This week, I’m joined by my friend, mentor, and one-time coach Kelly McCausey. You may recognize her as the creator of the Stretch Yourself Challenge, an annual event I credit with helping to launch a new era in my business. Kelly recently announced that she’s closing the doors on the content marketing side of her business so she can focus on full-time mindset coaching. To celebrate, she’s hosting one final Stretch Yourself Challenge event, so I invited her to come chat with me about content...

Six-Figure Systems has been closed to new members for a while. We’ve made some changes behind the scenes and introduced some new pricing tiers, and to celebrate our re-opening this week, I want to share a recent Q & A call with you. This call recording gives you a sneak peek into what we do inside Six-Figure Systems, and the support we offer to both new and more established business owners. Give it a listen and learn about things like prioritizing your projects, growing your email list,...

There’s something attractive about an online business, and it’s not just because you can work from home in your pajamas and fuzzy slippers. For many online entrepreneurs, anonymity is appealing. The thought—whether conscious or not—of hiding behind a laptop screen, never appearing in public, and even using a pseudonym in place of their real name makes introverted entrepreneurs feel safe. But is keeping a low profile, firmly sheltered within that comfort zone cocoon, really doing your business...

Imagine having the confidence to know your next blog post will hit the top of the search results. Or that your next sales page will convert well. Or that your ads campaign will bring in new subscribers. That’s what having well-maintained SOPs (standard operating procedures) can do for your business… so why do we not make them a priority? If you’ve ever said: I know I need better procedures, but I don’t know where to start I have procedures and checklists… somewhere I don’t need procedures...

“It takes me forever to write a single email.” That’s what my friend Tish said when I casually mentioned I had written 10 emails that morning. It’s a complaint I hear from other online business owners, too. Content is such a critical part of doing business online, but yet we struggle to create it consistently. Sound familiar? In this episode of the Tiny Course Empire podcast, I have 17 tips I’ve learned since I fired up my keyboard for the first time. Some will help you write faster, some...

Feeling a little confused about the upcoming Google and Yahoo! email changes? Hearing lots of scary-sounding acronyms and wondering what the heck they even mean? You’re not alone. A few months ago both Google (Gmail) and Yahoo! announced that beginning in 2024, they will impose new requirements on senders of bulk email—in other words, email marketers like us—and if we want to keep our email messages out of the spam folder, we’d need to shape up. What exactly are these new requirements, and...

One of my favorite podcasters, Mike Schmitz, has a rule for his kids: “Create more than you consume.” This is great advice not just for kids, but for all of us—maybe especially for online business owners. With a never-ending supply of webinars, courses, blog posts, TikToks, YouTube, books, and more, it’s easy to find yourself consuming more than you produce. That’s a dangerous path to follow when your income is dependent on the courses, products, and other content you create. But where should...

I’m talking a lot about content lately. It’s the first stop on the Online Business Roadmap, and for a good reason: It’s one of the pillars of your marketing plan. The only question is, what’s your content style? Will you be all business? Will you let your personality determine the direction you take? Or will you approach your content like a scientist, and follow the keyword data to find success? In this episode of the Tiny Course Empire podcast, I’m breaking down the three distinct content...

The first time I realized that not everyone could easily break big projects into easily finished, bite-sized tasks was when I implemented (what I assumed was) a simple worksheet for tracking and completing a large project. My client—the beneficiary of the project worksheet—was so impressed he shared it with the rest of the team, and asked me to create more workflows for other ongoing projects. That was when I knew that not everyone thinks like me. Not everyone can look at a big project and...

Congratulations on completing that brand-new course! Everything is ready to go—the videos are edited, the worksheets are beautiful, the transcripts are done, and you’re even proud of the sales page. There’s just one thing missing… testimonials. And that’s the sticky bit, isn’t it? I mean, how are you supposed to get testimonials when you haven’t sold anything yet? And how can you sell anything without testimonials? It’s a catch-22, online marketing style. The good news is that testimonials...

As online business owners, we’re no stranger to digital tools. We build websites, edit video, create graphics, develop courses, take payments, host video calls, and even sometimes use pen and paper to organize our thoughts. Always in the back of our minds lurks the question, is this the best tool? Is there something else out there I should be using instead? Is there something better? In this episode, I’m taking you on a behind-the-scenes tour of the apps and tools that are running my...

According to Side Hustle Nation, 39% of employed Americans have a side hustle? And that 30% of those people hope to turn their side hustle into a full-time gig? If you’re building a business along side a more traditional jobby-job, you’re in good company. It’s how lots of small business owners (including yours truly) got their start. That doesn’t mean juggling a business and a job is easy though. There are some pitfalls to watch out for, and many people will stumble along the way. Recently a...

Two and a half years ago I sat down to record the very first episode of this podcast. I’d been a podcast listener for years—right now I’m subscribed to about 25 different shows, and I listen to dozens more on an episode-by-episode basis. So when I decided it was time to really embrace content marketing as a tool in my business, podcasting was my first choice. I knew a few things going in. I knew I had to be in it for the long-run. Content marketing is all about long-term strategy, not quick...

There are two ways to make more money in your business: You can either sell more products, or you can increase the price of the products you sell. In this episode, we're going to talk about how simple improvements in your product offers can result in both more sales and in higher revenue. In many cases, you can even make these improvements without adding a bunch of extra work for yourself. How's that for a win/win? Prefer a transcript? Here you go! What you’ll learn in this episode: Why...

One of the biggest lessons I learned in business is that I don't have to work harder to make more money. I just have to improve what's already working. It's all about turning up the dial in a few strategic places so that you can build your list faster, generate more opens, and get more eyes on your offers. Prefer a transcript? Here you go! What you’ll learn in this episode: How incremental improvements increase revenue without having to work harder Why no one can tell you what your open...

Running an online business is a continuous cycle of improvements. That’s how small startups become thriving businesses. That’s what phase two of the online business roadmap series is all about. In this week’s episode of the Tiny Course Empire podcast, we’re going to focus on some small improvements you can make to your opt-in offer so that it begins to turn new subscribers into buyers. Prefer a transcript? Here you go! What you’ll learn in this episode: What a tripwire is, and how to add...

Congratulations! If you’ve been following along with the last few episodes of this podcast, then you have made it through phase one building an online business from scratch. So far you’ve established a content publishing routine, created your first opt-in offer, build a newsletter habit, released a paid product, and written a sales page for it. Well done! With that foundation in place, now you’re in a great position to start growing, so in this episode, we’re going to circle back to your...

If you find that asking people to buy what you’ve created feels a little icky, you’re not alone. Many of us have negative feelings about sales, and the people who make their living at it. After all, who hasn’t bumped into a pushy appliance salesman who just would not take no for an answer? Those unpleasant experiences often lead to discomfort when we’re on the other side of the desk, asking potential customers to hand over a credit card to buy something we’ve created. That means writing...

If I could offer you one piece of advice about starting an online business, it would be this: Don’t wait to create your first digital product. Sure, there are loads of ways you can make money from an online business. You can be a coach, or a freelance writer, or an affiliate marketer, or build websites or publish a Substack or write a blog. I even know of one couple who hunt for scorpions and tarantulas on their property that they then sell online. #onlyinarizona Clearly, you have a lot of...

If I’m being honest, building your mailing list is the easy part. Staying in touch with those subscribers is much more difficult. Not in the tactical sense, but in the week-after-week practicality of it. It’s oh-so-easy to let another week slide by without sending an email to your list. Before you know it, they haven’t heard from you in months, or maybe even years. Believe me, I know. I’ve been there. Sometimes you feel like you don’t have anything useful to write. Sometimes you tell yourself...

The single most important asset you have in your business is your mailing list. It’s more valuable than your followers on TikTok, more useful than a Facebook group, and more secure than the best SEO strategy. So why do so many of us wait so long to build one—especially when it’s as easy as this? Today we’re laying out a step-by-step plan you can follow to get your first lead magnet online and collecting email addresses. I’ll give you my top recommendations for useful offers you can create,...

Quick, what’s the most important thing you should be focusing on right now to build your business? Is it traffic? Starting an email list? Creating a product? Branding? Website? Keywords? Something else? Or maybe all of that, plus a dozen more “must do” projects. If that big pile of unfinished, disorganized ideas is weighing you down and causing you to rethink you goal of even starting a business, this episode and those that follow in this series are for you. Grab a notebook and a pen, sit...

Branding concerns, tech troubles, clients to serve, a team to manage, email to answer, and don’t forget life, family, and laundry, too. Our list of things to do is long and seemingly endless. Oh, and somewhere in there, you’re supposed to be creating content. Blog posts, podcast episodes, opt-in offers, emails, and don’t forget courses and digital products to sell. It’s a lot, I know, and it leaves most of us looking for ways we can lessen the workload. Enter PLR, or private label rights...

You can’t focus on anything. You’re frustrated and out of sorts. Stress levels have peaked, and your to-do list gets longer every day. Welcome to the land of overwhelm, where small business owners like you and me work long hours without accomplishing anything, and where every new idea results in feeling even more stuck. It's not a fun place to be, but there is hope. You can overcome the overwhelm, but first, you have to recognize it for what it is. That's what we're talking about...