"I’m doing everything! But I’m still losing money!"

Chasing the wrong numbers?

Build your list! Get more friends! More page impressions! More visitors! More Twitter followers!

Have you, like Lulu, been faithfully buying the gurus’ admonitions and learning (and spending) how to increase those numbers?

And you’re still not making more than you spend?

If (whatever) list is not comprised of people who will spend money on what you market, you’re basically doing a public service. And getting some personal satisfaction writing, perhaps.

That’s great, but did you set out to run a charity?

They have the SAME problem in the tech industry. More here.

Business goal: Make more money than you spend. OMG I like. You?

Of course you have to give yourself time to get there. But what will be your interim goals?

-List and friend counts? Or
-A few people carefully sought out who really WANT what you have and share the same values you do?

You might only have 10 genuine and engaged folks on your list. But if they’re all buyers and share the same worldview, isn’t if more fun writing for them than trying to convince 1000 people on your list how great your product is, each time you post?

How do you fix this?

My advice: get expert status in an area of your business. Then market that to those who have a problem that you, the expert can solve. Like weight loss with a certain approach, or earning income from home, with a certain angle. The approach or angle will be where you build up your expert status. Those who want that problem resolved your way will be waiting in line to be your paying customers. No. Fans. They’ll be your fans.

If you already ARE an expert in an area of your business, start asking for people who have the problem you have a fix for, and describe your approach or values. E.g. weight loss without processed foods. Do not pretend to have “the” weight loss approach for everyone. No one does. You’ll turn into a preacher then. And who likes to be preached at? So find your own kind. They’re there. Ask and you shall…

P.S. This will probably cause some readers to unsubscribe, but here it is anyway. A girl has to earn a living somehow.

I’m setting up an experiment with Dr. Heidi’s ER weight loss/eating program – to test how her (self-attained, btw) expert status in nutrition and fat burn, and her specific approach, might turn into a network of online ER eating schools across the U.S. It will be a hybrid affiliate/franchise model. If you’d like to stay in the loop, email me here.