[Transcript starts at 1:23]
Maestro: Hello, hello, hello, my podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. If you're listening to this when it drops, it's Monday, July 31st. If you're watching it, same, same. Happy last day of July. Summer is summering. I dropped a very big announcement on Instagram.
I don't know, last week, two weeks ago. I don't know how this works out with the timing. Um, so if you want to check that out, we will link that. Uh, but today we are talking about the best way to start an in person, sorry, excuse me, the best way to start an online business. This is a question that I get asked in somewhat of a roundabout fashion because people schedule consulting calls with me and coaching calls with me and I'm like you're actually looking for how to start this thing and most recently I had someone that actually is immediately directly starting his online business journey and I was like this should be a podcast episode because I answer it so much.
Alex Hormozi, if you don't know him, he's a big name in the online space now. Um, he's dropping a new book about lead generation, which I think is the hardest part of, of growing a business, hard part of any business, right? It's lead acquisition. And The reason that this, that fact that he's launching a book ties into this, is I was actually talking about this on Threads today, his book is going to be hugely successful.
His first book was hugely successful. He is hugely successful in the online space. And all of this success is largely influenced by the success that he had in person. So he's going to launch this book about how to, you know, grow a following and essentially how to start your online business. But the roundabout story, and I'm going to say the roundabout story because I haven't read the book yet, but the roundabout story, and my firm belief is that the best way to start an online business is in person.
People will follow you online. They will come to you online if they believe that you can get them the outcome that they want. This belief is bolstered by tangible evidence, and the tangible evidence you have created which Hormozi has and he created in person. It is always easier to create that evidence that you can help people, it's easier to get results for people, it's easier to get in front of people in person. I will die on the hill that the best way to start an online business is in person. You pound the pavement, go work for someone else, get the reps and reputation on somebody else's dime. It is very, very, very hard to market, and focus on actually delivering the service, and to learn how to actually run a biz, and to get new customers, new clients all at once. So don't do that. Go work for somebody else. Go in person, start there, and then we can look to move this online.
This was my, my origin story, right? I'm a physical therapist by trade and I started my account, I started the Movement Maestro, hence the name, the Movement Maestro, when I was still, well, I almost fell there. I started my, the Movement Maestro, that account, that business, this brand, when I was a full time physical therapist and I simply used my day for content. I used my current client's confidence, right? I was working with them and I was like, yeah, I can actually do this.
I can help people. Then I just shared how I was helping them. Emma Jack, I've used this quote before. She got it from someone. I don't know, but I credit the quote to Emma Jack. Don't create. Document. Or said the flip side, document, don't create when it comes to content generation. What is your day? Lean into that.
So we, if we start with this in person service, and I'm largely thinking about, you know, I primarily work with health and fitness coaches or health and fitness professionals, work at a gym, go work with people. Maybe you don't have to film them and maybe you cannot film them, but you can still share everything that you've been doing.
I mean, every question that they're, that they are asking, every problem that they're facing, everything that you work on with them, you can use that for content. That's exactly how I built my brand. That's exactly how I built my business.
When we're thinking about Alex Hormozi he had, what was it called? Gym Launch, uh, as his first thing.
And he used to fly places and he would fill gyms for people, and then he had people that he hired to do it, and he moved everything subsequently online. But the thing is, people are gonna flock to him because he is a very built dude with a lot of fucking money. People watch and they're like, hey, I want that.
I want to be like that, and I see that he can do that because he has all of these reps, all of these results, all these testimonials. So I'm gonna follow him. If he was a nobody, if this was the beginning of his online, excuse me, if this was the beginning of his career, he wouldn't have grown his following in the same way.
And he, he says this. But I think it really bears repeating that his online success is largely founded on the fact that he had tremendous, he established, built, achieved tremendous in person success. And again, I will die on the hill of the best and the fastest and the easiest way to build an online business is to start in person.
This is a phenomenal approach when you're doing done with you services and you're going business to consumer, which is many of you listening to this or watching this, you're fitness and health and fitness professionals, you train people, you work with people, you do physical therapy with people, you do chiropractic services, you provide chiropractic services, you provide chiropractic services for people.
These are the kind of done with you. It's not a DIY, they don't go and do it on their own and you're not doing it for them. Right. Even though people come in, they're like, heal me, they need to be there, and part of this. So it's service based industry and a phenomenal way to start this, if you're looking to do things online and establish a, you know, a brand and a presence online is to start in person.
And again, that is my origin story, which is why one of the many reasons I lean so heavily on it. And also because of the people I've seen around me and everyone that I've seen have this massive success, they all started in person. The exception to this rule. It's going to be, if you offer done for you services and you're going B2B. So B2B meaning business to business and meaning you're going to be like a VA for someone, you're going to be an executive assistant, you're going to offer technical support or technical services and do things for people.
With that, I think that you, I could see you coming into the online space and starting there, but I will definitely say if you had that job in person first, you definitely get a lot more reps. I think it'd probably be easy to get the reps and the reviews and the experience in person, but I think there's a little bit more wiggle room there in the online space, especially because people are paying to have things done for them.
So that's kind of like, I think the biggest thing is that if you're offering a done for you service. Right now I'm thinking about Lex, um, but her in person business and- as a physical therapist was very helpful for the services she does now that are done for you tech services, because of her physical therapy background.
So I truly believe that the best starting point is going to be in person. As much as I love the online space I also love seeing people succeed. And the best way to set yourself up, I believe for that success is going to be starting in person. I get it. If you're listening to this, you may be like, fuck you, Maestro.
I'm trying to start my online business right now. That's fine. Go ahead. I think there's room for the both and, because what I've seen people try to just jump in online, you don't make any money right away. And then they're suddenly like, well, fuck, what do I do? Go in person. Yes, you could get a job that, you know, is kind of mindless and you just pays the bills.
But if you have the ability to offer those same kind of services in person, I would really lean on that, especially if you can work for somebody else. You know, get the reps on their dime. Amazing.
So what do you actually need to start an online business from like the logistical perspective of things? If you're looking to start an online business and you're looking to take the organic approach, meaning you're not looking to create something and then just send a bunch of paid traffic to it. You're like, I want to grow an audience. I want to build a brand. I want to attract eyes and then I want to sell them something. Two kind of, uh, buckets here. The first one is you need content, right? If you go in the organic approach, and this is what I specialize in. This is my expertise.
It's that content marketing and attraction marketing via content creation. That content needs to be consistent. Not once every never and needs to be niched. Remember, you will, you will learn your niche as you go. You're going to learn your no as you go, but it's very helpful to start off in a, in as pointed as a, in as pointed of a direction as possible, right?
When I first started out, I was looking to work with CrossFitters and help them with pain and help them with mobility issues. Thank God they didn't pick me, but I still started off in a singular direction. And then I saw who came to me and I adjusted accordingly. The second bucket here is actually the tech component of it, because we're looking at the online space, which as I list these things out, people may be like, Oh my God, it adds up.
But if we compare this to what an in person business requires, which is for the most part, the most expensive part, overhead, your physical overhead, your physical space, this is much cheaper, right? You can, the profit margins on an on, for an online business are, can be crazy, 90% because you're really not paying for that much stuff.
So you'll need an online scheduler. You need a website. You need an email marketing service, I prefer ConvertKit, you need a payment processor, I prefer Stripe, and you need a way to deliver the service, which is typically going to be Zoom. I did a full episode on this, it was episode 469, we'll link it in the show notes, The Best Software and Platforms for Online Business. But to start off with, this is all that you need. And the reason I'm listing this out is because the session that I recently did, the Maestro Meeting that I recently did, he, he asked, where should I spend my time? And where should I spend my money?
Spend your time creating content. Spend your money on the following: The online scheduler. I like Acuity. Website, I prefer Squarespace. You can check out all things Lex Lancaster for help with that. Email marketing service, I prefer ConvertKit. Payment processor, I prefer Stripe. And a way to deliver the service, which oftentimes for many people, if you're working with clients remotely is going to be Zoom.
Check out the full episode that I did kind of really going deep into each of those, but that's all that you need to start.
If we zoom out and think about my, my three part approach that I work with people, that I use when I work with people, um, in terms of kind of guiding them through starting their online business, and this, this spans months to years. Um, it's three parts. It's content creation, then email, then productizing of your services. In that order. Yes, a podcast can slip in there somewhere, but the first part is we're going to do that attraction marketing. Look to build that audience and build that brand.
How? By creating content. I have everyone start here and it's a minimum of three months of just doing this. Realistically, three years would be better, but if we want like, you know, a smaller amount of time, at least three months before we layer in the next thing, which would be email marketing. And when I say email marketing, that's largely let's just make sure you have an email marketing service so you can start to capture and collect emails.
If I could go back in my career, start, you know, something earlier or start something sooner, it would be collecting of emails. Although I did, when I was in person, I did collect emails via handwritten information. I, at the courses I taught, I passed around a piece of paper before I even had a true email marketing software or, or any kind of email list.
And then Lex, God bless her, typed all of those email addresses in. I think she needs a paraffin bath. I should probably buy her one for her hands. Uh, but if I could go back and from the very beginning, do something differently, it would be to start that email list. So the three part approach, content creation, email marketing, and then productizing of the service, meaning creating an offer.
I do not want people creating an offer first because you don't know what the fuck your people want. You don't know who your people are. You don't know how you can help them. So first we create content that documents our day and share, and shares the problems that we solve. We see who we attract. We listen.
We look to move them to another platform, aka our email list, so that we actually own contact and communication with them. And then we look to create a paid solution for them. Um, so I told you in the little beginning part, this episode is going to be short. And it is. The take home message is if you are going business to consumer and you are in a service based industry, and you want to go after the organic approach to online business,
the best way to start that online business is in person. Pound the pavement, work for someone else, get the reps, establish your reputation, and do it all in someone else's dime. From there, you can take all that information, all of that experience, and you look to just share it online.
So that's all that I got for you.
Actually, you know what? I'm gonna pull up my phone here and I do have a review. We got one more review in and we're going to make it meta. Uh, because this episode, this episode, what am I saying? This review came from somebody who I met in person. This is my guy Steve and he wrote, “With love from Miami. The minute I met her at Rockstock in Miami, I knew she's the real deal. Love her podcast and Instagram content. So helpful and huge value add. Your friend in Miami, Steven.”
Steven, you the real MVP. He actually DM'd me and was like, hey Maestro, I left you some love on your podcast. He DM'd me last week. So that's good to know that it takes about a week or so for um, if you like write something for it to actually pop up.
Um, but that is amazing. Y'all know I love the reviews. If you want to leave one, would love to hear from you. Head on over to Apple Podcasts, go search my podcast. Maestro on the Mic, swipe it down, slide down, scroll down. That's the word I'm looking for. There's a little hyperlink that says leave a review, and I would love to have one.
And I think that that's fun because it's made this one meta. I'm really kind of hoping, hopefully driving home the point of the best, fastest, easiest way to start an online business is in-person .
Two announcements for you and then I'm going to leave you alone. Next episode, episode 498, that's going to drop this Thursday, August 3rd, and that's going to be a guest episode.
I'd like to give you a heads up when I'm doing a guest episode. That's going to be with the one and only Jill Miller. I had her on like in 2018, I didn't realize that it had been that long, and I brought her back to talk about her newest book, and just to, for those of you that maybe somehow don't know about her, just to kind of put her on your radar.
Cause she's a, she's a pretty remarkable human. So that's going to be this Thursday.
Second announcement is that I am running on September 4th my six week online group coaching program called the Instagram intensive. It's again, six weeks online group coaching program teaches health and fitness pros exactly How to use Instagram for online business.
We start September 4th. The waitlist is currently open and that is what will be linked in the show notes. Priority registration goes to folks in the waitlist. I only let 50 people in at a time for each round of the intensive. This will be round 14. Just to ensure quality. Additionally, the waitlist gets 100 monies off.
So if you check out that link in the show notes, it has all the information when we start. Uh, it talks about the call dates that are going to be on the on a Tuesday, they're at 4 p. m. PST, um, talks about all the content that we go over, um, and any questions that you may have. Check out that FAQ section because it is very in depth.
All right. That's all I got for you announcement wise. Again, one more time. The fastest, the easiest, the best, the most efficient way to start an online business, in my humble opinion, is in person. All right. officially wrapping it up. Until next time, friends, Maestro out.
Watch this episode on YouTube!
My big announcement!
MOTM #469: The Best Software and Platforms for Online Business
Get on the waitlist for the next round of my Instagram Intensive
Catch me on the socials: Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | TikTok | Facebook