 So in this video, I'm going to share with you a simple action plan to grow your business. Let's get started So first of all a lot of you I noticed well, I should say in the conversations I've had There are a lot of things that you do in your business that Doesn't necessarily grow it It might be providing some foundation like you're kind of getting things ready. You're you know figuring out your scheduling or You know, you're you're working on your your office chair, whatever whatever may be But let me give you some questions to guide your daily and weekly actions And really I'm going to share I'm going to share in terms of the week because You know you might do Things on different days that then then I do so here are four questions to help you guide a weekly Action plan to grow your authentic business. The first question is What is your content creation rhythm? That is to me the most important question and If you don't answer that question you will Continue to procrastinate about building your audience because without creating Content, how do you build an audience? Please tell me how actually I would be curious If you're trying to build an audience in a way other than creating content Yeah, you can build an audience through selling and affiliate marketing and joint ventures, etc But to really build an authentic and loyal audience who loves you as you are and over time Your song becomes so easy if you would only commit to creating content regularly and as an example, I just announced my group program my client group coaching group coaching program for for the next year and By the time I announced it I had scheduled to announce it. What was the last what I think was last Or actually just a few days ago on Tuesday and I'd schedule announce it by the time I scheduled to announce it It was already filled Why I Think largely because I've been creating content consistently. It has never been this easy to fill my group programs and I've been around for in my business. I've been around for about 10 years, you know, working various parts of my business launched about 10 years ago and I Always had to work so hard to launch my group programs and This year something shifted and I think it's because of three years Doing three years of consistent content creation because I started consistent content in 25th middle of 2015. I Noticed that by the middle of 2016 I had a full one-on-one client load and no longer. I and then I hadn't been reaching out for clients for several months already So within a year It made a significant difference in my one-to-one client load full 2017 of course since 2016 I haven't had to email my list to say hey Well, any of you please sign up to be my clients or hey, I've got room I haven't had to do if you look at my emails past several years. I haven't asked people to become my clients So it's been since two years. Okay, so I know a year after I started consistent content My client load was full and now three years after I started consistent content. My group programs are full In terms of my group coaching programs that I launched once a year are full without Needing to launch so that's pretty amazing and now I'm not saying that well George said it's one year or three years So that's gonna know I mean it could happen for you in three months and it could happen for you in three years I don't know what your timing is going to be But I do know based on my own experience and based on watching lots of clients do this that it works Now if you create consistent content so that you'll get clients your audience is gonna sense that and it's gonna come across as Probably a bit more salesy than than you actually are So I always recommend that you create consistent content because you care about your audience and because you care about your own growth if You do it out of love rather than out of money and the need for money Okay, and really that's the sort of the one of the secrets to a true livelihood right livelihood is doing it for love rather than money Right, so if you do it for love as much as we can, you know, I still do a lot of things for money So it's true. I'm not perfect by any means stretch of the imagination and certainly not right livelihood I still work with clients because they pay me I still run my group program because they pay me I still create my online course because you all pay me So I'm still motivated by money. So I'm not perfect yet one day. Maybe I will be But still in at least I carve out my content is not my money based, you know At least I you know, I have some things that I do for money Okay, and then and then as much as I can over time I'm gonna try to expand the spheres of my business where I don't do it for money But right now I still need to do some things for money and then at least the content I could do as a ministry So that's and that's probably something all of us can do and really I think all of us should do It's actually smarter business wise to do the content without thought of money, right? It's actually ironically more strategic business wise, but Anyway, that's the first question I have for you is what is your content rhythm? What is it and chat below comment below? Let me know let us know if you want if you want to what is your rhythm of content creation And so if you follow me, you know my rhythm of content creation You just have to look on my Facebook business page and you just see what my rhythm is But let me just kind of outline for you so you can kind of get a sense of what that is Without having to figure it out by looking at it So I now I create well Let me actually start with when I started in 2015 with consistent content What was my rhythm then and then what is it now so that you can think about how you want to start? As well. So when I started I committed to doing videos every single day thought while I took Saturdays and Sundays off so I did five videos a week that was starting in May of 2015 and When I as I did the videos I also realized that there are a lot of people like myself who don't necessarily like to watch people talking on video and Would rather just quickly read what they said so out of a sense of courtesy for the people who are like me I said, okay I'm just gonna quickly tap out on my phone what I basically said in the video in case you don't want to watch it So that's how I got started with writing because I had a writer's block all the way up until 2016 so I couldn't write the only thing I could do was to think okay. I'm just doing this for courtesy I'm just doing it on my phone quickly a few notes about what I basically said on video if you don't want to read it Here's basically what I said not a award-winning essay Nothing fancy nothing fancy nothing eloquent Just real quick almost bullet point fashion what I said in the video in case you don't want to watch it Here's what I said, okay, and then over time I practiced doing less bullet points and more sentences and more paragraphs until about 2016-2017 I'm not sure when I lost my writer's block It was gone and now I'm able to write as you know, I'd write so much now but I had 40 years of writer's block and Yeah, because all my life I hated writing hate it hated hated it It wasn't until I practiced writing. I forced myself to write every day That I overcame my writer's block so 2015 Middle 2015 I started consistent content five new five new videos a week and five new blog posts a week Starting with just kind of bullet point type stuff and then 2016 and I made it until I got to 100 videos and 100 blog posts and then I think this was late 2015. I then Decreased my content rhythm to three new videos per week and three new blog posts per week A blog post is basically kind of summarizing what I said in the video with additional thoughts sometimes so 20 late 2015 through to 2016 it was three three new pieces of content video and blog post per week and then in 2017 sometime in 2017 I I further decreased that to two new videos and blog posts per week And now in 2018 starting maybe in the middle of 2018 I've now reduced it to one new video and blog post per week and that's the one you're watching right now That's the friday the friday one is my new one every week And then my other the other parts of my rhythm are now I'm just looking at my notes because I I write everything down And I try never to remember anything and I always keep looking back on things Because I've written it down. I don't I use my brain for improvisation for creativity for You know pattern recognition. I don't use my brain to remember things. That's another tip. I always write everything down That's what I refer. So here's my rhythm new content blog post video and blog posts each friday on mondays I take a previously well-received blog post and I just put it on the facebook status update Long long status update. You see it just text only on tuesdays I re-edit one of my previous blog posts and I make a new video You know on the topic of that old blog post. So that's tuesdays on wednesdays I re-edit an old blog post and I reshare it as a blog post Okay, so and then on saturdays not this week, but usually most saturdays I interview One of my clients and have them share a business lesson that they've learned that can help you as well And also have them share something from their expertise teach you something from from what they know Okay, so that's the first question I have for you is what is your consistent content rhythm All right, got it first question. What is your consistent content rhythm? Knowing that it'll change over time, but you got to start with something and then let it evolve over time So what is it? You can't just say well, I make content when I'm inspired. I made a whole other video about that. Why that's such a bad Not a bad, but it's it's not effective as a strategy I've seen so many people I've had so many colleagues and friends who tell me well I just make content when I'm inspired and they never do They do it too few the more content you make the better you get at it Okay, if you just do it when you're inspired you learn very you grow very slowly That's why when I started I did five a week because then I grew very fast So if you want to grow fast you do content every day No questions asked no excuses. I don't care if you're sick. I don't care I don't not that I don't care. Of course I care if you're sick, but You shouldn't care if you're sick You should take care of yourself and do content that day. That's it There's one thing you do that day you do content. Okay besides brushing your teeth Going to the bathroom and drinking water and getting lots of sleep. The other thing is content. Okay If you're sick get lots of sleep You know drink water drink warm water and then do content. Those are the only three things you should be doing when you're sick Okay That's it. All right. So that's the first question. What is your consistent content rhythm? Because it helps you grow and helps other people grow and it grows your audience grows your business All that all those benefits the second question is What is your content distribution plan? Because if you create content, but nobody's seeing it Well, very few people are able to create content without people seeing it and still feel encouraged to continue There's very few people. I think um, yeah, some of you may may have that discipline But most of us don't um So with my new business that I started in july Some of you don't realize I started a new business in july I only have two hours a week for that new business and it's about spiritual mentoring. I'm becoming a spiritual mentor through that new business And what's my first step in the new business? Not figure out my my scheduler Software not you know making sure my computer desktop is clean not making sure all the my certification is I don't have a certification in spirituality. I have no I'm not taking a single course in spirituality But I'm going to call myself a spiritual mentor Okay, I don't have a single certification. Did you know I don't have a single certification in facebook ads? I've not taken a class in content marketing I've never taken a class in how to create courses or how to write a book Or how to do any of the things that I have now created classes to teach you to do I don't have a single certification in any of it The only thing I have that's a certification is I have an mb a masters in business, but let me promise you I mean pro I promise you nothing I learned from business school is what I'm teaching and doing today Business school is so useless I'm so sorry to say for those of you who I recruited into business school because I was a recruiter of a business school at one point but Honestly, I think business school is most business schools Are useless for entrepreneurship I I learned about corporate management corporate accounting Nothing there nothing about how to start a business and how to do the stuff that I'm doing these days So I learned nothing from my business school career Yes, one thing I learned is how to use spreadsheets. I practice using spreadsheets a lot. So that that was helpful now, but You can learn that without going to business school. So um So what is your content distribution plan? So just to close out other comment In my new business that I only have two hours a week for all I don't even know what I'm going to sell I don't have any offerings yet. I don't know what I'm I don't know how I'm going to frame what I sell All I'm doing right now is creating content and distributing it So that's what I spend my two hours a week and my new business on. I don't even have a website I don't even have a website for that new business by I already have 2000 Um Facebook engagers. So I all I did was I created a new facebook business page and I got started No website And I even changed my business name My brand name in you know a month ago. So a few months in I changed my branding because I realized wasn't that great And I might still change it. So I haven't figured out my brand. I haven't figured out anything I just kind of got started with creating content Two hours a week distributing it through facebook ads and now I have about 2000 people who have engaged with my content in the last 90 days I counted by 90 days, but it's I started in july um So what is your content distribution plan? How are you getting people to see your content? Go ahead and comment below. I would love to know pause this video now And comment below On what your content how how are you getting people to see your content? Okay, let me go ahead and share what I do um In my current business I should tell you what I I told you what I do in my new business. I don't have a website I don't have an email newsletter. I don't have anything except for a facebook page And I just run facebook ads to new audiences. That's all i'm doing for that's my entire content distribution plan for my new business I'm slowly working on creating a website. I'm going to have an email newsletter at some point I'm going to have other social media channels but Facebook is number one and facebook ads is number one Okay, so with my current business if you already have a business if you already Have a website an email newsletter. Here's what I do for my content distribution one Is I have a weekly email newsletter that shares my latest content I hope you're getting my weekly email newsletter. If not go to georgecrow.com slash Email georgecrow.com slash email and there you can decide if you want to draw my weekly email newsletter or my monthly newsletter The weekly one basically shares my latest post and my monthly one shares the best post of the previous month So that's simple. Um, and then besides weekly newsletter. I do facebook ads for this business as well, of course I run Ads to cold audiences as well as warm audiences I have an entire course on facebook ads if you want to learn how to do that how I do that etc And the third my third piece of content distribution is I just post my my things to LinkedIn and twitter. I literally take five minutes a day less three minutes a day Whatever I post it to facebook. I take an additional Minute and a half to share it on twitter and additional minute and a half to share it on linkedin. That's it I spend three minutes a day on linkedin and twitter combined. That's it Okay, so that's the second question is what is your content distribution plan? So again first question What is your consistent content creation rhythm? Number one most important question number two is what is your content distribution plan? Okay, number two most important question now number three most important question Is what is your what is your launch plan? What is your plan for inviting your audience to work with you to buy your things? Let me know and I I think most of you watching this would probably like What do you mean? I I don't have a plan. I just when I have something new to sell I sell it right and that's That's okay, but I would rather you have a consistent rhythm of invitations and launches and offerings because Your audience will get accustomed to that rhythm and it makes it easier to sell anything Here's a secret here. Here's a here's a chronicle secret If you only sell things on a random basis You will probably feel salesy And your audience will feel like it's salesy and promotional But if you sell on a consistent basis, that's not too often But that's consistent your audience will start to see. Oh, yeah George cow has a monthly monthly course that he sells us. He has a yearly coaching program that he sells us He has a a book that he launches every six months There you go. I just told you my my my my launch rhythm So I have a monthly course that I sell you. I have a yearly program that I launch, you know in the fall of each year group coaching and then I have my My a new book or a re-edited book every six months that I launch If I needed one-on-one clients, I would be Making an invitation probably at least once a quarter To my email list to my facebook, you know, etc to say, hey, I've got room for one-on-one clients Uh, if you're interested, you know, I've got I'm going to do um, You know 20 exploratory calls in the next 30 days sign up for one of the 20 if you're thinking about working with me something like that So what is your plan? What is your rhythm? What is your schedule for launching making offers? Inviting your audience to take the next step with you Something for you to think through okay, so and then the fourth the fourth question which I'll be honest. I've neglected the fourth question and by making this video by writing this blog post I've I'm kind of renewing myself with this fourth question. What is what is your plan for connections? Some of you are actually quite good at it. Some of you go to regular networking events Maybe you reach out to old colleagues old clients Potential referral sources. Maybe you have some regular thing that you do I haven't I mean I think in the past when I needed clients I was definitely more regular with this stuff But ever since I haven't needed to get any more clients in the past couple years. I've dramatically lost my Consentive and my rhythm of connection, you know regular networking connections and and and now I'm renewing it and The way I'm renewing it now is I'm reframing it not as networking But as net caring Net caring now. I thought I came up with that But I googled it earlier. I'm like, oh a bunch of people have used the word net caring So I didn't come up with it But I didn't I I guess I came up with it independently with of others too So net caring is the idea that we keep in touch with people not because we want something from them Not because oh old client. You want to maybe sign up again old colleague. Hey, here's what I'm up to Maybe you can refer some business to me instead of networking net caring is I reach out to old colleagues old clients potential colleagues potential referral sources Because I like them And because I care about them That's it. So net caring is yet another Asp fear of my business that I'm going to place no monetary Not no monetary requirements on Okay, so two two here's my business where there's no monetary requirements content in terms of regular content Not my paid courses you have to pay for but my regular content, you know Weekly content is free and then the net caring So Here's a simple plan that I'm gonna I'm gonna start doing for one hour a week starting next month Reach out to two previous clients To genuinely care because I like them and when I say like them This is really like when you're reaching out to someone because you like them like you actually like them It is such a different feeling than when you're reaching out trying to get something like ulterior motive I hope you refer business to me I like you. I like that. How do you remember that you like them? Think about some part of aspect of them that you like you know, and um I'm just call out the people who are commenting. I'll reach out to Shreta because she is she has a heart of gold I really like that about her. She is such a incredibly great colleague to have and Supportive of others. So if I reach out to her, that's what I'll remember That's how that's the feeling I'll have as I reach out to her Angela she is Has a huge potential in terms of content and being a leader Especially for women in the workplace And that's what I like about her and so when I reach out that's like, yeah, that's what that's where she shines that's what you know, I'm seeing as What I really appreciate about her presence in the world, you know captain is just an amazing guy he Tons of potential tons of wisdom in the sphere of relationships that I know about for sure And so when I reach out to him, I'm gonna think about that, you know So it's like net caring is about reaching out to people because you like them and you that's that's the thing You're connecting with first and just you enjoy their company You enjoy them and so you just wish them well in the world And maybe you maybe I'll share some blog posts that I wrote recently That I think will be helpful for Shreta or helpful for Angela or helpful for captain It's because I care about that not because oh, I hope they do something back for me So reach out to two previous clients step one step two reach out to two potential referral sources Because I like what they're doing on their facebook page or on their blog or on their twitter or whatever It's like, hey, I really like that. You're doing that. I just want to thank you for doing that I want to introduce myself if there's anything I can help with any advice I can give you about my area of expertise. Don't be shy of reaching out. You know that kind of thing Um And then third thing that I think I'm going to start trying out is commenting on popular posts where I can add value And so on facebook if you look at facebook at the top of facebook, there's a search box And if you type in a keyword that you are a pro at that you can add value to Right, so Shreta might type in a keyword on Ayurveda or holistic healing or something into the facebook search and then click on posts and then look at the public posts and look at posts that have You know dozens of comments, right at least dozens of comments or at least 10 comments a public post 10 different people have commented Then add if it's something that you want to add value to something like, you know, I have something to say about this Something that can benefit others then then comment there as a way to just bless and serve others as part of your ministry So that's what i'm going to be doing anyway Going forward so i'm going to do something on facebook something on linkedin and something on twitter All three areas are where you can comment on popular posts that are in your area of expertise. So Anyway, those are the four questions. I think i'll end the video now Let me summarize for you the four important questions to create a weekly action plan to grow your business One is what is your content creation rhythm? Two is what is your content distribution plan? Three is what is your plan for launching offers? Inviting your audience to work with you or to Nounce some aspect of your offerings and four is what is your plan for connections? I hope this is helpful. Comment below and let me know If you want to share any part of any of your answers to these four questions or all four And I will see you in the next video Thanks for those who are able to join me Captain Yule Ludovic Esther Angela Jean Diana, thank you so much for joining me live and I will see you in the next video. Take care