 One year ago I began a side project with the intention to see could I build a fresh new audience from scratch in the personal development field Which is where I know a lot of you are trying to build an authentic business as well and So now in this video, I'm ready to reveal what that side project is and Share with you what are my top lessons learned? so First of all, let me share with you the lessons and then towards the end of the video. I will reveal what that side project is so I started this side project in the July and literally on July 1st of 2018 and The original intention was to see For all of you who are trying to build an authentic business From in a in a in a niche that's not typically Money-making and if you don't know the typical money-making niches for authentic businesses are You know health and wellness relationships and career slash finance slash business and And but a lot of you are trying to build a business in the realm of spiritual development spiritual growth personal development inner inner development and that's typically not Immediately seen as a money-making niche as I was wondering well, could I could I do it? I wanted to experience what it was like in your shoes. That's that was the main point so I Started a brand-new Facebook page and I started writing about my thoughts on personal development and spiritual growth and I started running Facebook ads Because I was hiding that page Purposefully hiding that page from all of my friends all of my colleagues all of my clients all of my current fans So none of you knew What it was so that I could have a real experiment for what it was like building an audience As if I was nobody as I was starting with no connections None of my friends helping none of my you know, nobody helping me but strangers using Facebook ads to reach them so First lesson is that yes Facebook ads absolutely works even in a niche that I'm not an expert in personal growth spiritual development I Have no credentials there. I've never taken a single training. I've well I'm sure I've taken various classes here there, but no sustained training and spiritual development no sustained training and personal growth Of course like everybody I've read self-help books I've read lots of articles watched lots of videos just for my own personal interest But I've never had a guru. I've never studied with one person extensively It was just my own thoughts just my own ideas my own intuitions experiences kind of Amalgamations of various things I've read over the years and studied over the years So Facebook ads really does work For even something I had no credentials in and it works because after a few months of You know advertising my my articles So I wrote articles for the first few months and then I started doing Facebook live videos there on that page on that new page as well and I started Spending advertising dollars to share the my writings and my videos to people who might like this kind of stuff and After a few months of you know really after I would say two months of doing ads, you know once a week ads I started maybe even after a month. I started seeing regular names You know liking and commenting on my content So the building of a community happened, I shouldn't say community a building of a regular audience happened Pretty quickly within a few weeks of doing ads Okay, so you haven't yet started doing Facebook ads Maybe you have other ways of getting the word out about your message But it really is the easiest way because I was only spending One to two hours a week honestly some weeks I was only spending an hour on the side project some weeks I was spending up to two hours So I don't know how much time you're spending in your business. It's probably more than two hours a week Okay, but if you had very little time to build an audience Facebook ads as far as I know is the easiest way to do that because you can pick specifically What kinds of people have what kinds of interests? Just to see your writings or to see your videos What other platform allows that easily? Google ads is the next other platform. That's so big, but Google ads is much harder to run than Facebook ads Twitter ads I have not really tried Twitter ads, but I'm going to try that Sometime this year. LinkedIn ads is very expensive every time I tried it It just it's way more expensive than Facebook ads to reach to reach people YouTube ads is Google ads, but it's also very complicated and difficult to do very competitive there So Facebook ads is really the best thing other than that You might have friends and family help you out spread the word, right? but I didn't have the benefit of friends and family because of the side project was trying to be anonymous and You know partnerships is another wonderful thing But again, I was trying to be anonymous so I couldn't form partnerships because I would reveal my name if I was forming partnerships Contacting people. Hi, I'm anonymous. No, that wouldn't work, right? So I couldn't use the normal methods of Promotion to to get the message out and ads paid ads is anybody can do it whether you're anonymous or not okay, so it really does work and A year of into doing it. I now have a regular following on that side project and Lots and lots and thousands of people have commented or liked my post over the past year And I could easily reach them again with Facebook ads that the people who have engaged with my content So that's one big lesson is that Facebook ads really does work to grow an audience the right kind of audience Now I have to say that I didn't give myself enough time to test audiences properly If you've taken my Facebook ads course, you know how important it is to test audiences But given my limited time in one to two can imagine this in just one to two hours a week I had to write an article make a video and run Facebook ads So, you know, it took me well now now I can write a short article for that side project in about 30 to 45 minutes So I'm pretty quick and then I make a video in about 15 minutes and then I take it takes me about You know 15 to 30 minutes to run some ads But I I didn't have the time to really test audience as well So I did a little bit of testing But I know I could have done a better job if I had another half hour to an hour To test audiences every week to get better at reaching the right people So I know I could have reached even more even better people Or even more the right people and if you have more than two hours a week to spend on your business You too can reach the right people by testing audiences carefully through Facebook ads So that's what that's what I wish I would have done and I will I'll see if again I'll tell you I'll tell you what's gonna happen after after this So number one lesson Facebook ads really does work. I reckon that's why I recommend it to everybody if you have $30 a month to get to market your business $30 a month to market your business then the $30 a month I would spend on Facebook ads That's what I would recommend to everybody. Okay. Now if you want to learn how to do it spend another hundred dollars One time not per month But just spend a hundred dollars with me to learn Facebook ads and then you'll learn you know how to do it And then you can spend $30 going forward to market your business to get your message out to the right people So Facebook ads really does work to build to build an audience and that's not just my side project I've seen it work for my clients as well and for my own name business all that so the second main lesson that I learned Personally that I really experienced is That content leads to clarity Because when I started I'm not an expert in personal growth. I mean, I'm an expert in my own life just as you are in your own life but I never claimed to be an expert to help other people grow themselves spiritually, I'm not a you know priest pastor, you know Spiritual leader or whatever. I've never branded myself as that and So I I'm just like you probably I just I've you probably have gotten more spiritual training than I have or personal development training You've taken more. I bet you've taken more classes I don't I don't take that many online classes. I take a few here and there over the years, but Anyway, I yeah, so I'm just I'm just I'm just an everyday person and everyday George when it comes to spiritual development personal growth but I dared I dared start Possibly start a business Mentoring people on spiritual growth and personal development and I dare you as well to do whatever in your in whatever field you want to become a master in I dare you Because I dared myself and I did it and now the people on that page see me as some kind of spiritual guru or Master or not. I mean nobody calls me that but I can certainly I mean they keep coming back So they respect me in terms of spiritual development personal growth self-help You know, and if I developed courses, they probably would buy it You know if I developed client opportunity if I allowed people to become my clients, they probably would say yes so I developed the following who respect me and Like look forward to my content In terms of spiritual development and personal and I like I said a year ago I was just some guy who likes to read books now here. I don't even read that many books I may be complete. I I probably finished reading Maybe two books a year. Honestly, I'm not a very good reader But I reflect on life, you know, just like all of us do right so So so I started out with no I don't know what if I if I a year ago if someone says, okay, George Please counsel and coach me in spiritual development personal growth how to become a better person. I'd be like, I guess I don't know. I'll just I'll figure it out. I don't know what I don't know what the pathway is I don't know. I don't have the work of Byron Katie or any anyone else's work or anyone else's methodology I don't know. I just making it up as I go along, right? So I wouldn't know but now after one year of consistently writing articles Just whatever it's true for me in the moment Whatever happened to me that week that I wanted to write about or whatever I was reminded of some concept I was reminded of just a year of doing that later now. I have a framework now I have a framework now. I'm like, okay Do you want to work with me as your spiritual counselor as your personal growth coach? I Have a framework. I have these four steps now that I could I feel confident to help you develop to walk you through Content leads to clarity. So for those of you who are saying George, I Can't work on your courses yet. I can't work with you yet as a coach because I have to clarify my message first Before I can you know, I can do my marketing. I have to clarify my framework first before I can get out there with my content Okay, maybe you could do that successfully But from what I've seen People spend far too long trying to do that trying to clarify their message first Before getting out there and building an audience. They spend far too long at that when the whole time during the entire Message clarifying process. They could have been building an audience at the same time They could have saved themselves years of building a business. They could have saved themselves years Before they start to build a real business They because of step one in my in my business framework My my authentic business frame step one is to build an audience not get clarity You get clarity by building an audience not the other way around you don't get clarity and then build an audience And then let people know what you're about you let people know what you're about today What you think today? What insights are are true in in your life today Whatever that may be and then you figure out the framework later and then you figure out your message later And then you figure out your brand and your and your tagline and what your professional title is and your bio and your bout page All that comes after you build an audience first after you build a real following of people who says I don't know what you talk about, but I really like you I Every week I come here you talk about different things and I really like you Great now you have an audience now you can clarify with their help What your what your title is what your program is what your framework is what your modality what your What your outline is what what your products are what you're about page should say you do that with an audience who like You already just for who you are without having to pretend to be anybody So that's what I did in that on that page I just showed up every week with okay this week. I want to talk about this I don't know if it fits into some framework or whatever. I don't I don't know if it's into some sequence I don't know sequence not sequence and After a year of doing that just for an hour or two a week now. I have a sequence Now I have a framework because now I look back and go. Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Oh, yeah I talked about that then. Oh, yeah, I talked about that then. Oh, let me put that in fit that into a framework now Okay So I learned that lesson personally now, you know in the niche that I was not an expert and I have no training in and just an everyday person in Okay, so that's my second big lesson is that Content truly leads to clarity truly leads to a step-by-step idea of okay. This is what I am. This is who I am This is what I can do now. All right, and my third big lesson is that Two hours a week is not enough time to build an authentic business It's not I mean, it's two hours a week is barely enough time I mean, some of you take two hours two hours just to write an article I'm pretty fast at content creation now. I can pump it out in 30 to 45 minutes It might take you two hours to write an article takes me 30 to 45 minutes right an article 15 minutes to you know do a short Facebook live video and then it takes me 15 to 30 minutes to to run my ads It might even take you longer than that right so two hours a week is not enough time To create an authentic business and I wish you would have told me that a year ago so that I wouldn't I wouldn't have done this Then I I'm glad I did this experiment But in the beginning I'm like I'm gonna build a business in two hours a week. That is ridiculous now I look back at it. I was really curious. I was like, hmm. I wonder if I could I wonder if it could work two hours a week No, it's not enough time How much is enough time? I mean minimum at for me someone who is really well versed in business now knows how to do marketing five hours a week Maybe at a minimum to five hours look think about it in two hours a week How could I even see clients? I I mean two hours a week what my my intention really was I wasn't thinking I'm a two-hours week build a six-figure business. No, no, I wasn't think I was in two hours a week I'm gonna start with that I'm gonna build an audience Okay, and then after that I'll add more hours to see clients and to build out products, etc, etc, etc so the reality is that I Barely have those two hours a week to spend or I should I should say I'm I'm only willing to spend the two hours a week on the side project because My main project my main business, which is the one you're watching right now George cowl.com George cowl Authentic business coach all the courses I teach and create and all my main business takes up a lot of I mean takes It's a full-time full-time job. It's full-time work and then when I'm not doing this main business. I am Resting okay, am I allowed to rest right of course right all of us are need to rest and recharge Have hobbies and other things like that to you know family and All of us need that time to recharge and so when I'm not running this business. I am recharging I am hobbies or whatever may be and I'm willing to carve out an additional two hours of focused time a week to To build that side side project, right? But it's not enough time, you know And and if I were willing to carve out another three to seven hours or three to eight hours a week Then there would there might be a prayer and a hope to start building a business from it But what I did not have time to do and what I'm not willing to give enough time to do on that side project Is to connect personally with my audience? So I don't even have time to reply to their comments I all their comments come in and a lot of them are like amen This is great or whatever But some comments are more meaningful or even the amens or this is great I could at least reply to thank you and that would have started some kind of conversation there So I didn't have I didn't allow the time to Connect personally with my audience and I'm not saying you should reply to every comment But at least do it to some comments to start to create some relationship with some audience members Because then you could actually connect with them personally to learn more about them to learn more about what they need and want which then leads to Spending time brainstorming and creating product and services that actually meet your audience's wants and needs So I didn't have didn't have time to connect personally with any audience members Barely, I mean had one person maybe two people we exchange a few messages because But no, okay number two therefore I didn't have enough time to brainstorm strategically what products and services they really want and need from me, okay, and and Thirdly, I didn't have time to then go out there and create partnerships people who already have an audience that I can speak to Right that I could trade content promotions with that. I could trade Product promotion with didn't have any time to even think about that so These three things if you want to build an authentic business you need to make time to do those things Are you connecting personally with your audience? I'm not saying you need to spend hours a week No, just even half hour a week you have time for that Are you doing it? secondly, are you Spending the time to brainstorm and create product and services Related to your conversations you have with your audience and thirdly are you spending time going out there looking for partnerships? Okay, so I didn't have time for those things so therefore I didn't build a business there I couldn't make any money doing Doing that side project because I didn't have anything to offer them, right? But I have an audience now if I want to I could So my recommendation really is 10 hours a week to build your authentic business or more if you can spend more time great But 10 hours a week is a good minimum I think for for most people doing those four things content and Ads I would call that one thing really content creation and distribution is one one thing to is to connect personally with your audience members Okay, so that you can learn more about market research audience research basically is the second major major thing that everyone should be doing third one is having a Regular rhythm of offerings Okay, based on your audience research. Oh, I'm gonna offer this course. I'm gonna offer this program I'm offered this service offer this product Okay, try those things out keep testing and seeing what's working better than others and then doing more of that and then fourth is collaborations Collaborations and connections with other influencers other content creators so that you can learn more about each other's audiences Learn more about each other trade promotions for product services content things like that so I Hope this these lessons are beneficial for you I am going to continue doing my side project as a hobby as a passion project now that I'm going to reveal it to the world Reveal it to you and reveal my name to them. Okay, finally After almost nine months of doing videos, I never said my name, right? And now I'm going to reveal it to you guys reveal it to reveal myself to them And now who knows it might actually over the years might turn into a business because now I'll have a different level of integration and energy to maybe actually turn that into something But but up to now I've been hiding I've been hiding hiding hiding and hasn't been That part of it that part of being hiding not being transparent because it was a marketing experiment Has not allowed me to be to be go go fully into this passion to be fully authentic about it You see so now I can be myself. I can say who I am. I can talk about You know integration of what I do. It's hopefully going to be a more authentic project now and could It might motivate me to spend more time there now to then turn it into something that could make money. So All right without further ado The name of the Facebook page. You can go look it up. It's called soul gym sol space gymsol gym as in This earth this life is a gymnasium for the soul now that you could say this life as a school This life as a university this life is a theme park or this life is a gym I just chose gym as a way to to motivate us to to work out to motivate us to realize that It's not always fun to work out, but it always feels good when we decide to work out and And then when we build muscles, right? And we become stronger. We become more capable We become more confident. We become more joyful. We become healthier. So that's the idea of a gym It's that it's that sense of motivation that sense of okay I'm it's not just sit back and consume information like a school, right? schools real schools of course make you do stuff, but But it's it's a gym is immediately all right It's up to you to really do something to make yourself fit spiritually fit right spiritually strong So that's it sold Jim it really started I'll tell you the quick story behind it It started in the beginning in in July of twenty two two thousand eighteen as The page used to be called living virtue living virtue was the was the idea and the idea was like okay living virtue meaning What does it mean to to live virtues live virtues in our life and? You know We are examples of living virtue all right So so was that but then the name didn't quite take or people didn't quite get it And then I asked my after a few months I think after two months when I already had a bit of an audience then I asked them hey I'm thinking changing the name What do you think of the game several options and soul Jim was the most popular option So then I went through the process of changing the name of the Facebook page Which took some some doing because it's such a different name that they first Denied it several times and then I had to go through customer service and finally they approved it and anyway So it's soul Jim and it's just a Facebook page right now. I I recently started a Medium calm account where I will post a soul Jim writings there as well, and then now that I'm you know, I Might start a YouTube channel for that. So anyway, thanks for thanks for Those of you some of you fall followed this this journey of learning these lessons along the way where I was posting about learning the lessons of starting something new and And For those who never heard about this before won't make now, you know And and maybe you'll you'll find some of my spiritual personal growth writings. They're interesting as well and Thank you for Thank you for being here. Thank you for your interest and Your support so let me go ahead and take a look to see if there are any comments from you all as I'm doing this as a Facebook live video and Let's see here All right, thanks for a lot of you have Commented here some of you are commented several we've thanks for your comments Laura and Let me see if I can find all the comments here Laura and and I'll read some I'll read some of the comments out here Daniel Gardner, it's great to see you here a later on paro Tara Laura Shweta Donna captain Tara, thank you so much for your comments. Let me see what the comments are saying here Yeah So that Danielle says how much were you spending per week in ads? So I was spending I think I was spending since the beginning I was spending about two hundred dollars a month in ads So let me explain why I spent so much in ads. So yeah, I mean since then let me see how much am I spending now? I have to look at my notes, but But it was it was it was at least a hundred dollars a month I think right now I'm spending to two to three hundred a month on ads there and here's the way I think about Facebook ads I Think Facebook ads okay the money I spend with Facebook ads to promote Messages of spiritual growth Upliftment personal development is Some of the most important money I can spend in my life Because I could give to you know, Red Cross Greenpeace Blue Shield now I could give to charities to have a tough humanity, you know Kiva.org You know, I could I could give to various charities, right? But the money I give to charities, there's lots of different, you know, I don't know where it really really goes honestly Or I could I could I could take my charity money and put it towards Messages that I really believe in that if people saw those they're surfing Facebook randomly They're just seeing various political things where and then now they see the spiritual uplifting message Personally, I think that the most important thing the most the most important cause in the whole world As much as as them as the is the migrant Border, you know, the mic the border crisis and the migrant children as Important as that is as important as climate the climate crisis is as important as you name it is right animal Animal rights is as important all those things are I think the most to me personally, this is my personal cause I think the most important cause in the whole entire world is spiritual development Because if human beings could develop themselves spiritually Then a lot of problems tend to solve themselves. So I Put money towards my favorite cause Essentially, which is these messages that I really believe in that I if it could change someone's life And that that could have many many ripple effects and that they might then donate to these different causes or volunteer For different causes. So that's that's sort of why I spend so much money. That's kind of my my my of course I also give to other charities every now and then but then donated political campaigns, but this is where I spend most of my Donation dollars you might say or at least consistently anyway, I might send more some anyway, so that that's why and So thank you Aleta for your comment there and let's see Amparo says if you didn't create products or establish relationships, how can you assess whether this audience you created would be viable for that phase of a relationship with you great Thank you for asking on paro. So My belief well not my belief. I think what what's true is that everybody spends money, right? Of course Everybody spends money on whatever is of value and interest to them. So my Theory and I think this is just a theory. I think this is sort of borne out by lots of marketing experiments is that if you build an audience Okay, think of think think through this with me. If you have an audience of people Who trust what you say? Okay, then You can figure out what they buy and Sell a better version of that to them or a better fit version of that to them You can help them spend their money in ways that better match Their values and their priorities because they trust you you have their ear You see what I mean? So whether or not I would be building products and services that meet their wants and needs or or whether I become an affiliate and sell other people's product services and Earn a commission from that. I mean even even something as simple right as being in an Amazon affiliate If they if they just if I this turns out that they like to buy toilet paper, right? Instead of spiritual development courses, they like to buy toilet paper and you know organic food then great I'll start Running ads on my page to say support or I actually I could even run ads on my page saying Would you if you like these betches? Will you support me a dollar a month ten dollars a month fifteen dollars a month twenty thirty dollars a month will get you You know, I could literally just take money directly from them as as a content creator because that's an actual thing these days, right? But if as a joke right as ridiculous joke if they want to buy toilet paper I could run a Amazon affiliate ads for toilet paper subscribe and save and Now they're buying toilet paper through my Amazon link and now I get a monthly commission from Amazon And if enough people do that now, that's that's a joke, right? But but that's what I mean is I can sell them You can sell your audience anything that they actually want and need and you need to figure that out with them, right? Have having a relationship with them. So anything from Something is basic a toilet paper or food or you know, whatever maybe so So yeah, Tara says I really believe in engagement connecting with your audience I like comments and short personal calls I've met several friends along the way and Yeah, thank you Laura and Shweta for your comments and a late as well Donna, thank you. And let's see here Wendy. Thanks for your comment as well Okay, thank you so much. All right. Well, this this video has gone long enough. Thanks all for joining me and I Wish you I hope this has been inspiring for you for you to continue building your authentic business Remember if you build an audience and you get to know them you can sell anything you could make money With an audience who loves you for genuinely who you are. That's the message. That's the main thing. All right Have a great day and maybe I'll see you over at Soul Gym. All right. Bye for now