WHERE THOUSANDS OF ENTREPRENEURS LEARN HOW TO GROW WEEKLY
Founder Money Trauma (We Feel You); Master Guerrilla Marketing To Grow Your Customer-Base with Shiloh Johnson, founder ComplYant
Learn from Shiloh Johnson, founder of ComplYant
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"We have to take a step back and get back to the management side before we can start to do some of these wealth creation things." - Shiloh Johnson
Hey, It's Alex!
Financial money management is a challenge that many founders face - especially early on.
Our relationship with money from as early as in our childhood knowingly or unknowingly affects our financial decisions.
It takes a lot of introspection to unlearn some bad habits that we've developed with time - but this process is very necessary.
You can't build wealth if you can't manage your money.
Let's get into it...
P.S Enjoy our weekly traction briefings? Share with friends so we can support more womxn founders in breaking barriers to scale generational impact!
Founder: Shiloh Johnson | Company: ComplYantApp | Location: Los Angeles, CA
Receipts: She scaled a multi-million dollar tax compliance platform through grassroots marketing and relevant partnerships.
Here's your traction playbook...
How To Use Grassroots Marketing Strategies To Build Your Brand
Low Barrier To Entry: Generating much-needed and valuable content is perhaps one of the easiest ways to break into your industry. Not only does it help other businesses but it also solidifies your position as an authority on a particular subject.
Lesson - Shiloh learned early-on in her career and in her business journey that she had knowledge to offer. Before she could sell anyone on her business, she had to teach them what the problem was, and why they needed to address it. This strategy peaked interest with other people and other brands jumped on board. Her advice, don't do anything extravagant. Start small! Here is her advice for founders looking to leverage this strategy.
Here's how to use grassroots marketing to make an impact.
How Money Trauma Affects Small Businesses - And How To Get Past It
It Starts In Childhood: While money-trauma is discussed in personal money management, we rarely discuss how it haunts founders. Your relationship with money can and will affect how you make financial business decisions. Anxiety around money and money management stems from our childhood.
Lesson - You're not alone. 1 in 4 Americans suffer from financially-induced post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. The biggest money trauma for most small businesses is how to maintain and how to grow. Before you can focus on wealth creation, you need to master money management. Taking active steps to understand your relationship with money and finding the best money management techniques will help your business grow. Learn why managing financial trauma is the
Click here to learn how to overcome past financial trauma and increase your wealth.
How To Identify Unique Channels To Help Scale Your Business
Understand Your Industry: Understanding your industry gives you the ability to identify unique ways you can fulfill your customers' needs. For ComplYant, that meant working with key industry players to reach more people who would benefit from her services.
Lesson - "Sometimes it’s thinking about who else is affected in your circle and going to them and using them as an upshot to get to the end user." - Shiloh Johnson
Shiloh understood the impact municipalities and local governments played in building her business. By gaining their trust, she was able to leverage their support and reach out to more customers. Here's how partnership marketing worked for this business.
Here are the powerful benefits of partnership marketing
Support Shiloh in Scaling Impact
Here's how you can support Shiloh: Participate and share their webinars with your network. Also engage with them on all their social media platforms (@complyant)
Here's Your Weekly Tea
Startup layoffs hit crypto and real estate companies hard as funding opportunities dry up. Looking to raise VC this year? Checks are drying up due to over-inflated rounds the past 2 years. It's not that VC's don't have the $. They do but they're saving cash reserves for current portfolio companies in case they meet despair and companies with outstanding traction. Don't believe it? Funding is on track to drop another 19% by the end of June, according to Scott Galloway.
TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
How To Master Partnership Marketing: The right partnerships helped this company tremendously grow their customer-base. Find out how COI Energy mastered this strategy here.
Master Budgeting: Here's how budgeting and money management helped Jennifer Eden scale a 7-figure business.
Grassroots Marketing: Learn about grassroot marketing and how to run successful grassroots marketing campaigns here.
Use Webinars To Generate Leads: Here are 9 tips on how to use webinars to generate more leads.
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🙅♀️ What to do when Investors Say No? Think Outside The Box 📦 with Tanya Van Court, founder Goalsetter
Learn from Tanya Van Court, founder of Goalsetter
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"Even before I thought about partnerships in general, one of the things I realized as a black woman-led company, no one was going to fund me. I had to figure out how to get distribution with the minimal amount of funding I could possibly conceive of. You gotta figure out how to go over, how to go under, how to go around, how to go through…. whatever you have to do. Because there will be obstacles, make no mistakes about it. That’s when we started thinking about partnerships and started thinking about which partnerships will be the most strategic and the most important for us." - Tanya Van Court
Hey, It's Alex!
"We love your idea, but"...
[you're just too early]
[we need to see more traction]
[this seems like a lifestyle business]
[insert another dagger to your heart here]
How many of you have gotten an investor no without them saying the word 'no'?
Look - I've heard it all. An investor literally strung me along for 6 months before I knew how to value my time.
But it's not about the no. What you do with the no is what matters.
What you'll find in this traction briefing:
How to master large-scale distribution with limited funding.
How to create mutually beneficial partnerships using the right strategies.
How to get influencer support from major celebrities and billionaire philanthropists like Robert F. Smith, Kevin Durant, and Ciara.
Recession-Proof Your Business
Founder: Tanya Van Court | Company: Goalsetter | Location: New York, NY
Where was she before GOALSETTER?
Where wasn't she? Tanya has had a successful corporate career in the media. She worked at Discovery Media and led the marketing launch of digital textbooks into classrooms across the country. She also led the launch of ESPN 3, the first digital video streaming player even before the big players like HBO Now and HBO Go. Later she went to Nickelodeon where she ran nickjunior.com and learned how to create content that's engaging, exciting and educational.
Problem
Tanya created Goalsetter from her desire to give her children the financial education she didn't have access to growing up. Goalsetter was created to give kids the financial tools and real-life application to help them do what they need to do today but prepare them for the things they need to do with money tomorrow. With time, parents were realizing that their kids now knew more about money than they did, and they also had a need for their services. They were then able to expand their reach beyond kids to include the whole fam.
Here's what you'll learn...
How To Master Large Scale Distribution With Limited Funding
What Else Can You Do?: So investors aren't knocking on your door - whatelsecan
youdo? Lack of funding - especially at the idea stage is a setback that 99% of founders will face. So how can you improve demand?
Lesson - Master distribution! As Tanya schooled us on, you gotta figure out how to go over, how to go under, how to go around, how to go through…. whatever you have to do - do it! For Tanya, her strategy like many successful founders was in partnerships that would fill in the distribution gap that funding would have filled. Learn how to build partnerships and scale your business here.
Here is a master breakdown in distribution strategies for both B2B & B2C.
How To Secure Impactul Partnerships Using The Right Strategies
Live In Your Partner's Shoes: Securing the right partnerships is no walk in the park. You'll hear more no's than you probably will ever hear. It's actually super similar to finding investors. Perhaps the best strategy to reduce the rejections is to think about what your business will accomplish with your partner, not just what you need from a partner. Nobody wants to date the taker. It's the same in business :)
Lesson - "Nobody wants to partner with you because they think you’re brilliant or excited about your product, or because they are your friend. Those are not reasons to partner. The only reason people want to partner with you is because you are going to make them money. You are either going to grow their customer base, you are either going to help their bottom line in some way, or you are going to help their strategic goals" - Tanya Van Court. Do we need to need to say more? Partners and investors want to make money as much as you do - show them exactly how your business will help them do that. Here are a few pointers to help you nail your next investor pitch.
Here are pointers on how partnerships will make your company better.
How To Get Influencer Support From Major Celebrities and Billionaire Philanthropists
Pay Attention To Every Interaction: How do you get celebrities to endorse your product/service? It's about nurturing every single interaction you have, no matter how big or small. You never know who will become your greatest allies.
Lesson - Tanya was able to get celebrities and philanthropists to back Goalsetter by nurturing every single interaction she had with people within her network. This opened up doors for her that she would not have access to otherwise. Everyone you come across could present an opportunity down the road. Always come with your A-game and be prepared to sell your idea to every single person. You never know who might open that door for you! Learn how to engage with influencers, celebrities, and billionaires, while forming strong partnerships here.
Here's Your Weekly Tea
Recession-Proof Your Business
If you haven't heard the recession rumors - where you at friend?! With plunging stocks and 40-year high inflation, it seems inevitable. Whether it's here or not, here are a few ways to recession-proof your business.
Reduce Your Spending: Finances can be hard to come by for most businesses - even without a recession. But with difficult financial times comes tough measures. Keep laser-focused on your expenses and trim down to the essentials.
Focus On Profitability: While previously money-losing startups like WeWork were still able to capture investor attention, the tides have turned. Whether you are fundraising or NOT, your company should always be thinking about a path toward profitability. It's not just about investor returns, it's about founder returns too. Show me the money!
Show Leadership: Recessions are a hard time for cash-strapped founders. It might be time to make some tough decisions but strong leadership is needed now more than ever. Be open and transparent with your team. You might be surprised by the ideas they come up with with you.
Key Takeaway: Tough times create gems. Although recessions do not leave anyone unscathed, they are temporary. Before then, work to create a solid foundation for your business and keep your eyes focused on the ultimate goal.
TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
Apply to Cohort 9 of the Accelerator: Ready to take your traction to the next level? Apply to Cohort 9 now launching June 21st here.
Build & Scale Partnerships: Learn how to do it when you have $0 for marketing here.
Traction Tracker: Build a traction strategy that will help you increase revenues 5000%, add $2.3M to the revenue pipeline, and secure $100,000 in pre-sales revenue. Access our traction tracker here.
How to NOT get screwed in a Partnership: Learn how this queen navigated a $7M loss here.
Strategic Partnerships: Learn how strategic partnerships scaled a cash-strapped startup here.
Growth-Hacking Tips: 12 tips to help you develop unique strategies to convert more leads and generate more sales.
How to Turn an Investor No Into a Yes: With consent, of course ;) Check it out here.
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Explore community membership here.
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👩💻Tech-Enabled Vs Tech-Led: Find Out Which Approach Built A $Multi-Million Business with Nicole Wood, co-founder Ama La Vida
Learn from Nicole Wood, co-founder of Ama La Vida
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"We’re focused on tech to the extent that it helps improve that experience but we’re not being hindered by the technology. We’re definitely investing in it, we’re focused on it, but it still comes down to the human experience and why people are here." - Nicole Wood
Hey, It's Alex!
It seems like everyone and their mama wants to start a revolutionary tech startup.
While new technology will always be important, the core of your company should always be to serve an unmet need. Your customers come first, not your tech.
The best companies have used technologies to create unmatched experiences that make life easier.
What you'll find in this traction briefing:
How a high-touch (aka white glove) business approach can be a major key to success.
How using a tech-enabled approach and not a tech-first approach is better.
How experimentation sets the stage for future excellence.
The rise and fall of Peloton
Founder: Nicole Wood | Company: Ama La Vida | Location: Chicago, Illinois
Where was she before Ama La Vida?
Before Ama La Vida Nicole Wood dove head-first into a career in management consulting. After hustling and networking with people from her alma mater, she landed what she considered to be her dream job. She quickly realized that it really wasn't what she thought it would be. As she rose through the ranks in her career, her company assigned her to a leadership coach who helped her gain a clearer vision of her career.
Problem
After sessions with her leadership coach, she realized just what a wonderful resource coaching is and wondered why the heck more people weren't leaning on coaches to help guide their decisions. Ama La Vida was born from her desire to help more people access the benefits that she received from coaching. Their name is Spanish for "helping people love life" - and that is what her team helps people do!
Here's what you'll learn...
How A White Glove Approach Worked For Her Business
Premium Service For Brand Loyalty: It's 2022 and doing the bare minimum when it comes to your customers' experiences just won't cut it. Your customers have experienced quality service and they expect it from all businesses. White-glove service isn't just for high-value clients, it's for all your clients.
Lesson -No matter what industry you are in, there's competition left, right and center. To make a mark on your customers, you need to be able to offer quality service. Go over and above what the rest are doing. When starting out her business, Nicole Wood was extremely keen on ensuring her coaches had quality service and quality experience. That meant that she had to offer additional services that were not offered by her competitors. That has given her business an edge that other competitors still do not have till this day. To learn more about how to apply a white-glove approach to increase brand loyalty, click here.
Learn why high touch can be transformative here.
How A Tech-Enabled Approach Proved Better Than A Tech-Led Approach
Tech-Enabled Over Tech-Driven: Winning a competition is easier when you have a headstart. That's great news if your new tech is the first one on the playground. Unfortunately, that also doesn't guarantee longevity. Inevitably, there will be new players who can offer the same if not better. A tech-enabled approach on the other hand uses technology to create new user-experiences that simply make life easier and better.
Lesson - Your customers don't care about your AI, or how revolutionary your tech is. They care that your tech can serve their needs. Bottom line! Focus on improving your customers' experience and how technology can effectively do that. A successful tech-enabled approach is at its core customer-centric. Ama La Vida successfully used a tech-enabled approach to improve their coaches' experiences. As a result, they have created a platform that is desirable within their market. Learn more about how they did this here.
Here's why your brand needs to become tech-enabled
How Experimentation Sets The Stage For Future Excellence
It's Never A Perfect Science: As founders we're naturally overachievers. That means that the risk of failure can stop us from making key decisions. We always need to feel ready and we need to have everything in order before jumping into any thing. The good or the bad news is - you'll never be 100% ready, so just do it!
Lesson - "A lesson that I’ve had to learn. There are very few inherently bad or good ideas. It’s what’s the right thing for your business at its place in its evolution. " - Nicole Wood. No, we're not here to validate your choices. We're letting you know that you will make a ton of mistakes but those mistakes will put you one step closer to success. For Nicole Wood, simply trusting that things will work out at the end is what saw her through her mistakes. As one of our Traction Queens once said, Fail Fast and Fail Forward! Learn how to successfully use experimentation to grow your business here.
Here's Your Weekly Tea
The Rise And Fall Of Peloton
Peloton has gone through some high highs and some devastating lows. Even though investors expected a rough quarter for the company, it was nothing as bad as what was seen last week. With losses of $757 million this quarter, how did this pandemic marvel fall so fast?
Quarantine is long gone: The pandemic led to exponential growth for the company. We're talking about a 66% increase in sales and whopping 94% increase in subscribers!!!With no access to gyms and outdoor workout classes, Peloton was it. Peloton increased their production all the while overestimating demand, especially once restrictions were lifted.
Competition: While Peloton was the pandemic darling, competitors like Echelon and iFit were on the rise. Their subscriptions rates were cheaper while still providing similar products. Although Peloton had a cult-like following, consumers still wanted to save some coin.
Controversy: It seemed like Peloton was always in the media and not for the right reasons. From black staff members complained about unequal pay, to their CEO throwing parties amid plummeting stock prices, the company was in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Key Takeaway: Overconfidence precedes carelessness. At the end of the day, Peloton overestimated the demand for their product. As a result, they overspent on logistics and were left with supply chain challenges that will take a while to unravel.
TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
Gain 50k Customers!: Finding customers is one thing, but retaining them is another. Find out here how one of our queens was able to successfully attract and retain 50k customers!
Tech-Enabled Vs Tech Driven: Find out why a tech-enabled approach is always better here.
Build A Strong Company Culture: A positive company culture greatly reduces attrition. Learn the 7 ways to build a strong company culture here.
The Discipline Of Experimentation: Trying out new strategies can be scary. Here are a few success stories to motivate you to take that leap.
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Explore community membership here.
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Raising $19 Million, Recruiting Amazing Talent & Making it Equitable with Kaitlynn Knopp, founder Pequity
Learn from Kaitlyn Knopp, founder of Pequity.
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"Your first few hires need to have hunger. Hunger to accomplish and to achieve is critical. They are the ones that are going to build the baby." - Kaitlyn Knopp
Hey, It's Alex!
I know....ain't nobody gonna love your company more than you do.
But the right people on your team are an invaluable asset. Beyond their resume and their accomplishments, early-stage companies need people who not only believe in the mission but see themselves growing with the company and continuing to master their craft. Their dedication to the mission and their growth helps the company hit goals.
"Stay hungry. Stay foolish." You need that right mix of drive and talent.
But if I had to choose - I'd pick drive every time because most talent can be taught.
What you'll find in this traction briefing:
How to identify the right hires for your company.
The right strategies bootstrapped startups can employ to find talent in an increasingly competitive market.
How to show potential investors the value that comes with investing in your business.
The recklessness of startup layoffs.
Founder: Kaitlyn Knopp | Company: Pequity | Location: San Francisco, CA
Where was she before Pequity?
Before Pequity, Kaitlyn worked as a compensation analyst for several years. She worked with established companies like Google and with rising startups like Cruise. She then worked as a consultant helping different comps analytics teams build workflows and processes around compensation.
Problem
In her time as a consultant, she realized that the systems she'd already created and mastered could be leveraged across many businesses, especially smaller companies that do not have dedicated compensation teams. This could be templatized for scale.
Motivated by wanting to close pay gaps pay and her desire to help companies save thousands of dollars, Pequity was born. Pequity creates efficient workflows that reduce friction between paid data and paid decision-makers.
Here's what you'll learn...
How To Find The Right Hires For Your Company & Make it Equitable
Train And Trust Your Gut: Easier said than done! It goes without saying that trying to find the right hires for your company can be a nerve-wracking process. Honestly, you won't always get it right. So how do you reduce your possibility for errors? Train your gut.
Lesson - Instinct is a powerful decision-making tool! Let's face it - potential hires only let you see what they want you to see. A candidate might look great on paper, but they turn out to be the wrong fit for your company. Although there's no fool-proof strategy to finding the perfect hire - your gut rarely lies. Pay attention to your first thought on a candidate. For Kaitynn, that means following up on any doubts she has on a candidate. Speaking to former colleagues to get their real perspective. To learn more about how to find your next perfect hire, click here.
Learn how to hire like-minded candidates and reduce attrition here.
How To Compete With Big Biz For Top Hires
Build A Strong Culture: Can you afford that $300k salary that Netflix passes out like cheap receptionist candy? Probably not... and if you can, spill the tea, friend! Now, Large corporations are paying higher salaries than ever before. Not only are they paying more but the benefits that they provide are also pretty sweet. What is a smaller company or startup to do?
Lesson - Create a strong company culture! And no - I'm not talkin' about having a kegger and happy hour every Friday because that's not culture building. Would you want to work as an employee in your own company? While pay will always be important, today's employees are looking beyond their paychecks. What are your company's values? Are there non-monetary benefits that you can provide? Although Pequity could not compete with industry heavy weights, Kaitlyn and her co-founder offered employees additional benefits like investing in their continued education and giving them flexible working hours. Learn how your company can compete with larger companies for talent here.
Walk It Like You Talk it To Secure the Bag
It's All About Numbers: You're not running a charity and investors don't owe you a check. If you're in alignment with your investors, you all want to see a return on investment in the form of monetary and non-monetary impact. In order to show that you're on the same page, you gotta walk it like you talk it to secure the bag.
Lesson - "At the end of the day dollars shut up doubters, and if you can put dollars on the board, you’re going to be able to impress people." - Kaitlyn Knopp. Show potential investors why your company is worth investing in. Have your numbers in order! Cash is king when it comes to securing VC funding! This is how Kaitlyn was able to raise. She had the traction and could show how it was growing. Learn how to walk the talk here.
Learn how to communicate traction to investors like a BOSS here.
Here's Your Weekly Tea
The Recklessness of Startup Layoffs
"It’s our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
Every week we hear about mass layoffs from high-growth startups like Reef, Glossier, Cameo, Noom, On Deck, Robinhood, Avo, etc. The list is freakishly long. We're not talking about a few people, we're talking about 600+ companies and 100K+ layoffs. Don't believe me? Check out this database of layoffs and the rising trend since the beginning of the pandemic.
Chasing Ridiculous Valuations & Statuses: The recklessness of startups scaling fast to chase ridiculous valuations and statuses has to stop and BOTH founders AND funders are culpable for fueling this toxic rat race.
The Price Paid with Human Livelihood: The scale for scale's sake has major consequences that mostly impact the people who were willing to believe in the company and its leaders by offering their time and talent. Ping ponging with people's livelihoods is unacceptable.
Weaponizing "Pivot" & "Strategy" as Scapegoats for Bad Behavior: Mass layoffs are NOT "strategy". This is simply scale without integrity that hides behind mantras like "high risk, high reward" to dismiss bad behavior.
Key Takeaway: We get to choose how we operate businesses and how we choose is a reflection of what we value as leaders. Continuing to choose a path that dishonors people is a sign that those "vision" statements that most startups preach to "make the world a better" place is as fake as these valuations. This model adds no value. We can do better.
TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
Turn an Investor "No" To A "Yes"!: There's nothing easy about fundraising. Learn here how one of our queens was able to turn an investor no to a hell yes!
Hire Quickly And Easily: Hiring takes time and resources away from your company. Get the tools to help you hire faster here.
Build A Strong Company Culture: A positive company culture greatly reduces attrition. Learn the 7 ways to build a strong company culture here.
Outsource While You Bootstrap: Outsourcing is a great way of finding highly educated and experienced talent within your budget. Learn how Outsource Global has mastered how to do this here.
JOIN THE COMMUNITY
Explore community membership here.
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How to Scale & Get to an Exit in 36 Months with Mia Saini Duchnowski, founder Oars & Alps
Learn from Mia Saini Duchnowski, founder of Oars + Alps.
You're viewing an archive of Get Sh!t Done Weekly Email Traction Briefings. Join free to receive your weekly 5-minute growth playbooks & grow alongside thousands of entrepreneurs
"Never outsource your customer service. " - Mia Saini Duchnowski
Hey, It's Alex!
Who knows what your customers want better than your customers?
Listening to your customers requires more than having them fill out forms and questionnaires.
Actively listening& learning is a daily practice involved at every touchpoint.
You can't do that when you're following the "move fast and break s**t" model. Let's retire this played-out mantra consistently resulting in the public implosion of startups.
Learning how to listen will inform what to operationalize so you can grow and scale the impact you envisioned on your terms while adding value to your #1 investor - customers.
What you'll find in this traction briefing:
How to beta test your concept before fully bringing it to market.
How to successfully set up operations, procedures, and processes at the start of your business.
How to communicate with your customers to gain valuable feedback and insights.
The $300 Million Dollar F*ck Up!
Founder: Mia Saini Duchnowski| Company: Oars + Alps| Location: Chicago, IL
Where was she before Oars + Alps?
Mia is a seasoned business broadcast journalist with experience working for some of the biggest media giants including Bloomberg and Forbes TV. Her time spent in the makeup chair as a journalist created a deep interest in skincare. She then turned her passion and collection of experiences into a business.
Problem
There are hella companies that address women's skincare needs but Mia found that when it came to men's skincare, there was a noticeable gap. Oars + Alps was born out of the increase in men interested in taking care of their overall health but a market that wasn't catering to them. Companies like Dollar Shave Clubs were popping up every day but still not addressing the underlying desire men had but weren't talking about openly - skincare linked to overall health.
Here's what you'll learn...
Why Beta Testing Is Key For Your Business
Validate Your Idea:
While you might think your business idea is the next best thing since the iPhone, your target customer might have other ideas. How do you definitively know what they want? Through beta-testing.
Lesson - Beta testing is one of the strongest customer validating methodologies. Mia and her co-founder killed it with beta testing by leveraging their own capital and network to validate the concept. Through this process, they were able to gauge how satisfied their customers were with your product before doing a full product launch. Regardless of whether you're launching a new startup or rolling out a new product or service, beta test every single time . This will allow you to test your assumptions, get valuable feedback on its reliability, functionality, and usability. Learn more.
Learn how to run a successful Beta Program here.
The Importance Of Investing Early In Operations, Procedures, and Processes Early On
It Saves You Time: Creating clear and trackable operations, procedures and processes is often the last thing new founders think about - and for good reason. We're often bogged down with basically everything under the sun that all seems urgent. But here's the thing about mapping operations early - it makes everything else easier. That content that seemingly takes too much time, that dreadful feeling of onboarding new hires because they all seem to "not get it right" and costing you more time and money, etc.
Lesson - This is EXACTLY what Mia and her co-founder did from jump street and didn't wait until they scaled! They started mapping out operations, procedures, and processes from day 1 so they had templates they could pass on to make it easier for expansion. Setting up basic procedures and processes early on will save you time down the road. You do NOT need a fancy agency to start this process. Simply start with Google Docs, Notion, or free tools that allow you to get processes in your head out on paper so you can co-create and collaborate with your team. Mapping operations early and often allows your team to capitalize on momentum even as you grow. Learn more.
How To Maintain Regular Communication With Your Customers
Your Greatest Source Of Insight: Your customer is your greatest asset. Period! How else will you know what's working if you do not have a way to interact with them? Data from external sources is important, but they'll never replace direct feedback from your customer.
Lesson - Don't outsource customer service. Listen in to conversations that you and your team have with customers. Again, this can be a template you copy and paste from tools like Google Docs and Notion so you're not reinventing the wheel. By doing that, you'll find out what customers like, what they don't, and how you can change to improve their overall experience. Learn more.
Here are 16 important points to help you improve your customer service
Here's Your Weekly Tea
The 300 Million Dollar F*ck Up!
Speaking of not listening to your customers - CNNs $300 million streaming service crashed and burned in 3 weeks!! With their ratings progressively declining, CNN+ was their last-ditch effort at generating new interest. Here's how it all went wrong:
Don't Lean On Brand Recognition Alone: CNN's brand just ain't what it used to be. Although they have been a news powerhouse for years, the media industry has changed tremendously in the last 10 years. Competition to capture eyeballs is tougher than it has ever been - especially when it comes to streaming.
Don't Do it Because Everybody Else Is: Many of us are guilty of rolling out something we think consumers want but not what our customers need from us. This is exactly what CNN did. Just because everybody and their mama is getting into the subscription streaming game, doesn't mean that's what the CNN audience needed from them. CNN+'s content simply didn't resonate. It was a mish-mash of news and other B-rated content that if you were to have to pick where to invest your eyeballs that day, it wouldn't even be your 5th choice
Don't Compete with Your Own Team: CNN's parent company was going through a merge with the Discovery company. Both companies had their own streaming companies(HBO Max, and Discovery+). CNN+ should have been merged into their overall streaming strategy but instead was treated like Cinderella but without a happy ending. Lack of communication and internal friction hindered its growth.
Key Takeaway: The streaming industry is complex. People want better content, better experience, and more value. If we have said it once, we have said it 1000 times - know your audience and give them what they want! Don't be a bandwagon bae.
TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
Nail Beta-Testing: Learn how to uncover kinks in your product before releasing the complete product to your market. Here is everything you need to know about running a successful beta test.
How to Build Successful Systems: Get the tools for how to make it happen to onboard new hires here.
Word Of Mouth Is Your Secret Weapon: Engaging with your customers not only gives you valuable feedback, but it creates loyalty. Learn how to turn your customers into a marketing powerhouse here.
Listening to Customers grew her business through 50% organic marketing to 7-figures in 3-years. Make it happen here.
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How to Bootstrap Your Startup to 7-Figures In Under 10 Years with Caroll Lee, founder Provenance Meals
Learn from Caroll Lee, founder of Provenance Meals.
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"I knew that I already failed at a business, and what went wrong. I learned so many lessons from that failure, so when I started Provenance, I knew what I didn’t want!" - Caroll Lee
Hey, It's Alex here
Have you started a business or a project and failed at times along the way?
Lemme tell you, you won't learn unless you fail.
The catch is to fail quickly and develop an understanding of why you failed.
Is that easy? Nah. You have to shift your mindset towards careful introspection and disciplined response.
What you'll find in this traction briefing:
How failure is an asset for future businesses.
How to scale a capital intensive company with little to no capital through strategic partnerships.
How to craft a successful go-to-market strategy.
How to leverage influencers and strategic partners to market and increase your company’s visibility.
How NOT to layoff your employees
Founder: Caroll Lee| Company: Provenance Meals| Location: New York, NY
Where was she before Provenance Meals?
Caroll started her career right at the brink of the dotcom boom. She ventured into helping to launch ecommerce and tech businesses before embarking on her true passion - helping people access healthy food!
Problem
Where can busy professionals access healthy, nutritious, sustainably-sourced and ready to go meals?
For Caroll Lee, Provenance Meals was more than a business - it was a passion. Although her journey as a food entrepreneur was rough initially, she knew that she was in the right industry. Her dream was to help more people have access to healthy, nutritious, and ethically sourced foods. Foods that could be used as medicine. Food that busy professionals on the go could prepare easily and quickly.
Provenance Meals was created to show that quick meals can be healthy and tasty at the same time.
Here's what you'll learn...
Fail Successfully
A lot of successful business people have failed at at least one other business. But how do you use that failure to your advantage? When Caroll Lee started Provenance Meals, she had already failed at one other business. How was she going to make her new company different?
Lesson - Use your past business failure as a lesson for what you do not want to do going forward. Failure is scary, but it gives you information and skills you wouldn't have had otherwise.
High-Quality Product = High-Quality Brand Experience
With increased competition in the meal kit industry over the years, marketing has become even harder. Businesses need to learn how to set themselves apart from the other products within their market.
Lesson - High-quality products speak for themselves! Provenance Meals has had a long-standing reputation of not only providing high-quality meals, but also providing an all round high-quality experience.
Influencers, Celebrities, and Industry Partners Can Be Your Biggest Marketing Asset - When Used Strategically
How do you bring a new product to market? With no visibility, Provenance Meals leveraged content marketing strategies early on but with more businesses entering the space, they needed to find a new strategy.
Lesson - Influencers, celebrities and industry partners can be your strongest marketing asset. The trick is learning what differentiates a good partner from a bad partner. Learn more here.
Here's Your Weekly Tea
How NOT To Layoff Your Employees - The Story Of Better.com
Better.com is soon entering its third round of layoffs. The first two can only be considered a hot mess and there some key lessons we can takeaway from that experience.
Here’s where they f**ked up:
Mass Layoffs that ARE preventable: Similar to many high-growth companies, Better.com laid off 900 employees over Zoom. Venture-backed companies get put in a pressure cooker in order to get to some sort of an exit in 5-7 years (no more than 10) As soon as that big check comes in, startups spend and spend fast because their VC's are telling them too. One of the first major investments is usually human capital. Unfortunately, just as many people that get hired all at once, inevitably get fired just as quickly because hiring a ton of people can NEVER solve for a business model that still needs work.
NEVER Call Your Employees Dumb: We hoped this went without saying but clearly not everyone got the memo. Layoffs are difficult times for those affected so compassion is key. Transparency and kindness can go a long way here.
It's Not About You: As difficult as it is for you as the founder, it's hella difficult for your employees who now have to figure out their next move to pay bills. Leading through empathy by acknowledging the error and taking accountability matters. Statements like, "The last time I did this, I cried." do nothing to make the process easier for the people who are now unemployed. While founders also need a supportive outlet in making that difficult decision, your employees ain't it.
Key Takeaway: If you were an employee, how would you want to be laid off? It's as simple as that. There's no perfect way to layoff an employee or employees, but you can always show your humanity in the process.
TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
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Curious to learn about influencer marketing and if it's the right marketing strategy for your business? Learn more here.
Failure is an asset, and never an endpoint. If you have experienced failure before, pivot and re-strategize.
To raise or not to raise? Here what some of our founders had to say on the topic here.
Your customers eat with their eyes first! For entrepreneurs within the food industry, here's why the first visual impression matters so much.
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