How to Monetize Your Expertise When When Starting From Scratch

Summary

Content Is Profit: Episode Summary Title: How to Monetize Your Expertise When Starting From Scratch
Host: BIZBROS
Release Date: May 29, 2025

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Introduction

In this insightful episode of Content Is Profit, host Luis engages in a candid conversation with Dana, one of the Business Creator Club's founding members. The episode delves deep into the challenges and strategies associated with monetizing personal expertise, especially when starting from ground zero. Drawing from their extensive experience with renowned companies like Red Bull and Orangetheory Fitness, the hosts provide actionable insights for entrepreneurs and creators aiming to bridge the gap between content creation and revenue generation.

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Guest Introduction

Luis introduces Dana, highlighting a call he had with her and another member to understand their current endeavors and challenges. Dana shares how he discovered the podcast while navigating through Spotify during a gym session, emphasizing the impact of previous episodes on his motivation to start a newsletter.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Discovering and Defining Your Niche

• Dana's Journey: Dana recounts his transition from a customer service background to UI/UX design without a formal college degree. This shift was catalyzed by losing his job and seeking a more fulfilling career path.
• Luis's Insight: Luis emphasizes the importance of experimenting with different content formats—such as newsletters, YouTube channels, and short-form videos—to find what resonates best with both the creator and their audience.

2. Importance of Collaboration and Outreach

• Strategic Collaborations: Luis discusses how collaborating with guests from relevant communities (e.g., ClickFunnels) can lead to mutually beneficial relationships. By pitching collaborations rather than direct services, creators can organically build their network and client base.

  • Notable Quote:
    Luis [14:20]: "Your content doesn't matter what format it is, that's your vehicle to collapse."

• Proactive Engagement: Dana acknowledges the challenge of articulating his value proposition within entrepreneurial groups and recognizes the need to be more proactive in reaching out and defining his offerings clearly.

3. Building Systems for Monetization

• Identifying the Right Clients: Luis shares lessons from his own journey, stressing the necessity of targeting clients who have an established product and the infrastructure to support content-driven growth.

  • Notable Quote:
    Luis [10:37]: "They're the ideal customer to like learn the frameworks, but they're not the ideal customer to bring the production."

• Quality Over Quantity: Both hosts agree on the significance of producing high-quality content consistently. However, they caution against spreading oneself too thin across multiple platforms without a clear strategy.

4. Leveraging Online Communities

• Value-Adding Participation: Luis recommends actively participating in relevant online communities (e.g., Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups) by answering questions and providing valuable insights. This not only establishes authority but also opens avenues for meaningful connections.

  • Notable Quote:
    Luis [38:48]: "One is if the group is active and they're asking questions. So in our specific case, there's a group of a platform called buzzsprout. ... we answer some of these questions, as in adding value."

• Utilizing Job Boards and Platforms: Exploring platforms like Fiverr can serve as initial touchpoints for offering services, which can then evolve into long-term client relationships.

5. Content as a Revenue Magnet

• Creating a Content Pipeline: Dana emphasizes his commitment to regularly publishing content on LinkedIn and YouTube, aiming to use these platforms as funnels to attract potential clients.

  • Notable Quote:
    Dana [46:04]: "Yeah, that is the dream is that the content is like your magnet for bringing in clients."

• Continuous Improvement: Luis advises maintaining a balance between content creation and client acquisition efforts, ensuring that the content remains a tool for attracting and converting leads rather than becoming a mere distraction.

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Notable Quotes

• Luis [02:00]: "We are finally here to bridge the gap between your content and your revenue."
• Dana [03:57]: "I've been trying to create content full time and figure out monetization."
• Luis [14:06]: "If your content creates value, then content can be used to monetize your expertise."
• Dana [24:01]: "I'm passionate about mental growth and self-improvement, and I try to tie that into everything."
• Luis [37:22]: "That could be like, hey, I just have five spots. I want to hop on a call and help you with content."

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Conclusions and Takeaways

1. Define and Focus: Clearly articulate the specific problems you solve to attract the right audience and clients.
2. Engage Proactively: Don’t wait for opportunities to come; actively seek out collaborations and conversations within your niche communities.
3. Leverage Content Strategically: Use content creation as a means to showcase expertise and attract potential clients rather than as an end in itself.
4. Build Systems for Growth: Ensure that your business infrastructure, such as CRMs and high-ticket offers, is in place to support content-driven lead generation.
5. Consistency is Key: Maintain a steady cadence of content creation while balancing client acquisition efforts to ensure sustained growth and monetization.

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Final Thoughts

This episode of Content Is Profit offers a pragmatic roadmap for individuals looking to monetize their expertise from scratch. By combining strategic content creation with proactive outreach and collaboration, entrepreneurs and creators can effectively turn their content efforts into profitable ventures. The hosts' real-world experiences and actionable advice make this episode a valuable resource for anyone aiming to bridge the gap between content and revenue.

Transcript

[Luis]

Hey, guys, and welcome back to Content is Profit. Today is a very different episode. Last week I had the opportunity to hop on a call with two of our Business Creator Club founding members and it was exciting. It was a call to get to know them and get to see, you know, what are they currently doing, what do they need help with? And it turned out to be a very fun call. And then their feedback was incredible. They loved the format and they love, you know, the things that we talked about on where we want to take the community. So we thought it was useful for the people out there listening to us or watching us to consume. So if you have any lessons, if you have any comments, if you have any type of feedback based on today's episode, let me know. We have two of these, so make sure to listen to both of them. They're both very specific case studies different from each other, but I think there's a lot of lessons that we can take from this. So super stoked if you are. If you're not yet in our Facebook community, you can go to facebook.com and search content is Profit Facebook group, where they were just wrapped up running a 17 day challenge. But if you want to be part of the Business Creator Club, which is a step up based on that, it's Business Creator Club and we'll see you there. Oh, and I almost forgot, I did not record on Zoom when we're doing this, and lucky us, we were recording in our note taker or AI note taker. So the recording that you're about to watch, if you listen, I don't think there's an issue, but if you're watching, it's gonna look like you're watching a film from the 80s. So anyways, I apologize obviously for the quality, but I think as far as, like the content goes in the conversation, it doesn't take away. But that's why if you're watching it, it's gonna look a little bit different. All right, with that, enjoy the episode. How do you find us? Like originally, was it through the show?

[Dana]

Yeah, so I was, I honestly, this is. It's kind of corny. I even remember, but I just, I remember walking the gym one day and I was just on. I think I was on Spotify and then I just, I searched content because I've just been really absorbed with okay content and things like that. And you guys came up. I don't remember what episode I listened to. And then I just listened. Started listening to your podcast from there, hopping on.

[Luis]

Awesome, man. Well, thank you. I'm Glad that hopefully you're still listening.

[Dana]

I am, I am, yeah. I think. I think, like, my favorite one was when you guys had that newsletter series that was like three in that. I was like, man, you know, I enjoy kind of. I don't know, I'm still, you know, like, experimenting, figuring out what I really love. But having a newsletter was something I really want to do, and I finally started to do that recently.

[Luis]

Absolutely. Dude, that's awesome. So, yeah, that with. I forget his name. Nate, maybe. I can't remember.

[Dana]

I think, yeah, he.

[Luis]

He was like an mvp. And that's something that we bring back, like, every year because of the feedback that we get from that episode is he literally, like, said everything. And I'm kind of sad because they were not able to release a workbook that he mentions there with Hotspot, so that never came out. And I'm like, do you have it? Like, can we, like, share it? And he's like, yeah, well, I've been. He's been working on something for, like, local business. We brought him back and we talked about local businesses for local newsletters, like, very niche location wise. That was really good too. But I'm like, man, that would have been. I think they saw the value of it and they're like, yeah, we're just gonna keep it for ourselves.

[Dana]

It was. I mean, like, those episodes were really valuable. And I remember just feeling, you know, like, pumped, like, you know, it's possible. Recently, just before losing my job, I paid for Matt McGarry's, like, newsletter course. And so that's kind of what I've been going through with as I do this.

[Luis]

But, yeah, awesome. So, like, that's what. So you said you. You lost your job and then now you're like, trying to focus on creating content full time or you're still. Are you looking for opportunities? Like, walk me through a little bit of kind of what you're doing.

[Dana]

Yeah, I would say, to be honest, all of the above. But yeah, so I've been kind of creating content off and on for the last year. And then even before that, I was dabbling with, just in LinkedIn, burn myself out of. And then I, you know, took a break and here I am again. And now I think as I started taking that newsletter course, I also lost my job. And then, you know, I was really confused on what direction to go, what to do. And I think just losing that was like, okay, I just need to focus on if I have this skill in ui, UX design, product design, then maybe I should just focus on something that's helpful for those, you know, that niche, or even if that is a niche really anymore. But that just kind of helped me focus and now I'm trying to really kind of scrape through that and get to some sort of monetization or, you know, being able to offer that my services and kind of include that in there and really just trying to figure that out. So my focus has been trying to focus at least on LinkedIn for like a discovery type of platform. And then I've also been dabbling in YouTube for a while now. And I think now that I've lost my job, I've kind of gone into doing short form video a little bit more since I have more time instead of just doing writing and then a long form video. You know, I think the cadence has changed with all of those things. I'm trying to figure out like what I can handle without imploding. Yeah, but yeah, I know you guys are like the minimum, the envy, your minimum viable content. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, I try to keep that in mind, but I get, I know it's so easy for me to get carried away and then where to draw the line?

[Luis]

Oh yeah, you're not the only one, man, I promise you. You probably heard the episode, but it's like three years trying to get it. We had this image of this amazing content map and to this day I don't think that goes away because you see all over the industry people that might be creating some kind of cool content or higher volume, but we don't really understand kind of what their resources are. And then we always go back to what is the thing that is working for us right now based on the goals. But no, that's awesome. And well, I'm glad that you're at least experimenting and kind of moving the needle forward. So will you mind sharing your YouTube channel at all? Or is that something that maybe we can take a peek?

[Dana]

You want me to share my screen or share the link or both?

[Luis]

If you want to share the link. Yeah. I'll open it over here too.

[Dana]

Yeah, got you.

[Luis]

That's awesome. So have you. So what will be. I guess, I guess I skipped this whole part. But like, I guess the goal of today is answering any questions obviously that you, that you have. Hopefully we can. If. No, I can send you to the like the right person. But also I want to learn a little bit about the initial members of the club because that's basically what we do. We're designing it for you. So we've done, you know, like 600 plus episodes. We have our own content frameworks. We have, like, our flow, we have the studio. So it got to the point, like, completely. Honestly, that was super overwhelming to. Because there's so many topics when content is like, oh, yeah, it's so niche. But no, once you go into content, it's like, you've seen it rabbit hole here, rabbit hole there. So we've had a really tough challenge to kind of pinpoint, like the starting point of the group and figure out. And that's why the delay. It was a little delayed. So right now we're running. The challenge started today on the group also, in part to kind of trigger and reactivate the people in the Facebook group into publishing into action and then also discover what is the problem that we can solve the fastest for you guys. So that's the intention behind this and obviously open book. If you have any specific questions, man, I'm happy to answer based on what we've done and go from there.

[Dana]

Yeah, yeah. You know, I think one of my biggest struggles, really, you know, I signed up for this local entrepreneur type group and went to this inner circle meeting. And of course that was super scary. I was very sweaty, you know, going in a conference room with people. But I realized one thing is, like, I don't know how to basically say what I'm doing in an outcome kind of format too, you know, online or in person. And just like, yeah, guys, I'm a. Yeah, I'm a. I'm a product designer. You know, I design this or that or whatever and I can explain what I've done, but it's like, what. People don't really always understand that. And it's like. So it's like, it's hard to kind of focus down on, like, what you're offering is sometimes.

[Luis]

Yeah, no, absolutely. Especially when you're trying to figure out, like, what that initial offer could be like, right? Like, yeah, we struggled for the longest time trying to figure out, like, what to sell. And we're like, we know we can help people. And like, we went the service route because it was like the fastest path to cash for us. We're like, okay, people are going to pay us and then we're going to execute a service. And then that evolved, right? Like, that evolved from us going to physical, like brick and mortars and shoot from there and help them with their social media content. It helped that I already had previous relationship with local businesses because I was running a local business.

[Dana]

So.

[Luis]

So we started there and then obviously with COVID everything closed and we decided to launch the podcast. Cause we had somebody in our online community that was pressuring us to do it. He's like, why don't you guys do this? I think you'll be okay. And we're like, sure. That's all we needed. And that's where we actually found kind of like our stride, right. With consistency, which was number one. And then as you start stacking those little wins of, okay, I got this video out, I got this video out. You master, I guess, like, the production process of it, where it's like, okay, how can I get it out the best way possible with at least amount of time at that moment. Because we needed the other time to kind of continue to build. But what happened was we started shifting our perspective on how do we see audience. So we put the content out there. Maybe the YouTube videos that I'm here on your channel, which, by the way, looks awesome, looks very professional. So congrats.

[Dana]

It's been a long work in progress and just exploring.

[Luis]

Yeah, man. And it's part of the. Part of the journey. So we have, you know, the audience, which is, you know, these people see your content and maybe they're interested, right? But you have this pool of, like, call audience. And only about 3% of those are almost, like, ready to buy today, right? So it's, like, really slim the possibility that some of them might click on any of our videos. And that's why you see people like Alec or Mozzie, like, speak about volume, right? Or maybe Gary, volume, volume, volume, right. To be present there. But it's challenging because we expect, you know, that 3% to click almost every single time. And then maybe when our videos might have X amount of views, you know, whatever, that means that maybe we need to do more. We need to get better as creators. It's like this circle of like, oh, man, how do we do it? So how we bypass that was like, okay, we offer a service, but at the same time, it's like, we need to talk to the decision maker, or the decision maker has to see the content. So we're like, well, what's the best way to do that? It's like, do it with them. So we were like, okay, after, I think. And we landed on this by accident, by the way. It was like after episode 10, the guest was like, hey, guys, what do you guys do? And we're like, oh, well, I don't know if it's for you, but we do this. And at the time we said, I think, like, fractional content team or fractional content production. So we're like, hey, if you guys record any type of long form video, we can clip it for you. And this is like 2020. So, you know, before COVID before even shorts was the thing, like this is before vertical content. And the guy was like, we were so lucky that he was the one that needed that service. So he's like. And he's still with us today, which is crazy. But we're like, huh? We connected with a person that through our content. So he's audience member number one because we're creating it with him. So he's, he's seeing everything that we talk about and, and then we just like guided the conversation. So from that moment on, we made it a, like a commitment to be like, okay, after every single conversation. We're gonna, we're going to pitch. But not like the service, we're going to pitch collaboration. So it went almost like, hey, thank you so much for coming. This was amazing. Logistics of the show goes out next week and there's going to be content coming to you. And by the way, we do this, I don't know if this might apply to you, but we would love to collaborate and explore the possibilities and see how we can work together. And then I will give some examples. I'll be like, that could look like I can send you people. You can send me people that could look like maybe you need the service. Right? That could mean like, we can teach your team. Because we knew how to do the thing. So what are the ways to monetize that thing? Was like, either we teach it to their team, we execute it as a service, or we're a referral partner for them, for example, if they do that. And we, we were bringing guests that we kind of spotted online and we knew from an online community or what was a common spot that we had with them. And we thought it could be a potential customer. So we started in the Clickfunnels community. So I don't know if you're familiar with clickfunnels, but we started from that world.

[Dana]

Okay. Yeah, Definitely. I mean, ClickFunnels is Brandon's book or what's his name?

[Luis]

Or Russell Branson.

[Dana]

Russell Branson's product. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Luis]

So that's kind of like how we started in this, like online world is through those books. So we, you know, we were in their Facebook group. We attended a couple of events, so we started meeting people. So from those groups, we started bringing them into the show because we're like, well, if they're there, they're investing in that tool, they might be investing in their business. They're already in a place where like investment might not be as much of a friction point. And we started kind of bringing them in that way. So in your specific cases, like, okay, Whether that's your YouTube channel or shorts, or writing the newsletter, for example, like your content doesn't matter what format it is, that's your vehicle to collapse. So in a newsletter, for example, you could call, let's say, let's use us as an example. Be like, hey Luis, you see me as a prospect for a partnership, for an opportunity for working together. Refer, hey Louis, I'm writing a piece. I have a newsletter that goes out three times a week. And we're writing about these topics that are relevant in our industry. And I've seen your work. I would love for you to collaborate with me. Do you mind hopping on a 15 minute call where I'll just ask you a couple questions and, and go from there? Yeah, that's a very interesting approach because it's just 15 minutes. I'll even challenge to do like an 11 minute call. I think that that's even better. Like we get a lot of good responses with that one. Yeah, but our pitch is on. That 11 minute call is then to do the interview, which is one hour. But for you, like you could have, you know, for a newsletter article, you could probably have like three questions and then you knock it out like right there. And what happens is after that collaboration moment, which for us is the show, but for you is like the call for the newsletter, you gather the content for the newsletter, which is going to be good because you're vetting that content. But also be like, hey Luis, that was awesome and thank you for answering those three questions. It's going to come out in the newsletter of so and so. And we're always looking for ways to collaborate. So saying in the newsletter world, like, how can we collaborate? So it could be, maybe they have an email list. Be like, hey, do you mind sharing the newsletter with your newsletter? What are some ways? And again, we don't have a newsletter, so I'm not super familiar with what can we do. But it's like, how do we show in front of their audience, for example?

[Dana]

Right?

[Luis]

Or also that's one if you want to find the traffic. Or be like, hey, I don't know if this, this applies to you, which in your head you probably know that it does because you brought, you invited that person. I don't know if this is for you, but I do. XYZ so the service that you might be selling. So hey, I do UX design or I've done this and that and I would love for us to partner something. So would you like to. I would love for help to hop on a call. Can you do tomorrow?

[Dana]

Yeah.

[Luis]

And they'll be like, oh, maybe not tomorrow, but maybe Friday. Right. And then in that call, that will be kind of like your discovery call where it's like, hey, let me show you. I always play it as a. Let me show you a demo. Let me show you kind of the work that we do and how we do it. And when we look there behind the scenes, a lot of people are like, oh man, you guys really know what you're doing. So that's like one of the first comments. I'm like, oh, thank God that helped. And then that help kind of move it forward. So maybe that's a way. It's like, okay, fastest path to catch. It's like, how do you connect through your content? And again, you're not going to stop publishing the content. It will still go out. It's just faster to connect with that person while you create. And then the content eventually is going to start like getting momentum as you get better. Right? Because like, there's different things like messaging and distribution. It's like, where do we put it out? How do we get new audience? Right. And people are getting really smart. Right. Like, if it's not like really good content, it's people are just going to be ruthless.

[Dana]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think there's a couple people I've start, you know, if I see similar, maybe similar ties in our audiences and things like that, then it does. I will try to have conversations with them. I guess it's just like, maybe finding those people sometimes can be difficult or, or maybe it's just that I'm trying to spread myself too thin and then I don't notice those things that are so obvious, you know, because I'm trying to do so many different things at the same time. I don't know.

[Luis]

I mean, I mean, we. Do you mind? Like, I have, we have like this sick. You probably heard of the episode the Six Levers. Do you mind if we go over like each one of them and you tell me, hey, yeah, I'm doing this here, for example. And then we can diagnose a little bit on that side and be like, maybe this, maybe you, you, you come up with your new focus if that's something that you're looking for. But before we go, there's Two books. This book here.

[Dana]

Exactly what to say exactly. What's this? Yeah. Who is the author of that?

[Luis]

This guy Phil Jones. Phil M. Jones. So he wrote it as a, as a workbook for like a. A workshop that he did in a company and then published it as a book. So good. Very short. So good. This was the book that trigger action for us on like I don't know if this is for you but, but there, there, it's awesome. So highly recommend. And there's another book over there, so I can't grab it but it's called the Ultimate Sales Machine is by Amanda Holmes. It's the daughter of Chet Holmes. So Chet Holmes wrote the edition one. He worked with Tony Robbins for a long time and then Amanda took over the company when, when he died. His. Her dad passed and then we worked with her for a couple years and the book, it's. I did not know how big that book was until we worked with her. And it's like a roadmap on the business and sell side. They call it the Red Bible. It's crazy. And it was like all the. They sold their product to big executives in like the Panasonics of the world. So those are their customers. So it's not like an online influencer type thing. Like these guys have been at it for 30 plus years and the book is incredible. The ultimate sales machine. So highly, highly recommend it. Which Amanda already said that she's going to come talk to the group. So it's very exciting because she's so cool. So. Yeah. So those two. Okay, so I guess on the first side it's like what will be. Well, what's your goal with. With content? Right? Like what's your ultimate goal?

[Dana]

Yeah, ultimate goal I think right now is to find some sort of I guess funnel towards some sort of either client income or monetization or I guess like some sort of income in general right now.

[Luis]

Okay.

[Dana]

If that, if that's a good answer.

[Luis]

So money. We need to, we need to make money.

[Dana]

I mean sadly right now. Yes.

[Luis]

While.

[Dana]

While it's still delivering, you know, value and things like that and enjoying the process along the way and all of those things. I think right now it's just. That's become such a pressure.

[Luis]

Yeah, no, makes total sense. Which by the way, don't feel bad because a lot of us have been in that position many times. So don't you worry. Okay, so how can you help people?

[Dana]

Yeah, that's a good question. There's been. So right before I started this whole newsletter Thing there's been two things I was fighting myself with is I'm going to try to give you the short answer, but I know we both like to talk a lot on something that overshare sometimes. But one, one, one is like I got into this career in 2020, I don't have a college degree. I don't. I worked customer service all my life and I think like I was so interested now reflecting on that, of this, that moment of change that I really enjoy and there's that rebellious tone of like, how can we get other people through this change that may not either have college or just want to do like a skill based career or just that sort of thing. So that's one idea I really struggled with of not knowing what to do. I don't enjoy of things like, oh, this is the perfect resume or portfolio, but really just like the, almost like a coach in a way of like that mental sort of growth and change. And then it really, it is like the other thing that I've been doing is that skill of UI UX design is that how do we translate these problems in your business and what can we do in your product, whether that's an app or a website or whatever to improve that user experience that are foundational, you know, psychological things that can, you know, improve your churn rates or, or stop users from dropping off at this specific point, whether that's, you know, X, Y or Z or things like that. You know, something you said with, you know, like when you guys are starting this fractional position and, and through my career specifically the last job, there was this lady that was a fractional marketing officer. And I was like, man, I'd love to get to this fractional product or design or whatever that name may be, but that consultant that people can just come to for strategy and deploying things but will still get their hands dirty. Okay, it's a lot.

[Luis]

No, it's good. Is this something that you were already doing like in your job or like you had a job that was kind of in the industry and this was something that you were like working on?

[Dana]

Yeah, I mean I've been doing, I've been doing similar things like a lot of, you know, like the last place I worked was a startup in Scottsdale. They had a mobile app that was basically networking startups with founders. And some of those examples of projects were like, you know, how can we integrate AI into our onboarding and wow investors to keep them hooked and then start utilizing AI throughout the app and doing the actual design of that to Where I'm handing that off to developers to code. So that could be, you know, that can be anywhere from like research to actually designing that all out to prototyping that. But yeah, I think why I say strategy and that other, I just love that part of it. The user experience, getting into people's heads, understanding weird deep things about people. They do things more than, you know, visual design or graphic design type of things.

[Luis]

Okay, so let's say, let's say money and like the, maybe the urgency of money is not an issue, right? Like what would you want to do? So you have the strategy, like almost like a strategy consultant type deal. Have you done that in the past?

[Dana]

You know, I've done. Not directly, no, I would say not directly. I just, this is kind of where I would love to take my career going forward and in just having that freedom, more of that entrepreneur type thing. So I just. Yeah, yeah, so not directly. I would say not directly as like an actual job title or something like that. But I've done related things that are around that and experimented with things on my own.

[Luis]

Yeah, makes sense. What do you consider the main problem your dream customer has? So like you had already experienced with people that have these problems that you can solve, right. Whether that is at a strategy capacity or executing. Right, that's right. You'll probably be like, hey, this is the steps 1, 2, 3 that we can do and I've done it. Right. What, what would that be?

[Dana]

Yeah, that's a good question. I would say, you know, a very specific thing I've noticed with either, with working with a business or something like that or even, you know, I see this even with, you know, new designers as well. So kind of back and forth. But sometimes people will be unsure, let's say they have a specific problem in their business. Maybe that's like I mentioned, like their drop off rates are huge. Why are so many customers churning? And then what can we do in our product to resolve that? You know, can we fix our onboarding? Is there a leaky part in that onboarding? You know, just kind of what can we do in the design of our actual product to address, you know, a specific need, whatever that may be. Because there's a million metrics that people are concerned about. So I guess I've kind of focused on maybe startups or smaller companies. I don't, you know, I don't know if that's right or wrong or if that answered your question.

[Luis]

No, I mean it looks like you've been giving me some clues. Right. There are people that already have a product to sell. Right. Like have you ever defined like your dream customer before or.

[Dana]

Yeah. So, you know, ChatGPT's kind of become my best friend and trying to define things like that or like your, your Persona or your ICP or whatever you want to label that. But yeah, I think lately when I've specifically like with this newsletter thing, I've really tried to kind of focus on that and I've, I've called them like this, they're this visionary doer where they're probably at a similar age, maybe 20s through 40s, they may either want to, you know, have their own product, do their own startup or they are a founder kind of in that and they're just confused on some of those things that I mentioned. Maybe they don't know what to do with their app in general, where to start or they have problems that they're trying to fix like I mentioned and address that may be, you know, with their users as far as. And I, I keep saying drop off or churn rates or things like that, but just like things like that. I also like the idea of how can we bring some good mindset and self improvement things into that to just make this like a. Because I'm passionate about that. I'm trying to always tie that into everything and not just one thing all the time. I know I, I guess I get fight myself with focusing on such a tiny thing.

[Luis]

Yeah, it's interesting because you mentioned, you know, visionary doers, maybe people that are starting like a startup or have or are building. Right. So here's the interesting, like this is what we found in our initial like hundred calls that we did with the community that we're coming from. We thought because they were in that community, they have cash. So when we started selling the service, what happened was a few of them could afford it, but then same thing, they were working on the back end. So we were coming through production. The belief was like, hey, we handle production, then everything else is going to come, right? People or audiences are going to come. But then they had no CRM to capture those leads, for example, or there was no system or no product or maybe their product was not proven and they sold maybe five of them and then they didn't have a high ticket offer. They don't have a way to upsell that person. Right. Or maybe they don't have a product management tool or you know, they had one VA and that's it. So there was like a lot, we're like, wow, like by solving this one problem now we're uncovering others and they're not the ideal customer for that specific product. They might be the ideal customer to like learn the frameworks, but they're not the ideal customer to bring the production. Because what happens is like, even if we bring the production, let's say they collect a thousand leads tomorrow, they don't have a way to capture or communicate with them. Or so what happens is like, oh, this is not working because it's not generating money, right? So that was like a huge eye opener for us. And we started like trying to align with like, okay, who, who can we bring? Like, who? So we're like, okay, well the filters of those conversations is they have to have a business that's at least three years old. They have to have a high ticket offer that is proven that they've sold. They have to have worked with editors before so they know the pain, right? They want to be on camera. That's another qualifier. Because we worked with people that they're like, yeah, we want to do content, but they hated being on camera. So we're like, but why are we even doing this? We had to chase them to get them on camera, right? There's all these things that we discover. So I think as you think about this, it's like, okay, what's the least friction for you to execute something like this? Maybe it's like a very specific problem that you already solved or you know, how to do. You keep mentioning churn or drop off rates and be like, okay, what company has a system that we can help fix that one issue. But let's say if you fix the drop off rate of an orange theory, for example, which is the sweater I'm wearing today, right, they can deploy that across a thousand studios nationwide and then make a million bucks right in, in a day, easy. So it's like, okay, who's, who's that customer? And it could be like a very custom, specific solution initially instead of like trying to design the whole thing. Because I can already see if there's a startup that you're designing this all experience, but they haven't proved their product or they haven't sold it yet, or they don't even have a product, it will be very challenging for them to pay you. So unless it's like a Y Combinator startup and they have a budget to do this. Right, that could be the other way. Right? And again, I don't know what the connections or the community that you might be in could be. Like, we had a Y Combinator customers and they were like, look, guys, like we have the budget to test this for six months and guess what? You know the six months their product wasn't working so they cut everything. Even the CEO was fired. So. But it was a cool six months. We learned a ton, right? But again, I encourage you, like, okay, what is that customer? So what I have on my notes, you would be like, okay, they initial qualifications, right? They already have a proven product. For example, how much are they selling of that? Do they need to be above a certain threshold of selling that product? Right. Is it an expensive product? So for somebody like the people in the ultimate sales machine that they sell a 60,000 to a $300,000 product, a small fix in that can increase a ton of revenue. So are we looking for those type of connections and who are those connections? Are they the CEOs, CMOs, COOs? I don't know who they might be. So now that we have that okay product and now we got to figure out, okay, what is their issue and that's where like your discovery call could come in. Obviously they already have pipelines. So like, how do we know if somebody has pipeline? Maybe they're Salesforce users, maybe they're HubSpot users, right? What applications can you work? So are they in those platforms? So in our specific case, for example, if when they come to our studio, they start recording the podcast and they don't have a CRM, and I'm like, man, this is going to be a tough one. Because we're like, well, have you worked with CRMs before? And it's like, what is it? It's going to be like, oh man, this is going to be a production only customer and we're going to work for like two months and then the budget, it's going to run out. But if they come in like, hey, we have all these workbook, we have all these flows on high level, or we work with Salesforce, or we're in hotspot and we communicate with the customers this way and we really want this show, for example, to increase and provide sales resources for them. We're going to send them a message every time. Oh, that's a good indicator. So what are those indicators for you? So let's say now you have Bob, CEO of the company that you're like, oh, this company might be a good fit. Maybe now that's the time that you bring him into your platform to collaborate with them. So in your case, if you're doing a newsletter, same thing, like your audience is learning from you. So your audience is still Bob. So what happens is I'm gonna bring Bob2 to teach our other Bobs on how to XYZ the topic of your newsletter. So is your newsletter and this works with literally any topic because if you want to be known as the UX guy thing, perfect, go there. But we've seen people that create like a podcast that is like a personal topic. They just use the personal topic to connect with the decision maker. So, like, I'll give you an example. We launched the football show.

[Dana]

Yeah.

[Luis]

Audience wise, the goal there is like to entertain. So there's no, like, at least now is there's no product, no nothing that's going to come out of that. But we want to connect with like very key people in the football world because we want to develop those relationships.

[Dana]

Right.

[Luis]

So then that's our lead. It's the, you know, the head of. The head of coaching for XYZ team because maybe we want to sell a camp and he's our contact. Right. So same thing. It could be your. Whatever topic that you have in your world. Again, I don't know what the. On the topic, but that could be like, hey, Bob, you want to. Again, we have this newsletter. It goes out every single week, three times a week. We've done it for the last few months. And we're looking for people like you to bring this into, have a discussion about topic X. It might be a topic that maybe you see on their LinkedIn that they're experts on. And then you have that conversation, whatever you need to gather the information so you can write it. And then after that call, that's when you'll be like, hey, Bob, I don't know if this is for you, but this is what I do. And you explain. I fix broken pipelines, I increase this rate to this rate. And my customers and partners increase revenue by X percent after a couple months together. I would love for a way to collaborate. What about we hop on a call tomorrow so I can kind of walk you through a demo or show you and see if there's an opportunity for both? Something like that.

[Dana]

Yeah. I guess reflecting on some of the things so far is that it sounds like to me just kind of reiterating that back is like either ensure or kind of go over, like, what are those, what are those initial qualifications, you know, making sure that's kind of dialed in or at least understanding of what that is and having those conversations or and I guess like when you're having those, those conversations. Because right now I've kind of, I have been kind of putting this broadcasting. You know, I have this free, just this discovery call for 30 minutes. You know, let's talk about if this newsletter is on a specific thing, I'll be like, if you have this issue, let's talk about it for 30 minutes. It's free. Because I would like to kind of do what you're saying. Exactly. I think it's just like getting people to start getting there, you know, as I'm building, which I know will happen over time. But what it sounds like is like, if I can get people into that, then I can find out these things and then I can also share that information that I've learned from that conversation into a new piece of content or newsletter or we can even collab and cross post or whatever. Whatever is that kind of gist.

[Luis]

So are you a part of like maybe an online community or like a community like in person that maybe they have, you know, they're having, they have questions about the problems that you solve?

[Dana]

Yeah, I think, you know, I mentioned briefly about that this Arizona entrepreneurs group. I. I'm in their school community. They have, they have fun for like their paid members and their, and their regular members. I haven't posted in there because, because I just was like, I don't even know how to say what I'm trying to do or sell what I'm trying to do. And you know, and again, it goes back to how can I clearly say this to someone that doesn't mind might not understand.

[Luis]

Yeah, I think probably a good starting point would be like, what is one problem that you solve? Right. And go from there and be like, hey, I have background in UX design. And you know, you know, I'm Dana, a background in UX design and I currently solve problems like these. And then you list like three problems. You know, my inbox is open if you have any questions. But also apart from that, it's. Sometimes we just post on these groups and we, we expect people like, oh my gosh, that that's my person. And to reach out. And it turns out that we need to be a little bit more proactive than that. So something that helped us at the beginning too, and still today is outreach to, to those people in the group. So there's a couple ways. One is if the group is active and they're asking questions. So in our specific case, there's a group of a platform called buzzsprout. So buzzsprout is a podcasting host. And these people, they have thousands and thousands of customers. They go into this Facebook group and they have questions about podcasting. Every week, we hop in there and we answer some of these questions, as in adding value. So we use it for two ways, for two reasons. One, to get ideas for our content. So if people are asking this question, they might not be the only one. So we're gonna create a piece of content, Sol, and that becomes a piece of content. In number two, when we answer that question in that group, if it's super useful and insightful, people might like it, they might comment on it. And then we kind of keep an eye on those. And then we reach out through the M's. Be like, hey, Dana, I saw that. You know you like this. And thank me on the. On the comment. Thank you so much, man. I would love to. I would like to go. To get to know you a little bit better. I would love to connect. And it's like, how, how can we get on conversations? Because then let's say that person be like, perfect, man. Like, I would love to chat with you. You send them your 20 minute booking link. Don't, you know, don't sell them. Don't send them like a sales page or like, like a discovery call thing that says this car, like, it's a connection call, let's chat. But in that call, then you're going to start asking those questions to be like, oh, man, like, what brought you to ask that question? Like, what are you working on? And you're going to find out what they're working on. Be like, hey, same, same pitch, by the way. It comes from this book, so I highly recommend it.

[Dana]

I will, I will get that. Yeah, I love that.

[Luis]

Like, hey, I don't know if this is for you, but, like, that's what I do. Like, will you like to explore the possibility of maybe working together? Right. Or collaborating? Or does that look like. And you'll be very surprised. It's like, how can we get into more conversations as soon as possible? I think it's is what you need to. Because the more you have this conversation, the more you ask these questions, you're going to be like, man, that resonates. Or like, maybe what they're saying. I don't enjoy doing that. Right. Like, so, for example, we knew initially that we didn't want to go on location anymore to record. Like, and people are like, man, like, we were exhausted. We were like, we don't want to drive anymore. So if somebody were to say that in the conversation, we're like, nope, I'm sorry. Like, we deal with people that are already recording content, right? I'm not even going to try to convince you to record content. So.

[Dana]

Okay.

[Luis]

And the only way to do that is like getting through those conversations. So I'll say, you know, during your week, be like, okay, what is like my one hour a day where I'm going to go to these groups? And it could be that one, or it could be an online Facebook group or LinkedIn group, whatever platform you use the most. And then you can grab those questions and then they become content for your newsletter or your blog or how you write.

[Dana]

Right.

[Luis]

And then hopefully, you know, that, that will kickstart some, Some, Some traction.

[Dana]

Yeah, Yeah. I think the biggest, the biggest takeaway that I really like too is just maybe focusing on that super specific problem like you said, and then maybe just saying like, this is something specific that I do, and then those. Maybe there's three things that you add to that. But yeah, I think that's really good. I've heard someone else say that. And then I straight away from doing that for whatever reason, I don't know why, but I don't know why. I also raised my hand.

[Luis]

So good.

[Dana]

Ain't that? But yeah, no, that, that makes a lot of sense. I think I also need to work on finding maybe more groups that are active and posting about either posting questions or just like just being a little bit more active and things like that.

[Luis]

It could be. I mean, think about Reddit forums. We came out of Facebook, so for us, Facebook group was always a big one. LinkedIn, I think they have different.

[Dana]

You know, I haven't honestly explored LinkedIn groups too much, so that could be something I should just. Honestly.

[Luis]

Yeah. And then maybe, you know, one week, pick a couple. You know, if it's, if it's like a paid community, we've tend to see a little bit more qualified people out of those just because they're not just looking for free information. Right. So, like an example is that we hopped on. I think it was like Ed Mylett and Andy Frisella community once. Like the. Yeah, Arete, I think it was called. Okay, and all these like, dudes, entrepreneurs that wanted to be just like them, right? And obviously them. They publish a ton. So we're like, maybe that's where we find a couple of people. And we did, but they were not our right people. So we're like, you know, they, they wanted a different type of stuff that we, we didn't enjoy producing, so we decided no more. But they were paying 500 bucks a month and we're like, okay, well, they have some money. To invest in this, they might have some money because financially the money for us is a big qualifier right at the end of the day because content is a long term play. But for you it could be project based. Another way is where are people posting jobs of the things that you can do? I don't know where those jobs boards are. But for us in content with Fiverr, things like that and that, that could be the start of one job, but it can also be the start of a relationship because you know, you're up there solving their specific problems. Messaging with them is also another lead capture that already has a ton of traffic. It's like, okay, where can I find this pool of people? And at the same time people are going to search you up. So continue creating the content. You know, I don't know how frequent you are, but like say on a weekly basis, on a, you know, a couple of days a week or so, people. So you can always send them, be like, oh, this guy kind of knows at that point the content becomes that safety net. Whereas like they know he knows what he's talking about. I can trust him.

[Dana]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean that is the dream is that the content is like your magnet for bringing in clients. You know, I was doing, I was doing three days a week and now I've done, I'm up to like five or seven days a week just because I time.

[Luis]

But yeah, apart from the new, the email newsletter that you publish content somewhere else.

[Dana]

Yeah. So I mean LinkedIn, there's LinkedIn short posts and videos and then I'll repost the short videos to YouTube. So I would say like LinkedIn is the main one. I'm posting on there three to seven days a week. Three is the very like the bare minimum. And then YouTube and then sometimes if I have the time or sometimes I'll post on maybe TikTok or something. But it's just, it really depends. But those are the main focal points or discovery platforms.

[Luis]

Yeah, no, makes sense. What do you think your next step is?

[Dana]

Right? I think, yeah. I mean, I don't know if I want to get lost in defining, I mean I should define those qualifications more. Part of me thinks it's probably like I'll have to do that as I'm talking and learning more because I have this idea in my head, but it needs to be, I think confirmed through actual conversation. So I think what I should do is write, write it down. What is that one thing that I want to offer, just like we just said and then go in that group that Paid community that I am in and their free community post the same thing and be like, hey, I do this. I've worked on maybe these three things, but I also have this newsletter if you just want to subscribe. And each week I, you know, give away these things, insights or whatever.

[Luis]

Yeah, no, that's good. I know we're wrapping up, but here's like something that we did early, early, early on when we had no idea what we were going to sell that helped a ton. So we're doing the 40 life, the 45 live challenge. So just me and Fonse publishing the videos. And about. I think it was like day 10 or something. We post. I posted a picture with like a big number five in it and I was like, hey, I'm looking for five people to have a conversation about content. And I'm trying to learn a little bit more about, you know, what the needs of the people are listening to us are. And by the way, we're not pulling any kind of hundreds of numbers. Like, this was like five people watching the videos. Like, there's nothing, right? And about 20 people responded to that comment. It was crazy. I was like, what? Where are these people coming from? And they were from the communities, the Facebook groups that we were part of, the events that were coming. And then my personal profile, they're like, dude, yeah, of course I want to do this. And I have to find. That specific thing that I did is like, hey, I just have five spots. I want to hop on a call and help you with content, right? We've done XYZ and we do it. We jumped on the call with the 20 people, right? And we found out the pain points. So it will be, it'll be, it can be something similar, right? Where it's like, hey, I'm just looking for, to open a call with. I have five slots next week that I want to, I want to provide as much value as possible. This is my background. This is what I've done. I want to help you with your UX design problem, for example, right? Or whatever. I said UX design in a general sense, but it could be whatever you decide to do. What happens that you jump on this 20 minute calls, which for you are a way to discover, but also help them out. And it turns out that a few of those ended up being our first couple of customers because they told us what they needed. We kind of helped them identify, okay, here, here are three things that you can do. 1, 2, 3, go execute. And then we're on the back end. We're like, we can solve this. And then we came back to, hey, by the way, we have our production process product that we can help you with your problem. Will you be interested? And they'll be like a few of them said yes. So I think like, that's also a really cool. It could be like a weekly or a bi weekly exercise that you do either with your email list, if you already have one. Right. With your newsletter or with the communities that you're in.

[Dana]

Yeah, my first thought when you said that was doing a short, just like a short video type of deal as well.

[Luis]

But yeah, yeah, I mean if you want to test it out again, content is a hypothesis, right. It's like put it out wherever you feel like it's going to. And then you're going to be like, okay, we get result, we got results or we didn't get results. Some people will say speed it up with ads, but not a lot of people know how to run ads for us. We had no idea how to run ads. So organic is the way for us. But yeah, in the communities that you're already active, be that a step further, send that same message to every single one of your connections on LinkedIn, for example. Right. That takes a little bit more time, but it could be like, okay, let me do, you know, 10 a day. Because at the end of the day we want to have those conversations as fast as possible to kind of figure out what the market wants. Because I might be thinking, hey, they need this but they don't want it. And that's really part of the issue.

[Dana]

Yeah, I like that idea. I think once I just have that thing that I do that offer that I want to focus on initially, I think then it just, that'll be a lot easier to send out those DMS or things like that.

[Luis]

Here's a challenge. Ready?

[Dana]

Okay.

[Luis]

Okay. Don't wait to have the thing.

[Dana]

Okay.

[Luis]

Go in with a curious mind. So imagine you're sending me a message, right? Be like, hey, Luis, we've been connected here for a while and I'm working on this new project. I'm super excited, but I need to learn a little bit more about the industry and kind of where it stands. I have my theories. Will you be open to hop on an 11 minute call with me and talk about UX design? Keep it general, okay. Because let's say you send the same outreach, it's a little more open, right? And then people might be curious, be like, what about UX design? Be like, oh, you know, I want to talk about topic one Two, three. Maybe the top three that you. That you want to do as a product. Right.

[Dana]

Right.

[Luis]

I'm happy to share like all the secrets, help you with. With your big pain points. Awesome. I think most people say yes to like that short of a call. And then just I count on your side for like 20 to 30 minutes in your calendar. So that way if you run over, you have that wiggle room.

[Dana]

Okay.

[Luis]

Versus hey, Louise. Same same. Same thing that I said. I would love to help you with your retention problem. Right. For example, people don't like to accept they have problems, so that's number one. And second, I'll be like, I don't have a retention problem.

[Dana]

Right.

[Luis]

But maybe there's other opportunities along their pipeline. Design, for example. Right. They might not be aware. And because we're so specific, sometimes it might be. And it's a game. Right. A lot of people are like, niche down. Sure. On messaging some stuff. But when we're trying to figure out like, what are we the thing that we're gonna sell, we might need to be a little bit more broad. So I would challenge you, maybe send a few of those messages without being so specific and see what happens. Right. That's how we found our multipurposing. We thought people wanted us to go show up and do the thing at their events. And they're like, no, we already have a ton of that. What if we send it to you? And we're like, that's even better. Yeah. So hopefully it was. I know we're at the top of the hour, but do you have any other questions or thoughts?

[Dana]

No, I'm just. I guess one thing I was just curious, like, what are your guys next steps with this. This kind of program and stuff like that and.

[Luis]

Yeah, dude, absolutely. Good question. So one is, if you're on Facebook, I would love for you to be on the. On the. On the challenge. I don't know if you already signed.

[Dana]

Up or have it. I. I have a Facebook. Never get on it anymore. But this. I mean, maybe this is. Maybe this is the thing.

[Luis]

Yeah, dude, come in. And it's like, it's on our group. So it's like super awesome people that are like in a similar boats. Here, let me send you. I'll send you the link. It's and started today so you. And it's completely free. If you want to come in and start it and then you stop it. I'll be a little disappointed, but not mad. I just put it there in the chat. If you. If you want to come join Us. That's one. So we'll be doing that for the next, like, couple of weeks, and then you're already in Business Creator Club. You already have, like, the $1 one. So.

[Dana]

Yep.

[Luis]

We're gonna. We're gonna encourage people to move to the Business Creator Club after the challenge is done.

[Dana]

Okay.

[Luis]

On the club we're building that right now is gonna be a circle community, but we're gonna be talking about this kind of thing. So we're gonna have, like, weekly Q&As, and we're gonna bring people that have helped us that are incredible. Some of them have been guests in the show that have a ton more experience doing this thing. So they're gonna be doing workshops and sessions and then kind of uncovering this for. For you guys, hopefully providing you the tools. So we talk a lot about the six levers, so messaging, creation, production, distribution, monetization, and ops. So in each one of those, it's going to be content right below. But we're going to build it. I need the feedback initially to be like, what is the thing that we build first so you guys can have a big win. The feedback that I gotten so far has been on the monetization side. So I think we're probably going to do either a masterclass that's included, obviously, with a membership, or I don't want to call it a course, but like a resource to where it's like, hey, here's how we monetize the platform. Kind of what I told you about the. Bring the guests to your platform, collaborate, and then do the next steps for the discovery calls. Yeah, because we need. We need to have conversations as fast as possible with the decision makers and not be super passive with, like, my content is going to do the work for me. It eventually will if we become good and good creators.

[Dana]

So it's easy to do, I guess, to get passive in that. Yeah, that sounds cool. I think that'd be a great. On top of that networking opportunity for people like me to meet other people.

[Luis]

100%. Yeah. You guys are going to be able to build your own profiles there with the. You know, what you do and how you do and connect with each other, which I think it's, like, what excites me the most, because, I mean, we just had the party last Thursday. We had about 30 people on that call. And, like, there's this couple that they. They didn't know each other, and they lived across the street from each other, also in Arizona, by the way. And it was like, what? And so they met the next day and they started collaborating on different products. So I think that that's like, that's super cool that it just happened.

[Dana]

I love that I can find someone that lives across the street and we can be friends in the same. That's cool. That's really cool.

[Luis]

That's awesome and cool. But yeah, yeah, come join us, man. Obviously, you know, you're already in it, so just wait for a couple emails. But that, the phone number that I texted you and that email, if you have any questions, man, follow ups and you're trying things, send them there. And as soon as the community opens, I'll, I'll just send you the login. So that way you, you can go in and start digging around and go from there. But.

[Dana]

Cool. I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

[Luis]

No, absolutely, man.