Category: Grow


Nov
2016

How Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula Changes Our Business

categories: Grow

Hi everyone,

We are super honored to have just been featured in Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula Workshop Series as a Case Study. We weren’t sure if our story was going to be included, so when we saw it last night – we were nervous blown away – and we realized we really should have told you about all of this before now! Sorry about that!

Here is the link to our video on the Case Studies Page…

Note: Your email address might be required – and then Jeff will send you emails. You can always opt-out, but his marketing materials are great, so we hope you learn a lot from his ongoing emails.

Act Fast: We’ve heard Jeff’s free online workshop is available until Friday night (November 18th) at midnight Pacific. After that he’ll be taking all the training videos and resources offline for 12-18 months. So if you want to see our video case study (and all the free training videos he offers – be sure to act quickly. Sorry for the short notice – this isn’t something we can control. And sorry if you’re reading this after November 19th.

On his Case Study page look for this section:


 Jason and Cinnamon Miles PLF Case Study

Click Here To Watch Our PLF Case Study Video

How Product Launch Formula Changed Our Business

In case you’re not famiiar with Jeff Walker and his Product Launch Formula – ten years ago he invented a system that has become the premiere online marketing methodology. He calls it a “Product Launch Formula” – it’s a smart way to roll out a new product.

In 2009 our mentor Jim Cockrum helped us clarify our product strategy…. then in 2010 we got terrific help from Jeff’s Product Launch Formula course related to marketing our new products. Those two business decisions (what products to sell – and how to sell them) have changed our business forever!

And our total sales for our company (and charity) prove it – and I’m happy to show you the proof. Here is a chart of our total revenue… but first a few disclaimers…

Disclaimer 1: Please note – this is NOT our personal income, or “net income” this chart has nothing to do with that … this is just top level sales from our company and donations to our charity). Disclaimer 2: This is total income from a variety of income streams including my writing, teaching, and speaking, our websites, and related activities. Plus donations to our charity. I am stacking them here only for the purpose of showing the full impact. Disclaimer 3: These are our results and we have no idea whether following Jeff Walker will work out well for you – or improve your results in any way.

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5 Important Things To Notice About Our Story

Lesson One: Product Choice Impacts Your Outcome: I know a lot of you reading this are just starting out, or have been selling handmade items for a long time without a big financial break-through. We know what that is like (to a degree) since for the first two years of our business we were only able to sell $1,000 a month on eBay. Those eBay sales were excruciating – and required Cinnamon to stay up till midnight sewing on a regular basis. It wasn’t sustainable – and certainly not the level of success we aspired to achieve. So when we decided to shift our product emphasis – we started to see new and exciting results. So consider what you’re selling – and if you can realistically sell 10X more in an efficient way – or would that kill you? If you can’t sell 10X more easily – then you have a product problem.

Lesson Two: Marketing Techniques Impact Your Outcome: Selling online is just like anything else – It’s a skill that is learned. When we started all we knew was how to use eBay. So we started there. We had to learn how to use email marketing, social media, ecommerce websites, and product launch methods. If you don’t ever develop the appetite for learning the marketing skills – then your ultimate outcome is going to be drastically limited. If you hate marketing – then find a partner that loves it – and offer to give them half of all your revenue – so they can focus on being your marketing person.

Lesson Three: Investing In Your Education Impacts Your Outcome: I realize there are a lot of scams on the internet. Sadly the early days had a lot of get-rich-quick schemes. But those people never last because what they are selling is garbage. But in the case of the Product Launch Formula program, it’s been around for over 10 years – and tons of people have used it successfully. I can demonstrate and share my own results from using the system (which is what we did in the video) … and there are tens of thousands of small business owners that could also give a similar testimony. I’ve met many of them – when I attended Jeff’s massive training event in Phoenix in 2014. It was amazing to hear from people of all different backgrounds – all helped by the Product Launch Formula method.

Lesson Four: Learning From Free Training When You Can Get It Impacts Your Outcome: Here is a little secret. The free training workshop that Jeff Walker offers (from now until Friday night at Midnight Pacific) is pretty much EXACTLY what is taught inside his $1,999 program. The only difference? You have limited access to it right now via the workshop videos – and that goes away in a couple days. And – in his program he unpacks each topic with TONS of videos, worksheets, examples, and related content. So you get the same thing – but in a much much more detailed way. So, if you can’t afford his full Product Lauch Formula Course – then learn as much as you can from his free workshop. Maybe it’ll revolutionize your business.

Lesson Five: Taking Baby Steps Will Impact Your Outcome: The amazing part about the age of the Internet is you can start with an idea – implement it the best you know how for free – and see if it clicks with people – and then based on the outcome – you can work to refine it from there. Decades ago the start-up phase would have cost you thousands of dollars or more. Today – the tools and training are free. Those little baby steps protect you from ruining your financial lives, making big bets, or gambling on unproven ideas. And when you’re ready to take a bigger step up – to a bigger better test of your business opportunity – you can invest money.

So if you don’t have any money, and aren’t confident in your business idea – then just watch Jeff’s free workshop videos while they’re available (until November 18th at midnight Pacific). If you have some confidence in your business ability, and some money to invest, then I highly encourage you to not only watch the free training videos, but jump into Jeff’s full training course. If you’re not happy with it – he’ll give you all your money back – so you really have nothing to loose. If you take the plunge, let me know.

Thanks for supporting Cinnamon & I on our business journey…

We truly wish you all the best on yours too …

Jason & Cinnamon

Ps. I’ve used an affiliate link to Jeff’s program in this blog post. So if you end up buying the full course, I’ll make a little money. This is called an ‘earnings disclaimer’ which is important to always use when you’re promoting products or services that can benefit you financially. But trust me when I tell you – that is not my emphasis, nor why we did our Case Study video. My hope is to encourage and support you as you Make-Sell-Grow. I hope this blog post, and Jeff’s free videos did that today!

 

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Feb
2016

4 Layers Of Profitability

categories: Grow, Make

The goal of any business is to make a profit. Whether you are earning $1,000 a month in sales, or $100,000 a month in sales – there is only one vital statistic for business health – how much do you keep as profit?

How To Get Profitable

This chart is loosely based on the work of Jagmohan Raju – he calls it 4 “levers” of profitability. I’ve oriented the 4 ‘levers’ to include an income and expense view of things:

4 layers of profitability chart

 

Let’s quickly review the 4 layers of profitability outlined in the chart. On the income side of the ledger you have:

Pricing: how much you charge for your items. Of course this can include fixed prices, variable prices and even auction pricing.

Sales Volume: This includes the total of all units sold. Some small businesses have 1 product and sell a lot of it, some have many products and sell a few of them.

On the expense side of the ledger you have:

Fixed Expenses: These expense items are fairly stable and include things like rent, salaries, property tax, insurance, and utilities.

Variable Expenses: These expense items change based on sales volume and other very flexible business decisions and include things like advertising cost, material cost, credit card processing fees, and shipping costs.

At the end of the month (or day or year, etc.) the math is very simple:

Total income from sales minus expenses equals profit. At the end of the day it is up to the entrepreneur to creatively increase income while holding expenses flat or lowering them.

Widening The Jaws

I once had an old boss who always talked about “widening the jaws” and would always draw a simple little chart when doing budget reviews with his managers. He would use that phrase to always remind his managers that we COULD grow expenses, but they had to grow at a slower pace than income in order for our total profit to continue to improve. Here is what that looked like:

widening the jaws finance chart

Some business make plenty of sales, but they suffer from poor profit because they have out of control expenses. In those cases – you can improve profit substantially by cutting expenses.

Other businesses have poor sales – and the best way to improve is to increase the income side of the equation. That might take a new product, a new pricing strategy, or a revamp of the existing product strategy.

But most businesses reside somewhere in the middle – okay sales – and average expenses. In those cases success is made in the margin. In finding the little, incremental improvement in sales or expense optimization, and continously making those wise choses.

I hope 2016 is a very profitable year for you!

Ps. Am I right in my analysis? Are there more than 4 layers of profitability? I’d love to know what you think!

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Sep
2014

How To Start Your Freedom Business While Avoiding Assumed Requirements

categories: goal setting, Grow



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Hi everybody,

In this week’s video I explain what “assumed requirements” are – and how to overcome them so you can start your freedom (online) business today!

Plus – I’ve got the full transcript saved as a little PDF booklet file for ya – almost like a little booklet. I hope you enjoy it. But please note – it’s a transcript of the video so it’s not necessarily the smoothest of writing.

Jason

Ps. I’d love to hear your perspective – tell me what you think – are you battling against any assumed requirements that are stopping you from starting or growing your online business?

Pps. I’d be super grateful if you’d pin the booklet or the video to Pinterest! Thanks in advance!

 


Sep
2014

Russell Wilson’s Question That Will Change Your Business!

categories: collaboration, Grow

Hi all,

In this week’s video I share a story I recently heard about Russell Wilson and Michael Jordan – I think it might help you build your business to a new level.

Tell me what you think – do you have a team that helps you grow? Or are you working alone and in need of a team? Let me know if your partnerships are helping you grow – or hindering your success!

Any trouble seeing the video? Watch it on Vimeo Here: http://vimeo.com/105612903

Ps. Here’s a pic of me meeting Russell (what an honor!)

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Apr
2014

Add Pattern Making To Your Online Income

categories: Grow, Newsletter

Hi everyone,Screen Shot 2014-04-21 at 5.54.16 PM

The Newsletter Is Online

In this week’s newsletter we offer a special invitation to join us in the pattern making business – it won’t be for everyone – but if you’ve ever wanted to publish patterns as an additional source of income -this newsletter is for you.

We hope you enjoy the article! Tell us what you think about it by leaving a comment below.

Jason & Cinnamon


Apr
2014

Growing A $100,000 Home-based Business With A No-Hype And Simple Strategy

categories: Grow, Newsletter

Hi everyone,

growing a six-figure home-based businessThe Newsletter is online! In this week’s newsletter we explain exactly how you can make a $100,000 home-based business with a no-hype (and simple) business strategy.

You’ll want to print this one out and discuss it with your spouse!

We’d love to hear from you. If you want to submit a topic or question for an upcoming newsletter – visit the newsletter page.

We hope you enjoy the article! Tell us what you think about it. Leave a comment below.

Jason & Cinnamon


Jul
2011

Battling An Expense Explosion

categories: Grow, Jason's Articles

Hi everyone,

We are working on an article for a coupon blogger site called Obsessive Coupon Disorder – and we thought we’d share it with you here…We hope you enjoy it. It’s more of our personal story than we’ve shared before. We hope it inspires you.

I’ve used coupons my entire married life – almost 17 years. It’s a Sunday morning ritual. But in 2008, we hit a financial crisis that coupons couldn’t rescue us from. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say our fixed expenses shot up by almost $2,000 a month. To meet the challenge we looked at our budget and made some changes, but we knew we’d need at least $1,000 a month of new income if we were going to make it. My stay-at-home mom days seemed numbered.

My husband encouraged me to think long-term, and avoid doing dead-end jobs, or worse, taking a job that would require me to work long hours into the evenings and weekends. He proposed we take one of my skills, and build a home-based business around it. So with the goal of earning $1,000 a month, and a lot of prayer, we started two part-time businesses: Cinnamon Miles Photography and Liberty Jane Clothing.

Being a professional photographer wasn’t for me, so that was short-lived. But my talent for making doll clothes started to get people’s attention, and when combined with his enthusiasm for online selling, Liberty Jane Clothing took off. Our $1,000 a month goal was achieved.

Fast forward to 2011 and we have a thriving business, which will finish this year with revenues in the six figures. I’ve also become an official brand ambassador for Bernina, the world’s premiere sewing machine maker. And in many ways, we are just getting started.
Here are my 3 suggestions if you need to increase your income quickly:

First, embrace the desperation. I’m convinced that most people fail at money making ventures because they aren’t desperate enough. If failure is not an option, you probably won’t fail. Get hyper motivated to reach your first income goal.

Second, take your best skill, and brainstorm ways it could make you money. Try your best to develop a solid business concept associated with your passion or hobby. Become a student of business models.

Third, as they say, ‘find hungry people and feed them’. Don’t make a product and then try to convince people to buy it. That’s really hard. Instead, go to the sites where people are buying daily, look at what is selling well, improve upon it, and jump in. You’ll be a sensation. Sites to look at include EBay, Etsy, Craigslist, and Fiver.

Tell us your story – Have you had an expense explosion that required money making, not just money saving? Leave a comment and tell us about how you did it.

Cinnamon Miles

Liberty Jane Clothing