Clickfunnels

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Streamline Your Business Taxes appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Learning to manage business taxes effectively is essential to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Otherwise, you might get hit with an unexpectedly large tax bill. That can be enough to sink your company.

Even worse, failing to comply with tax laws can lead to legal trouble. Institutions responsible for tax collection don’t play around.

That’s why today we want to discuss how to manage taxes as a business owner!

Which Country Should You Register Your Business in?

If you want to start a location-independent business, consider where to base it.

The most straightforward option is to register your company in your home country, assuming that it is economically and politically stable.

However, it might make sense to shop around for the best tax rates and other perks:

• Europe: Malta, Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Norway, and other countries offer digital nomad visas designed to attract remote workers, freelancers, and entrepreneurs. This can provide an opportunity to live and travel in Europe. 
• Asia: Hong Kong and Singapore have long been popular among entrepreneurs due to their appealing tax policies-something to consider if you love Asia and spend a lot of time there. 
• Middle East: The United Arab Emirates offers a 0% tax rate for personal income and a 0–9% tax rate for corporate income. In recent years, many entrepreneurs have decided to register their companies there and make Dubai their home base due to low crime, a sunny climate, and an exciting social scene.

Finally, suppose you intend to pitch your business idea to investors and raise capital. In that case, you might want to register your company in the United States, even if you aren’t American.

After all, according to the “Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2024”, the #1 startup ecosystem in the world is Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, New York and London are tied for the second and third place and Los Angeles and Tel Aviv are tied for the fourth and fifth. Of the top 20 startup ecosystems in the world, nine are located in the United States!

How to Effectively Manage Business Taxes in the United States

Step #1: Decide Where to Register Your Business

All businesses in the United States are subject to federal tax laws.

However, there are also state, county, and even city taxes that you should consider when considering where to register your company.

In addition to that, you also want to research state and local laws related to your industry, including the necessary regulations, permits, and so on.

Step #2: Choose a Business Structure

The sole proprietorship is the most straightforward business structure, making it appealing to first-time entrepreneurs just starting out.

However, this structure doesn’t separate your assets from your business assets, meaning you can be held personally liable for debts, damages, and other business obligations.

That’s why we recommend registering a limited liability company (LLC) instead, even if you are a solopreneur. It will enable you to protect your assets in the case of lawsuits or bankruptcy!

Step #3: Get an EIN if You Need One

EIN stands for Employer Identification Number.

IRS has a questionnaire that can help you determine if you need an EIN and detailed instructions on applying for it.

Step #4: Get a State Tax ID if You Need One

You might need a state tax ID to pay state and local taxes. Check with the state government to learn more.

Step #5: Get the Required Licenses and Permits

You might need various federal, state, and local licenses and permits to operate your business. Make sure to research this so that you won’t miss anything!

Step #6: Invest in Good Bookkeeping Software

Regarding bookkeeping software, Freshbooks and QuickBooks are the two most popular options.

Freshbooks is arguably better for most freelancers, solopreneurs, and small business owners. If your company’s finances are simple, this app has everything you need.

QuickBooks is a better choice for businesses with complex finances due to its pricing structure, product and service range, and organizational scale. It offers various advanced features, hundreds of integrations, and 24/7 community support.

We recommend starting with Freshbooks and only moving to QuickBooks if there’s a genuine need for that because its sophistication can be overkill.

Step #7: Learn the Basics of Bookkeeping

It’s a good idea to learn the basics of bookkeeping.

Otherwise, you might record business transactions incorrectly, leading to messy books that you will either have to clean up yourself or pay someone to clean up.

Also, remember that not understanding bookkeeping makes you vulnerable to theft. If you hire a professional to keep your company’s books, you want to be able to double-check their work.

Sure, knowing the basics won’t be enough to uncover complex fraud. Still, it can help you spot inconsistencies, especially if your bookkeeper is stealing money without bothering to cover their tracks. This happens more often than you might think!

Step #8: Familiarize Yourself With Business Taxes

IRS lists five general types of business taxes:

1. Income tax
2. Estimated taxes
3. Self-employment taxes
4. Employment taxes
5. Excise taxes

Which of these taxes you will have to pay will depend on various factors, including the structure of your business, the number of employees, the products and services you sell, and so on.

Step #9: Hire a Good Tax Accountant!

In theory, you could save money by filing your business taxes, but in practice, it might cost you more. How so?

It’s so easy to forget something, fill out some form incorrectly, or make a mistake. That can lead to all kinds of problems down the road, potentially even legal trouble.

That’s why we highly recommend hiring a tax accountant to prepare and file your business taxes, especially if you know you are not detail-oriented.

Depending on the business type, complexity, and size, it will cost you somewhere between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars. Think of it as an investment in your peace of mind!

Is Avoiding Taxes Worth it?

Entrepreneurs often feel they should optimize their tax strategy by exploiting tax loopholes. But is that the best use of your resources?

Our friend Alex Hormozi argues that it isn’t. After all, most of the so-called “tax avoidance” tactics are tax evasion tactics. In other words, they are illegal.

It will take you so long to sift through all the shady stuff to find something legal that works that you might as well use that time to make more money instead of simply.

In the video below, Alex shares a story of how one of his friends flew to Puerto Rico and back every weekend to get a better tax rate. That’s 102 flights per year. Pretty crazy!

Want to Learn How to Build Sales Funnels That CONVERT?

Our co-founder Russell Brunson used sales funnels to take ClickFunnels from zero to $100M+ in annual revenue in less than a decade.

He is now widely considered to be one of the top sales funnel experts in the world. Want to learn from him?

His best-selling book “DotCom Secrets” is the best place to start because it covers everything you need to know in order to build sales funnels that convert.

This book is available on Amazon where it has over 2,500 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating.

But you can also get it directly from us for free…

All we ask is that you pay for shipping!

So what are you waiting for?

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P.S. Here’s What Readers Say About “DotCom Secrets”…

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Thanks for reading Streamline Your Business Taxes which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Earn Big Without A Degree appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Not having a degree doesn’t mean you can’t make money in today’s economy. While certain professions like medicine and law require formal education, countless lucrative paths don’t demand four years of college and mountains of student debt.

Many people feel stuck in low-paying jobs, believing a degree is the only ticket to financial stability. This simply isn’t true. The modern economy rewards skills, problem-solving ability, and hustle-qualities that often develop outside traditional classrooms.

This blog will explore 9 legitimate ways to make money without spending four years and a small fortune on a degree.

This isn’t about get-rich-quick schemes or crypto miracles. These are proven, actionable paths regular people use to build sustainable incomes.

Rent Your Spare Room on Platforms Like Airbnb

If you have an extra bedroom in your house, you can list it on Airbnb to earn some solid side income. This works exceptionally well if you live in a city where tourists visit or near business districts where people travel for work.

Here’s an example of someone who shared their income from renting out their property to travelers:

Clean up your spare room and take some good photos to get started. Capture the room from different angles, and don’t forget to highlight any special features like a nice view, a comfy reading nook, or easy access to a bathroom.

Consider creating a “Business Ready” setup if you’re near corporate areas. Add a small desk, good lighting, reliable Wi-Fi, and a comfortable chair. Business travelers often book longer stays, are typically low-maintenance guests, and tend to be repeat customers if they visit your area regularly.

When setting your price, look at what other rooms in your neighborhood go for. Starting a bit lower helps you build up good reviews at first. Once you have positive feedback, you can gradually increase your rates.

The great thing about hosting is the flexibility. You can block dates when you don’t want guests, only accept weekend bookings, or make your place available full-time.

Remember that you’ll have some costs: extra cleaning, occasionally replacing linens, higher utility bills, and possibly local taxes or permit fees, depending on where you live.

Offer Freelance Services on Sites Like Upwork or Fiverr

If you have skills in writing, graphic design, programming, or digital marketing, freelancing platforms can connect you directly with clients worldwide.

Take a look at Fiverr-it offers dozens of categories, from graphic design and programming to digital marketing and AI services. The possibilities for freelancing are vast, with specialized subcategories to match nearly any skill you might have.

Getting started doesn’t require formal qualifications-just demonstrable skills and reliable internet.

To find your freelance niche, use this simple framework:

1. List your existing skills and interests-both professional and personal
2. Identify which skills have market demand (browse platforms like Upwork or Fiverr to see popular categories)
3. Research competition and pricing in potential niches
4. Consider your time commitment and required equipment/software
5. Start with skills that have the best balance of your proficiency and market demand
6. Test your chosen niche with a few small projects before fully committing

The ideal freelance service combines something you’re good at, something you enjoy doing, and something people will pay for.

Once you know the freelancing services you want to provide, create a detailed profile that highlights your strengths. Focus on a specific niche rather than listing every possible service. For example, instead of “general writer,” position yourself as a “SaaS email sequence specialist” or “technical manual writer.”

For example, here’s how writers on Fiverr highlight their skills:

Your initial projects might need competitive pricing to build your reputation. Many successful freelancers start at $15-20 per hour but eventually command $50-100+ as they gather positive reviews. The key is delivering excellent work consistently and on time.

These platforms take a commission (typically 5-20%) but handle payment security, contracts, and client communication systems, eliminating many traditional freelancing headaches.

Offer Language Lessons Online 

Teaching online can be a lucrative side hustle or even a full-time career if you’re fluent in a second language. Native speakers are particularly in demand, but anyone with strong language skills can find students eager to learn.

Platforms like AmazingTalker, iTalki, and Preply connect language teachers directly with students worldwide.

These sites handle scheduling and payments, and provide teaching tools, making it easy to start without technical expertise. New teachers typically charge $15-25 per hour, while experienced instructors with good reviews can earn $30-50+ per hour.

Many successful language teachers eventually create their independent online presence to avoid platform fees and build a personal brand. Creating your landing page gives you complete control over your teaching business and helps you keep more of what you earn.

For example, Mike created his Hebrew teaching website.

You can use tools like ClickFunnels to create professional landing pages without coding knowledge.

The platform also offers automated email follow-ups, and email drips to help convert visitors into regular students.

Try ClickFunnels for Free, and Build Your Landing Page in Minutes

Learn a Trade Skill Like Plumbing, Electrical Work, or Carpentry 

Starting a handyman business is perfect if you’re practical-minded and enjoy solving problems. You can begin with just the skills you already have.

Can you assemble IKEA furniture? Mount a TV? Change door handles? That’s enough to start earning while you learn more complex repairs.

To get started, create profiles on platforms like TaskRabbit, Thumbtack, or Nextdoor to find your first clients. These platforms handle payment processing and help build your reputation through reviews. Once you’ve established a client base, word-of-mouth referrals often become your best source of business.

What truly sets successful handypeople apart isn’t advanced technical knowledge but reliability. Simply showing up on time, communicating clearly, and doing what you promised puts you ahead of 80% of competitors. This business rewards punctuality and follow-through more than specialized expertise.

As you grow, you can set up a simple booking funnel with ClickFunnels’ Appointment Funnel template. This automates your scheduling process and collects client information upfront.

The funnel can qualify leads by having them answer questions about their project, show your availability calendar, and even collect deposits-all automatically. This system works while you sleep, turning website visitors into confirmed appointments without you lifting a finger.

Build Your Appointment Page With ClickFunnels. Try for Free

Become a Virtual Assistant for Busy Professionals

A virtual assistant is someone who provides administrative, technical, or creative support to clients remotely from a home office instead of working on-site.

Many entrepreneurs, executives, and small business owners are overwhelmed with administrative tasks and willing to pay $15-30+ per hour for reliable help.

Let’s say there’s an e-commerce company founder, a virtual assistant might handle these tasks:

1. Managing the founder’s calendar and scheduling meetings
2. Organizing digital files and documentation
3. Updating inventory spreadsheets
4. Creating and sending invoices to customers
5. Basic bookkeeping and expense tracking
6. Data entry for new products
7. Coordinating with suppliers and shipping services
8. Researching potential vendors or partners
9. Taking meeting notes and creating action item lists

Many virtual assistant skills come from everyday experience rather than formal education.

You already have foundational VA skills if you can manage your calendar, organize emails, use basic office software like Word and Excel, or handle social media accounts. These practical abilities, combined with good communication and organization, are often more valuable to clients than a degree.

You can also quickly enhance your skills through free YouTube tutorials, low-cost Udemy courses, or by practicing with tools like Google Workspace, Trello, or Canva-all without setting foot in a college classroom.

Finding your first clients is often the biggest hurdle. Start by reaching out to local small businesses or creating profiles on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. Clients frequently post their VA requirements on platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn, and Facebook groups. Keep an eye out for these posts ,as they’re excellent opportunities to connect directly with business owners who already know they need help.

The equipment needs are minimal: a reliable computer, stable internet connection, and communication tools like Zoom. Free tools like Google Workspace, Trello, and Canva can handle most client tasks until you’re ready to invest in premium software.

Create and Monetize Content on YouTube 

Creating content online can turn your knowledge, personality, or interests into income without requiring a traditional degree. Anyone with a smartphone and internet connection can get started.

Finding your niche is finding a specific topic or style where your authentic voice can stand out. Successful creators focus on areas they genuinely enjoy and know well: cooking, gaming, personal finance, tech reviews, or fitness routines.

To get started, ask yourself:

What topic could I comfortably create 50+ videos about? Which aspect of my knowledge would be most helpful to others? What format (tutorials, reviews, explanations) best suits my personality and skills?

The greatest advantage of content creation is scalability-once created, your videos can generate income for years with minimal additional effort.

Look at the OverSimplified channel as an example-they’ve built a massive audience of 8.93 million subscribers with just 33 videos.

Their history-focused content consistently generates millions of views (one video showing over 96 million views), and they monetize through multiple streams:

• Merchandise sales (like their Winston plush for $13.38)
• Patreon subscriptions
• Skillshare, and Adobe affiliate promotions
• Likely significant ad revenue

This shows how quality can matter more than quantity and how a distinct niche and presentation style can create substantial income opportunities.

Building a channel like OverSimplified takes time, and you don’t need millions of subscribers before you start making money. Even smaller channels with dedicated audiences can earn through affiliate links, sponsored content, and digital products long before reaching massive subscriber counts.

Invest in Dividend-paying Stocks

Dividend stocks are shares in companies that regularly distribute a portion of their profits to shareholders. This means you can earn money from your investment without selling your shares.

But don’t mistake this for an “easy money” approach. While you won’t need to submit a transcript to your broker, you’ll need to educate yourself on financial fundamentals.

Before making your first investment, spend time learning these essentials:

• How to read basic financial statements
• What dividend yield and payout ratios mean (and why extremely high yields often signal trouble)
• The importance of diversification across different sectors
• How dividend taxation works
• The difference between dividend growth and high-yield investment strategies

Many brokerages like Fidelity, Charles Schwab, and Robinhood offer commission-free trading and fractional shares, meaning you can begin with as little as $5-10. This allows you to practice with real money while limiting your potential losses as you learn.

Free resources like Investopedia, the Bogleheads forum, and YouTube channels like “Plain Bagel” and “Dividend Data” can help you build this foundation without formal education.

If the stock market feels too intimidating, consider dividend-focused ETFs or even Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) that combine real estate exposure with regular dividend distributions. These provide instant diversification with a single purchase, reducing (but not eliminating) your risk.

Turn Your Expertise Into an Online Course

You’ve got knowledge others don’t. It could be how you trained your stubborn dog, fixed your car, or built a social media following. Someone’s struggling with exactly that problem right now, and they’re looking online to solve their problem.

For example, The thru-hiking course from BACKPACKER helps beginners tackle intimidating multi-day hikes.

Garden Tutor offers free gardening courses that lead to personalized certificates, building credibility and community.

The key is packaging your knowledge in a way that solves specific problems. Notice how each example above addresses a clear pain point: uncertainty about starting a thru-hike or feeling overwhelmed by garden planning.

You can find your money-making topic in 4 steps

1. List your skills
   • What do friends ask for your help with?
   • What problems have you solved for yourself?
2. Check market demand
   • Search: “How to [your skill]” on YouTube
   • Look at view counts and comments
3. Narrow your focus
   • Specific problem > General topic. For example, create a course on “Sourdough for beginners who don’t have a big budget” and not just “Baking.”
4. Test before you build
   • Create free mini-content first
   • Gauge interest before full production

ClickFunnels can help you run the entire online course business in one platform.

It gives you ready-made course templates to simply drop your content into, eliminating tech headaches and design work.

The real power comes from how it integrates your course directly into sales funnels – letting you create free mini-courses as lead magnets, bundle courses with other products, or set up automatic upsells that convert casual visitors into paying students.

This means you spend less time wrestling with technology and more time creating content that sells. For non-technical creators, it removes the biggest barrier between your expertise and actual income.

Run an Event Planning Business

Event planning works brilliantly for people who thrive on organization and love creating memorable experiences. It’s ideal for social butterflies with strong attention to detail and can stay calm under pressure.

You can specialize in various niches:

• Corporate events (conferences, team-building retreats)
• Social celebrations (weddings, milestone birthdays, anniversaries)
• Community gatherings (festivals, fundraisers)
• Entertainment events (concerts, gallery openings)

The sweet spot is finding an underserved market that matches your interests and connections.

Begin by planning events for friends and family to build your portfolio. Document everything with photos and testimonials. Create a simple website showcasing your services.

Create social media accounts focused on your niche.

Here’s an example of someone creating an Instagram account to promote their events business –

Network relentlessly – join local business groups, connect with venues, and build relationships with vendors like caterers, photographers, and florists.

The real money in event planning doesn’t come from planning fees alone. Smart planners build in multiple revenue streams: vendor referral commissions (often 10-15% from florists, photographers, and caterers), the markup on rentals and supplies, and consultation fees. Many successful planners make more from these secondary sources than from their base planning fees.

Also, understand the reality of cash flow – you’ll need capital to place deposits with vendors before clients pay you in full. When starting out, structure your payment schedules carefully, requiring substantial deposits upfront to cover these costs. This prevents the nightmare scenario of funding someone else’s event out of your own pocket while waiting to get paid.

Final Thoughts

Your lack of a degree isn’t a limitation-it’s a different starting point. The most valuable education often happens through action, not in classrooms. So, pick one strategy that resonates with your skills and interests, take that first small step today, and build from there.

Tools like ClickFunnels are here to help make the journey easier. We have countless entrepreneurs building successful businesses without fancy degrees-just smart ideas and the right systems in place. ClickFunnels handles the complicated tech stuff so you can focus on what you’re good at.

ClickFunnels is free for the first 14 days. Check it out and see how it can help you. Take that first step today. A year from now, you’ll wish you had started sooner.

Join Thousands of Degree-Free Entrepreneurs. Get Your Clickfunnels Account Now.

Thanks for reading Earn Big Without A Degree which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post How To Grow Your Business appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Small business owners everywhere are discovering a marketing secret that’s hiding in plain sight: podcasting. But not the polished, big-budget NPR-style shows you might be thinking of. We’re talking about authentic, expertise-driven business podcasts that turn casual listeners into loyal customers.

Whether you’re a local accounting firm or a growing e-commerce brand, this guide will show you how to turn your expertise into a podcast that attracts real business.

But let’s tackle the main question first.

Should Your Business Start a Podcast?

Before investing time and resources into podcasting, let’s address some hard business truths most guides skip over.

Business Fundamentals

Have you achieved product-market fit? If you’re still figuring out your core offering or ideal customer, focus there first. A podcast won’t fix fundamental business challenges – it amplifies what’s already working.

Sales Cycle

Podcasting shines in businesses with longer sales cycles where trust and expertise matter. A podcast can nurture prospects over time if you’re selling high-ticket services or complex B2B solutions. But if you run a simple e-commerce store with impulse purchases, your resources might be better spent on immediate-return channels.

Un-trackable ROI

Before you invest in podcasting, here’s a truth most marketing guides won’t tell you: podcasting for business requires embracing the unmeasurable. Unlike paid ads or email campaigns where you can track every click, much of a podcast’s impact happens in ways traditional analytics can’t capture.

Consider starting a podcast if you’re comfortable playing the long game and understand that some of your best results will come through “dark social” – private messages, word-of-mouth recommendations, and informal conversations where people share your episodes. The real magic of business podcasting often happens in these invisible networks of trust and referral.

Audience, Communication, and Commitment

Podcasting works especially well if your expertise can be shared through conversation. For example, suppose you’re a financial advisor who loves breaking down complex money concepts or a fitness trainer who enjoys explaining workout techniques. In that case, your knowledge will translate naturally to the podcast format.

Here’s when you might want to skip podcasting: If you struggle to talk about your work, you can’t commit to regular episodes, or your target audience simply doesn’t listen to podcasts. Remember, a poorly maintained podcast can hurt your brand more than having no podcast.

The key question isn’t “Can I start a podcast?” (because technically, anyone can). Instead, ask yourself: “Can I consistently share valuable insights that my target customers want to hear?” If the answer is yes, and you’re willing to work to do it right, podcasting could be your next smart marketing move.

Benefits of Podcasting for Your Business

Starting a business podcast can open up exciting new ways to grow your company and connect with more customers. Think of it as having your own radio show where you can share your expertise and build relationships with listeners.

One of the biggest benefits is that podcasting helps establish you as an expert in your field. When you regularly share valuable insights and industry knowledge, people start seeing you as a trusted authority. This trust often leads them to choose your business when they need products or services you offer.

Podcasts also create a personal connection with your audience. Unlike written content, listeners get to hear your voice and personality, which makes them feel like they know you. This personal touch helps build stronger relationships with potential customers.

Marketing through podcasts is also cost-effective. Once you have basic recording equipment, creating episodes is relatively inexpensive compared to other marketing methods. Plus, your content stays available online forever, continuing to attract new listeners long after you’ve recorded it.

Another great advantage is reaching people during their daily routines. Unlike blogs or videos that need visual attention, people can listen to podcasts while driving, exercising, or doing housework. This means more opportunities for your message to reach potential customers.

Podcasting can also lead to valuable networking opportunities. When you interview guests for your show, you’re building relationships with other industry professionals who might become partners or refer customers to you.

Define Your Podcast’s Purpose

When starting a business podcast, you can’t just turn on the microphone and start talking about random business topics. You need a clear purpose that helps potential listeners quickly understand what your show is about and decide if it’s worth their time.

For example, here’s a quick purpose mentioned on Ali Abdaal’s podcast: 

Your podcast should naturally connect to what your business does. If you’re a marketing agency teaching social media tips but your actual business focuses on website design, there’s a disconnect that might confuse your audience. Your podcast should showcase what you’re best at and ultimately help grow your business.

Before you start recording, sit down and ask yourself these important questions:

• What unique knowledge or expertise can your business share?
• What common problems do your customers face that you can address?
• How will this podcast help grow your business in the long run?
• What topics can you consistently create content about?
• What makes your perspective different from other industry podcasts?
• How does this podcast fit into your overall marketing strategy?

For example, a digital marketing agency could host a podcast sharing proven strategies for online growth. Or a local real estate company could discuss market trends and home-buying tips.

At ClickFunnels, we run a podcast focused on online marketing and sales strategies. Our podcast purpose perfectly aligns with our business – teaching entrepreneurs about funnel building, online marketing, and business growth through interviews with successful business owners.

Plan Your Content Strategy

Podcast Purpose is your overall “why” – the main reason your podcast exists. For example, “helping small business owners understand and implement digital marketing.” This stays constant and guides everything you do.

But you still need the “how” – the practical plan for delivering on that purpose through specific episodes. That is your content strategy.

A solid content strategy helps you avoid the dreaded “What should I talk about this week?” panic. It ensures your podcast consistently delivers value to your listeners while supporting your business goals.

It includes:

• What exact topics you’ll cover
• How you’ll structure each episode
• Who you’ll invite as guests
• Which format to use (interviews, solo shows, case studies)
• When you’ll release episodes

When planning your first few months of content, write rough outlines for each planned episode to ensure you cover all important points.

Keep a running list of potential guests and match them with relevant topics that would benefit your audience. This advanced planning helps you maintain quality and consistency while reducing the stress of last-minute content creation.

Create Your Podcast Brand

Just like your business has a distinct identity with its name, logo, and color scheme, your podcast needs its own brand identity. While it should align with your business branding, it needs to be optimized specifically for the podcast medium.

Here’s what makes up your podcast brand:

Name of Your Podcast

It should be clear and searchable, ideally giving listeners a hint about what your podcast offers.

If you’re a well-known brand like Shopify or Ahrefs, using your business name for your podcast makes sense as people already know and trust you.

But if your business name is something like “XJ Solutions” or doesn’t clearly explain what you do, you might want to choose a more descriptive podcast name.

Choose a name that tells listeners what they’ll learn.

For example, Ramit Sethi, a personal finance author, didn’t simply name his podcast “The Ramit Sethi Show.” Instead, he chose “Money For Couples with Ramit Sethi” — a name that immediately tells potential listeners exactly who the podcast is for (couples) and what they’ll learn about (money management).

Whatever name you choose should be:

• Easy to spell and say (people need to find you in search)
• Different from other podcasts (check Apple Podcasts and Spotify)
• Related to your business and content
• Something you won’t outgrow quickly

Visual Identity

This includes:

• Cover art
• Episode thumbnails
• Any graphics you’ll use on social media

These should match your business branding but be optimized for podcast platforms. Most people will first see your cover art as a tiny thumbnail on their phone.

If you’re building a personal brand or your business relies heavily on you as the face of the company, including your photo can help build connections with potential listeners. But if you’re focusing more on the topics or representing a larger business, a well-designed graphic cover with your show’s name might work better.

For example, as you can see in the popular podcasts above, shows like The Shawn Ryan Show and The Ben Shapiro Show use their host’s photos since they’re personality-driven shows. While podcasts like “Stuff You Should Know” and “Fall of Civilizations” focus on strong typography and graphics since they’re more topic-focused.

Voice and Personality

Your show’s voice and personality matter too. Will your podcast be formal and educational, or casual and conversational?

This affects everything from your intro music to how you speak to your audience. Write a show description that captures this tone while clearly explaining what value listeners will get.

Set Up Your Recording Space

Creating a professional-sounding podcast starts with your recording environment. While you don’t need an expensive studio, you do need a space that minimizes unwanted noise and echo. A small room with soft furnishings like curtains, carpets, and cushions can work perfectly – these items help absorb sound and reduce echo.

Essential equipment:

• A good USB microphone (like the Blue Yeti or Audio-Technica ATR2100x)
• Headphones for monitoring your audio
• Simple mic stand to maintain a consistent distance

Before recording, do a quick environment check. Close windows to reduce outside noise, turn off any noisy appliances, and turn your phone on silent. Test your recording levels and make sure you’re comfortable – you’ll want water nearby to keep your voice clear during longer recording sessions.

Once your recording space is set up properly, you can focus on what matters most — creating engaging content and naturally weaving in mentions of your products or services to your listeners, which brings us to the next section.

Mention Your Products Without Sounding Salesy

During your podcast episodes, look for organic opportunities to mention your products or services. But do it in a way that genuinely helps solve the problems being discussed.

Frame your offering as a natural solution rather than forcing it into the conversation. When discussing challenges your audience faces, briefly mention how your product or service has helped others overcome similar issues. Keep these mentions brief and valuable.

For example, Ramit Sethi demonstrates this perfectly in his podcast. During a discussion about couples struggling with food budgets, he naturally transitions into mentioning his book “Money for Couples” by saying, “So one of the things I talk about in my book…”

He doesn’t just plug the book – he immediately provides value by sharing a concrete example about creating a family money culture and no-debt policy. The mention feels organic because it flows from a real problem being discussed,

Drive Podcast Listeners to Your Website

 While your podcast provides valuable content, your website or landing page is where listeners can dive deeper and ultimately convert into customers or engaged community members. So, create clear pathways from your audio content to your online presence.

It’ll help you:

• Builds your email list
• Opens opportunities for direct sales
• Add more value to genuinely interested listeners

For example, Freakonomics does this brilliantly. Their episodes lead listeners to their website with the CTA ‘Episode Webpage.’

There, visitors find multiple ways to engage further — from joining their book club to exploring related podcast series like “No Stupid Questions” and “People I Mostly Admire.” They also offer additional resources and full transcripts for each episode, giving listeners compelling reasons to visit their site.

If you need to create landing pages and manage your email list all in one place without juggling multiple tools or getting bogged down by technicalities, ClickFunnels is worth checking out.

ClickFunnels makes it incredibly simple to create professional landing pages that convert podcast listeners into subscribers and customers.

With hundreds of pre-built templates optimized for different industries and goals, you can quickly build your website or launch pages that look great and perform well. The drag-and-drop builder lets you customize everything without touching code, while built-in email marketing tools help you nurture relationships with your audience through automated sequences.

The platform’s email marketing tools help you stay connected with your audience, sending automated welcome messages and broadcasts.

Try ClickFunnels for Free Today!

Encourage Your Guests to Promote Their Episode

When someone appears on your podcast, they become a natural ambassador for your show. But here’s what most hosts get wrong: they never ask guests to share the episode, or they make it too complicated to share. Your guests’ networks can dramatically expand your podcast’s reach – and they’re often happy to help if you make it easy.

Make it easy for guests to share by:

• Creating ready-to-use social snippets with key moments
• Providing them with custom episode artwork
• Including their social handles in show notes
• Sending them a simple email template to share with their audience

For example, when Harry Dry appeared on David Perell’s “How I Write” podcast, he shared it with his 43,000+ Twitter followers, bringing a flood of new listeners to David’s show.

This kind of promotion feels natural because guests want to showcase their expertise and media appearances. When they share your episode, you’re not just getting listeners – you’re reaching a pre-qualified audience who already trusts your guest’s recommendations.

Final Thoughts

Most successful business podcasts aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets or the fanciest equipment. They’re the ones that consistently deliver genuine value and build trust with their audience.

The key is to start with purpose, remain consistent with your content, and always focus on how you can help your listeners solve real problems. Don’t get caught up in perfectionism – your first episodes won’t be perfect, and that’s okay. What matters is getting started and improving as you go.

Once you’re ready to turn your podcast listeners into customers, try ClickFunels. It’ll help you create a solid infrastructure to capture and nurture these relationships.

ClickFunnels makes this process seamless by providing everything you need – from professional landing pages to email automation – all in one platform. Instead of cobbling together different tools and getting lost in technical details, you can focus on what you do best: creating valuable content for your audience.

Try ClickFunnels for Free Today!

Thanks for reading How To Grow Your Business which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Secure Your Intellectual Property appeared first on ClickFunnels.

First-time entrepreneurs often don’t put much thought into protecting their intellectual property (IP). And you know what?

That’s understandable. Founders have their hands full with product development, marketing, sales, customer support, and public relations. Plus, if their company needs funding, they also have to pitch their business idea to investors to raise capital.

So, it shouldn’t be surprising that they tend to procrastinate on the boring legal stuff that doesn’t seem urgent. You can always take care of it later, right?

The problem is that this negligence can backfire, and it might happen much sooner than you would expect. It’s all fun and games until someone steals your IP or accuses you of stealing their IP.

That’s why today we want to discuss intellectual property: what it is, why you should protect it, and what practical steps you can take to do that.

What is Intellectual Property?

“Intellectual property” is an umbrella term that refers to creations of the human mind that can be legally owned and protected by law.

There are four main IP categories:

1. Patents
2. Trade secrets
3. Copyrights
4. Trademark

American-Made Program has published an excellent webinar in which intellectual property attorney Carl Ronald explains these IP categories in depth.

We’ll summarize the key points below and also add some of our thoughts on the subject:

Patents

A patent is a government-issued right to exclude others from making, using, selling or importing your invention.

You get this right for a limited period of time in exchange for teaching the world how your invention works, which you do by explaining it in your patent document.

Patents incentivize innovators to make their inventions public instead of keeping them secret, which adds to human knowledge and contributes to technological progress from which we all benefit.

3 Types of Patents

There are three types of patents:

1. Utility patents are available for processes, devices, and compositions of matter that advance the state of the art in a particular industry or multiple industries.
2. Design patents that are about the look and feel of the product.
3. Plant patents that deal primarily with genetic modification of plants for disease resistance.

3 Types of Patent Applications

There are also three different types of patent applications:

• Provisional applications are placeholders
• Non-provisional applications are the “proper” patent applications
• Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications for those who seek international protection

Should You Get a Patent?

Getting a patent might make sense if you have an invention that you want to protect because you believe that it can give you a serious competitive advantage.

However, patenting something is a long and expensive process that typically lasts a few years and can cost anywhere from $7,000 to $30,000.

Big corporations can patent all kinds of random stuff because they have unlimited financial resources.

As a startup founder, you cannot afford to do that, so think carefully about whether you need patents!

Trade Secrets

Company information that is not available to the public can be considered a trade secret if you take measures to protect it by:

• Only giving access to people within the company on a need-to-know basis. 
• Adding a trade secrets clause to freelancer and employment contracts. 
• Ask freelancers, employees, and outsiders with whom you need to share this information, such as potential investors, to sign NDAs.

Startups often treat their customer data, lead lists, standard operating procedures, etc. as trade secrets. That enables them to sue ex-employees who take this information to existing competitors or use it to launch their competing businesses.

If something can be patented or kept as a trade secret, going the patent route might make sense if it can be reverse-engineered or if you are worried that you may not be able to keep that information contained.

Otherwise, you can keep it as a trade secret, provided that you get everyone involved to sign contracts and NDAs that are legally enforceable.

Trademarks

A trademark is any symbol, name, or device used in trade to indicate the source of goods or services.

In the United States, there are three types of trademarks:

• Federal trademark
• State trademark 
• Common law trademark

The most potent federal trademark covers the entire country and its territories.

However, it’s essential to understand that its rights are contingent upon ongoing commercial use. You’ll have to demonstrate that you are using whatever you want to trademark.

Copyrights

Copyrights protect original works of authorship, such as written materials, images, photos, videos, and software.

If you own a copyright to something, you have exclusive rights to display that work publicly, reproduce it, distribute copies, and create derivative works.

Interestingly, although you get these rights upon creating the work in question, you won’t be able to sue someone for infringement in federal court unless you have registered a copyright.

That can take several months, but it costs less than $100. Consider doing it for the most critical original works you use in your business.

Watch: Intellectual Property Protection Fundamentals for Tech Startups and Entrepreneurs (Webinar)

We recommend watching the whole thing. It includes an IP attorney’s presentation and the experiences of three tech startup founders and their unique perspectives!

Why Should You Protect Your Intellectual Property?

Let’s be real:

Most entrepreneurs aren’t inventors and don’t fancy themselves as such.

So why bother protecting your intellectual property when you aren’t building anything groundbreaking?

Deterring Copycats

Many people out there choose to steal from others instead of coming up with something themselves.

If they see that your company is doing well, they might copy your products, marketing campaigns, sales materials, funnel, and web design.

For example, copycats that outright clone other people’s apps are a big problem in the indie hacker scene of bootstrapped software entrepreneurs.

Keeping trade secrets, registering copyrights, and applying for trademarks can offer some protection against this.

Sure, you won’t deter all copycats because there are so many of them, but you might get some to back off with cease-and-desist letters!

Avoiding Cofounder and Ex-Employee Drama

If you have never built a company before, you are probably underestimating the potential for drama, especially when a lot of money is involved.

Here are some of the most common scenarios:

• If you have an idea for an app, hire someone to help you build it; they steal your idea and launch their startup. 
• You and a friend have an idea for an app and start building it; they decide to quit after a few months while you continue pursuing the idea. Once your company takes off, your friend starts demanding equity.
• You fire an employee who then decides to retaliate by making your trade secrets public, taking them to a competitor or using them to launch their own startup in the same niche.

Cofounder agreements, freelancer and employment contracts with intellectual property clauses and NDAs can help you avoid situations like that.

You shouldn’t blindly trust people even if you have known them for a long time. Put everything in writing and get them to sign it before you start working together. Ensure all agreements, contracts, and NDAs are legally enforceable!

Providing Reassurance to Potential Investors

Seasoned investors have seen it all, so they tend to be wary of startups with intellectual property vulnerabilities.

Even something seemingly minor can put them off. For example, you and two friends launched a startup; one of them left early on, but you are sure that they will not cause any problems in the future.

Again, you shouldn’t blindly trust people, but let’s say that you are correct – the friend who left is an honorable person and doesn’t present any threat to your company. Well, guess what? Investors don’t know that!

Think about it from their perspective: what if this ex-cofounder shows up in five years and tries to shake you down for equity, potentially creating a PR nightmare?

Remember that investors get bombarded with business pitches every day, so they are spoiled for choice. Why would they take a risk on your company when they can put their money into startups that don’t have vulnerabilities like that?

Real Talk: Hire a Lawyer if You are Serious About Protecting Your Intellectual Property!

Here’s a quick overview of the steps that you can take to protect your intellectual property:

1. Do your homework to ensure you are not infringing on anyone else’s IP with your company name, logo, and slogan.
2. Get federal trademarks for your company name, log,o and slogan.
3. Identify your trade secrets and only share them within the company on a need-to-know basis.
4. Patent innovative technology and design if it makes sense for your business.
5. Register copyrights for the most important original works of authorship such as proprietary software, information products, marketing and sales materials, etc.
6. Add intellectual property clauses to freelancer and employment contracts.
7. Use non-disclosure agreements with freelancers, employees, potential investors, advisors, and anyone else you may need to discuss trade secrets with.

We strongly advise hiring an intellectual property attorney to help you with this. Ideally, you want to find someone who specializes in working with startups or has plenty of experience with them.

Yes, it will be expensive, but it’s a good investment. If you don’t address your intellectual property vulnerabilities now, it might cost you way more money in the future. Don’t wait until you get hit with a lawsuit or need to sue someone yourself!

Watch: How to Protect Your Intellectual Property (WSGR Startup Basics)

We recommend watching this video, where entrepreneur and investor Jason Calacanis interviews attorneys Rachel Proffitt and Todd Carpenter.

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Thanks for reading Secure Your Intellectual Property which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Keys To An Amazing Startup Culture appeared first on ClickFunnels.

When you’re new to entrepreneurship and business, building a sustainable culture representing your mission is essential to creating an environment where your team members and business can thrive.

As a new business, finding effective yet affordable solutions to your ever-growing and expanding demands will be challenging if you don’t have the right systems and framework.

Even established businesses can rethink their philosophies, systems, and culture and refresh with a startup culture mindset.

The stronger the culture you develop and foster in your organization, the better your results and your team members’ morale will be. But how do you know what to instill, and how do you create a positive and sustainable environment?

ClickFunnels understands the challenges businesses and entrepreneurs face, so this article was designed to show how a slight mindset shift and establishing a strong culture can reap benefits and achieve more significant results.

It all starts with a startup culture mindset.

What is a Startup Culture Mindset?

A startup culture mindset is one in which values, beliefs, and thoughts are shared equally, regardless of size or time in business. This creates an environment that helps shape how people work in the organization.

Often, startups are small and interpersonal; everyone knows one another and collaborates, and communication is at a premium for a project to succeed.

Startup culture is an empowering mindset compared to a more traditional corporate mindset, with objectives and other key indicators passed downward rather than shared.

The best culture provides team members with the tools and training to succeed while being flexible enough to consider changes that will improve their chances of success.

In other words, it prioritizes people in the organization and fosters mutual respect.

Why is Culture So Important?

A culture and environment built on mutual respect promote better communication between individuals and departments. Better communication leads to better collaboration, leading to greater productivity.

The structure and boundaries you establish in your business will define how your team communicates, collaborates, innovates, and works together toward a specified objective.

The right culture can set your business up for long-term success; conversely, a lack of an established culture can set a company back, creating challenges and roadblocks or even causing it to fail.

And one of the primary reasons many businesses of all sizes fail is not because they lack ideas, products, or funding.

Often, organizations fail because they lack the structure and culture that build cohesion and collaboration, which helps foster motivation and growth.

The failure to recognize the value of a good culture can be seen in higher employee turnover, or, as the saying goes, “People quit bosses, not jobs.”

When organizations lack the forethought to build a strong culture that focuses on open communication and builds trust between team members and leadership.

These organizations fail because they become rigid and unwilling (or unable) to adapt and change when needed, causing friction between departments, individual team members, and even problems with logistics for providing a product or service.

And yet, the solution is relatively simple.

A little time invested in creating the right environment that promotes ideas and communication, with the structure to support those ideas, becomes motivating and encouraging.

It’s a budget-friendly opportunity that is easily scalable for businesses of all sizes.

Let’s discuss the seven tips for building an excellent startup culture that will help your team members and business thrive without wasting money on its creation.

The top 7 tips to build an excellent startup culture that you can implement and utilize right away include:

• Define Your Core Values And Communicate Them Clearly
• Hire For Fit, Not Just Skills
• Encourage Transparency And Open Communication
• Promote Work-Life Balance
• Recognize Individuals And Reward Achievements
• Create And Foster A Collaborative Atmosphere
• Provide Growth And Development Opportunities

Are you ready to dive into ways you can improve your company’s culture to improve morale and productivity? Let’s go!

1. Define Your Core Values and Communicate Them Clearly

To build a culture that reflects your values, you first must define those values. For example, are you looking to positively impact the local community, lessen your carbon footprint, and focus on sustainability?

An example of a clearly defined core value is shared by the company Bombas.

Bombas is a clothing company that believes every person should be able to wear clean clothes regardless of ability or need.

Their “About Us” section explains that they will donate a similar item to someone in need for every clothing item sold.

Bombas defines and communicates its core values in its advertising materials and web pages. These values set Bombas apart, and the team members there share the mindset of giving back.

Like the Bombas example, your core values should be the foundation for all you do and guide your decision-making, team interactions, and customer relationships.

Some ways that you can define your core values effectively include:

• Keep it simple: While battling a social issue may be a passion project for your organization, identify one to two key concepts and principles that align with your mission statement and start-up mission.
• Be real and authentic: Be authentic and real about your core principles and how they are foundational to your business’s mission statement. People can see through inauthentic statements and past the “lip service,” so be genuine in what you stress as important.
• Communicate clearly: If you want individuals in your organization to see the value of your core principles, you need to incorporate those values into all aspects of your organization, from onboarding to team meetings and daily operations.
• Lead by example: In addition to communicating authentic values, your team leadership needs to embody these principles in every aspect of their work and communications.

How Clearly Defined Core Values Help Achieve Results

By clearly and simply defining your core values and having your leadership team lead by example, you’ll create an environment in which all members of your organization align with them.

This will ensure everyone is working toward the same shared mission and provide team members with a sense of purpose, boosting motivation and job satisfaction. When team members are invested in an organization’s mission, they become more committed to achieving overall success.

Furthermore, having a strong culture and mission helps attract like-minded people to your organization, further strengthening the culture.

When hiring, finding candidates who align with your mission statement and core principles will help with employee retention and lower turnover rates, further strengthening your organization’s foundation.

Finally, when a strong culture is in place and challenging decisions are navigated, employees and leadership can reflect on these principles to make more educated decisions that strengthen the brand identity and further the mission statement.

Establishing clearly defined principles acts as the guardrails for all involved in your organization.

It provides a more cohesive, collaborative environment, which boosts morale and increases the organization’s sense of value, enhancing motivation and productivity.

2. Hire for Fit, Not Just Skills

While having the technical skills for the position is important when evaluating potential candidates to add to your team, it’s not the only criterion to consider.

How a new team member aligns with your company culture is at least as valuable as having the skills for the position.

The reason is simple: skills can be taught and acquired, but a poor fit into a culture can create unnecessary disruptions.

Instead, focus on how a team member shares in your mission statement, vision, and core principles to be a positive contributor to a productive work environment.

• Look for adaptability: Most startups operate on a tight budget, and employees must wear multiple hats.

  When evaluating potential candidates, ask questions about situations in which an employee had to be multifaceted and take on multiple job responsibilities to achieve an outcome.

  For example, ask questions such as: What was the experience like? What was their takeaway? What would they do differently?

• Ask questions that align with company culture: When asking questions about past experiences, align them with your company’s mission.

  What is the candidate’s approach to a collaborative work environment?

  How do they handle tricky or challenging situations and personalities?

  Are they aware of the company culture and your mission, and how does that align with the type of work environment they are looking for?

• Create a unique, strong onboarding experience: Once hired, create an onboarding process that uniquely explains the company culture and shows how to embrace the environment so that there are no misunderstandings about your team’s expectations from a daily operations standpoint.

How Hiring for Fit Achieves Better Results

Finding new members to add to the team should strengthen the overall culture and operations.

Hiring new members can bolster the existing culture or create fissures that cause disruptions, so look to hire more for fit than simply based on skills and experience.

Focusing on fit rather than skill can enhance and foster a workplace where team members enjoy working.

This will increase efficiency, innovation, and long-term, sustainable growth.

The reason is simple: startups require team members to be agile and adaptive, able to pivot quickly based on market conditions and demand. 

Employees who fit the culture will be more positive about change than those who lack experience and may be hesitant or resistant to work outside their expertise. 

A culturally aligned team is more cohesive under pressure and can adjust to changing dynamics without friction or additional challenges.

Finally, employees who align with a company’s mission have increased job satisfaction and have a deeper sense of connection to the company, boosting motivation and increasing output toward projects. 

By embracing the company culture, team members are more engaged, self-motivated, and empowered. 

They also take the initiative to find new solutions to boost the overall success of the team’s projects.

3. Encourage Transparency and Open Communication

Encouraging transparency and open communication goes a long way toward building trust, respect, and accountability.

Team members should feel comfortable sharing ideas and feedback; that input holds some value.

Another key is that by building trust, you encourage your team to take ownership of their projects and workload without fear of arbitrary and random repercussions.

There are a variety of ways to build open communication and transparency including:

• Hold regular team meetings: Have general meetings to include all your work teams and follow up with smaller departmental meetings that address specific upcoming needs, projects, and timelines.
• Be honest about successes and challenges. Sharing honest overviews of your organization’s achievements and challenges can help build trust and encourage team members to solve problems collectively.
• Use collaborative work tools: Work platforms that provide real-time updates, cooperative communication, and increased workflow management help keep teams on task and on time. ClickFunnels’ inclusive platform offers collaborative work tools.

How Open Transparency Increases Results

When employees feel heard and valued, they’re more likely to contribute solutions and ideas and are more flexible in taking different approaches to tackling problems and challenges head-on.

Open communication helps prevent misunderstandings and missed deadlines that can create friction within the organization and helps reduce inefficiencies, strengthening the connection, commitment, and loyalty that startups are known for.

Being flexible and fluid is the common denominator of startups, and the ability to make strategic decisions effectively can be the difference between success and failure.

When team members feel empowered to provide input and feedback, leadership gains valuable insights and perspectives that further strengthen decision-making.

Adding transparency reinforces cultural elements and core values while providing accountability in projects.

The increased transparency also fosters a sense of ownership in the team’s workflows and projects, which drives engagement and productivity.

4. Promote Work-Life Balance

One of the main differences between corporations and startups is the emphasis on working hard but balanced with time to enjoy life.

While startups can face high demands, they are often agile and flexible enough to recognize the value of balancing work and life.

Overworking your team or seeing their contributions as limited to only their production doesn’t improve productivity or morale; it leads to burnout and dissatisfaction, increasing employee turnover.

In other words, a healthy work-life balance as part of your company culture improves morale, makes employees feel valued and that their time is respected, and fosters a happier, more productive workplace.

Some ways to promote better work-life balance to improve morale include:

• Offering Flexible Work Arrangements: When emphasizing a culture that focuses on your team’s morale, offering flexible work arrangements that promote work-life balance is a good way to go. Flex schedules, remote work options, and a results-oriented work environment.

  A results-oriented work environment, known by the ROWE acronym, allows team members to be autonomous in when and how much they work, as long as results are the byproduct.

• Respecting “Off” Time as Personal Time: Respecting time off, for example, may include offering a flexible schedule, including paid time off, and encouraging your team members to take breaks and unplug during non-working hours.

  This will keep energy levels high, motivation high, and engagement at a maximum.

• Lead By Example: When an organization’s leaders prioritize work-life balance, they encourage employees to feel more secure and confident in adopting the same mindset.

How Work-Life Balance Achieves Better Results

Employees feel valued in a culture emphasizing work-life balance and morale and engagement improve.

Better engaged and happier team members perform better, have increased job satisfaction, and have higher levels of team-driven creative problem-solving, ultimately delivering a higher quality of their work.

5. Recognize Individuals and Reward Achievements

Focusing on making your team members feel valued and important is key to motivating individuals and maintaining esprit de corps (team morale) over the long term.

One small thing you can do that can go a long way is to recognize and reward individuals and teams for achievements, from projects being completed early, under budget, or even recognizing people who mirror the company’s mission.

Showing team members’ efforts and attitudes appreciation helps reinforce important core values while maintaining motivation.

• Celebrate Milestones: From anniversaries to birthdays, have unique celebratory plans in place to recognize and draw some positive attention toward the individual members of your team.
• Identify Wins: Get a new contract? Does a project come in early and under budget? Have a new innovative idea to save time on processes? Identifying even the smallest of wins publicly can help boost morale, show value, and increase motivation.
• Offer Meaningful Incentives: Incentivize your team in meaningful ways. It doesn’t always need to be monetary. For example, you can offer extra time off, professional growth opportunities, or even public recognition.
• Encourage Peer Recognition: Create a system that encourages your team members to acknowledge hard work, small victories, and milestones.

For example, you could have a team chat function or messaging app that fosters community and camaraderie.

How Recognition Helps Motivation to Achieve More

Public recognition and meaningful incentives are great tools for boosting morale and encouraging performance.

When team members feel valued, they are more motivated and engaged, which are foundations for improving productivity.

What’s more, by creating a culture that salutes individual and team achievements, you’re creating an environment that fosters loyalty to the company and improves employee retention over the long term.

6. Create and Foster a Collaborative Atmosphere

Smaller teams typically associated with startups thrive in a culture of cohesion, collaboration, and teamwork.

Establishing systems and a culture that encourages team members to share ideas, provide real-time feedback, and have a team-first attitude can be the difference between success and Fostering a culture of collaboration and a team-first atmosphere, consider some of the following:

• Emphasize Inclusivity: A diverse team that can communicate, collaborate, and track progress through various projects allows for deeper insights into a project’s development.

  Including people from diverse backgrounds and experiences in your team will provide your startup culture with an influx of new ideas, voices, and perspectives.

• Create a Safe Space to Share: In the culture you’re trying to create and foster, team members should feel they have a voice and ownership in the projects and their work.

  Establish an environment that welcomes new ideas and feedback without criticism or judgment to encourage your team members to speak up about what is working and what needs to be changed.

• Encourage Teamwork Across Each Department: Collaborating across departments can provide each department with fresh ideas and perspectives and create an environment that encourages innovative problem-solving solutions.

How Does a Collaborative Approach Help Achieve Results?

When team members feel they have a voice in their work, they take ownership. That empowerment and a collaborative environment lead to greater creativity, unique problem-solving, and fresh innovation.

Teams that can collaborate and receive real-time feedback and analytics on progress can execute ideas rapidly and make necessary adjustments more flexibly, which increases productivity.

7. Provide Growth and Development Opportunities

Tip number 7 builds on your investment in the individual members of your team and includes providing various opportunities for growth and development.

Establishing an employee-centric culture to be more than just one meaning. This means offering opportunities to improve and grow as individuals and professionally.

Providing time to provide both professional and personal growth shows that you value the people in your organization more than just what they offer to contribute to operations.

Some ways to provide adequate opportunities that strengthen the culture in your organization include:

• Offering Mentorship And Coaching: Providing a mentorship program where senior, more experienced team members can work with and train your less experienced members will strengthen the culture and reinforce the idea of collaboration.
• Support Life-Long Learning Programs: Access to workshops, industry events, courses, and other training opportunities that you tie into promotional opportunities is a great way to foster a continuous education learning environment.

  Encouraging team members to incorporate these enrichment opportunities into your operations can boost innovation and creativity.

• Provide Self-Enrichment Opportunities With Other Brands: Provide individuals within your teams with personal growth and enrichment opportunities in addition to professional enrichment.

  Look for collaborative discounts with gyms to offer personal fitness discounts or similar opportunities.

• Promote From Within: It is crucial to reinforce the team-oriented atmosphere by providing a clear path for team members to know what it takes to advance within your organization.

  Promoting from within is a good strategy that creates a sense of reciprocal loyalty.

How Growth Opportunities Helps Achieve Better Results

When a clear path for growth and advancement is laid out, and employees see that their work is valued, it’s easier to keep them engaged and motivated.

As new skills are learned and absorbed, your teams will improve efficiency and performance, creating long-term success for team members and the business.

Conclusion

Building a strong company culture isn’t about offering the highest pay or the best perks. It’s about creating an environment where team members feel inspired, valued, engaged, and motivated.

By incorporating these seven tips, you can make a high-performing culture in which individual members are driven to give their best efforts.

Adopting some of a startup’s tenets-flexibility, wearing multiple hats, performing in various roles, and being agile enough to pivot quickly-can help your organization build the culture needed for long-term success.

When empowered and aligned with the company’s core values, they become powerfully motivated assets for growth and productivity. Implementing a clearly defined core value system in every phase of your organization makes your business more resilient and innovative.

But culture alone isn’t enough.

It needs tools to support and reinforce it, which is why ClickFunnels was created: to support, automate, and optimize operations and tasks to achieve the best results.

If you’re serious about building a flexible, agile business with long-term growth potential, ClickFunnels can be your secret weapon.

With high-converting templates and sales funnels, state-of-the-art analytics tools, and more, ClickFunnels allows you to grow your business and build a sustainable culture.

Ready to get started? Try ClickFunnels for FREE for 14 days and experience how you can quickly grow your business and develop a long-term culture for success.

Start Your ClickFunnels 14-Day Free Trial Now!

Thanks for reading Keys To An Amazing Startup Culture which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post New Ideas For Your Next Sales Funnel appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Wondering how to improve your sales funnels?

Today, we will share the five best places to get inspiration for a successful sales funnel!

#1: Russell Brunson’s “DotCom Secrets”

Our co-founders, Russell Brunson and Todd Dickerson, launched ClickFunnels back in 2013.

They were both seasoned entrepreneurs with over a decade of experience selling products and services online via sales funnels.

In fact, through years of trial and error, Russell had developed a sales funnel of his own called the Value Ladder.

That is the sales funnel he used to take this company from zero to $10M in annual revenue in just one year, eventually growing it to 100,000+ active users and 100M+ in annual revenue.

Since then, Russell has taught countless entrepreneurs how to grow their businesses with sales funnels through his webinars, books, and online courses.

At least 2,331 ClickFunnels users have generated over $1,000,000 in revenue via sales funnels built with our software. And these are just our Two Comma Club award winners!

Today, Russell is recognized as one of the top sales funnel experts in the world. Want to learn from him?

The best place to start is his bestselling book “DotCom Secrets”. It covers everything you need to know in order to build sales funnels that convert, including:

• The Value Ladder sales funnel.
• The seven phases of a sales funnel.
• Upsells, cross sells, and downsells.
• Ten different funnel variations, including squeeze page funnels, book funnels, cart funnels, webinar funnels, product launch funnels, and more.
• We use the “Hook, Story, Offer” copywriting framework in the vast majority of our copy, from social media posts to marketing emails to landing and sales pages.
• Eight proven funnel scripts that you can implement in your funnels.
• A breakdown of the fundamental marketing math, such as customer acquisition cost, average order value, and more.
• Advice on how to learn from your competitors through funnel hacking.
• Practical tips on how to build your funnels and optimize them for conversions.

To our knowledge, “DotCom Secrets” is the most comprehensive book on sales funnels. 

It has sold over 300,000 copies worldwide and has a 4.7-star rating on Amazon and a 4.2-star rating on Goodreads.

What’s best is that you can get a copy directly from us for FREE. All we ask is that you pay for shipping!

So what are you waiting for?

Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!

#2: Russell Brunson’s “The Funnel Hacker’s Cookbook”

Russell also wrote “The Funnel Hacker’s Cookbook”. It’s a much lighter read that only has three chapters.

In the first chapter, he goes over the key page elements. Think of them as “ingredients” that you can use to design high-converting pages for your funnels.

In the second chapter, he provides “recipes” for different types of pages that you may need to create for your funnels.

In the third and final chapter, he shares “recipes” for his 22 favorite funnels:

• Squeeze page funnel
• Reverse squeeze page funnel
• Lead magnet funnel
• Bridge funnel
• Survey funnel
• Application funnel
• Ask campaign funnel
• 2-step tripwire funnel
• Sales letter funnel
• Video sales letter funnel
• Membership funnel
• Daily deal funnel
• Invisible funnel
• Webinar funnel
• Autowebinar funnel
• Product launch funnel
• Hero funnel
• Homepage funnel
• Cancellation funnel
• Storefront funnel
• Summit funnel
• Live demo funnel

“The Funnel Hacker’s Cookbook” is a free downloadable companion to “DotCom Secrets” that you can print out and keep on your desk for reference. Also, if you want to order a physical copy, you can get it for free if you cover the shipping!

Download “The Funnel Hacker’s Cookbook” for FREE!

#3: ClickFunnels’ Sales Funnels

We also recommend exploring some of our other funnels if you want to see how we implement the concepts that Russell teaches in practice. You can use our lead magnets as starting points for this.

Russell has written two more best-selling books: “Traffic Secrets” and “Expert Secrets,” which you can get for free if you cover the shipping. Needless to say, we highly recommend them!

We also have our free “30 Day Summit” interview series where he presents the Two Comma Club award winners with this question: what would you do if you lost everything except for your ClickFunnels account and Internet access and only had 30 days to make the money you need to save yourself?

It’s worth noting that Russell didn’t just ask this question in the abstract; he pressed them for specific details, like what they would do on day one, day two, and so on. These are proven entrepreneurs who have already made at least $1,000,000 from their sales funnels, so you can learn a lot from these interviews.

Then, there’s our free “5 Day Lead Challenge,” where Russell takes you through building your first lead generation funnel step-by-step over five days.

Finally, ClickFunnels software comes with a free 14-day trial to check it out without any risk.

All these free offers serve as entry points to our Value Ladder. Taking advantage of them can provide insight into how we structure our funnels, upsell and cross sell, and use email marketing. See if you can implement the same tactics in your sales funnels!

#4: “Make Money Online” Sales Funnels 

The “make money online” niche has a terrible reputation, perhaps deservedly so, considering how many scammers are out there.

However, there’s no denying that the entrepreneurs in this niche are always ahead of the curve when it comes to building sales funnels. That’s why we recommend studying their methods regardless of your industry!

Make a list of YouTubers in the entrepreneurship niche with at least 100k subscribers and systematically explore their funnels. See what they use as their lead magnets, how they present those free offers, and how they pitch their paid products and services. You don’t have to buy anything, just observe how they do things.

Also, if you feel like you need to purchase someone’s online course because it will change your life, don’t do it because you can probably get the same information for free elsewhere. However, try to reverse-engineer what made you feel that way because it’s a sign that their funnel is effective.

You can learn a ton from the people in this space if you have an open mind. A lot of these tactics can be implemented in other industries with great success!

#5: Your Competitors’ Sales Funnels!

Funnel hacking is the process of systematically exploring your competitors’ sales funnels.

The reasoning behind it is simple: why waste time trying to reinvent the wheel when you can look at what’s already working, learn from it, and then implement those lessons in your business?

Figure out who the main players in your niche are and investigate their sales funnels.

Just be organized about this. Create a separate folder for each competitor and a subfolder for each sales funnel if they have more than one. Then, as you go through their sales funnels, make sure to document everything:

• Record the entire process with screen recording software. 
• Download their lead magnets so that you can easily access them later.
• Save all their marketing emails in one text document. Create a table of contents and add each new email to navigate this document later easily. 
• Screenshot their landing pages, sales pages, upsell, cross sell, down-sell pages, and all the other pages in their funnels. You can use a Google Chrome plugin like ZohoAnnotator or GoFullPage for this. 
• Take notes as you are going through their funnel. You can jot them down with pen and paper and then type them into a text document later.

If they offer a free consultation, a strategy call, or a product demo, book it and ask them if it would be okay to record it.

Also, if their funnel includes a free webinar, record the entire thing and then use transcription software to transcribe that recording so that you can read their webinar script.

Ideally, you want to go through their entire sales funnel if that’s financially feasible, but if it isn’t, go as far as you can afford. That will enable you to see how they process orders, the quality of their products and services, how their customer support handles inquiries, and more.

Once you finish their funnel, start going through all the information you collected. Analyze their offers, copy, and funnel structure. Why are they doing what they’re doing?

Never straight-up copy your competitors’ funnels because it’s a bad look. Instead, take time to understand their approach, learn everything you can from it, and then use that knowledge to build a better funnel!

Start Your ClickFunnels 14-Day Free Trial Now!

Thanks for reading New Ideas For Your Next Sales Funnel which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Grow Your Email List from Scratch appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Starting from zero subscribers can feel daunting. Many business owners wonder where even to begin. The good news? Building an email list doesn’t require complex strategies or huge marketing budgets. Simple, proven techniques can help you attract your first 100, 1,000, or even 10,000 subscribers.

In this guide, I’ll share 5 practical methods that have helped countless new businesses build engaged email lists from scratch. These strategies work across industries and can be implemented immediately, even with limited resources or technical knowledge.

1. Create a Lead Magnet

Creating valuable free content — often called a “lead magnet” – is one of the most effective ways to build an email list. People are naturally hesitant to share their email addresses, but the promise of receiving something valuable in return increases their willingness to do so.

How to Create a Lead Magnet

To build a lead magnet that’ll attract the right audience to your list, start with identifying your audience’s pressing challenge. Then, create a focused resource addressing that need. A strong lead magnet solves one specific problem well rather than trying to address multiple issues superficially. It promises a clear outcome and delivers on that promise quickly.

Marie Forleo shows an excellent example with her “Yearly Goals Map” — a simple tool promising to help people clarify their goals in 10 minutes. 

The offer is:

• Specific
• Time-bound
• Addresses a universal desire for clarity and achievement

Here are some ideas for effective lead magnets for different types of businesses:

Business Type	Effective Lead Magnet Ideas	Why It Works
Fitness Coach	“7-Day Meal Prep Guide” or “Quick Home Workout Template”	Beginners want structured, actionable plans they can start immediately
Social Media Manager	“Instagram Caption Templates” or “Content Calendar Template”	Small businesses need ready-to-use formats to save time
Wedding Photographer	“Wedding Timeline Planner” or “Photography Location Guide”	Engaged couples value organizational tools during planning
Financial Advisor	“Retirement Savings Calculator” or “Budget Spreadsheet Template”	People want personalized insights about their financial situation
Life Coach	“Goal Setting Workbook” (like Marie Forleo’s example) or “Morning Routine Guide”	Helps people take first steps toward personal development
Web Designer	“Website Launch Checklist” or “Brand Color Picker Tool”	New businesses need guidance on technical decisions
Food Blogger	“5 Ingredient Dinner Recipe Book” or “Meal Planning Template”	Home cooks want simple, practical cooking solutions
Digital Marketer	“Ad Copy Swipe File” or “ROI Calculator”	Businesses want proven templates and data-driven tools
Real Estate Agent	“First-Time Homebuyer’s Guide” or “Home Valuation Tool”	Buyers/sellers need education and market insights
Course Creator	“Course Outline Template” or “Pricing Calculator”	New course creators want frameworks to structure their content
Health Coach	“Sugar-Free Snack Guide” or “Sleep Improvement Tracker”	People seek specific, actionable health solutions

Drive Traffic to Your Lead Magnet

Creating a valuable lead magnet is just the first step – you need to get it in front of the right people to start building your email list. The fastest way to generate traffic is through paid advertising on platforms where your audience is. For example, Marie Forleo’s example runs paid ads on Facebook, directing people to her lead magnet.

Another way to promote your lead magnet is through your Instagram profile.

See how Marie Forleo consistently shares her free resources through her bio link. This is a great way to turn her 910K followers into potential email subscribers.

Her bio leads to a page with clear options like the “Yearly Goals Tool” and “How To Get Anything You Want” guide – each designed to capture email addresses. This organic promotion through an existing social media following is a free, effective way to drive traffic to your lead magnets and grow your email list.

How to Create Your Lead Magnet Funnel

Setting up the process of delivering lead magnets to subscribers can feel overwhelming at first. There are quite a few moving parts to manage. You need to collect emails, send the right content to the right people, and make sure all subscribers are added to your list. 

This is where ClickFunnels simplifies everything. 

Instead of juggling multiple tools, you can manage your entire lead magnet delivery process in one place. Create your forms, set up automated welcome emails, and deliver your lead magnet — all without switching between different platforms.

The platform’s drag-and-drop email builder lets you create professional-looking welcome emails in minutes.

Its advanced segmentation ensures your lead magnet reaches the right audience at the right time. 

Here’s a detailed video explaining how to create a lead magnet funnel using ClickFunnels

Build Your Lead Magnet Funnels With ClickFunnels. Try for Free!

2. Create a Referral Program

The best way to attract new subscribers who align with your newsletter’s audience is to nudge your existing subscribers to refer others. Your current readers already know and value your content — and they likely have friends, colleagues, and connections who share similar interests and would benefit from your newsletter, too.

Although people often share content they love without prompting, you can amplify this natural behavior by incentivizing them with a structured referral program. When subscribers know they’ll get something valuable in return for sharing, they’re more motivated to take action and spread the word.

For example, the Tonic has a tiered reward system where subscribers earn different rewards based on how many friends they bring in:

Ensure you promote your referral program so that most email subscribers know about it.

Send a Dedicated Launch Email

Send a focused email introducing your referral program, like Meat & Hair’s welcoming message that clearly explains the rewards. Their email works well because it’s enthusiastic (“What’s up!”), shows exciting prizes (from Kindles to MacBooks), and provides simple instructions for sharing.

Add an Eye-Catching Footer

Place a consistent referral prompt at the bottom of every newsletter issue. This regular reminder catches subscribers when they’re most impressed with your content. Here’s an example:

Share Across Social Media

Promote your referral program on social platforms like Wake-Up Call does on Instagram. Their post showcases the physical rewards (notebook, tumbler, tote bag) with clean visuals on a bright background, making them feel tangible and desirable.

The more visible the program is, the more likely subscribers are to participate.

3. Add Subscription Forms to Your Content

People who are already consuming your content are your warmest audience. They’ve found you and read you; if they like what they see, they’ll want more. That’s why you should have a subscription form ready for them on your website where they’re already engaged.

Your form needs four things:

• Grab-your-attention headline
• A clear promise of what subscribers get
• Minimal form fields (email address and maybe a name)
• A signup button that says exactly what happens next (“Subscribe,” “Try it,” or “Join Now.”)

Start by determining your value proposition — what specific benefit will subscribers receive? Place this message prominently above your form. Here’s an example from Tim Ferris’ newsletter subscription form —

To make your subscription form even more effective, you can add:

• A picture of yourself (if you’re writing the newsletter) or your brand/topic in action (if it’s a business or topic-focused newsletter)
• Impressive numbers to build trust – Tim Ferriss shows “1.5M+ readers” while Rich Life boasts “800k+ readers (shown below)

You don’t need millions of subscribers to use this strategy. Even smaller numbers can work great when presented confidently: “Join 1,000+ marketers who read this weekly” or “Trusted by 500+ small business owners.”

Add a few testimonial snippets or profile pictures of actual subscribers (as in the example below),  and you’ve got a powerful way to attract subscribers.

Setting up subscription forms and managing new subscribers might seem complicated at first. There’s form creation, email automation, subscriber management, and analytics. 

ClickFunnels 2.0 brings all these elements together in one streamlined system. You can create professional-looking forms, set up automated welcome sequences, and track your results — all from the same dashboard.

The best part is that you don’t have to start from scratch. We’ve created templates for common scenarios — like email newsletter — and you simply have to edit these pages to create your landing page with a subscription form. 

The platform takes care of the technical complexities, making it easier to grow your email list without getting caught up in the logistics.

Build & Manage Your Email List Funnels With ClickFunnels. Try for Free!

4. Distribute Your Content

People who are interested in your content are scattered across different platforms. The key to building your email list is reaching them where they already spend time. But your first move shouldn’t be dropping your newsletter link when you find where your potential readers hang out — whether it’s Reddit, Twitter, or industry forums. Instead, share your knowledge right there in the best format for that platform.

Start by mapping out where your target audience spends time online. These include professional networks like LinkedIn, community platforms like Reddit, or specialized forums in your industry. For each platform, study what type of content performs well. Some spaces welcome long-form content, while others prefer quick, visual insights.

Create platform-specific versions of your content. This might mean:

• Turning a blog post into a detailed Twitter thread
• Creating visual summaries for Facebook groups
• Writing native LinkedIn articles that share key insights
• Participating meaningfully in Reddit discussions

For example, Harry Dry writes a Twitter thread based on his article and then nudges people to be on his email list at the end.

After writing a blog, Email Mastery creates visuals to share on Facebook & Reddit. Here’s an example of a visual created for Headspace email marketing flow —

After providing real value, add a gentle invitation: “If you found this helpful, I will share more insights like this in my newsletter.” No pressure, no tricks — just an open door for those who want to walk through it.

If any forum restricts adding links, adding value and subtly mentioning your brand or website is fine. 

When your content is genuinely helpful, people get curious about the source. They’ll Google your name, find your website, and discover your newsletter. It’s like they’re choosing to see you rather than you pushing yourself on them.

5. Offer Digital Receipts at Your Retail Stores

Digital receipts mean emailing customers their purchase records instead of giving them a paper copy.

They serve as a natural bridge between in-store shopping and email marketing. When customers make a purchase, store staff simply ask if they’d prefer their receipt via email. This request feels helpful rather than promotional, making customers more likely to share their contact information.

A Reddit user shared their shopping experience at Ralph Lauren stores. The brand offers customers a 5% discount on their purchase when they also agree to be added to the email list. These customers receive ongoing benefits through exclusive voucher codes sent to their inboxes.

Keep a simple notepad or clipboard next to your cash register. When customers check out, ask if they’d like their receipt emailed for easier record-keeping. Write down their email address alongside their purchase amount.

Always ask customers if they want to receive marketing emails and their digital receipts. A simple checkbox or verbal confirmation works: “Would you like to receive updates about new products and special offers along with your receipt?”

You can also automate this process using a POS (Point-of-Sale) system such as Square or Shopify. You can get a free card reader that plugs into your phone. When customers pay, Square asks if they want their receipt texted or emailed. This happens automatically — you don’t need to set anything up.

Small businesses can offer simple perks like:

• “Save 5% today when you choose an email receipt”
• “Get a free [small item] on your next visit”
• “Join our digital receipt program for birthday month discounts”

After collecting their emails, don’t just let them sit on your list. Connect with your audience through a welcome email, emails sharing helpful information, or in-store promotions. The goal is to turn a one-time shopper into a regular customer by showing them the value of being on your email list.

What NOT to do When Building Your Email List

1. Do NOT Rely on a Single Channel

Too many businesses put all their eggs in one basket – like only using pop-ups or collecting emails through their blog.

Your potential subscribers hang out in different places. Some read your blog, others follow you on social media, and many browse your website. If you only show up in one spot, you’re invisible to everyone else.

Create multiple streams for collecting emails. 

For example, Ramit offers his “Ultimate Guide to Personal Finance” as a high-value lead magnet on blog posts about money management. This targeted approach works because readers who are already interested in the topic get immediate value through a comprehensive resource.

On Instagram, he leads with impressive social proof (“300,000+ subscribers”) and a clear value proposition (“new lessons and real-life examples on money, business, careers, and psychology”).

His “Rich Life” newsletter sign-up form appears prominently on his website’s homepage, using professional imagery and clear messaging that aligns with his brand promise of delivering actionable advice.

Cast a wider net, but keep it authentic and valuable everywhere you show up. By diversifying how you collect emails, you create more opportunities for people to join your list, leading to faster, more sustainable growth.

2. Do NOT Buy an Email List

When starting an email marketing strategy, purchasing a ready-made list of subscribers is a logical shortcut. The promise of instant access to thousands of “targeted” email addresses is particularly appealing when organic growth feels slow, and competitors seem miles ahead.

Buying email lists is one of the most counterproductive decisions a business can make.

These lists often contain outdated addresses, spam traps, and uninterested recipients who have never engaged with your brand. The consequences are significant:

• Modern privacy regulations like GDPR and the CAN-SPAM Act require explicit consent from recipients. Sending unsolicited emails to purchased lists can result in substantial fines and legal complications.
• Email service providers can detect purchased lists through high bounce rates and spam complaints, potentially blocking your domain or blacklisting your IP address. This damages your sender’s reputation, affecting deliverability even to legitimate subscribers.

Most importantly…

• Purchased lists undermine the fundamental purpose of email marketing: building meaningful relationships with interested customers. Subscribers who actively choose to join your list are more likely to engage with your content, convert into customers, and become brand advocates.

Instead, focus on building your list authentically. Yes, it’s slower. Yes, it’s harder. But every single person who signs up wants to hear from you. They’re genuinely interested in what you offer. That’s how you build a list that converts, not just a number that looks good on paper.

3. Do NOT Create Generic, Unfocused Lead Magnets

One of the new businesses’ most significant mistakes is creating lead magnets that try to be everything to everyone. They make broad, generic resources like “Complete Guide to Digital Marketing” or “101 Business Tips,” thinking more information equals more value.

This approach fails for two key reasons:

First, when you try to solve every problem, you solve none effectively. A 50-page guide covering everything about digital marketing is less valuable than a focused 5-page guide on “How to Write Instagram Captions That Drive 2x More Comments.” Specific solutions to problems attract qualified subscribers who are more likely to engage with your future content.

Second, many businesses focus their lead magnets on promoting themselves rather than providing immediate value. Instead of creating a “Why Choose Our Agency” PDF, offer something your audience can use right now – like “7 Ready-to-Use Email Templates for Following Up with Cold Leads.”

People don’t want comprehensive guides when they first discover you – they want solutions they can implement today.

Let us show you some examples of converting generic lead magnets into effective ones:

Generic Lead Magnet	Effective Lead Magnet
“Ultimate Social Media Marketing Guide”	“5 Instagram Story Templates That Got Our E-commerce Clients 3x More DM Sales (With Real Examples)”
“Small Business Success Tips”	“7-Day Cash Flow Tracking Template: How to Never Run Out of Money in Your First Year.”
“Complete Guide to Email Marketing”	“30 Proven Subject Lines That Get 50%+ Open Rates in the Fitness Industry”
“Digital Marketing Secrets”	“The Exact Facebook Ad Template That Generated $27,354 in Sales for Our Local Gym (Campaign Screenshots Included)”
“How to Grow Your Business”	“15-Minute Morning Checklist: How Solo Consultants Can Book 3 Calls Per Day on LinkedIn”
“Content Creation Guide”	“Canva Template Pack: 30 Days of Professional Looking Blog Headers for Busy Real Estate Agents”

Start Building Your Email List Today

Every successful business you admire started with zero subscribers. The difference between those who build valuable email lists and those who don’t isn’t knowledge — it’s action. You now have the strategies to avoid common pitfalls, but knowledge without implementation won’t grow your list.

You have to take the first step to build your email list, whether setting up a lead magnet or creating an optimized signup form.

But here’s where most businesses get stuck – the technical setup. Creating landing pages, setting up lead magnets, and managing email automation can feel overwhelming when you’re just starting out.

This is exactly why we recommend ClickFunnels to new businesses that are building their email lists. Instead of juggling multiple tools and platforms, ClickFunnels gives you everything you need in one place:

• Professional landing pages that convert visitors into subscribers
• Built-in email marketing tools to nurture your list
• Drag-and-drop editors that require zero technical skills
• Proven templates tested across millions of visitors

Try ClickFunnels (Free 14-Day Trial) to Build Your Email List

Thanks for reading Grow Your Email List from Scratch which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post How Teachers Can Earn Online appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Are you a teacher looking for ways to make extra money online?

Today, we will go over digital marketing fundamentals, share three side hustle ideas and explain how to build an online education business!

Quick Overview of Digital Marketing Fundamentals

Here’s what you’ll need to build an online business:

1. A clearly defined niche
2. An appealing lead magnet
3. An irresistible offer
4. An upsell or a cross sell
5. A well-designed sales funnel
6. A marketing channel
7. As much social proof as possible

Clearly Defined Niche

Don’t try to appeal to everyone. Go after a clearly defined niche instead. Who are your dream customers?

If you don’t know what niche to choose, ask yourself: who would benefit the most from your expertise?

Ideally, you want to target people who need to master the subject you specialize in to pass an exam that will affect their future.

That means either high school students preparing for SATs or college students who must pass exams to graduate.

While there is a market of adult hobbyists who woke up one day and decided to learn math, a second language, or whatever else, we recommend staying away from this demographic. Why?

Because casual learners who want to study something for fun won’t be as motivated to pay for your products and services, after all, there are no real stakes involved!

Appealing Lead Magnet

A lead magnet is a free product or service you offer potential customers in exchange for their email addresses. 

Design your lead magnet to provide a quick win – potential customers should learn something concrete from it. You want them to feel a sense of accomplishment!

If you are interested in learning more about creating effective lead magnets, we recommend watching this video by our friend Alex Hormozi:

Irresistible Offer

You can sell online tutoring services, eBooks, and online courses as a teacher.

However, merely having something to sell is not enough; you must also package that product or service into an offer.

Here’s our irresistible offer formula:

High Value + Low Price – Financial Risk = Irresistible Offer

Experiment with these three variables until you find a sweet spot where you have an offer that:

1. It is appealing to your dream customers
2. Has a healthy profit margin

Also, consider watching the video below, where our co-founder Russell Brunson explains the concept of an offer. He uses an e-commerce example that can help you understand the difference between a product and an offer, which first-time entrepreneurs often struggle with!

Upsell/Cross Sell

An upsell is an offer you pitch to the potential customer once they accept your main offer. It’s supposed to be upgraded.

Meanwhile, a cross sell is also an offer that you pitch to the potential customer once they have accepted your main offer, but instead of being an upgrade, it’s supposed to be complementary to it.

A good upsell or a cross sell can help you cover customer acquisition costs, increase your revenue, and improve your profit margins!

Value Ladder Sales Funnel

A sales funnel is a system designed to convert visitors into leads, leads into customers, and customers into repeat customers.

We recommend using the Value Ladder sales funnel that was created by our co-founder Russell Brunson:

Bait is your lead magnet, while the frontend, middle, and backend offers are your main offers to which you can add upsells and cross sells.

Each offer is represented by a web page: a landing page for your lead magnet and sales pages for your Frontend, Middle, and Backend offers.

Once you have your sales funnel, you can use various marketing strategies to drive traffic to your lead magnet landing page.

Then, use email marketing to guide your dream customers through your entire sales funnel by pitching them your Frontend offer first, then your Middle offer, and finally your Backend offer.

We recommend reading our co-founder Russell Brunson’s “DotCom Secrets” book to learn more about sales funnels!

Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!

Marketing Channel

Online marketing is about driving traffic to your sales funnel. Popular marketing channels include:

• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• Video marketing
• Paid advertising
• Search engine optimization (SEO)

All of these marketing channels can be effective if you work to master them. They all have pros and cons, so you want to think carefully about which channel to focus on.

Generally speaking, social media marketing is probably the best place to start because it’s free!

Social Proof

“Social proof” means customer testimonials and case studies.

If you don’t have any social proof yet, you can acquire it by tutoring students for free in exchange for testimonials.

We recommend starting there because having a few glowing testimonials will make it much easier for you to make sales!

One Product, One Channel, One Avatar!

First-time entrepreneurs often make the mistake of trying to do too many things simultaneously, preventing them from getting good at anything. It’s extremely difficult to build a sustainable business when your attention is diluted like that. 

That’s why we recommend following Alex Hormozi’s advice and focusing on:

1. One product or service
2. One marketing channel
3. One customer avatar

This disciplined approach will enable you to improve your product or service, master your chosen marketing channel, and optimize your sales messaging so that it resonates with your dream customers.

Your goal should be to get to the point where your business is stable, your revenue is consistently growing month-over-month, and you can pocket a decent amount of money after everything has been accounted for.

Once you get there, you can start thinking about scaling your business!

Side Hustle Ideas for Teachers – Make Extra Money Online!

Side Hustle Idea #1: Online Tutoring

Online tutoring is probably the best side hustle idea because it’s a service business providing immediate cash flow.

We recommend this lead generation funnel:

1. A lead magnet landing page where you offer a free one-on-one consultation via Zoom.
2. An appointment booking page where potential customers can see your availability and schedule that consultation.
3. A thank you page where you thank potential customers for booking a consultation and tell them what they should expect next.

You can quickly build a funnel like this with our software and then use our CRM functionality to keep track of all leads, appointments, follow-ups, etc.

This free consultation is your opportunity to learn about the needs of that potential customer. At the end of it, if they seem like a good match, offer them a free tutoring session.

Then, if that free tutoring session goes well, pitch them a package that includes a month’s worth of tutoring: four sessions at a frequency of one session per week. This is going to be your front-end offer.

Next, if the student wants to book four more after four paid tutoring sessions, you can upsell a month’s worth of tutoring package that includes two sessions per week instead of one, so eight sessions in total. This is going to be your Middle offer.

Finally, if the student wants to book eight more after those eight tutoring sessions, you can upsell a three-months worth of tutoring package with two sessions per week, eight sessions per month, and 24 sessions in total. This is going to be your Backend offer. 

Also, you can create a special package for the beginning of the school year that covers nine months of tutoring at two sessions per week, eight sessions per month, and 72 sessions in total.

Use email marketing to promote this special offer to your existing students in August. After all, late summer is the academic “new year, new me” time, with everyone having high hopes for the upcoming school year. That provides a perfect opportunity to pitch an online tutoring package that represents serious commitment!

Side Hustle Idea #2: Selling eBooks

You can also write and self-publish books on the subject that you specialize in.

For example, Ivan Savov, who has more than 17 years of teaching experience as a private tutor, has self-published “No Bullshit Guide to Math and Physics” and “No Bullshit Guide to Linear Algebra.”

These books did well despite targeting the adult hobbyist demographic that we told you to avoid!

You can self-publish your books independently on your website or use Kindle Direct Publishing to self-publish them on Amazon.

Going with the former approach will enable you to make more money. When you sell your books independently, your book prices aren’t as anchored to those of other books in the same category. Plus, the profit margins are higher.

You can use a free chapter as a lead magnet but only if it is self-contained, meaning it will teach potential customers something concrete even if they don’t have access to the rest of the book.

Alternatively, you can create a free downloadable study plan for students who want to master the subject that your book addresses.

We recommend using this sales funnel:

1. A lead magnet landing page where you offer potential customers a free chapter of your book or a downloadable study plan in exchange for their email addresses.
2. A thank you page where you thank potential customers, explain how to download your lead magnet, and let them know what they should expect next.
3. A sales page for your book where you explain what it’s about, present social proof and encourage potential customers to buy it. Email marketing drives traffic from your email list to this sales page.
4. A cross sell page where you introduce your tutoring services and pitch a free consultation.

You can easily build a sales funnel like that with our software!

Side Hustle Idea #3: Selling Online Courses

Finally, you can also sell online courses independently on your website or on educational platforms like Udemy.

Making money on Udemy is tough: not only does the company take a significant cut from each sale, it has also taught its customer base to wait for discounts and buy courses for $9.99–$19.99. You probably won’t be able to sell your course for more than that.

Additionally, the platform has a winner-takes-all dynamic where only 1% of instructors earn a full-time income (more than $50,000/year).

Finally, given that new instructors join Udemy every year, the platform will likely become even more competitive. That’s why it makes more sense to sell your courses independently instead!

You can use a free masterclass or a mini-course as your lead magnet. Say, if your online course covers the entire high school math curriculum, you can pick the most in-demand subject, create a mini-course on it, and give it away for free.

We recommend using this sales funnel:

1. A lead magnet landing page where you offer potential customers your free masterclass or your free mini-course in exchange for their email addresses.
2. A thank you page where you thank potential customers, explain how to access your lead magnet, and let them know what they should expect next.
3. A sales page for your online course where you explain what it’s about, present social proof, and encourage potential customers to buy it. Email marketing drives traffic from your email list to this sales page.
4. A cross sell or an upsell page. You can either cross sell online tutoring and encourage potential customers to book a free consultation or upsell an info product bundle that includes your online course plus various additional resources (a printable workbook, printable practice tests, access to daily online quizzes, etc.).

You can easily build a funnel like that with our software. Moreover, you can also use ClickFunnels to create your online course, manage enrollment, and deliver a great learning experience!

Want to Learn How to Build Sales Funnels That CONVERT?

Our co-founder Russell Brunson used sales funnels to take ClickFunnels from zero to $100M+ in annual revenue in less than a decade.

He is now widely considered to be one of the top sales funnel experts in the world. Want to learn from him?

His best-selling book “DotCom Secrets” is the best place to start because it covers everything you need to know to build sales funnels that convert.

This book is available on Amazon with over 2,500 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating.

But you can also get it directly from us for free…

All we ask is that you pay for shipping!

So what are you waiting for?

Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!

P.S. Here’s What Readers Say About “DotCom Secrets”…

Thanks for reading How Teachers Can Earn Online which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Boost Your Business With Data appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Numbers tell important stories about your business — which products sell best, why customers leave, and where you’re making the most money. However, many business owners feel overwhelmed when looking at their data. They collect information from their website, sales, and customer service but aren’t sure how to use it to make better decisions.

You don’t need to be a data scientist to put analytics to work. A simple analysis of your existing business data can help you spot problems early, understand your customers better, and find opportunities you might have missed.

In this blog, we’ll look at 5 practical ways to use analytics to improve specific parts of your business, from fixing your sales funnel to getting better prices.

Before we dive into using analytics in your business, let’s find out the 4 different types of analytics that you can use for different business questions.

Different Types of Analytics

When you know which type of analytics to use, you can pick the right approach for whatever you’re trying to figure out in your business.

Descriptive Analytics

This is about understanding what has already happened in your business. You analyze past data to spot patterns and trends.

For example, you might look at which marketing campaigns brought in the most leads last quarter or which zip codes most of your customers come from. This helps you understand your business’s current performance and historical trends.

Diagnostic Analytics

This type of analytics helps you figure out why something happened. For example, if you notice your conversion rate dropped last month, diagnostic analytics would help you dig deeper to find the cause — maybe it was a website change, a price increase, or seasonal factors. It helps you understand the reason behind your business results.

Predictive Analytics

This helps you make educated guesses about what might happen in the future. It uses historical data to spot patterns and predict likely outcomes. 

For instance, you could predict which leads are most likely to become customers or forecast how many calls you might receive next month based on past patterns. It’s like having a weather forecast for your business.

Prescriptive Analytics

This type tells you what actions you should take to get better results. It combines what happened in the past with predictions about the future to suggest the best path forward. For example, it might recommend the best times to call potential sellers or suggest which marketing channels to invest in based on their likely return on investment.

5 Ways to Leverage Analytics to Improve Your Business

Let’s look at some practical ways to use data analytics to improve specific aspects of your business.

1. Analyze Drop-Off Points in Your Sales Funnel

A sales funnel shows how customers move from first finding your business to buying something from you. More people enter at the start, and fewer make it to the end, where they buy something.

Drop-off points are places where people stop moving forward and leave. Finding these points helps you understand why customers aren’t buying so you can fix the problems.

Let’s say you run a small bakery with a website. Your sales funnel might look like this:

• People find your website
• They look at your menu and prices
• They try to place an online order
• They complete the purchase

When you look at your website data, you might see that 100 people visit your menu page, but only 20 people start an order, and just 10 complete it. This tells you that something is stopping people between viewing the menu and placing an order. Maybe your ordering process is too complex, or you haven’t explained your delivery areas clearly. Once you know this, you can make improvements — like making the ordering form simpler or adding better delivery information.

Each business has different drop-off points. Start by looking at your numbers to find your biggest drops, then use this table as a guide to fix those problems first.

Here’s a simple table showing common drop-off points and solutions:

Where People Leave	What This Means	What You Can Do
After landing on your website	They don’t find what they’re looking for quickly	Make your main products/services visible on the home page, add a clear navigation menu
After seeing prices	Your prices seem too high compared to what customers understand about your value	Add product photos and customer reviews, highlight product quality, and show what makes your product special
During ordering process	The ordering form is confusing or asks for too much information	Reduce form fields, add a progress bar, and make the form mobile-friendly
At payment step	People don’t trust your payment system or find it hard to use	Add trusted payment badges, offer multiple payment options, and make error messages clear
At delivery information	Shipping costs are too high, or delivery times are unclear	Show delivery costs early, offer free shipping above a certain amount, and show clear delivery times
After adding to the cart	People are comparison shopping or get distracted	Send cart reminder emails, add a “save for later” option

If you want to build a sales funnel that guides visitors smoothly through each step, try ClickFunnels. You can build landing pages, add upsells, and connect your email marketing all in one place. 

You can choose from a set of templates or start from scratch.

The platform makes it easy to test different pages, optimize what’s working, and scale your results. And since everything is connected, you’ll see exactly how your changes impact your bottom line.

Try ClickFunnels With a 14-Day Free Trial

2. Use A/B Testing to Identify the Best Performing Variations

In A/B testing (or split testing), you create two versions of something (version A and version B), show them to different groups of people, and measure which version performs better. The key is that you’re making decisions based on real data from your customers, not just opinions.

You can use A/B testing for almost any business decision:

For example, in marketing, you can use it to test two different email subject lines to see which gets more opens or two different website layouts to see which gets more sales.

In operations, you can A/B test between two different store layouts to see which leads to more purchases or two different customer service scripts to see which resolves issues faster.

A/B testing is also helpful in product development. You can test two different product features to see which customers use more.

Here’s a quick guide on how to run an effective A/B test:

1. Start with a clear goal (like “increase website sales”)
2. Choose what to test based on your goal
3. Create two versions that are different in just one way
4. Split your audience randomly into two equal groups
5. Run both versions at the same time (timing matters!)
6. Collect enough data to be sure about the results
7. Compare the results using the metrics that matter to your goal
8. Implement the winning version

Let’s say you want to test if adding a money-back guarantee increases sign-ups on your fitness coaching landing page.

Element	Version A (Current)	Version B (Test)
Price Display	“$97/month”	“$97/month with 30-day money-back guarantee”
Everything else	Exactly the same	Exactly the same

Test Duration: 4 weeks

What You Measure:

Metric	Why This Matters
Conversion Rate	% of visitors who sign up
Sign-up Numbers	Total new customers
Revenue	In case the guarantee affects payment completion
Refund Requests	To track if the guarantee is misused

Results Example:

Version	Visitors	Sign-ups	Conversion Rate
A	500	10	2%
B	500	20	4%

Now you know that adding the guarantee increases your conversion rate by 100%. You can make the winning version (with a guarantee) your new standard page and also add similar guarantees to other products/services.

ClickFunnels simplifies this testing process with built-in A/B testing tools. You can create two versions of your page with a few clicks, automatically split your traffic, and see clear results showing which version performs better.

A/B Test Your Landing Pages With ClickFunnels. Try it for Free!

3. Find Your Perfect Price Points Using Sales Data

Finding the right price for your products or services is crucial — too high, and you lose customers, too low, and you lose profit.

Instead of guessing prices or just copying competitors, smart businesses use sales data to find exactly what prices work best. This is where analytics becomes powerful. It shows you three important things:

1. How many people buy at different prices
2. How much money do you make at each price
3. Where you hit the perfect balance of customer happiness and profit

Say you own a coffee shop and sell lattes. Your costs are $2 per cup (including coffee, milk, labor, and overhead). Using your point-of-sale system, you track sales as you test three different prices over three months:

Price	Daily Sales	Daily Revenue	Daily Profit
$3.50	120 cups	$420	$180
$4.00	100 cups	$400	$200
$4.50	80 cups	$360	$200

Without this data, you might think $3.50 is best because it brings in the most money ($420). But the data reveals something different – at $4.00, you make more profit while keeping good sales volume.

This same thinking works for any business. Keep track of your sales at different prices, factor in your costs, and you’ll find the price that works best for both you and your customers.

4. Use Data to Predict Trends and Make Better Decisions

When you collect data consistently in your business, you can analyze it to spot patterns and prepare better for what’s coming. Instead of reacting to changes, you can anticipate them and be ready.

Let’s take a digital marketing agency as an example, and let’s say this is what their analytics show: 

Time Period	Pattern	What It Means
Q1 (Jan-Mar)	40% more client requests	Businesses planning new year marketing
October	30% increase in e-commerce clients	Preparing for the holiday season
Summer	More website redesign projects	Businesses use quiet periods for updates
Month-end	Higher support ticket volume	Clients reviewing monthly reports

Using this data, they can hire freelancers before busy periods, schedule team training during slower months, or create ready-to-use campaign templates for the holiday season.

When you understand these patterns, you can make smarter decisions about ordering, staffing, and planning. Instead of guessing, you’re using your own business data to guide your choices.

5. Learn What Makes Your Regular Customers Different

Analytics helps you spot patterns in your online customer data to understand why some customers keep coming back while others buy once and disappear. Once you know this path, you can guide new customers along the same route — showing them the same options, benefits, and features that turn other customers into regulars.

Let’s say your data shows that regulars found you through Instagram, so you can focus your paid ads there to find similar customers. Or when you notice what keeps regulars coming back (like subscribing & saving), you can highlight these benefits to first-time buyers right after their purchase.

Looking at your regular customers’ data doesn’t require expensive tools or complex systems. Most of this information is already available in the basic tools you use to run your online business.

Here’s where to find this valuable data:

Google Analytics shows your customer behavior:

• How often do they visit your site
• Which pages do they view most
• Where they came from (Google, social media, or ads)
• How long they stay on your site

Your e-commerce platform (like Shopify or WooCommerce) has your most important sales data. It shows you who’s buying, what they’re buying, and how often they return. Look for:

• Purchase history
• Average order amounts
• Time between purchases
• Popular product combinations

You don’t need to track everything. Start with questions you want to answer about your customers, then look for data that helps answer these questions.

Final Thoughts

While understanding analytics can seem complex, having the right tool can make it much simpler.

If you’re looking to combine your marketing and analytics in one place, ClickFunnels handles both – tracking your customer journey, testing different pages, and showing you exactly where people drop off in your funnel.

Instead of piecing together different tools and data sources, you get all your marketing metrics in one dashboard. You can spot issues quickly, test new ideas, and see what’s working without getting lost in spreadsheets or complicated reports.

Want to see how it works?

Start a 14-day free trial of ClickFunnels and explore the analytics features yourself. You’ll get to test different landing pages, track your results, and use data to grow your business — all in one place.

Turn Numbers Into Clear Insights With ClickFunnels (14-Day Free Trial)

Thanks for reading Boost Your Business With Data which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Coworking Spaces Can Accelerate Your Success appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Working from home is great.

However, it may not be optimal for everyone.

Coworking spaces provide a solution for those who want to enjoy both the freedom of working remotely and the perks of an office environment.

Today, we will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of coworking spaces. Wondering if you should join one?

We hope that this article will help you decide!

The Benefits of Coworking Spaces

#1: Better Work-Life Balance

It can be challenging to maintain a healthy work-life balance when you are working from home.

This is especially true for entrepreneurs who have never-ending to-do lists. Intellectually, you probably understand that relaxation is important, but on an emotional level, you may feel guilty when you are not working.

You can solve this problem by separating your personal and work environments — when you are at home, you relax; when you are at a coworking space, you work.

#2: Maintaining Normal Circadian Rhythm

It’s easy to mess up your circadian rhythm when you don’t have to go anywhere in the morning.

You stay up watching Netflix one night, then wake up later than usual… Next thing you know, you have the sleep schedule of a vampire. Needless to say, that is not conducive to health, productivity, or overall well-being.

Coworking spaces are open 24/7. However, renting a desk at one can help you commit to standard working hours of 9 AM to 5 PM. It will still require willpower since you are your boss, but it’s much easier to wake up early when you have someplace to go.

Plus, merely leaving the house in the morning, especially if you walk to your coworking space instead of driving or taking public transport, will provide early-day light exposure, which is the best way to strengthen your circadian rhythm and has many potential health benefits.

#3: Increased Productivity

It’s probably safe to say that procrastination is something that most entrepreneurs struggle with to some extent.

You are much more vulnerable to it when you are working from home. Not only is it easy to fall into the “I’ll just quickly check Twitter/Reddit/YouTube” trap, but you might also find yourself avoiding work by doing household chores and eating lunch. Cleaning your kitchen or preparing a three-course meal may be better than doomscrolling, but it’s still procrastination!

Having a dedicated place of work outside of your home makes it easier to resist the siren call of social media and not spend too much time on lunch. Plus, there are no household chores at coworking spaces, so you also remove that distraction!

#4: Access to Conference Rooms 

Coworking spaces offer work desks, private offices, and conference rooms.

Typically, you need to pay an additional fee to book a conference room, although some spaces include a certain amount of access in their memberships (hours/month).

If you regularly have face-to-face meetings with potential clients, investors, and business partners, holding them in a conference room is a significant perk.

Not only is it a better place to have essential conversations than a bustling coffee shop, but it also comes across as more professional!

#5: Proper Business Address

Coworking spaces typically allow members to use their addresses as registered business addresses.

This can help you protect your privacy. After all, your registered business address will become a matter of public record, so it may be unwise to use your home address for that.

In addition to that, having a “proper” registered business address that is separate from your home address looks more professional!

#6: Socialization Opportunities

If you don’t have a spouse, kids, or a significant other, self-isolation can become a serious issue when working from home. 

This is especially true if you are an introvert. It’s easy to accidentally become a hermit when you don’t have obligations that require leaving the house and being around other people.

It’s important to understand that we humans are social animals. Self-isolation takes its toll on everyone, introverts and extroverts alike. Interacting with other people daily is essential for maintaining one’s mental health.

Coworking spaces provide socialization opportunities. At the very least, you see the same people every day, say hello to them, and maybe exchange some small talk, which is a significant improvement from being alone all the time. In addition to that, most coworking spaces host happy hours, meetups, presentations, and other events designed to foster a sense of community!

#7: Networking Opportunities

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Your network is your net worth.”

It’s undeniably true that connections play an essential role in success. But what if you don’t have any?

Your first impulse may be to start going to networking events, but that may not be as effective as you had hoped. Why?

Making authentic connections in such events is difficult because the whole atmosphere tends to be highly transactional.

Moreover, as harsh as it may sound, people who go to networking events probably aren’t worth networking with, while people who are worth networking with typically don’t go to networking events.

In fact, networking events tend to be dominated by “wantrepreneurs” who love being an entrepreneur but aren’t willing to work to make it happen. Instead, they just endlessly talk about it. They’ll probably still be talking about it five years from now!

Coworking spaces offer much better networking opportunities because:

1. Joining one costs several hundred dollars per month. That alone eliminates the vast majority of wantrepreneurs. Plus, people who have just launched their businesses usually aren’t willing to pay that much. Consequently, coworking spaces are dominated by freelancers and entrepreneurs who already have stable businesses.
2. They provide an environment that’s conducive to making authentic connections. You get to meet people organically, build trust through regular interactions, go and grab lunch with them, etc. The social atmosphere of coworking spaces tends to be casual as opposed to transactional.
3. They enable you to observe people over time and gain insight into their character. You see how they carry themselves, interact with others, approach their work, etc. That can help you avoid untrustworthy individuals.

There’s also something to be said about the community aspect. When people feel like they belong to a community, they are more likely to behave their best, especially towards other members of that same community.

Plus, if someone is shady, you’ll probably hear about it through the grapevine!

The Drawbacks of Coworking Spaces

Coworking spaces have three main drawbacks…

#1: Cost

A few hundred dollars per month will add up to a few thousand dollars yearly. Plus, there may be additional expenses like parking, booking conference rooms, attending events, etc!

#2: Commute

15–30 minutes one way means 30–60 minutes of daily commute, which will add up to:

• 2.5–5 hours per week
• 10–20 hours per month
• 120–240 hours per year

That’s assuming that you work 5 days a week!

#3: Social Distractions

If you are getting your daily dose of socialization elsewhere, you might find the social aspect of coworking spaces distracting rather than helpful.

#4: Work Habits and Preferences

In addition, coworking spaces may not be suitable for people with unusual work habits and/or particular preferences regarding their work environment!

Still Not Sure if Joining a Coworking Space is the Right Choice for You?

If, after reading this article, you are still not sure whether joining a coworking space is the right choice for you, here’s what we recommend:

Step #1: Decide Which Metrics to Track

Ideally, you want to track:

• Metrics related to your subjective well-being, such as energy, mood, etc.
• Metrics related to your output include lines of code, word count, tasks completed, etc.
• Metrics related to your business include sales, revenue, and profit.

Step #2: Establish a Work-From-Home Baseline

Once you have decided which metrics to track, the next step is to establish your work-from-home baseline over three months.

Step #3: Join a Coworking Space and See What Happens

Once you have your work-from-home baseline, join a coworking space for three months and continue tracking the same metrics.

After those three months, compare your baseline metrics with the new ones to see which work environment produced better results!

Want to Learn How to Build Sales Funnels That CONVERT?

Our co-founder Russell Brunson used sales funnels to take ClickFunnels from zero to $100M+ in annual revenue in less than a decade.

He is now widely considered to be one of the top sales funnel experts in the world. Want to learn from him?

His best-selling book “DotCom Secrets” is the best place to start because it covers everything you need to know in order to build sales funnels that convert.

This book is available on Amazon where it has over 2,500 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating. 

But you can also get it directly from us for free… 

All we ask is that you pay for shipping!

So what are you waiting for?

Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!

P.S. Here’s What Readers Say About “DotCom Secrets”…

Start Your ClickFunnels 14-Day Free Trial Now!

Thanks for reading Coworking Spaces Can Accelerate Your Success which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Guide To Boost And Compete In Sales appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Most affiliate programs operate like a casual carpool: everyone moves in the same direction, but no one’s in a hurry.

As a business owner, you know this means leaving money on the table. Your affiliates have the potential to become powerful sales drivers – they just need the right motivation. By adding competitive elements to your program, you can transform passive partners into enthusiastic promoters of your brand.

In this guide, we’ll explore practical ways to structure affiliate competitions that work for businesses of any size. These aren’t just theoretical concepts. Their tried-and-tested strategies have helped businesses like ClickFunnels and Revolve multiply their affiliate sales.

Create a Compelling Landing Page

One crucial step many businesses miss when launching an affiliate competition is having enough quality affiliates in the first place.

The solution is to create a compelling landing page that attracts the right partners to your program before you even think about running contests.

Your landing page needs to show what’s in it for potential affiliates clearly. Tell them exactly what they can earn through your commissions or how they are paid. This gives them a clear picture of their earning potential.

For example, ClickFunnels has a dedicated landing page with all the details of our affiliate program.

Lay out the extra perks that make your program unique. Maybe you provide done-for-you marketing materials or offer one-on-one coaching calls. At ClickFunnels, we offer a dream car to affiliates who get 100 or more people to join our platforms.

If you have an affiliate manager or special training programs, highlight these benefits. Affiliates want to know they’ll get support, not just be left to figure things out alone.

Be upfront about who you’re looking for. If you need affiliates with a particular audience size or specific niche experience, say so. This saves everyone time and helps attract partners who are genuinely a good fit. Tell them if you have minimum requirements or if you’re looking for specific types of content creators.

ClickFunnels’ drag-and-drop builder and proven templates are perfect for creating high-converting affiliate recruitment pages.

You can even set up your entire affiliate application funnel in hours, not weeks, using Workflows.

Easily Create Beautiful Landing Pages Using ClickFunnels

Measure What Actually Matters

Before launching your affiliate competition, pick the right metrics to track. Focusing only on total sales numbers is tempting, but that might not tell the whole story of who’s driving value for your business.

Think about what truly impacts your bottom line. For a subscription business, it could be the number of annual plans sold rather than monthly ones. If you’re an e-commerce store, high-margin products matter more than the total order count.

Here are some metrics you can track:

• Customer lifetime value from affiliate referrals, not just first purchases
• Return customer rate from each affiliate’s traffic
• Average order value as some affiliates might bring fewer but bigger sales
• Refund rates. Because quality matters as much as quantity
• Product mix to see who’s selling your full range versus just the popular items

The key is keeping it simple enough to track consistently. You don’t need fancy analytics tools – a basic spreadsheet works fine when you’re starting out. Focus on 2-3 metrics that directly tie to your business goals.

Share these metrics openly with your affiliates. When they understand what you value most, they can adjust their promotion strategies to match. Plus, it shows you’re not just after quick sales but building a sustainable program together.

Remember: measuring the right things helps you reward the affiliates who bring real, lasting value to your business, not just temporary spikes in traffic.

Build a Leaderboard for Your Affiliates

One of the most effective and straightforward tools to motivate affiliates to hit their goals is a leaderboard. In this dynamic, visual system, affiliates are ranked based on their sales performance, with top performers receiving better rewards and recognition. It shows who’s bringing in the most sales or leads.

Why are Leaderboards Effective?

It works because humans are inherently motivated by recognition and competition. Publicly showcasing top performers taps into this psychology:

• Healthy Competition: Affiliates push harder to outperform peers, driving collective results.
• Transparency: Real-time tracking builds trust-affiliates see exactly where they stand.
• Community Momentum: A live leaderboard creates buzz, encouraging even successful affiliates to strive for incremental progress.

To make it work, align the metrics with your business objectives.

For example,

• If you prioritize sales, track revenue
• If brand awareness matters more, track clicks or social shares

Avoid vanity metrics, like which affiliate created the most number of posts.

Focus on the outcome and not on the output.

Affiliates need to trust the system. Use real-time data updates to ensure accuracy and clarify how rankings are calculated. For example, if commissions vary by product, they weigh higher-margin sales more heavily.

Transparency prevents disputes and reinforces credibility. Display the leaderboard prominently-embed it in your affiliate portal, share it in newsletters, or even showcase top performers on social media (with permission).

Prevent Discouragement

While competition drives performance, an overly cutthroat environment can backfire.

To prevent discouragement, segment affiliates by experience level or niche. A “Rookie of the Month” category, for instance, gives newcomers a fighting chance. You can also pair the leaderboard with collaborative incentives, like group rewards for hitting collective targets. This creates camaraderie and ensures smaller affiliates don’t feel overshadowed by top performers.

Create a Tiered Reward System

People are naturally driven by progress and achievement. When partners see a clear path forward, with specific milestones to reach, they’re more likely to stay engaged and push harder.

That’s why, instead of offering the same rewards to everyone, you create different levels that partners can progress through as they perform better. Here’s an example from Goli, the supplement brand. Their affiliate dashboard shows how partners can move from initial sales to becoming top performers.

These milestones should be challenging but attainable, encouraging affiliates to push beyond their comfort zones without feeling overwhelmed. Unlike a leaderboard, which ranks affiliates against one another, milestones allow individuals to compete against their own past performance, fostering a growth mindset.

However, showing the level is not enough; you have to increase the incentives offered at each stage.

Take the example of Obvi, a collagen brand. As sales volume grows, their affiliates can earn higher commission percentages on their transactions. This rewards active partners for their continued dedication while encouraging newer partners to aim higher.

These rewards don’t need to be monetary-you can also offer exclusive training sessions, early access to new products, or public recognition in a newsletter. For instance, an affiliate hitting their first milestone might receive a personalized thank-you note from the business owner, while higher tiers unlock mentorship opportunities or invite them to exclusive events.

Launch Time-limited Challenges

Time-limited challenges create urgency and excitement while giving all affiliates, regardless of their usual performance, a fresh chance to win. Unlike permanent leaderboards or long-term tier systems, these short sprints keep engagement high through novelty and focused effort.

Here’s how REVOLVE taps into seasonal opportunities by turning the start of the autumn season into an engaging affiliate challenge.

Since affiliates work at different rhythms and peak during different seasons, these rotating challenges give everyone multiple chances to compete when they’re at their strongest. For instance, some affiliates might excel during holiday promotions, while others perform best during back-to-school seasons or summer campaigns.

Let Affiliates Know in Advance

To maximize impact, announce challenges in advance so affiliates can prepare their promotional strategies. This advance notice lets them plan their content calendar, warm up their audience, and potentially collaborate with other creators for a bigger impact. It also gives them time to analyze past performance data and identify the best channel and messaging approaches for the specific challenge theme.

Offer Mini-Rewards

Beyond the main prize, consider offering “surprise” mini-rewards throughout the challenge period to maintain momentum and engagement. These unexpected bonuses, like spot rewards for the highest daily sales, special recognition for creative promotion ideas, or bonus points for reaching micro-milestones, keep affiliates excited and engaged even if they’re not in the running for the grand prize.

Stay Connected With Your Affiliates

Running competitions is only half the battle. Without consistent communication, even your most exciting contests can fizzle out. Your affiliates won’t get excited about your challenges if they don’t know what’s happening or feel disconnected from your brand.

Regular updates keep that competitive energy flowing between contests. Send email updates showing current rankings, share quick stories of affiliates crushing it, and build some buzz for upcoming challenges. Even a simple Monday email highlighting last week’s winners can motivate the whole group.

Use ClickFunnels to Send Emails

Sending individual updates or regular motivation emails takes time you don’t have. That’s why smart automation helps so much. You can use ClickFunnels’ email marketing tools to set up messages that:

• Share leaderboard standings and milestone celebrations
• Announce new competitions and remind everyone about deadlines
• Pass along winning strategies from your top performers
• Keep affiliates informed about new products they can promote

Creating emails in ClickFunnels is quick and easy with drag-and-drop elements, ready-made templates, and no-code setup.

Think of your affiliate program as a community. When affiliates feel connected and supported, they jump into competitions with real enthusiasm. Regular communication turns casual participants into engaged partners who actively push for results.

Create Emails Quickly and Easily Using ClickFunnels (Try for Free!)

Make Your Competition Fair for Everyone

Not every affiliate starts with a massive email list or social following. Running fair competitions means giving everyone a real shot at winning, whether they’re just starting out or have been promoting your products for years.

Here’s how to level the playing field without overcomplicating things:

Create different competition tracks based on where affiliates are in their journey. A newer affiliate might compete in the “Rising Stars” category, focusing on percentage growth rather than total sales. Meanwhile, your experienced partners can battle it out in the “Champions” league. This simple split keeps everyone motivated. New affiliates aren’t discouraged by unreachable targets, and veterans stay challenged.

Set some baseline rules that make sense. Instead of just rewarding top sellers, think about metrics like:

• Highest month-over-month growth
• Best conversion rate
• Most improved performance
• Most consistent sales (even if smaller amounts)

For smaller contests, try rotating the focus each time. One month might reward the highest number of new customers, while the next celebrates the best customer feedback scores. This variety gives different types of affiliates their moment to shine.

Final Thoughts

Successful affiliate competitions aren’t about creating cutthroat rivalry. They’re about building a community where everyone feels motivated to grow. Some affiliates will be driven by public recognition, others by personal achievement milestones. Your job is to create an environment where both types can thrive.

But what often trips business owners up isn’t the competition structure. It’s trying to do too much at once. You don’t need to launch a tiered rewards program, weekly challenges, and a complex leaderboard system all at the same time. Start with one element, nail it, then expand.

Here’s a simple way to get started:

1. Pick one competition format to test – maybe a basic monthly leaderboard
2. Choose 2-3 clear metrics to track (remember what we discussed about measuring what matters)
3. Set up basic email communication (ClickFunnels can help automate this)
4. Launch a test run with your most engaged affiliates first

Map out your first competition today. Create a simple landing page in ClickFunnels to announce it, set up automated email updates to keep everyone engaged, and focus on making it fun and achievable for affiliates at every level. Here’s a link to the free trial of ClickFunnels so you can test the platform before you pay anything.

Create Emails Quickly and Easily Using ClickFunnels (Try for Free!)

Thanks for reading Guide To Boost And Compete In Sales which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Steps To Automate Your Business appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Automation can help you get more done in less time, save a ton of money, and scale your company faster.

However, it’s a double-edged sword – when done incorrectly, it can backfire and wreck your business, potentially beyond repair.

That’s why today we want to discuss how to automate your business processes in a way that is conducive to long-term success!

Warning: Don’t Fall for the AI Hype!

Let’s make sure that we are all on the same page when it comes to artificial intelligence, as we will be mentioning it a lot throughout this article.

What is Generative AI?

When people who aren’t computer scientists talk about AI, they typically refer to generative AI.

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence designed to generate new data: code, text, images, audio, videos, you name it.

What are Large Language Models (LLMs)?

Large language models, also known as LLMs, are a type of generative AI designed to generate text.

Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence research have enabled computer scientists to create LLMs that can mimic human speech patterns.

This technology powers OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini chatbots.

What is the Black Box Problem?

As far as we can tell, no one on the planet knows how large language models work, which may sound crazy but is almost certainly true. 

Computer scientists call this the Black Box problem: LLMs are opaque systems and not even the researchers who created them are privy to their inner workings.

They can only see the data that they feed into LLMs and the data that comes out of them. No one has any clue as to what’s happening inside them.

What are “Hallucinations”?

Large language models tend to make things up.

It’s most noticeable in the textual data they generate. Sometimes, they write nonsensical code, present false statements as facts, recommend books and research papers that do not exist, and so on.

However, now that the capacities of popular LLMs have expanded beyond text generation, inaccuracies are also appearing in the images, audio, and videos that they produce. So it’s not just an LLM problem; it’s a generative AI problem.

Computer scientists call this phenomenon “hallucinations”. Since no one knows why these AI systems do what they do, no one can stop them from hallucinating. That is extremely unlikely to change anytime soon!

What Does All This Mean for Entrepreneurs?

AI can be a powerful tool as long as you understand its limitations.

We will discuss this in more detail throughout the article, but the main idea is this: you can use large language models to speed things up, but there needs to be a human at the end of the process who can manually verify their output.

Also, avoid “AI automation agencies”, as these tend to be run by people who seem to lack even the most basic understanding of artificial intelligence. You probably already know more than them now that you have read this section!

Now, with all that out of the way, here are the ten steps to automate your business processes quickly…

Step #1: Automate Written Content Creation

Prompt engineering is designing large language model prompts that produce the desired output.

Suppose you want to use LLMs to create written content. In that case, you will need to learn the basics of prompt engineering because the quality of the prompt is the single most significant factor that is going to determine the quality of the output.

You can start by watching the video below. It focuses on prompting ChatGPT, but the same principles apply to other LLMs. 

Large language models can help you brainstorm ideas, create outlines, and write texts.

However, it’s best to treat the content generated by them as the first draft of whatever you want to create, not the final one.

Remember that there’s always a risk that AI-generated content might include hallucinations.

That’s why it’s so important to manually fact-check it, edit it, and proofread it before you publish it!

Step #2: Automate Image Creation 

You can use diffusion models such as Dall-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion to create images based on text prompts.

However, some people have raised concerns that these models may have been trained on copyrighted data.

There have already been lawsuits related to this and a lot of discussion about the potential legal implications of using images generated with such tools.

For example, one lawyer in a class-action lawsuit argued that every image created with generative AI is an “infringing, derivative work.”

That’s why we recommend playing it safe and using Adobe’s diffusion model called Firefly, which has been trained on licensed data that the company has the right to use!

Step #3: Automate Audio and Video Editing

Descript enables you to edit audio and video files by editing their transcripts.

For example, if you are editing a video podcast and want to remove a random tangent that you and your guest spent too much time on, you can simply delete it from the transcript, and it will be removed from the video as well. 

In addition to this core functionality, Descript also offers a bunch of handy features that can save you a ton of time, such as screen capture, one-click filler word removal, and one-click background noise removal.

It also has a clip feature where you can use AI to analyze your long-form content, identify the moments that have the most viral potential, and turn them into shorts for YouTube and TikTok.

However, we recommend using a different tool called OpusClip for that, as it has been designed specifically for creating shorts. 

If you upload a long-form video to this platform, AI will automatically extract 10 clips from it. You can then edit them, add captions, visual effects, and your company’s branding, and schedule them to be published on your social media.

Descript and OpusClip are truly game-changing tools. Video editing used to require familiarity with sophisticated software like Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro. Now, anyone can do it!

Step #4: Automate Social Media Marketing

Social media scheduling app Edgar can help you save a ton of time on social media marketing.

Here’s how it works:

1. You build a content library by uploading evergreen social media posts to Edgar.
2. You organize that content library by creating categories for different types of evergreen content.
3. You create a content schedule that describes how often you want to post content from each category on different social media platforms.

Once everything is set up, Edgar will start automatically drawing posts from your content library, scheduling them, and publishing them based on your instructions.

Step #5: Automate Lead Generation and Sales 

What is a Sales Funnel?

A sales funnel is a system designed to convert visitors into leads, leads into customers, and customers into repeat customers. 

Sales funnels can be either entirely or partially automated. The former approach works better for low-end and medium-priced products, while the latter approach works better for high-end products. 

What is the Value Ladder Sales Funnel?

There are several popular sales funnel models out there, but we believe the most effective one is the Value Ladder sales funnel designed by our co-founder Russell Brunson. We used it to grow our company to $100M+ in annual revenue!

How to Automate Lead Generation

The Bait stage of the Value Ladder sales funnel is a lead generation funnel. Its purpose is to convert visitors into leads. You can use it to automate lead generation.

First, you will need a lead magnet, which is a free product or service that you will offer to potential customers in exchange for their email addresses.

Ideally, a lead magnet should address the same problem as your most affordable product or service (your Frontend offer), just on a smaller scope.

If you want to learn how to create an effective lead magnet, consider watching this video by our friend Alex Hormozi:

Next, you will need a lead generation landing page. It should be designed to persuade potential customers to give you their email addresses in exchange for your lead magnet. You will be driving traffic to this page with your digital marketing campaigns.

Finally, you will need a thank you page to show potential customers once they give you their email addresses. On this page, you want to thank them, explain what they need to do to access your lead magnet, and let them know what they should expect next.

Once you have a lead magnet, a landing page, and a thank you page, you can build a lead generation funnel that looks like this:

We recommend using ClickFunnels for that. Our software includes a lead magnet funnel template, page templates, and an editor!

How to Automate Sales

You can automate sales by selling your products and services via email marketing, assuming they are relatively affordable. 

For example, you can use this proven welcome sequence template to sell your least expensive product or service (your Frontend offer):

You should send one email per day so that the entire sequence would take six days to complete.

After that, you want to split your email workflow into two paths:

1. If the subscriber did not purchase your Frontend offer, continue sending them social proof related to it 1-2 times per month (e.g. case studies, testimonials, endorsements, etc.). 
2. If the subscriber did purchase your Frontend offer, it should trigger the email sequence for your Middle offer. 

Then, once the Middle offer sequence is complete, you want to split the workflow into two paths again:

1. If the subscriber did not purchase your Middle offer, continue sending them social proof related to it 1-2 times per month.
2. If the subscriber did purchase your Middle offer, it should trigger an email sequence for your Backend offer.

Finally, once the Backend offer sequence is complete, you want to split the workflow into two paths once again:

1. If the subscriber did not purchase your Backend offer, continue sending them social proof related to it 1-2 times per month.
2. If the subscriber did purchase your Backend offer, stop sending them promotional emails until you launch something new that they might be interested in.

We just described an email workflow designed to guide a person through your entire Value Ladder sales funnel, from your Frontend offer to your Backend offer.

In addition to that, we recommend sending your subscribers a weekly newsletter, as that will enable you to stay top of mind with them.

Our software has an email marketing functionality that you can use to set up your welcome sequence and the Value Ladder workflow and send email newsletters!

Learn More About Sales Funnels (FREE BOOK)!

Our co-founder Russell Brunson wrote a best-selling book about sales funnels.

It’s called “DotCom Secrets” and is available on Amazon, where it has over 2,500 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating. 

But you can also get it directly from us for free. All we ask is that you pay for shipping!

Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!

Step #6: Automate Customer Relationship Management 

Not all products and services can be sold via email. 

In fact, if you are selling something expensive, you will probably need to close sales either in-person or via Zoom calls. 

It’s important to set up a customer relationship management (CRM) system for this. We recommend using our CRM functionality, which enables you to:

• See everything that’s happening in your sales pipeline.
• Create an appointment calendar so that potential customers can see your availability and book appointments. 
• Use a centralized message hub to communicate with leads via text, social media, and email. 
• Set up automated appointment reminders to increase show-up rates. 
• Add notes to people’s profiles to refer to later when prepping for a call.  

…and more!

Step #7: Automate Customer Support 

We strongly advise against using AI chatbots for customer support. Why?

Because large language models are too unreliable to interact with customers directly due to the “hallucinations” issue we discussed earlier.

Think about it: would you hire a customer support agent who was prone to hallucinating while on the job? Probably not!

In addition to that, once your customers figure out that they are talking to ChatGPT, Claude, or some other popular LLM, they might be tempted to try to “jailbreak” it.

“Jailbreaking” is getting LLMs to do something they shouldn’t: make offensive statements, agree to absurd business proposals, provide confidential information, etc. 

For example, Twitter user Chris Bakke convinced Chevy’s customer support chatbot to sell him a Chevy Tahoe for $1. Fortunately for the dealership, this interaction wasn’t legally binding despite the “no takes backsies” agreement. 

I just bought a 2024 Chevy Tahoe for $1. pic.twitter.com/aq4wDitvQW

— Chris Bakke (@ChrisJBakke) December 17, 2023

Another Twitter user, Ashley Beauchamp, got DPD’s customer support chatbot to swear, call DPD “the worst delivery company in the world,” and even write a poem about its own uselessness. 

Parcel delivery firm DPD have replaced their customer service chat with an AI robot thing. It’s utterly useless at answering any queries, and when asked, it happily produced a poem about how terrible they are as a company. It also swore at me. pic.twitter.com/vjWlrIP3wn

— Ashley Beauchamp (@ashbeauchamp) January 18, 2024

Meanwhile, Air Canada’s chatbot provided inaccurate information about discounts to a customer, who then ended up suing the airline and winning. This was a landmark case that potentially set a precedent for holding companies liable for their chatbot behavior. 

These are just three examples of many, but hopefully, that’s enough to illustrate how using AI chatbots for customer support can backfire. But what should you do instead?

We recommend a combination of:

1. A searchable knowledge base that features answers to all of the most frequently asked questions and is easy to find on your website. 
2. An old-fashioned customer support chatbot that isn’t powered by AI and can be programmed using “If/then” logic (“if a customer asks this, then do this”).
3. Human customer support agents that are easy to reach. Nowadays, customers are used to self-service and don’t mind interacting with chatbots, but they want to have the option to escalate the query to a human if needed.

If you build a solid knowledge base and program your chatbot well, you should be able to reduce your customer support team’s workload drastically!

Step #8: Automate Refunds

Ideally, you want to offer a 30-day, a 60-day, or a 90-day no-questions-asked money-back guarantee and then feature this policy prominently on your sales pages.

You should also set up a self-service refund system so that unhappy customers can get their money back without interacting with customer support.

It’s best to extend the refund window behind the scenes so that even the customers who are late to request one can get it without issues.

For example, if your official refund policy states that the refund window is 30 days, you can program your self-service system to process refunds for 90 days after the purchase. 

That is going to eliminate needless squabbling with customers. Does it matter if they purchased 29 days ago or 34 days ago? Probably not!

Of course, you also need to make sure that processing refunds don’t threaten the survival of your business, so your refund policy shouldn’t be too generous.

That being said, if you are getting so many refund requests that it’s becoming a serious issue, you should probably treat it as a market signal telling you that the quality of your product or service is not up to par!

Step #9: Automate Brand Monitoring

Brand24 is an AI social listening app that you can use to automate brand monitoring.

Its most noteworthy features include:

• A dashboard that provides a quick overview of your brand mentions across the entire web in one place.
• Custom alerts that allow you to react to brand mentions in real-time. 
• Storm alerts are designed to notify you about sudden changes in brand mention volume. 
• Sentiment analysis can help you understand the overall sentiment behind your brand mentions.
• Data visualization tools that make it easy to export data into Excel spreadsheets, generate PowerPoint presentations, and create infographics. 

We recommend investing in this software as soon as you can afford to because it can help you spot potential problems early on and address them before they snowball into full-blown PR disasters!

Step #10: Automate Business Workflows

You can use Zapier to connect different apps and create streamlined workflows. At the time of writing, it offers instant integrations with over 7,000 web apps, including ClickFunnels!

Try ClickFunnels Risk-Free!

Let’s be real:

We are biased in favor of our software. 

So we understand if you take what we say about it with a grain of salt.

Fortunately, we have a free 14-day trial, so you don’t have to take our word for it. 

You can go and see ClickFunnels for yourself without any risk!

So what are you waiting for?

Start Your Free Trial Today

P.S. Here’s What Our Customers Say About ClickFunnels…

Start Your Free Trial Today

Thanks for reading Steps To Automate Your Business which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Tips For Entrepreneurs Looking For Work-Life Balance appeared first on ClickFunnels.

There’s been a lot of discussion online about work-life balance.

However, most of it detaches from the reality of building a business.

Today, we want to share ten work-life balance tips every entrepreneur should know…

#1: Get Clear On What You Want in Life. What are Your “Hall of Fame” Goals?

First, you need to get clear on what you want in life, not just in terms of entrepreneurial success but in general.

Imagine that you are on your deathbed, about to die from old age. What would you want to see when you look back on your life?

Do your best to tune out what you believe you “should” want and get in touch with your true desires.

Being a good person, raising a happy family, building generational wealth, pursuing your hobbies, learning languages, traveling the world, spending time in nature, engaging in spiritual practices…

All these things are what our co-founder Russell Brunson calls “Hall of Fame goals.” They aren’t about any particular achievement but about your life as a whole. What does “a life well-lived” mean to you?

It’s essential to start there because if you don’t have a clear vision, you might find yourself chasing goals that sound cool but aren’t meaningful to you, which is a recipe for accomplishing a lot but still feeling unfulfilled in the end!

#2: Don’t Try to Do Everything at Once – Focus On Your “Super Bowl” Goal

According to Russell, trying to pursue all your Hall of Fame goals simultaneously leads to chaos, stress, burnout, and mediocre results.

That’s why you must also have a “Super Bowl” goal – your main focus right now.

In order to achieve your Super Bowl goal, you will need to forget about “balance.” Russell argues that greatness comes through periods of radical imbalance.

If you want to build a successful business, make it your Super Bowl goal and put everything else on the back burner.

For example, when Russell and his co-founder Todd Dickerson launched ClickFunnels, there was nothing “balanced” about it – they worked crazy hours to get this company off the ground. It simply wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.

One caveat, though: if the radical imbalance needed to achieve your Super Bowl goal starts threatening your Hall of Fame goals, you should abandon it because it won’t be worth it.

Russell shared that if at any time while building ClickFunnels he felt that his marriage was in trouble, he would have left the company because his family was more important to him.

Entrepreneurial success indeed requires sacrifice, but it doesn’t mean you should be willing to sacrifice everything for it!

#3: Accept That it Will Probably Take You at Least a Decade to Build a Successful Business

If you don’t have any previous entrepreneurial experience, it will probably take you at least a decade to build a successful business.

You will almost certainly fail several times before you hit it big. After all, most successful entrepreneurs have a graveyard of failed businesses behind them.

Don’t be disheartened by this. Instead, see each failure as a stepping stone to success. Just limit financial risk – going out of business shouldn’t wreck your life.

Also, when thinking about radical imbalance, remember there’s an arduous journey ahead. This is a marathon, not a sprint, so you need to pace yourself. You don’t want to burn out mid-way!

#4: Take Care of Your Health and Prioritize Sleep, Nutrition and Exercise

Working full-time to pay the bills while building a business on the side may add up to more than 60 hours per week.

That will be tough, but it’s doable – a work schedule like that can be sustained for an extended period, provided that your sleep, nutrition, and exercise routine are on point.

However, if you are perpetually sleep-deprived, subsist on junk food and caffeine, and lead a sedentary lifestyle, attempting to work that much will almost certainly result in burnout.

If you are serious about building a business, you must prioritize your health above all else. If something isn’t mission-critical, don’t sacrifice sleep, proper meals, or gym time. Remember, on a long enough timeline, consistency always beats intensity.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you get a particular task done today or tomorrow; what’s important is that you keep chipping away at your to-do list!

#5: Get Your Spouse On Board With Your Vision

If you are working a full-time job and building a business on the side, you won’t have much time left for anything else.

This means that your spouse will have to be okay with spending less time with you, holding down the fort at home, and potentially even putting their dreams on hold so that you could pursue yours. Needless to say, that’s a lot to ask of someone!

Explain to them what you want to accomplish, why it’s important to you, and how it will benefit not just you but also them and the kids. Listen to their concerns and address them. Be open to compromise and work out a plan you can agree on without either party feeling resentful.

#6: Get Your Kids On Board With Your Vision

If you want to build a business, you’ll have to spend less time with your spouse and your kids. That’s why getting them on board with your vision is also essential.

Have a similar conversation with your kids as you did with your spouse – explain what you want to accomplish, why it’s important to you, and how it will benefit you and them.

In addition to that, set clear boundaries regarding the time you have allocated for your business so that your kids would know when they shouldn’t disturb you.

Finally, establish a weekly routine where you do something fun as a family on the same day of the week, at the same time (e.g. Saturday morning). This will give your kids something to look forward to!

#7: Explain to Your Friends That You Won’t be as Available From Now On

You must put your social life on the back burner until you get your business. However, if you ghost your friends without warning, they will probably be upset about it – and understandably so!

Instead, be direct with them: tell them you want to focus on building a business and won’t be as available as you used to be. Because of time constraints, hanging out regularly is out of the question, but you can still show up for big events like birthdays, weddings, and so on.

This shouldn’t be a problem if your friends have a lot going on as well. However, suppose people in your social circle are just drifting through life and cannot relate to having a goal-oriented mindset. In that case, they might take your decision to prioritize building a business personally. In that case, you may need to reconsider those friendships.

#8: Consciously Decide What Else You Are Going to Sacrifice

We recommend making a list of everything that you are willing to sacrifice to build your business.

Here’s a good way to think about it: if it doesn’t directly contribute to your health, marriage, or relationships with your kids, you should probably give it up.

For example, if you enjoy spending time in nature, you can go hiking with your family on the weekends. But you should forego solo hiking trips for now.

Same with watching Netflix, playing computer games, going to events, and so on. Either do it with your spouse and/or kids or don’t do it at all.

If you have solitary interests like DIY projects, creative hobbies, learning languages, etc., take a break from them.

#9: Use a Calendar to Make the Most Out of Your Time

There are 168 hours in a week.

If you want to make the most of them, you must start living by your calendar.

That means scheduling everything: sleep, meals, gym, commute, working at your day job, working on your business, spending time with your family, doing household chores, and so on.

You can use Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Notion, or similar apps for this. What matters is that you get into the habit of consciously allocating every hour of every day according to your priorities!

#10: Gradually Extricate Yourself From the Day-to-Day of Running Your Business

There’s an important distinction between working in your business and working on your business:

• Working in your business means handling its day-to-day operations. That includes building products, delivering services, marketing, sales, customer support, and administrative tasks.
• Working on your business means building systems that can run without you, such as workflows, sales funnels, organizational infrastructure, etc.

When you are just starting, you must hustle to keep the lights on, so you will inevitably spend most of your time working on your business.

However, once you get to the point where your company is financially stable and its revenue is consistently growing monthly, you should start spending more and more time working on your business.

You want to gradually extricate yourself from its day-to-day operations so it could eventually run without you. Not only will this enable you to have a better work-life balance, but it will also turn your business into a sellable asset!

Want to Learn How to Build Sales Funnels That CONVERT?

Our co-founder Russell Brunson used sales funnels to take ClickFunnels from zero to $100M+ in annual revenue in less than a decade.

He is now widely considered to be one of the top sales funnel experts in the world. Want to learn from him?

His best-selling book “DotCom Secrets” is the best place to start because it covers everything you need to know in order to build sales funnels that convert.

This book is available on Amazon, which has over 2,500 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating.

But you can also get it directly from us for free…

All we ask is that you pay for shipping!

So what are you waiting for?

Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!

P.S. Here’s What Readers Say About “DotCom Secrets”…

Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!

Thanks for reading Tips For Entrepreneurs Looking For Work-Life Balance which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Overcoming Stress As A Business Owner appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Stress is part and parcel of entrepreneurship.

That’s why it’s so important to learn how to handle it – the sooner you get it under control, the better.

Here are ten stress management activities that can help you stay focused, get things done, and avoid burnout…

#1: Embrace Stoic Dichotomy of Control

Stoicism is an ancient philosophy that originated in Greece and Rome.

It’s becoming increasingly popular among entrepreneurs because it provides an excellent framework for functioning under stress.

We would argue that the single most valuable Stoic idea is what has come to be known as the dichotomy of control: training yourself to focus only on what you can control and ignore everything else.

Think about it: if you saw someone having an emotional breakdown over the weather, you would probably assume that this person has mental health problems, right?

And yet, we all get worked up about all kinds of things that are completely outside of our control, just like the weather. This insane attempt to control the uncontrollable is the root cause of stress.

Fortunately, the more you practice focusing on what you can control and ignoring what you can’t control, the better you will get at it, and the easier it will be for you to stay calm under pressure!

#2: Decide What You are Going to Sacrifice

First-time entrepreneurs often have an unexamined expectation that their lives will continue as usual while building their companies.

The problem with this is that the math doesn’t work. We all have the same 168 hours per week, and getting a side hustle off the ground requires at least 20 hours per week. You will need to make space for that in your schedule.

Getting enough sleep, maintaining personal hygiene, eating proper meals, going to the gym, working a day to pay the bills, doing household chores, handling administrative tasks, spending time with your spouse and kids, and taking time to wind down every evening are all essential activities.

If you want to spend at least 20 hours per week working on your business, you won’t have any time left for non-essential activities such as engaging in your hobbies and hanging out with your friends.

That’s why we recommend listing all non-essential activities you will sacrifice to get your business off the ground. You don’t have to give them up forever, but you do have to give them up now.

Keep this list in your wallet to remind you of what you have decided to say “No” to in this season of your life!

#3: Take Care of Your Health

If you are serious about building a business, you need to exorcise “hustle culture” nonsense out of your mind.

Regularly pulling all-nighters, working more than 12 hours a day, and abusing stimulants is not “mental toughness”; it’s short-sighted, unsustainable, and will almost certainly lead to burnout.

We know that humans can only function optimally under certain conditions, the most important of them being:

1. Getting enough sleep.
2. Getting enough calories, macronutrients, and micronutrients.
3. Getting enough movement. In the modern context, this means having a workout routine that includes strength, cardio, and mobility training.

It would be unreasonable for you to expect to perform well if you are sleep-deprived, not eating correctly, and not exercising regularly – you will lack energy, your cognition will be impaired, and you might even end up developing serious health problems over time.

On top of that, if you feel run down, every stressful situation will seem like the end of the world. The more you drive yourself into the ground, the less resilient you will become.

That’s why putting your health above all else is so important. Your top priorities should be getting enough sleep, eating healthy, and exercising regularly. Remember that good health is the foundation for everything else in life!

#4: Watch Your Caffeine Intake

Speaking of stimulant abuse…

Caffeine is the most popular psychoactive drug in the world. It’s well-known that it can make you anxious, jittery, and unable to cope with stress.

It might make sense to stop consuming caffeine habitually and reserve it for emergencies, like when you must pull an all-nighter to meet an important deadline.

Alternatively, you can commit to only consuming caffeine every other day. That may help you avoid building tolerance or slow down the process.

Finally, if you want to continue consuming caffeine daily, remember that it’s easy to get hooked on it when you have a lot on your plate. Next thing you know, you need more and more of it just to feel normal.

You can prevent this by tracking your caffeine consumption (mg/day). Decide what is an acceptable baseline amount and make sure to taper back to it if you exceed it during crunch time.

People vary a lot in terms of their sensitivity to caffeine, so you will need to experiment and figure out what works best for you!

#5: Meditate for 20 Minutes Every Morning

Starting your day with a 20-minute meditation session can help you stay grounded regardless of what is going on in your life.

A Buddhist saying sometimes attributed to the Dalai Lama:

“You should meditate 20 minutes per day. You should meditate for one hour unless you are too busy.”

There’s no need to take this literally and start meditating for an hour daily. It may even be inadvisable, as meditating that much can have adverse side effects (watch Dr. Willoughby Britton’s keynote to learn more).

However, the general idea behind that saying is accurate: if you don’t have time to meditate for 20 minutes daily, it’s probably a sign that you are caught up in chaos and not thinking clearly. Meditating can help you step back, slow down, and recenter yourself!

#6: Read Fiction to Wind Down in the Evenings

You can’t expect a good night’s sleep if you are still wired.

That’s why you want an evening routine designed to help you wind down.

Avoid stimulating activities like checking the news, scrolling social media, or playing computer games.

Instead, consider taking a warm bath or shower, stretching, and reading a fiction book.

Don’t try to make your evening reading “productive.” The aim is to relax, not cram more information into your head or slog through Dostoyevsky while pondering the human condition. Let yourself read books that you find entertaining, even mindless!

#7: Practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation Right Before Sleep

Progressive muscle relaxation was created by Edmund Jacobson, who summarized it in his 1934 book “You Must Relax: A Practical Method of Reducing the Strains of Modern Living.”

Since then, PMR has been improved upon by countless scientists and doctors and is now used in a wide variety of medical settings for stress management, pain relief, insomnia relief, and more.

There are many PMR variations out there, but they tend to share these two key steps:

1. You lie down in a quiet, calm, and safe environment
2. You systematically tense and relax every muscle group in your body

You can tense and relax your muscles from your face to your toes, from your toes to your face, or from one side of the body to another. Think of it as a wave of relaxation gradually washing over your body.

You can find guided PMR videos on YouTube. Experiment with different variations of this technique and start using the one that you like the most right before sleep. It’s a great preventative measure for managing stress!

#8: Use Box Breathing to Quickly Calm Yourself Down

Box breathing is a technique that Navy Seals use to manage extreme stress in combat zones.

A single box breathing cycle consists of these four steps:

1. Breathe in while counting to four
2. Hold your breath while counting to four
3. Breathe out while counting to four
4. Wait while counting to four

…then, breathe in while counting to four again and start another cycle. Do as many cycles as you need to calm down.

Use box breathing throughout the day whenever you feel anxious, overwhelmed, or stressed. You might be surprised by how effective this technique is!

#9: Limit Your Social Media Usage

You will need to do social media marketing to grow your business, so it may be impossible to stay away from these platforms entirely.

However, you want to limit your social media usage to what’s necessary for business purposes. Why?

Because social media algorithms are designed to optimize engagement… What emotion generates the most engagement? Outrage!

We live in a world with more than eight billion people. There will always be scandals, horrible crimes, natural disasters, geopolitical tensions, shady politicians, lunatics spreading deranged conspiracy theories, and attention seekers posting widely offensive hot takes. But guess what?

Getting outraged about it won’t change anything. These algorithms are designed to make us feel like we are “staying informed” when we are just chasing the next dopamine hit while working ourselves into a frenzy over things we cannot control.

Entrepreneurship is stressful enough as it is. Your free time should be spent engaging in activities that contribute to your health, relationships, and overall well-being, not mainlining outrage through your phone screen!

#10: Try to Spend Some Time in Nature Every Week

It’s no secret that spending time in nature has a calming effect.

Consider scheduling a few-hour hike every week. If you have a spouse and kids, it can be an opportunity to do something together as a family while also getting some fresh air.

If you are single, invite your friends to join you on your weekly hikes, but if no one is interested, don’t hesitate to go by yourself. In fact, it doesn’t even need to be a hike; you can simply sit by the lake and look at the water.

And if getting outside of the city is too time-consuming to be practical, then at least go to a local park and have a picnic there!

Want to Learn How to Build Sales Funnels That CONVERT?

Our co-founder Russell Brunson used sales funnels to take ClickFunnels from zero to $100M+ in annual revenue in less than a decade.

He is now widely considered to be one of the top sales funnel experts in the world. Want to learn from him?

His best-selling book “DotCom Secrets” is the best place to start because it covers everything you need to know in order to build sales funnels that convert.

This book is available on Amazon where it has over 2,500 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating.

But you can also get it directly from us for free…

All we ask is that you pay for shipping!

So what are you waiting for?

Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!

P.S. Here’s What Readers Say About “DotCom Secrets”…

What Readers Say About “DotCom Secrets”

Thanks for reading Overcoming Stress As A Business Owner which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Guide To Boost And Compete In Sales – Rewrite appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Most affiliate programs operate like a casual carpool: everyone moves in the same direction, but no one’s in a hurry.

As a business owner, you know this means leaving money on the table. Your affiliates have the potential to become powerful sales drivers – they just need the right motivation. By adding competitive elements to your program, you can transform passive partners into enthusiastic promoters of your brand.

In this guide, we’ll explore practical ways to structure affiliate competitions that work for businesses of any size. These aren’t just theoretical concepts. Their tried-and-tested strategies have helped businesses like ClickFunnels and Revolve multiply their affiliate sales.

Create a Compelling Landing Page

One crucial step many businesses miss when launching an affiliate competition is having enough quality affiliates in the first place.

The solution is to create a compelling landing page that attracts the right partners to your program before you even think about running contests.

Your landing page needs to show what’s in it for potential affiliates clearly. Tell them exactly what they can earn through your commissions or how they are paid. This gives them a clear picture of their earning potential.

For example, ClickFunnels has a dedicated landing page with all the details of our affiliate program.

Lay out the extra perks that make your program unique. Maybe you provide done-for-you marketing materials or offer one-on-one coaching calls. At ClickFunnels, we offer a dream car to affiliates who get 100 or more people to join our platforms.

If you have an affiliate manager or special training programs, highlight these benefits. Affiliates want to know they’ll get support, not just be left to figure things out alone.

Be upfront about who you’re looking for. If you need affiliates with a particular audience size or specific niche experience, say so. This saves everyone time and helps attract partners who are genuinely a good fit. Tell them if you have minimum requirements or if you’re looking for specific types of content creators.

ClickFunnels’ drag-and-drop builder and proven templates are perfect for creating high-converting affiliate recruitment pages.

You can even set up your entire affiliate application funnel in hours, not weeks, using Workflows.

Easily Create Beautiful Landing Pages Using ClickFunnels

Measure What Actually Matters

Before launching your affiliate competition, pick the right metrics to track. Focusing only on total sales numbers is tempting, but that might not tell the whole story of who’s driving value for your business.

Think about what truly impacts your bottom line. For a subscription business, it could be the number of annual plans sold rather than monthly ones. If you’re an e-commerce store, high-margin products matter more than the total order count.

Here are some metrics you can track:

• Customer lifetime value from affiliate referrals, not just first purchases
• Return customer rate from each affiliate’s traffic
• Average order value as some affiliates might bring fewer but bigger sales
• Refund rates. Because quality matters as much as quantity
• Product mix to see who’s selling your full range versus just the popular items

The key is keeping it simple enough to track consistently. You don’t need fancy analytics tools – a basic spreadsheet works fine when you’re starting out. Focus on 2-3 metrics that directly tie to your business goals.

Share these metrics openly with your affiliates. When they understand what you value most, they can adjust their promotion strategies to match. Plus, it shows you’re not just after quick sales but building a sustainable program together.

Remember: measuring the right things helps you reward the affiliates who bring real, lasting value to your business, not just temporary spikes in traffic.

Build a Leaderboard for Your Affiliates

One of the most effective and straightforward tools to motivate affiliates to hit their goals is a leaderboard. In this dynamic, visual system, affiliates are ranked based on their sales performance, with top performers receiving better rewards and recognition. It shows who’s bringing in the most sales or leads.

Why are Leaderboards Effective?

It works because humans are inherently motivated by recognition and competition. Publicly showcasing top performers taps into this psychology:

• Healthy Competition: Affiliates push harder to outperform peers, driving collective results.
• Transparency: Real-time tracking builds trust-affiliates see exactly where they stand.
• Community Momentum: A live leaderboard creates buzz, encouraging even successful affiliates to strive for incremental progress.

To make it work, align the metrics with your business objectives.

For example,

• If you prioritize sales, track revenue
• If brand awareness matters more, track clicks or social shares

Avoid vanity metrics, like which affiliate created the most number of posts.

Focus on the outcome and not on the output.

Affiliates need to trust the system. Use real-time data updates to ensure accuracy and clarify how rankings are calculated. For example, if commissions vary by product, they weigh higher-margin sales more heavily.

Transparency prevents disputes and reinforces credibility. Display the leaderboard prominently-embed it in your affiliate portal, share it in newsletters, or even showcase top performers on social media (with permission).

Prevent Discouragement

While competition drives performance, an overly cutthroat environment can backfire.

To prevent discouragement, segment affiliates by experience level or niche. A “Rookie of the Month” category, for instance, gives newcomers a fighting chance. You can also pair the leaderboard with collaborative incentives, like group rewards for hitting collective targets. This creates camaraderie and ensures smaller affiliates don’t feel overshadowed by top performers.

Create a Tiered Reward System

People are naturally driven by progress and achievement. When partners see a clear path forward, with specific milestones to reach, they’re more likely to stay engaged and push harder.

That’s why, instead of offering the same rewards to everyone, you create different levels that partners can progress through as they perform better. Here’s an example from Goli, the supplement brand. Their affiliate dashboard shows how partners can move from initial sales to becoming top performers.

These milestones should be challenging but attainable, encouraging affiliates to push beyond their comfort zones without feeling overwhelmed. Unlike a leaderboard, which ranks affiliates against one another, milestones allow individuals to compete against their own past performance, fostering a growth mindset.

However, showing the level is not enough; you have to increase the incentives offered at each stage.

Take the example of Obvi, a collagen brand. As sales volume grows, their affiliates can earn higher commission percentages on their transactions. This rewards active partners for their continued dedication while encouraging newer partners to aim higher.

These rewards don’t need to be monetary-you can also offer exclusive training sessions, early access to new products, or public recognition in a newsletter. For instance, an affiliate hitting their first milestone might receive a personalized thank-you note from the business owner, while higher tiers unlock mentorship opportunities or invite them to exclusive events.

Launch Time-limited Challenges

Time-limited challenges create urgency and excitement while giving all affiliates-regardless of their usual performance-a fresh chance to win. Unlike permanent leaderboards or long-term tier systems, these short sprints keep engagement high through novelty and focused effort.

Here’s how REVOLVE taps into seasonal opportunities by turning the start of the autumn season into an engaging affiliate challenge.

Since affiliates work at different rhythms and peak during different seasons, these rotating challenges give everyone multiple chances to compete when they’re at their strongest. For instance, some affiliates might excel during holiday promotions, while others perform best during back-to-school seasons or summer campaigns.

Let Affiliates Know in Advance

To maximize impact, announce challenges in advance so affiliates can prepare their promotional strategies. This advance notice lets them plan their content calendar, warm up their audience, and potentially collaborate with other creators for a bigger impact. It also gives them time to analyze past performance data and identify the best channel and messaging approaches for the specific challenge theme.

Offer Mini-Rewards

Beyond the main prize, consider offering “surprise” mini-rewards throughout the challenge period to maintain momentum and engagement. These unexpected bonuses-like spot rewards for the highest daily sales, special recognition for creative promotion ideas, or bonus points for reaching micro-milestones-keep affiliates excited and engaged even if they’re not in the running for the grand prize.

Stay Connected With Your Affiliates

Running competitions is only half the battle. Without consistent communication, even your most exciting contests can fizzle out. Your affiliates won’t get excited about your challenges if they don’t know what’s happening or feel disconnected from your brand.

Regular updates keep that competitive energy flowing between contests. Send email updates showing current rankings, share quick stories of affiliates crushing it, and build some buzz for upcoming challenges. Even a simple Monday email highlighting last week’s winners can motivate the whole group.

Use ClickFunnels to Send Emails

Sending individual updates or regular motivation emails takes time you don’t have. That’s why smart automation helps so much. You can use ClickFunnels’ email marketing tools to set up messages that:

• Share leaderboard standings and milestone celebrations
• Announce new competitions and remind everyone about deadlines
• Pass along winning strategies from your top performers
• Keep affiliates informed about new products they can promote

Creating emails in ClickFunnels is quick and easy with drag-and-drop elements, ready-made templates, and no-code setup.

Think of your affiliate program as a community. When affiliates feel connected and supported, they jump into competitions with real enthusiasm. Regular communication turns casual participants into engaged partners who actively push for results.

Create Emails Quickly and Easily Using ClickFunnels (Try for Free!)

Make Your Competition Fair for Everyone

Not every affiliate starts with a massive email list or social following. Running fair competitions means giving everyone a real shot at winning, whether they’re just starting out or have been promoting your products for years.

Here’s how to level the playing field without overcomplicating things:

Create different competition tracks based on where affiliates are in their journey. A newer affiliate might compete in the “Rising Stars” category, focusing on percentage growth rather than total sales. Meanwhile, your experienced partners can battle it out in the “Champions” league. This simple split keeps everyone motivated. New affiliates aren’t discouraged by unreachable targets, and veterans stay challenged.

Set some baseline rules that make sense. Instead of just rewarding top sellers, think about metrics like:

• Highest month-over-month growth
• Best conversion rate
• Most improved performance
• Most consistent sales (even if smaller amounts)

For smaller contests, try rotating the focus each time. One month might reward the highest number of new customers, while the next celebrates the best customer feedback scores. This variety gives different types of affiliates their moment to shine.

Final Thoughts

Successful affiliate competitions aren’t about creating cutthroat rivalry. They’re about building a community where everyone feels motivated to grow. Some affiliates will be driven by public recognition, others by personal achievement milestones. Your job is to create an environment where both types can thrive.

But what often trips business owners up isn’t the competition structure. It’s trying to do too much at once. You don’t need to launch a tiered rewards program, weekly challenges, and a complex leaderboard system all at the same time. Start with one element, nail it, then expand.

Here’s a simple way to get started:

1. Pick one competition format to test – maybe a basic monthly leaderboard
2. Choose 2-3 clear metrics to track (remember what we discussed about measuring what matters)
3. Set up basic email communication (ClickFunnels can help automate this)
4. Launch a test run with your most engaged affiliates first

Map out your first competition today. Create a simple landing page in ClickFunnels to announce it, set up automated email updates to keep everyone engaged, and focus on making it fun and achievable for affiliates at every level. Here’s a link to the free trial of ClickFunnels so you can test the platform before you pay anything.

Create Emails Quickly and Easily Using ClickFunnels (Try for Free!)

Thanks for reading Guide To Boost And Compete In Sales – Rewrite which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Getting To Know Your Businesses’ Customers appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Customer personas can help you make your copy more persuasive.

Today, we will explain everything you need to know about them, including what they are, why they work, and how to create them.

What is a Customer Persona?

A customer persona is a fictional character that represents your target demographic.

You can think of customer personas as archetypes that convey the most important information about your dream customers.

What is the Purpose of Customer Personas?

We humans have evolved to live in tribes organized around extended families that were intermarried with each other.

Surviving in such an environment requires an ability to empathize with individuals, which is why we developed it.

However, there was no need to emphasize large, abstract groups of people, so we still struggle with it.

This cognitive limitation can be a big problem for entrepreneurs – writing persuasive copy requires empathy, but your target audience is a large, abstract group of people that your brain cannot conceptualize.

And that’s where customer personas come in: instead of attempting to empathize with your target audience, you create a fictional character to represent it.

Then, you write all the copy for that particular customer segment with this fictional character in mind!

Does Your Business Need Customer Personas?

Customer personas aren’t a necessity – you can grow your business without them.

However, they can help you write better copy, which means higher conversion rates, more sales, and more revenue.

We understand this whole idea might sound weird if you have never encountered it.

However, some of the best copywriters in the world swear by this approach, so it would be unwise to dismiss it without giving it a shot!

Which Customer Segment Should You Start With?

First, analyze your sales funnel conversion data to see what kind of people are the most likely to convert into leads and paying customers.

Then, look at the sales data to see which customers bring in a disproportionate revenue.

Finally, check your customer support, cancellation, and refund request data to see which customers are the least likely to submit customer support tickets, cancel their subscriptions, and ask for refunds.

The Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that:

“For many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes.”

Once you analyze your business data, you might discover a pattern that follows this principle, with a minority of your customers bringing in most of your revenue.

In addition to that, you may also realize that the most lucrative customer segment is the least fussy, as measured by the customer support, cancellation, and refund request data.

In that case, the easiest way to grow your business is to zero in on this demographic to attract more people like that. We recommend creating a customer persona for this segment first!

The #1 Mistake Entrepreneurs Make When It Comes to Customer Personas

The most common mistake entrepreneurs make regarding customer personas is treating them as a creative writing exercise.

While customer personas are fictional, they should be based on data, not your imagination.

Quantitative data revolves around numbers and is measurable, while qualitative data revolves around language and is open to interpretation.

It’s important to collect, analyze, and use both types of data because they both have value and can help you make better business decisions.

What doesn’t have value is you making things up. Ask yourself where you get it from whenever you want to add something to your customer persona. If you cannot point to a specific piece of data, you probably shouldn’t include it.

That will help you keep your biases in check, avoid falling for inaccurate stereotypes, and create customer personas that closely resemble the median person in that demographic.

Set Up a System for Storing and Organizing Customer Research Data

You don’t want your customer research data scattered across your email inbox, social media DMs, and Google Doc notes. Instead, you should set up a system for storing and organizing it.

Some entrepreneurs store everything in text documents, others use spreadsheets, and others build databases with apps like Notion. The exact approach doesn’t matter; what’s important is that you store data in a way that makes it easy to access, browse, and retrieve specific information.

Start by Researching Your Existing Customers

You already have a list of existing customers in your most lucrative customer segment. So why not start by researching them?

Review All Communications Between Them and Your Company

This means social media posts that mention you, social media DMs, emails, customer support tickets, refund requests, and so on.

Send Out a Customer Survey via Email

Send out a customer survey via email where customers can evaluate your product or service by clicking a frowny face emoji, a neutral face emoji, or a smiley face emoji.

The purpose of this survey is to identify the customers who are willing to provide feedback.

Reach Out to Customers Who Responded to Your Survey

Wait to see who responds to your survey, and then reach out to those customers via email.

Tell them you would like to learn more about their experience with your product or service and see if they would be willing to jump on a 30-minute Zoom call with you.

Ask Your Most Important Question via Email if They are Not Willing to Have a Zoom Call

If they respond to your reach-out email but are unwilling to have a call, send them your most important question and tell them that you’d appreciate it if they could help you understand that particular issue better. Then, thank them for their feedback and leave it as is.

Analyze Their Social Media Profiles

Since you know the names and last names of your most lucrative customers, you should be able to find their social media profiles.

That can help you learn more about where they are in their lives, the main challenges they are struggling with, and what language they use to describe those challenges. You might also discover various idiosyncrasies that are common in your target demographic.

We understand that analyzing people’s social media profiles might seem weird. However, if you aren’t feeling like a creepy online stalker, you probably aren’t doing enough customer research!

Expand the Scope of Your Customer Research

Once you are done learning about your existing customers, expand the scope of your customer research to include potential customers that belong to the same lucrative demographic.

Consume the Same Content That They are Consuming

It’s probably safe to say that we are all being heavily influenced by the content we consume, regardless of whether we are consciously aware of that.

This means you can learn a lot about the headspace your potential customers are in by consuming the same content.

That includes:

• Following the same influencers
• Reading the same blogs
• Subscribing to the same newsletters 
• Listening to the same podcasts
• Watching the same YouTube and TikTok channels 

There’s also something to be said about reading popular books in your target demographic, but that is less important than keeping up with the online content.

Join Online Communities in Which They are Participating

Another great way to learn more about potential customers is to join the online communities they dominate.

That can mean:

• Subreddits
• Online forums
• Facebook groups
• Discord servers
• Membership websites

Promoting one’s products and services is typically frowned upon in online communities like the ones mentioned above, so it’s best to refrain from doing that. Otherwise, you might get kicked out.

Instead, you want to observe the conversations happening there, occasionally contribute to the discussion if you have something valuable to say, and ask questions to help you better understand where these people are coming from.

See if You Can Talk to Them One-On-One

If you become a regular in those online communities, you will probably make some connections with individuals who belong to your target demographic.

See if you can talk to them one-on-one in DMs or via Zoom. Suppose you have an informal personal connection with someone. In that case, you will likely get more candid answers from them than from a customer who only knows you within the context of a business relationship.

So don’t hesitate to ask your online acquaintances about their experiences with the problem that your product or service addresses and the nuances you may not understand if you don’t belong to that demographic.

Don’t try to sell them your product or service. However, if they ask about it, offer it to them for free so that you can get their feedback!

Talk to Them in Real Life

Finally, while interacting with potential customers online can teach you a lot, you also want to find ways to talk to them in real life.

Figure out where they congregate offline, go there, and start making connections. Meetups, seminars, and industry conferences are great for this.

Talking to people face-to-face will enable you to pick up subtle details based on their appearance, body language, demeanor, etc.

You will also get to see how your potential customers interact with each other, which can provide valuable insights into their social dynamics.

Again, don’t try to sell anyone your product or service; just observe, ask questions, and listen!

Uncover More Insights With Text Analytics Software

Text analytics apps use a machine learning technique called text analysis to extract actionable business insights from textual data.

That includes:

• Identifying the most common words, terms, and phrases
• Tracking the overall sentiment over time
• Summarizing the current overall sentiment

This software can enable you to uncover insights that would not have been available to you otherwise because it can analyze textual data in quantities that would not be possible to analyze manually.

For example, you cannot manually analyze an entire online forum, but you can do it with a text analytics app. The same can be said about social media hashtags, subreddits, YouTube comments, and TikTok comments.

There’s a ton of valuable information buried in all that data. Text analytics software can help you unearth it!

Select a Customer Persona Template

Once you are done with customer research, the next step is to choose a customer persona template.

There are a lot of them available for free on:

• Canva
• Visme
• Freepik

Select a template that is the best match for the customer persona that you want to create.

Use AI to Turn Your Research Into a Customer Persona

Take all the data from your customer research database and create an anonymized version of it.

This anonymized version should include all the information present in the original data except for people’s names, last names, and other identifying details.

Then, upload this data to a large language model of your choice, such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini.

Ask the large language model to create a customer persona designed to represent the median person in your target demographic based on the customer research data you provided.

Instruct it to format this customer persona to make it easy for you to fill out your chosen customer persona template.

For example, if you ask the large language model to create a persona that includes:

• Name
• Age
• Occupation
• Employer
• Family status
• Place of residence
• Personality traits
• Character type
• Motivations
• Goals
• Frustrations

…plus a short, humanizing description of that persona, a quote by it, and marketing channels through which it can be reached, you can easily fill out the template below.

Now, what was the point of all that customer research if AI can create customer personas for you in a matter of seconds?

You need to know something about large language models: they tend to make things up and confidently state them as facts. Computer scientists call this phenomenon “hallucinations”. This means that you cannot blindly trust AI output.

Fortunately, hallucinations are only a problem if you cannot verify the accuracy of what the LLM is saying due to your lack of knowledge.

If you skipped customer research and went straight to generating customer personas with AI, you would have no way of knowing if those personas are accurate.

However, now that you have done your homework, you can immediately spot if something about your AI-generated customer persona is way off.

Moreover, because you have a customer research database, you can check each trait of your customer persona against the data you collected to ensure that it represents a real pattern.

For example, if AI creates a customer persona that loves Taylor Swift, but Taylor Swift has not come up in your research at all, it’s best to remove that trait because it’s not based on data.

Getting an accurate customer persona might take some tweaking, but making adjustments is simple – you can just tell the large language what changes it should make!

See if This Customer Persona Helps You Write More Persuasive Copy

Once you have your customer persona, fill out the template, print it out, and keep it handy.

We recommend doing a three-month experiment: every time you need to write a piece of copy, do it with your customer persona in mind.

For example, let’s say your target audience is user interface designers, and AI created a customer persona, Martha Jay (pictured above), to represent it.

Whenever you need to write copy for an ad, an email, an email series, a landing page, or a sales page, don’t try to persuade “users interface designers”; try to persuade Martha. Why should she respond to your call to action?

If Martha accurately represents the median user interface designer, focusing on her should help you make your copy more persuasive.

After three months, compare the “before Martha” and “after Martha” conversion rates to see if she was helpful.

If your conversion rates remain stagnant or decrease, stop using this customer persona and see if you can create a more accurate one.

Also, if you tried several different personas for the same customer segment but your conversion rates haven’t increased, it’s possible that this approach to copywriting simply doesn’t resonate with you.

In that case, feel free to drop this whole idea. As we already explained, customer personas aren’t a necessity – you can grow your business without them.

Continue learning about copywriting and experimenting with different approaches. Eventually, you’ll discover something that works for you!

Want to Learn How to Write Copy That CONVERTS?

Our friend Jim Edwards wrote a best-selling book, “Copywriting Secrets,” for busy entrepreneurs like you.

In this book, he covers everything you need to know to start writing copy that CONVERTS.

“Copywriting Secrets” is available on Amazon, with over 1,800 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating.

But you can also get it directly from Jim for free.

All he asks is that you cover the shipping!

So what are you waiting for?

Get “Copywriting Secrets” for FREE!

Thanks for reading Getting To Know Your Businesses’ Customers which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Tips For Building A High-Impact Business Website appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Need to create a professional business website?

Today, we will share 15 practical tips that can help you with that!

Tip #1: Create a Lead Magnet for Your Business

First of all, you will need a lead magnet, which is something that you offer to potential customers for free in exchange for their contact details.

Our friend Alex Hormozi defines a lead magnet as a complete solution to a narrow problem, which is a helpful way to think about it!

Best Lead Magnet for a Service Business

If you have a service business, you can simply offer a free service that doesn’t cost much to provide.

For example:

• Give away free teeth cleaning if you are a dentist
• Give away free massages if you are a massage therapist
• Give away free custom workout plans if you are a personal trainer

Then, pitch that potential customer a paid service, a service package, or a service subscription.

Best Lead Magnet for an Info Product Business

If you sell information products of any kind, you can create a free product that addresses the same problem as your paid product on a much smaller scope.

For example:

• Give away free short stories if you sell fiction books
• Give away free short ebooks if you sell non-fiction books
• Give away free video presentations if you sell video masterclasses or online courses

Then, follow up with a pitch for a related paid product.

Note that giving away a free excerpt from your paid product won’t work well because an excerpt only provides a partial solution to a problem instead of a complete one. Your lead magnet needs to be self-contained!

Best Lead Magnet for a Software Business

If you are selling software, the obvious choice for a lead magnet is a free trial.

However, that only works well with potential solution-aware customers, meaning they are actively looking for the kind of software you are selling.

That’s why you also need an educational lead magnet to reach problem-aware potential customers struggling with a particular problem but unsure how to solve it.

For example, here at ClickFunnels, we sell funnel builder software and offer a free trial on our website.

However, if someone has never even heard the term “sales funnel”, pitching them a free trial for a funnel builder app doesn’t make sense.

That’s why we also have a bunch of educational lead magnets designed to help entrepreneurs understand sales funnels, why they are so important, and how to build them.

Make Sure That Your Lead Magnet Exceeds All Expectations!

The most common mistake entrepreneurs make regarding lead magnets is not putting enough effort into them.

They seem to believe that their lead magnet being free should make up for its poor quality, but that’s not how potential customers see it.

In their eyes, the quality of your lead magnet indicates the quality of your paid products and services.

Imagine that a new restaurant opened in your area and offered free dessert and coffee, a common strategy for increasing restaurant sales.

You decide to check it out, but then the dessert turns out to be barely edible, and the coffee the worst you ever had. Will you go back to that restaurant? Probably not.

This applies to all lead magnets: if your free offer is a let-down, potential customers won’t take the risk on your paid offers. Why would they?

That’s why it’s so important to do everything you can to ensure that your lead magnet exceeds all expectations!

Tip #2: Build a Simple Sales Funnel

Now that you have your lead magnet, it’s time to build a sales funnel for your business.

We recommend starting with a simple funnel that has three pages:

1. A lead magnet landing page where you present your free offer and ask the potential customer for their email address.
2. A thank you page where you thank the potential customer and explain how to access your lead magnet.
3. A sales page for your product or service. If you have several paid offers, choose the most affordable one for this funnel.

Then, set up an email welcome sequence using this template:

You can easily do all this with ClickFunnels – our software has both a funnel-building functionality and an email marketing functionality. Plus, there’s a library of proven, high-converting page templates, so you won’t have to design the pages in your funnel from scratch.

Once everything is set up and your funnel is live, start driving traffic to it with paid ads (e.g., Facebook ads, Instagram ads, Google Search ads).

(If you don’t know how to do it, you can learn it on Udemy. Wait for a sale, and you should be able to get a reputable paid advertising course for less than $20.)

The aim is to validate your business idea before you start building a proper website for your company. See if you can generate some leads and make some sales. Do your dream customers want what you’re selling?

Tip #3: Get a .com Domain Name if You Can

Okay, so now that you made some sales with your sales funnel, let’s get to building a business website.

First of all, you will need a domain name, which you can buy on Namecheap. If you intend to serve a local audience, get your country’s domain extension. Unless you are an American, go with .com if possible.

Meanwhile, if you intend to serve an international audience, .com is the best option because it’s the easiest to remember. Plus, it comes across as the most professional.

Of course, .com domain names can be expensive, so don’t go broke trying to buy one. If you can’t afford it then you can’t afford it.

Namecheap also sells domain names with these extensions:

• .org
• .eu
• .net
• .io
• .ai
• .co.uk
• .ca
• .dev
• .me

You should also check out this list of country top-level domain name extensions.

Some of them are reserved for citizens of those countries, local businesses, and local NGOs. However, others are open and can be used by anyone.

See if you can come up with a memorable domain name that incorporates one of these open extensions (e.g,. Matt Mullenweg hosts his blog on ma.tt, .tt being the domain name extension for Trinidad and Tobago).

Tip #4: Invest in Dedicated Hosting

It’s important to understand the difference between shared hosting and dedicated hosting:

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting means sharing the server on which your website is hosted with other websites.

It’s more affordable but less robust because the performance of your website can be affected by something caused by other websites you have no control over.

For example, if one of your server “neighbors” goes viral, the subsequent spike in traffic can crash the entire server and take down all the websites, including yours.

In addition to that, shared hosting is also slower, which shouldn’t be surprising considering that you are sharing server resources with other websites.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting means having an entire server to yourself.

It’s more expensive but also more robust and faster, so we recommend going with this option if you can afford it.

Tip #5: Understand Jacob’s Law

Jacob’s Law is a user experience design principle that states:

“Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know.”

In other words, you want to adhere to your industry’s general web design norms.

For example, SaaS companies’ homepages typically have a navigation bar at the top and a call-to-action button at the top-right corner.

We use the same layout on our homepage, enabling our potential customers to find the information they need quickly.

Tip #6: Prioritize Conversions Over Aesthetics

There’s no denying that aesthetics matter in web design.

If your website looks bad, potential customers will assume it must be a scam and leave immediately.

So yes, you need a proper visual hierarchy, a harmonious color scheme, and an overall modern look.

However, the purpose of your company’s website isn’t to look pretty; it’s to help you grow your business.

Its primary goal should be converting website visitors into leads by persuading them to give you their contact details.

Unfortunately, while the worst-looking websites don’t convert well, neither do the best-looking ones. Why?

Because many visually pleasing elements end up distracting customers from the conversion goal.

So forget about crazy color schemes, obscure fonts, and cool animations. It’s best to keep your design simple. Prioritize conversions over aesthetics if you want to grow your business!

Tip #7: Design Your Website for a Single Conversion Goal

We designed our website with a single conversion in mind – we aim to convert as many visitors into free trial users as possible.

You know that saying “All roads lead to Rome”? Well, on our website, all user flows lead to a free trial sign-up button, the only exceptions being the login button for the existing users and some of the links in the footer.

We recommend taking a similar approach: determine the most effective way to convert website visitors into leads and design your entire website around it.

Depending on your business model, that might mean encouraging potential customers to sign up for a free trial, download your lead magnet, or book a free consultation.

You should make all design decisions with that conversion goal in mind and ruthlessly eliminate anything that might distract from it!

Tip #8: Use a Proven Website Template

There’s no point in designing your website from scratch unless web design is your passion and you are also good at it.

For everyone else, it makes much more sense to use a proven, high-converting website template instead.

Our software comes with a library of such website templates and a website editor that you can use to customize them!

Tip #9: Build a Homepage Funnel

The homepage funnel has three pages:

1. Your homepage where you feature a call to action for your primary conversion goal above the fold.
2. A pop-up with an opt-in form where the potential customer can type in their email address.
3. A thank you page where you thank the potential customer and tell them what to do next.

This funnel enables you to generate leads through your homepage. You can easily build it with our software!

Tip #10: Lead With Your Value Proposition

When a potential customer lands on your homepage, they should first see a headline that conveys your value proposition.

For example, we use three types of headlines on our homepage to convey that ClickFunnels can help you convert traffic into leads.

Super headline: Struggling To Get A Constant Flow Of Customers?

Main headline: Meet ClickFunnels.

Subheadline: Getting People To Your Website And Turning Them Into Happy Paying Customers Is What We Do Best

(“Super” means “above” and “sub” means “below” in Latin, hence the terms “super headline” and “subheadline).

We also use typography to direct people’s attention: when someone arrives on our homepage, they are going to read the main headline first because it’s the largest and then they will automatically read the other two because they are right next to the main one.

You don’t need to use all three types of headlines, but you might want to consider it because it enables you to convey more information than you could with just the main headline.

Also, note how we aren’t talking about “software,” “sales funnel,” or “conversions” in our headlines. Why?

Because there are a lot of business owners out there who aren’t tech-savvy or familiar with marketing terms, we are casting the broadest net we can by explaining our value proposition as simply as possible.

You want to figure out how to do the same for your business!

Tip #11: Pre-emptively Address the Most Common Potential Objections

Potential customers will likely have some objections when you present them with your offer. Ideally, you want to address the most common ones above the fold.

We did this by adding “Get Started In Less Than 60 Seconds”, “Cancel anytime,” “Zero Computer Skills Needed,” and “Works for Every Type of Business” to our above-the-fold copy.

Tip #12: Add as Much Social Proof to Your Website as You Possibly Can

In the business context, social proof refers to indications that other people trust you: customer testimonials, case studies, reviews, etc.

If you browse our website, you’ll see that it’s plastered with social proof – there are testimonials everywhere. Why?

Because social proof is compelling and can do wonders for your conversion rate.

We would argue that there’s no such thing as too much social proof unless it gets to the point where it starts distracting visitors from your primary conversion goal.

If you don’t have any social proof yet, your priority should be to obtain it. Then, make sure to display it prominently on your website!

Tip #13: Use Heatmap Software to Understand User Behavior

You are too close to your website to evaluate how intuitive it is accurately.

It’s quite likely that some design choices that make perfect sense for you are confusing to potential customers.

Heatmap software lets you see which page elements draw the most attention, which gets the most clicks, and how far down your visitors scroll.

You can then use all that information to improve usability and increase conversion rates!

Tip #14: Optimize Your Website With A/B Testing

A/B testing, or split testing, is the best way to optimize your website for conversions.

The idea behind it is simple: you create two variants of the same page that are identical except for the element that you are testing and drive the same amount of traffic to both variants. This allows you to see which version of that element converts better.

A/B testing can help you optimize everything from the layout of your website to its color scheme to its copy.

Any given test will be unlikely to yield impressive results, but if you run enough of them, you’ll probably stumble upon a few big wins eventually. Plus, conversion rate increases, no matter how small, add up over time and can generate a ton of additional revenue.

So get into the “Always Be Testing” mindset. It doesn’t matter how any particular test goes; what matters is that you keep running them. You can easily set up A/B tests with our software!

Tip #15: Make Sure That Your Website is Compliant With Online Privacy Laws

No one wants to think about the boring legal stuff.

However, online privacy laws are something that you need to take seriously. Otherwise, you might end up in legal trouble.

Various federal and state laws regulate data collection, processing, security, and user rights in the United States.

Meanwhile, the European Union has a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

It’s worth noting that the United Kingdom has retained GDPR after leaving the European Union by incorporating it into its laws. So, while the EU’s GDPR doesn’t apply there, the UK’s GDPR does.

GDPR has also become a model for online privacy laws around the world. Similar regulations exist in some African, Asian, and South American countries. 

To make your business website available in a particular country, you must comply with the local online privacy laws. 

For example, American companies that want to make their business website available in the European Union must comply with GDPR. 

These regulations are complicated and have a lot of implications so it’s probably best to consult a lawyer to ensure that all your bases are covered!

Try ClickFunnels Risk-Free!

Let’s be real:

We are biased in favor of our software. 

So we understand if you take what we say about it with a grain of salt.

Fortunately, we have a free 14-day trial, so you don’t have to take our word for it. 

You can go and see ClickFunnels for yourself without any risk!

So what are you waiting for?

Start Your Free Trial Today

P.S. Here’s What Our Customers Say About ClickFunnels…

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Thanks for reading Tips For Building A High-Impact Business Website which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Proven Tactics To Keep Customers Coming Back appeared first on ClickFunnels.

One of the biggest traps that new businesses fall into is that they get caught in an endless cycle of customer hunting. Each month starts with the same frantic push: more ads, more discounts, and more hustle to find new buyers. Meanwhile, existing customers quietly drift away.

It’s like pouring water into a leaky bucket – you’re working harder and harder just to stay afloat, which is why growth seems unachievable.

The answer lies in customer retention – keeping the customers you already have rather than constantly chasing new ones.

In this blog, we’ll discuss five tactics that helped businesses like yours build a stable customer base in their critical first year. Whether running a local shop or an online store, each strategy is simple enough to start today yet powerful enough to shape your business’s future.

What is Customer Retention?

Customer retention means keeping the customers who have already bought from you so they come back and buy again. The more customers stick around, the more stable and profitable your business becomes.

You can calculate your customer retention rate using a simple formula:

Retention Rate = (End Customers – New Customers) / Starting Customers x 100

Let’s say your store started January with 200 customers. Throughout the year, you got 50 new customers, and in December, you had 180 customers.

Your retention rate would be: (180 – 50) / 200 x 100 = 65%

A low rate might mean customers aren’t happy with your products, prices, or services. A high rate usually means strong business health and steady income.

Not every industry will have the same retention rate.

A software company should have high retention since businesses usually need their software continuously, and switching is complicated. A coffee shop might see lower retention simply because people move or find a closer café. Retail fashion stores often see lower retention as customers might shop around for different styles or better deals.

Professional services like accountants or lawyers tend to keep clients longer because building new trust takes time. Online stores face tough retention since customers can easily compare prices and switch with one click.

Here are some standard benchmarks for the retention rate of different industries:

Why is Customer Retention Important?

Lower Costs Mean Higher Profits

Keeping existing customers costs less than finding new ones. You don’t need to spend on ads, marketing campaigns, or introductory discounts to convince them to buy. Your existing customers already know and trust your business.

Each new customer acquisition requires significant investment – from running ads and offering first-time discounts to spending time explaining your products. When you focus on retention, you can invest those resources into improving your product or service instead.

Repeat Customers Buy More

Long-term customers tend to buy more over time. Once they trust your products or services, they’re more likely to try new offerings and make more significant purchases. They also understand your value, so they’re less likely to leave just because a competitor offers a lower price.

They’re also more open to suggestions and cross-sells because they trust your recommendations. This leads to higher average order values and more frequent purchases.

Free Marketing Through Word-of-Mouth

Satisfied long-term customers bring in new business through word-of-mouth. They recommend your business to friends and family, write positive reviews, and share their experiences online. This organic growth is more reliable than paid advertising because people trust recommendations from people they know.

Better Customer Insights

Long-term customers provide invaluable insights into your products and services. The longer someone uses your offering, the more detailed and actionable their feedback becomes. These customers can spot subtle issues, suggest improvements, and help you understand evolving customer needs.

Unlike new customers who might only see surface-level features, loyal customers understand your product’s nuances and can help shape its future development. Their deep understanding of your product makes them excellent beta testers for new features, and their feedback often leads to innovations that attract even more customers while keeping existing ones satisfied.

5 Strategies for Customer Retention

Let’s look at 5 strategies that will help you retain customers without trying to lure them with discounts or any pushy sales tactics.

1- Create a Post-Purchase Experience

When customers genuinely understand how to use what they’ve bought, they’re more likely to stick around.

For example, Beardbrand does this beautifully in their welcome email. They immediately show new customers how to style their hair with the balm they just bought.

YNAB takes a similar approach to helping customers succeed with budgeting. Their initial email acknowledges the customer’s goal – like finally getting control of their finances. Then they introduce simple concepts one at a time, making sure customers actually benefit from the software rather than getting overwhelmed and giving up.

ClickFunnels takes a different approach to retention by creating multiple touchpoints. They offer:

• Regular live training sessions for new skills
• Traffic generation workshops
• A help center with searchable resources
• Community spaces where customers can connect

This approach ensures customers build confidence and actually use the platform to grow their business, rather than abandoning it out of frustration.

Simple training sessions, clear usage guides, and showing customers how others are succeeding with your product – all help customers get more value from their purchases. And when customers see that value, they stay.

Start by mapping out the key moments where customers might struggle with your product or miss out on its full value.

For example, if you sell skincare, identify when customers typically give up (maybe they don’t see results quickly enough) or miss important steps (like not using sunscreen with retinol). Then create simple educational content for these moments – a mix of emails, short videos, or even text messages that arrive right when customers need them.

Make this education feel natural and helpful, not overwhelming. Break everything down into small, actionable pieces. Instead of sending one massive guide, send bite-sized tips that build on each other.

At ClickFunnels, we’ve made it incredibly simple to create these post-purchase emails. Our drag-and-drop email editor lets you build beautiful, engaging emails in minutes. No tech skills are needed.

Schedule these emails to automatically go out at the perfect time, so you never miss an opportunity to help your customers succeed with their purchase.

Easily Create And Send Emails With ClickFunnels

2- Reward Loyalty

You can create a reason for your customers to stick with your business rather than trying competitors by offering them rewards, points, or special benefits if they decide to purchase from you again.

For example, customers choose Starbucks over other coffee shops because they’re always working toward their next reward.

But what makes loyalty programs truly work goes deeper than just points and perks.

The most effective loyalty programs work on multiple levels. On the surface, they offer clear, tangible benefits like points, discounts, or special perks. But deeper down, they tap into powerful motivators like status (through VIP tiers), achievement (by reaching milestones), and exclusivity (with member-only benefits).

For example, Sephora’s loyalty program mixes immediate rewards (like points on purchases) with long-term benefits (like special tier status) that customers won’t want to give up.

Loyalty programs tap into several core psychological principles that make them incredibly effective at keeping customers coming back.

At the most basic level, they trigger our brain’s reward system. Every time we earn points or unlock a new tier, we get a small hit of dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for making us feel good when we accomplish goals.

But there’s something even more powerful at work: loss aversion.

Once customers accumulate points or achieve a certain status, they become resistant to losing these benefits, even if they could find slightly better deals elsewhere.

The endowment effect further strengthens this – people place higher value on things they already own, including loyalty program benefits they’ve earned.

To make your loyalty program effective, keep it simple and attainable. Make sure rewards feel worthwhile, but don’t cut too deeply into your margins. Most importantly, focus on creating benefits that enhance the customer experience rather than just offering discounts. The goal is to make customers feel valued and give them a genuine reason to keep choosing your business.

3- Build a Strong Customer Community

Creating a community means fostering a space where your customers can connect, interact, and engage not just with your brand but with each other. It transforms the traditional one-way business-customer relationship into a network of relationships between your brand and its customers and among customers themselves.

When customers feel part of a community, they develop emotional connections that make them more likely to stay loyal to your brand.

For example, Ahrefs has a 15,300-member Facebook group exclusively for paying customers. This has created a self-sustaining ecosystem where customers help each other, reducing support costs while strengthening brand loyalty through peer-to-peer interactions.

Small and medium businesses can implement community-building strategies by starting small and scaling gradually.

• Begin with a private Facebook group or Discord server where customers can interact.
• Actively moderate the community and seed discussions with valuable content like product tips, industry insights, or behind-the-scenes looks at your business.
• Encourage customer success stories and facilitate peer learning.
• Host regular virtual meetups or Q&A sessions to maintain engagement.

When you use ClickFunnels, instead of juggling multiple tools or relying on third-party platforms, you can use our ‘Community’ feature to create and manage your members. Our customers love how easy it is to host discussions, share updates, and celebrate wins – all in one unified space.

Setting up your community takes just minutes: name your group, add a description, choose your privacy settings, and you’re ready to go. You can even customize the URL to match your brand.

You can create different types of groups – whether open to all your customers, private to specific segments, or secret for exclusive access. You also have full control over permissions, such as requiring post approval or automatically adding members to new topics.

Create And Launch Engaged Communities With ClickFunnels

4- Identify Customers at Risk of Churn

Some customers will naturally drift away, but unexpected or high churn can impact your growth and profitability. That’s why it’s necessary to keep an eye on customers who might churn and take action if the churn rate is growing.

Churn is the rate customers stop doing business with you in a certain period.

It is calculated as –

Churn Rate = (Lost Customers / Starting Customers) × 100

For example, if you started January with 200 customers and by the end of January, you lost 20 customers, your churn rate would be: (20 / 200) × 100 = 10%

The signals of when a customer is about to churn vary by industry but they often fall into three main categories:

• Engagement signals: How often customers interact with your product or service compared to their normal patterns. A sudden drop in usage, fewer logins, or decreased feature adoption often indicates dissatisfaction or lack of value.
• Purchase patterns: Changes in buying behavior can reveal impending churn. Look for reduced purchase frequency, smaller order sizes, or longer gaps between transactions compared to their historical average.
• Support interactions: Multiple support tickets, unresolved complaints, or increasingly frustrated communication tone often precede customer departure. Even seemingly minor issues can indicate growing dissatisfaction.

To implement a strategy to prevent churn, start by establishing your customer’s normal behavior patterns. What does a healthy, engaged customer look like in your business? This becomes your baseline. Then, monitor for deviations from this pattern.

The most effective approach is creating a simple scoring system. When any risk signal appears, assign it a value based on how strongly it predicts churn in your business.

For example:

• Missed payment: 5 points
• 50% drop in usage: 3 points
• Support complaint: 2 points

When a customer hits a certain threshold (say 7 points), it triggers an alert for your team to intervene. This intervention should be personalized based on their specific risk signals – if they’re having technical issues, have a support specialist reach out. If they’re not using key features, schedule a training session.

The goal is to identify at-risk customers early enough to address their concerns before they decide to leave because it’s much easier to keep a customer than to win them back after they’ve gone.

Here’s an example of an email sent by the clothing brand Girlfriend Collective to prevent at-risk customers from churning:

5- Conduct Exit Interviews

An exit interview is a structured conversation with a customer who has decided to leave your business (cancel a subscription, stop buying, request a refund, etc.). The goal is to understand why they’re leaving and gather insights to prevent others from going for the same reasons.

The process starts when you notice a customer is leaving – whether through a cancellation, refund request or when a regular customer goes quiet. Reach out quickly, ideally within 24 hours, with a personal touch.

A simple, genuine email works best. You can write:

Subject: Quick question about your [Product] experience

Hi [Name], I’m [Your Name], the [role] at [Company].

I noticed you’ve recently [canceled/requested a refund], and I’d love to understand why so we can improve. Would you be open to a brief 15-minute chat? As a thank you for your time, I’ll send you a [specific incentive].

You can pick a time that works best for you here: [Calendar link]

Best, [Your name]

During the conversation, focus on these key areas:

• The specific trigger that prompted their departure
• Features or services they felt were missing
• Price-to-value perception
• Competitor comparisons (if they’re switching to another solution)
• What changes would make them reconsider

Document each interview using a consistent framework to identify patterns.

The most important part comes after the interview – acting on the feedback.

Review your exit interviews monthly and look for common themes. If multiple customers mention the same issue, that’s your priority for improvement.

When you make changes based on feedback, reach back out to those customers who suggested them. Not only does this show you value their input, but it also gives you a natural opportunity to win them back.

Final Thoughts

While the strategies we’ve discussed are powerful, they’re just the starting blocks. The real change happens when you stop seeing retention as a metric and start viewing it as relationships you’re nurturing.

Think about your own favorite businesses. What makes you come back? What problems did they solve, and how did that make you want to buy from them again?

Take your customer list. Pick one person who bought from you recently. And instead of only thinking about what they might buy next, imagine where they want to be in six months. How can your product or service help them get there? What small step could you take today – perhaps a simple email or check-in call – to show them you’re invested in their journey?

Start with one strategy today. The sooner you begin, the sooner you’ll see those retention numbers climb.

ClickFunnels makes implementing everything we’ve discussed easy – from automated post-purchase sequences to engaging community spaces. Start your free trial today and see how simple it can be to turn one-time buyers into loyal customers.

Create And Launch Engaged Communities With ClickFunnels

Thanks for reading Proven Tactics To Keep Customers Coming Back which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Mastering Business Planning Guide appeared first on ClickFunnels.

You have probably heard the saying, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

However, while there’s no denying that planning is essential, you must also ensure it is grounded in reality.

Otherwise, it can end up being an exercise in futility, which you cannot afford because wasted time has an opportunity cost, especially in the early business stages.

That’s why today we will share ten super practical business planning tips to help you develop a winning strategy for long-term success!

#1: Do What’s Been Proven to Work

If you already have an innovative business idea and are committed to seeing it through, this section isn’t meant for you. Who are we to try to talk you out of following your dreams?

However, if you are interested in entrepreneurship simply because you want to build wealth, your odds of success will be much higher if you go with a proven business model instead of trying to come up with something new.

Nick Huber from The Sweaty Startup talks about this a lot. He argues that aspiring entrepreneurs are led astray by the glamor of Silicon Valley and its emphasis on innovation.

According to him, most self-made millionaires didn’t become rich by coming up with some revolutionary idea; they did everyday things uncommonly well while following a proven business model.

While Huber mostly discusses this in the context of manual labor businesses, we argue that similar reasoning can also be applied to software businesses. You don’t need an innovative idea to become a tech millionaire.

For example, when Nathan Barry launched ConvertKit in 2013, the idea of changing a subscription fee for email marketing software wasn’t new. There were already a bunch of services like that, most notably Aweber and Mailchimp.

However, Barry managed to carve out a market share by zeroing in on a specific demographic that needed email marketing software and creating a product that was the best for that specific use case.

Now, more than a decade later, ConvertKit is bringing in $3.6M+ in monthly recurring revenue, which adds up to $43.2M in annual recurring revenue.

In conclusion, regardless of what type of business you would like to start, look around, see what people are already paying for, and then do that but better.

This will make planning much easier because you can learn from your competition instead of figuring out everything yourself from scratch!

#2: Commit to Bootstrapping Until Your Company is Financially Stable

It may be tempting to seek outside funding in the early stages, but we would advise against it because having money you haven’t earned protects you from reality, which is terrible. How so?

It enables you to ignore the feedback that you are getting from the market in favor of your own unproven ideas. You cannot plan anything if your company isn’t self-sustaining because you don’t even know if your business idea is viable.

We would argue that if you can’t figure out how to make your business idea work without outside funding, you’d likely be better off abandoning it altogether and moving on to something else instead of keeping your company on life support with investors’ money.

So, commit to bootstrapping until your business is financially stable. If you still want to raise funding once you get to that point, it will be much easier. After all, the best pitch deck is a profitable business that can survive on its own!

#3: Accept That You Can’t Plan Much When You are Just Starting Out

“Grounded in reality” means “based on cold hard data” as opposed to your gut feelings, hopes, and imagination.

When you are just starting out, you don’t have any data yet, so all you can do is make your best-educated guess as to how things might go.

However, you shouldn’t put much stock into that educated guess because, in all likelihood, it’s going to be way, way off.

There’s a military saying attributed to the 19th-century German field marshall Helmuth von Moltke: no plan survives contact with the enemy.

The entrepreneurial version of that same principle is that no plan survives contact with the market.

First-time entrepreneurs often make the mistake of crafting elaborate business plans that are completely made up.

Understand that if you don’t have any data, you are not planning; you are just daydreaming. Stop wasting time on that.

Instead, focus on putting your offer in front of your dream customers as quickly as possible so that you can start collecting data and learning from market feedback!

#4: Adopt the Lean Startup Approach to Minimize Time to Market and Maximize the Speed of Iteration

The term “time to market” refers to the time it takes you to go from coming up with a business idea to launching your product or service.

The best way to minimize time to market is to adopt the Lean Startup approach that Eric Ries popularized in his classic book.

It can be summarized as the Build-Measure-Learn loop:

1. Create a minimum viable version of your product or service that delivers its core value in the most straightforward way possible.
2. Put your offer in front of your dream customers and collect market feedback.
3. Analyze that market feedback and learn from it.

Then, create an improved version of your product or service, put it in front of your dream customers again, and get more market feedback. And so on.

Note that the Lean Startup approach can be applied to startups and any kind of business.

For example, we know an entrepreneur who owns a mattress-cleaning business. When he came up with an idea for it, he validated it by going door-to-door and offering his neighbors to vacuum their mattresses with a regular vacuum cleaner that he already had at home.

Once you have validated your business idea, you can use the same Lean Startup approach to increase iteration speed and reduce the associated risk.

For example, in his classic essay “Do Things That Don’t Scale,” Paul Graham recounted how Stripe delivered instant merchant accounts in the early days: the founders would manually sign up users for traditional merchant accounts behind the scenes.

That was the minimum viable version of this feature. Once the founders validated that users wanted these instant merchant accounts, they wrote the software to automate the process. But it wouldn’t have made sense to invest resources into automation beforehand.

US Colonel John Boyd, who developed the OODA loop widely used in military decision-making, argued that the speed of iteration matters more than the quality of iteration when it comes to increasing one’s chances of victory.

This principle, which is now known as Boyd’s Law of Iteration, applies to entrepreneurship as well: all else being equal, the company that can iterate the fastest is going to win.

In fact, the speed of iteration is so important that it can enable scrappy newcomers to steal market share from the established players because the latter tend to move more slowly. So plan less, ship more, and iterate fast!

#5: Avoid Premature Optimization in the Early Business Stages

As an entrepreneur, you need to allocate resources strategically, especially in the early business stages when those resources are minimal.

It may be tempting to start optimizing your workflow, marketing campaigns, and sales funnel ASAP, but that would almost certainly be a mistake. Why?

Because if you have just launched your business, you should be focused on getting to the point where your company is financially stable. Don’t waste your precious resources – including your time, energy, and attention – on minutiae that won’t move the needle.

It’s okay if the backend of your business is a complete mess in the early days as long as it doesn’t negatively impact your customers. What matters is selling something that people want at a profit.

If you have an analytical mind, this will probably sound counterintuitive. Still, it’s better to wait until you hit a bottleneck to solve a problem than to do it in advance, provided that the problem in question doesn’t threaten the existence of your business!

#6: Identify the Key Marketing Input, Maximize it, and Collect as Much Data as You Can

It’s important to understand that the less data you have, the higher the likelihood that the variance you see is just noise. That’s why you shouldn’t worry about it too much in the early days.

Instead, make your best guess as to the key marketing input that will lead to sales, and then do your best to maximize it.

For example, if you just launched a local service business, distributed your first 100 flyers, and made your first sale, you might conclude that distributing flyers may be the key marketing input that will lead to sales.

Since you have only distributed 100 flyers so far, you don’t have enough data to know that, but you can distribute another 1,000 flyers and see what happens. If you get more sales, distribute another 10,000 flyers. If you get even more sales, distribute another 100,000 flyers.

Just make sure to collect data from every batch of flyers you distribute: flyer design, quantity, location, the number of leads you got, the number of sales you made, and the time you spent serving those customers.

Obviously, flyers are just an example; the key marketing input can be anything: cold emails, cold calls, paid advertising, you name it!

#7: Analyze Business Data, Identify Patterns, and Set Realistic Goals for Your Company

Once your company has been in business for a year, you can start analyzing the data you have collected and using it to set realistic goals.

For example, you could use flyer conversion rates for sales forecasting. Play with the numbers to see what would happen if you 2xd, 5xd, or 10xd the number of flyers you distribute.

Since you already know how many leads you typically get, how many of them convert to sales, and how much time it takes to serve those customers, you should be able to set a realistic, ambitious, and achievable sales target.

#8: Play it Safe and Scale Slower Than You Think You Could

Even if you have a ton of data, you can never predict everything in advance.

For example, let’s say you have been distributing 500 flyers daily, which adds up to 15,000 flyers per month.

You calculated that if you hire 2 people to distribute flyers full-time with a quota of 1,000 flyers per day, or 30,000 per month each, which adds up to 60,000 flyers per month, you should be able to 4x your sales.

But then you might discover that it’s difficult to find reliable employees who distribute your flyers and not just dump them somewhere and lie about it.

In fact, you may need to establish a system for checking if they did their work, which will take time away from serving customers, something that you also did not account for in your original plan.

You don’t want to run into obstacles like that at full speed. Start by increasing the key input by 1.5x, then 2x, then 2.5x, and so on. Don’t just go from 1x straight to your target multiple because you are going to get burned!

#9: Pay Attention to What’s Happening Around You

Your business doesn’t exist in isolation, so you cannot look at it in isolation if you want to plan effectively.

You must keep an eye on the established players in your niche and the promising newcomers. Even if you have a competitive edge over them now, you can never allow yourself to rest on your laurels.

Moreover, you also want to pay attention to what is happening in your country and the surrounding region, especially regarding the economy, national politics, and geopolitics.

Finally, it’s important to keep up with the latest developments in technology, especially the ones that might affect your industry (e.g., artificial intelligence)

#10: Build a War Chest Before You Get Aggressive About Business Expansion

A war chest is a pile of cash in your company’s bank account that you don’t touch unless you have a good reason to.

This money can help you keep the lights on during economic downturns and enable you to survive unexpected low-probability, high-impact events known as black swans (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic).

You can also use it to take advantage of capital-intensive business opportunities that your competitors may be unable to seize due to their lack of resources.

We recommend building a war chest before you get aggressive about business expansion so that you are prepared for whatever comes your way, both the good and the bad!

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His best-selling book “DotCom Secrets” is the best place to start because it covers everything you need to know in order to build sales funnels that convert.

This book is available on Amazon where it has over 2,500 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating.

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Thanks for reading Mastering Business Planning Guide which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If Click Funnels is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:

• Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
• Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
• Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
• Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
• Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%

The post Making Money While Retired appeared first on ClickFunnels.

The online world has opened up opportunities that didn’t exist a generation ago. Opportunities let you share decades of expertise, connect with people who value your experience, and earn income without sacrificing the flexibility that retirement should offer.

In this guide, we’ll explore 7 practical ways retirees earn extra income from home. We’re not discussing filling out surveys for pennies or falling for “get rich quick” schemes. These are real opportunities that other retirees are already using successfully.

1 – Curate Unique Experiences for Others

Retirement is a great time to share what you know with others – and earn from it, too. Several retirees are doing precisely this through platforms like Airbnb Experiences.

For example, Deo from Barcelona’s sailing experience has made him the most booked host, over 60 in Europe. He takes visitors out on his boat for relaxing Mediterranean sailing trips. His experience “Sail & Relax with Captain Deo” lets him share his passion for the sea while meeting people worldwide.

In Singapore, 87-year-old Chwee Lian Tan runs the last remaining Taoist deity shop in the country and shares the art of effigy making with visitors through her experience “Where Gods Are Born.”

What makes this idea work so well? 

You’re sharing knowledge you already have, meeting new people, and earning money from it. You don’t need to be a professional guide or teacher. You just need to be yourself, sharing what you love about your corner of the world.

Find the Perfect Experience for You to Share

Think about what you love doing in your free time.

Sometimes, the best experiences come from hobbies we’ve enjoyed for years. It could be anything – photography you’ve practiced for decades, a garden you’ve perfected, or even that sourdough bread you’ve mastered during retirement. What do your friends always ask you to help them with? That’s often a clue to what you could teach others.

You can share your local knowledge as well.

Visitors want to see your city through local eyes. They’re curious about those hidden alleyways, eager to hear stories about that old theater downtown, and interested in learning why certain streets come alive during festivals. Travelers value and are happy to pay for this authentic perspective of your hometown.

The best way to start is small. Share your knowledge with friends or family first – their reactions will tell you a lot. Maybe join a local community group where you can practice sharing your skills. Teaching one person before moving to groups helps build confidence and refine your approach.

2 – Turn Your Work Experience Into Consulting

Think back on your working years. Every day at work, you learn something new. You figured out better ways to get things done. All of that knowledge is still in your head today. Now, you can offer your professional expertise to businesses or individuals who need it and charge a fee. That is called consulting.

Take Carol Berning’s story – after 34 years at P&G, she now works half the hours as a consultant but earns about the same as her previous six-figure salary. That’s the kind of flexibility many retirees are looking for. 

Another example is insurance companies. 

The insurance industry is experiencing a “talent drain” as experienced professionals retire. However, companies are now turning this challenge into an opportunity by bringing back retired experts as consultants. This isn’t unique to insurance thought. It’s happening across industries where deep expertise matters.

Consulting can work for almost any professional background – because every industry needs experienced problem solvers.

Here are some examples:

• If you spent years managing a restaurant, you might help new restaurant owners set up their kitchens efficiently or train their staff.
• If you were a high school math teacher, you could help schools choose better teaching methods or help students who struggle with math.
• If you worked in HR, you might help small businesses handle employee paperwork and the hiring process.
• As a nurse, you could help families understand how to care for elderly relatives.
• As an accountant, you could help small businesses organize their finances.

What’s particularly valuable about consulting in retirement is that clients often care more about your real-world experience than formal credentials. Those workplace challenges you solved, the teams you managed through crises, and the industry relationships you built carry more weight than any degree or certification when clients seek expertise.

How to Get Started With Consulting?

First, identify your core professional strengths. Look at the major responsibilities you handled in your career. What problems did you solve? What systems did you improve? What specialized knowledge did you develop?

Think about how to package your expertise. You might offer:

• Project-based work (helping solve a specific problem)
• Advisory services (regular meetings to guide decision-making)
• Training sessions (teaching others your specialized skills)
• Process reviews (evaluating and improving existing systems)

Many retirees begin consulting with one client to test the waters. This allows you to understand what works best for you without overwhelming yourself. You can then expand your practice based on your comfort level and interests.

3 – Rent Out a Room, Garage, or Parking Space

In retirement, your home likely has spaces you no longer use much – maybe a home office you don’t need, empty bedrooms after kids move out, or a yard that’s become too much to maintain. All these unused spaces can become sources of income.

The most straightforward option is renting out rooms. You can do this either as a short-term rental for travelers or as a longer-term rental for students or professionals.

For example, Young In from Seoul (born in the 1960s) has turned her home into a cozy rental space that she advertises on Airbnb.

You don’t need a separate property to get started. You could:

• Rent out a spare room 
• Convert that rarely-used dining room into a cozy guest room
• Transform the basement or attic into a private guest suite
• Share your space when you’re traveling

What makes this work well for retirees is that you’re usually more available to interact with guests, you know your area well, and you’ve likely developed the people skills that make hosting natural. Plus, it provides both extra income and social connection – something many people value in retirement.

Think about your garage, too. While you might only use half of it, someone in your neighborhood could need storage space for their:

• Cars they don’t use often
• Motorcycle or small boat
• Outdoor furniture in off-season

Try to find websites like Parklet.co.uk or JustPark.com to advertise your space.

Even your backyard could work for you. People often look for space to:

• Host small events or gatherings
• Set up photography sessions
• Create temporary workspaces
• Practice music or art outdoors

Parking or outdoor spaces can be steady income streams with minimal effort on your part. Unlike hosting guests in your home, renting out these spaces usually requires very little day-to-day involvement.

When calculating how much income you can earn from renting, here are a few points to keep in mind:

• Research similar rentals in your area for realistic rates
• Consider seasonal changes in demand
• Factor in any extra costs (utilities, cleaning, maintenance)
• Start small to test what works best
• Remember to check local rules and insurance needs

4 – Run an Online Class or Course to Teach Something You Know

The quickest way to share your knowledge with the world and earn money from it is via an online course. You have to put in the effort once – to create the course and set the marketing for it. But once done, you can spend a few hours every week promoting it, updating the content, or taking live classes. And then it runs on its own.

Take NonnaLive, for example – it’s a website where Italian grandmothers teach cooking classes online from their own kitchens in Italy. These retired nonnas (grandmothers) share their lifelong cooking knowledge and traditional family recipes through live virtual classes. They’re earning money doing what they love while working flexible hours from home.

Finding the Idea and Starting Your Online Course

Don’t chase trending topics or jump into subjects just because they seem profitable. The most successful online courses come from genuine expertise and passion. Use this simple framework – the TEACH Method – to uncover your most valuable knowledge; the kind people would gladly pay to learn.

T (Track Record) 

• What skills have you refined over 20+ years?
• What do people compliment you on?
• Which problems do friends ask you to solve?

E (Expertise Edge)

• What can you do better than 90% of people?
• What industry secrets do you know?

A (Audience Needs)

• What expensive mistakes could you help others avoid?
• Which skills are becoming increasingly valuable in your field?
• What problems did you struggle with that you’ve now mastered?

C (Competition Check)

• Search “[your skill] course” on Google – are people searching for it?
• Look for Facebook groups or Reddit communities around your topic
• Check if similar courses exist (some competition is good – it proves demand)

H (Heart Check) 

• Could you teach this topic for hours without getting bored?
• Do you have enough material for at least 6-8 hours of content?
• Can you break this skill into clear, teachable steps?

Create a free mini-course or run a live workshop on Zoom. Share it in relevant Facebook groups or LinkedIn communities. Pay attention to the questions people ask and the challenges they mention. This feedback is gold for designing your full course. If people are actively engaging and asking for more, you’re onto something promising.

Tools to Promote Your Online Course

Creating your course is just the first step. Even the best content won’t sell itself. You need to actively get it in front of your target audience. But don’t let this intimidate you.

ClickFunnels streamlines the entire process, handling the technical heavy lifting so you can focus on teaching. 

You can build your website and landing pages with simple drag-and-drop tools – no coding needed. Whether you’re teaching cooking, crafts, or career skills, you can create a professional online presence in hours, not weeks.

Choose from pre-built marketing funnels designed specifically for online courses. These ready-made workflows guide potential students through your course offerings, from initial interest to enrollment.

The platform’s email marketing tools help you stay connected with your audience, sending automated welcome messages, course updates, and student support.

ClickFunnels also monitors which marketing approaches work best and adjusts accordingly.

Create And Launch Your Online Course With ClickFunnels!

5 – Self-Publish Books

There’s no age limit when it comes to writing books. If you browse Goodreads and search for authors who published after age 65, you’ll find numerous inspiring examples.

If you’re looking to publish while keeping costs low and maintaining control over your investment, self-publishing can be an excellent path forward.

You can write at your own pace, choose your topics, and maintain complete creative control over your work. You’ll also get to control the price and choose any platform on which you want to sell your book.

A self-published book can bring you better money per copy than going with a traditional publisher.

For example, when you publish through Amazon KDP, you get to keep 70% of your ebook price (for books priced $2.99-$9.99) and about 60% for paperbacks after printing costs. Meanwhile, for traditional publishing, authors typically only get 10-15% for paperbacks and 25% for ebooks, so it is just $1-2.50 for a $10 book.

There are several self-publishing platforms like Amazon KDP, Barnes & Noble Press, Apple Books, Draft2Digital, Book Baby, etc. 

Each platform has its own strengths, with some focusing on ebooks, others specializing in print books, and several offering both options. Research each platform’s requirements & structure to find the best fit for your specific publishing goals.

You can write about topics you’re knowledgeable about from your career, life experiences or the place where you live. 

For instance, people like Mike Miller have successfully self-published regional travel guides that target specific destinations or experiences. These kinds of focused, local-interest books can do well through self-publishing since they serve a clear market need and can be updated regularly as attractions and destinations change.

You can even self-publish novels if you have any interesting story ideas.

Marc Sheinbaum is a perfect example of a self-published author who created a complete series of science fiction novels.

Looking at the professional quality of his book covers and the consistent branding across the series, you can see that self-publishing doesn’t mean amateur work. Self-published authors can create professional-looking series that compete with traditionally published books.

6 – Checkout Job Boards Catering to Retirees

You should work for some income, but not necessarily in the same intense way as before.

That’s where platforms like AARP ( American Association of Retired Persons) can help. They partner with companies that appreciate retirees’ strengths, such as reliability, experience, and strong work ethics.

They understand you’re not looking for a high-pressure career climb but rather meaningful work that fits your retirement lifestyle and hence offer jobs that can fit certain criteria like: 

• Part-time work
• Flexible hours to balance with other activities
• Doesn’t require a lot of physical strengths 

Besides AARP’s job board, several other websites cater specifically to experienced workers looking for flexible work. 

FlexJobs, while not exclusively for older adults, focus on remote and flexible schedule positions – perfect for retirees wanting work-life balance.

Another option is RetirementJobs.com, which lets you search by zip code and offers filters for part-time positions. 

For those with specialized backgrounds in accounting, insurance, or HR, Work at Home Vintage Experts (WAHVE) matches experienced professionals with remote contract positions who value their years of expertise. 

7 – Become a Virtual Assistant

Not everyone has the specialized knowledge to become a consultant or stories to write books about. But if you’ve worked in an office setting, you already have the basic skills many businesses need help with. Things you probably do every day – like managing emails, scheduling meetings, or organizing files – are precisely what many small business owners seek.

This type of work, where you help businesses with their daily tasks remotely from home, is called virtual assistance. As a Virtual Assistant (or VA), you’re a remote office administrator, supporting clients without commuting to their workplace.

What Makes This Work Well for Retirees?

You’re not learning anything new – just using the skills you used at work. Plus, you can work from home, choose your hours, and pick tasks you’re comfortable with. Many retirees find this less stressful than other online work because they’re already experts at these everyday office tasks.

What Can You Offer as a VA?

Think about the basic office tasks you handled in your career – those are exactly what small business owners need help with. Here are some ideas of standard VA services you could offer:

• Email management and basic correspondence
• Calendar scheduling 
• Simple bookkeeping and invoice processing 
• Travel arrangements 
• Basic document editing 
• Customer service support

Setting Your Rates

Look for “ongoing tasks” rather than “urgent projects.” This allows for a more predictable income and schedule. 

While many VA websites suggest starting rates around $15-20/hour, retirees with professional experience can often start at $30-35/hour for basic tasks. The key is positioning yourself not as a beginner VA but an experienced professional choosing to do VA work in retirement.

Many retired VAs find their sweet spot with 3-4 ongoing clients needing 5-10 hours weekly. This creates a reliable monthly income of $1,200-2,400 while keeping the workload manageable.

How to Find Virtual Assistance Opportunities

The easiest way to start is through platforms that connect assistants with clients.

Websites like Upwork and Fancy Hands are particularly good for beginners because they handle the client-matching process. You just need to create a profile highlighting your office experience, and they’ll help match you with suitable clients. While these platforms might pay less initially ($15-20 per hour), they’re a great way to get your first clients and build confidence.

For better-paying opportunities ($30-45 per hour), try professional networks like LinkedIn. Update your profile to highlight your administrative skills and share posts mentioning that you’re offering virtual assistance services. 

Many business owners prefer hiring through professional networks because they can see your real work history. Don’t forget to let your former colleagues know you’re offering VA services – they might need help themselves or know someone who does.

You might also find opportunities through:

• Community Facebook groups for small businesses
• Local business networking events
• Professional network you might have built while you were working full-time 

Final Thoughts

The opportunities we’ve explored are about finding simple ways to use what you already have – whether that’s space in your home, time in your day, or knowledge in your head. You don’t need to become a full-time entrepreneur or learn complex new skills.

The key is to pick one thing and try it out. It doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect at first. Every retiree who’s successfully earning extra income started precisely where you are now: with a simple decision to try it.

And once you’ve mastered one thing, you can also pick something else. You can try several things at once if you want to. You could rent out your garage while helping a business with their emails a few hours a week. Or teach an online weekday class and watch someone’s pet on weekends.

What often holds people back isn’t a lack of opportunity but overthinking it. You don’t need everything figured out perfectly before you begin. If you’re interested in teaching others or sharing your knowledge, platforms like ClickFunnels make it easy to create and sell your first online course without any technical headaches. But even simpler – you could start by renting out your parking space or helping someone organize their emails.

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