“Write what you know.”
Mark Twain said that, and I can’t argue with him. The advice is so elegantly simple that it is, at the same time, both graceful and profound.
Over these next 14 days, I am going to help you build an email list. Before we begin, though, I need you to accept a couple things as truth.
Truth One) An email list is the most important thing you can do online. It should be your top priority. Building an email list is not just a part of your online business, it is the heart of your online business. In fact, without an email list, having a sustainable online business is infinitely harder, far more expensive, and essentially just less efficient in all ways. It’s a fact.
Truth Two) Your success will be defined by your action. It seems pretty obvious, but it’s good to be reminded, and it’s absolutely true. If you don’t take action on these daily tasks, then you will not succeed with this challenge. I can show you the way, but you must decide to commit to this process alone. No one can force you. It’s a fact.
If you follow this 14 day challenge, you WILL have an email list at the end, and you will be that much closer to your goal of online success. It’s not a possibility, it’s a fact. So get excited and let’s move on.
Now that we have those two simple truths, let’s build upon that solid foundation.
DAY 1 TASK: PREPARE
The First thing we need to do is prepare. This is your Day 1 task. Every new venture begins with some preparation, and this challenge is no different. Here are the 3 things you will need for this challenge:
One) A name – All good online businesses and projects have names. Yours can be anything. I only have two strong recommendations.
First, don’t give your business a name that would make people think of something completely unrelated to your business. For example, If you are selling weight loss products, don’t name your business “Dog Training R Us.”
It’s okay for them not to know what your business IS based on the name, you just don’t want them to make assumptions that aren’t true.
And the second thing is don’t make it too long. Four word rule, man. If it’s longer than four words, it’s probably too long to remember. You want people to be able to find you easily and remember you easily. So in the spirit of brand awareness, keep it short and sweet.
You don’t need to register the name with the small business association or anything. You don’t need to form an LLC. You just need to have that name in your mind. Make sure nobody else is already using it.
Once you have the name, open a simple gmail account for your business. This is important.
If you called your business Super Smash Leads, you could open up a gmail account called “supersmashleadssupport(at)gmail.com”
Now that email will come into play later, but for now it’s enough just to have it.
Easy enough right?
Once you have it, let’s get to the second thing you need…
Two) An autoresponder – If you can accept the truth that email is the heart of online business, then you must understand that the autoresponder is the tool that drives email. It is the most important thing you can have when working online.
This is the tool that is going to collect emails for you. It’s going to let you send out one email to thousands of people on your list, and it’s even going to allow you to set up entire sequences of emails to go out to people automatically when they sign up to be on your list.
There are a lot of different options when it comes to autoresponders. From industry leaders such as Sendinblue, Aweber, and Mailchimp to lesser-known solutions, it can be overwhelming to select one.
Most of them cost money, and most of them offer some kind of free or trial start up option to soften that blow.
With your autoresponder, it’s better to go with an option that is economically viable for you, but that has also been around for a while.
Autoresponders that have been around for a long time tend to be more reliable and offer better deliverability with the emails that you are sending out.
For example, Aweber is pretty economical at around 20 bucks a month to start out, and they have been around since 1998. You don’t get to be an autoresponder company for over 20 years by not doing a good job.
They aren’t the only good option, but just one example.
Anyway, the autoresponder is critical. Don’t bother doing this challenge without one.
Moving on…
Three) A website – The third thing I want you to acquire is a website.
Now…can you build a list without a website? Yes, you can. But that’s not how we are going to do it here.
There is a method to our madness. The website is going to offer us a few things that we will be getting into in upcoming emails. But for now, it’s enough that you get one.
If it’s not in your budget to pick up hosting and register a website, you can use a free option like WIX(dot)com if you need to. Obviously, you have a little more control if you own the site and pay for the hosting, but you can make this work with a free site.
Okay…
So that’s the homework.
To reiterate, you need these 3 things to start this challenge:
One) A name for your online business/project and an email
Two) An autoresponder
Three) A website
All right, that’s enough for now.
Get those things together, and I’ll see you soon for day 2 of our 14 day Quick List Build Challenge.
Before you go, click here to check out this platform I’ve been using that will help you build your list and establish your brand. Definitely worth checking out.
Just take action.
