5 Ways To Organize Your Finances for Year End

2020 is literally right around the corner. New year and new decade! Before you pop that champagne, take time to prepare your business for the end of the year.

I know I know. Yuck. But it’s important, and doesn’t have to be all that bad. End-of-year prep makes tax time easier, makes sure all your financial info for the current year is accurate and up to date, and lets you start the next year out on the right foot. So your business keeps earning and you stress less in the year to come.

That sounds pretty good, right?

Here are five steps you can take now to prepare your business for the end of the year.

1. Organize your bookkeeping

Getting your bookkeeping organized for the year that’s ending will help you rest easy at night. You’ll know that all your numbers for the year add up, and that the information on your year-end financial statements is correct. 

One of the easiest ways to take care of your bookkeeping is to sign up for a remote bookkeeping solution. My secret weapon is Bench. They take care of my bookkeeping year round. 

Double check all your transaction categories

Go back and make sure that every transaction you’ve recorded for the year is correctly categorized. If you made a categorization error in February, and then kept repeating that error, it could have a major impact by the end of the year.

For example— say you’ve been incorrectly categorizing credit card processing fees for your biz as part of your overhead. That could give you a fluctuating monthly overhead expense; if use it to make financial projections for the new year, and your numbers will be off. Fixing the problem now will save you trouble once the books are closed.

Balance the books

If you use the double entry method of bookkeeping, it’s essential that all your credits and debits match up. Otherwise, some accounts may actually hold less value than your books say. 

You can do this at the same time you’re double checking your transaction categories. Make sure that each time an account is credited, another account is debited the same amount—and vice versa.

Reconcile your bank accounts

When you reconcile your bank accounts, you make sure your bank statements match up with your books. It’s how you ensure your books reflect reality—the real, tangible cash you have to work with.

Reconciling bank accounts isn’t complicated, but there are steps you need to follow to do it accurately. Bench has a helpful guide to bank reconciliation for your business.

Talk to a professional

Especially if this is your first time filing taxes for your business, it’s wise to enlist the help of a CPA. They can double check your books and make sure everything adds up, so your tax filing is accurate. What’s more, they may be able to identify tax deductions you’ve overlooked. That means your business will save more money in the new year. Close the books on Dec. 31st.

On the last day of the year, close the books. That means adding up all your numbers for the year, making sure everything is balanced, and preparing year-end financial statements. You’ll use those statements to file your tax return.

If you have a bookkeeper, they’ll close the books for you. They’ll also complete other preparation steps, like checking transaction categories and balancing the books. Again, I don’t really worry about this because Bench does it for me.

2. Back up your itemized deductions with paperwork

If you’re claiming itemized deductions on your tax return, you need to make sure that each tax deduction is backed up by documentation. In the event that you’re audited, you’ll need those receipts to support your claims. If you can’t prove that your deductions were valid, the IRS can penalize you. #NotFun

Make sure you hold on to the following:

• Receipts

• Cash register tapes

• Deposit information (cash and credit sales)

• Invoices

• Canceled checks or other proof of payment/electronic funds transferred

• Credit card receipts

• Bank statements

• Petty cash slips for small cash payments

• Accounts payable and receivable

• Payroll records

• Tax filings

• Previous tax returns

• W2 and 1099 forms

• Any other documentary evidence that supports an item of income, deduction, or credit shown on your tax return

Saving receipts

Receipts for business purchases are one of the most common types of business records. You should hold on to every receipt for at least three years. That’s the length of the statute of limitations—the amount of time the IRS has to audit you. 

On every receipt you keep, be sure to list:

• The date

• What you paid for

• What the purchase was

If you’re writing off a business meal, be sure to list on the receipt who attended the meal, and the business-related topics you discussed. 

The best way to keep track of expense records

Guess what...a shoebox is not a filing cabinet.

If you’re forced at the end of the year to sort through all your receipts and put them in order, it’s time to switch to a new system.

Going paperless cuts down on clutter and helps make sure nothing slips through the cracks. Apps like Expensify allow you to photograph and categorize your receipts, then upload them to the cloud—where they’ll be organized by type, and protected from hazards like sudden gusts of wind. Or you can just use Evernote, which is one of my favorite apps of all time. 

3. Set aside money for taxes

When you’re self-employed, it’s up to you to figure out how much you owe in taxes, and pay it to the IRS. 

That may sound like a big responsibility. But don’t worry: A few shortcuts can help.

This is the part where I have to tell you about Profit First, which is actually a book by Mike Michalowicz. His system has completely changed my business, for the better.

Finances really aren’t my strong suit, but I’m a systems girl.  And his system is very straight-forward, even for the most financially illiterate (like me!). In short, you routinely move money each quarter into separate bank accounts...most importantly, taxes/profits/and operating expenses. Kind of how your grandmother or great grandmother used to take the paycheck and put the mortgage in one envelope, money for groceries in another, utilities in another, and so on. What was left over was left over. In the Profit First system, this guarantees that you actually see a profit because you are moving it to your profit account. He also spells out how to figure out what percentage of what goes where.

But generally speaking, if you aren’t using the Profit First System, you want to follow the 30 % rule. You want to be prepared to pay about 30% of your gross income to the IRS as taxes. If you’re going back retroactively to put together money for tax payments, get together 30% of your income for the year. (This is when it’s handy to have year-end financial statements—so you can easily see how much you earned for the year.)

Next year, save yourself the hassle of sorting out taxes retroactively: Set them aside as you earn.

Set aside taxes well in advance

There are three methods for setting aside taxes as you earn income: Per-payment, monthly, and yearly.

Per-payment works well if you invoice clients. Every time a client pays you, take 30% and set it aside for taxes.

Monthly is best if your business goes through a lot of transactions every month—for instance, if you run a bustling ecommerce business. In that case, each month, set aside 30% of your gross income.

The yearly approach only makes sense if your business is small, you earn income infrequently, and you don’t need to make estimated quarterly payments. If your business is still in its side hustle phase, it may be okay to go back and set aside cash at the end of the year. Still, there’s no reason you can’t start using the monthly or per-payment method now—it’ll establish good habits for later on, when your business grows and your income is higher.

Create a separate account

Dipping into your tax savings is a major no-no. You don’t want to come up short at the end of the year, unable to pay your taxes. The best way to keep your tax withholdings separate from the rest of your income is to create a separate savings account. That way, you’ll know exactly how much you have—and you’ll be less tempted to spend it.

4. Get up to date on tax reforms

*Yawn*...fight the urge to nod off. “Tax reforms” may not be the most thrilling pair of words in the English language, but they’re important. 

That’s because, every year, the IRS makes changes to tax laws. That could mean you’re no longer eligible for certain tax deductions, or the deadlines for filing certain forms have changed.

For instance: The most recent major change to taxes was the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, in 2018. It set a new tax rate for C corporations—so if your business was incorporated, you’d end up owing less than you may have planned. It introduced a new deduction for so-called “pass through entities”—so if you ran a sole proprietorship or single-member LLC, you had a new way to write off expenses. And it made changes to which deductions businesses could claim across the board.

These changes are important to stay on top of. Every year, the IRS puts out Publication 5318. It tells businesses what kinds of changes to tax law they can expect in the coming year. Make sure you read it when it’s published. 

You may want to hire a CPA to file your taxes. It’s their job to stay on top of the latest changes in tax law, and make sure you’re in compliance. 

I’ve been using the same local firm for years and have developed a relationship with them so I’m sticking with them. But Bench just added tax/accounting services, too. Your bookkeepers will work one-on-one with tax professionals to get your taxes filed and 100% compliant with the current year’s tax laws.

So you don’t need to bring your books to a CPA, and explain how your business works. Since your Bench team produces all your financial statements throughout the year, and has hands-on knowledge about your expenses, they can work with professional tax filers to make sure your return is prepared accurately, and taking advantage of write-offs.

Ooh lah lah. Sexy, right?

5. Get the new year off to a great start

This New Year’s Eve, make a resolution to run your business more smoothly and effectively than you did the year before. Here are a few simple steps you can take to make it happen:

1. Do an internal audit.

Don’t let the word “audit” scare you. An internal audit looks at your accounting processes and operations, and makes sure that everything is running as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. 

Taking time to review your standard practices—how and when you record transactions on the books, how you store your business records, your invoicing cycle—can highlight ways to improve. That could mean entering sales on the books nightly, instead of weekly. Or, it could mean putting a whole new accounting system in place. Either way, your business will benefit.

2. Prepare financial reports

If you haven’t been disciplined about preparing financial reports, now is the time to start. Make sure that, by the end of January, you’ve got an income statement, cash flow statement, and balance sheet for the month. Then rinse and repeat: Your aim is to have accurate, up to date financial reports for every month of the year.

These taxes won’t only make it easier to file your taxes at the end of the year. You’ll have all the information you need to make informed business plans—like deciding how to reinvest income, or where to reduce expenses. That could mean more profit for your business in the long run.

3. Put together a financial forecast

When you create a financial forecast, you look at how your business has performed in the past, then project that performance into the future. It helps you prepare for events to come, and see where your business will end up depending on which business moves you make. 

Once you’ve created a financial forecast, you can refer to it throughout the year to help you make business decisions. For instance, a forecast can help you identify your busy and slow seasons, and how investments in your business will pay off. That could affect everything from your operating hours during certain times of the year, to whether you take out a loan to expand your business.

This guide to financial forecasting is straightforward, and includes examples you can use to create your own forecasts.

By taking five straightforward steps at the end of the year, you can make sure next year goes smoothly. 

You definitely want to wrap up the previous year’s accounting neatly, and make sure everything adds up and makes sense. Then you’re ready to file your taxes, or have somebody, or a service like Bench, do it for you. I’m a huge fan of outsourcing, and creating systems in our businesses, (which is why I created Front Row CEO (launching in January).) Financial stuff doesn’t interest me, it gives me a headache, and it’s definitely one of those things I’d rather hand over to an expert.

Did I miss any year-end tasks? Let me know in the comments below.

*Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. That means that I get some sort of small reward for you sharing with you if you end up purchasing. I only recommend products and services that I personally use and love.

The Best Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals for Online Entrepreneurs

I have come to love Black Friday. No, not the “real life” Black Friday, where people stampede through doors at 4am hoping to grab a big screen TV. No no no no no. Not at all.

I like the ONLINE Black Friday.

If you are like I am, you spend a lot of your business dollars on online tools and services. So we might as well get the best deals possible, right?

I’ve spent the last several weeks compiling a list of the best Black Friday deals for online entrepreneurs.

I’ll be updating this list all the way through Cyber Monday (December 2), so make sure to bookmark this post and check back regularly.

Many of these links are affiliate links, which means that I will receive some sort of small reward for telling you about the product. But as always, I don’t recommend anything I don’t love, or use myself.

Haute Stock’s Black Friday Deal

HAUTE STOCK: I have loved Haute Stock since back in the day when they were “Haute Chocolate”. (This sale will begin on Friday, November 29th at 6am Eastern). Haute Stock is a membership site that provides gorgeous graphics for your sales and marketing. Membership looks like this:

• New images added weekly — new photos are added to the library every Monday so you can keep your visuals looking fresh!

• Seasonal images — Haute Stock adds new seasonal and holiday photos every year and they are the perfect addition to your seasonal marketing campaigns.

• Pre-made social media quote graphics — for those days when you need something to post, you can Haute Stock’s done-for-you quotes. With new quotes released every month, there is always something to post!

• Exclusive graphics packs — unlock patterns, textures, and icons to make stand-out graphics for your brand. 

• Unlimited downloads — download and keep any number of images you find on Haute Stock so you always have those photos available!

Kajabi rocks

Kajabi: Although Kajabi is not offering a Black Friday deal this year, they have quietly announced a couple of cool new goodies for new “Kajabians”.

First of all, Kajabi is a true all-in-one-business platform where I basically have my whole business. Here are all the things you can do with Kajabi:

• Websites

• Landing pages

• Courses

• Membership Sites

• Communities (forums)

• Webinars

• Pipelines (this is my favorite thing about Kajabi..need a freebie and funnel to go with it? Scheduling a summit? Just press a button (literally), and the whole pipeline, from optin page, to thank you page, and everything in between, is done for you.

• Email

• Automations

• Checkout Cart

And since I’m sure I’ve left something out, just look at this. It shows you everything Kajabi does.

And for all new “Kajabians”, they are offering unlimited phone support AND after 90 days, Kajabi will assign your own Kajabi expert who will work with you, via phone suppor t to help you make the most out of Kajabi.

And I’m going to sweeten the deal. If you sign up for Kajabi here, my team and I will work with you, via Zoom calls, to migrate to Kajabi, set everything up, and get things working smoothly for you.

And Kajabi ALWAYS offers 24/7 chat support. No matter how great a platform is, if you can’t figure out how to use it, who cares, right?

TEACHABLE: Not everyone wants to put everything under one roof. So while Kajabi is always my first choice, Teachable is perfect for the person who just wants a gorgeous, simple-to-use platform to create online courses. If that’s you, Teachable is perfect. And their Black Friday deal is fantastic. (It’s only for new Teachable users, though.) Check it out here.

APPSUMO: Let me just confess right now. I’m an Appsumo junky. If you aren’t an Appsumo user, my apologies for introducing you to this addictive site. Appsumo is a purveyor of discounted bright and shiny business tools. You can get extremely good deals here on just about anything and everything that relates to online business. So make sure to click here and get alerted when they announce what is sure to be a bunch of deals worth gobbling about.

Don’t be stressed!!! My friend Anthony Korahais is a master in Qigong and Tai Chi and is offering this amazing free course Relieving Holiday Stress with Qigong -- CLICK HERE (It’s normally $67!)

What's the catch?

Anthony says “the catch is that you must solemnly swear to use these tools to create more kindness and open-heartedness in 2020.

Okay..fine. You don't HAVE to swear an oath. But I truly hope that you will use these tools, even if just for 2 minutes a day!

All of the lessons are short and sweet so you can jump around and pick whatever feels exciting. 

And I think you'll agree that these tools are PRACTICAL. 

You have until December 31st, but why wait when you could be using one of these tools 5 minutes from now?”

Lou Bortone is a video/YouTube expert. Recently he visited my group, Front Row VIP and presented a virtual video workshop and it rocked! When I saw this offer in my inbox, I knew I wanted to share it with you. Lou is awesome!

Bench is not having a Black Friday special (that I know of), but since I probably won’t be sending out a round-up like this again before the new year, I wanted to make sure and tell you about this amazing company. They are an online bookkeeping company based in Canada. It’s no exaggeration to say that this service has completely changed my business. Handling the financial stuff has never been my forte. But now, I actually LOVE logging in a looking at all of the beautiful reports inside of Bench. At any time I can log in and see exactly the state of my business. Every penny has been accounted for. Tax time is now a breeze.

And if your accounting is a tangled mess right now, they will go in and bring everything up to date. Then you can start fresh. I recommend this service to everyone. And I can’t think of a better thing to do for yourself and your business as we head into a new year (and new decade!)

MySocialBook is cool! You can print out your whole year of photos from Facebook, or Instagram. I used to do this every year, and then I forgot about, until I received a text today re: their Black Friday Promotion: For 40% off use code: TXT40PBF - Go to http://www.emotv.io/CmX6GH

Udemy has thousands of courses about every topic under the sun. Right now and through December 5th, they have courses for as little as $9.99.

I LOVE this software. It used to be called Brandquiz.io. Now it’s called involve.me. It creates gorgeous, interactive forms (like Typeform), landing pages, calculators, surveys, quizzes and even payments. This is a great deal.

Several of my clients use Dubsado. It’s a super robust platform that is perfect for agencies. They are offering a great deal right now. There’s a free trial, too.

Have you found any Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals I need to know about? Tell me in the comments!

How to Create a Successful Online Business in a Niche That Has Nothing To Do with Business

Miriam is an artist and small business owner. She is always crafting plans for her business. She has greatly evolved her art making business and now design products with her art that has a more modern and contemporary vibe.

After 911 she jumped ship and left her fancy job on Wall Street to be an artist.

But she kicked the "starving artist" persona straight to the curb and has proven that you can absolutely have a successful online business without teaching business stuff.  

Miriam suggests to have your own site with your outstanding brand and messaging - it’s a way that you don't have to compete with Etsy’s (and other bigger markets) lower prices so you can offer something that's very exclusive and very high-end and personal.

When she first started her business and doing Facebook ads, just targeting the right audience makes the difference. The next thing she did was putting a video series together with her launch and that worked really well with her audience.

For the people who are coming to her for the art classes, she gives them a step by step on how to learn a painting process. Her philosophy is that they shouldn't be learning how to copy a project, but how to learn a process.

She invests in her business - in learning, support and coaching. These are just necessary steps to scale the business. When she invests to things/people/course, she uses this formula: Is the nudge going to bring me in x number of people? What is my break-even on it?

She suggests the book Overdeliver: Build a Business for a Lifetime Playing the Long Game in Direct Response Marketing by  Brian Kurtz

One of the things that made her stand out to her audience is by sending them snail mail. She said that it is something that really all of us should be considering. Recently, she sent out a hundred mail pieces and costs her about a hundred dollars and she made about $6,000 on it. 

“Sometimes these things that we do, it may not get you that intended result , but then it has a ripple effect later down the line” - one client of Miriam that received the snail mail didn't take her up on her particular offer that was mentioned in the mail but joined her other course. The client also mentioned that it made her feel special to get something in the mail and says that she wanted to be coached from like someone like Miriam, to learn from her - on how to treat customers.

We couldn’t resist: The Real Housewives dish!

RESOURCES

Book recommended by Miriam, "Overdeliver" by Brian Kurtz 

Miriam's book "A Writer's Sketch" 

Miriam's podcast: The Inspiration Place 

Real Housewives Barbies on Instagram 

Real Housewives "Watch What Crappens" podcasts 

The Ultimate List of My Favorite Freelancers

If you are like every other entrepreneur on the planet, sometimes you find yourself bogged down doing work you know you shouldn’t be doing but you justify it because you tell yourself…

…it’s easier if you do it yourself. By the time you had to explain it to someone, you’d already be done.

Or maybe you don’t even know where to find someone to do that particular task and even if you did, you’d rather not spend that money.

But here’s the truth; there’s a very skilled labor force out there that is not only ready to work with you, but also incredibly affordable.

If you’ve been at this online business thing for a while, you’ve likely already heard of Fiverr.com or Upwork.com.

If not, let me be the bearer of life-changing news…

Fiverr.com is a place where freelancers offer their services (called “gigs”), some for as little as five dollars (hence, the name). You can’t believe the wide range of services offered there!

Upwork is a similar platform, but usually a bit pricier.

I’ve been using both services since 2013, and I’ve compiled a list of my favorite freelancers for you.

I have worked with each of these freelancers (except for those indicated) and can recommend them enthusiastically but obviously, I am not making any guarantees.

FIVERR CONTRACTORS

Podcast Editing/Production

DANIELABENDROTH: I’ve hired Daniel many time to edit my podcasts and he’s done a great job.

VUKJOVANOVIC23: Hired once for podcast editing and he did a great job.

Professional Voice Over Artists

bill_mehner recorded a podcast intro for me and did excellent work. Ver professional and polished.

Articulateasian: Hired him to record a professional intro for a podcast. Very good work.

Johnnystone created a podcast intro for me. Great work.

Kiffinyjean is the first voiceover artist I ever hired. Great work 

PaulKStadden can do anything voice! I hired him to do 3 commercials for my podcast and they were great. He will actually write the commercial, record it, add music, everything. His background is in radio where he used to write and produce commercials!

Graphics

Karinavoitenko created a custom content calendar for me to share with my community. It was less than $20 and truly excellent quality.

Jingle Writers/Composers

Soulriter: Wrote an original jingle for my podcast. While I haven’t used it yet, you gotta admit, it’s pretty groovy.

Rapper_man  created an amazing original rap song for my husband’s 50th birthday and made a video to go with it. He was fantastic

Jcattoor composed original background music for my Social Media Summer Camp I paid $5.50 but it looks like the price as gone up a lot since then!

Promo Videos

eighth_studio created a professional video promo for one of my courses. I never used it, but I think it’s cute, albeit a little corny and too long. 

Royaljatt created a fun video bumper for one of my courses. 

Coding/Templates

Saidulemarketer created a custom coded email template in ConvertKit for me. 

Transcription (these days, I use temi.com or rev.com for transcription, but lots of people still like to hire real transcriptionists.)

Mhhann provided high quality transcription 

Theexecutive great work

Social

Jamesdalton will proved a 1000 quotable tweets for your niche for $5

Misc/Silly

Virtues turned me into a Simpsons character which I use as my profile pic on my messenger bot. 

This amazing gentleman created this special custom video for my Taco Tuesday posts in my Facebook Group.

Squeezeboxhero created the most hilarious singing telegram for a friend of mine who was sick

This one is from 2013. I had just discovered Fiverr and was clearly out of control. Dog rings bell with my logo nearby. Here it is. If you’d like one, looks like the dog is still busy ringing people’s bells. Hire him here.

Book Editing and Layouts

Grammargal is a great book editor and proofreader 

lyubomyr Did a superb formatting my book for Kindle and for print.

Fiverr Gigs That Have Caught My Eye (but I have never purchased)

Logo design

Mockups for courses

Stop Motion animation

Video Editing

More Video editing

Brush calligraphy logo

Google Tag Manager Expert

Really cool portrait art (would make a great gift for a client)

UPWORK

Debra Boggs wrote my resume when I applied to be a professor.

Nata created a slide deck for an important presentation. Since then, I’ve referred people to her but I think her rate is higher now than it used to be.

Avadhesh is a Kajabi expert. I have not worked with, but several of my clients have, and I refer him often.

Obviously, I’ve just scratched the surface here.

When you go to do search for your own freelancers on Fiverr and Upwork, filter by the variables that are most important to you: language, ratings, rate, etc. I always look for the most highly rated freelancers who also have a lot of reviews.

If you have a freelancer you’d like to share with me and my readers, please put it in the comments below.

I’ll be updating this list as I find more freelancers I love, so make sure and subscribe to the updates below.

Top Online Entrepreneurs Share The Best Business Advice They've Ever Received

This is a “Jen on the street” type episode from her mastermind meet up in NYC. She asked 12 of the most successful business owners and online marketers to share the best advice they’ve received.

You’re going to love it because they don’t just tell us what the advice was, but why it was so powerful and helpful.

Enjoy!

Ry Schwartz – Copywriter

He shares a twist the advice that many of us have heard before. It’s a new perspective that helped him up his game.

Miriam Schulman – Artist and Business Owner

Her advice is about what happens we focus on what we might be losing instead of what we might be gaining.

Lisa Husseini – CEO Icadenza

She explains 2 pieces of advice – both that will help you focus on what’s important and not lose sight of it, even when chaos hits!

Maryalice Goldsmith – Business Coach

Her advice will help you if you find yourself getting caught in what other people are in your industry are saying and doing. Especially if it makes you worry about what you are doing.

Nicole Culver – Business Coach

Her advice is for the perfectionists out there and I know there are many of us who want everything to be just so. Nicole has you covered.

Ron Reich – Business Coach

Ron’s advice is 3 simple words, and they really are everything. He’s coached some of the most successful online entrepreneurs and this type of clarity is why he is so good at it!

Michelle Martello – Web Design and Strategy Consultant

Her advice is so simple, but it’s something we often forget. She shares how impactful following this advice has been for her business and how it will work for you as well.

Alexis Fedor – Business Coach for Artists

Mom knows best! Alexis shares what she learned from her mom’s advice and how it’s helped her. You’ll find it helpful for you too!

Melissa Pharr – Coach for Women Entrepreneurs

Her advice provides clarity and her examples are downright inspiring! Melissa isn’t just giving advice here – she follows it to this day!

Patty Lennon – Business Coach

This advice is one-part old school method and one part got-to-have-it genius when it comes to taking action and getting results.

Laura Belgray – Copywriter (and talking shrimp)

Laura’s advice is three little words. You’ve heard them before and she’s going to remind you why it’s about the best advice out there if you’re growing an online business.

Camille Virginia – Founder of Master Offline Dating

Her advice might sound counter-intuitive at first. You’ll find her input helpful and Jen says you’ll also feel a bit of relief too!

Tony Almeida - Co-founder of NaturalCell

Tony’s advice is something you should know when you’re selling your products. It’s not about what you want to sell but it’s about what they want to buy.

Let’s keep the conversation going! Share your best advice (given or received) in Jen’s free group The Front Row.

The Front Row Entrepreneur Flash Briefings

If you'd like to make sure you never miss these briefings, you have a couple of options:

1) Let my bot deliver them to you daily: http://bit.ly/flashbriefingbot

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3) You can also download the Alexa app and search for the Front Row Entrepreneur. Click "enable". Then tap the Alexa button in the lower center of the app and say "Alexa, play my flash briefings"

5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Paid Membership Program

Jen outlines the benefits of the membership model. Recurring revenue is key for the life of a successful business. Brendan Burchard told her (and 100’s of others at the Kajabi conference) that if you can’t go away for 3 weeks and still generate income, you don’t really have a business.

He’s kinda right. Jen breaks down the membership model as she’s learned it. You’ll want to take notes. She’s also going to share the transcript, and a handy guide as well so you can revisit while planning your membership site.

There are 2 key elements of a successful membership site. Only 2. So it’s important to do them well.

People come for the content and stay for the community. (not sure who said it first, but it’s true!)

Jen shares her community-building tips.

• Get the scoop on Jen’s pricing strategy and how it’s worked so well.

• How her launch connected members and helped them feel a sense of community right away.

• How Jen provides experiences and why it’s connected to her membership loyalty.

• Why challenges help with enrollment.

Hear Jen’s no-stress launch and cart open process that brings in new members.

• Use experiences as a way to invite new people to join the membership

• Walk members through a training

• Help your content come alive

If they don’t achieve, they leave! @jenrgy

Use the study hall approach to be productive and let your members have a place to connect. It’s lonely working by yourself all the time!

Find out how Jen decides what goes in her free group and what is only for the VIP paid group.

Find out what is her most valuable piece of content. Ever.

Strong onboarding is everything. Don’t make it hard for people find info. Jen breaks down her killer on-boarding process for you.

6 steps key steps for making sure members know all the cool things that are in your membership, how to access everything, where to find resources, guides and trainings and more!

Jen breaks down her membership platform. This is huge and she attributes this to the success of her membership. It’s powerful, easy to use, and has everything in one place. A free course is available in the show notes area – check it out so you can have a great membership site as well.

Don’t let the tech keep you from starting.

RESOURCES

28 Day Course Creation Challenge

Email: jennifer@jenlehner.com

Twitter @jenrgy

Front Row VIP

Kajabi

Facebook ads course

Hot Bots course

Bonjoro

Loom

Bombbomb

Airtable

————————————————————

The Ultimate Cheatsheet for Creating, Launching, and Scaling a Paid Membership Program

DOWNLOAD THE CHEATSHEET

How to Make a Profit From a Small Email List

Tarzan Kay is a launch strategist, copywriter and educator on all things money. Earning it, growing it, and helping others get more of it. She’s worked with Amy Porterfield, Ingrid Arna, Copyhackers and more.

Today on the podcast I talk all things email and you’re going to want to take notes!

You’ve heard the money is in the list right?

Well, Tarzan shatters that myth and explains that it’s much more than that. Your list is just the starting line.

Get the 5 tips she shares for personalizing to increases engagement.

You’ll love how this makes your emails matter!

Tarzan breaks down the pieces of an effective launch. It’s not just about a bunch of automated emails. That’s part of a launch, and she also shares what else has worked.

Big AHA: You don’t have to have thousands on your list!

Learn the Rule of One and obey it. Always.

You’re going to love her easy strategy for writing an interesting email that people will actually want to read!

Don’t miss the part about the Battlefield Principle.

Metrics matter, but make sure you are measuring the most important one along with the others.

She also shares her advice about scrubbing your list (do it and follow her method) why you don’t always have to have a call to action, and how to stay relevant.

She also has a brilliant suggestion for repurposing that’s going to make you happy!

Lastly, Tarzan explains the one thing we all resist and why we should get over it. She is living proof and shares how her success was tied to this one thing. In addition to her brilliant writing of course.

RESOURCES

Get 10 Swipeable Email Templates for Your Next Launch

What I learned at the Kajabi Impact Summit that blew my mind, and will blow yours too, even if you don't use Kajabi.

As I sit here on the plane headed home from the Kajabi Impact Summit, the company’s first ever live conference, I’m buzzing. As Rachel Hollis said so perfectly from the stage this weekend, “Sometimes when you leave a conference it’s like you want to eat the world, with your teeth and your claws.”  

There’s really no better way to process all that information then to share it with someone else, so let me take a moment to give you the highlights, from where I sat (on the front row of course.)

The event kicked off with presentations from the leadership at Kajabi, who gave us a glimpse into updates, improvements that we can look forward to in 2019:

• More sophisticated, powerful analytics.

• A new family of templates called “Encore”, which will be a successor of Premier.

• Sales tax: collection and reporting right inside the platform.

• Improvements of hundreds of elements including more automations, more ways to segment customers

• Improved email templates 

• Improved email editor

• Hero University will be more integrated into our experience and will offer many more free courses.

• There is a new app for Hero University available for iOs and Android and it’s available now.

• By the fall of 2019, Kajabians will also be able to create apps for their products/sites.

• There is now a new status page at status.kajabi.com. (This is where you go to see if the site is down)

• Instant deploys of emails

• Phone and text (SMS) support is being added

Kenny shared some interesting data based on customer usage:

• Once someone earns $1K in Kajabi, they are likely to earn $37K

• Once someone earns $37K, they will likely earn 100K.

Roland Frasier

Bullet Broof Copy

Biggest takeaways:

• When we do our research for our copy, look for “should I” searches such as “Should I vaccinate my dog before or after house training?” .Obviously, you will tailor this to your niche.

• Also, look for “ideas” searches, such as “ideas for green smoothies”.

• I loved his idea of creating a shopping list with your product in the list. For example, the list might be “10 Things Every Person Needs to Start a Podcast”. On the list, you could include your podcasting course

Frasier recommended using Headline Analyzer to test you headline and Think With Google and Answer The Public to get ideas.

I’ve been using Answer the Public for a while, and had no idea that the dark the green dot, the more popular the search query:

answerthepublic.com

When writing sales copy, make sure to answer these questions that your reader is asking:

• Is it right for me

• Can I afford it?

• Where should I buy it?

• Am I getting a deal?

Frasier recommended using this Customer Avatar Worksheet by Digital Marketer to get a better grasp on who our audience is.

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Amy Porterfield

What I Wish I Knew Before Launching My First Digital Course.

1. Give yourself the space to create. Minimum of five hours per week. Block it in your calendar.

2. Stay horizontal as long as possilble. So many of entrepreneurs rush out to create more products after the launch, but she shared how the real way to grow is to launch it, then continue to perfect it and launch again and again. She gave the example of her first launch of Profit Lab…first launch, 30K, second launch 200K, and then 950K.

3. Your launch success is determined by your non-launch efforts. That mean, create consistent content year round, and deliver value. Not just when you launch.

4. 99% of your launch decisions should be made before your launch begins. In other words, have a plan, Stan.

5. Your offer can make or break your launch.

   1. What’s included/what is it?

   2. What are your bonuses (AP recommends three)

      1. One bonus AP has had success with recently is a full analyses of her launch results.

   3. Will you offer support? How?

   4. Is there a payment plan?

   5. Is there a guarantee? ‘

   6. Facebook group?

6. One webinar is never enough. Do at least 4 for a 10-14 day launch.

7. Send more emails! 3 emails should go out on cart close day.

   1. First one in the morning “today the cart closes”

   2. Second one mid-day

   3. Last one two hours before cart close. In that email, send an off-the-cuff video, 7-10 minutes long that you record on your phone . “Ok friend. The cart is closing. If buying my program is going to make it hard for you to pay your mortgage, now is not the time for you. But if you need to take on one more client to pay for a program that will change your life and your business, you are just making excuses .”

8. Tell More Stories. Bring the human touch to the launch. Throughout the launch, after cart open, when people sign up message them or email them and ask them to record a video about why they joined and post it in the Facebook group.

9. Don’t rush to evergreen. Perfect your launches. Live launches are magic

10. There is power in simplicity. AP only launches with webinars and emails. (and Kajabi).

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Jasmine Star

The Ultimate Instagram Launch Strategy

Jasmine Star delivered a fun, high-energy and inspiring presentation all about Instagram.

Big takeaway here is to have a plan.

Jasmine opens her membership site once a month. She has a 4 week campaign for Instagram that she sitcks to every month. This is her posting strategy:

• Week 1: Warm up by positioning your business in a favorable light. Remind them with specificity what you do. Non promotional . No mention of product.

• Week 2: Overcome objections with strategi posts. (January is the month to finally say yes to your dreams.”)

• Week 3: Promotion Sequence: Position your business as the solution to what they’ve been stuggling with.

• Week 4: Focus on getting followers

Regarding hashtags, Jasmine’s practice is to leave one in the caption to drive traffic, and 29 more in the comments to be part of conversations happening around those hashtags.

Casey Graham

The Forgotten Funnel: Increase Customer Value Without Selling More

I didn’t expect to like the next speaker, Casey Graham, who is the founder of a company called Gravy, because he was an event sponsor. But he actually ended up being one of my favorite speakers. I particularly loved his quote “never despise a small beginning. That’s where you build the habits for when you are big”.

And also “pay attention to paying people”. That really was the focus of his talk: treat your clients and customers like gold, because they are gold. He said “the forgotten funnel are your paying clients”.

Pay attention to paying people.

Another key take away was to make every interaction incredibly easy for your client. Make sure to break down steps: “do this first”, “do this next”.

He told us about the Full Story app that will allow you to watch a new user, in real time, navigate your site, product.

Casey also said “do for one what you would do for everyone”. He gave everyone a stamped envelope and blank notecard and we all wrote one customer an email telling them how much we appreciate them as an example of what this principle looks like in action.

Rachel Hollis

Rachel Hollis is not someone who I was familiar with before this conference. Obviously I know who she is, because you can’t pass an airport bookstore or grocery store magazine stand without seeing her face. But I was unfamiliar with her work.

Rachel’s talk was very motivational. I loved one interaction she has with a girl in the crowd who raised her hand to express that she wanted to do what Rachel does…speak from the stage, impact women around the world, etc. but that she felt like there wasn’t any point, since Rachel was already doing.

Rachel responded by saying “don’t compare my middle with your beginning”.

She stressed the importance of sticking with just one thing and shared a great analogy:

Imagine you have 6 soccer balls and you are allowed a total of 6 kicks. If you take turns kicking each ball one time how far will you get versus kicking one ball, six times?

It was also very interesting to learn that she sells her incredibly successful journal from her Kajabi site, as Shopify integrates beautifully with the platform.

She recommended the book “The Road Less Stupid”.

While it seems that Rachel Hollis sprung up out of nowhere, she’s been working hard at her blog for 15 years and she published 5 books prior to “Girl, Wash your Face” that she said no one read.

Roger Love

How to Speak So Others Perceive You As the Most Authentic and Irreplaceable Expert (Without Ever Feeling Fake)

Roger Love, the world’s most famous vocal coach gave such a fascinating presentation about how important it is that we use our voice (our actual voice) deliberately. He called up volunteer from the audience who had a nasal-y voice and before our eyes completely transformed the way she sounded.

---

There were these great interludes in between sessions when JCron or Kenny of Kajabi would facilitate different discussions, and one of my favorite sessions was about the state of the knowledge commerce industry.

The big takeaway here is that there is a shift from just information products to transformation products. How quickly and easily can you get someone from a current state to a desired state?

Our courses must be combined with coaching and connection and community.

They suggested that when someone buys your course or product, there are 5 things we want to share with them immediately:

1. Congrats/welcome!

2. Here’s what to do next

3. Here’s how to get help

4. Here’s the top 10 questions we get

5. Here’s how to connect with us and others

JCron also suggested that we use Kajabi’s Assessments feature to ask our customers/students/clients the following questions:

• What was most impactful for you?

• What was most confusing to you?

• Was anything frustrating or overwhelming ot the point of wanting ot stop?

• Anything else I should know to help improve this experience?

Brock Johnson

The Power of Stories

Brock Johnson, son of veteran marketer Chalene Johnson talked about the power of story and how we should be using stories that illicit emotions. He shared a powerful example from Hemingway:

“For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.”

Brendon Burchard

How in the World Are Influencers Making $10M a Year?

Brendan Brouchard was probably my favorite speaker at the event. I had never seen him speak before and from the minute he took the stage and throughout his entire performance, I’m not sure I blinked. Except maybe when I had to wipe away the tears from laughing and crying. He was magnificent. Every single thing out of his mouth was quotable, but here are just a few of my favorites:

• You are responsible for this dream sewn in your heart.

• Step into the truth that you can lead. You are in charge of your business.

• If you don’t take full ownership of your dream, you will never scale.

• You have a lion in your heart. Stop living like a mouse.

• Create and sell information that is fascinating to you (and that you want to talk about for years.)

• Don’t create niche products. Market to niches. For example, Apple has six products. They didn’t create an iMac for chiropractors and one for lawyers. You can market the same product and shape your marketing for those niches.

• Create and sell 3 products per brand topic

  • low tier: $99 and below

  • mid tier: $99-$500

  • high tier: $500 and above

• Claim and mater your topic

• Discover your audience’s problems AND ambitions.

• Sell a higher aspiration…lead with aspiration.

• Define your story..the one that’s relevant to the struggles and aspirations of yoru people.

• Let your message be meaningful…a message you are supposed to share.

• Excellence only takes two weeks longer.

• Perfectionism: by very definition of the word perfect…you can’t perfect something unless you release it!

• Post a weekly blog or vlog.

• Post 4 pieces of content every day on social media.

• Every Friday look at which posts did well and then boost the winners.

• Save the winners in a folder on the cloud and re-use them in future weeks/months.

• Create evergreen campaigns for your products.

• Run ads all the time.

If Brendan had to start his business all over again today, how would he set it up? (on Kajabi)

• Membership site: $29 x 1000 people per year = $348K per year

• 3 part webinar $97 x 200 people per month = $19, 400 per month=$232,800 per year

• Online course $297 x 100 people per month = $29,700 per month = 356, 400 per year

• 1: 1 Coaching $1000 per onth x 15 people per month = 15, 000 per month = $180K per year

• All that adds up to $1, 117, 200 per year.

Chalene Johnson

How to Use Social Media to Sell Your Course, Without Selling

Chalene Johnson shared her script for selling on a livestream:

1. Start with their problem (or what they think their problem is)

2. Empathy statement

3. Expert positioning

4. Paid the possibility

5. The story that illustrates the solution and that elicits emotion.

6. Unique solution (the offer) (The key to this script is the transition phrase between 5 and 6:

   I used to get so frustrated with_________ “that is why I created (product)’

7. How it works “once you sign up, you’ll start with (3 things)”

8. Rejection/risk (if you don’t take action, you can stay stuck, throwing spaghetti at the wall and doing it the hard way. And things will stay just the way they are now.

9. Investment “you can start today with your first payment of $597 with 4 more to follow”. (Chalene like starting with the payment plan first)

10. Testimonials

11. Call to action (on mobile, make sure that to click the buy button, they won’t be able to unless they click the x in the top right hand corner of screen”

12. Fast action bonuses

Sean Cannell

How to Use YouTube to Get Free Traffic, Build Your Authority, and Sell Products on Autopilot

Sean Cannell gave us some great YouTube tips:

1. Research before you record: go to YouTube search. As you type in your topic, pay attention to the autocomplete because it will populate with suggestions of things people are actually searching for.

2. Rank for your business. You don’t have to get all your videos ranked (show up on top for certain searches), but having just a few can lead to lots of traffic and it can last for a long time. Pay attention to

   1. Video topic

   2. The content itself

   3. Thumbnail

   4. Title

   5. Description

   6. Tags

I particularly like a Pipeline that he set up in Kajabi that takes YouTube viewers of his videos to a webinar. This is a prerecorded webinar that then takes them to a sales page for his course.

What I liked about this Pipeline is that it is very simple..I’m not sure they even opt-in. I think they watch the YouTube video, then he says “If you’d like more information about this, click here for my webinar”. Next they go right to the webinar which is very obviously a recording…he leaves scrubber bar on there allowing viewers to fast forward and rewind, etc.

He suggested the tools, Keywordseverywhere.com , vidiq.com, and TubeChecklist.com

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Our last day kicked off with another QA session.

One woman stood up and said that she was confused about whether or not she should launch a big (expensive) course or a small (less expensive) course.

JCron said “Ikea is a on the list of the top 500 companies in the world and so is Louis Vuitton”.

Neil Patel

7 Shortcuts to Becoming A Global Brand

The last speaker I saw was Neil Patel, who talked aobut 7 Shortcuts to Becoming a Global Brand”

He ran through some fundamentals:

1. You need a blog.

2. Blog at least once a week.

3. It’s all about the headline.

4. Don’t sell, educate.

5. Write in a conversational tone.

6. Use sub-headings and keep paragraphs short.

7. Spend 80% of your time promoting.

8. Be yourself

9. It’s all about video.

Biggest takeaway from this session for me is that after we upload video to YouTube, we should email our subscribers about it immediately because YouTube ranks based on the first 24 hours of activity.

He recommended that if you are trying to build a personal brand, that it’s a good idea to speak at 4 conferences a year, and to go live 3 times a week.

Tragically, I had to leave before James Wedmore’s presentation.

This was an outstanding conference and I can’t wait for Kajabi Summit 2020.

Did you attend the conference? What were some of your biggest takeaways?

A Fresh Look at List Building and Email Marketing with Teresa Heath Wareing

Today Jen is talking to Teresa Heath Waring, a friend she met sitting in the front row at Social Media Marketing World a couple of years ago. As a fellow front-rower and marketing expert, she and Jen talk all things email marketing.

If you read that and thought, email marketing, who does that anymore, then this episode is especially for you. Teresa explains she talked a good game but didn’t always follow through.

Sound familiar? Jen and Teresa dive into what’s working now (you need to hear this) and what’s not working.

Teresa shares 4 key questions to help you target your audience, so they absolutely love seeing you in their in-box. With examples!

Teresa shares in true confession style what not to do, and her biggest regret when it comes to email marketing. This is so many of us and her story will help you realize that you have what you need to use this as part of your marketing strategy.

This conversation will help you understand the easiest way to connect with people who are eager to hear from you. Topics include:

• Micro content, long form content – which one and why

• Why consistency isn’t just a good idea

• A new way to look at your lead magnet and content upgrades

• Tags and segmenting – and how to make it super easy (you’re going to take notes here!)

• Opening and closing salutations (this may include a story about Lady T!)

RESOURCES

Connect with Teresa

Response Suite

Short Cut Your Way to Social Media Success

Teresa’s Podcast, Social Media Marketing Made Simple

Seth Godin is a Hero For The Little Guy ENTREPRENEUR ENTREPRENEUR ENTREPRENEUR

My hero

Seth Godin wrote a blog post today about the way EMI, Inc., has bullied me, and other entrepreneurs.

You see, somehow, Entrepreneur Inc. got the trademark for the word "entrepreneur" years ago and since then, they've been going after little guys, like me, and threatening to "take action".

My podcast, "The Front Row Entrepreneur", it seems, was infringing on their trademark. You know, much like how a speck of dust infringes on a mountain.

This has actually been going on for quite some time, but I haven't talked about it because...lawyers.

And also, it's just been exhausting, demoralizing, and oh so frustrating.

I agreed to their demands...

I changed all the links (sooo many links)...

I changed the name of my podcast...

I changed all the graphics everywhere...

And then, yesterday, I got an email from their lawyers telling me they found a few more things on my website that still had "entrepreneur".

One of the things was literally a blog post "What is a Front Row Entrepreneur?".

Since Seth Godin was on my podcast recently, and he knew about this situation, I forwarded him the email and said "I just wanted you to see how far they go."

He asked if he could write about it.

Um. What?

Really?

YES, PLEASE!

Who better to call them out than the godfather of marketing and entrepreneurship himself?

OH YEAH! YOU GO, SETH!

Not even an hour later, he had finished his article and now you can read it here.

I would really love it if you would share the article far and wide. I'm done being scared.

Because it really is time for this bully of a company to stop what it's doing to the hardworking entrepreneurs of the world who they claim to support.

If you tweet it, be sure to tag @Entrepreneur and also @ThisIsSethsblog and ofcourse me, @jenrgy.

Thanks.

In support of my friend @jenrgy I am going to change my Twitter name to include the word Entrepreneur. Sue me @entrepreneur, I stand up to your bullying. Thanks to @ThisIsSethsBlog for spreading the word on their tactic to harass good people.

— Entrepreneur Dinesh Agarwal (@dinwal) March 30, 2019

Stop bullying the entrepreneurs https://t.co/gDAtKzdxS6 I won't be buying @Entrepreneur again. I will support @jenrgy who provides tons of support, encouragement & useful information to ENTREPRENEURS! Go ahead & sue me, too! (thanks, @thisissethsblog for calling the bullies out)

— Nikki Tate (@WriterGrrrl) March 29, 2019

@Entrepreneur is bullying its own community + ruining its brand. Claiming to own the word, #entrepreneur by trying to shut down legit #entrepreneurs truly helping others. Bad law, bad marketing + bad branding. Pls read article + support truly helpful entrepreneurs. @jenrgy rocks! https://t.co/uu0qOlDWQy

— Jenny Lens (@jennylens) March 29, 2019

https://t.co/lZ7u8J89CV Ok @Entrepreneur what’s the deal? You say you want to support those of us trying to make our way in the business world and yet you are bullying us? Not good business or relationship building at all! @ThisIsSethsBlog @jenrgy

— donna_reina (@donna_reina) March 29, 2019

@Entrepreneur is sending the dogs out for the use of the word “Entrepreneur!” You’re suppose to be helping entrepreneurs not hindering! My friend Jen @jenrgy had a fabulous program with her Front Row Entrepreneur, has to change everything because of the word Entrepreneur!

— Crystal Kia-Paul (@AlohaCrystal) March 29, 2019

@Entrepreneur why not give the 'little people' like @jenrgy and all us 'entrepreneurs' a break? Just read @ThisIsSethsBlog and literally am DISGUSTED with your incessant bullying. You've lost a customer for life. Maybe SUPPORT those you are harassing? #smh #smallbusinessowners

— **Becky Auer** (@beckyauer) March 30, 2019

My friend ⁦⁦@jenrgy⁩ is being hounded by lawyers for Entrepreneur Magazine for using the word “entrepreneur” in a title????? ⁦@ThisIsSethsBlog⁩ calls ‘em out!! Boycott ⁦@Entrepreneur⁩!!!!! https://t.co/LcfGxURZ0h

— Erica Brenner (@classicalerica) March 30, 2019

So why is @Entrepreneur putting a muzzle on @jenrgy ? Koodles to her for standing up to their bullying tactics and @ThisIsSethsBlog for putting them on blast. #unfollow @Entrepreneur https://t.co/K0jU8KWNyU

— Rusike Cedric (@cedricrusike) March 29, 2019

Wow, so @Entrepreneur is going after people using the word ‘entrepreneur’, like that’s their property? Shame on you! And well done @ThisIsSethsBlog for standing up for @jenrgy https://t.co/bLP5x1xgEf

— Jane Travis, Grow Your Private Practice 😎 (@counsellorbiz) March 29, 2019

This is far from ok. Stop bullying the entrepreneurs, @Entrepreneur! https://t.co/sg6WxOH2sk @ThisIsSethsBlog @jenrgy pic.twitter.com/Am795hOigU

— Nicole (@nicki_van) March 29, 2019

If you are an entrepreneur- and call yourself an entrepreneur- and why wouldn’t you - over 650k new businesses a year in the uk - read the shocking tale of @Entrepreneur bullying - I’m genuinely shocked- thanks for being brave @SethGodinBlog @jenrgy

— angie moyes (@angiefuz) March 30, 2019

Wait a minute... They are threatening action unless you stop using the (super common) word #entrepreneur??? That is REDICULOUS!!

Shame on you, @Entrepreneur.

— Andy Crestodina (@crestodina) March 29, 2019