This is my first business review I’m putting out into the world for all to see. I follow a couple of other entrepreneurs that publish these on their blog and I find them really insightful.
Business Review: July 2018
Full disclosure, I am in a transition phase which means I am putting in double the amount of work behind-the-scenes and not really marketing or pushing my Brand + Showit Design packages. For the past 4-6 weeks, I have been focusing on building a Monthly Membership and a Showit Template Shop. My goal is to take on less 1:1 clients and grow my recurring and passive income streams. I use the term ‘passive income’ lightly because there is still a lot of work that goes on to get everything set up.
Recurring Income
I launched a $20 monthly membership, The Brand Gathering, as a way to help businesses who are just starting out meet their goals and grow their business faster. I’ve been asked the question, “Why only $20, Amanda?” I wholeheartedly believe the level of content inside The Brand Gathering is worth more than $20. However, if I raised the price it would take away the impulse factor. I want people to join The Brand Gathering and rave to all their friends about it. I also want to make sure it’s affordable for creatives who are just starting out and don’t have a lot of revenue coming in from their business. I set up Good, Better, Best goals for different points of the membership. (At the time of writing this the membership hasn’t launched yet.)
Pre-Launch (by September 3rd)
- Good: 30 Members
- Better: 40 Members
- Best: 50 Members
3 Months After Launch (December 1st)
- Good: 45 Members
- Better: 55 Members
- Best: 75 Members
6 Months After Launch (March 1st)
- Good: 70 Members
- Better: 85 Members
- Best: 100 Members
12 Months After Launch (September 1st)
- Good: 100 Members
- Better: 125 Members
- Best: 150 Members
My hope is to have the Monthly Membership gain momentum on its own as the community grows. I plan on creating a commercial for The Brand Gathering for my podcast since that channel has the largest audience. I will also be booking other podcast shows and guest speaking spots so I can grow my reach and get my face in front of new audiences. My other hope is that I can get Brand + Showit 1:1 clients easier through building my like, know, and trust factor with the members of The Brand Gathering community.
Passive Income
Photography by Carhart Photography
In January, I will be launching a Showit Template shop for multi-passionate creatives. I was initially planning on launching the Showit Template shop in October, but between The Brand Gathering monthly membership and setting up a shop on my website — it was too much work to get done. My goal is to have a referral program that will help me spread the word about the templates. Affiliates will earn 25% of every sale. I stated earlier that I use the term ‘Passive Income’ lightly because by the time that shop launches I will have put in 3 months of work upfront.
Launch Goals
January Launch:
- Good: $1300
- Better: $2600
- Best: $3900
Q1 2019 (January-March 2019):
- Good: $3900
- Better: $5200
- Best: $7150
One of my challenges when deciding on opening a template shop was how was I going to differentiate myself from other Showit template shops. Then my good friend Elizabeth Henson gave me the brilliant idea to make the templates for multi-passionate creatives since I had experience doing this for multiple clients in the past. For example, wedding photographers who also offer education to other photographers.
Tracking Analytics – July 2018
Each month, I’ve been tracking my analytics so I know how my business is progressing. I track my audiences on my website, blog, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Email, Podcast, and most recently YouTube.
Website: Visitors: 697 (↓ 8.65%) Page Views: (↓ 14.1%) Audience: (↓ 11.09%)
Blog: 233 (↓ 35%)
Note: Not sure why the drastic decrease in blog views. I only published 1 blog post in June and 2 blog posts in July. Possibly I shared specific blog posts inside Facebook Groups more frequently in June.
Instagram: Average Likes: 60 (↑ 5.26%) Comments: 7 (↓ 12.5%) Followers: 1289 (↑ 4.12%)
Facebook: 400 (↑ 2.04%)
Pinterest: 6,359 (↑ 12.73%)
Email: 200 (↑ 8.23%)
Podcast: 101 downloads with 1 episode released (no analytics to track from June because Season 1 ended in May)
Game Plan
I finally have a set posting schedule for every platform within my business. I will probably track analytics on all these social media outlets for six-months then evaluate to see which ones are growing my business and which ones I can cut. I don’t want to spend time and energy on things that aren’t giving me ROI. Right now I am focusing heavily on showing up consistently for my audience and providing a lot of intentional, high-quality value.
Collaborations
For the rest of 2018, I want to look for collaboration and speaking oppurtunies. I was asked to speak at The Rising Tide Society – Austin Chapter meeting for August. I want to book 3 guest podcast speaking engagements for the remaining year.
August Goals
❑ Grow Instagram to 1,500
Daily engagement sessions of 20 minutes.
❑ Grow email list to 300
Market my freebies to get new people on my list. I will market my freebies in YouTubes Videos, Instagram Posts, IGTV videos, and on blog posts.
❑ Book 3 projects for October
Follow up with clients that fell off the radar and promote complimentary brand discovery calls.
❑ Sell at least 30 monthly membership spots
Launch plan for this month heavily replies on my current email list, Instagram posts, Lives Videos and personally reaching out to people I think would benefit from the membership.
❑ Finish Designing Two Showit Templates
For the Showit Template shop, I am just designing templates and researching affiliate program apps. More goals for that won’t ramp up until September. To listen in on the behind-the-scenes look at transitioning my business listen to the Get Back to Business episode below.
