#2: If I Had Only $100 (or Less) to Start Again…

I’ve been at this online lifestyle business game since 2010.

Here’s a quick timeline;

• 2010 – Started online biz, built email list to around 10k, generated $30-$40k selling a Facebook course
• 2011 – Launched The Social Networking Academy, generated $117k in 7 days during the launch & continued to bring in $3-$5k/month from subscriptions
• 2012 – 2014 – Grew email list to 55k & regularly generated $25k+/month via membership site, affiliate marketing, social media courses & coaching.
• 2015 – Started on Amazon, sold over $1million in products in the first 12 months.
• 2016-2020 – Built Amazon biz to over $3 million a year in sales (around 20% net profit). Sold early 2020.
• 2019 – Started Your Lifestyle Business Blog as a bit of a side hobby to share past 10 years experiences. Got more serious about it as a business at the start of 2022. Currently generating $10k/month in affiliate sales & sponsorships. Goal is to build the brand, add products selling via Amazon & Etsy, launch YLB course (culmination of 13 years in this game), and grow to $100k/month.

Along the way, with my husband, we also started, bought, sold, dumped (and everything in between), a few other business ventures in blogging, e-commerce, dropshipping, print on demand & more.

To be honest there isn’t much we haven’t tried over the years.

What’s not in that timeline is all the failures & times I got it wrong.

Believe me there have been plenty! In an upcoming newsletter I’ll share some of my corkers!

For now though, I’ve been seriously studying the market over the last 18 months or so & taking notice of what & how things are changing. Particularly with the onset of AI which is about to change everything as we know it in my opinion.

If I were starting over again today & I had maximum $100 to get started, here’s what I’d do;

1. Pick a niche – choose a niche with a passionate audience around a specific topic
2. Create a free newsletter – use Substack or Beehiiv for ease of use. Plus they’re free to get started
3. Pick a platform – choose a main content platform. This might be a blog, a YouTube channel, a Podcast, an IG account, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, FB etc. I’d pick one main platform to post consistently every day or multiple times a day, depending on the platform.
4. Start posting every single day without fail – (The more quality content published, the faster the growth)
5. Be patient and prepared to post content every day for minimum 1 year – (The longer you’re consistent, the greater the long term results)
6. Encourage the growing audience to subscribe to your newsletter – Send out a daily or weekly newsletter with super valuable and actionable tips
7. Grow your subscriber base – Let time and your content compound. With an engaged subscriber base the world is your oyster. Attract sponsorship opportunities, offer physical or digital products, create coaching offers etc.

I would use this strategy no matter what business model I was pursuing. Even if I were starting an Amazon or ecommerce business today (which I am), this is a fantastic strategy to run alongside your store, to build a list of people who will most likely buy the products you want to sell.

It’s such a competitive world out there these days, the businesses who win are those with a community; that is, people they actually engage with.

Plus with AI muddying the landscape, people will be looking to those they trust. And trust online will come from consistency, word of mouth and community.

Therefore, the more you publish awesome content, the more you’ll engage, the faster you’ll grow, and the bigger your community.

Your Challenge

Pick your niche, if you haven’t yet, then choose a platform and get creating! Just start, you can enhance and improve as you grow.

Good luck!

I hope this has been a goody and has inspired you to get started today!

Have a great week and as always Make It Happen!

Jo 🙂