Growth Letter #15
I'm buzzing with excitement this week. And do you know why?
Because the G.Y.M. has opened 🥳🥳🥳
Notice how I never say MY G.Y.M.?
That's because it's not mine, it's yours. This is YOUR place to grow.
I have a group of 6 fierce founders and I couldn't be happier about working with each one of them.
This is my signature program that I built to help you Emily go from:
Lost on what direction to take to crystal CLEAR with a winning strategy and plan
Overwhelmed with all things marketing to knowing exactly what to do
Frustrated with marketing software & how to make things work to implement marketing with ease
Confused about what to prioritize to clear on what needs to get done each week
Scared to start working on your BIG and awesome idea, to having a clear step-by-step plan that feels doable with the time and resources you have
Wasting a ton of time trying to figure out things on your own to having clear guidance and training for your specific needs
Stuck and paralyzed to progress, accountability, and consistency
And on day 3 I'm already getting feedback like this:
“The exercises got me thinking so much! Starting the year with the G.Y.M. it's giving me a gigantic motivational boost!”
Did you need that boost too?
Don't miss the next time I'll open the doors.
I'll open the doors again this year and fast action takers get a special deal and bonuses.
So if you want to be one, join the waitlist.
🍕 Pizza anyone?
My husband is Italian and is obsessed with pizza.
Yes, Italians tend to love their pizza. But this is more than love. It's a real passion.
This all started from the frustration of not finding a good pizzeria in our town.
He kept telling me he wanted a proper oven to cook his pizzas.
So 5 years ago, on his birthday I gave him a Ferrari (the oven, not the car! He wouldn't even appreciate the car ).
Then a year later the pandemic hit. He's a photographer so his business was badly affected.
He went from burnt out with so much work, to a bit depressed, locked at home with nothing to do.
Pizza saved his mental health. (And mine too!)
Every single Friday, he'd cook pizza for us. In a time of lockdown, when there was nothing to do, and no place to go, pizza was the thing we looked forward to every week.
The kids would ask us “Is it almost Friday?”
From this, another idea was born.
One day, my husband asked me “What if, when it's safe to invite our friends over, we start a project of Pizza and Portraits? Let's bring my two passions together and make them have babies!”
Proudly holding the pizzas they cooked in our pilot workshop last weekend
We kept doing this for fun, inviting family and friends over, and sharing on our Instagram stories.
Every week.
For 5 years.
Last year, he bought a better oven and started “cooking” the idea of making workshops in Lisbon.
And this month he announced the first 2 Workshop dates.
And guess what happened…
BOTH workshops sold out in less than 1 hour.
Why?
A few reasons…
Free Trial: He gave “free trials” to so many people and most were curious to learn how to cook it.
Referrals: People who came over would often say things like: “You ruined the pizza experience for us! How can I possibly get anything better than this?” And they went on to brag about this experience to their friends.
His pizza enthusiasm is contagious, so it doesn't even feel like selling. As I heard from Rachel Rogers once “Selling is sharing enthusiasm.”
“Pizza and Portraits” is here to stay and he's just getting started! You can follow this project on Instagram (we'll start posting more regularly).
You can check some Pizza and Portraits from the test event this last weekend.
The lessons for you from this story?
Your best business ideas can be born out of your frustrations
Offer people a sample of your product or service
Make the experience so awesome that people will not just talk about it: make them RAVE about it. Make them your ambassadors
Whatever you're selling, make sure you “infect” others with your enthusiasm
That's my hubby, Emanuele, with his pizza enthusiasm
❤️ My heart is beating for Heartbeat
My new love? Heartbeat.chat.
As I was preparing to start the G.Y.M., I was debating a few solutions to host my course and community:
Circle, Slack or Facebook groups for communication
Notion or Google Drive for docs
Squarespace or Kajabi for the videos
I was frustrated because none of this was smooth. Nor easy.
It all felt messy and expensive.
But then….
A lady I follow and admire shared a video showing how she's hosting her community and I was like “Wow, this is EXACTLY it!”
And a new love story began.
The moment I got in and had a look around, I was immediately like…
“TAKE MY MONEY!”
Just imagine having a product or service THIS good, so beautifully designed for your specific needs that all you want is to press the pay now button.
Win for Heartbeat because they got another happy customer.
Win for me as they resolved all my frustrations and fears.
Heartbeat is INCREDIBLE if you're looking to:
Have a professional way to onboarding your community
Host a free or paid community
Create a course
Have resources
Match people up as accountability buddies as your community gets bigger
Remember the point above about making the experience so awesome that people RAVE about it?
Here I am, raving about software.
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Heartbeat.
🚀 Actionable Growth Tip
But first, an offer.
If you're just starting your online business: Do NOT build a website! Instead, build an offer.
It's so tempting to go all fancy pants and spend months building a gorgeous site.
You put it live. Post it in a couple of places and get a couple of likes.
And then?
Crickets.
Here's the harsh truth: no one really cares about your fancy site.
People will only care about how you can help them resolve their problems.
How can you make their life better?
How can you help them reach their goals?
How can you make them save time?
How can you help them look and feel better?
How can you help them make more money?
How can you help them get results?
And to help them you don't need a bunch of pages.
You need a simple page where they can land, with a clear solution to their problem.
Get enough people buying or showing interest in your offer FIRST.
Validate your idea FIRST.
Get paying clients FIRST.
The fancy site can come after… wayyy after!
(mine came after I signed my first 2 clients)
Can I help?
The G.Y.M.
Want to be part of the next G.Y.M. cohort? This is a 12-week marketing program that will help you build a marketing strategy, plan, and build a sales funnel.
The doors to the G.Y.M. are now closed, but you can join the waitlist and be the first to know when I have new dates.
G.Y.M. "Waitlisters" will also get a special discount and bonuses.
VIP Growth Days
Don't want to wait 12 weeks to get a strategy? A plan?
Do you prefer a hands-on one-on-one? An audit of your business (or idea)?
Growth days are meant to help you accelerate your business growth.
I got you covered Emily!
I'll be sharing more soon, but for now, you can register your interest below.
“I got so much clarify from just a few hours with you!”
PS: These Growth Letters are now weekly. Which means, I'm going to make them a bit shorter ;) Or maybe not. What can I do? I'm a woman with a lotttt to say
