The Chicken Or The Egg Of A Successful Online Business
By: Sandi Krakowski
Which came first, the chicken? Or the chicken's egg?
This is a question that people have fought over far too long… as if finding the answer will somehow settle the reality of who we are. My personal conviction is that the chicken came first and it stems from my belief in Creation. I believe we were created by more than just Intelligent Design, but Supernatural Spiritual Design initiated by the One who holds all power, and that is God Himself…. but I digress….
Back to business.
So, which came first? The assistant or the profits?
One common topic in my coaching classes is the need for help and the inability to do it all.
The question comes up, "When is the right time to get an assistant?" My answer is always the same, "Now." People begin to ask a ton of questions when I say that as matter of fact as I do but the answer stays the same. The time to get an assistant is now if you are serious about being in business.
Many beginning entrepreneurs believe that the time to get an assistant is when you can 'afford' one or in plain English, when the business is earning enough profit so that you can pay the assistant with the profits. This is a faulty view, much like the belief that the right time to do advertising is when you have the money to or when the business can afford or self-sustain advertising.
A basic principle in business is that you, the CEO and Owner will always have a season when you work and you receive no compensation for your labor. There is also another basic principle that so many who have bought into the "Opportunist Mindset" forget…. and that is it takes money and time to make money, no matter what business you are in. Even if you are not in business, to work at a local McDonald's even takes some money.
Let's look at some of the expenses for a average McDonald's worker:
At $ 3.58 per gallon in gas and a 10 gallon tank of gas in a worker's car, the cost of $ 35.80 per week for gas would not be unlikely. The cost of the ugly black pants they require you to wear, even if purchased at a thrift shop to keep expenses really low would run you around $10.00 as well, per pair. Considering you'll most likely work 3-4 days per week, you'll want at least 2 pairs of pants so you have one pair you can wash on your between days. Now our expenses to work at McDonald's for $ 8.00 per hours would be $55.00 to just get us started.
$8.00 per hour in a week of 25 hours would earn us $ 200 before taxes and roughly $ 165.00 after taxes.
So to earn $ 110.00 during our first week of working at McDonald's we'd need to invest $55.00 to get there.
Throw in child care, meals, and other expenses and you can see that even working at one of the lowest occupations on the totem pole of life can cost some money. Could this be why some people collect governmental assistance for far too long? Because we make it so easy to do so? But again…. I digress.
Which came first, the assistant or the profits? The advertising or the income?
Are you still believing you can do everything in your business on your own until you are nearly busting at the seams and then magically the ideal assistant of your dreams will appear so you can continue making the money you want? My friends, it just isn't so. The people who run their life and their business this way tend to close shop or give up before they even get there. The companies you see online that are successful and last a long time have all hired assistants from the initial starting point. Granted, many times we might want to just hire someone 20 hours per month which is 5 hours per week, but write this down it makes a huge impact on how much we can get done by getting some help.
Imagine if someone worked with you just 20 hours per month and helped with things like:
- Posting articles
- Keyword research
- Writing your email campaigns
- Phone followup
- Mailings (Direct mail)
- Social Media content posting
How much time would you save if someone was 'prequalifying' the people who would get access to you if you are a coach? What if someone else did the prospecting and you simply did the profitable followup with those who are ready, able and willing?
Yesterday on my Facebook wall I created a brief, just over one minute video on this topic. I asked what my friends thought about this question…. here is the video and some of the answers!
What came first? The assistant or the profits? The advertising or the income?
Here are some of your answers:
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Cathy Heilner Baker Ok The assistant comes after profits, at least for me. But advertising comes before the income. Part of me wants to say the opposite though, because I'm not making much money and this is how I've been operating. I could really benefit from this CD set!!2 minutes ago · -
Jessica Jorge Watters I believe assistants and advertising can come free or low cost if you do it correctly and do your research 🙂 So both of those should come first.
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Shonna Harding The assistant and the advertising came first. You have to have help to keep track of everything AND as you always say outsource outsource outsource what you can't do yourself in under an hour. If you don't have help you become run down and unable to make money. ALWAYS assistant comes first! Two heads are better then one. 🙂
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Aesha Adams-Roberts I think it takes a real shift in mindset to understand that advertising and an assistant comes before profits. In the beginning, it's easy to think you have to do everything yourself first so you can make money to afford an assistant. BUT, this mindset will eat up your time, wear you out and keep you from doing the profitable things you're good at. Advertising is the same way; without exposure to your website you won't build a list and without a list you won't have anyone to market to or you won't know how to develop products/services they want.
Do you still believe you can start a legitimate business and earn enough profits to call it an income without any money or help?
A business is NOT a job, it's an investment into the ability to increase your finances and your future. It is controlled completely by you and is determined by what you do….. not by what a boss does.
When we set things up the correct way initially we'll see greater results than if we just 'play around' until the profits roll in. I've seen some great blogs with amazing opt in offers develop right before my eyes, but the owner is still just playing business as a hobbyist. Here are a few clues-
- No posted hours on the website. The contact page has nothing more than an email link
- No contact page at all, there is no way to contact anyone on the website.
- Pretty glossy articles and photos but very few products that create any profit.
- No attention to Cost Of Goods Sold. Giving information away without any real attention toward a profit margin.
- No list building, a great offer exists but the only time you hear from anyone is when they publish a newsletter two times per week.
These are great starter steps to business but truth be told they are still very much like a hobby. Remember this- hobbies cost more money than running a business because a focus on profits doesn't exist with a hobby!
If you are in an industry such as real estate, copywriting, freelance services, etc you can certainly run a business without an assistant, but I always wonder how much MORE money you could make if you started out with help from the get go. Imagine if you were able to earn $4000 per month without any help or even $ 500 per month? How much could you have made by getting help and placing some great advertisements online?
Let me just agree that yes, you can do it. Yes, you can be the one who does everything and you can work 24/7 and get great exposure to your business. But that isn't my point with this article. My point is this: What would your business and your life look like if you invested $200 per month to get some help and place one banner ad on a popular website? What would happen to your list if you spent $ 300 per month on a very popular website with a great Opt In offer? I am NOT suggesting you hire an assistant or place a bunch of advertisements all over the internet if you do NOT have something worthwhile to sell and you have NOT established your market. But once you've done the basic elementary aspects of business….. the next step is, getting help and growing big!
When we built this company my goal was not profits. It was growing the biggest list we could and creating products that people wanted to buy every single day. We accomplished this in under 12 months when we made our 1st million in PROFITS and had more than 15 information products, along with a list of over 100,000 people. Currently we outsource more than 125 hours per week and we have a marketing budget that is obviously much greater than when we started out. We are a 100% debt free company. This is all paid for by our company.
But the bottom line is this…. we'd never have seen the TIDAL WAVE growth we did if the basic aspects of company growth didn't get put into place- build a big list, sell as many of our products as we can. I could never have done that all on my own…. and I'm so glad I didn't!
One of the biggest misconceptions I've seen in all of my years working online is the notion that you can just 'play around' doing everything from graphics to writing to marketing to customer service to customer support to product creation to website design to list building to social media to teaching and coaching and eventually….. you can hire some help and take out some ads. Unless you are willing to exchange valuable time and your life for such a living (which really isn't Entrepreneurship anyways, it's being an employee of your own business) it won't last.
But if you put the basics in place first….. create a product the marketplace wants… answer a need so uniquely that no one can compete with you… give outstanding service, create RESULTS for you clients and do it over and over again…. then you too can create the business AND the life of your dreams. It's my goal to help you get there!
By the way…. we have a WINNER in my Facebook contest!!! This answer impressed me the most!!! Congrats, John!!! YOU WON!!! I'd love an opportunity to help you grow your business in a ridiculous way! YOU ROCK!!
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John E. Walters Getting help in your business i.e.the hiring of the "right" assistant comes first. Although, you may see a "temporary" dip in your business profits upon the hiring of your help you will quickly increase profits by freeing up yourself to concentrate on the higher income generating activities that you should be doing anyway. This allows you to leverage your time more effectively. Spend the money first on the marketing and advertising activities that will bring the customers into your business but not only that but spend it on your "target" and hungry market to have the best ROI from the dollars that you spend.
Sandi Krakowski is a Mompreneur, Coach, Strategist & Mentor, Online Marketing Expert, Speaker, Writer, Copywriter. Mindset & Marketing For Small Biz Owners. Her unique talent is as a "Back To Basics Step By Step Business" expert who currently serves more than 150,000 clients in over 136 countries. Her systems help the average business owner as well as big corporations get extra-ordinary results quickly.
Get your FREE copy of Sandi's NEW BOOK-"Read Their Mind: How To Hear What The Marketplace Wants & Build A Huge Business" to discover the secrets that will help you get to your idea clients, build amazing relationships and learn to sell anything quickly! Click here to order your copy NOW!
