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Marketing, Business Development Alex Batdorf Marketing, Business Development Alex Batdorf

How to Diversify Revenue & Operationalize to Grow a $Multi-Million Business with Elisa Camahort Page, founder BlogHer Inc.

Learn from Elisa Camahort, founder of BlogHer Inc.

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Hey, It's Alex!

🍵 Here's Your Weekly Tea

Go Fast. Break Things.”  I’m sure you’ve heard this. We live in a microwave culture. We want things instantly. But here’s the thing about instant - it’s never that good. The startup space emulates this mentality. An analysis was done on when startups scale. Fun Fact: On average, it takes a company 49 months to start scaling. They found that startups that scale too early, fail. In addition, startups that scale fast are no more likely to succeed than their slower scaling counterparts. For most early-stage companies, scale shouldn’t be the focal point. Experimenting should be. The problem early-stage companies face when obsessing about scale results in a failure to experiment in pursuit of finding silver bullets. I’ll save you time - there are no silver bullets in the startup game. What worked for someone else, may not work for you. So stop obsessing over scale and get out there and experiment.

Let's get into your weekly briefing!

💸 HERE'S YOUR TRACTION BRIEFING

Founder: Elisa Camahort Page | Company: BlogHer Inc.    | Location: San Jose, CA

Receipts: Elisa is an OG influencer, way before influencers were a thing. By productizing her business and diversifying her revenue streams, she was able to build a media company, raise $20M and exit.


Here's your traction playbook...


How To Grow Your Revenue


Diversify, Diversify, Diversify: Did you know diversifying your revenue streams is a great way to minimize business risk? Finding creative and innovative ways to serve your existing customers means that you can give them what they want and need while not depending on one revenue source. For Elisa and BlogHer, that meant launching a web community, hosting conferences, starting a publishing network and so much more. Learn how they were able to scale their business using this strategy here.






How To Successfully Productize Your Services




What Do Your Customers Actually Want?: "These were all products that served our business, and served our customer and served our brand." - Elisa Camahort Page. What is the secret to successful productization? Finding out what your customers really want and finding different ways to provide them with services/products that will serve them. That involves deep research, speaking to them and actively listening. A good product solves a pain in a repeatable way. Get down in the ground and find out what your customers are saying and what they want.


How To Find The Right Investors


Look for Passionate Money: Find investors who believe in you and what you're doing. Investors who are aligned with your company's vision and mission. Your business will definitely pivot and change with the seasons, but your investors need to have faith in your leadership ability to navigate through those changes.  You need investors who are willing to weather the changes with you.

Support Elisa in Scaling Impact: Find out more about what Elisa and The Cru does here.


TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...

  • Time Management for Founders: Learn how to successfully manage your time so you can do more. Join us here.

  • Diversify Your Revenue Streams: Too many eggs in one basket? Learn how to diversify your revenue streams here.

  • Productize Your Consulting Service: Get the ultimate guide here.

  • Increase Revenues By 30%: Find out here how Susan Perlman increased revenues by 30% for her company.

  • Create an Operational Model That Works: Learn how to create a business model with accurate operating costs here.

  • Productize To 8-Figures: Gloria Hwang scaled a passion project to an 8-figure productized business. Learn here.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Join our community membership waitlist here.

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Marketing, Business Development Alex Batdorf Marketing, Business Development Alex Batdorf

Master Connections = Build A Multi-Million Dollar Business - Here's How She Did It with Susan McPherson, founder McPherson Strategies

Learn from Susan McPherson, founder of McPherson Strategies.

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

Hey, It's Alex!

🍵 Here's Your Weekly Tea

"We cannot be what we cannot see." Last week, the founder of Patagonia put his money where his mouth is and showed us what scaling generational impact can look like. Here’s the thing - your business will NOT save the world. Many startups seeking cash tend to partake in saviorism tactics because it makes who they’re pitching to "feel good" and quite frankly, it’s an ego boost. If done well, your company can serve - not save. However, what happens when many companies focus on serving the collective? That’s where impact lives. Toxic capitalism and the people who benefit from it, want the current system to stay in place and will tell you that what Yvon Chouinard has done with Patagonia "will not work". News flash - the current system doesn't work for 99%. Can Patagonia as a company by itself end climate change? No. But the intentional action by its founder gave us a new model of impact we can see to envision what we can become. When we start seeing, more of us can start being. That’s impact.

Let's get into your weekly briefing!

💸 HERE'S YOUR TRACTION BRIEFING

Founder: Susan McPherson | Company: McPherson Strategies | Location: New York, NY

Receipts: Susan is a connections wizard! She started and scaled a multi-million dollar business utilizing her strong connections, great sales techniques and hiring a winning team.



Here's your traction playbook...


How Successful Founders Get Sh!t Done


Develop The Lost Art of Connecting: "I believe the fundamental difference between networking and connecting is leading with how you can be helpful to others. And when you’re helpful to others, the help comes back." There's a lot that goes into developing a strong business connection. Similar to how you would approach personal relationships, fostering strong business connections depends on what you can do improve the life of the people you are connecting with. When was the last time you spoke to someone who made it all about them? Wasn't fun was it?






How To Build A Business Quickly



Invest In Good People: You're great at what you do - but you can't kill it at everything. Part of Susan's quick success was finding a team that could do what she couldn't and do it amazingly. While she's great at building connections, she didn't want to get stuck in the minutia of building a business. The result was quick growth that contributed to her company's success.







How To Close A Sale


Look for Signals: To successfully close a sale, you need to be a master conversationalist. That means learning to listen intently. In your listening, look for signals of your prospect's hopes and dreams because if you can be able to deliver some of their hopes and dreams then they will buy anything from you. Of course only promise to deliver what you actually can.

Support Susan in Scaling Impact: If you know any organizations looking for help with impact focused communication, send them their way. To learn more about her successful networking strategies, get her book here!



TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...

  • Mental Health Circle: The Last 100 Days of 2022 - Preventing Exhaustion: Learn how to effectively manage the pressure and expectations that come from career and entrepreneurship. Join us here.

  • Time Management for Founders: Learn how to successfully manage your time so you can do more. Join us here.

  • What is a Buying Signal?: Understand when your prospect is ready and willing to buy here.

  • Build Authentic Business Relationships: Learn here how to build business relationships that are mutually beneficial.

  • Identify The Right Hires: Learn here how our Queen Kaitlyn Knopp was able to find the right team to help her scale her business.

  • Building Mutually Beneficial Partnerships: Tanya Van Court built a fintech platform primarily by fostering her relationships. Learn how here.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Join our community membership waitlist here.

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Marketing, Business Development Alex Batdorf Marketing, Business Development Alex Batdorf

When Funders Said NO, She Grew To $10M+ in 5 Years with Whitney Headen, founder 19th & Park Inc.

Learn from Whitney Headen, founder of 19th & Park Inc.

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

Hey, It's Alex!

🍵 Here's Your Weekly Tea

This weekend, I was on a long car ride with my friend who is a DEI champion. We talked about why the entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to fail at creating equitable outcomes. Whether that be an obsession with VC when less than 1% of ANY founders will ever raise or perpetuating business practices that harm the collective. But let's be real - how can we create equity by using the same models that have proven to be inequitable and expect a different outcome? This was amplified after seeing how a community "for founders" is under fire for acting like a cult and harming women. It's not surprising. Why? They studied and leveraged cult-like tactics to grow for growth's sake. They’re not the only ones and they have and will continue to be rewarded for it because they aren't incentivized to change. Startups are actually encouraged to be reckless until they implode. The business of entrepreneurship needs a reckoning. Everybody needs to ask themselves - am I really committed to building for the good of the collective OR am I doing this for power? If we are honest, the actions of many fall into the latter. Intentions are NOT enough. Actions are everything.

Let's get into your weekly briefing!

💸 HERE'S YOUR TRACTION BRIEFING

Founder: Whitney Headen | Company: 19th & Park Inc. | Location: New York, NY

Receipts: With no funding from banks and other sources, Whitney and her partners were able to bootstrap and scale to 8 figures and in only 5 years.


Here's your traction playbook...


How To Nail Business Development


Create Visibility Then Build Relationships: In their early days, 19th & Park wanted to create visibility for their business. They knew they had a killer offering, but how would they communicate that to potential clients? The first three years were all about getting people to know them and how awesome and unique their services were. In the process, they built strong relationships and built an impressive portfolio. 5 years in, that early ground work still pays off.





How To Sustain Your Business When You Have No Funding


Be Conservative With Your Funds/Bootstrap: "Being very conservative with funds was one of our main early reasons for our success." - Whitney Headen. Whitney and her partners were forced to bootstrap mainly because they couldn't get funding - even with $2.5 million in revenue. As a result they had to watch how they spent money, understand the ins and outs of accounting, and change their mindset around money and success in general. They are now self-sustaining and don't need funding anymore!






How To Diversify Your Services


Don't Do Too Much: "There was a point when we were over diversifying. We were trying to do too much and being everything for everybody. We realized very quickly that we weren’t making any money doing that and we weren’t providing a niche service."  - Whitney Headen. Diversification is an unpredictable and sometimes high-stakes game. For 19th & Park, they relied on their collective skillset to decide whether or not to diversify. They also listened to what their clients wanted to decide whether it made sense to bring in a new service. Don't over-diversify, you might run yourself thin and ruin your reputation in the process.

Support Whitney in Scaling Impact: Tell a friend to tell a friend! Also, if there’s a creative who’s underappreciated and needs an opportunity, send them over to 19th and Park - they're always looking to grow awesome talent.


TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...

  • Startup Marketing for Founders: Join us for a LIVE #TractionClass
    September 14th @ 1PM EST | RSVP Now

  • Fourth Floor X UBS Fellowship Program: Calling all BIPOC Founders! This is a great opportunity to grow and scale your company. Join The Fourth Floor X UBS Fellowship program and connect with a community of BIPOC founders and board candidates.

  • Ultimate Guide To Business Development: Find out here how the right business development strategy will grow your company.

  • How The Right Relationships Build Businesses: Here's how Alix Peabody used the relationships she had to help her build a multimillion dollar business.

  • How To Be Conservative With Your Funds: Learn here how fellow Queen Jennifer Eden self-funded and learnt how to manage her finances when scaling Tampon Tribe

  • To Diversify or Not To Diversify: Learn whether or not you need to diversify your business services here.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Join our community membership waitlist here.

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Marketing, Business Development Alex Batdorf Marketing, Business Development Alex Batdorf

How She Scaled a "Lifestyle" Brand in a Highly Regulated Market with Alix Peabody, founder Bev

Learn from Alix Peabody, founder of Bev

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

Hey, It's Alex!

🍵 Here's Your Weekly Tea

Is it just me or do people not understand the true definition of the word - "wild"? If Finnish Prime Minister, Sanna Marin's leaked party pics are considered wild, me and my friends should be considered crazy! And nah - I'm not apologizing for it and neither should any woman, regardless of her position. There's nothing better than being around dope women, making moves in the world, while allowing ourselves to let loose and be free from the day to day pressures. This is Leadership to me. Experiencing all parts of being whole so I can lead from that place. Women are not compartmentalized versions of social expectations that we never asked for #Unsubscribe. Let's have a "wild" week, shall we?

Let's get into your weekly briefing!

💸 HERE'S YOUR TRACTION BRIEFING

Founder: Alix Peabody | Company: Bev | Location: Venice, CA

Receipts: Alix has been able to break into and succeed in a privately held and capital-intensive industry by thinking outside the box and having a strong conviction in what she is doing.


Here's your traction playbook...


How Scrappy Marketing Built A Business


Create Hype Around Your Product: Before having an actual product, Alix was able to build a strong brand for Bev through scrappy marketing. She created a strong social media presence for her product. Not only did this validate what she was trying to sell, but it also created hype and interest even before manufacturing. How did she create success with this method? She implemented her strategy little by little to gain momentum.





How To Shift The Culture Within An Industry



Partner with the right industry players: Bev's big why is transforming social spaces by creating a drinking culture that inspires equality, embodies inclusive fun, and powers communities for the better. Being in an industry that is associated with a lot of vice, Alix had to create a unique strategy that would shift the culture within the industry. By partnering with key players including bar owners, transportation companies and venue spaces, she was able to start conversations on how the alcohol industry could promote positive social change.





How To Stay The Course  When You're Told No


Have Strong Conviction In What You're Doing: "I was turned down for capital financing 368 times before I got my first check. Over the course of two years. It was not all rainbow and butterflies. It was really tough in the beginning. That is why you need to have conviction in what you are doing." - Alix Peabody. Failure and rejection is part of the course for most if not all founders. A lot of the time you'll be the only one who has faith in your idea. That is why it's important to have a big why. A strong conviction in your idea and the purpose it serves within your industry.

Support Alix in Scaling Impact: Go check out your local liquor store and try out some Bev! You can also listen to more of her insight on her podcast - madebychicks.




TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...

  • Startup Marketing for Founders: Join us for a LIVE #TractionClass
    September 14th @ 1PM EST | RSVP Now

  • How To Find Capital To Scale In A Capital Intensive Industry: Find out here how Leah Caplanis was able to raise $4.5M and scale within the alcohol industry.

  • How She Built The Fastest Growing Whiskey Brand: Here's how Fawn Weaver was able to build Uncle Nearest on 99% earned media.

  • What Is Scrappy Marketing: Learn more about scrappy marketing and how it makes you more agile here.

  • Has Your Investment Been Rejected?: Here are 10 steps to help you handle business rejection by investors.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Join our community membership waitlist here.

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Marketing, Business Development Alex Batdorf Marketing, Business Development Alex Batdorf

How $15K in Savings Scaled to $1 million in 12 months with Breanne Acio, founder Sekr

Learn from Breanne Acio, founder of Sekr

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

Hey, It's Alex!

🍵 Here's Your Weekly Tea

"I don't get why people fight what is. It is what it is. If you don't like it, do something different." I heard this for the first time a few years ago. I live by it now, especially how I leverage my business to scale impact. It echoed in my head when I saw the news about Andressen Horowitz backing Adam Neumann (again) and the fury it sparked. Men failing forward is not new. It is what it is. Is it irritating AF? Yup. But you know what’s more frustrating? Collective rage ignited by expectations of systems rooted in self-interest to change. It is what it is but the reaction is like deja vu. Our time and energy are valuable. What if we did something different?

Let's get into your weekly briefing!

💸 HERE'S YOUR TRACTION BRIEFING

Founder: Breanne Acio | Company: Sekr | Location: San Diego, CA

Receipts: Breanne has been able to bootstrap a company to $1 million in 12 months and raise $3 million for another by creating a strong and authentic community that was passionate about her vision and mission.


Here's your traction playbook...


How To Validate Your Problem


Find Out What People Want: Having a conviction in your idea can only go so far. You need to understand if there is actually a problem that you are solving and if the market is receptive to your idea. In her initial stages of Sekr, Breanne employed the lean startup model. While It might not great for everything, it taught her how to validate problems without spending money.




How To Recruit Top Talent With Limited Resources


People want to be something that is bigger than themselves: "People want to have an impact and I was giving them an opportunity to have an impact." - Breanne Acio. In her first year of creating Sekr, Breanne had a dedicated team who chose to work for her free of charge! How did she manage do this? She found people who truly believed in her mission. People who were motivated by what she was doing and who wanted to have an impact within the same space.




How To Creating Networks Plays A Factor In Helping You Raise


Get Champions In Your Corner: It's all about building relationships. A strong network will not only put you in connection with the right people, but they will also act as your champions - encouraging you to pursue different avenues and ultimately help you realize your potential. What Breanne did well when seeking funding was creating a network and finding role models who pushed her in the right direction and helped her believe in herself.

Support Breanne in Scaling Impact: Tell people about Sekr! Download the app on Google Play and other app stores. She is also currently looking for capital investors.



TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...

  • Fearless Fund's Education Day: A hybrid experience tailored towards educating founders on everything about VC and entrepreneurship. Get your tickets and more info here.

  • How To Find Top Talent In A Competitive Market: Find out here  how Kaitlyn Knopp was able to hire the best team in a competitive hiring market.

  • How To Validate Your Idea: Here's how Tiffany Dufu was able to validate her concept by creating a landing page.

  • Maximize Your Network To Increase Funding: We speak a lot about networking. Here's exactly how it plays a role in helping you raise funds for your startup.

  • The Lean Startup: This scientific methodology helps you get your product to your customers faster.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Join our community membership waitlist here.

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Marketing, Go-To-Market Alex Batdorf Marketing, Go-To-Market Alex Batdorf

💪 From Passion Project To An 8-Figure Business with Gloria Hwang, founder Thousand

Learn from Gloria Hwang, founder of Thousand

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

Hey, It's Alex!

🍵 Here's Your Weekly Tea

This year, I started quarterly recharges. Instead of waiting for one big vacation, I take breaks quarterly. This started last December because I was extremely burnt out. It wasn't my first rodeo either. This time was different though. My therapist looked at me and said "you're on the brink of depression so you get to decide." So I decided to prioritize myself. More importantly, I had to tell my team why and model the behavior. That was a game changer. This week I'm recharging while my team holds it down and only doing what I want. How do you recharge?

Let's get into your weekly briefing!

💸 HERE'S YOUR TRACTION BRIEFING

Founder: Gloria Hwang | Company: Thousand | Location: Los Angeles, CA

Receipts:Turning a passion project into an 8-figure businesses is unheard of but Gloria Hwang was able to do this by creating a product and community rooted in forming the right partnerships and relationships.


Here's your traction playbook...


How to Define Your Target Market


Go Beyond What Your Competitors Are Doing: While the bicycle helmet market was declining, Thousand wasn't focused on enticing the existing customer base. Their focus was on appealing to the 60 to 70% of bicycle riders who were not already wearing helmets. By focusing on this market, they molded their brand in a way that was uniquely appealing.



How To Create A Community Around Your Brand

Define Your Values: A big factor that catapulted the growth of Thousand was the strong community that they created. Sounds familiar? Their community of customers acted as advocates and salespeople. Part of creating a solid community is having clear values that you actively practice and stand for. It's also advocating for your customers and putting their needs before your sales goals.



How To Find The Right Distribution Partners


Build Relationships From The Onset: "I rarely asked for the sale in the beginning. But because I built good relationships and they saw the quality of the product, they brought us in. So for me, trying to get to know people better built a good foundation for great long-term relationships." - Gloria Hwang. In the rush and urgency of making a sale, a lot of entrepreneurs might forget to foster and steadily develop meaningful relationships along the way. People are more willing to do business with people who they can relate to.

Support Gloria in Scaling Impact: Visit Thousand and find something you and/or your loved ones would be interested in.



TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...

  • Fearless Fund's Education Day: A hybrid experience tailored towards educating founders on everything about VC and entrepreneurship. Get your tickets and more info here.

  • How To Build Partnerships: Find out here  how Maria Po Campo built partnerships to help her scale her own micro-mobility movement.

  • Build A Strong Community: Here's how to build a meaningful and massive community for your brand - even with limited budget.

  • Master Large-Scale Distribution: Here's how Tanya Van Court mastered large-scale distribution with limited money in the bank.

  • Define Your Market: This playbook helps you define your market and the jobs they're trying to get done.

  • Nail Sales By Building Relationships: Here's how you can increase your sales by building relationships.

  • How to Network and Build strong relationships here.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Join our community membership waitlist here.

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