It feels good to be alive in an exciting times.
We are one of most lucky civilization if not the most lucky. We have seen and experience things no one else has:
- The landing on the moon
- End of the visible universe
- Deep ocean species
These are some of the really exciting discoveries.
I can go on and talk about all the amazing discoveries that we have made in the past 100 years, but this newsletter is not about that, is it?
No, Sir.
I started Sunday Growth Diaries, so that I can:
👉 Keep track of my journey
👉 Document my processes
👉 Plan for the next week
And most importantly share my journey with my subscribers.
✔️ The decisions I’ve made in the past week
✔️ The hurdles I’ve jumped
✔️ The lessons learned along the way
As another week on my journey to 1 million subscribers wraps up.
Here’s what’s been happening behind the scenes at The Notion Millionaire.
I will be brutally honest today.
I am nowhere near 1 million subscribers. Yeah, that’s right. Less than 1% of that.
It’s been 11 weeks since I start this and it took a great amount of work to get this up and running.
Now, the road to 1 million is hard. It requires patience, consistency, disappointments, failed strategies and pivotal moments.
As I said last week, consistency is the name of the game. Without it, this newsletter is nothing.
Good thing is that, I have discovered a proven process for growth. That process will take The Notion Millionaire where it’s meant to be.
If I list down the number of things I am working on, you will think I am crazy.
Which I am, Crazy For Success. Maybe I should write a book about this. Crazy for success is a mindset of getting what you want, no matter the cost.
For example, when Sultan Mehmed was attacking the city of constantinople, his advisors advised him to give up because of the casualties. Mehmed was not a giver. His words still echo in my head:
Either I will have this city or this city will have me.
There are many variations of this quote but the essence is the pretty much same.
This mindset is required to do the impossible. Build the impossible. Conquer the impossible.
Let’s audit my week.
Weekly audit
The past week, there was only one thing on my mind.
Things I should do and things I should delegate. I have been implementing the 4% rule by Sabri Suby. Focusing on things that move the needle for sales and marketing.
The rest of things should be delegated or outsourced. This is not easy but it will make my life a lot easier.
Apart from this, I am also learning to be creative in English.
I am focusing a lot on my written and verbal communication skills. Since, English is not my native language, I am not as much creative in it as a native speaker would be.
To overcome this, I am doing a lot written and verbal practice.
I have also setup a pipeline – Product promotion pipeline.
It is a 13 step pipeline, it will help me promote all my products:
- Coaching
- Consulting
- The Notion Millionaire
- My Notion bundles
- The Freelance Magazine
- Courses (Soon to be launch)
- Retainer Services
Right now, these are the major sources of revenue for me.
And they are enough. My company is gradually transitioning into a media company. Publishing is where my real passion is. I like to write. I write to publish.
Pro tip: As an agency/business owner, your sole job is to bring in sales. The rest can be handled by other people. And writing is big part of marketing these days. So, invest time and effort into that.
I strongly feel that I need to give my each program, service and product a name. Without it, it won’t be branded as mine. Everyone is doing coaching, what’s different about me?
Name alone does not make a product stand out, value does. But name is the first step towards that.
In The Spotlight
In the past week, I have been working on following:
- Expanding my team
- Implementing automations and systems
- Revamping my main website
- Selling my retainers
- Engaging with new people on social media
- Launching my products and services
These are the core activities that move the needle in my business. The moment, you realize what are the core activities that move the needle if no one else is there, that is when real growth starts to happen.
Lesson Learnt
Lesson # 1 – Keep personal and professional life separate.
When I was freelancer, I was working from home. That is worst decision ever.
Why?
You can’t differentiate between your work and personal life. This leads to more stress and less productivity.
If you are working from home, draw a boundary line. That line must never be crossed.
For me, it was not thinking about work if I am not on my desk.
This will pay off in the long-run with better mental stability and productivity.
Lesson # 2 – Secure strategic partnerships instead of outsourcing
Sometimes, partnerships are more fruitful than outsourcing. This works best if you have repeatable work and that work is directly tied to sales.
For example, you can partner up with a lead generation agency for leads. They will be probably charge you 20% to 30%. Depending on your requirements and amount of work they will be doing.
Here are my 2 propositions that I share with clients who are looking to work with lead gen agency:
- Generate leads (20%)
- Generate leads and close clients (35%)
Which is fair enough to both, lead gen itself requires good amount of work.
Lesson # 3 – Always test things on a pilot program.
I have failed more startups than fingers on my hand.
Why?
Because instead of dipping toes to test the depth of water, I dive striaght into the abyss.
My goal is to either catch a whale or come back to up.
This approach cost me a lot of resources.
A better approach is run the program on a pilot program. To help me with this, I have implemented the product promotion pipeline. So that I can test waters for any new product in weeks.
I have very high expectations for this pipeline.
Content Audit
This week, I wasn’t focusing on content that much. This caused drop in quality.
You might have noticed that or you might not have. I did. And it bothers me.
Anyhow, there was one piece that I was really happy with.
The post resonated with my audience a lot. I got good comments on this one. Despite that my profile ranking dropped a lot because I wasn’t active on LinkedIn for a whole week.
Anyhow, the amazing this is that, LinkedIn is working on a lot of cool analytics for premium users and creators. LinkedIn pro version is really worth it.
I just got this cool feature because I have LinkedIn sales navigator.
This will help me stay on track with my activities.
Although it is expensive, but the value you get is tremendous.
Same goes for Twitter as well.
I bought a tool for 30 bucks subscription and it was really good. I started seeing boost in my impressions.
Unfortunately, with too much going on, I am unable to focus on Twitter. I will definitely need to bring someone in for this.
That is all from my side. I would like to hear from your side.
What are you working on these days, Armano.
I am always here to guide you, motivate you and help you.
Waiting to hear from you.
Adios,
Talha X
Dreamer & Founder @ The Notion Millionaire.
