Ways to Make Money Using Technology to Automate Your Business
Before we cover one of my favorite ways to make money online, it’s imperative that we cover why you should be thinking about relying more on technology.
Actual story:
A little over 2 years ago, I was looking for a business opportunity.
I reached out to two different ladies to learn more about the industry. It was new to me so I didn’t know much. Neither one of them had anything they could forward over for me to review. They both insisted we meet in-person. Ok cool, right??? One lady had kids and had to check her calendar. I reached out to the other and told her I’d drive to the ‘burbs to meet her which was almost a 2 hour drive. She said ok and never heard anything back. It took them months to follow up with me but by that time, it was too late.
When I make up my mind, I go for it. I know what I want and I don’t wait on anyone else. They’re probably kicking themselves. In order for people to take you seriously, you need to conduct yourself in a seriously. You can’t say you’re ready to make money and let this fine piece of money walk right out the door🤣🤣🤣
No seriously, I learned from it. When I launched my business, I did not take it seriously. My goal was to have fun on the weekends . After the feds reached out about student loans, I knew I needed other ways to make money lol
Then, I came to the conclusion that I would take the business seriously. I decided that I would NOT do the same thing as the other ladies. As a result, I made sure to respond to everyone who inquired ASAP. Literally, I’d hear my phone vibrate, stop everything and respond. Because I was dealing with people in different time zones, I was literally losing sleep trying to respond fast enough.
My advice to you:
If you are an entrepreneur or considering it, you should be looking at ways to automate your business. Seriously, at 12 a.m., 1 a.m., 4 a.m. and all other weird times, I have people coming in to learn more about working with me. I’m at the point now where I’m not going to wake from my sleep to answer those initial inquiries or have a car accident trying to hurry and respond.
Let’s work smarter, not harder. I have an autoresponder that sends an email on my behalf so no matter what time they email, they at least hear something from me. They receive a series of emails with the opportunity to schedule a call with me.
If you’re just getting started with internet marketing, we like to call this e-mail marketing. When inquiries come in, you can send them a welcome email. If they never open the email, you can send another. If they clicked on the link but didn’t purchase, you can send them a follow-up. These are all events going on in the background while you can be focusing on more revenue producing activities. Stop chasing people who aren’t clear on their decision. Only talk to serious prospects.
No more forgetting to follow-up. No more tackling new contacts as soon as you wake up. No more wasting time on people that forever consider and never take action.
Goal:
Part of being an entrepreneur is learning to become more efficient. Most technology is cheap or free. If you’re just getting started, don’t let technology be the reason why you haven’t done something. Use it to empower you and strengthen your business.
Start Making the Business Work for You and Create More Ways to Make Money!
Eventually, the goal should be to work smarter not harder.
As an entrepreneur or home-based business owner, one of your main goals is probably freedom or flexibility.
You want to get to the point where you only have to “work” when needed. What’s the point of saying you’re an entrepreneur if you’re working 80 hours a week, responding to leads who just want to kick tires or answering the same questions over and over again?
You should be looking at ways to automate the business. Yes, you can actually be generating leads and sales in your sleep!
There is a solution for this: create content once and direct inquiries to the content. This builds your e-mail list.
Now we’re talking about building a serious business. It requires an investment but the return is worth it!
You see the photos of people on beaches, in jets or otherwise, telling you how much their life is better than yours.
Guess what? They’re still working! They’ve just automated the process so they can take time out and do the things they enjoy. More than likely, once they figured this out, they started looking for ways to make money or diversify their income. Thus, when one business drifts off, they’re still making money.
How do they do it?
By creating opt-ins, lead magnets, or lead capture pages and sales funnels with autoresponders.
The jist of e-mail marketing and how it’s one of online marketers favorite ways to make money:
OMG! Opt-ins? Funnels? Capture pages? Autoresponders? I know this may seem a little intimidating, right? Let’s break it down and explain how online marketers use these systems to improve or enhance their ways of making money.
The jist: people get something of value in exchange for their contact info (name, e-mail or maybe phone number).
How do online marketers make it possible:
– They had an issue and figured out a solution OR
– They’ve been asked the same question multiple times (probably from putting in the work that was covered in my original e-mail)
– Created a blog/website to answer those questions
– Now with their same messages they used before to attract/gain leads, they’re adding an extra sentence to direct people to the lead capture form or if people inquire, they direct to the lead capture form
– They’ll also begin targeting and paying for traffic to draw in more people
– People who submit contact info will receive the answer they’ve already prewritten as well as a series of follow-up e-mails
– Throughout the course of time, the e-mails will help build relationships so people know/like/trust them
Don’t worry!
You don’t need much technical know-how to do this; there are companies that help you create lead capture pages and sales funnels or e-mail automation series. Some companies make it so that you simply edit the form to input your information.
Yes, it requires some investment but not nearly as much as you think! Also, think about how much time it will free up for you!
You can build a FREE lead capture page with e-mail autoresponder series using MailChimp.
There are some other services that offer capture pages if you’d like to take a look:
Aweber — offers free trial
Get Response — offers free trial
I personally use MailChimp but I encourage you to test them out and see what works best for you!
Don’t just stop at the capture page!
Once you create a lead capture page, MailChimp gives you a URL so you can direct users directly to the site to input their information. The URL is very long, not pretty and hard to remember.
One of the cheapest sources I’ve been able to buy domain names from is NameCheap. I use NameCheap to purchase a domain for about $1-4 and then redirect the traffic to the lead capture page. It masks the long, ugly URL that MailChimp provides. Also, I use it for my company’s replicated website. Think: it’s easier for people to remember the company’s website versus mine which has the company’s domain plus my unique representative ID.
Now, with traffic coming in and my e-mail series established, my business runs while I’m sleep, walking the dog or watching Lifetime Movie Network 🙂
I only spend my time on calls or texting people who have received information from me and are serious about getting started or I spend my time mentoring my current team.
Occasionally, I have to respond to customers; however, this is far and few in between as my opportunity sends follow-up marketing e-mails daily to existing customers.
When should you consider lead capture pages, e-mail marketing or messenger bots?
I know some may disagree but I suggest only once you’re making a profit with your business. It doesn’t cost much to start a business online. Recoup your investment, turn a profit and reinvest the profit back into the business! At least break even so you can see the proof of concept. You become a believer and you can confidently back what you are selling or trying to promote. Automation is more of creating passive income which is why I say build it later. If you are in dire need of money, do the legwork — actively build. If you have additional money, then you can invest in paid ads to speed up the process.
Now what?
You now have an e-mail list. With this list, you can increase your ways to make money by offering special training, new business, affiliate marketing, or network marketing. First, deepen the relationship by providing the desired information and then prompting them to connect with you via joining your Facebook group, Facebook messenger, subscribing to YouTube channel or adding you on another social media account. You want more than one way to connect with them. People check social media more than they do e-mails BUT don’t give up on e-mail.
Remember, the list is yours to keep AND one of the biggest advantages is that if social media were to ever cease to exist, you still have all of your hard work and their contact information! Think: what would you do if they shut Facebook down or you lost your account? You’d have to start over from scratch IF you don’t have any way to get in contact with them.
As an entrepreneur, you should be looking at the long-term strategy if you want to increase your ways to make money. With your e-mail list, you can market any of your additional services or products and keep in touch to build repeat customers or launch another business!
Your Glow Up Coach 