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AMY PORTERFIELD:
Hey there, welcome back to another episode of The Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast. I’m your host, Amy Porterfield. Today I have a bonus episode coming your way.
It’s called “The Seven Things You MUST Do When Planning For 2019 and Beyond” and I’m going to give you some of my best revenue-boosting ideas.
Here’s what’s special about this episode. It was actually recorded as a Facebook Live on my Facebook page. About a week ago I went live with this really specific content that I use in my own business all about planning for the new year. I thought I should put it on my podcast as well because I think you’re going to find it incredibly valuable.
You can bet I created an extra-special PDF guide to walk you through exactly how I plan for the new year, the seven steps, step by step by step.
What’s unique about this bonus episode is that it’s not just about planning for the new year in terms of how much revenue you want to make, what you are going to launch, how you’re going to promote, but we’re also going to be talking about the mindset shifts you also need to make in order to play a bigger game in the new year.
I can’t wait for you to listen in. I won’t make you wait any longer. Let’s do this.
Hey guys, Amy here. I hope you are having a wonderful day. I am so excited to be here with you today because we have something so good to cover. This is my favorite time of the year because we get to start planning for the new year.
Here’s the deal. Before we even get started, if you are new to me and the stuff I teach, again, my name is Amy Porterfield, and I help entrepreneurs build their email list while building their business with online courses.
I help people create digital courses and sell them with webinars online. I’ve been doing this for far too long, almost ten years now, so I love to get into all of the details, the step by step, how I do things, and how you can make it happen in your own business as well.
Today, instead of talking about list building and courses and webinars, I want to talk about setting you up so you’re ready for 2019. I want to help you actually decide how you’re going to make money in the new year, how much money you’re going to make, and also decide what you’re going to stop doing so that you really have a year you absolutely love.
My whole goal is to help you decide what 2019 looks like so that you get out of bed every morning and are like, “Bring it on! I am ready for this.”
I want to make sure I can see your comments as we get going so give me a quick second. I know I have my computer here but I have the comments on my phone because I’ve got some slides to use in this presentation.
I am ready for this. I am actually prepared in the sense that we’re doing a proper training. I also have a PDF so I’m going to walk you through the seven steps that I use to plan out every single new year.
But I’m going to cover a lot so I’m going to give you a PDF guide and when you’re ready to take a day to plan out the whole new year you can print out my guide and just walk through it step by step.
I’m going to have this guide ready for you…okay, good. I can see myself, we are good. Let me go into it so I can actually see the comments. Awesome. I see you Lisa and Donna and Trish, Deena, and Selena. Hello, hello! Okay, great.
Here’s what we’re going to do. First, if you want the PDF guide of the seven steps I’m going to walk you through let me just tell you where to go right now. If you go to https://amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/2019roadmap you can go grab it right away.
I know your time is valuable. I know you can’t get it back. We’re going to dive in. I will warn you of one thing. I have a dog. His name is Scout. He is right here. You can’t see him because he’s right off camera. He loves to bark right in the middle of my presentations or just come up here and get a little snuggle so if you’re cool with that just know that we will likely have a sighting from Scout. He comes in, he comes out. He does his own thing. Cool? Okay. Here we go.
I am going to walk you through these seven steps and I’m going to use some slides. I’m going to come on camera and give you some slides just so you really have it right in front of you exactly what you want to do.
The goal here is that in the next week (that’s my challenge to you) you plan out your 2019. Wait. I need to wait a second. Hold on a second. Let me just ask you a quick question.
How many of you, give me a yes or no, have you actually planned for 2019 yet? Maybe you’re further along than I even think. Give me a yes or a no in the comment, have you actually even started to plan maybe, maybe not fully plan, but started to plan, for 2019?
When I say plan I mean what are you going to sell, how are you going to make money, what promotions are you going to do? Have you sat down and really thought about it?
I see a “Nope” that came in right away. Ann says, “yes,” Leanna says, “yes,” Nan says, “Well, I’ve started.” Okay, cool.
Here’s another question I have for you. Have you ever gone through a year where you haven’t planned? You kind of had to wing it? I actually recently went through that year in 2018. We have had some big shifts in my business and because we are shifting things around we just weren’t able to plan like we’ve always done.
Holy cow! It is a scary time. It was very uncertain for part of this year for me. All of the other years I’ve always planned so I thought I would never do that again. I know the pain of not planning and I know how you can reach those really big goals if you just take one day to plan.
I’m going to encourage you to take one day to plan.
Let’s do this. I’m going to walk you through three things you need to know before we actually start to plan for the new year. Are you cool? Are you in it with me?
Three things you need to know. But, before we jump in, again, this is seven things you MUST do when planning for 2019, my best revenue-boosting ideas.
The first thing is to focus only on the next six months. You’ll get a chance to see what works and what doesn’t and incorporate those findings for the future. Don’t actually stress yourself out. Just do the first six months.
The next six months are going to be so much easier if you just take the first six months and focus there.
The second thing is to take an entire day to plan. You need space to think and be creative. Break out the whiteboard and remove all distractions. If you do this at home just make sure to send everyone away.
Just recently, about two weeks ago, I live in Southern California, Carlsbad to be exact, right outside San Diego, and my integrator, Chloe, and I went to Laguna Beach about an hour on the highway.
We went to Laguna Beach for a full day starting early Saturday morning. We stayed in a hotel and worked all day until about 11 p.m. at night and that’s very late for me. For the record, I am not a late night worker so it was like, “Oh my gosh, this is a lot of work.”
We took the full day and planned out 2019. We went through these seven steps I’m going to walk you through. The good thing about going away is that I’m not distracted by the dog or my 16-year-old son or feeling guilty that I should be spending time with my husband because I’m home and I love to spend time with them.
But when I’m trying to get work done and balance that it can be really stressful. If I just remove myself from that situation and say, “I’m just going to focus on planning,” then I get to go home and spend the rest of the weekend with my family and that’s when I’m golden.
I want to actually encourage you to go away and do this. Even if you rent a conference room for a day, you don’t have to go to a hotel room, but get out of your environment. It kind of shakes things up.
One full day! It’s so incredibly important.
Here’s one more thing I want to tell you about that’s really important. Try to do this with someone who knows your business or knows you. If you’re a one-woman or oneman show grab a friend or peer that you can pitch and catch with.
If you have a virtual assistant have them with you for this process. They know the business well. They can kind of call you on your bluff if you’re playing small or not really going for it.
Even if you have to get your virtual assistant or team member on Zoom do this with someone else because the ideas really start to flow. That’s just something to think about there.
I just want you to be really prepared in terms of making this a one-day event just for you and maybe one other person that you plan out the entire first six months of your business. Good?
I’m going to walk you through the seven steps. You don’t need to take notes because if you click the link in the description I’ve got a PDF that walks you through this entire process. Just click the link in the description and the PDF will be sent to you through Messenger on Facebook. It’s super simple.
If you’d rather just give me your name and email I will email it to you. Go to https://amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/2019roadmap and I’ll email you a ten-page guide that I created for you to walk you through each of these steps.
So, you don’t need to take notes right now but I’ll just quickly walk you through so you know what they look like. Good? Let’s do it.
STEP 1: Brainstorm Your Opportunities and Your Big Dreams
Let’s say you could wave a magic wand and just like that, no matter what you journey out to do in your business, you couldn’t fail. What projects and new experiences would you say “yes” to? What would you do if you couldn’t fail?
This is the first step in the whole entire process. You are going to dream big, which is really, really fun. I want you to whiteboard all of the things you want to do in your business, big and small, everything you can think of.
I want to give you some ideas. So let’s just run though some things you could do in the new year to make you money and really light you up:
- I’m very biased, so create a digital course to replace a bulk of your revenue from one-on-one work. If you’re a coach or consultant and you’re doing one-on-one consulting work you could create a digital course in the new year so that you don’t have to do so much one-on-one work.
- Start your own paid mastermind experience where ten people pay you to learn your expertise throughout the year in a mastermind.
- One of the big things you could do is hire a VA, finally get some support that you actually need.
- Write the book you’ve been talking about forever.
- Start a podcast. Have you been talking about starting a podcast and just haven’t done it? Maybe that’s one of your big opportunities for the new year.
- Stop doing service-based work. Are you tired of being a coach or consultant? Are you just tired of doing work for other people? You can maybe stop doing that in the new year.
- Put a big goal down to add 5,000 new subscribers to your email list…5,000 new subscribers.
These are just all things that might show up when you brainstorm what the new year is going to look like for you.
I want you to actually write this one down because this one is big. What would a wildly successful year look like for me? That’s the question. What would a wildly successful year look like for me?
Does anyone want to be so bold to actually write in the comments (because I can see your comments right now – Julie, Alice, and Wendy, I see you)? Who would be so bold to put one of their big dreams in the comments right now?
I actually have some giveaways we’re doing. I love planning. That’s why I’m doing this Facebook Live right now. I love to talk about planning and starting new and I’m the total opposite of a hoarder. I like to clear everything out.
Starting new feels really good to me. But I also love to plan with office supplies. Give me all the highlighters, pens, pencils, notebooks, dividers, staplers, all of it. I love to be really organized with office supplies.
I know this makes me sound crazy right now. I’m just going to own it. With that I thought it would be fun to give away some gift cards to Staples because that’s one of my favorite stores.
I’m not going to look now but I’m going to look down in a second and the first comment I see where someone’s sharing one of their big dreams, big dreams, small dreams, things they’re going to do in 2019, you are going to win a $50 gift card to Staples.
Angie, my community manager, is in the comments right now. She’ll find you and get your details. She’ll set it up for you. Get ready. I’m going to look down. I can see it moving so I know you guys are typing in there. The first one I see, there it goes, T. J. Joe, “$555,000 in 2019.”
T.J. you win a $50 gift card to Staples and I love your big dream. I love that. It’s an awesome one, $555,000. That’s her revenue goal for 2019. You guys want to do another? Okay, hold on. I can see it moving.
I can see it moving. Here we go, Nancy Anderson, “I want to quit my full-time job and run a copywriting agency that replaces my income, plus surplus.”
I love it. Is that a unicorn Nancy? Is that? Angie’s going to love you. Angie loves unicorns so Angie look for the pink unicorn because that’s Nancy and she also gets a $50 gift card to Staples.
I’ve got more gift cards so stay with me here. I’ve got more questions to ask you.
That is Step 1. You’re going to brainstorm. Are you ready for Step 2? Let’s do it.
STEP 2: Decide on Your Non-Negotiables
Guys, this is my favorite step. One thing that is just as important as dreaming up your big opportunities is to look at your non-negotiables. What are you not willing to do or experience to get your wildly successful year? That’s the big question.
What are you not willing to do or experience to get your wildly successful year?
Non-negotiables are a big deal. I want you to ask yourself things you no longer want to experience again. What are the things you no longer want to experience again?
This is the big question. I’m going to share one with you if you share one with me. Deal? In the comments I want you to tell me what your big non-negotiable is. Maybe you have ten of them and you’re just going to pick one.
There is always stuff that we are tired of doing. Mine is going to be a little bit weird. Stay with me here. My non-negotiable is that I’m no longer going to actually make an excuse of why I’m not posting on social media.
I have a team that helps me with my social media. Every single week I like to write one or two posts that are just from me, from my heart. I share some lessons I’ve learned or things that have come up along the way.
I really like to do that. I also really think it’s important to get on Instagram stories to show my face, make videos, do them multiple times a week. But I often find myself making excuses for why I’m too busy to do it.
I know I can connect with my audience at a bigger level if I am just more consistent and keep showing up. So in the new year what I’m not going to do is allow myself to make excuses that I don’t have time for something like that, that it’s not as important as other stuff in my business.
I’m putting a stake in the ground. That’s my non-negotiable. But your non-negotiable, and I’m waiting because we’re going to do another contest, I’m waiting to see what you’re going to post. Yours might be that I’m no longer…actually I think I’ve got some good ones, oops, no I don’t…
Your non-negotiable might be that you are no longer going to take clients out of fear you won’t make enough money. I used to do this one way back in the day before I had a digital course business like I do today.
I used to take clients and I would say “yes” to all of these clients and I would even say “yes” to clients I knew I would dread and knew I would hate working with. They were a pain in the butt but I would say “yes” anyway because I was fearful that a new opportunity wouldn’t come along and I wouldn’t make enough money so I had better just take this client.
My friend said that’s her non-negotiable. No more taking clients out of fear. If the client is not a “hell yes, you are amazing,” then she’s saying, “Hell no.” That might be one of your non-negotiables.
Step 2 is important, guys. You’ve got to decide what you refuse to do in the new year. What did you hate doing this year so much?
Are you ready for another contest, a $50 gift card to Staples? We’re going to look in the comments. I see them moving so you have to have put in a non-negotiable when I look down. Are you ready?
Here we go. Renee, “Non-negotiable: Not following through with uncomfortable actions.”
Amen! That’s a good one. No longer is Renee going to not follow through just because it’s uncomfortable. I love this one because in my first two years of business (it’s almost been ten years now) I was building things up. I had left corporate.
I had worked with Tony Robbins for six and a half years. Corporate was all I knew. I ventured out into this big, wild west of the online marketing world. I had no idea what I was doing but determined to make it work.
Every day I was uncomfortable, every single day I had a conversation that was uncomfortable. I put myself out there in an uncomfortable way. I tried something new and it was awkward. I was uncomfortable for two years until I finally got my groove.
Renee, that is life changing. That non-negotiable will be life changing so awesome for you. Shall we do one more? My team is probably wondering why I didn’t do $10 gift cards if I was going to do this many. But I can’t help myself. Let’s do one more because non-negotiables are kind of my favorite. Are you ready?
Here we go. I know I’m kind of looking around. I was going to see if I could find a guy but I didn’t. So, Belle, here you go, “Lack of savings is a non-negotiable this 2019.”
Belle, I love the name Belle. Belle is saying that she’s going to have a savings no matter what. If she has to tuck $5 away a week (I’m making this up for you but here you go), even if she has to tuck a little away every single week she must have a savings account. I get it. I’m a safety girl.
We have a savings account and then what we call a “holding” account where it’s an extra savings account just in case. I am a safety girl through and through so I get it. That will make you feel more confident in all the decisions you make. So Belle, you get a $50 gift card to Staples as well for playing along.
Are we ready? Let’s go back to Step 3.
STEP 3: Declare Your Number
How much do you want to make in 2019? Right away, I think it was T.J. that told us $550,000. She already knows her number. Here’s the thing. I bet you already know your number. I bet you are very aware of that number that you want to hit in 2019.
If you are so bold, put it in the comments. I get it if you don’t want to put it out there. But there is something magical about just declaring it. What’s that scary number you don’t even want to say out loud? How much money do you want to make in 2019?
I’m kind of a conservative girl in the sense that whatever number I throw out there I might not know how I’m going to get there but I feel if there is a lot of strategy and a little magic then I can hit that number.
I don’t want you throw out $3 million when you’ve only made $50,000 this year. I don’t want you to go that far. I want it to feel real to you. Again, you don’t have to figure out how to do it in this moment. All you need to do is really think about the number.
Again, let me come back here with you, the goal here is that you know if you are consistent and show up every day and there is true strategy behind it and a little bit of magic mixed in you can hit the number.
You might be asking, “Amy, what are you talking about, this magic?”
I believe you’ve got to leave a little room for a little magic. When I was in Laguna Beach with Chloe, my integrator, and we were planning 2019 we came up with a very, very big goal, multi-million dollar goal. I already have a multi-million dollar business but this is more than we’ve made.
I looked at Chloe and said, “I’m not exactly sure how we’re going to make it but I think if we do this, this, and that we’re going to get pretty close and then we’re going to leave a little extra room for magic.”
It kind of works that way…If you’re consistent. Strategy and a little magic, what’s that number? I want you to declare it. You might not be ready yet. I actually want you to take a full day to go through all seven steps I’m going to give you.
When you’re ready you’re going to declare. Or, if you want to put it in here right now we’re going to do another little contest and you can put it in here right now, “I want to make X by the end of 2019.”
Many of you already know your number so we’re just going to play along. We’re just going to go for it. Are you ready? I’m going to choose one. I’m going to look down.
Here we go, Jennifer Kent. Oh Jennifer didn’t have a number in there but she was cheering someone on so, thank you for that. I love that. The next one is Shonda, “Bam! $100K.”
I love that number. That feels solid. That feels really good. I don’t know where you’re starting from but that is doable in the online space, especially if you create a digital course in 2019, you can get to $100K for sure, especially if you launch with webinars.
But that’s a whole other conversation. That is exactly what I teach my students and what I’m literally obsessed about. You can get to $100K in an online business, for sure. Congrats! Angie will find you. Angie, she’s got a “Thumbs Up” emoji in that one so hopefully you can find that.
I see many of you jumping in here and thank you for all of these awesome comments. I love that you’re just putting it out there. This is so awesome.
I love that you are all over the place. We’re all in different places. We don’t compare ourselves to other people. We don’t judge other people’s numbers. All we do is support them. Let’s cheer each other on. Everyone starts somewhere.
I just saw someone, Jennifer, said $10K. Bring it on. Wherever you’re starting, just commit to it.
Are you linking this guys? Do you like these steps? We’ve got four more steps and they get even better. Hopefully if you’re just joining me now, we are going through seven steps to plan 2019. These seven steps are what I use almost every year with my= business to plan what I’m going to do, the projects I’m going to work on, how much money I’m going to make, and what I’m going to stop doing.
These seven steps, I’ll give you the PDF if you want it so that you can walk through it, two things: 1) I want you to spend a whole day going through the seven steps, brainstorming planning, calendaring is all; and 2) I also want to make sure you really understand there is a mix of mindset and strategy with these seven steps.
One idea of mindset is that you’ve got to talk about what you’re not going to do. What are the things that are pulling you down, making you frustrated, things you hate doing? We’re getting rid of those in 2019.
There is a mix of mindset and strategy in these seven steps. We’ve gone through the first three steps. If you’re just joining us now go to https://amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/2019roadmap and you can get the freebie that walks you through the seven steps or, if you want me to just send it to you through Facebook Messenger click the link in my description where you’re watching this video and you can get it right away.
This is fun. Let’s keep going.
STEP 4: Look Back to Move Forward
I want you to take some quality time and reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly from this year. This will be the last time you look back so make it count. I’m not about living in the past.
I literally spend my time looking forward 99% of the time. However, one thing I always do on my planning day, that’s why you want to take a good hour or two to do this, you’re going to dig through some numbers.
I want you to look at the metrics of 2018. Many of you might not have these metrics just yet. But let me walk you through what they look like and you can decide what you have and what you don’t have.
If you don’t have a lot of these make sure you set up your business in 2019 so at the end when you look at these numbers you will actually have them. Deal?
We’re first going to get into the mindset thing. What did you love creating and working on in 2018? What did you absolutely love? When I come back to camera I’ll tell you what I absolutely loved.
What was tough? What felt difficult? You’re going to answer these questions. Take the time to answer them. What was your biggest money maker and your least money maker? How much has your email list grown? Where did you start in 2018 and where did you end up?
If you don’t know, at the start of 2019 document that number. Open up a Google doc, document some numbers so you can compare at the end of the year. I know we’re going to do that on my team as well.
How much money did you generate this year? I know we’re not at the very end but we’re pretty close. What were your total expenses? That’s something I feel in the internet marketing world, which is where I live and what I teach, a lot of times people don’t talk about expenses.
I’m going to give you a little number that maybe you might want to think about moving forward. We always try to keep our expenses between 35 and 40%. If I make $100 this year on a digital course (I’m using easy numbers) then about $40 went to expenses and the rest was pure profit.
I’m talking everything, the expenses are how much we spend on our Facebook ads, how much I spend on my team, how much I spend on design and copywriting and technology and all of it.
At the end of the day my goal is to be between 35 and 40%. I usually land somewhere in the middle. Some years I went way over that and I was like, “Whoa, we need to fix that. Where did we go wrong?”
Other years I come right at 35% and that’s the best year ever. I have an internet marketing business. Really, what I should say is I have a digital course business. What that means is the bulk of my revenue comes from me selling my digital courses.
I teach people how to do marketing online so I create digital courses and I sell them. I sell them online through webinars so 90% of my revenue (I have a multi-million dollar business, every year we generate multi-million dollars) comes from selling digital courses.
When you sell digital courses online you’re able to keep your expenses around 35-40% max. So, if you’re ever looking for how much money you should be spending versus bringing in, that’s the number I typically shoot for. It’s just something to think about for the new year.
I always like to give you a few little behind-the-scenes of what my business looks like. Try it on for size. See if that’s helpful.
Alice asks, “Are the salaries of your team in the 40%?” They are. One thing that is not in that 40% is what I pay in estimated taxes. That comes after. That is not part of the 40% but how I pay my team is part of the 40%.
It took me a while to get there. Just know it wasn’t something that just clicked where, “I don’t spend that much money,” It’s something we’re very mindful of. Every month we run the numbers to see where we hit.
Some months we’re over and some months we’re under but it’s a tricky game you play with and you get better at it every single year. Be patient with yourself.
Are we ready? Let’s go back. These are some of the metrics you’re going to track.
STEP 5: Calendar Planning
This is where it’s going to take you the most time. This is why I want you to spend a full day doing this. Now it’s time to do some calendar planning.
What do the next six months look like? To keep things simple and streamlined we’re going to do this in two phases. In Step 5 you’re going to spend hours here. The first phase is how you’ll make money, not how much you’ll make, “how” you’ll make money.
In Step 3 you declared how much money you wanted to make. Now let’s figure out how the heck you’re going to make that.
In Phase 2 you’re going to actually open up your calendar and you’re going to put in the dates that you are going to actually promote. Let’s say you’re going to promote a digital course.
When are you going to do that? What month? How long is your promotion? I usually set 14 days for a promotion of a digital course. Block out the 14 days on your calendar. If you looked at my 2019 calendar right now you will know exactly when I’m launching and when I’m not because I think the time that you’re not launching is important too so that you have a little white space and you can breathe.
Some of you aren’t really sure how you plan to make money in 2019. Get ready. We’re going to do another contest in a second here. How you’ll make money in 2019. Here are some options (I’m biased, I know):
- Create a digital course and promote it several times throughout the year. When I teach my students how to create a digital course I say, “Let’s take that course and do a live promotion three times this year. We’re going to promote that same course over and over and over again.” You guys, this is exactly how I built my business. Let’s not have 20 spinning plates in the air in 2019. Less is more here.
- Create a live online workshop and promote and deliver it live several times throughout the year. Notice I say several times throughout the year so that you’re not doing too much. You’re doing the same thing over and over again to get better and better.
- Create a few coaching and consulting packages and take on a few quality clients versus a bunch of mediocre clients.
- Get paid to speak on stage.
Put it in the comments. I’m going to do another contest, $50 gift card to Staples, since I’m so obsessed with office supplies. I’m not going to look just yet.
I want you to tell me one way you’re going to make money in 2019. While I’m going to wait until a few of you type in your answers here’s one thing that’s really important. Less is more.
I would love for you to choose two or three ways…Let’s say five max, five ways you’re going to make money in the new year. Do you want me to share mine with you?
I remember I told you earlier I was going to share with you one thing I was most happy with. Remember when we were asking what you loved doing and what you hated doing? I promised first I would tell you what I loved doing. One thing I loved, loved, loved doing this year is a two-day live workshop with 100 people.
We made it really small in San Diego. One hundred people came to San Diego and I helped them finish their online digital course. We did a workshop style for two days to make sure they knew exactly what they needed to do to finish their digital course. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done.
I got to know everybody in that room. I got to see their passion. I got to see them do the hard work. I got to be there with them. I loved that. That was one thing I loved that happened this year.
Getting back to different ways I make money, I told you 90% of my revenue comes from digital courses. In 2019 I will have two digital courses. I’ll have one called List-Builder’s Lab to help people build their list and one that I’m launching in January called Digital Course Academy®️. It helps people create a course and launch it with webinars.
I just have two digital courses, two ways I’m going to make money, in 2019. I’m also an affiliate for a few different programs including Marie Forleo’s B-School. I’ve been promoting it for eight years now.
Kajabi, my favorite online tool, is an all-in-one marketing software that I absolutely love and I’ll be promoting Kajabi and B-School next year. That’s four ways to make money.
Then I’m going to do my workshop. That’s five. In the bulk of looking at everything those are the five ways I’m going to make money. I’m going to do that workshop again at the end of the year so there are five ways I’m going to make money in 2019.
There might be a few other little things but those are the five I’m going to focus on the most. That’s what I want you to do as well, if you can choose five or less. Five or less would be ideal. Deal?
I’m going to look now. I’ve given you guys enough time. I’m going to choose one person who typed in one way they are going to make money in 2019. If I choose you, you know the drill by now, you will get a $50 gift card to Staples because I love my office supplies.
How can you do a full day of planning if you don’t have sharpies, scissors, notecards, and highlighters. Come on, post-it notes. You need them all.
Here it is, Lisa Marie, “Launching my course. I’m going to do select one-on-one clients.”
Lisa, you’re a girl after my own heart. I don’t know if you’re a student of mine but this is what I teach my students. Launch a digital course and just take a few one-on-one clients instead of so many that you want to hit them over the head because you’re so sick of working with them.
I know, I’ve been there. I love that. That’s awesome. Lisa Marie, you are a winner. Angie is going to find you and make sure you get your Staples gift card.
Okay guys, we only have two steps left. Are you loving this? Give me a “yes” if you’re loving this. Give me some emojis. Let me just make sure. Whenever I do a Facebook
Live it feels like, “Oh my god, are they still there? Are they with me?” I just want to make sure you’re all there.
Okay, good. I’m getting some emojis. I’m getting some love. You’re there. You’re loving it. Cool. I just want to make sure. They are all coming in.
Are you ready? Final two steps and then we’re going to wrap up. Here we go…Oh, I lied.
There is one more thing I want to hit home. Keep things simple. Decide on just a few ways in which you’ll generate revenue and then do those projects really well over and over again throughout the year. That was the lesson I wanted to hit home. I couldn’t skip this slide. It’s an important one.
STEP 6: How Do You Need to Show Up
We’re back to the mindset. You’re going to be doing big things in this world and 2019 is your year. Declare it. It’s your year. It’s totally my year but we can share it. We can both have it be our year.
Before you jump into all of your amazing projects I want you to reflect on the kind of person you need to be to hit the finish line with each and every one of them. Who do you need to be?
This one is really big. This one is really important because I think it’s so fun. If you have an entrepreneur spirit like I do it’s so much fun to look ahead and plan for the new year and talk about all of the things you’re going to do and all of the money, money, money you’re going to make.
That is fun. Don’t be shy to say you want to make money in 2019. The more money you make the bigger impact you can make in this world so I’m all for it.
However, you can’t just wake up tomorrow morning and be there. Let’s set the stage. Let’s say I made $100,000 this year and I want to make $500,000 next year. We will use me as an example.
I made $100,000 this year and I want to make $500,000 next year. On December 31, 2018, I go to bed. When I wake up the next morning (this is obviously a dramatization) I cannot be the same person that made $100,000 in 2018. I have to show up differently.
When my feet hit the floor on January 1, 2019, I’m thinking different, I’m acting different. I’m approaching life different. I’m showing up in a different way. Quite honestly, whenever you’re watching this video (maybe you are here live with me and if you are, thank you. If you’re catching the replay, thank you for that as well) depending on when you’re watching this let’s declare right now that you’re going to start showing up differently.
Right this minute, there is no better time than the present. You have to be a different person. I’ve been working on this all year, my mindset. I’m thinking differently, feeling differently, choosing different actions.
I work on it every day of my life. It’s a big one. I want you to ask yourself, “If I’m able to pull this off and I can reach these big revenue goals (I saw some of you put $1 million in there or $500,000 or whatever you want to make in 2019) and you want to create the most wildly successful year how do you need to think?
What thoughts will keep you moving forward? How do you need to show up? If you could be so bold, give me some thoughts in the comments there. How do you need to show up differently?
Really, the word is “different.” How do you need to be different in the new year? We all have to change something because you can’t keep doing what you’re doing and expect different results. Right?
I think that’s the definition of insanity or something like that. You have to change things up. For me I had to catch those negative thoughts more quickly.
The second I feel like I look terrible in a video or totally screwed up technology and look like an idiot online I instantly say, “Nope, I’m just experimenting. I’m trying something new.”
I didn’t look like an idiot. I put my very best self out there. I’m not talking to myself that way anymore. This is something I have to do every minute. I can go down that dark road really quickly.
How do you need to show up? I’m going to look over in the comments. The first one I see will get a $50 gift card to Staples. I hope it’s a good one. Are you ready? How do you need to show up differently?
Let’s see, Julie Miller says, “I am confident an strong and people want to learn from me.” That’s how she needs to show up. Julie, I love it. She’s going to show up confident and strong. People want to learn from her.
Imagine if Julie woke up in 2019 every single fricking day and said, “I’m confident and strong and everyone that I come in contact with that I teach wants to learn from me.”
She’s going to show up differently every single day, right? I have a friend, Rachel Hollis. You guys might know her. She wrote the book, Girl Wash Your Face and she has a new book coming out in the new year called Girl Stop Apologizing. I highly recommend both books. I’ve read them both.
She has a thing where she actually has journals you can buy. Again, I highly recommend them. I bought them for all of my team for Christmas but they don’t know it yet.
She has these journals and in the journal, every day she has a place where you write down ten of your goals. The same goals every day. This is what she did before she created this journal.
On any piece of paper or post-it note she would write down her goals, however many she had. She wrote them every day as though to declare, “This is happening.” I’m going to do that in the new year.
I think it’s the greatest thing. I have a girlfriend that wrote down every year, “I’m the top earner in my mastermind.” She was not the top earner the year before but she hit over a million dollars this year and she became the top earner.
I actually asked her how she made that happen. She said, “Amy, you’re going to laugh at me. I fricking wrote that down every single day since January 1, 2018.”
I believe in stuff like this. Do you guys think that is something that can really make a difference? We’ll turn it into a positive. I asked how you need to show up. Remember, Julie said, “I am confident and strong.” What if she wrote that every single day in her goals?
What if she put, “I am a confident person and everyone wants to learn from me”? This is the stuff that makes it happen. That’s the little extra magic. It’s really not because you’re making actions happen.
I just wanted to put out there that I love the idea of writing down your top goals every day. I am totally going to do it. I’ll fill you guys in as I keep going on it.
Are we ready? We’re in the last step. Are you ready for this?
STEP 7: Get Into Action
This is where we pull it all together. Now it’s time to make things happen. Identify your next steps one project at a time. Don’t try to tackle everything at once. If you’ve planned promotions for the new year make sure all of them are in your calendar so that you can look forward and take action.
When you get the PDF guide that I created, The 2019 Roadmap, when you get the seven steps, in Step 6 you’re going to open up that calendar and plan it out. In Step 7 you’re going to look at the calendar and say, “Okay, what’s the first thing I need to do?”
You can start that now. You can bet we are starting to plan for 2019 right now. We’re in it. We’re not promoting anything for the rest of the year. It’s all about what’s happening in 2019.
I think it’s so important. Basically Step 7 is to figure out your next step. What’s going to happen? But also, you’ve got to celebrate.
Let me just tell you real quick, you’ve got to celebrate. Planning out your next six months is a huge accomplishment and you should now do something special to commemorate the moment.
I told you I went to Laguna Beach with Chloe. We planned out the entire year. I cheated a little. I have been at this for ten years. We actually planned out the full year although there were a few questionable things for the last six months that we don’t have locked in.
I’m having you just plan your first six months if this is the first or second time you’ve been doing this. The first six months is better. That’s where you should focus. But then you have to celebrate.
I celebrated by getting frozen yogurt with toppings and a glass of wine. That was literally our dinner for the night. I was very excited about it. I hadn’t had frozen yogurt for a long time.
Where we were staying in Laguna is a beach-side town. Down the street there was a frozen yogurt place and I kept telling Chloe, “We’re getting frozen yogurt when this is done. We’re getting frozen yogurt when this is done.”
She is right here. You can’t see her but she’s laughing. I really did. When it got hard she would be like, “Do you want your frozen yogurt? You stay with it.”
We just kind of made sure we had something to look forward to…And the wine, of course. You’ve got to have wine or champagne. Duh! Right?
The last thing, the last contest before we wrap up, my question to you is: How are you going to celebrate? It might be as simple as frozen yogurt. I’m a big party animal, right?
It might be that you’re taking a little trip. You’re going to Mexico. You’re doing this or that. Whatever it is, I don’t judge. I don’t care what it is but I want you to think about it right now.
When things are hard and I really have to get in there I like to know something really good is waiting for me at the other end. Right now we’re planning this big promotion in January. You can bet I’ve got a trip planned with my husband to Mexico.
It’s just three days because we don’t have a lot of time but we’re going to Mexico to celebrate getting all of this done. I always put celebrations out there even if they are small like frozen yogurt (with extra toppings, for the record).
I’m going to give you a second. I want you to tell me how you’re going to celebrate in the comments. Then I’m going to look down. The first one I look at is my final contest. You’re going to get a $50 gift card to Staples so you can plan like a boss in 2019.
Are you ready? One, two, three…Kim Barr, “Celebrate at the spa with the team.”
Kim, I’m so glad I grabbed yours. That’s really cool that you’re going to celebrate with your team. Why not? Everyone’s involved, right? That’s a fun one. Kim Barr, you get a $50 gift card to Staples and I hope you have a really good spa experience. That one’s a fun one for sure.
We did it. I’m actually going to run through it one more time, the 2019 planning roadmap:
- Brainstorm your opportunities. Real quick, you’re taking a full day to do this. You’re going to go away or send the kids to grandma’s or whatever. You get a full day to plan this out. Brainstorm opportunities and dreams. Write them on a whiteboard. Play some good music. Get out all of the ideas.
- Decide on your non-negotiables. What are you not going to do in the new year? There should be a few of them, for the record.
- Declare your numbers. Put it out there.
- Look back to move forward. You are going to look back at your metrics. What worked, what didn’t? What made you money? What didn’t make you money? You’ve got to look back before you look forward.
- Calendar it all out. During Step 5 you’re going to decide on the projects that will actually make you money (creating a digital course, creating a mastermind or whatever it might be).
- How do you need to show up? You’re going to declare it.
- Get into action. Decide the first thing you need to do. Before that happens you’re going to celebrate. You’re going to go to the spa. I saw someone said, “International trip.” You’re taking a trip, you’re doing a champagne toast, whatever it might be. If we don’t celebrate the wins the small ones and big ones then what’s it all worth? It’s not fun anymore if you don’t take a minute to just celebrate what you’ve done.
Okay guys, this has been so much fun. Some of you are asking where to get the PDF. I put a PDF together, The 2019 Roadmap. There are two ways to get it. If you just want to get it from Facebook Messenger there is a link in the description. It’s a little bit.ly link.
In the description where you are watching this video you can click on the link and it will be sent to you through Messenger.
The other way to get my 2019 Roadmap is to just opt in really fast by going to https://amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/2019roadmap. We’ll send it to you instantly and if you opt in you will be on my email list and you will get another email when I go live again.
I’ve got some really fun Facebook Lives that are coming up. I’ll give you a heads up if I’ve got another fun one coming up and what the topic is. We’re going to talk about course creation, webinars, and launching and what it looks like to build a business.
There is going to be some cool stuff coming every single week for the next few weeks and I’m excited to share it all with you.
Thanks so much for giving me this opportunity to share my 2019 planning strategy with you. It’s changed my business dramatically and I hope you will take one day, one full day, and actually give yourself and your business the respect it deserves to plan up 2019 so that you can hit the ground running on January 1.
Here’s to your best year yet. Thanks so much for being here guys. Have a wonderful day. I’ll talk to you soon.
