How to Sell Online

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Want A Free Way To Get Your Products Out To The World? Sep 22, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, I have on Karrie Chariton-Bhurgari, who is a Pinterest strategist, to help us understand how we can leverage Pinterest to get customers to come over to our stores and make purchases and join our email lists. Karrie has helped shops, bloggers, and DIYers go from zero pins to over 7.6 million monthly views.

Pinterest is a fantastic platform to get your products out there to the world without investing big bucks in advertising. It would be crazy not to use this power that Pinterest provides for free to get more eyeballs and more customers for your products.

As Karrie puts it, Pinterest has grown from being a social media platform to a search engine and is headed to be more of an ecommerce platform. In March, they had an integration with Shopify to make it easy for Shopify owners to create a catalog and sell their products on the platform.

Good photography is absolutely key in helping you convert your pins. Karrie advises us that Pinterest pride themselves in being an inspiring and happy place. To this end, lifestyle pictures that tell a story will help you connect with your customers and convert better.

To make your products discoverable on Pinterest, you need to think through the lens of the person who wants to buy it. This will help you find the right keywords to use for your product on the pin title, description, and the text overlay on the picture. Karrie advises against using hashtags because they don’t work anymore.

Listen in to this episode to learn more about these and many more Pinterest strategies that will help you get your products to the world.

Key Takeaways

How to add the Pinterest app to your Shopify store and apply to Pinterest vendor portal (06:54)
Pinterest is a search engine, so use keywords; hashtags don’t work anymore (07:40)
Your products on Pinterest will appear on Google search results as well (08:26)
Why you need good photography and beautiful pictures to convert your pins (10:23)
How to keep your Pinterest game simple (12:42)
New pins are doing better than old pins (20:58)
Use Tailwind to schedule your pins (22:15)
Why you may need to pin other people’s pins (29:18)
Pins take a while to show on people’s feed, so focus on evergreen promotions rather than flash sales (37:46)
Have a purpose of every pin and the Call To Action you need potential customers to take (42:44)

Additional Resources

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What If It Took 101 Times? Sep 15, 2020

Show notes

Bethany started writing a book ten years ago. She struggled to find a publishing agent to read her book. She sent numerous queries to agents to get them interested in her book. She sent more than 100 of these without any success. She got so frustrated and cried a lot and eventually moved on and forgot about the book.

This was until January of this year when she was out on a cruise. On one of the dinner nights, she met Anissa Holmes who connected her to someone who helped her publish her book with Morgan James Publishing in just three weeks.

Bethany advises people who are struggling to find a publisher for their book to look at other options. There are so many options today, including going the self-publishing route. She adds that you need to keep networking and talking about your book. You never know when you might meet a good connection who will point you to the right direction.

Key Takeaways

Make 2020 your Year (05:31)
Networking can change your timeframe very quickly (09:22)
Do the work to increase your luck (10:20)
There are hybrid methods of publishing; you don’t have to go the traditional way (16:31)
How to write a book (18:11)
Step into the uncomfortable to grow (21:36)
Leveraging influencers to sell a book (24:24)
Your 101st try may be the life-changing yes (29:21)
Take your book and turn it into an experience for your readers (26:39)

Additional Resources

Bethany Lee's Website

Bethany Lee's Instagram

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Why You Are Not Growing On Instagram Sep 08, 2020

Show notes

There are many changes happening with Instagram. Just like other social media platforms, Instagram has its tips and tricks to optimize your content and grow your following, and what a better way to learn more about these than from an Instagram expert.

In this episode, I dive into all the details and ask Elise all the questions that e-commerce brands have on using Instagram. We cover everything from bio, hashtags, insta stories, and Instagram TV to strategies for growing your following and everything in between.

We talk about the different places that you can post on Instagram and where you are likely to be seen and grow your following. Elise drops a bomb on why comments are likes are not what the Instagram algorithm is looking for to get you more exposure.

Tune in to hear what will make you hit the explore page and learn everything about Instagram.

Key Takeaways

Why you should repost and republish your content all over (04:24)
Top 3 places you should be posting on Instagram (05:41)
Instagram has evolved from perfect images and over-edited photos to real and raw images (10:36)
More people are scrolling through stories than the feed (11:55)
The three types of content you can post on Instagram (16:08)
You don’t have to show your face on Instagram. You can simply be the voice of your brand (17:24)
Why smaller niche hashtags are better for your content to be found (20:11)
How to clean up your bio and have a strong Call to Action (25:20)
Consistency rather than perfection is the key to follower growth on Instagram (40:33)
Shares and saves are better for hitting the explore page than comments and likes (42:16)

Additional Resources

Story Vault

Elise's Instagram

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Feel Like Quitting? 11 Reasons Why Sep 01, 2020

Show notes

Entrepreneur life comes with some challenges that will make us feel like quitting. These thoughts will cross your head so many times. But you know what, you are not a quitter. You will carry on and will be fine in the end.

Understanding the reasons why you feel like quitting will help you push these thoughts away from your head when they come. These reasons are the normal challenges that entrepreneurs face. They are like bumps along the way but you’ll get over with and carry on.

Listen in to these 11 reasons so that next time you feel like quitting, just know that you are not alone. Reset your expectations when faced with these challenges. You don’t have to quit; you can do this. The world needs your products.

Key Takeaways

You expect to make a million dollars overnight and you don’t (03:19)
Why school screwed us up and makes us feel like failures while we are not (06:35)
You want to quit because your family needs you all the time (08:46)
You are afraid to celebrate your small wins because it feels like bragging (11:57)
You think everybody else will celebrate with you, they wont (13:38)
You feel busy all the time (15:10)
You got your first one-star review (17:17)
You are not tracking your numbers: keep your books clean (19:20)
Products got delayed: plan for delays, they will always happen (21:56)
Price increases thus increasing your costs; Increase your prices as well (23:27)
You are tired; take a break (25:51)

Additional Resources

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Under The Hood. Recap Of Because I CAN LIFE Aug 25, 2020

Show notes

How do you connect with your audience with everything that is going on currently? How do you show them love and serve them at a higher level? With everything getting canceled due to the virus, it may seem difficult to connect with everything on the world pivoting to online.

Our successful virtual conference was so enlightening. We got to see how you can connect with your audience virtually. I go through all the steps we took to prepare for the conference and how we made it a good experience for everybody attending from their homes. A lot of thought went into planning to deliver this amazing experience.

I was nervous and uncomfortable at first being something new. It is normal to have these thoughts when trying out something you have never done before. It doesn’t mean you stop or quit. It means you are growing and learning the process. You grow when you are uncomfortable. That’s when you make things happen.

Tune in to this episode and hear how we pulled the virtual conference off and all the good things and lessons that came out of it.

Key Takeaways

How do you connect with your audience with the world pivoting to online (02:29)
Background to the planning of the 2020 conference (04:28)
It is normal to be nervous and uncomfortable when trying something new (09:28)
Creating a memorable experience for the virtual conference attendees at home (12:19)
Finding someone to hold you and help you get though when you feel you can’t (15:01)
How I chose speakers for the virtual conference (30:24)
The bad from the virtual conference (32:25)
The good things that came out of the conference (36:40)
Some of my favorite quotes from the event (40:31)
Top takeaways from the conference (42:23)

Additional Resources

https://alisonjprince.clickfunnels.com/next-level-apply

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Business partner? 5% or 95% Aug 18, 2020

Show notes

Shelley, Missy and I are business partners in the How Does She business. Shelley has the superhero power of making business relationships work. She also does a good job working with influencers for the business. She helps us understand some of the things you can do to make business relationships last. She also shares how to work with influencers.

Shelley shares how we started our blog business back then with just a small amount of money we had. It took more than three months to make $1000. We saved this money in our nest egg which was a smart move. Our business has grown ever since.

Having been business partners for more than 10 years, we have seen the best and worst of each other. The key to our relationship has been Shelley. She explains how she uses her personality as a peacemaker to solve disagreements that will always arise in business and in life. As business partners, you should focus on the 95% of someone that is good, not on the 5% that is difficult.

Influencers are a great way to sell your product. They are so powerful, you have to use them appropriately and sincerely. They have taken time to build their audience so love them and listen to them. Having a good product, getting it in their hands, telling them the earning potential from the product, and appreciating them are some of the ways you can build a winning relationship.

Key Takeaways

You can catch more bees with honey than with vinegar (11:05)
Everyone’s perspective is valid; you are not always right (12:21)
Speak 9 positives about a person before speaking a negative (12:49)
5% of everyone is difficult, focus on the 95% goodness (15:00
Make your email and direct message titles to influencers personal (17:49)
Tell the influencer their earning potential based on previous sales (19:57)
Tell your influencer why your product is a good fit for them and their audience (23:41)
Get your products into the hands of the influencers (24:26))
Follow up and then your influencer and appreciate them (25:38)
Have a good product, not junk (26:51)
Find an influencer who is honest and speaks the truth (28:18)

Additional Resources

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How One Product Can Pull In $20K Aug 11, 2020

Show notes

After trying deal sites and Shopify store, Vina settled for Etsy to sell her product. In Etsy, just like other platforms, you have to make sure your listing has a good title, has good pictures and you are offering your customers what they are looking for. Vina did this by learning what people were searching for and optimized her listing using keywords. This led her to make $20k from one shirt.

Having that many orders, Vina had to deal with the fulfillment part to get the orders to her customers. She used her Shipstation account and also Etsy shipping to deliver all these orders. Etsy shipping helped her manage her orders in the click of a button with the same price as ShipStation. She breaks down the numbers involved when selling on Etsy for us.

She advises us that you should look at Etsy as a deal site where you can build your brand. It’s a great place for someone who is starting out because you don’t have to build the perfect store. You can test your product here to see if it is a viable product and if anyone likes it, then move on as you build your brand.

Key Takeaways

Making it easy for your customers to find what they are looking for (05:25)
How one shirt made $20,000 in one month (08:50)
Using resources on your current platform to make better decisions for your product (10:08)
Titles are important on Etsy, make them relevant and easy for your customers (11:14)
Letting go of the product you think will sell and sell what your customers are asking for (14:17)
Start small so that you are not overwhelmed by the orders (15:18)
Why you need to replicate your listings on Etsy using keywords (17:04)
How upselling on Etsy helps push customers to add your other products to their order (18:12)
Fulfilling a large number of orders in the middle of a pandemic (25:30)
Why Etsy is a good place to start while testing if you have a viable product (28:15)
Three tips for having a successful listing on Etsy (32:04)

Additional Resources

Vina Howell's Store

https://unleashedpen.com/

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Four Steps Away Aug 04, 2020

Show notes

Have you ever thought about a situation and let your thoughts spiral downwards very fast to the worst-case scenario that can happen? Learning how not to let your thoughts go to the worst-case scenario is a learned skill. Learning to sit, enjoy, and rejoice is important. Enjoying that money you just made, that email list you just built, and other wins are things we should rejoice about.

Learning to recognize and correct the spiral is what I call the journey of the four steps away. To understand the four steps away, picture a ladder. Now, you are in the middle rung of the ladder and there are four steps above and four steps below.

The middle step is a situation that has no emotions to it yet. You can choose to go up or down the ladder. You can spiral down by thinking about the worst-case scenario or go up the ladder. If you spiral downwards you’ll go through the steps of annoyance, worry, anger then victimization. You can choose to go upwards through the steps of spark, excitement, belief then empowerment. You chose which four steps you are going to take with every situation.

Listen in on specific examples of how to apply the four steps away when it comes to business.

Key Takeaways

How a business coach helps you get to your goals faster by avoiding crawling and going on the business jet (04:30)
The next level program is open for applications for people who are a good fit (05:33)
Joy can be our greatest theft of happiness (11:21)
Being able to sit and enjoy and rejoice is a learned skill (12:38)
learning how to not go to the worst-case scenario is a skill that has to be learned (13:17)
The journey of the four steps away (14:06)
How to apply the four steps away in business (16:06)
The secrets of going faster up the ladder (21:00)

Additional Resources

http://becauseicanlife.com/nextlevel

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Ever Felt Stuck? Jul 28, 2020

Show notes

Entrepreneurs often get stuck in their thoughts. This holds them back and prevents them from going to the next level. I experienced this early on and was helped by a performance coach to overcome the nervousness I had. The next level program is designed to help entrepreneurs push through when they feel stuck. The coaches help them back to the right lane so that they can run their best race.

Tune in and hear our momentum coaches share amazing stories of how our students have been able to push through their limiting beliefs that they thought were facts. Our coaches know how to ask the right questions to understand why you are getting stuck.

First off, momentum Tonya shares with us some reasons people get stuck and some examples of how they push through. She takes us through the magic of not knowing and believing. Momentum coach Melisa walks us through the process of testing our thoughts to find out which serves us best. She advises that managing our thoughts will directly affect our results and empowering emotions helps us gain momentum. Misty shares how working with momentum coaches can be helpful. She also shares some amazing stories about some students that have gone through the program.

Key Takeaways

Why it is essential to have a performance coach when you are running a business (00:15)
How our minds keep us from dreaming to protect us from disappointment (09:23)
Not knowing about the how, the magic is in not knowing (10:28)
Pushing through doubts and feelings of inadequacy (14:17)
Testing our thoughts to find the ones that serve us best (17:32)
Knowledge is not enough, but it is nothing without action (20:55)
Willing to learn, being okay with the uncomfortable unknown and taking time to shift your mindset are desirable traits for an entrepreneur (24:37)
How a coach helps you remain focused and plan and prioritize your next moves (27:04)
Reframing the idea of failure and turning it into learning (27:53)
How the challenging times and discomfort make the good times sweeter (28:32)

Additional Resources

Connect with Alison:

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