The Newsletter Pro - January 2021

The Newsletter Pro - January 2021

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TOP 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED FROM GROWING NEWSLETTER PRO OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS! THE

No Entrepreneur Can Go It Alone PAGE 3 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Why Setting New Goals Could Be a Mistake PAGE 4 5 Books You Didn’t Read Last Year But Should Have PAGE 4 Cohley Will Help You Become a Trendy Influencer PAGE 6 The Best Way to Make 2021 Your Greatest Year Yet! PAGE 7 The Unprofitable Company Everyone Is Talking About PAGE 8

Jan. 25, 2021, marks 10 years since I started Newsletter Pro. I’d be lying to you if I told you this is how I thought things were going to turn out when I started this company. I knew Newsletter Pro was a good idea. I knew in all likelihood that it would do well as a business and could get to a few million in annual revenue. What I couldn’t have predicted, though, is just how far we’ve come and how much both the business and I have changed. I couldn’t have predicted the truly amazing friendships that have come from owning Newsletter Pro or the business knowledge I’ve learned and experiences I’ve had that will forever shape me. I couldn’t have predicted the freedom I’ve gained or how many lives have been touched and blessed by Newsletter Pro. I also couldn’t have predicted the number of people who have touched and blessed my life at some point on this journey. As I sit here and reflect on the previous 10 years, I am so thankful for everyone

who has been part of this journey with me, whether in the past or currently, in a big or small way. Newsletter Pro has forever changed my life and the lives of employees, customers, family, and friends as well as the businesses we partner with and the entrepreneurs who get business and marketing help from this newsletter each month. Newsletter Pro also impacts many people in ways that are less obvious. I don’t often talk about this side of what we do, but here is a little peek behind the curtain. Each month, we provide support to dozens of boys and girls who have been rescued from sex trafficking in Asia or who simply need food, health care, education, and clothing so they can have the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. Annually, we also support hundreds of foster care kids and kids from the Boise Police Department’s Special Victims Unit who wouldn’t have

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... CONTINUED FROM COVER a Christmas without the nonprofit Fostering Christmas, which I created five years ago in large part thanks to Newsletter Pro. Finally, this business has impacted my own boys who, in the last year alone, would have had their lives permanently changed for the worse had it not been for Newsletter Pro. All that is just the tip of the iceberg. Before I get to the top 10 things I’ve learned over the last 10 years, I want to say thank you to everyone who’s played a part in helping Newsletter Pro over the last decade. I am blessed beyond words and humbled by the trust, love, and support all of you have given me. Thank you. Quick note: These lessons aren’t in any particular order, so don’t read into the number next to them . Lesson 1: Stop solving problems that haven’t happened yet. This one seems simple, but you’d be surprised by how many people I’ve seen who find a solution to one problem and then focus on new hypothetical problems the proposed solution might create. Instead of implementing the solution to the existing problem, they try to solve future problems that don’t exist yet. Lesson 2: Collect as much contact info as possible. We’ve seen this in 2020 especially. You need to have

multiple ways of contacting customers and prospects — plain and simple. If all you’re collecting is their name and email address, you’re taking on massive risk in your business. At a minimum, you need to collect their name, email, mailing address, phone number, and cellphone number. Lesson 3: Existing customers are more important than new customers. Once someone has proven that they will spend money with you, it’s important to focus on giving them an amazing experience and building that relationship. Most entrepreneurs forget about their existing customers, which kills profits and is expensive and dumb. Existing customers are the key to making your business goals a reality — that is, if you treat them right. Lesson 4: Nurture leads and prospective customers. We’ve all heard that salespeople make one or two attempts, on average, to follow up on leads before they give up. This is awful and reflects that most entrepreneurs lack systems to nurture and follow up with leads, save for a handful of emails or self-serving promotional pieces. This bad practice costs entrepreneurs more money than you might imagine. At a minimum, you have to follow up with prospects by educating, entertaining, building relationships, and making

offers. If you’re not willing to do that, you will always struggle. Lesson 5: Get in front of customers and prospects with the right media. You need to have a way to get in front of all your customers and prospects with near 100% deliverability, and the only media that can do that is print and mail. If only 15% of your customers are reading your emails and 1% see your social media and other online posts, you’re leaving a massive amount of money on the table. You have to be in front of both prospects and customers at least once per month, and the only medium that can virtually guarantee you can do that is mail. Near 100% deliverability is one of the reasons that newsletters that are done correctly work so well. Lesson 6: The business has four masters, and they all need to win. Every business has four masters: 1. Employees, 2. Customers, 3. The Business, and 4. Shareholders. When making a decision, you need to ask yourself if it’s good for all four masters. From time to time, the right decision won’t be good for all four, and that’s okay. Like in any relationship, sometimes you will take the short end of the stick. But if one person is always taking the short end of the stick in a relationship, that relationship will soon end. Lesson 7: Don’t spread yourself too thin. Far too many people are trying to do too many things, and they spread themselves and their businesses too thin. Sometimes that easy money will be more expensive in the long run because it distracts you from the goal. Just because someone wants to pay you for it doesn’t mean you should sell it to them. Lesson 8: You have to build your business foundation before you start to build the rest of the house. Make sure that you’ve mastered and are maintaining the basics before you Continued on Page 4 ...

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BUSINESS HOW-TO

Strategic Hiring Nobody’s Perfect, But With the Right Team, You’ll Get a Lot Closer

E ntrepreneurs have a habit of biting off more than they can chew. I’m guilty of it, and I’m sure you’ve experienced it too. The truth is that as much as we want to do everything, we can’t. There are things we simply aren’t good at. When you take on tasks you’re ill-suited for, you’re not going to like the results. Even if you put 100% into the task, if you don’t have the talent, experience, or education necessary for it, the result could be disastrous. This is why you need to hire team members who are suited to these tasks and can handle the areas of your business you cannot. I’m a sales guy. I have a background in sales, and that’s how I was raised, so to speak. But not all entrepreneurs are suited for sales. If you don’t know the first thing about sales, you can certainly learn. But if you’re trying to build and grow a successful and profitable business, learning sales while balancing everything else can be a burden. You’ll be burned out in no time, so your best course of action is to hire someone who already has a proven track record in sales. This is called strategic hiring . To hire strategically, the first thing you need to do is have a heart-to-heart

with yourself. What are your strengths and weaknesses as an entrepreneur? Be brutally honest. Your goal is to hire candidates to fill the roles you fall short in. Lying to yourself about any shortcomings will make hiring ideal candidates much harder. You also need to be aware of your business culture and how your brand is perceived publicly because this also plays a role in the hiring process. It’s not easy to attract high- quality candidates, so make sure your company and brand are something they’ll want to be a part of. What can you tell candidates about what your brand stands for and what they can expect from your company culture? The ideal candidates will want an answer upfront so they can determine if the position is right for them. Once you’ve taken a look at your business culture and brand and identified key business areas that would benefit from a skilled employee, you need to create a job description. Be as clear and as thorough as possible about what the position will entail so candidates will know exactly what they’re signing up for. Also be clear about what skills, background, education, etc.,

you’re looking for from candidates. It’s on you to sell the job to them. Strategic hiring requires strategic interviewing. I can’t tell you how many candidates look great on paper, then completely bomb the interview. But we quickly continue searching for the person who looks good on paper and soars through the interview. Set your expectations high, be tough, look for red flags, and have candidates interview with more than one person to get different perspectives. It’s up to you how strict you are with candidates, but you don’t want to waste time with candidates who don’t check most (if not all) of the boxes. Look for people who have the skills you need, ace the interview, and match your culture and team, which is what this all comes back to. Every member of the team must work together. If a candidate gives you any hint that they might be a wrench in the machine, move on. But if they check

your boxes and you feel confident that they will succeed in the role you cannot, your strategic hiring process has paid off, and you can confidently make an offer. –Shaun

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MARKETING HOW-TO

Schedule a Call With Us! Visit NewsletterPro.com/schedule or call 208.297.5700. Thanks again for an amazing 10 years. I appreciate you, and I look forward to better serving you over the weeks, months, and years ahead. –Shaun are maintaining the basics before you jump to the next shiny object or pick out the blinds. If you build a crap foundation, you’ll have a crap business. In short, business is won by being really good at the boring stuff. Lesson 9: You are the bottleneck in your business . Annually, at a minimum, take time to remove responsibilities from your plate. Start with areas where you’re bottlenecking a system, a process, or growth. The more you can remove yourself from being a bottleneck, the bigger, better, and faster you can grow. The fastest way to remove yourself is by delegating to existing employees or outsourcing to a company or contractor. All you need to do to be successful at this is have clear metrics or a measurable action plan. Lesson 10: You need to have clear goals that become well-researched plans, which become small, actionable steps. Personally, I want my annual goals to be broad but measurable and quarterly action plans that allow me to be nimble and adjust as crazy things happen … like a pandemic or the coming zombie apocalypse.

PSA: PLAN THE WORK AND WORK THE PLAN WHY SETTING NEW GOALS COULD BE A MISTAKE

OUR BOOKSHELF

Have you ever looked at your stack of unread books and wondered how you are going to get through them all, especially before the end of the year? Yet, at the same time, you keep looking for even more books to add to your pile! It’s a conundrum. Entrepreneurs know what it’s like. You love to read, but you’re also trying to grow your business (or navigate the challenges of 2020 going into 2021). There are probably several books you didn’t get to last year. Or there may be worthy books that never landed on your radar. That’s the theme of this month’s book recommendations. We’re going to take a look at a few books you may have missed in 2020 — books every entrepreneur should add to their stack of must-reads. Here are our top five from the past year. • ‘Reimagining Capitalism: How Business Can Save the World’ by Rebecca Henderson (March 26, 2020) Stand out in an increasingly crowded field by changing the way you think about growth in a more socially conscious world. 5 BOOKS YOU DIDN’T READ IN 2020 — BUT SHOULD HAVE

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2. Determine what you intend to give in exchange for the money. 3. Establish a definite date you intend to possess the money. 4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire. Then, ready or not, put it into action. 5. Write out a clear, concise statement about the details established above, including all the steps to your plan. 6. Read the statement out loud twice daily, once in the morning and once before bed. Hill believed it's very important to read your statement with extreme confidence, as if you’re already in possession of the money that you desire. Then, you have all the motivation to follow through and work with your plan.

Tony Robbins asks a wonderful question to kick off his financial seminars: “What’s the price of your dreams?” Every entrepreneur thinks about this because growing their business is part of their dreams. They make a plan based on how much time, effort, and money it will take to reach success. However, as a fresh new year approaches, it may be tempting to doubt the plan. You may want to abandon your plan in favor of a shinier one, and you might even believe doing so is a core part of success. Is this always the case? Not necessarily. Replacing your goals and plans every single year can actually be counterproductive. Here’s why. First, let’s consider what Napoleon Hill meant when he said, “Plan the work and work the plan.” In his book, “Think and Grow Rich,” he defines this explicitly with a six-step plan: 1. Set the exact figure of money you desire.

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Have You Heard the Good News?

• ‘Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit’

• ‘No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention’ by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer (Sept. 8, 2020) A great insider’s look into how Netflix’s company culture allowed the streaming giant to continually reinvent itself as the market changed from its founding in 1998.

by Alex Edmans (April 16, 2020) Learn how your company can create both profit and social value that benefits shareholders, employees, customers, and the community. Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them’ by Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini (Aug. 18, 2020) A well-researched look at how cutting through bureaucracy gets you to something better: a business that is able to quickly and efficiently adapt to change.

Romans 5:5–6 — "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us ... For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." Psalms 25:20–21 — “Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in.”

• ‘Humanocracy: Creating

• ‘When More Is Not Better: Overcoming America’s Obsession With Economic Efficiency’

by Roger Martin (Sept. 29, 2020) A different perspective on today’s economy: why democratic capitalism in America is crumbling and how to save it.

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MARKETING HOW-TO CONTINUED ...

When you look at that list, it’s easy to see that the most important thing about having a plan is to not lose your motivation to see it through. We can’t allow new plans to take over all our current ones. As business owners, we have to measure the results of the plans and goals we’re focusing on and prioritize achieving them. It takes a lot of work to create new goals and also to create new daily intentions to match them. When you already have valuable daily habits and plans in action that are productive and working, don’t fix what isn’t broken. Rather, use this to build more powerful momentum. “WHAT’S THE PRICE OF YOUR DREAMS?"

Setting new goals (for the sake of it) can be a trap. It can be tempting for business owners to set new goals every single year and get distracted by every new shiny tool or marketing strategy. Unfortunately, these distractions sometimes do a lot more harm than good. It’s healthy to recognize when you’re already on the right path. Revamping your plans and goals without good reasons can throw your business off balance. If the price for your dreams hasn’t changed and you’re making wonderful progress as it is, it’s time to reconsider your New Year’s resolutions and ask yourself this: Will this bring me closer to or farther from my plan?

–Shaun

RESOURCE OF THE MONTH Cohley Will Help You Become a Trendy Influencer Finally, a Digital Marketing Firm That Understands Your >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8

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