Have you ever been caught with your hand in a cookie jar? You know, that feeling you get when you look into the eyes of the person looking at you with your hand jammed in the pot. Yes! You thought it would be a good idea to grab a couple while you are at it. Why take one cookie when you can take four or five simultaneously?
There is always that moment when your eyes meet, and then you both look at the cookie jar! It really does not matter who caught you in the act. The fact remains that you were caught red-handed pinching some cookies. Ah! The joys of childhood. It might be a golden opportunity for you to share your loot!
The fastest way to learn a new skill is to pinch and implement what has already worked. You only have to look around you and see that systems make money. Your cell phone, your car, television, all these are systems. A System is a process of repeatable steps that guarantee a given outcome every time you use it. Systems make products, and these products are the bread and butter of your business.
If you’re curious like me and want to learn about the systems that my baddest online Gurus use to scale and grow their businesses, then this is a blog for you to pinch.
Business Success Secret # 1:They Speak in their Own Voice So That Their Audience Listen and Respond
The Oprah Winfrey Show was a favourite in our home. Oprah Winfrey gave a lot of people permission to aspire and actually occupy spaces that were hitherto not open to them. We were all inspired by her determination to get things done and talk about taboo topics. We all wanted to be in the audience that received the famous cars (in my head, these cars were red), and I, for one, wanted to be interviewed by Oprah because I would miraculously become an overnight success.
Oprah normalised for my generation the idea that an African American woman can own a media company, make billions of dollars, give generously, empower other people, be vulnerable, be empathetic and resilient. Because she did it, she has opened up spaces for people who, like me, are different. Oprah is still here and, in her words, living her best life. So here l am, pointing you to your best entrepreneurial life ever.
So, by Oprah speaking in her voice and sharing her story. She was able to resonate with people of different races and gender. Her voice and authenticity have made her the mogul that she is today. It doesn’t matter where you start; it’s the journey towards your destination that counts.
Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls worldwide. Michelle also showed the world how to be erudite, healthy and confident in your own skin. She permitted me to respond intelligently to unintelligent treatment.
At one of her many interviews, Michelle said that she woke up at 4:30 in the morning to exercise. Look at the time and effort she put in to be strong physically. I bet it helped her to be strong in other areas of her life as well as it showed. She truly changed the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives.
In Michelle, I see an intelligent woman taking care of herself, taking care of her family, developing herself and a woman who has so much wisdom to give.
Does the voice of Oprah and Michelle resonate with everyone? No! by all means, No! But it does with someone like me because it allows me to enter this space, speak in my voice, and look after my family’s health. To own my education and pursue more and yet be wise and humble. And therein lies my strength. Small wonder, Oprah and Michelle are good friends. That is why they made it to the Baddest online Guru’s list. Pinch a quality that you would like to develop from them.
Business Success Secret # 2:They Are Successful Because They Are Authentic and Share Their Personal lives with their Dream Audiences
We are all navigating this space called life. People want to see people who are like them, and people are not perfect. Seeing imperfect people succeeding in life is a comfort blanket and a sign that perfection is a worthless pursuit.
We are all finding our way in this life and entrepreneurial journey. And when we see someone who is just like us, imperfect and yet successful. We had better pay attention and listen to what they have to say. I would advise you to put them on your watchlist.
Jovies Home is a YouTube channel started by a friend of mine. Jovie is brave, confident, vulnerable, open, and welcoming. She shares her wealth of knowledge with her audience.
She’s an American in the Netherlands, and she shares the differences between the two cultures and a bit about herself in a humorous way. She is a mama who has taken the uncomfortable action of putting her voice out in the world.
We tend to be attracted to people who are similar to us. If you want to be found by your dream audience, you must speak to them in their language. Use the words that they use, show them how to overcome their fears by offering alternative narratives and solutions. In my opinion, this is a sign that you, the entrepreneurial parent, understand your dream audience. And don’t we all want to be understood?
As an online Entrepreneur, your goal is to transform the lives of your target audience by guiding them across a bridge from the point of pain to a landscape of pleasure. I encourage you to speak in your voice. Your flock will hear your voice, and your community will come to you. Do not be an imitator because you are unique.
Business Success Secret # 3:They Are Consistent in The Delivery of Content to Their Audience, and This Is the Key Elements to Their Business Success
Before Netflix, Amazon Prime video, Disney+ or DVD boxsets, we knew how to wait for a week or a day in the case of soaps operas to watch our favourite TV programmes. So, if you had the privilege of planning your week, you knew you had to schedule time for your favourite TV show because it aired on a particular day at a specific time.
Back in the day, the content on TV was scheduled. The schedule helped me plan my time, and if you missed your slot, you would have to wait for the repeat later in the week. My favourite TV show was Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which aired on a Sunday at 7 pm. I made sure that I did my homework, packed my books, tidied the house so that I could sit down and watch the Fresh Prince.
Consistency, my friends, is the name of the game. All my baddest online Gurus’ deliver content on a schedule, Amy Porterfield, Racheal Miller, Joan Thuo, Charlene Johnson, Keenya Kelly, Natasha, Bola Sokunbi. Just to mention a few.
Why is consistency important? Consistency is vital because it has an element of repetition. Repetition lends itself to systems, and systems deliver value to our businesses. Regularity establishes trust and dependability, and you become the go-to source for solutions.
I have a few YouTube channels and social media channels that I watch regularly. I have developed an association with these channels and their owners. Let us be consistent in everything that we do with our online businesses.
If you read my previous blog on batching, you already know that consistently generating quality content is challenging. It takes a lot of planning and researching. There are, however, tools that you can use to lessen the load.
I have found social media sharing apps to be a lifesaver. Examples of the social media tools that I use for my social media sites are Planoly, Later, Promo schedule, Meta Business Suite. I use the Pinterest scheduling tool for my Pins.
Do not get overwhelmed with the apps. Find one and stick to it. If it is not working, then you move on to another one. Let me know if these Apps help lessen the social media load. Write me an email.
I also manually post daily by documenting random things in my life, and this keeps the social media algorithms happy.
Business Success Secret # 4:They Target a Specific Niche So That Their Marketing Strategy Is Focused and Fruitful
Rachel Miller of moolah marketing in one of her courses recommends that we be very intentional with the content we create. This content should draw in people that are the right audience for our specific businesses and repel those who are not.
In business, if you create content for everyone, you are creating content for no one. Rachel gives an example of an organic cucumber farmer and how he creates content that can only be understood by people planting their cucumbers organically. The content is so specific that it repels non-organic cucumber farmers.
Your challenge as an entrepreneur is for you to create consistent content that attracts your dream audienceand simultaneously repels non-core target customers
Who is your ideal audience? Click here to get your FREE Resource to help you dig deeper and narrow down your best audience. This is a good resource for you to pinch
Business Success Secret # 5:They Believe in The Process, and They Choose to Enjoy the Entrepreneurial Journey.
I had a strict French teacher in high school. She made us stay after school to do our corrigés
(I still remember the spelling in French after more than two decades!). You could only go home when your French grammar was 100% perfect.
I remember walking to the front of the class to hand in my work. It was like an out-of-body experience for that short minute, like in the movies when you are walking, and everything else is standing still. My high school French teacher was so thorough that if you missed putting even an accent on a letter, you would have to go back to your desk and repeat the sentence.
Here’s the thing about repeating the sentence, you may make a different mistake. But alas, what joy when she put the big red tick in your exercise book. You were free to go home!
I find that the entrepreneur journey is similar to that experience, making mistakes and correcting them along the way. And we get rewarded when our target audience gives us the proverbial big red tick. The big red tick manifests as customer engagement with our content, buying our digital products, and listening to our podcast.
Enjoy the journey of imperfection to help you progress, learn and elevate your game. You never know until you try. And if you try, and it doesn’t work, that is also OK because you have just learned one more way, “How not to do it.”
Build a Strong Brand # 4:Be Generous and Serve Your Audience with The Abundance of Your Wealth.
Online Businesses are very different from most traditional brick and mortar companies. I find that, for the most part, online entrepreneurs help one another. They build each other up.
They are also very generous with their knowledge. I will be honest; there is so much data on the web that you can build and grow your business for free.
In your online hustle, endeavour to add to the wealth of knowledge and advice already there, making the web a better place. I am here because of the content I got for free from podcasts, YouTube videos, blogs, Email newsletters, courses. So I am giving back what I have received and then some.
My recommendation for you is that you can also create content that adds massive value to your customer
My recommendation for you is that you can also create content that adds massive value to your customer. I want them to be gobsmacked with your FREE valuable content quality. I will not be surprised if they will ask themselves, “If the FREE stuff is this good, the paid stuff must be phenomenal!“
If they think that the paid stuff is out of this world, you will be successful because they will buy your products.
Build a Strong Brand # 5: Move them from Pain and towards Pleasure by offering solutions
Entrepreneurial parent, remember your dual role. You are a guide to your family and your target audience.
You’re a bridge. Your job is to be the energy force that moves your dream customer from a place of pain to a place of pleasure.
Business Success Secret # 6:They Are Always Willing to Try and Fail and Try Again: – Grit.
I started Hippos to Horses Marketing on social media. Over the years, I have seen entrepreneurs like Lewis Howe, Pat Flynn, Asmau Ahmad, Anne Githuku, Amy Porterfield and many more grow their successful businesses.
I first knew of Amy Porterfield as a Facebook guru. At that point, Facebook was not relevant to me as a business opportunity; I used it for personal social networking. Now I use it for business. Over the years, I have seen Amy and her business grow and thrive. Now she no longer just deals with Facebook. She has become an online marketing teacher. And she teaches other entrepreneurs like me the skills we need to grow and scale our businesses.
I have bought Amy Porterfield courses. Amy is an online Biz Guru. She has been able to remain relevant by pivoting and adapting to changing needs of her audience.
Business Success Secret # 7:They Exude a Positive Attitude in Everything and Show Some Vulnerability
In a previous blog, we covered how a positive attitude is an attribute that helps you succeed in life and business. Pat Flynn was the first online entrepreneur who talked, and I listened.
If you listen to his SPI podcast, he shares a lot about his growth, his fears, and how he has overcome them, and he is still working on becoming better. Pat keeps on going and serving his audience with excellent quality content.
I have been listening to the SPI podcast for the last ten years. From the days Pat published his monthly income on his website to now when he doesn’t. He really wants to share, teach, and serve his audience. No wonder he continues to excel in business.
Business Success Secret # 8:They Have Business Mentors Who Guide Them and They Also Mentor Others
Can you read a Map? Not many of us can. And we do not need to know because we have smartphones that can show us the location we want to go to and the fastest way to reach the destination.
I use this as an analogy for a business mentor. The role of a Mentor is to guide us along our own entrepreneurial journey. Mentors show you the path you should follow to reach your destination faster.
I would encourage you to seek business mentors who have walked this entrepreneurial journey. Do your due diligence when engaging the services of a mentor.
Mentors come in different forms. You could be mentored in a membership site or Facebook group. You may consider starting a pow-wow group as Benjamin Franklin did with a group of his peers. Napoleon Hill also encouraged the formation of such groups to share knowledge, business skills, and of course, networking. These peer groups also serve to build your networks.
You could also read books, read blogs such as this one, listen to podcasts, YouTube videos etc.
The online business model is unique because of the collaboration and elevation between businesses. Have you seen how online entrepreneurs always work together? It is commendable to see them collaborating and supporting each other!
Business Success Secret # 9:They All Run Their Online Business on Multiple Online Platforms.
Most of the baddest online entrepreneurs have a minimum of three platforms and Email Marketing. They have their website, which is the business hub. They have a dominant social platform, which could be Instagram or Facebook. They also have Facebook groups for their digital products. Some groups are private; some are public, they also have an audio or visual platform.
Which platform will you use as a Hub for your business? Do you have your Email Marketing already set -up?
Success Leaves Clues; But What Will You Do with These Clues?
If you are starting in the online entrepreneurial sector, you can quickly scale your business by following in the footsteps of your baddest online Gurus. They must be doing something right to get the followers, likes and subscription levels.
On the other hand, if you want to start your Dream Online business, we have made a FREE resource just for you to pick up and get started. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD