I just got back from a whirlwind 3-day event about marketing – Top Earner Academy with Ray Higdon. My head is so full that honestly, it’s a bit overwhelming.
I plan to spend part of tomorrow going over my notes and seeing what I can start implementing immediately (I will tell you I got a brilliant advanced tip about Facebook ads that I will absolutely use when I launch my course AND I learned a bit about Twitter ads and cannot WAIT to try them), but first, I want to share the biggest lesson I got from the event – and it’s actually something I already knew, that was simply reconfirmed.
If you want your business to grow, the number one thing you can do… is use a strategy called ILT.
Now, you may be thinking, okay so what is that? It’s simple…
I=Invest
L=Learn
T=Teach
Invest
First, you’ve got to invest in yourself. Invest your time and possibly your money into making yourself better.
You guys know, I’m a big believer that we are all lifelong learners.
In the last year or so, I have invested money for sure, but especially my time learning everything I could about Facebook – from how to create an engaged Facebook fan page to the ins and outs of running Facebook ads. It started as me stepping up to do the marketing for my family’s business and then it turned out that I have so much FUN playing on Facebook as my job that I decided to start sharing what I know.
Here’s just some of how I have invested in myself…
-Reading countless blog posts
-Watching a ton of webinars
-Reading books
-Listening to so many podcasts (95% of the time I’m driving, I’m listening to a podcast on business)
-Joining a Mastermind (I LOVE my mastermind!)
-Attending live events including…
- Tons of networking and educational events through various local groups like Tampa Bay Business Owners (My favorite – if you’re local to the Tampa Bay area, I highly recommend checking them out!), Working Women of Tampa Bay, Holistic Network of Tampa Bay, Unity Networking Group, and a few others
- All Things Facebook Summit—First year attending, 2nd year SPEAKING!
- All Things Google Summit
- Tampa Bay Business Owners Marketing Cruise
- Top Earner Academy 3 (This is the event I just attended this weekend)
- Mindset classes through Access Consciousness
-Purchasing online courses and programs including (but definitely not limited to) ones from…
- Amy Portefield
- David Siteman Garland
- Marie Forleo and Laura Belgray
- Kim Garst
-Getting products and tools to use for my business including, but certainly not limited to…
- Post Planner (I talked a bit more about them in this blog post, and I HIGHLY recommend using Post Planner. If you’d like to learn more about it, CLICK HERE. Full disclosure, that is an affiliate link. I’m only an affiliate for things I love and use all the time!)
- Lead Pages (This took my opt-ins on my family’s business from about 35% to 72%! (These results may not be typical.) To learn more about Lead Pages, CLICK HERE. Full Disclosure, this is also an affiliate link, and again, I chose to be an affiliate with Lead Pages simply because I love it so much!)
- Aweber
- Photoshop Okay, so by this point, I’m racking my brain tying to think of what else I’ve invested in cause I know there’s more, but I’m sure you get it … First step, invest in making yourself better through your time and possibly money.
Learn
Second, you’ve got to take the time to learn from what you’ve invested in. This may sound a bit silly, but this means if it’s a course or training or whatever, you’ve got to actually go through it and then apply it to your business.
I met a lady this weekend who has spent thousands of dollars purchasing some amazing courses that she never even started! We started talking about how she probably isn’t the only person who does this and wondering about the psychology behind it.
So, in my Facebook Group I asked if anyone could relate to this and what they thought the cause was.
Here’s a few of the responses:
- I think it’s a mixture of scared to apply it and put myself out there with a bit of lazy
- Fear of rejection
- Subconscious blocks
- Not fully understanding where or how to start
- Scared of failure
Can you relate to any of these? I know and I can and I’m very much an action taker.
No matter the hang-up, learning from what you’ve invested in and then applying it, even in a small way, is a key to growing your business.
Teach
Third, and this is what most people don’t do – you’ve got to teach what you know.
Give value to others.
Share freely in whatever way works for you.
This could be:
- Blogging
- Videos
- Facebook posts
- Podcasts
- Webinars
- Speaking at events
- Even sharing what you know one-on-one
Teaching grows the know, like, and trust factor so that when you offer your products, programs, and services, people will jump at the chance to buy from you.
Action Steps
While my blog posts are usually a bit more how-to focused, you know I am all about taking action! And you can absolutely take action from this! So, here’s how to do it…
1. Think about the different ways you’ve investing in yourself and your business over the past year. What are some ways you’d like to invest in yourself over the next year? Write them down.
2. Look back through notes from events, programs, etc and see what you learned that you can start applying today.
Or if you’re like my friend who buys and then never cracks open the program, take the time to watch/listen to/read just the first section, take notes on what you can apply from that to your business in the next week.
3. And this may be the most important step…
Think about what you know that you can teach (it may simply be how you took action in step 2) and what is the best way for you to get that message out there (blog, video, webinar, etc).
Then, in the next week, put it out there to the world in whatever way feels fun to you. (By the way, the scarier this feels, the more exciting and fun it tends to be once it’s out there.)
4. If you have any questions or comments and ESPECIALLY if you want to share your step 3 with me, hop on over to my Facebook Group HERE and post about it. I’d love to see what you are creating to give value and grow your know, like, and trust factor!
