How to build a RAVING fanbase that BUYS... | Alicia Reynoso

Hi everybody.

I'm Ryan Daniel Moran. Welcome back to capitalism dot com. I'm best known for helping entrepreneurs build million dollar businesses. And today I want to share with you a case study and success story that is very near and dear to my heart. It was an entrepreneur who started following my work right when I started teaching all of what I share about building million dollar businesses. By following the third grade math formula.

Four products, 25 sales a day at.

A $30 price point. Those numbers create a million dollar business. And this young woman was at a conference that I was sharing that math formula and she slipped me a note to say thank you. And then we lost touch and we caught up several years later and she.

Caught me up to speed on the.

Fact that she had built a multimillion.

Dollar business that had recently passed eight.

Figures and she had sold it for a multimillion dollar paycheck. Now that's a cool story, but the most interesting part of this is how she did it, because she did it in a very strategic, tactical way that I think anybody can do. In fact, her business sold water bottles, about the most basic product that you could sell. How do you make that sexy?

How do you make that stand out?

And she did it by building community and building a following, which is what I say in my book. 12 months to 1 million is the fastest way to build million business. If you build the following and you get them engaged, you get them excited about what you have for them, that's the fastest way that you can Release product number one and get it to 25 sales a day, then product number.

Two and get to 25 sales a day.

So I asked Alicia not to just.

Come on the podcast, but I asked.

Her to do a full training inside of our mentoring community called the 1%. And she did a full training about how she builds Facebook groups that buy from you, how she builds Facebook groups that get people to follow your work, how you use them to build audiences, how you use them to get them engaged. Even if you're selling something boring like water bottles or iPhone cases or supplements, how do you get people engaged in your brand so much that they not only buy from you because you're cheap on Amazon, but but they prefer to buy from you at a premium price point and then sign up to buy.

Product 2 and 3 and 4?

If you do this well, then you only need a few thousand or even a few hundred people to have a really successful launch and to have multiple products that get you close to that million dollar run rate. So I had Alicia come do A live coaching call to kick off this sprint that we're doing inside of the 1% where we are walking our members through the process of building responsive groups and these responsive audiences so they have the foundation to have a six figure per month business.

Because if you do this process, you will have an audience that is big.

Enough and engaged enough for you to have a million dollar business. So I wanted to share the first kickoff call with you for free. If you enjoy this, then I would encourage you to apply for our mentoring community which is called the 1%. It's called that because only 1% of people ever become million dollar business owners. And her full training as well as all of our coaching and our community is inside of there and it is where we mentor people to build million dollar businesses. When you're ready to jump in, you can apply for a spot over@capitalism.com 1.

Hi, Alicia, how are you?

Good. How are you doing?

Ryan, I've been so looking forward to chatting with you.

No, I know. It's been way too long.

It has. It's literally been years.

So.

So for anyone who's not familiar with the story, Alicia and I met at a conference. She was. Were you in the first time I ever taught any E commerce at all. Were you in that group or group? You were really early.

Yeah, it was 2014.

Okay.

It was ASM3. And that was when you were. You're selling the tribe. Like you buy through by the course with you. You got the tribe and I had been following you since I was like 16, 18 or 17 or something like that. And then I got your email one day about ASM and the opportunity to sell on Amazon and I was like, all right, this is it. And then, and then I met you in Vegas because we were part of the tribe. I was just a nervous, dumb kid at that time.

It's so funny because I've told the story many times about how I got off stage and how this young woman slipped me a handwritten note that I went back to my hotel and read later and it meant the world to me. I still have the note. And then you and I lost touch for several years. And then you didn't speak at all. I never even knew what your business was.

Yeah.

And then you came back out of nowhere and said, hey, did I ever tell you what happened? Well, we had this monstrous business. We had a big exit. Now I teach a bunch of E commerce and. And I was like, wait, what did I miss? This is fantastic. So would you catch those who are not me up to speed on all that has happened in your business and how you got there.

Yeah. So since that, that trip in Vegas. So I don't know if you knew this, but this is just a funny part of that story that I. That I was talking to about with. With my friends and stuff is I was only. I was 20 when we met, and I was so excited because you invited me out to like, the. The air, the bars and restaurants with everyone, you and like a bunch of people from asm. And I was so excited. And. And I remember they ended up IDing us and I was like, pretending like I had my id. I'm like, yeah, yeah. Because I was so embarrassed of being 20 years old. And I'm like, I just must have forgot it. And then I go, you got it. You got to leave. And I was like, oh, shit. I was like, I just want to sit here and have dinner. Like, I didn't even want drinks or anything. But I just thought that was a funny, funny.

I never knew that story.

That is being 20 at that time. But anyways, yeah. So since Vegas at that time, I hadn't even launched my product at that point. I was just kind of brainstorming what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to build a brand, like, from the get go. I wanted to build something that served a greater purpose. And my mission was remind people to live their life with infinite possibilities. I was like, what can I do with that? What can I create a brand around that that reminds people to chase after their dreams and go after their goals? Because that was just something that was actually a part of what I wrote in Note was that for the longest time, like, for my whole life, I always believed I could do anything. Like, it was just like I had this insane amount of confidence and I was going through a really weird time that I was doubting myself until I got your email. And then I was like, you know what? I'm done. I'm done doubting myself. And so that's why I started to make my brand around. Believing in yourself again and like, and going after your dreams and stuff like that. So huge thanks to that. Like, it sparked that, like, fire and just like believing in myself.

And again, I'm so glad. I'm very glad. Did you have a core person in mind that you were wanting to serve? You didn't have a product yet, so did you know the. Obviously the impact you wanted to make was you wanted to inspire people to believe in themselves again, but did you have a core person that that was.

Going to be for, to be honest, like, I didn't understand any of that at that time. I was just like, I think it's me. You know, I was like, I was very. My passions were being healthy and getting outside. You know, those were the things that, like, made me feel confident and made me feel happy and energized. And so I was like, okay, I'm going to create some sort of fitness outdoor brand. So actually, it was in Vegas, and I was, like, researching, like, Bestseller Inks, and, like, I'm like, all right, this product and cooling towels were, like, hot because it was July. And I was like, this is going to be the best product ever. But I didn't realize. I didn't realize seasonality at all or anything like that. So I launched that product in November that following year. That. That same year. And it. It kind of flopped because it was November then, and nobody wanted, you know, cooling towels or anything like that. And so that's when my boyfriend and I partnered, like, the. The next year, him and I had, like, partnered, and together we launched water bottles. And that was, like, what kind of set us off. Like, got us on the map of. Of our brand and everything. And started on Amazon within the first few years. Like, we did really well. Like, just kept growing 100 at least year over year. Like, it was just, like. It was crazy. Like, everything you ever talked about, I'm like, this works. Like, Amazon works. This is so freaking cool. And we mainly rode that wave with our water bottles, and we were trying. We were trying to, like, come up with other things. And I was thinking of myself, like, okay, let's launch, like, hammocks or outdoor stuff. And, like, I was so all over the place in the sense of, like, understanding branding. I was like, all I wanted was to remind people of that mission and to get outside and to be healthy, but really, I was so, like, all over the place.

And then it was, like, around 2018 or whatever that I spoke with Ezra Firestone, and he was like, you know, one day you could, like, sell this business. And I didn't know that was a thing. Really. I didn't know. I didn't realize that was a thing until, like, I saw that you exited, and Ezra said that. And I was like, that's freaking cool. And, okay, what do we have to do to get to that point? And that's when I realized, okay, we got to focus in, like, who is our. Who is our avatar?

And that's, like. That changed everything for us in the sense of, like, okay, let's prepare to sell you know, what do we have to do to sell? And we were like all over the place with products and we just narrowed in, like, this is our person and how can we best serve them? And that changed everything for us. So I didn't, I get that at first, Alicia.

This is what I love about this story, is you were selling water bottles.

Yeah.

And forgive me, I'm not knocking your brand, but it's not like the world was sitting there going, if we only had another water bottle. All the money is in water bottles, Alicia. You know, you obviously put that up at a conference or an email that I wrote somewhere. So differentiating water bottles, not an easy task. And I know that your strategy was on the community building side, even though it took you a few years to really discover who your target audience was. So this is, from what I can tell from the outside and the little that you've told me and from the training that you've done for us, it seems like that was really the pivot point for you. Like, that was what gave you the exposure and the loyalty from your customer list and the ability to charge premium prices was the community that you built. Is that a correct assumption?

Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. Before that, like, we were just like, what's a good bestseller rank? Okay, we'll launch that. You know, like it was never methodical. It was never like, it was algorithm.

It was. You were, you were pandering to Amazon.

Exactly. 100. And so we're like. And that wasn't going to be sustainable. It's not attractive. Like when we were trying to sell, like we had met with brokers and they're like, they're like, yeah, you're kind of a commodity business. And I was like, no, but we have a mission. I was like, this is what I'm trying to tell people. But it like, it wasn't really being portrayed at all. Like we were just a commodity that, like, was easily, you could easily compete with for sure, because we didn't have that strong.

Community or anything.

You had no one who was choosing you. They were finding you on Amazon or they were buying because of price point or reviews or ranking, but they weren't choosing you until you had the community. Is that what you're saying?

Yes. Yep. Yeah.

So, so how did you go about. Well, I'm assuming that water bottles are not the only product at this point, but how did you go about building a community around something as everyday as water bottles?

Yeah. So another funny story for you. I was actually, I don't know if it was 1%, because I was a part of them at 1% for a really, really long time. And I don't know if it was in there or your podcast, but I listened to you talk to George Bryant a lot on, like, relationships and stuff, and I knew that's what I was trying to do. I felt like I was just hitting my head on a wall, though. Like. Like, there's my mission. Don't you understand? Like, I, Like, I was, like, trying to convey that in everything we did. But, like, I just listened to that piece that you did with him, talking a lot more about, like, that relationship that you build with them, and that just, like, something around. Around that time just, like, completely clicked. Like, oh, my gosh. Like, I'm, like. I'm, like, saying, go out there and live your life with infinite possibilities. Chase after your dreams. But how am I actually, like, helping them? Like, I'm not. I'm not facilitating a journey whatsoever. You know, I was just, like, selling them the product and saying, you got this, you know? And so, like, it was just, like, it. Around that time was the end of 2019 that it all clicked. So then I bought a big whiteboard, and I started writing down, okay, here is our cost. Like, here's our main customer. At that point, we still had, like, some outdoor stuff. And, like, we phased all of that out and just focused in on, like, you know, our middle age to older women, like, the avatar. Avatar, essentially, of just, like, this woman that wants to be seen, heard, she wants to be healthy, active, loved, and all those things. Like, I just spent forever and on my whiteboard, like, okay, here's where she's at and where she wants to go. Here's her objections.

Like, and then I started, mapped out her journey. You heard her journey and the pain points that she experiences along the way. And you got rid of everything that didn't match that.

Yes. Yeah.

Beautiful.

Yeah.

And so there for a second, because I want to marinate in the depth of that statement. Does anybody just get it? Did anybody just see, oh, this isn't just something Ryan pontificates about. Alicia had products all over the place, wondering, what product do I sell? Throw this at the wall and this at the wall. And then said, all right, let's take this core person that we're targeting, and then let's map out their journey and the pain points that they have, create products around that and remove everything else. And that was a big turning point for her. Please continue, Elisa.

Yes. Yes. And then I was embarrassed.

This moment.

Yeah. I'm like, this whole time, I've been, like, doing this so wrong. Like, I had the best intentions, you know, obviously, I just. I went into it from the beginning wanting a brand. I never wanted to just, like, sell products that didn't make sense, but I just felt. I felt so silly. So then I realized her journey, and I was like, okay, what can I do to support her from getting to here to here? I realized I wasn't really our customer. Like, I thought I was like, there was this, like, core. There's this core need and that. That I just wasn't fulfilling for them at that time. And I was like, I. That's when I realized, like, okay, like, take a step back. Like, let's look at her journey. And I got really excited because I was like, I can. I can help her with, you know, I can make these ebooks or videos or, like, I can change. I was in charge of all of our email marketing and everything. I'm like, I can build out this journey to best serve her when she enters our. And I was really excited. But then I got, like, super overwhelmed because, like, we were a super small team. Like, it was just me, my boyfriend, and our best friend. That was it. That. That, like, ran our business. And I was in charge of our Facebook ads, email marketing, photography, design. Like, way too many things. Like, we never knew how to hire. That was not our strong suit. And so I was like, I can't build all of these assets by myself. And. And that's when I thought of the idea of, like, putting it into a challenge. I was like, okay, this is the journey she wants. Maybe we could. And it was just a shot in the dark. It was January, like, 5th, 2020, that I launched the challenge and our community and Facebook group. I always looked at other people that had Facebook groups and was so envious. Like, how do you do this? And how do you get them to talk about you? And, like, how do they fall?

I can get it to 10,000 members. I don't have a following.

Exactly. And so I was so nervous, and I launched the group, and I'm like, I hope people want to. To do this. And. And it. It just picked up. It was like all of these, like, all of these customers that. That were, like, hidden in the corner waiting for me to show up just were like, here we are finally. Thank you. Like, this is what we've been wanting. And they all raised their hand. And at that time, we had, like, a decent list of, like, 60, 000 people or something, but we never served them, and they but you could just tell that they were like, eager, excited, and they were swaying.

You had a customer list of 60,000 or so, and I'm guessing you're doing promotions and launches and asking for reviews and doing that kind of stuff for them. But you're not really creating any community at all, which is so common with e commerce businesses. And so you start this challenge, you have no idea if anybody's going to show up. And what was the result when you started kicking it off? Because you don't know if anybody's going to be there. You're envious of all these people who have communities and groups. So what did the growth path look like and what was the adoption? What did you start seeing in the first few days?

Yeah, so I recorded. I went out too afraid to do live videos at the time. The reason you didn't see me for like eight years because, like, we just like went like undercover basically. I don't, I don't know the best. We just like dug in and like disappeared from the world, essentially. So I was afraid to do live videos and I was like, I'm just gonna record myself. I went outside and like 10 takes later, like, hello, you know, join our group. And then I posted that, went inside our warehouse and started packaging orders because I was too nervous to see if people would not like it. And then I like went back, I went back inside, send an email, you know, invited people to the group. I went back in and saw that like dozens of people had already joined and dozens of people had already made a pledge to join me. It was a hydration challenge and to join me on this challenge. And I was like, like, holy. It's like, this is, like, this is real, this is. People are excited.

And so the challenge was hydration challenge.

Yeah.

So. So it wasn't like, turn your whole life and relationship and financial situation and buy a new car in 90 days.

It was just as you drink water. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Pretty simple. Good.

Pretty simple. Yeah, exactly. And so the first, the first week or two, I was like, I had no idea what I was doing, but I think that vulnerability they really respected and appreciated. You know, there's a bunch of those first members that joined me on that first round. Since then, we've. We had done 1060 day challenges. And like, there's people from that first round that have done all of them because they were like, they built that intimate relationship with me and they got to know me, they got to see me like stutter and like get super nervous on my videos. They got to See that human side of the brand, you know, like, which I was, like, nervous about. But, like, I eventually now realize that was one of my greatest assets at the beginning was just, like, being real with them. And even though I wasn't necessarily my avatar, like, I'm very passionate about being healthy and about setting goals and all the things that I wanted my, like, mission to be. So it became. It was super easy for me to. To talk with them and be like, let's make vision boards, or, like, let's, you know, eat healthy, drink your water, and, like, it was just.

And you care about that person, right? You're not that person, but you care about the person that you are serving, which is all that it takes. I'm curious, Alicia, how did you do 10 rounds of 60 days for drink more water? How did you create enough content and community to sustain that?

Yeah, so that's kind of like, the beauty of it was I mapped out that. That. That whiteboard, like I told you about, and there was so much more than just being hydrated that this woman needed, you know, that my avatar needed. Like, she wanted to feel confident and she wanted to, like, have energy and that, like, after I, like, mapped out what she really needs, I could support her. Not just like, the. So the. The bird's eye view of the challenge was like, you have the core objective. Like, this is what you pledge to do for however long, 30, 60 days. But then every single week, we would mix it up with the other things that. That this person needs in their journey to be successful in what they're trying to achieve. So healthy eating and vision boards and gratitude. And so that, like, kept the conversation. And. Because six days is a long time, but, like, when you mix it up like that weekly with different core focuses, that the conversation is always changing. And that's why our community was just so engaged, because it was like, now we're talking about gratitude, now we're talking about fitness. And this person has, like, the knowledge in this area that now they want to share, and these people have questions, and. And so with 60 or 10, 60 days, not one round was the same ever, you know? And so, like, it was always interactive and engaging and not a lot of work on me, because that was. I didn't have the time, you know, but I could just say, this week, let's focus on this. And then the conversation changed. People were excited, engaged. It's what they need to move them along in their journey and they'll come back for the next rounds because it's always different. So. So that's, that was kind of like the cool part that I accidentally did.

You were always jealous of people who had Facebook groups and communities of 10,000 people. Big did your group end up getting after a few rounds of this?

16,000.

16,000.

Yeah. Yeah. And, but I, I, I always, like, I always think quantity over quality or quality over quantity. You know, I made it very intentional. Like, they had to answer questions in order to, like, be in the group, because I didn't want people just inviting their friends and being like, yes, everyone joined to get that number, you know, artificially inflated. It was like, your friend invited you, but, like, answer these questions just so I know that you want to be here. You don't have to buy our products, but just like, just so I know you want to be in the group. So we kept it very, like, intentional of, like, the who's in there, wanted to be in there. You know, they answered the questions and not just like, free for all people coming in, because then that loses focus of your group, you know.

So the, the first thing that I'm really hearing is this turned a faceless brand into a community, which is a win all on its own. You're selling a commodity, like just a water bottle, which you're telling me makes it more sellable in your case, because the brokers that you're talking to are now saying that this has a real soul to it. People are now choosing you over other brands. So that is a win all on its own. But there's more to it than that too, because it's one thing for people to hear Ryan pontificate about how building real brand and real audience will increase conversions and price points and repeat buyers and give you more product ideas to sell. But how did it impact your business going from selling faceless water bottles to having a challenge with 16,000 people? What did that do for the top and bottom line of the business?

Yeah, so the number one biggest thing that took me a while to realize this because, you know, when you're in it, I wasn't very, like, good at, like, looking at the numbers, unfortunately. But, like, after I've, like, taken a step back and looked at everything, I realized one of the biggest numbers that, like, it affected was it increased our life customer lifetime value by 45%.

45. My goodness.

That blew my mind.

Massive.

That's so massive. Yeah. And, you know, unfortunately, we were, we were getting better at being. Because our, we had really low profit margins. We started on Amazon. We weren't very. It was waterfall. Yeah, we. So our profit margins Were like that's also why we didn't hire a lot because we didn't just, we couldn't do it right. But then over the years we got better at upsells and adding in different products to increase that average order value. But on top of that, just having our lifetime customer, lifetime value increased that dramatically. You know that like helped us so much in being able to acquire people and, and know that we're going to keep them in our ecosystem for a long time. So that was like a huge thing for us. Also. It helped us build out like a roadmap. Before like I said, I didn't know, I didn't know what to do. I was just like, oh, the best seller ring, sure, we'll launch that product and then it's a flop. And then like so we never knew exactly like what to do. But now we like our customers want this, they like this color, they want you know, this product next because like actually talking to them and then yeah, 2020 was our first year that we hit eight figures. So like that was like I was so cool.

And was that after simplifying the product line?

Yeah.

So you, so you, so you crossed 10 million with fewer products.

Yes.

It's a big deal. Yeah, please listen to that. Like please catch that everybody. You hear me talk about this all the time, about how when you choose your person, you'll sell more, you'll sell at higher price points, you'll have easier times choosing what products they will choose you over competitors. And now you have Alicia telling you that that's what happened when they simplified their product line and went all on a poor person. Alicia, did you launch any new products in service to the person that you chose that was going through this challenge or did you just button up the product line that you had?

No, we buttoned up first. That was like a huge part of, of our preparation to sell. But then like we realized different products like like T shirts or whatever. You know, like we never like we had apparel before but like nobody cared because like they have to like, they have to like be your fan to like buy T shirts. So like T shirts and stickers and just like super quick high profit products that we could just like launch like this and be done. We started like doing more stuff like that that were like more that community based. Like we had like shirts for the community. You know, like you're now you can identify that you're in the community with a T shirt and stuff like that and then some, some other products as well. But mainly just like the Supporting like community products we're able to launch. But it was first buttoning up because that was our biggest problem was just like all over the place. It made marketing so hard because I felt like I was writing to like a 40, 40 year old man that wants to be outside and then like a 30 year old woman that wants to drink water. And it was just like I was so confused, you know?

Yeah. How do you, how do you get more of those people?

You can't, I don't know. Right. Yeah, exactly.

Unless that person is changing their age and gender on a regular basis, going back and forth, buying different things, that's pretty hard to target.

Yeah.

So, so what, what did the core base of products end up being by the time that you were, you're pacing eight figures?

Well, water bottles was number one. Like that. Yeah, that was the hero. That was like what led the charge. But then we tried to get them in the door with like supplements and stuff like that, you know, like to help support them on the journey and then accessories, you know, for our water bottles and, and those were like the, the core products that we ended up with.

I mean that ends up being a very simple business. And, and, and the, and the beauty of that is when, when you don't have community, when you don't have brand, we tend to complicate it, which is exactly what was going on with you. And so Bill, going back to the who and serving that person allowed you to simplify, which allowed you to grow. Do you still own the business or did you have an exit?

No, I had an exit.

So you had an exit. Are you able to share? Can you share what you can share about it?

Yeah, well, it was, it was last year. It's almost been a year now. And so that's why you see me immerse from my cave because I was just, I was just in there working forever and so now I've been like, hey, I'm alive and, and you know, excited to talk to old friends and stuff and. But yeah, it was, it's been about a year now and it was a seven figure exit, but, but it was, it was, we couldn't have timed it more perfectly and like we're just, we're, we're very excited. But with the transition, I, with being like the face of the community and stuff, like I had helped, you know, run the community for a few months after, as we transitioned me out and that went super smooth and the community still going super strong, you know, as we've like phased that out and transitioned and all of my customers are super excited and happy for me because I told them, like, you know, our brand was about, like living your life with infinite possibilities. Now I'm going into, you know, we're about to start traveling full time. And I was like, now I'm moving into the next phase of my journey. And they're like, they're just so excited because that, that's what I always preached was, you know, going after wonderful.

Now Elisa, you, you've done, you, you teach this stuff now. You've done a training for the 1% and we. It. You let me try again. You've updated an old training that I taught, which was called six figures per month in six months. Because I believe that the fastest way to have a six figure per month business is to build an audience. And the way that you're doing it is pretty much universal. Any brand can do it, any entrepreneur can do it. But there are people who are watching who are saying, all right, how do I come up with the idea for the challenge or the community that is a fit for my brand? You did it around hydration, which is super simple. How do you coach people through that decision for themselves?

Yeah, for sure. So, yeah, that's like the biggest question I've gotten is like, how, okay, that that makes sense, like a fitness or like healthy journey or whatever. And like, how could we do that for apparel or even just drop shipping or stuff like that? And the first thing is I just like went back to, you know, that, that moment that it clicked for me of trying to understand our customer. And I believe it was Russell Brunson that said, like, there's every product or service serves the three core needs, you know, health, wealth, and relationships.

Yes.

Like, well, he quoted a quote, so I don't know who actually said that, but, but that like, that like, clicked for me. So that's the first step is identifying which of those core needs that your product or service helps is that in their health or their wealth or relationship. You know, that's like step one and then step two is going through that process that the Avatar worksheet that was very much inspired by that, that podcast I show or listened with you and George Bryant. I'm just like, okay, this is where the person's in person is before state. This is where they want to go. And then taking it one step further of those internal struggles that they're actually going through. So just like an apparel brand, that's one of my, like, quickest examples is like, you would, you would think, like, oh, do we Do a challenge to like have them wear my leggings every single day or whatever. And it's like, that's not really what that customer is trying to achieve when they come to you as a brand and you know, that person's trying to, you know, maybe she's like me, you know, like a 20 something year old girl that wants to like be healthy and active, loved and like, so you help support her on the journey of like loving herself and making time for herself and like feeling like a girl boss or whatever, you know. So like those are like the things that you can help support them on and identifying those internal struggles. Not just like the surface level of oh, she wants new leggings or whatever. She's like, no on this journey of like discovering who she is and discovering like her path in the world. And so like, how can you help her like figure out where she belongs and like how she can move forward and like set her goals and stuff like that. So there's always a customer journey no matter what the product is.

Agreed.

It might not be so obvious and super obvious for me now like with hydration, but it really wasn't. I know that sounds silly, but it wasn't. At first I was like, what journey are they trying to go on? Like, I had no idea and it's really just taking that time. Or like I took a week on this, like a whole week of just like going back to my board and just being like, okay, maybe she's like feeling left out and like, or maybe, you know, like, and spending that time like really digging deep of the journey they're on. So there's always a journey, no matter the product. It's just a matter of identifying one of those core three core needs and then digging deep into those internal struggles.

And how did you marry this idea of what journey she's on or what she needs with the first domino being hydration? That's a, that's a bit of a jump, right? Like I get where you're going with this, but I think it's interesting to see how those two things connect. Besides it being the first domino on a healthy journey, there's also the piece of how she's feeling, how that person is feeling, and how hydration is that first step. Would you comment about what you were thinking about with that piece of the journey?

Yeah, so with that this was unintentional, unaccidental that it ended up being. But like, because like my first round I had no idea what exactly what I was doing, it just ended up being Working like this. But I always say that your first, like the core objective of your challenge is it's very helpful if it's like customizable and like, for them, you know, like with drinking water, they could pledge however many ounces of water they can drink. So like, you want to make that like, core thing that they're pledging to do customizable and kind of achievable, you know, because you want them to like, feel successful in doing the simple task. So it's like a very simple thing in my customer's journey that they could pledge to do. They could customize it to what they were there at, and then they feel successful and follow along. And then with the other, like the weekly challenges, that's where I push them further. You know, like you and emphasize that you don't have to participate in the weekly ones if you don't want to. But like, that's where I'll push them further in like, how they're feeling and gratitude and like self love and stuff like that. But I think having that core thing that you're going to ask your customers pledge to do be like something that's easily adoptable into their lives, customizable and, you know, somewhat achievable so that they feel like, yes, I can do this. Like, this is where I'm at. I can pledge to do this much or I can like going outside, I'm super busy. But I could at least pledge to like get outside for five minutes a day, you know, or just something like that where they like, I could do that for 60 days. And then if they like lose track or, you know, don't check in, they don't feel like they failed. They can like, you know, still follow along, but then jump back in on those weekly challenges when, when they're life permits it. So it's very welcoming and sets them up for success, I guess.

And how did you tie the product line into the challenge itself? Because there was obviously a bump in sales that happened when you started going in this direction. How did the product work its way into the narrative of the community?

Yeah, so there's been a lot of people that like, with ours, it's a lot more straightforward of just like hydration, you want a water bottle. Like, we always, we always emphasize you didn't need to use ours. Like, and that's like the biggest key component of your challenge is like, it needs to be a free experience that you can like, they don't need to buy your products because then you serve them, like, help them fall in love with you, help them learn about you. But like with some of my other clients, it's not so direct, you know, like, of, of just like hydration water bottle. It's more like we have like a pet company and it's not like you're going to ask them to use the pet products every single day. They might not need to, but you're helping them with the journey that the customer's on, on being like the best pet parent they can be. Loving their animals, learning more about their animals. That's really what that customer wants, is to be the best pet parent ever. You know, I've, I've been a dog mom before and like that's the goal is like no showing that your animal that you love them so much. So taking them on that journey and then your products like just fit in that journey. Like you don't have to force it. Like if they're on this journey, your products fit, you know, like that's your products do solve a problem. They're like a tool, one of the tools in solving their problem. You know, it's not the only tool, but it's going to fit into that journey and it doesn't need to be forced, you know.

And sometimes in my experience, it is always. It's also helpful to think about what other brands might fit pieces of the journey that my products don't. And that can sort of unplug the mental block that you can create. Like how do I force every product into this journey? Because like, sometimes you're not the best fit for a challenge that they're facing or you, you don't have the best product on that specific problem. And that's where brand partnerships come in. That's where collaborations come in. That's where, where content connections come from. That's where promoting other people's stuff as an affiliate or just because come into play on that. If you focus on the overall service of the customer on that journey, you're golden. And that opens up a lot more creativity and flow for you to put plug in where your products fit and where other products fit. And that creates a more real transformation for the customer to go down. And that is your job as the business owner. So Alicia, looking back on it, is there anything that you would do differently about the challenge now that you've done it 10 times? And when you decide to go into the next business or the next brand that you build, would you do it any differently?

Yes, I would. One of the biggest things, I just kick myself in the butt for all the Time is, I didn't run it as a lead gen hard enough.

Okay, tell us about that.

Yeah, I. Because like I said, when you're in it, unfortunately, I wasn't very good at, like, taking a step back and looking at the results all the time. As we were going along and the first few rounds, I just built it for our current customer base because we had a decent customer base at that time that I knew we weren't serving. So I wanted to, like, get back to them first. And then after that, I started opening it up. Like, I would run Facebook campaigns and just be like, come join our challenge. It's free. You know, here's like, the process or whatever. And I didn't realize how. How profitable that was. So if I could go back and do that, like, I feel like I would just go. I've gone so much harder on that because it takes a little bit for it to return. It's not that immediate purchase. Like, we were. So we were.

It's not direct response marketing.

Exactly. Yeah. Originally, our most. Our top of funnel campaigns, we would send them to, you know, just our product listing, and people would just buy, and we would get, like, a 2 return on ad spend, and that was pretty profitable for us. But then when we started using the. The challenge as a lead acquisition Strategy, we're getting a 4 return on ad spend. It wasn't seen right away. Like, it was noticed over, like, a month or two, but, like, that's what I would have done a lot differently is. Is like, it was such a powerful way to get people into our world, but I didn't really realize that. But I also, like, there's. I think there's a balance, though, that you have to be very careful of, flooding your community with people that don't know you like too many, versus the people that are your fans. So I always was trying to be methodical of keeping that, like, ratio of, like, these are the people that love us and are gonna, like, tell the new people how wonderful we are versus, like, these new people that are trying to learn the. Learn the ropes. But I would have definitely done that a lot differently now that I know, like, that it was so effective and just, like, being able to acquire people and specifically.

You mean running Facebook ads to people to join the challenge? Is that right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Did you try any other platforms or were you. It sounds like you were 100. A Facebook group, plus your email list and some Facebook ads. Was that the entire ecosystem?

Yeah. Yeah.

Pretty awesome.

Pretty much it.

So if any of you have seen the Content that I did as an opening to Alicia's training for the 1%. I talk about the traffic triangle where you have a traffic source, a hopper, and you have a conversion source. Your conversion source is your email list. That's where you do the selling. You have your hopper, which is the Facebook group, and then a traffic source. In Alicia's case, that was Facebook ads. But you could also, as another way to grow the group. Group is you can take screenshots of what's going on in the group, post them to your social media, give your commentary about them, and link over to the group. You can take clips of the videos that you do for your challenge and put them as TikTok content or Instagram reels and send them back to the challenge. You can take a question that came up in the challenge and respond to it on social media and send people back into the challenge. So that, that, that hopper where you are engaging the community also becomes user generated and Q A style content. You can do wrap ups of the best content that or the best questions that came in throughout the week and do a Q a show on YouTube that becomes the source of all the places of content that you are posting to all these channels. So those of you who are wondering, like, what do I like? I don't like to be on social media. I don't want to put my face out there. I don't even know what I would talk about your, your challenge or your hopper. The place where you're building community becomes the source for all of that. Right. In fact, here's an example. I'm doing it right now.

Did anybody catch that? We're talking with Alicia who did content for all of you. We're recording it live for all of you. And this will become clips to encourage people to get plugged into our community.

Exactly.

So I'm doing it right now.

Yeah, exactly.

So, Elisa, did you do any of that? Were you, were you sending out any of the stuff going on in the challenge to your email list or were you just all dedicated to the community?

No. Oh my gosh. That's. That was like the other huge thing was it just made everything in my life easier. Like I said, I was in charge. I ran our own Facebook ads, I did our own emails. I did everything in the, in marketing and I always was like, I don't know what blog post to write, I don't know what emails to send and I would like try my best. And like, I felt like I was pretty good. But then like the, the group just like took over my content for me. And that just like I didn't have to think about what I was going to send to my email list anymore because it was like, wow, like Becky just had the coolest transformational story. Like I'm going to share her story and then I'd like take her experience or pictures, videos, and I put it in an email. If the email performed really well, then that's an ad now. And like, it just like it just made everything. Like our organic social media before was just like it was dead. It was crickets. I was like posting the crickets all the time. And it's not like that skyrocketed, but like that just like took on a whole new level. Like people were engaging in our organic social media like never before. So yeah, everything, email marketing, Facebook ads, social media posts, like, it all just got easier because now I had this like insane amount of user generated content that like by the time we sold, I didn't even tap into like a tenth of it. Like it was just so much content all the time and so many cool stories of people that like their lives were changed and, and it was just fun.

It is fun. That's right. And it puts, makes you realize what an impact you as a brand are making because now you're focused on the customer. Now everyone, if you wanted to complicate this a little bit, like if there's any of you who are like, this is my brand and I am all in and I want to make a difference with this thing, one of the things that you could also consider, and you see me doing this as well, is once you have the challenge and that community in place, you can take the success stories of people who have completed that and make them podcast or YouTube interviews. And now you have a long form content with people who are having success with your product. And that becomes the long form piece of content that you're building the entire community around, recommending the challenge, sending people back into the challenge, and that becomes your traffic and your audience builder. And those two things start to feed each other. And when you have those two things in place, this is what I taught you guys in that traffic triangle strategy. When you have those two things in place, you're getting a lot of free exposure from the traffic source, YouTube or podcast. And you're getting a lot of free exposure from the community in the form of the Facebook group. And those two things really start to grow organically, which builds a massive community. That's how you can maximize getting a lot of free traffic, a lot of buyers and build a real brand out of all this. Elisa, you did some content about all of this inside of the 1%, but I know that you're also building your personal brand and doing some speaking gigs and podcast spots and stuff like that. Where can people dive into what you're putting out publicly now?

Yeah, for sure. So challenge makers. I feel like that's the most appropriate, easy name making challenges. So it's challengemakers.com and it has like everything. I have a group coaching so I've been doing a lot of one on one with people. I like helping them but I thought it would be fun to just like help people, you know, together. So I have one that's starting on April 20th that I'm like taking a group of people going through everything and critiquing their challenges, feedback, their post post register sequence and everything like that. So all the details like of that can be found on my website and some one on one as well. I have that as available.

Fantastic. Alisa, you've done really well. I hope you feel very proud. Congratulations on all you've done. Nice work.