products you sell them to make more money.
This could be either a business owner or employee using your information/product to make more money in a business. Or a person who’s using your information/product to make more money personally (in their career or otherwise).
Going deeper, there are 3 specific money making problems that I believe are best to solve (you’d be solving these problems for people who join your list).
Jay Abraham (famous consultant) said there are only 3 ways to grow a business:
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Increase the number of customers.
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Increase average transaction value.
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Increase the frequency of purchases.
What I’d do is pick one topic I’m really interested in that fits into 1 of those 3 ways to grow a business, and I’d start going deep into and learning everything I could about the topic.
A perfect example of how this would work is Chris Orzechowski’s Xvertising newsletter (a newsletter is a "list"). He set up a newsletter on how to advertise on X, because there was really no one helping small business owners do it.
Advertising on X helps businesses increase their number of customers.
Is there a social media platform you love using that you think more businesses should be set up on? That might make a good list topic – you can help small businesses use the platform to make more money.
Solve rich-person problems:
The next type of market I’d consider building a list for is rich people. I know rich can be defined in lots of different ways so I’m using the term loosely.
A perfect example of rich people problems is the game of golf. People who golf love to spend money solving the problems they encounter on the golf course.
When I was first getting started in online business I infamously started a newsletter for James Bond fans. I wrote about travel, poker, dating and exotic cars.
I honestly had zero clue what I was doing but the list gained subscribers slowly through word-of-mouth in James Bond fan forums.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that hardcore James Bond fans are typically 50+ and have lots of disposable income. They’re "rich".
That business never really got too big because I wasn’t solving real problems (which I’ll touch on in a second) – but it made enough to cover all my bills in my early 20’s because the list was filled with rich people who bought things.
On the flip-side, I had a CopyHour student reach out to me recently with an idea he had for a list to start.
He was going to help college literature students write a fiction book. Before I go on, it’s great to have starting ideas to work off of (even "bad" ones) because you can quickly make them better by following my market recommendations in this tutorial.
- College students aren’t rich.
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College students looking to write fiction books probably aren’t expecting to make much money.
A better market and topic would be: college students who want a write a non-fiction book that will help them get a job. (I’m making this up on the spot so don’t take it too literally).
An even better market and topic would be small business owners looking to writing a non-fiction book (to help grow their business).
If I wanted to keep it as a fiction book, I’d do rich hobbyists Obviously you wouldn’t say "rich hobbyists" but you’d try to find an audience that you know has a lot of disposable income and has a desire to write a fiction book.
Long story short, you don’t have to push a rock up a hill with your market.
People spend money to make money. Rich people spend money because they can.
Make Sure Your List Solves A Problem
For your first experiments building a list, don’t follow the lead of my James Bond example. Solve problems, preferably big problems that keep people up at night. Problems that people want to solve with money, now!
Those are the types of markets and topics that will help you become a successful solopreneur in the shortest amount of time.
In the next email tomorrow, we’ll stay on Step 2 – I’m going to go over how I’d build a simple landing page for my list (with a visual example) and how I’d get the initial traffic to that landing page.
Talk to you tomorrow!
— Derek