I am a firm believer in changing things up, breaking a pattern, switching gears… Today I’m doing all three. Because I know it’s time. The truth is, I’ve been holding back for a while. I have finally decided that I’ve had enough of the BS, and the fear. To know me is to know I don’t love being on video. And I have given a lot of excuses around that. Time to come clean: I hate video because I’m embarrassed about my weight. Wow. It felt freeing just typing that. So this podcast is my very open letter to you, dear listener. Because I owe you this openness—so I can (perhaps) also inspire you to come out and call out what’s been holding you back. And even give it a name. This episode was a tough one to record. But worth it. 100% worth it. Here I go. Amy

Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want to Miss: Right at this moment you should be thinking about your list building efforts. I want you borderline obsessed with list-building! This episode is key to your obsession, as today you’re getting every single one of my tested and tried tips and tricks for list building. List building starts with a great idea for a lead magnet, and a great idea for a lead magnet always starts with your ideal customer avatar. And there is ONE big question I ask when I'm thinking about my ideal customer avatar. [6:14] There’s a new player in the list building game that’s getting off-the-charts results. It’s VIDEO and when done right, it will boost your list growth—it’s all how you use it—and that’s part of today’s episode. I know I’ve talked about list-building many times before, but here’s the thing: list building—when done right—can dramatically change your business (I should know, since it completely changed mine). So I want you to listen, then take immediate action of one or two of the strategies I mention. Stay tuned for a NEW, FREE and LIVE webinar with yours truly ;-) This is a training I’m doing by myself, and LIVE: “The Ultimate List-Building Catch-Up Plan.” If you’ve ever felt behind in your list building, I’m going to show you how to get caught up quickly in terms of what to do inside your business to create a list-building foundation that can run on autopilot. Check out these highlights: How to come up with a great idea for a lead magnet. [5:08] How to embrace video when it comes to list building. [10:06] Confirmation emails—there’s so much more you can do with them! [17:25] The right strategy for your nurture sequence. [21:33] How calls-to-actions can make all of the difference with your campaigns. [24:45] The tools I use (and how I use them) for my own list building. [27:05] How and why I link my original free content to my list-building efforts. [40:11] The Ultimate List Building Catch-Up Plan: My Proven 3-Stack System For Leveraging The Most Powerful, “What’s Working Now” List Building Strategies (without the stress, tech confusion, or crazy overwhelm)

Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want to Miss: Being productive is really not about “getting things done” and MORE about doing what’s inside your desire zone. You’ve got your big “time savers” like productivity software, your smartphone, your hacks—but how is that all working out for you? These “resources” are actually cutting into your time! You can transform your entire routine by defining your Ideal Week [26:39] (I know because I did it!). There are four rituals you need to set yourself up for success. My guess is you are doing maybe one or two of these (at best) right now. So let’s UP your game. What if you stopped telling yourself you needed to be more productive, and instead, focused on being free—to focus, be present, spontaneous, to do nothing. I know, kind of crazy, right? But that’s EXACTLY what my very special guest, Michael Hyatt, and I tackle today. A quick bonus for listening: I wanted you to see how the Ideal Week exercise (listen here to understand the concept of an Ideal Week) is working for me, including my morning and workday rituals. Click play below to watch how I am now planning out my week. You’ll want to check out Michael’s new training: So many times you are doing things in the name of “productivity” that are actually making you feel more overwhelmed and discouraged. I want you to start making real progress and feel in control. Michael will talk all about that and more in his free training, “The 7 Deadly Sins of Productivity: The Hidden Habits Undermining Your Performance (And How to Change Them).” Sign up here for free before it’s too late! Check out these podcast highlights: You want to live your life in ONE out of four zones. [5:42] How to provide a “positive no.” [12:22] Tips to automate tasks (beyond just using technology).  [15:44] How to really structure your morning routine. [16:22] The first step to optimizing delegation that so many miss. [22:22] Your different “stage times” and how to allocate time for each. [26:51] The power of “batching your meetings” to create more white space. [27:22]

Why you’ve got to listen to today’s episode: A podcast can dramatically change your business by connecting you with your audience in a new and intimate way, each and every week. Having a comprehensive system (and proven project plan!) can help you streamline your delivery of consistent weekly content. You can truly scale your content efforts—and save a TON of time—if you use a little system called “batching” when planning. There’s one list-building tactic that’s on my MUST list: freebies, or content upgrades. There’s definitely an art and science to implementing these the right way. [26:28] Today I’m bringing together two of my passions—podcasting and systems—in the ultimate behind-the-scenes of my podcast episodes. And I’ve spared no detail. It’s all here—from how I come up with my topics, to how we publish the finished recording, I walk through it all. And you’ve got to get today’s freebie: It’s too good for words: a complete project plan of our process, ready for you to use at any time. I walk you through each of the six stages of podcast production, and even sprinkle in some insider notes. If you want to streamline your content creation, this one is a must for you. And another quick bonus for today: I made you a quickie video to walk through my podcasting equipment essentials. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how simple my set-up is! Click play to watch now. Check out these highlights: My star podcast team members, and the roles you need for your own production [4:44] One of the best and most prepared podcast guests I have ever hosted [9:36] The new strategy I am using to get more content done in concentrated amounts of time [13:37] Why your titles are so crucial in your production timeline [20:43] How and why I am changing up my show notes [23:54] The podcast and social media promotion: How I am experimenting [29:50] The lowdown on all of the imagery I use for the podcast [33:55] The advanced strategy I employ for Instagram [42:37]

You asked, and I’m bringing it: My story. And I mean ALL the details, of how I went from corporate to consulting to where I am today: courses. My intention here is not to relive the old days—I’m doing this because you likely can relate to one of the three scenarios: You currently are working in a corporate job, with thoughts of starting your own thing. Your dream business is currently your #sidehustle and you’re looking to make it your full-time gig. You no longer are tied to your J.O.B however your business model is not exactly what you’d like it to be. You want to move into online courses sooner than later. Anyway you approach it, there are opportunities in front of you right now that you may not see as relevant to where you want to go. But that’s not true. Every step counts. If I hadn’t taken a job at Harley Davidson, I wouldn’t have seen what building a community, or movement, looks like and thought, “That’s what I want.” If I hadn’t worked for a matchmaking service, I wouldn’t have figured out that I hate sales. And if I hadn’t said, ‘yes,’ to working on Tony Robbins’ creative team, I’m not sure any of what followed would have happened. Speaking of working for Tony, I wanted to share the five core lessons I learned while working for Tony, from creating content, to making big decisions as a business owner, to shaping your mindset. I’ve put the lessons all down in my brand new freebie. So, I’m breaking down my journey for you in five phases. In each one, I’ll tell you what I learned and the turning point that helped me move to the next phase. This is how each one breaks down: Phase One: Corporate (or being “on the clock”) Phase Two: Consulting (or really doing the Corporate thing for multiple bosses instead of just the one) Phase Three: Courses (without a niche—so this was more of an experimental time) Phase Four: Courses (with a niche nailed down) Phase Five: Product Suite (or courses that can scale and ultimately put my business in the fast lane) The biggest thing I want you to take away from my story is you don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to move forward in any way you can, and from where you are now. So let’s get into it … I was born on a rainy night in December … Ha! No, we’re not going that far back. Let's start from my (career) beginning... P.S Find out more about my live event, The Entrepreneur Experience at amyporterfield.com/events. The dates are October 21st or December 2nd, so don’t delay!

When it comes to working smarter and not harder, you know the conventional wisdom: Manage your time, take breaks, get enough sleep, tackle the big projects when you feel the most focused, and the list goes on. You know all this stuff, but why is it so hard to act on it? And even if you are applying some of those strategies (which are all good), you still find yourself with more work than you can possibly get done in a single day. Enter Carey Bentley. She’s a productivity and accountability expert. Along with her husband, Demir, they founded Lifehack Bootcamp, a program designed to get you working more efficiently so you can create the lifestyle you want. Now, Carey and Demir weren’t always experts at this—in fact, they once were raging workaholics, but they had to figure out another way because the way they were working was literally affecting their health. Their secret is practice—hard, intentional, sweaty practice. You know, the way pro athletes practice. So think of productivity less like a class where you’re studying to pass an exam and more like a craft that you’re working to get better at all the time. Here’s what you’ll learn: The four phases of productivity and why you’re ultimately shooting to be like LeBron James. (Check those out at 11:54) The four layers of accountability—with a coach, with a team, with a buddy, with your community—where you are closing off all escape routes by making yourself feel the pressure from all sides. (Carey starts to break down those levels at 16:19) How to create a “Champagne Moment” that literally has you popping open a bottle every week (metaphorically, but you can take that literally too!). Download this week’s freebie for a step-by-step walkthrough of this process. (You can think about your own moment at 15:18). You’ll also hear Carey and I talk about the five limiting mindsets (OK that’s just really a nice way to say “excuses”) people adopt to NOT get things done. Have you ever complained about not having enough time or having too much on your plate? Yeah, me too. It’s time to shut that down. Carey and I talk about the first two on the show. You can get all five (and the “Champagne Moment” exercise) by downloading this week’s freebie. No more procrastinating—time to move forward. And as if this isn’t enough, Carey grabbed her hubby, Demir, and filmed an extra special video for your eyes only on steps to beat decision fatigue.

The deep dive into all things Facebook Ads continues with part two of my mini training with Rick Mulready.In part one we discussed the importance of mapping out a strategy before you jump into scheduling your ads, as well as knowing how to target your ideal customer and build custom audiences using the Audience Insights tool. (Missed Part 1? It was SO GOOD and you can listen here.)We’re going a little deeper in today’s second part by telling you how to set up your ads using the Power Editor and how to assess your performance by focusing on a few key metrics.PART TWO Getting to know the Power Editor. A Facebook ad consists of three elements— campaign, ad set and ad. The campaign is where you set the objective of the ad, such as page post engagement or website clicks. The ad set is where you select the targeting, budget and schedule for the ad. And the ad is where you have the image and text for your ad.How to Create a Campaign:Using metrics to evaluate ad performance. First, don’t look at anything related to how your ads are doing for 72 hours. Then, take a look at these numbers by going to the ads manager, clicking the performance dropdown menu and selecting customized columns to choose the stats you want to review.These are the metrics to pay attention to:Cost per lead (or conversion): In general, shoot for $9 and under on a lead. Sound high? You’ve got to be real about what’s happening with Facebook. It’s super competitive and that means it’s getting more expensive—yet it’s still the most cost-effective ad platform.Landing page conversion rate: Your goal is at least 20% conversion. If you’re not there, look at the consistency between your ad and the landing page. Are you using the same text, color scheme and other graphical elements? Is the messaging consistent?Click-through rate: If it’s less than 1%, that’s a sign that your ad is not resonating with your audience.Relevance score: The closer you are to 10, the better. If it’s low, that means your ad isn’t relevant. The problem could be with your ad or with the audience you’re targeting.Frequency score: If you’re at a 4 or higher, that means people are seeing your ad too many times and won’t look at it anymore. Try changing up the type of ad you’re showing.If you’re happy with the metrics, start to scale. If not, use the data to figure out your next step. For example, if you’ve got a 2% click-through rate and a decent relevance score, but your cost per lead is high, that might mean something about your landing page isn’t consistent with your ad. Use the data to troubleshoot your campaign.Remember: Become a student of Facebook ads! Research the strategy that works for you, and don’t be afraid to dive in and take some risks for your list-building efforts. Now is the time.

Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve dabbled with running a Facebook ads campaign, I want you locked into this jam-packed two-part episode of the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast. My good friend Rick Mulready, who knows Facebook ads better than anyone I know, helps me cover everything you need to know to get your Facebook ads off the ground. PART ONE Have a strategy. One of the biggest reasons entrepreneurs lose faith is because they put a bunch of money into ads without a plan, and then get disappointed when there are no returns. Rick has a lot of great advice here, including why working backward from your end goal is the ultimate way to set yourself up for success. We also explore questions like: How do I convert Facebook fans into email subscribers? What’s the key to attracting paying customers? Can I build my list using Facebook ads, even if I don’t have anything to sell? Target, target, target. You’ve got to get specific on your audience. This is one of the biggest advantages of using Facebook ads, and I want you to spend some time here. For example, if you’re a personal trainer, go beyond simply targeting people who exercise and target audiences that fit specifically within your areas of expertise or certain specific interests. You can do so much more to refine your audience by looking at where they shop, what brands they like, how they exercise and more. One of my favorite tools within Facebook Ads is Audience Insights because it allows you to educate yourself on the characteristics of your audience, based on people who already like your page. By doing this, you can better cater to the needs of existing customers and scale your business by targeting new potential customers with similar characteristics. (Check out my video below on how I use it in my business!) Also, don’t miss Rick’s breakdown on how Facebook wants you to target. One thing we all know for sure is the more you do things Facebook’s way, the more the social media giant will like and reward you. In part two, we get into the ins and outs of the Power Editor and what metrics you should be paying attention to. Don’t forget to check out the links below to other podcasts Rick and I have done on Facebook ads. Let’s get back to basics.  

I love HGTV. It’s easy to get hooked watching JoJo and Chip Gaines on “Fixer Upper” transform an old ranch home into something SPECTACULAR (with shiplap of course!), and I’m always picking up little tips that I can DIY along the way.Because sometimes DIY is best.A professional web designer or developer isn't always the answer.And neither is a seasoned copywriter or Facebook ad consultant.Here’s the truth: You’re an entrepreneur.Which means, by nature, you’re a DIYer.In fact, you probably started your business because you knew you could do something better yourself. You’re likely great at wearing many hats—owner, marketer, writer, developer, etc. AND, you may have to do things yourself for awhile because you don’t have a big team or a big budget (yet!).I’m here to say, “You’re on the right track!”I think there are some things you just have to DIY, especially when you’re a rookie entrepreneur. In the long run, your business and your tribe will be better off for it.BUT, there aren’t enough hours in the day, week or month for you to do every single thing yourself. So these are the five things I believe are crucial for you to take on in the beginning: Website (Listen in at 4:40) Copywriting (Listen in at 11:05) Marketing (Listen in at 16:25) Facebook Ad Campaigns (Listen in at 21:16) Money (Listen in at 26:55) None of these might seem like small potatoes—and they’re not—but I’ve got some resources below to help ease the learning curve.Also, hang out with me until the end and I will answer the question that crosses every entrepreneur’s mind on this topic: How long do I need to keep doing these things myself?Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.

It’s so incredibly easy to get caught up in busywork or to let your phone or email start controlling your schedule. Before you know it, a whole day (or several) has gone by and you don’t have anything real to show for it.Let that happen too much and you lose serious momentum—not to mention not getting tasks done that will actually grow your business. I don’t want that happening to you. So I’m sharing the five strategies I use to stay or get back in the zone whenever I start drifting off.Here’s a brief summary:#1: Set your priorities daily. Sometimes it seems like every action item is crucial, but that’s not true. Responding to emails and recording new videos for your course do not rank the same. I’ll share some advice from my good friend Michael Hyatt, who puts a limit on the number of big tasks he works on every day.#2: Be clear about WHAT and WHY. You’ll hear me talk about how a lack of clarity kept me from getting one project done. #3: Power up. I’ll talk about how I get my creative batteries to reach a “full charge.”#4: Schedule your day for success. Devoting an hour here and there to a big project means you may not be finishing it anytime soon. I’ll share the strategy I use to make sure I have focused time.#5: Say it out loud. Making a bold, public statement, like I did about reworking List Builders Lab, forces you to deliver. I’ll go over the best way to make this kind of public commitment.And then, of course, I’ve got a bonus strategy that I share at the very end of the show. It’s a way to pick yourself up when things get a little tough.  It’s time to shove those distractions to the side and get focused.