AMY PORTERFIELD: “I actually call out those moments because when you get a lot of DSDs under your belt, you become very courageous. You become a risk taker in the best possible way. And risk is the only way that you can move forward and actually realize all these things that you want to do in your business and your life. So it is essential, my friend.
“And let me tell you, when I look back on all the biggest moments of growth in my life and my business, when I look back on all the things that have made the most significant impact, it truly is the moments that I decided to DSD. It's the times that I took the leap of faith, the times that I did something that I really didn't want to do but in my gut I knew I needed to do it. And it was in those times or in those moments where I could have easily stayed put, like, comfy and cozy. But I didn’t.”
INTRO: I’m Amy Porterfield, ex-corporate girl turned CEO of a multi-seven-figure business. But it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, the budget, and the time to focus on growing my small-but-mighty business. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned, and you'll see the business I have today, one that changes lives and gives me more freedom than I ever thought possible, one that used to only exist as a daydream. I created the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast to give you simple, actionable, step-by-step strategies to help you do the same. If you're an ambitious entrepreneur, or one in the making, who's looking to create a business that makes an impact and a life you love, you're in the right place, friend. Let's get started.
AMY: Real quick, I want to tell you about a podcast called No Straight Path. It's hosted by Ashley Menzies Babatunde, and she sheds light on the stories behind shiny resumes, social-media highlights, job titles, and she aims to humanize success. Featuring guests from all walks of life, No Straight Path inspires conversations around the nuanced perspective of success. Start by checking out her episode titled “Success is Maximizing Happiness,” where she talks about defining yourself by the positive impact that you can make versus your profession.
Listen to No Straight Path wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, there, friend. Welcome back to Online Marketing Made Easy.
I wanted to check in on you. How are you feeling today? At the time of this recording, it is a Monday, and I have to tell you, last night I had the Sunday Scaries. Do you know the Sunday Scaries? I don't know why they're called Sunday Scaries. I feel like they should be called Monday Scaries. But basically, it's Sunday night, you start to have anxiety about the week ahead, and typically when I was in a nine-to-five job, I would get this pretty often because I'd be stressed out. When you're in a nine-to-five job, there's not a lot you can control, and so there's some things out of your hands, and you start getting stressed out about the week ahead and all that.
But when you own your own business, when you are the boss, you shouldn't be scared or dreading or feeling anxiety about the week ahead. But sometimes it happens. I have a super busy week. We're getting ready for Digital Course Academy, lots of interviews I need to do, lots of video, all of this stuff. I'm trying a few new things this week that get me out of my comfort zone. And I was just feeling it.
But here's what I did. I just allowed myself to feel it. What a concept, right? Typically, I beat myself up over having these feelings. I start feeling guilty, like, why would I be feeling this? It's my own business. And I kind of just, like, am not nice to myself. However, I'm trying to get out of that bad habit. So I just thought, okay, I'm feeling a little anxious. This week’s going to be really busy. There's a lot to do. And it's not Monday yet, so I'm going to take care of myself. I did a face mask. I watched some Virgin River with Hobie.
You guys, I have gotten Hobie into Virgin River, which if you've watched it, it's like a rom-com, right? And literally we’ll be in the kitchen in the morning, and he'll be talking about Jack and Mel and something that they've done. And I’m like, “Oh, my god. He is totally hooked.” It’s my favorite thing when he gets hooked on a rom-com because typically he likes to watch the movies where there's a lot of violence, and I don't like that. So that's a good thing, right? There's the silver lining in the Sunday Scaries: my husband's addicted to Virgin River. So it's a good day.
Anyway, I allowed myself to feel the feelings, took care of myself last night, and I've had a great day today. So next time you're feeling something, instead of pushing it aside or beating yourself up for having thoughts that aren't serving you, maybe just let yourself have the feelings and make sure to take care of yourself. I don't know. Just something to think about.
All right. Now, if you are an Online Marketing Made Easy O.G., you probably know this story. But there are quite a few new listeners, and because I haven't told it in a while, I'm going to share it again. Plus, I haven't told it in quite some time, and I promise it ties into what we're talking about today, which is doing something different, DSD. So that's what we're going to talk about today.
So many moons ago, I worked for Tony Robbins—many of you know that—and my dear friend worked there as well, in the H.R. department. Her name was Traci Porterfield. And yes, we share the same last name because I married her ex-husband.
If you haven't heard this story before, just hear me out. Don't judge me just yet. I'm not a husband stealer. So Traci has always been a matchmaker. And after her and Hobie split up, she was the one who actually said, “Amy, I think you should meet my ex-husband.” And here we are fifteen years later. Hobie and I are happily married, and we are still very close to his ex-wife, Traci. We share a son together. Cade is actually my stepson, even though I just pretend he's my own, and Traci's totally fine with that. But we are just one little, happy family, the four of us. Traci was just at the lake house a couple of weekends ago, and it was just a really special time.
So now that you know who Traci is, I want to share something with you that she taught me, and it's something that I think about often. So to give you an idea of Traci's personality, she's very bubbly, she's always looking for the positive in things, and she has a really good compass in terms of what's fun, what do I want to do? How do I want to spend my time? And she’s really good at stepping out of her comfort zone, and I admire that about her.
So when she's feeling stagnant or she's ready to take on a new adventure, she'll say to herself, “It’s time to DSD,” which stands for do something different. Essentially, this means, how can we shake things up? How can we step out of our comfort zone? How can we do something really big or just take some baby steps?
Now, Traci is a matchmaker. She actually has a high-end matchmaking business where she works with gentlemen who want to get married and want to have a relationship, and she's their matchmaker. And so this DSD really came about when she was working with clients, and they'd be nervous to go on the first date or they'd be nervous to try something new or nervous to meet someone totally different than what they pictured themselves being with. And she'd be like, “We've got to DSD this. Let's go.” And so that's really, I think, where it was adopted in the first place. But I have always loved it, and it's something that I think is incredibly powerful.
So, recently, I introduced this concept, kind of on a whim, in the SUBSCRIBED boot camp I did earlier this year—shout out to all my SUBSCRIBED boot campers. I love you so much. And that was a really fun experience—and so I talked about DSDing in your business, and it kind of caught on like wildfire. I kind of almost felt guilty. I'm like, I hope they're not giving me credit for this. This is all Traci. But we were DSDing our way through the entire list-building boot camp that I did, and that meant people were trying some new things that they weren't willing or open to trying before.
So, I'm going to put this back on you. Maybe a DSD for you means that you need to find an accountability buddy while you're growing your business. It’s something you've resisted for a long time, but you're feeling lonely in your business or you're not sticking to the habits you said you would do or you're not consistently creating your content, and you need an accountability buddy. Let's DSD that. You've never done it before. You thought you didn't want to do it in the past. Let's do something different.
Or maybe it’s TikTok. So that's my DSD. You might know, you might not know, I am on TikTok. And it's very uncomfortable. It's very humbling. It's been a slow start, but I am dedicated, and I want to get out of my comfort zone because we all know that is where the growth is, right? So my recent DSD is that I got on TikTok; I post a video a day, if not more; and we are just seeing what works, and we’re experimenting; and I’m allowing myself to feel uncomfortable every step of the way.
Maybe it's something bigger, like moving across the country. I can relate to that one as well. That is near and dear to my heart. So that's a big DSD.
But maybe it's something like joining Digital Course Academy. So if you're listening to this episode right now, like, when it is aired, when it comes out, we currently have the doors open to my signature course that I only offer once a year called Digital Course Academy. And I'm thinking about all my students who are enrolling and beginning their digital-course journey, all of them are DSDing right now. All of them are doing something different, where they've never created a course before. This is very new to them. They’re very nervous. They tell me so inside of our community. Like, “This is going to be a big, big step for me, but I want to shake things up. I want a new way to make money. I want more freedom in my business. I don't want to do so much one-on-one work. I want something to scale my business.” So they DSD’d all the way to that enroll button; they took the leap, because it takes some courage to invest money in a digital course; and they went for it. Yes, they're scared. Yes, it feels uncomfortable. But they took the leap anyway.
So some of you already signed up for Digital Course Academy. Welcome to the program. You DSD’d, and I know you're going to love every minute of it. But if you're on the fence, this might be your time to DSD.
Also, I find myself repeating this motto in my head often, especially when I notice myself playing small. I tell myself, “Amy, it's time to DSD. What are you going to do to shake things up?” Or I'll find myself in a situation where I'm very scared to make the decision I know I need to make. And I'm like, “Okay, let's just DSD it. I know the decision I need to make. It freaks me out. I’m going to DSD right now.” And, like, I actually call out those moments because when you get a lot of DSDs under your belt, you become very courageous. You become a risk taker in the best possible way. And risk is the only way that you can move forward and actually realize all these things that you want to do in your business and your life. So it is essential, my friend.
And let me tell you, when I look back on all the biggest moments of growth in my life and my business, when I look back on all the things that have made the most significant impact, it truly is the moments that I decided to DSD. It's the times that I took the leap of faith, the times that I did something that I really didn't want to do but in my gut I knew I needed to do it. And it was in those times or in those moments where I could have easily stayed put, like, comfy and cozy. But I didn’t.
Or I’m also really proud of myself when I'm able to DSD, do something different, when I'm really scared what will people think? But I do it anyway, because that's one of my weaknesses. What will people think of me? And Hobie reminds me, “They're likely not thinking of you, Amy.” And I'm, like, “Thanks, babe. I really appreciate you humbling me.” But when I get in that really unfortunate loop of what will people think? I'm like, I'm just going to DSD.
And I will tell you truthfully, my business, my multiple-seven-figure business, the one that I'm able to take five weeks away from this summer, where I do a four-day workweek for all twenty people on my team, that business, it would be nowhere near what it looks like today if I hadn't taken this little motto that my sweet friend told me about and did something with it.
So here are a few ways I've DSD’d in my business. I want to get really specific here. Number one, early on, when I was still in my nine-to-five job, I met Marie Forleo. She was my very first mentor, and I joined her mastermind. It was way too expensive. It was more money than I was comfortable with. And I'm not the kind of girl that likes to join other women that I don't know and talk about my life and business with. But I thought, I need to get into a community. And at the time, that is all I knew was that mastermind. I didn't know a lot about this world I'm in today. So I DSD’d, and I'm so very glad I did. And I joined that mastermind, and it really propelled me forward.
Another thing I did is early on I invested in digital courses. I bought two digital courses before I left my nine-to-five job. Each of them were a thousand dollars, so that was a lot of money. I've never spent that much money on an online course from someone I didn't know in my life. But I knew I can’t teach myself this stuff, and I don't want to learn a bunch from, like, a bunch of strangers on YouTube, like, free stuff. I want to literally pay to have someone who I know have gotten results, teach me exactly how to do it, and take out all the fluff. So I invested in courses before I even had this business.
I hired my first virtual assistant. Shout out to Rebecca. She became a huge part of my life for many years, so that was a DSD. I was so scared I wouldn't be able to afford her.
Another thing I did is I poured my heart and soul into one digital course, not knowing if it would work. I told myself, “I'm going to create this digital course, and I'm going to launch it over and over and over again.” So that course was called Facebook Marketing Profit Lab, and then it morphed into just The Profit Lab. But I stuck with that course at least, I launched it at least four times. And that gave me the confidence to know that you do not need to create a bunch of digital courses, just one that you can make better each time you launch. That DSD, sticking with one course and not chasing the next shiny thing, that was a big deal to me. It was something I had never done before that time.
Another DSD is I added a membership to my business. So when people go through Digital Course Academy, you get a personal invite into Momentum, which is my membership. But you can only get into Momentum if you go through Digital Course Academy. And Momentum is where I get to continue on the journey with my students and make sure that they get their course created, and then they launch it again and again, and they scale. So that's been a really fun thing. I had to DSD that because I had never had a membership before.
And then, I've gotten up on stage when I didn't feel comfortable being in the spotlight. That was another DSD that I've done several times in this business, where every time before I get on a stage—I remember I was speaking at RISE Business for Rachel Hollis. And there was something like—that was the biggest audience I had—eight thousand people I think were in that audience. I had never spoken to eight thousand people before. And I looked at Chloe, and I said, “Why did I agree to this? What was I thinking?” And then she kind of pushes me out there. And kind of a funny story, Rachel messed up by accident and told everyone they were going to lunch. And then she's like, “Wait a second. We have one more speaker,” and made everyone sit back down. And they all were ready to eat, and they had to sit and listen to me. And I was mortified, because you know what it feels like when they let you out of a live event. You're like, “Thank God. I got to pee so bad. And I need a coffee,” or whatever. Oh, no. Everyone had to come and sit down. So we had to laugh it off. I mean, what were we going to do, right? But still, I continue to push myself onto stages because I know it makes me a better speaker, a better communicator, more confidence. So I DSD my way into every event that I speak on stage.
And then, the last thing is, I think my biggest DSD, do something different, is I had the courage to get out of a partnership that didn't serve me anymore. I've talked about it a bunch on this podcast. But that was the scariest DSD I've ever done. But again, I don't think you ever regret your DSDs, ever, big or small. And I don't regret that one.
So here's what I want you to hear. If I hadn't DSD’d, I'd still be sitting in my tiny apartment in Carlsbad, struggling to grow my business, stressing about how to make ends meet. Quite honestly, I probably wouldn't be struggling to grow my business. I'd probably be back in a nine-to-five job. At this point, if I didn't DSD any of that, I wouldn't have made it this far. So I just want you to hear that your life can change with you embracing this concept of doing something different.
So here's my question for you: what is your heart telling you to DSD? I bet, as I've been talking over the last ten minutes or so, I bet you had an idea of what you could DSD. What could you do differently that you just are scared to do or not sure if it would work or kind of worried about what people will think if you do that? What is it? I want you to think good and hard about this. What scares you a little bit but lights you up a lot? Did you hear me on that one? What scares you a little bit, but it lights you up a lot? That's your DSD.
Like I said, right now the doors to Digital Course Academy are open. And I know there are many of you who are on the fence. You're thinking about signing up, but you're also well aware that if you don't enroll, you can just stay where you're at. You don't have to spend the money. So that's kind of scary, right? You don't have to put yourself out there. You don't have to tell anyone that you made this investment on something they might not understand. Like, that’s all staying comfortable. You know that, right? You don't have to tell anyone. You don't have to spend the money. You don't have to show up. All of that is staying comfortable. And comfort is not where our growth is. We're both on the same page on that one, right?
So this message isn't for everyone about Digital Course Academy. You might be like, “What is DCA? I don't know what you're talking about.” But there are some people right now that are listening—you know who you are—that you've been considering it, maybe even for the last few years, and you just haven't taken the leap. It's a big commitment. I know it can be scary no matter how excited you might be. So hear me out. Give yourself permission to DSD DCA. That's a mouthful, I know. But if you have never taken the leap before and you want to join Digital Course Academy, I really hope that you take the leap. I really hope that you give it a chance. And if Digital Course Academy is not your DSD and it's something else, make that decision right now. I want you to figure out, what do you need to do differently that you haven't done in the past? because making that one decision right now could literally change the trajectory of your business, maybe not instantly, but over time. So whatever it is, DCA or something totally different, I want you to make that decision right now. What are you going to DSD? And for those of you who are ready to join Digital Course Academy, amyporterfield.com/enroll.
All right, my friends. Thanks so much for tuning in, and I'll see you later this week for more entrepreneurial goodness. Wednesday Wisdom or Wisdom Wednesday, I always get that name wrong. And then of course, Thursday I've got a full entrepreneurial episode for you. So I'll see you soon. Bye for now.
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