Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Become Your Own Boss - Revised and Expanded

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Become Your Own Boss - Revised and Expanded · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Then you gotta have email because email is like the ultimate follow-up system to all other
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  marketing efforts.
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  Your goal is to get them on your list, get them to sign up, get them to give you your email
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  address, to get the discount, all this stuff, whether you're an ecommerce business or a b to
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  b business, you gotta be building a list.
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  32100 ignition.
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  Ripped off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the small biz chat podcast with the number one small business expert Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
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  Melinda Emerson.
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  Hi.
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  The small and ever since small biz lady, and I am so excited to be back here for an episode of
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  the small biz chat podcast.
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  Now I haven't done a solo episode of small biz chat podcast in a while.
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  Because I've been underground.
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  You guys, I have been busy building and getting a bunch of great new resources ready for you
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  guys.
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  And I am so excited to share with you all that my brand new book, become your own boss in 12
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  months, revised and expanded is coming out on September 14th with Simon and Shuster.
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  And I'm so proud of this because the Simon and Shuster team reached out to me you know, middle
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  of the pandemic and said, hey.
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  You know, we see all these small businesses struggling, and we were wondering if you
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  thought you could update your book to really address this whole concept of digital pivot and
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  help people understand how to sell online.
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  And I was like, Absolutely.
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  Because I really feel like marketing has become so complicated.
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  It used to be like, you had to have a website Then it was like, you had to have a blog.
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  Then you need to be doing some social media, but now it's like, uh-uh, you gotta be doing
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  content.
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  You gotta understand SEO, you have to be developing content, curating content on all the
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  social media channels because social media now has become the number one sales channel, which
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  is incredible.
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  I think that it used to be an option.
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  It's now a requirement and people are really converting directly off of social.
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  And so you really have to think about all of this stuff strategically, and you gotta know
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  how to buy it.
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  And you gotta know how to buy ads.
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  Even if you have a stand alone website, for sure, but even if you're selling on Amazon or
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  selling on one of these platforms, You can buy ads on those platforms too, and you need to to
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  stand out because you gotta realize even if you're selling on Amazon, there's 5,000,000
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  other small business owners selling on Amazon, not to mention the fact that you're not just
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  competing with the other small businesses selling on Amazon.
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  You're competing with everyone.
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  All the big brands too.
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  And so what I did was I just went into the vault, and this book is drastically different.
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  From the last edition.
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  So let me rewind the story a little bit and tell you guys how this book even came about and
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  what edition we're on and what's different about these additions.
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  So for 1, this book was originally written back in 2000 and and it was supposed to come out in
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  2009.
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  But when the market crashed, my publisher called me up and said, listen, thank you so
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  much for being first time author that actually turned your booking on time, but we actually
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  think that with all these people losing their jobs, the market just crashed, We don't think
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  anyone's thinking about entrepreneurship right now.
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  We're gonna shelf your book until March of 2010.
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  So, literally, I had to update the book at the end of 0 9 to address all of the new things
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  that were going on in marketing.
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  And at that time, social media was really, like, the newest hottest thing, and it was
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  really about Twitter and Facebook and added a lot of content about that, about just
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  understanding your web site and content strategy and all that good stuff.
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  So the book came out, did really well, you know, was released in multiple languages,
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  around the world.
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  And then they came to me in 2014 and said, hey.
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  You know, we're coming up on the 5th anniversary of this book being out.
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  Do you wanna update it?
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  And I was like, yeah.
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  I think a lot of stuff about business has changed, about marketing has changed.
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  And so in that addition, We added a lot of information about content strategy, and we
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  added a chapter called how to become a social media ninja, which was the original, title of
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  the social media content in the book.
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  And we added a chapter on crowd funding in the book in that edition.
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  And because at that time, crowdfunding was just becoming a thing.
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  And so I wanted to make sure after doing my column on social media for 2 years from the New
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  York Times.
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  I was like, you know, I really had had the opportunity to learn about some successful and
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  not so successful crowdfunding campaigns.
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  And so I wanted to sort of, like, give a best practices chapter in the book.
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  And then the pandemic hit, and it was coming up on 10 years.
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  The book had been out.
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  It hadn't been updated, and it was like, okay.
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  It was time, and we were trying to get the book out sometime this year.
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  And so things finally came together.
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  It was a called Lyft to get this book done in the middle of the pandemic because I had to do
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  so much research because so much about marketing and business has changed even still.
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  And one of the other challenges that I had with my good friends at Simon And Shuster was they
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  actually asked me to cut they said if I wanted to add 6 chapters in the book, I had to cut 6
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  chapters in the book.
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  And that was very, very, very, very difficult.
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  But the end result I have to say is this is such a good book in terms of how it's organized
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  based upon what's going on in the business ecosystem right now and what you really need to
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  know.
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  And so I wanted to take some time to share about the new chapters that are in the book
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  because, basically, I overhauled all the marketing and sales information in the book.
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  So I have a brand new chapter called who is your target customer that really talks about
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  really figuring out your customer, your customer buyer journey, your customer persona.
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  The other thing that's interesting about this book is since I wrote the last one.
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  I earned my MBA.
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  And so there's a lot more technical marketing and strategy kind of conversation that I added
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  to the book that were things that I've learned in the last couple of years as a result of all
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  of the, research and things that I've done.
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  And just all the corporations that I've worked with over the years.
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  I mean, I've had the opportunity, me and my team at Quintessa's group, we've worked with
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  over a 100 brands.
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  A 100 fortune 1000 brands on their marketing outreach, customer retention, awareness
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  strategy, you know, social media contest, We've done a lot of that work.
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  So we really had some perspective around what's working, what's not, what has changed, what was
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  popular, and that kind of stuff.
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  And so I really wanted to put that in there because I believe that marketing has become
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  really tough.
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  It's not easy.
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  There's a lot of things you have to do right in order for your marketing to look like you know
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  what you're doing.
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  So for example, you've gotta have a great website.
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  1st and foremost, because your website is your number one sales tool, but then you gotta
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  understand content because you gotta keep your website updated.
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  And you've got to figure out some kind of way to get people to pay attention to you.
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  And that's content.
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  And then you've gotta figure out what channels you're gonna use share your content, and that's
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  where social media comes into play.
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  So you gotta have a website.
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  You gotta have great content.
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  You gotta understand social media.
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  You gotta figure out what channels of social media you're gonna use and engage, then you
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  gotta have email because email is, like, the ultimate follow-up system to all other
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  marketing efforts.
• 8:13
  Your goal is to get them on your list, get them to sign up, get them to give your email
• 8:18
  address, to get the discount, all this stuff, whether you're an e commerce business or a b to
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  b business, you gotta be building a list because your list at the end of the day is the
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  most important asset in your business.
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  You wanna have a list of prospects, but you also wanna have a list of customers.
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  And why are customers so important?
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  Well, because here's the thing.
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  A new customer, someone that you just attract into your funnel, is only 5 to 20% likely to do
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  business with you.
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  Whereas existing customers, existing customers are 60 to 70% more likely to do business with
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  you.
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  So in my world, as I think about the the old sales funnel that everybody was taught, that
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  actually literally looks like a sales funnel and then sort of like purchase was at the
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  bottom.
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  I'm not about that sales funnel anymore.
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  I'm about more of a bow tie looking sales funnel.
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  Cause it's my belief that lead gen and customer retention are equally important if not customer
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  retention is almost more important.
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  It is more important for you to keep a customer than it is for you to go out and get a new one.
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  And the reason why is because the most expensive sale you will ever make is the 1st
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  sale.
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  And so you wanna make sure that You do everything you can to wow your customers to
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  create an amazing customer experience to follow-up to follow through.
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  You wanna make sure that there's somebody to answer your phone or somebody on live chat to
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  answer people's questions.
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  You know, it's really important that you have a way to track interest.
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  If somebody's interested, you wanna be able to answer their question.
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  And if you can't do it, you gotta use a resource to do it.
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  You know?
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  And so one of the cool things about this book is I talk about some of the great tools that I
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  like to use, and one of my favorite customer service tools is actually Ruby.
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  Like call ruby.com.
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  And these guys, they will answer the phone for you.
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  They will make outgoing interest calls for you.
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  They do Ruby chat, like live chat online.
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  And that's really live chat, chat bots, all of this kind of stuff is where online
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  communication is going.
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  And so you've gotta gotta understand that stuff and know about it.
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  And I got that all in the new book.
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  Like, the great thing is is that I took the time to really research everything that was out
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  there.
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  And so I'm so excited about these new chapters.
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  So we've got this new marketing chapter I also have a brand new social media chapter.
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  It's now called how to become a social media brand.
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  And then we also added a chapter called selling online.
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  And all the stuff you need to understand about selling online, whether you're gonna sell on
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  your website or you're gonna sell in a marketplace, we talk about buying ads, all of
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  that jazz, SEO, keywords, search intent, all that stuff.
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  And then we have another chapter on developing a sales process.
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  Because when I realized over the last 13 years that I have been coaching entrepreneurs and in
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  particular teaching how to become your own boss, I realized that people learn about sales
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  systems, sometimes too late in their business.
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  And so I wanted to add a chapter on how to develop a sales process, including how to hire
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  your first salesperson how to organize yourself so that you're ready to bring on a salesperson.
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  All of that stuff that you need to kinda understand, I put that in this new book.
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  And I'm so excited for you guys to read it and give me your feedback.
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  It's coming out September 14th.
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  I've got some really cool bonuses and stuff.
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  So if you guys go over to become your own boss book, you're gonna be able to grab some of my
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  bonuses and and get your book there.
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  The other thing that's really cool, and we're doing this just for the launch, I have been a
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  longtime friend of Mike Calowitz who wrote profit first, and he's got a great new book out
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  called Get Different.
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  And John Lawson, who was one of the top e commerce experts in the country, And what we're
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  doing for anyone who buys 3 copies or more of the book, we're gonna do a free webinar.
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  Just me, Mike, and John, and you're only gonna get invited to it if you buy three books and
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  then come back to the website and give us your receipt, and you will get the special VIP
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  invite to this webinar with me, Mike McCallowitz, and John Lawson.
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  And it's gonna be epic I can't wait.
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  These guys are really good friends of mine.
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  And they just to help me out with the launch that, oh, we'll do a live event with you.
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  And so I'm so excited to have the opportunity to invite all of you.
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  All you gotta do is buy 3 copies of become your own boss or more I don't wanna stop you from
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  buying 10 if you wanna buy 10.
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  But, certainly, if you buy 3 or more, just come back to our website, become your own boss book
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  .com, put in your receipts.
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  And then we will have the opportunity to invite you on September 23rd at 1 PM Eastern.
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  To a special webinar with me, Mike McCallowitz and John Lawson.
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  So that's just another bonus to throw out there.
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  But listen, this book is not just a startup book.
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  I do not want you guys to get confused about that.
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  Certainly, how to start a business is the first twelve chapters of this book, but There's 12
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  more.
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  So I want you guys to know that this book is everything you need to build a business.
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  And if your business got thrashed in the pandemic, you definitely want to figure out how
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  you can turn things around, finish your digital pivot, And that's what's in this book, and that
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  is why I'm so excited for it to come out.
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  It's coming out September 14th.
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  On Simon and Shuster.
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  You guys can get this anywhere books are sold, but if you want any of my bonuses, head over to
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  become your own boss, book.com, We're gonna hook you up.
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  And don't forget to come back and give us your receipts so you can get the invite to the
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  special September 23rd event with me, Mike Michalowicz, and John Lawson.
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  And we're gonna tell you everything you need about how to start and grow a successful small
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  business.
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  So with that, thank you guys so much for once again listening in for the small business chat
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  podcast.
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  The goal of small business chat podcast is to end small business failure.
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  I'm your host, Melinda Emerson, and I wanna leave you with this.
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  You never lose in business, either you win or you learn.
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  Take care, everybody.
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  Thank you for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
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  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts us and join us next Wednesday.